Rowe (Henchmen MC Next Generation 4)

“Ah, a yoga retreat? A bouquet of vegan donuts? A human-sized replica of your cock to stand alongside her pussy one?”

“Pussy? Are we talking about pussy?” Sway asked, appearing out of nowhere, and dropping down in the seat across from me.

“That word is a dog whistle to him,” Crow said, coming in from the kitchen with a cup of coffee. He’d completely recovered from the bullet he’d taken at the ambush. Though, to be fair, the man had never acted like he’d even been hit. I didn’t know what it was about the guy, but it was almost like he thrived on pain.

“Can you blame me? Things have been noticeably testosterone-heavy around here lately. When’s the last time any of us saw the inside of a bar, let alone felt the inside of a pussy?” Sway asked. And since he had a point, none of us said anything.

“We’re heading out soon anyway,” Crow said, shrugging. “You can get as much road pussy as Slash will let you stop for.”

“That’s news to me,” I said, wondering how much I’d missed just from being in my room trying to rest or at therapy.

“Yeah. Judge has a lead on a clubhouse location. Slash wants to go check it out before it hits the open market. Shit isn’t lasting long out that way.”

“So Fallon has given you the go-ahead for a new chapter?” I asked, feeling a little disappointed in a way. I’d gotten used to having them around. We’d fought and planned and partied side-by-side for a long time. It was easy to forget that the plan had always been for them to leave.

“Yeah. We just wanted to stay on to wrap up the case on who shot us,” Crow said, motioning with his coffee mug between the two of us. “Soon as we get that squared away, we are hitting the road.”

“Where about is the possible new clubhouse?” I asked.

“California,” Sway said.

“Obviously,” I shot back, shaking my head. “But where?”

“Shady Valley,” Crow said. “I like the sound of it.”

“It sounds ominous,” I said.

“It sounds like a good time,” Crow added.

“This guy thinks triple homicides are a rip-roaring good time,” Sway explained, smirking.

“That’s because they are. When’s the last time I got to squeeze someone else’s blood out of my clothes so I didn’t drip evidence everywhere?” Crow asked, pushing at one of his cheek piercings with his tongue.

“I don’t know. That massacre over at Danny’s clubhouse before it became a bar?” Sway suggested.

“It’s been months. Too long,” Crow declared. “I am ready to get my hands dirty again. No offense, but shit is established here. You don’t see as much action as we are going to see when we set up shop.”

“That’s okay with me,” I said, shrugging. “I don’t mind the calm here and there.”

“Hey, so what’s a gift for a woman you once rejected but want back?” Dezi asked.

“A mini cow?” Sway suggested, getting a ‘What’d I tell ya’ motion from Dezi and a surprised laugh from me.

“Yo,” Malcolm called, waving me over. “I’m heading home for a bit. You want me to drop you at your place to check shit out for a bit?”

I’d been letting him handle checking on my place since I’d hurt my back. But I was getting around a little bit better. I could handle it this time.

“Figured you were getting a little cabin fever,” Malc said as we made our way out to his truck.

“I am,” I admitted. “Going to physical therapy hardly counts as getting out.”

That was true.

“You’re going the wrong way,” I mumbled a few minutes later when he turned off the main road.

“Gotta pick up Billie,” he said, shrugging. “She’s bitching that she wants to do yoga in the woods. And that she refuses to live in a ‘police state’ and… a bunch of other shit about having guards watching her. So, I figured since we are heading in that direction anyway, we can kill two birds.”

Not since I was on my first date as a fucking teenager did I get nervous about seeing a woman. But there was no denying the fluttering sensation in my stomach, or the way my chest felt tight and my palms sweaty as we pulled up to Billie’s complex.

I was nervous to see her.

But I wouldn’t have to wait long. As soon as Seth knocked to tell her that Malc was there, she tore out of that apartment building like a bat out of hell, pausing only to raise her face up to the sun, eyes closed, smile serene. Like she hadn’t seen the sunshine in days.

There was a brief pause to go into her van to grab her yoga mat, before she was bouncing over toward the truck.

It wasn’t until she saw me in the passenger seat that she stopped, her head jerking back, as surprised to see me as I was to know we were picking her up.