His head tilted slightly as he reluctantly stepped back. “Because there’s a bunch of bikers you don’t know?”
I snorted. “I grew up among bikers. I know the type. Trust me when I say, they’re not who makes me nervous.”
“Who does?” he wondered.
You do.
“Serial killers,” I replied immediately.
He backed up and reached for my good hand as he pulled me out of the open door of the truck. Only when I was free of it did he slam it closed and say, “Run into many of those?”
I smiled. “Nope.”
“Then nothing scares you?” he teased.
The smile slid off my face. “Actually, Thor terrifies me.”
His eyes studied me as we walked, and only when he was about to hit the walkway that led up to the building did he turn to the left and face the group of men watching us curiously.
“That’s why they’re all here,” he admitted. “They scouted out the area for Thor. And they’ll be here just in case anything goes wrong. Thor’s proved to be a lot more adept at hiding than I would’ve originally given him credit for. I’m not going to think him stupid and possibly put you in danger again. They’re here for added muscle.”
I smiled. “Thor wouldn’t stand a chance against these men.”
And he wouldn’t. That was no lie.
Just as I said that, we made it to his friends, and I stared at Zach.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I still don’t like you, but thank you all the same.”
The man on Zach’s left snorted. “Damn, I like her already.”
Zach shrugged. “I can’t help it.”
Actually, he could.
But whatever.
“He fired your company.” Crockett looked at her man with a narrow-eyed gaze. “So when you’re feeling up to it, we’d like you to help with Zakelina.”
“We would?” Zach drawled.
“We would,” Crockett confirmed.
Zach scrunched up his nose. “We’ll bring her to Lynn’s house, she can swim afterward, and you can meet us up there.”
I nodded once. “I’d honestly like that. These last four days have literally been the suckiest of my life.”
“I’d imagine that being shot would do that to a girl,” one of the bigger dudes I hadn’t met yet—I’d met quite a few when I was visiting with Zakelina over the course of the last few weeks—said.
He must’ve seen my curiosity in his name, because he uncrossed his arms.
Bruno.
I’d heard the name. Just hadn’t seen him.
He’d been at the house one of the times, but he’d never come out of the kitchen, and I’d never left the living room.
It was nice to put a face to the deep, attractive voice, though.
“And you?” I asked the other one I didn’t know.
“Trick,” the one on the end answered. “Nice to meet you.”
I grinned.
“Let’s get the fuck out of this parking lot,” Lynn muttered.
I hadn’t seen him at first. He was in the back, and partially obscured by the pole. But when I turned to him and found the same familiar green eyes of Laric’s looking back at me, it momentarily startled me.
I blinked, going from him to Laric and back, before shaking my head. “I’m sorry, but how the fuck didn’t you see that earlier?”
Laric’s hand squeezed mine. “Shut up.”
There was a bit of hysterical laughter from one of the men toward the middle, but Laric had already steered me toward the front door, leaving the chuckling men behind us.
When we arrived inside it was to find that the women of these men were in attendance as well.
They’d already procured a table and had us set up in the back of the room.
When I arrived at the table, it was to find them all staring at me curiously. There were an array of knockout blondes at the table, and one very beautiful brunette, as well as one heavily pregnant woman with purple hair.
The colorful one was the first to step up.
She held out her hand and said, “Hi, I’m Six.”
My lips turned up into a smile. “I was just being told some things about you. It’s nice to meet you, Six.”
Six looked from me to Laric and back. “Good things?”
I opened my mouth to reply when Laric said, “Great things, Mom.”
I snickered at the sound of exasperation that came out of Lynn as he pulled the chair up from where Six was sitting and sat down.
Six giggled and held out her hand, which I took.
“Welcome to Crazy Town. Please keep both hands and feet inside the car at all times,” she teased.
The others were all introduced to me next, even though I knew a few already. Swayze was with Trick. Trouper was with Beckham who, of course, I knew. We didn’t grow up with each other as much as we saw each other quite a bit during our formative years. Her dad was a SWAT officer in Kilgore while mine was best friends with a SWAT officer that worked with her dad. Parties definitely overlapped.