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Tex brightened. “Oh, well, why didn’t you say so? I could murder a few of those.”

I delivered the bag into his eager arms. “Just save a few for everyone else.”

“I guess if I have to.”

He sorted through the bag, reading the sticker labels on each pizzaco, before pulling out two. He passed the bag onto Hollywood, who took one, then on to Ghost. By the time the bag made it back to me, I’d grabbed a beer from the cooler and taken the only open seat between Hollywood and Aiden, who held Ruby in his lap, cuddling her close.

Ruby usually made the rounds at these gatherings, but she seemed content to stay warm in Aiden’s lap.

“Park!” she said.

I pointed to my chest. “Joey. It’s too cold for the park.”

“Park boy.”

Tex grinned. “Looks like she’s giving you a new name.”

I shook my head. “I guess it’s a better nickname than Joyride.”

Just saying it made me cringe. I couldn’t forget the look on Kit’s face when he asked me if it was some kind of twisted joke about what happened.

“You don’t like your nickname?” Aiden asked.

“Well, not really. It’s a reminder of what I did. I just…always figured it served me right.”

Hollywood leaned forward to look at me. “You should have said something. We can use your real name.”

I shrugged. I’d always considered the nickname part of my penance—an inescapable reminder of the terrible mistake I’d made. I’d never imagined Dakota or her family would ever hear it. But Kit had, and it had upset him.

“You guys all go by nicknames. I didn’t want to upset the world order or anything,” I joked.

“Eh, Knight is technically my name,” Knight pointed out.

His full name was Will Knight, but he’d started going by Knight in his biker days, and it had stuck in prison because he was always trying to protect the guys who needed it.

“We’ll call you Park, like little Ruby, if that’s what you want, kid,” Ghost said gruffly.

I laughed at that. “Please don’t. Joey works fine.”

The conversation moved on, and I focused on chowing down on my pizzaco. The sausage-and-peppers had gone quick, leaving me with a barbecue chicken, but it was damn good too.

“Kinda nice not to have to grill tonight,” Knight said. “It’s too fucking cold.”

He leaned forward while he ate, staying close to the firepit, which was the only thing keeping us from freezing our nuts off.

“Might be time to go back to Ball Breakers,” Ghost said. “Winter’s a bitch.”

“I don’t know about taking Ruby there,” Hollywood said. “Maybe she can hang with her cousins, though.”

“If not, we’ll all cram into one of our places,” Knight said.

“Just not mine,” Ghost said. “We’d be sardines in there.”

“It can be our place, if you’re willing to risk stepping on a toy and breaking an ankle,” Tex said as he stood up. “I gotta take off. Thanks for dinner, Joy—er, Joey.”

“No problem.”

Shortly after Tex left, Knight gathered up the trash and Ghost took the cooler into his camper.