Chapter One
Cole “Brick” Maddoxstood on the clubhouse’s front steps like a stone statue.He’d been in this exact spot for nearly an hour, arms crossed, boots planted, gaze sweeping the parking lot and the road beyond it.
Most of the brothers thought he liked doing door watch duty.
Truth was, Brick didn’t like anything.Not in the way normal people did.He existed, he protected, he enforced.He was the wall King leaned on when shit needed breaking or guarding.Talking?Socializing?Laughing?
He left that for men who were wired for it.Brick was wired for silence.So when the small blue sedan rolled up the gravel road and came to a hesitant stop, his first thought was annoyance.Outsiders were almost always trouble.
Outsiders arriving unannounced were always King’s problem.And outsiders pulling up with optimism practically radiating from their vehicle?That was a new level of headache.The woman who stepped out proved it.
She wore a bright sundress and cardigan.Her dark hair was braided loosely and fell down her back.It was already coming undone from the breeze, strands catching the sunlight.She had big dark eyes, warm and open in a way that made Brick’s chest go tight.
It didn’t help that she was curvy everywhere and Brick always had a weakness for curvy women.She also wore a wide, trusting and unguarded smile that looked too damn sincere for a place like this.
She looked like she belonged in a community garden, laughing with neighbors and bringing people cookies.Not standing on the cracked asphalt in front of the Devil’s Crown MC clubhouse with its oil stains, cigarette smoke, and men who could end someone with a look.
Every instinct in Brick snapped alert.She looked like prey.Hell, she looked like she didn’t even understand what kind of wolves’ den sHe’d wandered into.
Still, she didn’t look afraid.Not even a little.That, more than anything, rattled him.
She lifted a hand and waved at him.She actually waved, like they were neighbors sharing a yard.Brick didn’t move.Didn’t answer and he didn’t do anything but stare.
The woman didn’t falter.She kept walking, each step confident, not cautious, like sHe’d decided fear was optional today.A wild conclusion, but she wore it like a badge.
“Hi!”she said as she reached the bottom of the steps, bright as the sun sHe’d apparently swallowed for breakfast.
Brick said nothing.After ten seconds of silence, silence that normally sent people scrambling, she cleared her throat.“Are you ...uh ...Mr.Brick?”she asked.
If He’d been a man capable of choking, he would’ve.
Instead, Brick tightened his jaw.A single vein ticked in his temple.
She smiled wider, clearly mistaking his lack of expression for confirmation.“Okay, good.I talked to King on the phone.I’m Tessa Hart.I’m the youth caseworker assigned to—”
“Stop.”Brick’s voice came out rough, ground over gravel.“No one calls me ‘Mr.Brick.’”
“Oh.”She blinked, then tilted her head like she was studying a strange bird at the zoo.“What do they call you then?”
“Brick.”
“Just Brick?”Tessa asked.
He gave a single nod.
She beamed like that answer somehow delighted her.“Good.I like it.Simple.”
He didn’t want her to like anything about him.He especially didn’t want to notice the way her eyes warmed when she smiled.Or how her voice wrapped around his ribs and squeezed something tender he didn’t even know existed anymore.
Damn it.He shifted his weight, uncomfortable in his own skin.
Her scent drifted upward.Something soft, maybe vanilla, maybe just her, and Brick felt a faint, unwelcome tightening in his chest.Then, worse, lower.Fuck.
He forced his posture even stiffer.“You’re here for the kid.”
“Yes, Dillon.”Tessa nodded, expression turning serious.“He’s been missing appointments, skipping school.Child Services flagged it.I followed the paper trail to King, and he said the club would cooperate.Especially because...”
She hesitated, then added quietly, “Dillon’s father was a member here.One of yours.Before he passed.”
