“Yeah. Lockjaw’s son.”
The others didn’t seem surprised.
“There a reason you didn’t mention it?”
I squared my shoulders, hoping I didn’t look as spooked as I felt. “Because it’s not the type of thing you say over a phone call.”
“Damn. He might be as smart as his old man was,” Mammoth joked.
Oh, wow. It never occurred to me until right now that they all knew my father. They spoke to him. Rode with him. These men were his brothers. Yes, I knew that, but hearing and seeing the connection was emotional and overwhelming. I had to fight the urge to cry.
This club was the only connection to my father and the man I never met.
“Or as smartass,” Rael added with a snicker.
I blinked at Grim. “Lockjaw was my dad. I, uh, never got a chance to meet him.”
“No, son, you didn’t. He died when your mama was pregnant with you, about twenty-seven years ago, am I right?”
My head bobbed. I wasn’t capable of forming an answer.
“We got something for you.” Grim ticked his chin toward Mammoth.
The big guy was clutching a leather vest. “Take this and put it on. You’re no nomad.”
I grabbed the cut as my fingers brushed over the patches. “Crypt.” They knew my name.
“You’re one of us,” Grim announced.
“A Graven Bastard?” I dared to ask.
“Hell yeah,” Rael answered with a slap on my back.
The others nodded.
“I didn’t expect this.” I shrugged off the nomad cut I’d worn since leaving prison and slid my arms through the holes of my new cut, straightening the supple leather as it settled on my shoulders. “It feels right.”
“Looks right too,” Grim agreed.
“Yeah, you’re one of us,” Mammoth announced. “I feel it.”
Hannibal hadn’t said a word. He stared at me like he was trying to figure out where he’d seen me before. “We met in prison.”
“We did,” I confirmed.
“Didn’t know who you were then.” Hannibal’s sharp gaze stayed locked on me as I resisted the urge to fidget.
“I didn’t either.” It wasn’t a lie. I got my mother’s letter and learned the truth months afterward.
Hannibal turned to Grim. The Devil’s Ride.”
Huh?
“Yeah, I know. We’ll discuss it later.”
Hannibal nodded, keeping his gaze laser-focused on me.
And yeah, it made me feel a bit antsy.
