I pull on my clothes and follow Alder out into the main room of the clubhouse, where Kurt sits at the bar sipping a mug of coffee, and Caz hovers behind it, eyeing Wingnut where he patrols Caz’s exit.
“’Bout fucking time,” Kurt mutters when he sees us.
Alder glances at his bare wrist, then lifts a brow at him. “Shit, sorry. I didn’t realize we were being respectful of our rival’s time.”
Kurt shoots a glare at him, then shifts it to me.
And while it isn’t now warm and kind, at least it’s not loaded with disdain and distrust anymore.
“Let’s go,” he says to Alder, draining the last of his coffee before rising.
Wingnut lets out a furious quack as he passes, but makes no move to stop him. He stays where he is, blocking Caz behind the bar with random lunges in his direction like he’s testing the prospect’s reflexes.
“Dude, can you take the duck?” Caz pleads, gesturing towards Wingnut helplessly.
“To a meeting with the Dominion Sons?” Alder asks, gripping the back of my neck and steering me towards the door. “No.”
Before I step outside, I catch sight of Caz throwing a towel in frustrated surrender, just as Wingnut charges again, and flapping, quacking, and yelling follow us out.
“I’m dropping Cade at home first,” Alder calls to Kurt as he heads for his bike.
“We’ll follow,” Kurt replies without looking back. “Dom, Mac. Mount up.”
Dom and Mac emerge from the garage, and I pull on my helmet before climbing onto Alder’s bike behind him.
All four engines roar to life one by one in a deep, guttural roar that vibrates through my chest and has my heart picking up its pace.
Alder leads us through the streets of Fredericton to the other side of town, and I watch as eyes follow us from windows and sidewalks.
When Alder pulls into my driveway, the others roll to a stop along the curb with their engines still rumbling, forming a line of black-and-chrome tension standing sentinel outside my house.
I swing off the bike and pull off my helmet. And while Alder takes it from me to stow it in the saddlebag, I glance out at the street where the others wait for him.
It’s an ominous scene, knowing why they’re here and where they’re going.
I turn back to Alder. “Be bad.”
He smiles darkly and reaches up to wrap a hand around the back of my neck, pulling me down into a bruising kiss. Then he shoves me back a step and turns his bike.
“Be worse,” he calls over the rumbling engine, before he takes off out of my driveway, and the others peel off behind him, thundering down the quiet residential street.
And I can’t help but chuckle at the curious faces of my neighbours peering out of their windows in shock and fear as they watch me head into my house.
Once inside, I head straight for the coffeepot and get it started. As it begins brewing, I head upstairs to change and find my phone still plugged in on the nightstand. With four missed calls from Darren.
Shit.
He calls every Saturday, and I haven’t even looked at my phone since Friday night.
I pull on some clean clothes and grab it, heading downstairs to the smell of coffee. My thumb hovers over his name to call him back, but… I just don’t have it in me to put on a fake smile and pretend like I’m something to be worried about. Plus, it’s Sunday morning, so he’s probably out with the kids, or?—
The phone starts vibrating in my hand, and I sigh.
It’s Darren.
I know I can’t ignore him.
I hit answer and lift the phone to my ear as I enter the kitchen. “Hey.”
