I place my hands on his hips and he moves them to where I usually hang on.
Across the parking lot, I catch Tawny staring at us. She shakes her head as she straps on her helmet.
“You all right?” Rock asks.
“Yup.”
Mad at myself for letting Tawny rattle me, but otherwise everything’s perfect.
I catch Tawny glaring my way again, and this time I lift my hand. There’s only one finger I actually want to flip her way, but I behave and wiggle my fingers at her in a carefree manner instead.
Then hang on tight to my man.
Stump’s clubhouse is in a festive mood when we arrive. It’s almost dark and the prospects at the gate hurry to open it as we approach.
It’s Stump’s son, Chaser, who greets us outside. “Long time, man. Good to have you.”
“Thanks.”
He greets Hope the same way and she immediately seems to relax.
Chaser’s wife, Mallory, gives Hope a big hug. They’ve met less than a handful of times, but Mallory’s always been a good hostess. If she hadn’t grown up as the daughter of a mob boss, I’d say she’s a lot like Hope.
Chaser moves on to say hello to Sway and Z ambles up next to me.
“Christ, Mallory’s still smokin’ hot,” he mutters as he watches the girls talk.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed tonight?”
“Come on. The term MILF was created for her.”
I slap my palm against his shoulder, pushing him back to get his full attention. “Keep your eye on our girls tonight, please.”
“Who’s watching your back?”
“Teller.”
He nods, not insulted that I’m asking him to look out for the girls instead of standing next to me discussing club business. Not that Z won’t do plenty of that too.
All of our attention is drawn to a black stretch Navigator pulling into the parking lot.
“What the fuck?” Z mutters. Teller and Dex wander over with similar questioning expressions.
I can take a guess who’s going to step out of the limo, but I wait with my mouth shut.
“Oh!” Mallory turns and hurries over to the car.
Two overly muscled goons jump out as if they pulled up to a red-carpet movie premier, instead of a midlevel outlaw motorcycle club in the backwoods of western New York.
Goon number one opens the back door and Mr. DeLova—Mallory’s father—steps out.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Stump grumbles as he passes us and pastes on a fake smile.
“Didn’t realize we were in for a family reunion,” Dex mutters.
“This can’t be good,” Teller says.
Hope and Charlotte are still surrounded with other old ladies of the club and probably have no idea of the significance of this visit.
I can only assume it means trouble for Stump.
I just hope my crew can stay out of the crossfire.
CHAPTER FOUR
The excitement of the unexpected visit from Mallory’s father seems to change the atmosphere of the party.
Oh, there’s still an abundance of the usual drugs, drunken dancing, and topless girls pouring shots. I swear at this point, I’m pretty much blind to all of those antics.
Besides the debauchery, there’s an air of everyone rushing around to please Mr. DeLova. And the few times I’ve met Stump he didn’t exactly seem like the type to go out of his way to please anyone.
Mallory also went from welcoming hostess to tense and edgy the minute her father showed up. I wish I could do something to help her out, but I’m not sure what would be helpful.
Even though we’ve only met a few times, I’m usually able to relax around her. I never feel like she’s waiting to stab me in the back.
Unlike other people I won’t name at the moment.
“Hope, why don’t we go in the kitchen and help out in there?” Tawny says, taking my arm and dragging me through the swinging doors before I give her an answer.
Z sort of trails behind us, and out of the corner of my eye, I catch him motioning Charlotte to follow me.
Well, at least I won’t be alone with Tawny.
It’s mostly club girls in the kitchen cooking and preparing drinks. Tawny takes over immediately and I admire the balls of her coming into someone else’s clubhouse and immediately bossing their girls around.
A short dark-haired young woman flinches when she realizes who Tawny is, and slinks out the door.
“Ten dollars says Sway’s banged her like a barn door,” Charlotte whispers in my ear.
“Ew, I don’t want to even… ew.”
Tawny glances over. “What’s wrong, girls?”
“Nothing.” I jam my elbow in Charlotte’s ribs, hoping she’ll keep her theory to herself.
Eventually there’s nothing left to do in the kitchen. Z pokes his head in and curls his finger at me. “Your man’s looking for you.”
“Sway out there?” Tawny calls out.
Z’s face smooths into an expressionless mask. “Not sure where he is, Tawny. Probably talking to Stump.”
Tawny narrows her eyes and glares at him, but his expression doesn’t change. Nor does his answer.
Eager to get back to Rock, I duck out of the kitchen. Rock’s sitting at the bar and he pulls me against him. “You want my chair?” he asks.
“Nope. This is nice.” I run my hands over his thighs, admiring the hard muscles underneath soft, worn denim. He cocks his head and pushes some hair off my cheek. “What are you doing, baby doll?” he asks in a low voice.
“Touching you.”
The corners of his eyes crinkle with his smile.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“Hope so.”
Well, that doesn’t tell me anything.
He signals the girl behind the bar to bring me a drink.
“Oh! I’m so sorry about that,” Mallory says, joining us. “Dad’s going to kill me,” she says, and it doesn’t take a genius to recognize she’s referring to Stump. “I had no idea my father would be stopping by tonight.”
Rock grins. “Still keeping tabs on his baby girl?”
“Ugh,” she groans. “Please.” She turns my way. “Thanks so much for helping out.”
“I didn’t do much. It was mostly Tawny.”
Her lips quirk as if she’s familiar with Tawny’s brand of “helping.”
“So, Hope, did Rock ever tell you about the first time we met?” she asks with a devilish smile.
You’ve got to be kidding. Here I think Mallory’s so nice, and she wants to share a story about how she banged my husband back in the day?
Behind me, Rock groans. “You don’t have to share that story, Mallory.”
She grins even wider. “Oh come on. It’s cute.”
Another groan from Rock. “It’s really not.”
My face must betray what I’m thinking, because the smile slides off Mallory’s face. “It’s not that, Hope.” Her eyes sparkle with mischief again. “Chaser and I had just gotten engaged.” She wiggles her left hand in my direction and I stop to stare at the stack of pretty sparklers on her ring finger.
“I’ve always loved this ring, Mallory.”
She studies it for a minute with a secret smile. “Thank you. Anyway, Rock here came with his mentor, Grinder.” Her mouth pulls down. “How’s he doing, Rock?”
“Okay. Was out to see him not that long ago. We’re hoping he’s released soon.”
She nods and seems to collect her thoughts before continuing. “So, Rock was, what?”
“Thirteen, maybe,” Rock answers.