“You know what?” I grinned and shook my head. “Yeah, actually. I guess they are.”
Nina giggled from the passenger seat. “Well we’re going to their house for lunch, which might suggest that you are.”
I rolled my eyes, snorting a laugh.
A laugh. Me. Shit, how the hell had she gotten to me like that?
“And his name is seriously Stone?”
I chuckled. “I mean, yeah, I guess. He was born with a different one, but a lot of these motorcycle gang guys, they end up just going with their club name for life.”
Her brows shot up.
“He’s in a motorcycle gang?”
I glanced at her, grinning when I saw the shock and nervousness on her face.
“Was, babygirl. Was. A couple of the guys up here actually used to be. I think it’s why they stayed once they found Blackthorn. This place is good for decompressing and starting fresh after that kind of life.”
She watched me, and I could feel her eyes tracing over me.
“Have you lived that kind of life?”
I smiled wryly. “Not that dark. I wasn’t in a motorcycle gang, but…” I trailed off and shook my head. Nina’s hand slid over my shoulder, squeezing me and somehow giving me strength.
“I’ve seen enough that, yeah, maybe being up here feels like starting over or letting go of all that shit.”
She gave me another squeeze before she turned and looked around us. “It is gorgeous up here.”
“Yeah,” I said quietly, my hand dropping to her bare knee. “It is.”
Her hand found mine, and it stayed there until we pulled up the drive to Stone and Jackie’s place. Their house was a converted old barn that’d they’d done an amazing job with—rustic enough to fit in with the ruggedness of Blackthorn, and beautiful enough to be a welcoming, warm home. Truth be told, I was pretty envious of the place after having come over a few times in my weekends up at Blackthorn fixing up my cabin.
Their place was on some land behind another house owned by Ryker, another of the Blackthorn men I’d come to know up here. Ryker and his wife Addison and his daughter from his first marriage, Kyrie were just good people. Shit, everyone up here was, truth be told.
I spotted Ryker and Addison perched on a swinging bench on the back porch, and they waved when they realized who I was.
“Is that Stone?”
“Nah, that’s Ryker, and his wife Addison. They’re friends of Stone and Jackie’s. Good people.”
Nina’s brow shot up to her hairline, and I grinned, already knowing where she was going.
“That’s his wife?”
I chuckled. “Yeah.”
“She’s really pretty. And she looks a lot younger than him.”
I grinned, turning to her and squeezing her hand. “Jeez, imagine being with some old dude like that, huh?”
She blushed fiercely as she turned back, her lips catching between her teeth.
“Oh, I can imagine,” she whispered lowly, eliciting a growl from my throat as I saw the heat in her eyes.
We drove past, and we both turned at the sound of two younger girls shrieking and playing with some kind of bean-bag throwing game in the yard between the houses.
“That’s Ryker’s daughter Kyrie from his first wife, and Jackie’s daughter Brooke, from her ex-husband.”
Nina smiled. “You weren’t kidding about Blackthorn being a place for second chances.”
I chuckled. “Nope. Ryker’s ex is a whole story from before my time up here. But the whole thing with Jackie’s ex, Darrell, is how I found Blackthorn. She was on our radar for possible witness protection since her ex was a real piece of shit of a crooked cop. But she ended up running from him and getting way-laid here. Stone stepped up big time in protecting her and her girl from her ex.”
I scowled, thinking of Darrell and the shit he’d tried to bring down on Jackie and his own daughter. The asshole was in jail now, pretty much thanks to Stone.
“Anyways,” I shook my head. “Stone is for all intents and purposes Brooke’s dad now, just like Addison is more a mom to Kyrie than her birth mother ever was.”
I pulled the truck to a stop and nodded as Jackie and Stone stepped out of their house and waved. I hadn’t given Stone the full story, but he knew me enough to have an idea that my being here with Nina wasn’t something I needed advertised. Didn’t need a bunch of questions either, but then, the guys up on Blackthorn understood that more than most.
“Hey, man,” Stone grinned, shaking my hand firmly in his strong grip and pulling me in to clap me on the back. “You get that circuit breaker issue figured out?”
I nodded gruffly. “Grounding issue. You were right.”
He grinned. “Fuckin’ knew it.”
Jackie sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically as she shoved him out of the way to give me a hug.
“He gloats. Will you tell him to stop gloating?”