Diamond in the Dust (Lost Kings MC 18)

“Afraid so.”

She loops her arms around my neck. “Maybe you’ll help me stretch out my muscles later.”

“Jesus,” Jiggy grumbles. “Don’t you two stretch enough?”

“Hush now,” Shelby scolds.

It’s a full house inside.

“What took so long, brother?” Steer slaps my open palm and yanks me close, thumping my back.

“Had a few things to take care of.” I’m really not in the mood to explain myself.

Wrath doesn’t give me the third degree, but he does pull me in and slap my back hard enough to crack a few ribs. “Missed ya. Z says you’ve been house hunting since you got back. How was the ride from Nashville?”

“Not bad. We spread it out over a couple days.”

“Hey, Shelby.” He actually picks her up for a hug. “How was the rest of the tour?”

“Not bad.” She laughs as he sets her down. “We sure missed you guys, though.”

“No we didn’t,” Jigsaw says.

“Well, I missed you.” Shelby searches the living room. “Where’s Trin at?”

“Right here.” Trinity pops out from behind Wrath.

The girls hug and talk a mile-a-minute at each other, catching up on everything. Trinity has a bunch of new flamingo designs to show Shelby.

As my brothers close in around me to talk and bullshit, Shelby winds her way through the crowd with Trinity.

“Glad you made it, brother,” Z says. The smirk on his face sets off alarm bells. My prez is up to something. “We were all about to sit down for movie night.”

“Movie night?” Upstate does family dinner nights. And on the weekends both charters have family breakfast after church. But an official “movie night” is a new event.

I scan the clubhouse living room. Seems they’ve added a few theater chairs to upstate’s clubhouse. Rows of other chairs have been lined up as well. Everything faces the new jumbo television screen mounted on the wall. “Since when do we do movie nights?”

“Tonight’s the first one.” Z grins even wider.

“Uh-huh,” I grunt, still not convinced he’s not up to something.

I scan the party. All the brothers and their old ladies. Sway and Tawny are missing. Swan, Lala, and Willow are the only non-patched women I see. This isn’t a clubhouse party. Seems more like a family event, minus the kiddos.

“Jesus, you’re not gonna show us one of Stella’s films are you?” I groan. Sitting through that’s gonna be awkward as fuck.

“That was my suggestion, but it was viciously shot down,” Steer says.

“I seconded the motion.” Ravage raises his hand.

On second glance, Rock and Hope seem to be missing too.

Heh. Maybe Rock finally dug a hole for Sway in the woods.

The front door opens again. Rock and Hope walk in with baby Grace. So at least one LOKI kid’s in attendance tonight.

“Rooster,” Rock says, slapping my back. “Good to see you.”

“Good to be here, Prez.”

“Z says you’re looking for a house?”

“Oh, is Shelby moving here with you?” Hope asks.

I can’t help grinning like an idiot. “Looks that way. “

Z slaps my chest. “He’s got country boy taste like Teller. All the places I set up for him were ‘too close to people’.”

Rock laughs. “I feel you on that one.” He spreads his hands in front of him. “How do you think the clubhouse ended up all the way out here?”

“Shelby and I are going to look at a place midway between the two clubhouses. Looks like it’s on the western border of Pine County.”

“That might be a good location,” Z says. “Jiggy moving with you?”

I frown at the question. “We’re not a thrupple.”

He squints at Jiggy. “You sure about that?”

“We’re sure,” Jiggy growls. “Shelby’s a dolphin as far as I’m concerned.”

Z squeezes his eyes shut, chortling like a kid. “I’m so happy that’s still getting around.”

Hope side-eyes Rock.

“Don’t ask,” Rock says.

“Let me see my niece,” Z says, holding out his hands. “Aw, come see your favorite uncle, Gracey-baby.”

“You know damn well that’s not true,” Wrath says, wiggling his fingers at Grace.

As if she’s siding with her biggest uncle, Grace reaches for Wrath and he takes her from Z.

“Traitor.” Z tickles her toes.

“Where’s your munchkin?” I ask Z.

“At her brother’s house.” He nods toward Lilly. “He was very excited to play lumberjack all weekend.”

Grace reaches for her mom and Hope takes her again. “I’m going to go find Shelby and say hello.”

Rock watches his girls even though they can’t be more than fifteen feet away from us.

“So, what’s with this movie night Z says we’re having?” I ask. “Since you brought the baby, I assume we’re not screening one of Stella’s films.”

“Would a baby even know what porn is?” Ravage asks.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Rock growls.

Z slaps Ravage’s shoulder, pushing him dangerously close to Rock. “Prez, you think he knows the first thing about kids?”

“He still is a big kid,” Wrath adds.

Not at all insulted, Rav raises his fists in the air. “Fuck yeah, I am.”