It wasn’t acceptance.Not yet.But it was a start.
Chapter Seven
Knight
I eased the Bronco through the gates of the Kiss of Death compound, acutely aware of Lavender’s white-knuckled grip on the door handle beside me.In the rearview, Brynn’s face was a mask of practiced boredom but her gaze darted everywhere, taking in her surroundings with that sharp intelligence she couldn’t hide no matter how hard she tried.
“Home sweet home,” I said, trying to sound casual but hearing the strain in my own voice.“It looks rougher than it is.”
Lavender nodded but didn’t speak.The tension rolled off her in waves, her shoulders tight beneath her faded blue sweater.I wanted to reach over and touch her hand, tell her everything would be OK, but I wasn’t sure I had that right yet.
“Why’s everything covered with nets?”Brynn’s voice broke the silence from the back seat, her curiosity apparently stronger than her determination to remain unimpressed.
“Security and privacy,” I answered, navigating the Bronco down the main drive between warehouses.“Plus, it keeps the sun off in summer.”
The compound opened up before us, revealing its strange duality.Warehouses stood in a square formation in what seemed like endless rows in the vast area of our home territory.But between them, incongruous signs of domestic life sprouted like wildflowers.Inside what looked like the third or fourth ring of the place, container gardens being prepared for the late spring stood in neat rows; a small playground where two kids chased each other, screaming with laughter, sat away from the gardens for obvious reasons.A massive tree in the central courtyard cast dappled shade over picnic tables where several women sat talking.All this beneath the green and brown camouflage netting that stretched across the pathways like a protective canopy.
At the northeastern corner, Tiny stood guard, his six-foot-seven frame calling the children like a beacon, as evidenced by how the two girls ran to him.He scooped one child up in each arm and grinned as he carried them back to the playground.He nodded at me as we passed, his face softening slightly when he spotted Brynn.I raised two fingers in silent greeting.
“Are those… kids playing?”Lavender asked, her voice quiet with surprise.
“Yeah.We’ve got a few kids here.”I slowed as we approached the inner warehouse ring.“This place is more than just a clubhouse or a protective compound.It’s where most of us live.Home.”
Jag appeared from between buildings, his leather cut gleaming in the sun.He raised a hand in greeting, then did a double take when he spotted Lavender and Brynn.His face split into a genuine smile as he changed direction to intercept us.I liked seeing Jag at ease here.After being institutionalized for more than half his life for something he didn’t do, we’d all worried he’d struggle.I supposed he did in some ways, but my sister, Ada, had worked her magic and Jag adjusted nicely.
“Your apartment’s in the east warehouse,” I explained, pointing to the four-story structure ahead.“Second floor.Mine’s right across the hall.Ada and Jag are just down the hall.”
Lavender’s eyes tracked a group of women tending to raised garden beds along the eastern edge of the compound.One waved at her, and after a moment’s hesitation, she lifted her hand in return.The simple gesture made tension in my chest loosen.Maybe this could work.
I pulled the Bronco near the warehouse entrance.“We’re here.”
As I killed the engine, Jag appeared at my window.I rolled it down, nodding at him.“They good to go?”I asked, referring to the apartment preparations.
“All set, brother.”Jag’s gaze flickered to Lavender, then Brynn.“Ladies,” he said, his voice gentler than I’d ever heard it.“Welcome to Kiss of Death.”He reached through the window to give Lavender the key card before giving Brynn a nod and a grin, then turning to leave.
I climbed out, stretching my back after the long drive.Lavender emerged more cautiously, her eyes taking in the converted warehouse with its surprisingly homey touches she probably hadn’t expected to find at a place like this.
The women had put up window boxes and filled them with herbs and made a bench from a repurposed motorcycle seat beside the entrance.Brynn hung back, still inside the truck.
“Not much luggage,” I noted, retrieving their two duffel bags from the trunk.One for each of them.Everything else was being shipped from storage.The reality of how little they had hurt me in ways I hadn’t realized were possible.Just from knowing my girls hadn’t been pampered or, more likely, too comfortable.Well.I could fix that easily enough.Might have to be sneaky about it, but I could manage.
Lavender shrugged, her smile not reaching her eyes.“We travel light.”
Brynn finally slid out of the back seat, her movements deliberately unhurried.She wore her defiance like armor, but I caught the way her eyes widened at the sight of a group of men working on bikes in the open garage area nearby, their arms sleeved in ink, their laughter carrying across the compound.
A sound drew her attention upward, and she squinted against the sun.“Is that a… zip line?”she asked, her voice betraying genuine interest despite herself.
I followed her gaze to the steel cable that ran between the upper floors of two warehouses.“Yeah.Fire escape, technically.”I shrugged.“At least that’s what Caleb said when he convinced Riot to put it up.Pretty sure he always intended it to be exactly what it is, but now that he has Riot to blame shit on, the kid gets away with murder.But he’s also a barrel of fun and we like making fun of Riot when he takes the fall for Caleb’s mischief.”
For a fraction of a second, Brynn’s face lit with excitement before she remembered she was supposed to be unimpressed.She shrugged.“Whatever.”
Across the compound, the clubhouse door swung open, and Knuckles emerged with Hannah at his side, his large body dwarfing her slender one.He spotted us and changed course, heading our way with purpose.She said something to the big man that made him throw back his head and laugh.
“That’s Knuckles,” I explained to Lavender and Brynn.“President of Kiss of Death.And Hannah, his Old Lady.They were at the hospital but didn’t want to overwhelm you.Just wanted to be there as backup in case we needed an extra set of hands for anything.”
“The club president is coming to meet us?”Lavender asked, her voice tight with anxiety.
I shifted the duffel bags to one hand and placed the other gently on her lower back.“Yeah.Don’t worry.He’s a good guy.Takes care of all of us.”
