“Charlotte—”
I wave at him dismissively, ignoring his plea-ridden eyes. It’s bold of him to assume he could call me his sister twice in one night, and I would give a damn, when he’d never done that before.
“Oh, and that’s another thing.” I turn to pin my hardened gaze on Hound. He’s simply frowning at me like he’s assessing me. Trying to reconcile me with the girl he knew as the club-girl-in-making. “I don’t go by Charlie. My name is Charlotte, and I’d prefer you all call me that for the limitedamount of time I’ll be here.”
I’m thoroughly impressed by the restraint everyone is showing. Not a single grunt. No belittling comment. Not even one smart-ass remark.
That’s when I notice that the club girls are surprisingly absent. The only ones I recall besides Trixie and Juggles, are Bel, Misty,Pearl, and DeeDee. And they’re not here, which I find odd, yet completely on brand with Wolf’s remorseful actions.
A few Ol’ Ladies off to the side are throwing me proud, woman-to-woman smirks, but I barely give a shit. Two years ago, I would’ve beamed, had tried to win them over, fought for my place beside them like a desperate little mutt.
But years worth of therapy and a whole lot of perspective later, I now understand they could’ve helpedme. They could’ve shielded me from the fallout. Maybe even stood up for me when Glory first twisted her claws in. But they didn’t. They chose to follow Savage’s silence. And Wolf’s ignorance.
I was just a teenage stray they never truly saw or wanted. And now their remorse, their little nods of respect, or their too-late guilt doesn’t belong to me.
And God, it feels good. That slow, satisfied warmth spreading across my chest. I truly don’t care anymore. Not about them. Not about what they think of me. The only two people I docare about aren’t here—oh!
“We’re barely five minutes late and you’ve already made a mess, Prez?” Mama Deb’s voice slices through the tension.
Every head whips to the main doors as their matriarch steps in like she owns the damn place, because let’s be honest, she kind of does.
Torch ambles in behind her, smirking as Wolf stiffens under her scrutiny. Which I find rather odd.
Mama doesn’t stop moving. She crosses the floor like a damn storm and slaps Ruin—the damn VP—in the back of the head without breaking stride.
“Mama,” he groans, face contorted in mock-annoyance.
My grin takes over before I can stop it. I haven’t seen her in almost a year, and all the hardened armor I’ve been wearing since I walked in, melts off.
“Mama!” She opens her arms before I even reach her. Two seconds later, I’m wrapped in warmth and lemon-ginger perfume and the kind of love I stopped hoping for long ago.
We’ve grown closer while we were apart these last two years. As opposed to when I was right there for half a decade. I still feel some resentment toward her at times. But it washes away whenever I realize I was equally responsible for the chasmic distance that unfolded between us.
“Oh my sweetheart,” she whispers into my hair. “Can’t believe you’re finally here.”
I exhale against her collarbone, letting myself be small. “I missed you, Mama.”
Behind her, Ruin watches us like we’re a hallucination. Eyes a little too wide. Lips twitching, like he’s trying to mouth something to himself. And it looks suspiciously like ‘Mama’.
I want to smack the weird awe right off his face. And Torch must read the thought on mine, because when I hug him next, he leans in, gruff and quiet. “Ignore my son,” he mutters. “He’s not been right in the head since you left.”
I truly can’t imagine anything to do with mewould everaffect the VP. So I laugh, throwing my head back.
Torch throws me an amused look, shaking his head. “Oh—I’ll be getting your package back from Craven Ridge. The one I just sent.”
Shit. I forgot about that. I recall how Mama told me that Torch had stacked a surprise in it.
I squint up at him, smirking. “What’s the surprise, by the way? Mama wouldn’t say.”
There’s a possibility I might already know what he sent me. But I let him smile cheekily as he shrugs.
“It’s a baby gun,” Mama whispers conspiratorially.
“It’s a P365, my love.” Torch rolls his eyes at Mama, then looks over at me. “It’s smaller than the one you have. Easier to carry with you.”
I grin, already excited to give it a spin. But the moment doesn’t last.
As I take a step back, letting Mama Deb loop her arm through mine, Wolf’s voice barks out across the room. “Alright. Show’s over. If you’ve got something to say, say it to me. Or shut the fuck up.”
