“We’re getting a lot of fuckin’ chatter and nothin’ concrete,” he said, scowling. “Not sure what’s goin’ down yet, but somethin’ is happenin’ down south.”
“How far south?” Hulk asked.
“San Diego, as far as I can figure,” Casper replied. “Our eyes and ears are shit these days. But the boys in Sacramento are already dealing with missing shipments, so it’s makin’ its way north. A big fuckin’ cloud of trouble.”
“How many missing shipments?” Dragon asked.
“Just two, so far.”
“That’s two too many,” Will muttered. This morning, his hair stuck straight up, like he’d just rolled out of bed, and he oddly resembled the moose that he was nicknamed after.
“No shit,” Grease spat.
“We’re all good so far?” Dragon asked me.
“Haven’t had a single issue,” I replied, knocking wood on the tabletop. “Been quiet as a Sunday morning.”
“Run an extra guard, anyway. It’ll be quiet until it ain’t.”
“Done,” I agreed. I felt eyes on me and glanced to my left to see Leo staring, his mouth tipped up at the corners.
Shit. That didn’t mean anything good.
“We got a run comin’ up,” Grease said, scratching at his beard. “Nothin’ big. Children’s hospital charity. Should be an easy ride, Seattle and back.”
“Women and kids?” Hulk asked. “Don’t know what Trix has got planned for the boys this summer.”
“Just women,” Grease replied. “Party with the boys in Seattle that night.”
“So we’ll be shittin’ and pukin’ our way south the next mornin’,” Tommy said with a laugh. “Awesome.”
“You can’t handle your liquor, might as well stay home,” Casper shot back.
“I’m good,” Tommy said quickly, raising his hands in the air with a grin.
“Amy and Poet have offered to keep the kids,” Dragon said, glancing at me. “That includes Kara.”
“Appreciate it,” I replied.
“I’m sure we’ve got Reb covered,” Will said. “That ain’t really Molly’s scene.”
“Probably a good thing,” Tommy joked.
“You just worry about keeping your woman conscious on the way back down,” Will shot back. “We’ve all seen Hawk after a bender.”
“She’s a fuckin’ Amazon,” Tommy argued, making us all laugh.
“That poor girl has some nasty hangovers,” Casper said in amusement.
“Fair point. Maybe we’ll stick to smoke,” Tommy mumbled.
“If we’re done here?” Dragon asked, unamused. He looked around the table, and when no one spoke, slammed the gavel down, signaling the end of our meeting.
I stretched my neck from side to side as we shuffled out of the room. I needed a new mattress for my room at the club. The thing was so uncomfortable that I couldn’t even make myself sleep on it unless I was too drunk to ride.
“What were you doin’ last night?” Leo asked, his tone insinuating that he knew exactly what I’d been up to.
“What are you talking about?” I asked easily, pouring myself another cup of coffee. “After you and Lily came back out here, I spent the night drinkin’ you under the table.”
“Earlier than that,” he said, tilting his head to the side with a smile. “Spend any time outside?”
“A bit,” I replied slowly.
“Long enough to cause some whisker burn on a sensitive skinned woman?”
“Did you just say sensitive skinned woman?”
“I’ve been livin’ with Lily too long,” he replied, waving his hand dismissively.
“No shit,” I replied. “Must be why you’re askin’ me who I was with last night.”
“She’ll tell my woman all about it,” Leo said. “Just a matter of time.”
“Nothin’ to tell.”
“Guess I was way off base, then?” he asked, fishing. I ignored the question.
“Good chat,” I muttered, walking away as he chuckled.
I didn’t give a shit if anyone knew I’d kissed Rose the night before. It wasn’t some big secret, and we were both single adults. But I knew that even if no one really cared, they’d all have plenty to say about it, especially her brothers. Rose was their little princess, and from what I’d seen, they were even more protective than her dad. Where Grease gave Rose enough rope to hang herself, if it were up to the boys, she’d never even catch sight of the rope.
I wasn’t at all interested in having a sit-down with Will and Tommy about my intentions toward their sister, when all I’d done was kiss the woman.
Instead of riding over to Hulk and Trix’s, where Kara had spent the night with Charlie, I decided to walk. I needed the time to clear my head.
I needed to figure out what I was doing, messing around with Rose. Was I really going to go there? It was probably stupid that I was just now thinking about the ramifications of seeing a woman who was so tangled up in my day-to-day life that it would be impossible to escape her should things go sour.
Rose had her shit together, lived on her own and worked like a damn machine—but she was young. Damn young. I’d been changing diapers while she was in elementary school. The thought of that made my nausea worse.