“What if no one’s home?”
“Then he hacks into the lock like his parents taught him to,” Rose threw back at her.
Poison looked at her with an expression of profound pity, like Rose had just said something deeply disappointing. “That’s so boring! And what if his phone or whatever dies? How will he hack a lock then?”
Rose opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again.
Letting out a groan, she amended to, “Fine… You can teach him to pick locks. But I still draw the line at shivving!”
Poison smiled widely. “Deal.”
Rose shook her head, leaning her head back on the couch. “I cannot believe I just agreed to that.”
“Honestly, neither can I. You caved likereallyfast there, little sister. You better hope you get a bigger backbone by the time he learns what a condom is.” Poison stood and stretched for a moment before moving toward the door. Then she paused, looking back at Rose over her shoulder. “For what it’s worth? I am glad you’re not dead.”
Rose was tired enough that she laugh-snorted at Poison’s nonchalant statement. “Yeah. Me too.”
* * *
Whythe fuckwould the advice for getting over a fear of giving a speech be to envision your audience in their underwear? Keyshad attended countless Church meetings in the past seven years, but none quite like this.
TheVia Daemoniawas joined not just by theNon Crasand their Knightmares, but also the Riley brothers and Tom. Add in Rose and Keys himself, and that was thirty-seven people. Way too many to fit upstairs in the VDMC Chapel, nor would they all fit in the MKSS conference room. The ol’ ladies had the club kids, including Oscar. He’d been nervous about being left without Keys or his mom with him, but was quickly distracted by Conner, Maggie, and his other new cousins about his age. The prospects were also on guard.
Every single seat in the main room of the clubhouse was filled, including the ones at the bar and some folding chairs that had been brought out. Though pitchers of water, iced tea, and lemonade had been left on the coffee table in the middle next to stacks of red cups, no one grabbed any.
Ghost started off the meeting with an update on Grumpy, Becks, and Ranger. “As most of you know, Grumpy underwent ORIF, or Open Reduction and Internal Fixation, surgery. They removed his left eye, and he’s had multiple plates and screws put in to fix his zygomatic, maxilla, and lower mandible bones.” Ghost pointed around his own eye socket as he spoke, likely having learned a lot about the structure of a human skull since the explosion. “His body is accepting the skin grafts well. He’s currently on low sedation and heavy antibiotics, but his prognosis is looking good. There’s going to be a lot of changes in his life, but we’re all going to be there to help and guide him. His mom has also decided to extend her stay to help out as well. For now, I am continuing with the ruling not to bring any of the club kids to see him—especially Scotty,” Ghost added to Lucky. “Grumpy does not want to scare any of them with his current appearance. And while I truly believe seeing Scotty and the others would do him a world of good, I have to side with him on this. For now,” he clarified. “Let him heal some first, and thenwe’ll figure out a schedule so the kids can get over there to see him.”
Bear interjected to the group, “Also, kids come with a lot of germs. It’s best he be kept isolated for now to keep down the risk of infection.”
“What about setting up a video call?” Rose asked, speaking up next to Keys. It was the suggestion Keys would have made, if he wasn’t so nervous about having to speak next.
The entire time Ghost talked, Keys just kept thinking how he was supposed to speak to the groupnext. And how the fuck was he supposed to do that? He couldn’t get his leg to stop shaking, but Rose immediately sensed his anxiety and looped her ankle around his. While that calmed his leg, his hand started tapping on his thigh. She then laced their fingers together between them and squeezed him to the point of pain—and he fucking loved her for grounding him.
“I agree,” Lucky said, nodding to Rose. “Even if it’s just with the older kids. It lets them see their uncle, and still keep Grumpy safe.”
Ghost looked to Bear for this answer.
“Other than Grumpy’s concern about his good looks, there’s no reason not to,” Bear answered. “I’ll talk to Grumpy when I head over after this, and we’ll see what we can set up. Maybe we start with a phone call to keep his stress down.”
From an outside perspective, it might seem like Grumpy was being vain, but the club all knew differently. Grumpy did not want to scare the club kids or make them apprehensive. The older ones would understand, but Scotty and the younger ones might not.
“Keep us posted,” Ghost instructed Bear. Turning back to the group, he said, “Becks is doing much better, and the neurologist has lifted a number of her restrictions. She still tires easily, and bright light still bothers her, but she’s doing very well, considering.”
Keys fought not to exchange a look with Rose over Ghost’s summary of Becks’ current condition. They both had read her medical chart while she’d been in the hospital, and they were aware of what Ghost wasn’t saying: Becks was pregnant. While Keys was thrilled for his club president and friend, it was not his place to say anything in this regard. His lips would be sealed until Becks was ready to share her news.
Didn’t mean he couldn’t send her a care package designed for first trimester pregnancies and a giant Congratulations teddy bear. There was a good chance Tessa and Bear were also aware, and maybe even Scar because the man had no boundaries.
Despite that he sucked at lying, Keys was a vault of club secrets.
“How’s Ranger?” Bulldog asked Ghost.
The elation that had filled the room at Becks’ improved condition quickly fell to an ominous silence as all eyes turned back to Ghost.
“He’s…suffering,” Ghost surmised somberly. “But he’ll get through this. He’s strong. And when he’s finally ready to rejoin us, we’ll respect his privacy for what he went through.”
Keys frowned at Ghost’s choice of words. It sounded like there was something else that had happened to Rangerotherthan being forced to endure multiple injections of heroin over days of torture, dehydration, and starvation. But looking around at his club brothers, the others didn’t seem to have noticed. Keys was curious enough to want to look further into it, but it also begged the question of if he really wanted to know. In the end, he chose to abide by Ghost’s order and would respect Ranger’s privacy. If something elsehadhappened to him, it was obviously personal enough that it wasn’t already known.
And if it affected the club, then Ghost would have already told them.
