Jo sits back, tapping her chin. “Whatdoyou know about what happened?”
“More than you do,” I say, and she shrugs and doesn’t argue. Jo’s looking at it from the legal side, from the business half of her that needs to protect the club she’s built. “Brynnemade a choice. She’s the part of Kimber that she tries to forget about.”
“I won’t pretend Brynne and Kimber are different people,” she replies. “Brynne Kimber is her name. They are one in the same person. Running from the past never works out. If she was the victim of something, and I’m not saying she is, then there will be a court document to prove it and there will be no reason she can’t come here. We just need proof, and Kimber knows that. I’m not going to take anything from a loyal member and an old friend unless I have to.”
I blow out a breath. This isn’t really what I wanted to hear, but Jo sounds less upset than she did on the phone when she called Kimber. “Don’t cut her off yet. I’ll let her know to get you what you need so she can come back around as she pleases.”
Once I tell her that I spoke to Jo about this.
She hesitates, cocking her head as she watches me. I do my best to keep my gaze on her face, but it’s hard when all those scars are glaring at me. They are mostly little lines, but they are all over her skin. They are more prominent than the piercingsin her cheeks, which is saying something. The only thing that’s really changed about Jo is…
I lift a brow. “You’re not wearing your hats.”
She offers me a strained grin. “No cover-ups either. I don’t want to hide anything about myself anymore.”
Nodding, I lean back in the chair, switching topics. Usually, if I can talk to Jo for a few and soften her up she’s easier to convince. She’s already friendlier than she was with Kim on the phone. “Where’s Vinny?”
Something flickers across her gaze, and she fights back a smile. “Home. We were gone for a long time and there are still some matters to attend to.”
“Of course. You seem different somehow.”
“I’m happy,” she says slowly, and this time the smile breaks through. “It just took longer than I thought.”
I don’t know exactly what that means, but Jo seems more relaxed the longer we talk. It’s a drastic change from December last year when she called me in a panic about overstocking before they had to leave. She’s calmer now, more comfortable in her scarred skin, and she doesn’t seem like she’s looking over her shoulder so much anymore. Even with a scary husband like Vinny she always seemed worried about something.
Jo blows out a breath. “I like Kimber. I know she’s had issues with some of our members, but for the most part I do like her. She knows that. I just can’t bend the rules on safety for one person. I need her to get me what was requested, and then we can gloss this over. I doubt she purposefully hurt someone unless it was deserved.”
It’s as close to telling me the truth as she’s going to get. I’m itching to see whatever the court document says, but Kimber would probably lose it if I asked. She seems pretty torn up about the whole thing.
Jonah.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask about him, but I just got Jo in a good mood and don’t need to set her on edge again. If there’s something to learn about Jonah, I can ask David. He’s the next person on my to-do list.
“Go see Kimber,” Jo says knowingly, snapping me out of my thoughts. She’s moving on to another stack of papers, a grin tugging at her lips. “Tell her I say hello, and I look forward to seeing her back at the club soon.”
