“I’ve gone legit.”
I raise my eyebrow. “That plan you’re talking through doesn’t sound legit.”
Wren shrugs. “Fine, fractional chief of staff, fractional ethics.”
Everyone laughs at that.
“Does everyone agree, in principle, that we should do it?” Grudge asks.
Wraith slams his palm on the table. “All of it.”
“Got babies to feed,” Atom says.
“Ember had the baby?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Not yet. Figure of speech.”
Smoke nods. “I’m in. And I’ll think about switching up all the routes we take and their timings.”
Catfish agrees. “My better half’s demanding, so I better get on and make them more money.”
Wren puts their tongue out at Catfish, and seeing how they’ve both been accepted renews my hope the club isn’t going to have too much trouble with what we have to say.
“We’re in,” Garrett says, answering for me.
“But before we commit, you all need to know something,” I say. “We’re settling here. The two of us. It’s time you knew we’re a couple.”
Wren smiles across the table at me. A knowing look that comes from putting yourself out there in the hope it doesn’t come back to bite you in the ass.
There’s a moment of silence, then Grudge tips his chin my way. “Glad you felt you can trust us with that.”
“We got a world of new terms in the clubhouse, lately,” Wraith says. “Do we get to try outold man?”
Smoke grins. “Think we know which one theoldwould be.”
Garrett flips the bird Smoke’s way. “Could still kick your ass.”
“Not with those ribs,” Atom says. “Makes me wince the way you’ve been holding them as you move.”
I hadn’t realized how much of Garrett’s fear I’d internalized. Of being rejected. Of Garrett getting rejected and how he’d heal from that. But even though I see nothing but humor and acceptance on their faces, I need to check.
“Do any of you have a problem with that?” I ask. “Do we need a vote?”
Wren stands. “Absolutely not. People don’t get to vote on your identity and existence.”
Grudge gestures for them to sit. “Cool your heels, Wren. Even if we were going to do that, it’s something you wouldn’t get a vote on. But just so you know what I think everyone else feels, just so you can sleep tonight and know for sure, raise your hands if you’re cool knowing the two of them make out and are also damn good enforcers.”
Even after being told their vote didn’t count, Wren is the first to raise their hand, which makes me chuckle.
Garrett wipes his palms on the legs of his jeans. And I give in to what I always want to do—I grab for his hand and squeeze it tight. The corners of his lips lift in a smile, but he doesn’t even look up. I watch every person as they raise their hands, because Grudge is right, I needed to see them.
I lean to Garrett and mutter, “You should look.”
He lifts his head, and I know that, while this is a big admission for me, his experience of being out in the world has been much crueler. First, his parents, then, the military. I see the way his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows.
“There’s more,” I add. “We’re gonna claim Isla as our old lady.”
That’s met with a little more surprise.
