“We have to leave in twenty,” he says, then looks to Rake. “Are we still picking up Cara and Rhett?”
The kids wanted a playdate, so I said I’d have them all at my house today.
Rake nods. “Yeah, that would be fuckin’ great. I have to drop by Rift and Toxic now. We’re hiring new bouncers.”
With that, he stands, but not before kissing the top of my head. “I’ll come and get the kids once I’m done, yeah?”
“Sounds good,” I say, watching him as he disappears back inside the clubhouse. “I hate waking up Asher from his nap,” I say to Dex.
“Me too,” he answers, nuzzling my neck. “But, babe, it’s the only time we have peace.”
I laugh at that, because it’s the damn truth.
I stand up and offer Dex my hand. He takes it, even though there’s no way I could pull him up on my own. He’s a large man, and he’s made of pure muscle. He looks exactly the same as the first day I fell in love with him, although the actual date is debatable—I think I always loved him, even as a child. He used to call me his fairy, and I used to love it every single time.
He stands up and pulls me in for a slow kiss before we head back inside. It’s time to put a sleeping Asher in his car seat and pick up the kids.
Dexter Black carpooling.
It still makes me giggle.
THREE
Faye
THE next evening, Dex and Tracker take Talon and Ranger to follow a lead regarding Talon’s rat. They still aren’t any closer to finding out who it is, and I know it’s driving Talon insane. I stay at the clubhouse with everyone else, just in case something happens. Until the traitor is found, I don’t think I’m going to be able to relax. Talon is now one of us, and we could be targeted next. Not that we couldn’t take on whoever it is, but I like to know what and who we’re up against. The kids are playing outside, the dogs running around, Arrow and Irish busy on the grill. We seize any opportunity to have a barbecue, even when some of us are trying to track down a killer with ties to our newest members.
Tina sits down next to me, looking straight ahead as she speaks. “Which prison is Darren in?”
My eyes widen. “What?”
Darren is Tina’s ex-boyfriend, and he’s a cop. At least he was a cop, until Irish killed him. He was abusive, and threatening Tina, so Irish took care of it. He also lied and told her that Darren was arrested, hence the questions.
“Which prison is he in?” she asks me again. “No one really talks about what happened to him. No one even told me how many years he got. You’re the one that helped the prosecution, so could you just give me some peace of mind?”
Well, fuck.
The information I have, she isn’t going to like.
And I can’t tell her, because Irish would do the same thing to me that he did to the man in question.
Colt, Shayla’s dog, runs up to me for a pat, which I use as a distraction, stroking the top of his massive head.
“I’ll tell you what,” I say, needing to talk to Irish about how to handle this. “I’ll get the paperwork for you to read over, all right? I’m not sure where he is right now, but I can find out.”
It’s kind of the truth. I know he’s six feet under, but I’m not sure where exactly. Who knows where they buried the body. I certainly don’t. I’m a lawyer—everyone needs to be cautious about how they word things around me.
She nods, shoulders relaxing. “That would be great. Ardan changes the subject every time I bring it up, and I get it, Darren is an asshole and doesn’t deserve the mention, but I just want to know what happened, you know? It’s annoying me that I don’t. Do you think we can keep it between us? I don’t want Ardan getting upset.”
Fuckity fuck.
I can’t tell Tina the truth because Irish wants to protect her from what happened, and now Tina wants me to do the same for him? These two really need to sort their shit out.
I don’t know how Irish thought he’d get away with it anyway. Women are an inquisitive bunch, and we rarely let shit go. I can’t not tell Irish though, because I need to ask him what to do. I don’t want to lie to her, to give her bullshit documents.
How did I get myself into this? No, better yet, how do I get out of it?
I decide to evade and distract. “I think you should just tell him, Tina. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
She sighs and crosses her arms over her chest. “Yeah, you’re right. I can’t ask that of you. It’s just not a topic he wants to talk about.”
I’ll bet.
“Don’t let Darren affect your happiness,” I tell her, reaching over and touching her shoulder. “Forget him. You have Irish now; you should look forward, not behind. There’s nothing for you back there.”
Nothing except skeletons.
Literally.
“I know,” she huffs, now watching Irish. “I just want to know, is all. Then I’ll move on and forget about everything that happened. I keep replaying that night in my head, you know? I want to put it behind me, but it’s not so easy. I think if I knew where he was, I could lay it to rest.”
“Yeah, I get it.” Lay it to rest, huh? Great choice of words.
Irish has some explaining to do. Lies or truth, it’s his call. Either way, he’s kind of screwed.
When Tina finds out he lied, all hell is going to break loose. But the longer he continues to lie, and the later she finds out, the more upset she’s going to be. Surely Tina can handle the truth. She’s not a fragile flower. She’s with a biker—what does she expect exactly? Darren was going to kill her; any of the Wind Dragons would have done the same to protect their women. If I were Irish, I would tell her so it doesn’t reach that point. But hey, what do I know? I’m just the woman who apparently helped put Darren behind bars, so I should have all the information on his pretend prison sentence. I could have given her a prison name, any prison name, but her snooping wouldn’t have ended there. She’d probably go to the prison. It’s something I would do anyway.