Page 108 of Deacon

There was no confusion about what the club had just been told. Blue was his Old Lady and Little Jax his son. This was their place now.

Evan leaned closer to me. “Well. That was aggressively heterosexual and weirdly moving.”

I elbowed him, though he wasn’t entirely wrong. He rubbed his side without conviction. “You know I’m right.”

Blue eventually made it back to us after being intercepted by several women who clearly already loved her. Priest stayed close through all of it, Little Jax secure against his chest until Blue took the baby again.

We settled into a corner with oversized couches. Jade lingered beside me for only a few seconds because her attention had already found the pool tables.

I followed her gaze. Jackson stood with Cage and Ledger, a cue in one hand. Whatever nerves I had carried into the compound shifted when I saw how quickly Jade’s face changed at the sight of him. “Go on.”

Her eyes snapped to mine. “You sure?”

“That’s why we came.” The reminder settled something in me too.

Hope flashed across her face before she could hide it. “Okay.”

She crossed the room trying for casual and failing in a way that made my heart ache. Jackson noticed her almost immediately and made room at his side. Cage grinned while whatever Ledger said next made Jade laugh. Only then did some of the tension leave my shoulders.

Two women joined us soon after. The first looked older than Blue and me by maybe a decade, composed in a way that suggested she missed very little. The younger woman beside her was athletic and sun-browned, her easy confidence fitting the clubhouse as naturally as the cut on Blue’s back.

“Tessa,” the first woman said, warmth softening her expression when she saw Blue. “It’s good to see you back. Prez here was losin’ his mind with you gone.”

Blue’s smile turned small and genuine. “It’s good to be back.”

Tessa shifted her attention to Evan and me. “You must be the hospital people, I’m Graves’ Old Lady.”

Evan looked delighted by the introduction. “That sounds either affectionate or threatening,” he said, his curiosity clearly beating whatever nerves he might have carried in with him.

The younger woman laughed. “Could be both. I’m Raina, Nomad’s little sister.”

Blue made the introductions. “This is Lila and Evan.”

I nodded, but my attention had already wandered back to Jade. She stood beside Jackson while Cage lined up a shot. Ledger watched from the other side of the table, calm as ever. Jackson’s body stayed angled toward Jade even when his attention should have been on the game, as if tracking her had already become instinct.

Then he looked up and caught me watching. The slow wink he sent across the room had no business landing as hot as it did.

Evan saw it too. Of course he did. A laugh slipped under his breath. “That man is shameless.”

I kept my eyes away from Jackson on principle. “Be quiet.”

“I didn’t even really say anything yet.” His grin said he considered that a technical victory.

“You were about to.” I knew that grin too well to pretend otherwise.

Then his attention drifted past me toward the bar, and the humor disappeared from his face.

Ink sat half-turned on a stool with a woman pressed against his shoulder. Tiny shorts and a tight black top made her intentions obvious before her hand ever slid along his arm. She leaned in to whisper against his ear with practiced confidence. Ink looked neither interested nor bothered. He looked used to it.

The brightness went out of Evan so quickly my stomach tightened. Raina caught it too. Her eyes flicked once toward the bar before she perched on the arm of the couch beside him, close enough to keep the conversation private without making it obvious she was offering cover. “That’s Vixen,” she said.

Evan gave her a blank little smile. “That supposed to mean something to me?”

Raina’s mouth twitched. “Only that she knows how to put herself near power and make it look accidental.”

My attention sharpened. She kept her focus on Evan rather than the woman across the room. “She does that. Angles herself where she thinks she’ll get the most attention, the most benefit, the most leverage. Doesn’t mean much.”

Evan’s expression stayed smooth, but I knew how much effort that cost him. “And Ink?”