Out of the Ashes (Sons of Templar MC 3)

I struggled to find words. I feared I might burst into tears if I said anything just yet.

“That was kick ass, Lexie! You got a great voice, girl,” a deep voice declared, sounding impressed.

I jumped slightly. I had been so deep in my own mind I hadn’t heard anyone approach. On turning, I saw that I hadn’t heard two people approach.

Lucky and Killian were standing in our driveway, leaning on the hood of my borrowed car. A quick glance to the curb showed me that they were delivering Betty.

Lexie obviously hadn’t noticed them either, since her face was flaming red. She wasn’t shy about much, but I’m guessing it had a lot to do with a mini hot guy whose eyes were currently burning into her with an intensity that spelled danger.

“Sorry we’re a bit late. We got held up,” Lucky continued, walking toward me. “I brought reinforcements for the heavy lifting.” He jerked his head back at Killian, who was still leaning against the car, eyes locked on Lexie. She was fiddling with her guitar, her head down.

“Looks like you don’t need our help,” he said, his eyes moving around the garage.

“Well no, it seems I’m stronger than I appear,” I gave him a grin. Lucky gave me a once over. “I don’t doubt it. Here’s the keys.” He handed me my keychain, which had colorful charms dangling from it.

“Thanks a bunch for coming over and delivering it. I really appreciate it,” I told him sincerely. “I’ll just go and grab the keys for the other car,” I said, although I was reluctant to leave Lexie under the watchful gaze of the baby biker.

I tried to break the land speed record to go into the house and retrieve the keys. Unfortunately, I never placed them in the same place twice, which resulted in me having to conduct a house wide search. There was more than one reason why Betty’s keys had an array of colorful chains.

When I finally made it out of the house, both bikers were inside the garage chatting with Lexie. I wasn’t uneasy at leaving her alone with Lucky, despite his menacing appearance. It was the other guy I was worried about.

“Sorry,” I puffed out as I reached them. “They were hiding from me.” I handed them to Lucky.

“I told you we need a key rack.” Lexie looked over at me.

I narrowed my eyes at how close Killian was standing to her. “We do not need a key rack.”

“Where were said keys then?” she asked blandly.

I glared at her. “They might have been in the freezer,” I murmured.

Lucky chuckled at this announcement.

Lexie raised her eyebrows.

I turned to Lucky, who was still grinning. “Thanks for everything. I assume your company will send me an invoice?” I strove to sound grown up and professional, but I was afraid the whole keys in the freezer thing shot that to shit.

He gave me a weird look. Not a weird look like he was trying to decipher what mental institution I belonged to, but more like he was itching to say something.

The look passed and his eyes softened. “Yeah, babe, will do.” He jerked his head at Killian. “We’re off, Kill.”

“See ya, thanks again.” I waved at them.

Killian gave me a chin lift and Lexie a meaningful look before turning to the car.

“See you Mia, Lexie. I’m sure we’ll be seeing you soon,” Lucky declared before folding himself into the car.

Not likely. I intended to stay far, far away from anything or anyone that could put me close to Zane.

“Thanks for the pizza, Mrs. Spencer,” Sam, Lexie’s bandmate said as he stood up to clear his plate.

There was an echo of thank you’s from the remaining boys around the table. Yes, boys. Lexie’s bandmates were all boys.

“I’ll be happy to provide you all with sustenance in the form of fried cheesy goodness on one condition,” I announced to the table at large. “That you don’t call me Mrs. Spencer. Mia is fine.”

They all grinned at me. Lexie had seemed to fall into a good crowd, although they may have looked a bit rough around the edges. Sam was tall and skinny, dressed in all black, with chunky silver rings on his wrists and a black bandanna pushing back his shoulder length hair. Noah was wearing a faded Nirvana tee, ripped jeans and a beanie covering his head. He had seriously good bone structure and was also tall, but had some impressive teenage boy muscles coming out of his Nirvana tee shirt. Wyatt had spiky blond hair, was wearing a white shirt unbuttoned with a tee underneath and faded denim jeans. A couple of leather necklaces hung from his neck.

I didn’t know what I had been expecting from Lexie’s band, but they were not it. They looked like delinquents, even though Noah definitely had a future in the male modeling industry. But I found they were polite and surprisingly articulate for teenage boys. I liked them.

I snatched a plate from Sam as the others moved to help clean up. “I’ll do this—you guys go off and make sweet, sweet music.” I pointed a finger at them. “Though if you suck, I do reserve the right to revoke garage privileges.”

“Mom,” Lexie warned.

I glanced at her. “I’m sure you won’t suck, honey, but I just need to cover my bases,” I told her. “Now go.” I shooed them with my hands.

The boys all grinned at me, and Wyatt met my eyes. “You’re seriously cool, Mia,” he stated.

They disappeared out the door and out into the garage. I busied myself with cleaning up pizza dishes and the like. I heard once they started playing that they did not suck. Of course, I knew they wouldn’t. I was also glad that our closest neighbor was MIA and the sound was not likely to reach the ones on the other side of the house.

I tossed and turned in bed, sleep eluding me. This was due to a number of reasons. Lexie’s soulful rendition of a beautiful song and the memories it dredged up, plus the slight concern I had for her being in a band full of hotties. Not that I didn’t trust her. I did. But I was a mom. I worried. It was a job requirement. Plus, I may trust her, but three teenage boys? Not a chance in Hell. I was glad I would be able to keep a watchful eye over them until they gained that trust. The biggest thing that had me yet to meet the sandman was the rumble of Harley pipes I kept hearing. Not outside, but in my head. They had sounded just as I was shutting down the house for the night, and I had peered out my window to see Zane pulling up his driveway. I had quickly darted my head back into the safety of the house so he wouldn’t catch me peeping. But I had gone to bed with a sick feeling in my stomach knowing he was across the road.