“Climb in the back, Jess,” I ordered quietly.
“That’syour friend?”
“Backseat,” I said again, jerking my chin as the man got closer.
Jesse stared at me for a long moment, and I nodded encouragingly. There had been many times when we’d had to rely on silent conversation because Finn was curious abouteverythingand had been since he could talk. I just hoped it wouldn’t fail me. My eldest’s eyes roamed over my face, moved to the window where we could see the man moving our way, then back to me. Then they tossed their bag and climbed over the front seat.
I watched the man get closer and closer, my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth. He was gorgeous. Not in a normal way, but in an I-didn’t-realize-people-actually-looked-like-that kind of way. His face held zero emotion as his gaze met mine through the glass, but even so, I was a little stunned at how attractive he was.
Jesse’s ass was barely in their seat when the man stopped outside my door.
I rolled down my window.
“Theodora?” he asked, his voice low and rough.
“Curtis?” I replied.
His gaze roamed from me to the kids in the backseat to the loaded bed of the truck. Then, out of nowhere, his expression transformed into the most gorgeous smile I’d ever seen in my life.
Before I could comprehend what was happening, he’d dropped his bag to the asphalt and was reaching in through the window. His hand wrapped around the side of my neck, and he pulled me forward until our lips were an inch apart.
I was too stunned to move as his brown eyes searched mine.
“Grease sent me,” he murmured quietly.
Then, in front of my kids, he kissed me like the goddamn world was ending.
Chapter 2
Curtis
“My boy’s home!”
I turned toward my dad and chuckled as he slapped my back and threw his arms around my shoulders. I hadn’t been called a boy in longer than I could remember.
“About time,” someone yelled out.
“No shit,” Dad said as he let go of me and moved around the table.
“Nomad no longer,” our VP, Grease, added with a grin, leaning back in his seat.
“Hear, hear.” My twin brother, Draco, bumped my shoulder with his.
“Good to be back,” I announced, smiling.
It had been a long fucking road. I’d been sent to Montana at twenty-one years old, green as fuck and gung ho to help the club. A few months, the president had told me. A longer job, but nothing crazy. Now, eighteen years later, I was finally back for good.
It didn’t feel real.
I listened in on the meeting as the officers went over garage numbers, bonuses—that I wasn’t going to get because I hadn’t been there—and other various information about club business, but I wasn’t paying close attention. I was waiting for a phone call, so I had half an ear to the door, listening for a ring.
I’d spent a lot of time wishing I was back in that room. I could’ve closed my eyes and recognized every single voice in there. They were as familiar to me as my mother’s. Ourpresident, Dragon, who was my maternal grandfather. Our Vice President, Grease. Our treasurer and my paternal grandfather, Casper. My pop. My brother. My uncle, Leo. Too many cousins to list. I belonged in that room. I’d known the Aces and Eights MC was my future since I was old enough to understand what it was. But even though standing against the paneled wall with my brother was the first time that my homecoming felt real, I was still itching to get the fuck out of there.
When church was over, I was the first out the door, snagging my phone off the bar top.
“He check in yet?” my brother Draco asked, grabbing his own phone.
I shook my head and checked the time, fighting the urge to call.
