Page 33 of Reckless

“You went to the opening?” is the first thing she says.

Not ‘Hello.’

Not ‘What are you doing here?’

Or even ‘You bought me flowers.’

Just ‘You went to the opening.’

“You wanted someone to be there for her, so I went. So did all the other guys. It was kind of a shit show. I think Deek bought every fucking thing Millie had in the store. The guy is a pig.”

“They’re beautiful.”

I shrug because they’re just flowers to me. “Penny picked them.”

She grins cockily. “I know.”

I jerk my head back in confusion. “How?”

Her smile widens. “Ro called.”

I stare at her. “I bought those twelve minutes ago.”

“Honey, by the time you paid, half the club already knew.” She shrugs like that explains everything. “Penny called Millie, Millie called Marley, Marley spoke to Victoria, Victoria cornered Ro in the clubhouse, and Ro called me.”

I do the math. “That’s… disturbingly efficient.”

“Welcome to girl world. We’re nothing if not heavily reliant on gossip when it comes to the club and the people in it.”

“That’s less a world and more an intelligence agency.”

She laughs, hugging the flowers a little closer. “You’re just jealous because your brothers still communicate by yelling across a parking lot.”

I smirk. “It’s worked well for us so far.”

“Mm-hmm.” She steps back from the doorway. “You’d better come in.”

I dip my head at her and step through the doorway. The apartment looks exactly the way it always does. Laptop open, files spread across the dining table, and a coffee mug that’s been forgotten halfway through. Nothing staged. Nothing for anyone else’s benefit. She fills a glass jar at the sink and settles the flowers inside, then steps back to admire them.

Her phone buzzes from the kitchen. She doesn’t even glance toward it. That’s unusual. Since I’ve known her, she’s answered every call or text as though someone needed her.

This time she keeps looking at the flowers.

“So,” she says without turning around. “Tell me everything.”

I lean against the kitchen bench. “Deek ordered enough food to bankrupt a small country.”

“Sounds about right.” She smiles.

“Bear stole one of his sausage rolls.”

“Also sounds right.”

“Liam discovered kouign-amann.”

She turns. “Bless you.”

My lips turn up just slightly. “It’s a pastry.”