She shook her head.“Oh, no, Ry, you earned this.Just because a woman has curves doesn’t mean she’s pregnant.Hell, I get bloated around that time of the month and let me tell you, it sucks.”
I’d heard more than my fair share about my sister’s cycle, and I didn’t want to court more of that.
“Mick, she said it was private.What else could she need from Lark?She’s younger than us.”
“Did you card her?”she asked.
I slid my eyes to the side.“No.”
Killian chuckled.“Yeah, I’m thinking she’s our age or older.She just drove by, and there’s a picture of her on her car.Ivy Brummis and her phone number.Looks like she sells real estate.”He turned his head toward me.“How many women younger than us do you know driving around with a car magnet for that sort of business?”
Mick shot me a knowing look.“Listen, Lark wanting us to keep people away from him isn’t that difficult, and to be fair, it lets him focus on more important shit.Speaking of important shit, the same group of jerks from the other night came in before her.I’m going to work the bar, so we don’t have another scene like before.”
“You mean last night,” I muttered.
She raised her chin defiantly.“Anyway, be on your toes.We don’t need a bar fight tonight.Or any night, really.”
Killian clamped a hand on my shoulder.“Hit the walk-in fridge.We need kegs lined up, and it’ll give you a chance to cool off.Hell, Raff’s here with Alexandra.Chat with them, get your mind off shit.”
I followed my sister into the main barroom and prowled to the walk-in fridge.Once I was relatively cooled off, I went behind the bar.On the customer side, Mickayla was chatting with Rafferty and Alexandra.Rafferty was also prospecting with the Riot MC and, like me and Killian, his dad was a patched member.Alexandra was Cal’s daughter and he was the Sergeant-at-Arms for the Jacksonville chapter.
I stopped in front of Rafferty.“Another?”
“Sure,” he said.
I felt my sister’s eyes on me while I pulled a bottle of Blue Moon from the cooler.
“Are you over your snit?”she asked.
I put the beer in front of Rafferty, and turned toward Mick.“Not a snit.Like I said, I don’t trust her.”
“How come?”Alexandra asked.
I rested both of my hands on the bar at an angle and leaned toward Alexandra.“Instinct.She’s my age, maybe a little younger.A woman like her shouldn’t be strolling in here, asking about Lark.”
“Why not?”Alexandra asked.
“Lex,” Rafferty said in a warning tone.
Alexandra turned to Rafferty.“It’s a valid question.Why can’t anyone come in here and ask to talk to Lark?”
“Why couldn’t she tell me what she wanted with him?”I asked.
Thathadto be what rubbed me the wrong way.
Granted, it probably wasn’t my business, but at the same time, that’s the position Lark put me in by insisting that I play gatekeeper with anyone asking after him.
Alexandra turned her hands up on the bar.“I’m just saying, it’s a daunting task to go anywhere looking for someone.It’s even worse when it’s a biker bar and youaren’tpart of our culture.I didn’t hear what she said, but from the way she held herself – I don’t think she’s ever met a biker.”
I leaned back and crossed my arms on my chest.“That might be true, but even if this were a mom-and-pop shop, and someone askedwhyshe was looking for someone, saying it’s private isn’t going to cut it.”
Mickayla shook her head.“I don’t know about that, but where is Lark?Did you tell him about this?”
I hadn’t and part of me wanted to keep it from him, for some fucked-up reason.
I shook my head.“No.I went to the keg room to cool off.I don’t know why that woman made me mad, but she did.You can let Lark know that a woman who’s probably thirty years younger than him is looking for him.”
Mickayla narrowed her eyes at me.“She’s not thirty years younger than him.She looks like she’s twenty-one, maybe twenty-two, and Lark is early forties, tops.”
