Sutton’s gaze followed mine. “Can’t argue with that.” He smiled at one of the Hound Whores who walked past before he turned back to look at me. “Any news on any backlash after… you know…?”
The warehouse incident. I knew. Sutton never really liked to say it out loud.
“Nothing. You?”
“I keep my eyes open and my ears to the ground, but Babylon is eerily quiet these days.”
I nodded slowly, pressing my lips together to collect my thoughts. “Never really a good thing that, is it?”
“It isn’t?”
“You never heard of the snakes that silently climb into your bed at night?” I asked, raising a brow.
“You bikers wouldn’t know how to be quiet if your life depended on it. Loud pipes showcase a big dick, right?” He smirked.
“Maybe,” I answered through a fake smile. “Yeah. Maybe.”
“There’s enough of us about the place to catch those snakes before they sneak through, Tucker. Don’t you worry about that.”
“I like your optimism.”
“Surprisingly, it’s something I’ve learned from you lot.”
Chapter Sixteen
AYDA
After the excitement of the morning, the afternoon gave way to calm and quiet. Once I’d adjusted to the stinging on my back as a constant reminder of my tattoo, I found myself following Harry, and his promises of shiny new stock, into the pawnshop. My banter with him was constant. It had become normal for us to talk in taunts interspersed with laughter, and that was only ever interrupted when his coughing fits took over and made it harder for him to respond. It was so hard to sit back and not nag him to see a doctor and do something proactive about the cough, but nagging only made him pick up a smoke and smile with defiance at you, so I left him alone, sliding a glass of water in front of him and nodding at his thanks.
I’d come to adore Harry. I knew Drew respected the hell out of him and had a tighter connection with him than most of the other guys, and I could see why. He was damn smart, and witty, too. He knew everything about everything, even the useless things that had no real place in the world. I loved working in the pawnshop just to spend time with him. I always came away feeling like I’d learned something.
Harry was assessing a diamond being pawned when I saw Libby’s car pull in through the front gates. The vehiclehad barely stopped when Tate threw the passenger door out of his way and pushed out, stretching to his full height before heading to the gym rather than The Hut, which never really boded well. He’d taken a page from Drew’s book with his frustration recently, and took his issues out on the bag rather than stewing and snapping people’s heads off.
One nod of acknowledgment from Harry, and I pushed out from the shop and headed to where Libby was standing, wincing when Tate slammed the door of the workout room behind him. She jumped when I spoke, her attention having been fully on Tate.
“What happened?”
Libby released a long breath, her hands finding her hips as she stared at the building my brother had disappeared into. “They had a meeting with the new coach today.”
“Fuck. How bad was it?”
“Well…” She turned to face me and shrugged. “I didn’t think it was too bad, but I said the wrong thing, clearly.” She gestured to the building again and shook her head. “And the boys call us women dramatic.”
I squeezed her elbow and gestured to the gym with a smile. “Let me see if I can do some damage control. If you see Drew, let him know where I am, would you?”
“I will. I’m sorry, Ayda. I should have known better after the talk you had with him about this.”
“Girl, this is shit that goes back years. There’s no way you could navigate it. Thanks for being patient with him.”
Libby’s hair was in her eyes as she took one last longing look before I set off at a fast walk. I purposely didn’t ask what was said because I figured Tate would tell me the moment I entered the gym.
I heard the dull thuds and the hissed breaths as I opened the outer door and was swallowed by the shadows of the gym. Standing and watching my brother, it was easy to see the influence Drew had on him. He held himself the same way, his legs worked in the same direction, and his punches landed true and hard on the bag as he danced in and out of the rhythm. The only difference was that Tate always led with the same fist, where as Drew could switch things up when he needed to.
I let him work out his frustrations a while longer before I let him know I was there. I sat on the bench of the leg press as his hands reached out to stop the bag the moment he caught sight of me.
“The bastard is going to be replacing him as soon as coach thinks he’s ready. I not only have to deal with the asshole next season, I have to deal with him for training for the rest of this year. I just… I wanted to punch the smirk from his face when he found me in the crowd, A.”
“How long do you think the transition will take?”
