“Let’s go, Rayne.” Grant met his wife at the front of the truck, and together they walked into the cabin.
As soon as they disappeared inside, Elias and Iona exited the vehicle and waited. In less than a minute, Grant returned with Andre. Even though Elias couldn’t haul groceries into the cabin because of his injury, he stayed on watch while the others picked up the bags.
“Six Blackthorn riders. One of them is Dutch,” Grant murmured. “He asked about you.”
Couldn’t see his cousin worrying about him. They’d never been close. Even though blood should have been thicker than water according to Eddie, Elias had chosen the side of the law instead of embracing the MC lifestyle. That made him a traitor in the eyes of some of his family. Was Dutch one of them?
Iona handed Elias a lightweight grocery bag. “For appearances. Don’t want you to lose your man card.” She winked.
He chuckled. “My ego thanks you.” Elias fell into step with her. “I hope the Riders don’t plan to stay for dinner. I don’t want to feed them tonight and tomorrow.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Neither do I.”
“Then let’s find out what these boys want and send them on their way.”
Iona’s gaze locked on him. “Are you going to tell Dutch that you know who he is?”
“Don’t know. He hasn’t identified himself for a reason. I may let it ride for now.” His cousin was up to something. Elias knew it to his bones. The question was, what did he stand to gain by keeping his identity a secret?
The members of Echo and Artemis unpacked the groceries and put them away under the curious stares of the Blackthorn Riders.
After putting away the last item from his bag, Elias turned to see his cousin staring at him. He stared back, eyebrow raised.
Dutch snorted and broke the staring contest between them.
A challenge? Bring it. Elias welcomed the chance to find out what his cousin was planning. Doug never could keep a secret, which made his success in keeping his identity concealed interesting.
What was so important that blabber-mouth Doug zipped his lips?
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
AS ELIAS LEANEDback against the kitchen counter, his cousin ogled the women as they organized ingredients to make enough potato salad to feed an army. His teammates shifted their positions to stand between their wives and Blackthorn’s leader.
When Doug’s roving gaze drifted to Iona, Elias straightened. “Eyes up here,” he snapped.
The Blackthorn Riders frowned. “Hey, you can’t talk to our president that way,” one man protested.
“Your president needs to remember the manners Gran taught us.” Now, let’s see what Dutch did with that tidbit of information.
The MC members exchanged confused glances. Dutch smirked. “What gave me away?”
“I recognized the mannerisms and the disgusting attitude toward women. You haven’t changed at all. I’d hoped you would have matured enough to put those attitudes from the medieval days back where they belonged.”
His cousin tilted his head back and laughed. “It’s about time you figured it out. For a man who is supposed to be so smart, you sure are dumb, cuz.”
Elias let the insult roll off him without responding. Nothing new there. Doug had delighted in belittling and insulting him as they grew up. Not that he saw his cousins that often. SinceEddie never spent over six months at the same place, Elias’ interactions with his family were few.
No significant loss, in his opinion. Black sheep littered his family tree, and not one of them was worth anything. His lips curled. No doubt they thought he was the odd one of the bunch, working as a police officer and serving in the military.
“You’re cousins?” one of his enforcers asked, looking from Doug to Elias and back. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“Wanted to see how long it took my goody-two-shoes cousin to realize who I am.”
The men turned to stare at Elias. “How come you didn’t recognize him?” another enforcer asked, suspicion growing in his eyes. “You sure he’s your cousin, Dutch? Maybe you made a mistake.”
“Oh, no. I know for a fact that is my cousin Elias.”
“How?”
