“And dangerous,” I added. “Don’t forget dangerous.”
“I’ll give you that,” Deeks interrupted again from next to Slater. He leaned over the bar to see me properly, pointing a finger my way. “I remember this one time you wanted your old man to take you to a park. A goddamn play area with swings and all the other shit normal kids went to. But Ericwas busy. He had shit going down. This other MC was riding through Babylon and out for trouble. That day, while you were whining about going to play, they rode into the yard to pay a visit to your dad. You chose that very moment, Drew, to pull your pants down on the top step of the porch and flash your bare ass to the whole MC ‘cause you thought it somehow made a fool out of your old man in front of them.”
“Motherfucker, Deeks,” I muttered quietly, shaking my head.
Ayda threw a hand over her mouth, trying to hide her laughter, but it was present in her eyes. They were lit up as they met mine. She pulled her hand away, still grinning, and looked at Deeks again. “What happened?”
“Eric turned bright red, told Drew to go inside. Drew muttered his first curse word and told his dad to suck his dick. All the members of the rival MC thought Eric was a joke, said their piece and left fairly peacefully. Drew actually did his father a favor. Shame Eric didn’t quite see it that way. Pretty sure you felt your first numb ass cheek that night, brother.” Deeks winked at me, his chest bouncing as his silent laughter tore free.
“And it went downhill from there. If I don’t deserve a drink after that story, something is seriously fucking wrong with this place.”
Ayda shook her head and opened her mouth to say something, but Tate cut in over her as he collected a soda from behind the bar. “Sounds like the stories Dad used to tell about Ayda,” he said, grinning at his sister. “Only she used to fart the alphabet to strangers.”
“Tate, go away.” Ayda dropped her forehead to the bar.
I glanced down at her formerly cute ass, cringed andleaned away from her, feeling the sting of her slap as I did.
“I’m not saying anything,” I huffed out, holding my hands up in the air.
“I did it once.Once.That was it, but it was the story Dad told the most.”
“I remember when he told Jacob…” Tate trailed off before thinking better of it. “Jake wouldn’t drop it, ribbed Ayda for weeks about it. That was when Dad decided he didn’t much like him.”
“Sounds like your dad had good standards,” I muttered, the reference to Ayda’s ex making my mood darken just a little bit as the memories of him from earlier came floating back. Those eyes. That cocky face. The familiarity. “Speaking of Jacob…”
“Let’s not,” Ayda said, pushing out her bottom lip. “It was going so well.”
I ignored her, turning to the other guys and narrowing my eyes. “Did he look familiar to any of you?”
“Familiar?” Slater asked.
Jedd pressed his lips together and frowned as he thought. “In what way?”
“In a freaky fuckin’ way.”
“That doesn’t help us,” Jedd grunted.
I blew out a breath and leaned back, straightening my spine and sitting tall as though Jacob was in front of me. Staring down at the bar counter top, I swirled a hand around my face and tried to focus. “Everything about him. I’ve seen those eyes before. That arrogant grin.”
“That’s you looking in the mirror, dickhead,” Slater pushed out, earning a few laughs from everyone but me.
“I’m serious, Slate. You didn’t see anything yourecognized about him?”
I turned Slater’s way to see him, too, studying his own thoughts as he stared down into his empty glass. “Nothing I can think of.”
“Deeks?”
“Nope,” he said, shaking his head.
“Weird.” I sighed, turning back to Ayda. “Who are Jacob’s parents?”
“Don and Lisa Hove,” she said, shrugging. “Don is an engineer at one of the drilling sites. Lisa owns the hobby shop in town.”
I scowled as I tried to connect their names to the look I’d seen Jacob wearing. “Don and Lisa Hove,” I muttered to myself before I looked up at the other guys. “Ring any alarm bells with any of you?”
“No,” Jedd mumbled, shaking his head.
“Nope,” Slater added.
