After Burn (Lost Kings MC 10)

“Later, Mina. Grandma is busy right now.”

Grandma? Holy shit. She certainly doesn’t look old enough to be a grandmother.

Don’t you dare say that out loud.

“But later this afternoon I’m all yours,” she promises the little girl.

Mina only pouts for a second before racing off to play with other children around her age.

Valentina straightens up and smiles. “She’ll either keep me young or be the death of me.”

I chuckle but don’t have a lot to offer on the subject. She takes my arm and leads me around the edge of the pool. I’m introduced me to several old ladies from around the country, giving me an even better idea of how large the Lost Kings really are. Somehow I magically keep my foot out of my mouth.

“How do you like upstate New York?” Valentina asks when we’re alone again.

“Oh, I love it except for the summers and winters.” I consider her question again. “Did you mean the geography or the club?”

She smiles. “Both.” Her gaze searches the crowd before landing on Rock, Z, and Priest. “My husband says Rock is national board material.”

“Oh.” I’m not sure what to say. “That’s good.”

“Our clubhouse isn’t far from here. Hopefully there will be time for you to visit before the end of the weekend.”

“Oh, sure.”

“The national meeting usually takes place near wherever the president’s club is based.”

“Oh.” God, I sound like a moron. Surely I can come up with a better answer. “That must mean a lot of work for you.”

“It means more people stopping by. But this.” She raises her hands to indicate the hotel. “The board plans this out.”

Across the patio, I catch Trinity and try to wave her over. She smiles and nods before turning back to her conversation with Charlotte.

Wench.

“That’s our SAA’s wife,” I explain.

“You’re close?”

“With Trinity? Oh yes.”

“That’s good.” She glances around the pool area. “We have our own sisterhood, right? Whether we like each other or not, we have each other’s backs. But it’s easier if we get along.”

“There are only four of us, so we’re pretty tight.”

“Good. I like to hear that.”

While she’s pleasant about it, I can’t help feeling that Valentina’s judging me. Assessing whether I’m fit to be the wife of a national board member.

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of my current role.

So many questions run through my head. How long has she been married to Priest? How long has he been national president? How the fuck is she the most wrinkle-free grandmother I’ve ever seen? Stuff like that.

Wrath stops by and nods to Valentina. “Good to see you,” he says in probably the most pleasant voice I’ve heard Wrath use with someone outside of our clubhouse.

“Been a while,” she answers. “Good to be here and see everyone.”

He rests his arm on my shoulders, giving me a reassuring squeeze that I appreciate more than he probably realizes. “You seen Trin?”

I point over my shoulder. “She was over that way with Charlotte a little while ago.”

“See you ladies later.”

After he’s gone Valentina nods in approval. “You have the other members’ respect.”

“Well, Wrath hazed me pretty good at first. He didn’t like that I was a lawyer.” Shoot, maybe I shouldn’t have said that? “Actually, I think he just didn’t like me in general,” I add because I’m pretty sure that’s true too.

“That’s his job. Protect the club and his brothers from outsiders.” She stops and allows her gaze to wander over the crowd, before returning to me. “Priest’s brothers gave him shit about me back in the day.”

“So, it’s customary?”

“No. I’m half-Mexican and they didn’t care for that,” she states plainly.

What the … how the heck do I respond to that? Everything I come up with in my head sounds stupid and useless. It hasn’t escaped my notice how women are treated in this world, but I’ve never given a lot of thought to how much harder it might be for women of color.

My brain blanks on any sort of intelligent response. “But you won them over?” I say to fill the silence.

Her lips curl up. “Not exactly. Priest shot one of the brothers in the foot for calling me a border bunny among other colorful terms. It seemed to do the trick.”

“Oh. Wow.” I cover my mouth with my hand and laugh. “That’s effective.”

“I still get the occasional hola, momacita thrown at me.” She shrugs. “A hard stare and firm ‘fuck off’ usually works.”

“Damn, you’re brave.”

Her face hardens, losing the girls-getting-to-know-each-other look of a few seconds ago. “Don’t engage, don’t apologize, don’t take any shit, Hope.”

“The three D’s?”

She smiles again. “You got it.”

CHAPTER TEN

Priest returns Rock to me an hour or so later. Valentina takes her husband’s arm and waves, promising to catch up with me again later.

“How’d that go?” Rock asks, watching them walk away.

“I like her. She’s a lot less terrifying than Tawny,” I whisper. Lifting my gaze, I stare him straight in the eyes. “Although I do have some questions for you when we’re alone later.”

The corner of his mouth twitches. “I can only imagine.”

“Let’s go find Heidi. I want to see how Alexa likes the pool.”

He takes my hand and we move closer to the pool, finding Heidi in the shallow end with Alexa in her arms.

“She seems to like it,” I call out to get Heidi’s attention.

“Yayayaya!” Alexa babbles, reaching for my hand. Heidi floats her over to us and I playfully splash some water at them. Alexa squeals and slaps her hands in the water even faster.

“Have you seen Murphy?” Heidi asks. “He was worried she’d be scared of the water, but she’s loving it.”

“He’s on his way,” Rock assures her.

Heidi turns and points to a table in the corner. “We set up over there. Charlotte and Trinity are around somewhere. Wrath returned from where all the other Wraths went.” She grins at her joke about the SAA meeting. “I’m not sure where my brother is.”

We bump into Teller and Murphy on our way to the table.

“Oh my fuck, is that Heidi?” Murphy stops in his tracks, staring slack-jawed at Heidi as she carries Alexa out of the pool and over to a small group of women with children about Alexa’s age.

“What the fuck is she wearing?” Teller grumbles.

I scowl up at him. “A suit that she looks lovely in.”

“Did you do this to her, Hope?” he asks.

“Yup. She’s almost twenty, Teller. What would you like her to wear to a pool party? A bag?”

He sweeps his gaze over me. “You’re covered.”

“Watch yourself,” Rock growls from behind me.

I fix my stink-eye stare on Teller. “I’m also thirty-something.” Dipshit. “Don’t make me tell Charlotte you’re giving Heidi a hard time,” I warn.

He laughs but doesn’t have a chance to respond before Murphy slaps his arm.

The look on Murphy’s face is all possessive, protective male who’s not fucking around as he beckons Teller closer. “She?

?s still self-conscious since having Alexa,” he explains in a low, threatening voice. “So if you say one damn thing about what she’s wearing, I will seriously fuck you up.”

Teller blinks and stares at his best friend while I bite my lip and try not to laugh.

“I’m not joking,” Murphy adds.

Teller holds up his hands. “Okay. Okay. I’ll just pretend my baby sister’s not on display in front of the entire organization. No problem, bro.”

“Fuck off.”

“Murphy.” I grab his arm and pull him closer before he hauls off and punches Teller. I lean up on tiptoes. “I know Carter’s busy, so bring Alexa over to us. We’ll watch her for the afternoon so you two can have some grown-up alone time if you want.”

Murphy hesitates. “You sure you don’t mind? Don’t you want your own alone time?”

“We had alone time earlier and I’m sure we’ll have more later.”

Teller groans, but Murphy’s already stalking over to the pool and tapping Heidi on the shoulder.

A couple of the girls try flirting with Murphy, but he brushes them off. He takes Alexa in one arm and wraps his other around Heidi’s waist.

Teller shakes his head. “Can’t even be mad at him since he’s so good to her.”

“You just like starting trouble.”

“I’m a guy. I don’t want to see a chick, think ‘oh, she’s hot,’ then realize it’s my baby sister.” He shivers.

Rock cocks his head and stares at Teller. “What the fuck’s wrong with you?”

Charlotte sneaks up behind her man and grabs his shoulders, jumping up to kiss his cheek. “Were you checking out girls?”

He turns and sweeps her into his arms, staring down at her. “No, I was looking for you.”

Charlotte throws her head back laughs. “It’s all good. You can tell me the truth. Found a couple guys who fill out their shorts quite nicely for me to look at too.”

Now she has Teller’s full attention. “That right?”

They take off for the pool, teasing each other while Rock and I shake our heads.

“She’s probably the best thing that ever happened to him,” Rock says.

“I love that she gives it right back to him.” I watch them playfully teasing each other for a few seconds. “He’s good for her too, I think.”