I got up reluctantly and left her all naked and drowsy on the bed, kicking myself for telling Kara I’d pick her up early from her sleepover.
On the ride to Will’s, I couldn’t get his little sister out of my head. It had been years since I’d had that much fun with someone. It was easy—and shit didn’t come easy to me, ever.
I’d been single since Mia died. It wasn’t like I was opposed to finding someone, exactly, but I’d just never found someone I wanted to stick around for. I had enough responsibility on my plate, and adding another person to the mix sounded goddamn exhausting. Plus, I had Kara to think about. I wasn’t going to bring another person into our life if I thought they’d leave. My kid had lost enough already.
As I pulled into the driveway at Will’s and shut off my bike, I called myself every kind of idiot. Because even though I’d gone over every reason why I shouldn’t make things with Rose bigger than they were, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was in too far with her already. No excuse, rational or otherwise, was going to stop me from taking it further. In short, I was fucked.
Molly answered when I knocked on the door and waved me inside.
“Hey, Mack,” she said sweetly. “The girls are just finishing breakfast.”
She led the way into the kitchen and moved toward the counter where Will was standing, wearing a pair of reindeer printed pajama bottoms. I couldn’t hold back my snicker.
“They’re comfortable as fuck,” he said, pointing at me. “Don’t say a word.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” I replied with a laugh, walking over to Kara so I could give her a kiss on the head.
“Hey, Dad,” she said, tilting her head back to look at me upside down. “I’m almost done.”
“No worries,” I told her with a smile.
“Mack, you want some coffee?” Molly asked.
What I’d really like was a shot of whiskey, but I nodded as I walked toward the adults. “That’d be great, thanks.”
“Thanks for letting Kara sleep over,” Molly said as she handed me a mug. “Reb loves having the girls stay the night.”
“She behave?” I asked.
“They were perfect angels,” Molly replied, making Will choke on his coffee.
“If by perfect angels, you mean they kept us up until one in the morning with shitty karaoke, then yeah. Fit ’em for some wings and halos.”
I smiled as Molly rolled her eyes at Will.
“They had fun,” Molly said firmly. “And Kara’s always a sweetheart.”
“Good,” I replied. My girl was a good kid, but I’d had groups of pre-teen girls at my house before, and I’d seen the way mob mentality made them rabid. They were loud and obnoxious and sometimes mean as hell. I should’ve known it wouldn’t be that way with Kara, Charlie and Rebel, though. Putting three sweet, easygoing girls together didn’t usually have the same affect.
“I’m done!” Kara said, jumping up from her spot at the table.
“Clear your plate,” I ordered as she started to walk away.
“It’s okay,” Molly started to say before her mouth snapped shut.
“I’m guessin’ she didn’t cook breakfast,” I said, turning to look at her. “But even if she had, she could at least bring her plate to the sink. You ain’t her maid.”
“Point taken,” Molly said ruefully, smiling at Kara as she rinsed her plate. “Thanks, K.”
“Welcome,” my daughter sang as she skipped away.
The other two girls brought their plates to the sink and rinsed them, making my lips twitch, because I was pretty sure they were only doing it for my benefit. Then they followed Kara out of the room. Once it was just the adults, Will turned to me.
“What you got goin’ on this week?” he asked easily.
“Rebuilding that old Chevelle,” I replied, nodding when he whistled in appreciation.
“You ridin’ out at all?”
Molly walked away as the conversation turned. She probably knew more than she’d ever let on, but she made a deliberate choice to keep her nose out of club business. She didn’t want to know anything.
Most of the old ladies didn’t know much about the shadier side of the business, but all of them knew a little. It was hard to keep so many secrets, even if they never knew specifics. Molly was different, though. She didn’t want to know anything, and Will made sure that her wishes were followed.
“Got a short run to Corvallis,” I murmured, drinking my coffee. “But nothing big until next month.”
“You goin’ to Seattle this time?”
“If I can find somewhere for Kara to stay,” I replied.
“She can probably stay here,” Will said. “I’ll talk to Mol about it.”
“I’m ready,” Kara announced, peeking her head around the corner.
“Alright,” I replied.
“Let me know if you need another pair of eyes this week,” Will said as I started to leave. “I have a bad feelin’ shit’s about to get squirrelly.”