“She is. She still checks in, you know. Weekly calls to make sure I’m doing okay. They don’t just wash their hands of us. They keep supporting.”
Nate scratched his jaw, his eyes darting back and forth as he pondered my words.
“They sound like a charity I’d want to support. Can you send me their details? I mean… unless that makes you worry that I’m snooping. I’m not. I mean, obviously I’m not, I just-”
“I love that you still do that,” I said, interrupting him as usual, because he could talk forever when he got like this.
“Babbling like an idiot?”
I smiled at his bemused expression. He saw it as a flaw, but I saw it as a sign of all the warmth and kindness in him. So many things he wanted to say and do to help that they flowed out as many words, sometimes so fast I had to struggle to keep up.
“Not like an idiot… maybe just like a bit of a weirdo.”
“Hey,” he murmured, mock-glaring at me. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So, uh… since we’re conversating at last, you know I’m with an MC now right?”
I blinked at him and he grinned. “Motorcycle club. MC. I’m with Phoenix, here in town.” I did know that, didn’t I? Lenore had mentioned it, and that guy who came here with Lissa wore a leather waistcoat with a large phoenix patch on it. Nate’s was different. The patch was there, but the word ‘prospect’ showed beneath it. He wasn’t wearing it right now, but I remembered wondering what the hell it meant. Why was he a prospect again?
“Uh yeah…”
“So with them, I don’t go by Nate. I have a different name. You’ll hear it from them almost exclusively, and I don’t answer to my real name much now, not even at work.”
Oh. Despite myself, I felt the urge to mess with him a little.
“Prospect? That’s what they call you now?”
He grimaced, his shoulders slumping a little. “I mean, no, but also kinda yeah, for now. I’m prospecting for three months. Well, two and a bit now. No. They call me Henley. That’s been my road name for years with other clubs.”
“Henley? Like the clothes?”
He stared down at his shirt and jeans and frowned back at me, clearly not on the same page as me. I was guessing that wasn’t the reason for the name then.
“I don’t get it.”
“Yeah, Henley is a clothing brand. If you read, well, I guess if you read romance, almost every book has the main character wearing a Henley. I had to look them up.”
Nate just stared back at me, utterly bemused, and I guess this was a pointless conversation really.
“Doesn’t matter. It was just a… why Henley, then? Do I have to call you that too?”
Nate, or Henley, I guess, just grinned.
“Sweetheart, I was born there, remember? Henley-On-Thames. I guess because they think I’m posh, it just kinda happened. I like it. I’ve never heard of clothes named that though. Can’t be very popular among real people. Maybe they made it up for the books.”
I shrugged. “Irrelevant. Anyway, do I have to call you that?”
“Around them you might, just because most of them don’t know my real name.” Huh. Awkward.
Later that evening, Ihad my first real opportunity to see that happen. Out of the blue, several of his biker brothers showed up with their wives. Apparently they call their wives old ladies. Kinda offensive if you’re young, but these ladies didn’t look like it bothered them.
“Glory, this is Has-Been, Ryder, Torch, and you’ve met Ice, right? That’s Harley, and Rocket too. You might remember him from the other day, you know when he promised you puppy hugs and never delivered.” The guy glared at him, then offered me an apologetic smile, but I suspected he’d changed his plans when we had to get help for me instead.
Weird ass names for sure. I’d forgotten them already, so I just shrugged, and offered them a little wave.
“Henley’s going to entertain them, while you show us his man cave!” One of the women said, holding up a couple of bottles ofwine. Oh wait, no, a few of them were doing that. Oh hell. Girly night activated.
“It’s this way.” I led them to the room and opened the door, wondering if Nate minded all these people knowing about the room.
“It’s so fucking cool,” the guy called Ice was saying loudly, leading the men along behind us. Okay. Apparently we were all going down there.
