Push handed me coffee.“You walked into a couch.”
“That couch attacked me.”
Lost snorted into his mug.
I took a cautious sip of coffee and nearly moaned.Real coffee.Not motel lobby coffee that tasted vaguely like burnt dirt and regret.“This might be the nicest thing anyone’s done for me in weeks,” I admitted.
Pearl’s expression softened slightly.“Sit,” Pearl ordered gently.“Before Push decides carrying you around is a full-time job.”
Push leaned against the counter beside me and shrugged.
I looked between all of them while Pearl loaded plates with eggs, pancakes, and bacon.
It was bizarre.Absolutely bizarre, because this felt… normal.Comfortable even.Like I’d somehow stumbled into a giant dysfunctional family instead of a motorcycle club connected to a murder investigation.
That might’ve been the weirdest thing about Skull Island so far.
Pearl handed me a plate piled high enough to feed a linebacker.
“Oh wow,” I said honestly.
“You need food,” she replied.“You look skinny.”
“That’s because my recent diet mostly consisted of protein bars and gas station snacks.”
Shay grimaced.“That’s depressing.”
“It was efficient.”
“It was tragic,” Pearl corrected.
We moved toward the large table while the guys filtered in and out around the kitchen grabbing coffee and food.
Push sat beside me automatically.Not close enough to touch, just… close.Like he’d decided at some point during the night that keeping an eye on me was part of his job now.
I stabbed a piece of pancake with my fork and took a bite.I immediately reconsidered every bad thing I’d mentally said about this place.“Oh my God.”
Pearl looked pleased.“Good?”
“I might cry.”
“That’s the concussion talking,” Push muttered.
I pointed my fork at him.“Don’t ruin this for me.”
His mouth twitched again.There it was.That tiny, almost-smile he tried not to let happen.
The conversation drifted around me while everyone ate, but I found myself relaxing despite every instinct screaming not to.
The clubhouse was warm, and the food was good.People laughed easily around each other, and for the first time in weeks, I didn’t feel alone.
I didn’t like how easy it was getting to breathe around these people.This place was getting too easy to settle into.
Not when Erin was still missing.Not when, somewhere on this island, someone was dumping bodies like they meant nothing.
I wrapped both hands around my coffee mug and looked down at the table quietly.No matter how comfortable this felt, I couldn’t forget why I was here.
I was going to find my sister one way or another.
