“The asshole at the bar keeps echoing in my head,” she murmured.“The one who decided I wasn’t worth your trouble.”
My eyes locked with hers.“Yeah?”
“Next party we attend, I want all of it.Not just the property cut.I want to be yours in every way possible.”
Heat blazed through my chest.“Say more,” I urged, needing to hear her conviction again.
Jade nodded.“Ask me later.For real.When Diaz stops haunting our every move.You’ll hear me say yes.”
Pride, fierce and sharp, flared under my ribs.“Done.”
“You’re not going to turn it into a spectacle, are you?”she asked.“I’m not ready for a parade.”
“We’ll keep it small.Just you, me, the club, and a patch that tells the world you’re ours.”
“Ours,” she echoed.She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder again.
We sat there until Marci stuck her head out the door and told us we had ten minutes before lunch and she wasn’t saving us any biscuits if we didn’t move.
Jade rolled her eyes.“She’s scarier than Diaz.”
“That’s why he’ll never step foot on this porch,” I said.“He can handle guns.He can’t handle Marci with a spatula.”
She laughed again, lighter this time.
We went inside together.Jade walked beside me, her shoulders a little higher.The kids still ran in the hall.The smell of food wrapped around us.
Roth was gone, but Diaz still sat out there, king of a rotten hill.
We had work to do.We had ghosts to quiet.We had a war to win.
Chapter Thirteen
Jade
By the time Kane’s alarm went off, I’d dozed a little, curled against his side, listening to his heartbeat.My sleep had been disrupted a few times by nightmares.I wondered if I’d have happy dreams again in the future.For now, I didn’t see it happening anytime soon.
He rolled over, flopped the phone face down on the nightstand, and kissed my shoulder.
“Good morning,” he rasped.
“Define ‘good.’”
He huffed a quiet laugh.“You dream?”
“Yeah.Nothing happy.”
He brushed hair away from my face, eyes searching.“Scale of one to ten?One being ‘fine, stop fussing’ and ten being ‘hide me in the safe room and throw away the key.’”
“Six,” I replied.“Maybe a seven.”
“Functional but cranky,” he translated.“I can work with that.”
He kissed me again, longer, until some of the tightness in my chest eased.“Spade’s going to drag you to the office at some point.He’s been in his cave since yesterday.Barely came up for dinner.”
“He eat?”I asked.
“Marci said she shoved a plate at him and threatened bodily harm if he didn’t,” Kane said.“So… probably.”
