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When Wylie and I went in search of a vending machine for snacks, I found myself in the same corridor where Neil’s hospital room had been.

Don’t look for him,I thought.

But I counted the room numbers anyway.

This one. This was Neil’s room.

The bed was empty. He must have checked himself out.

My stomach twisted with disappointment and relief. Neil wasn’t here. I didn’t have to see him. I didn’t have to fight that irresistible pull I still felt in his presence.

“Aunt Hattie?” Wylie said, peering up at me. “What are you looking at?”

I shook my head, combing my fingers through his unruly cowlick.

“Nothing, cowboy. Nothing at all.”

Chapter five

Kingpin

I awoke in one of the back rooms of the clubhouse, sometime around ten in the morning. My tongue felt like it had been coated in fuzzy carpet, and a splitting headache threatened to cleave my skull in half. With a groan, I sat up, rubbing my pounding temples.

After drinking too much yesterday in an effort to dull the memories of Hattie, I didn’t bother asking someone to drive me home. In that house, where we used to live together, where her clothes should have been nestled in the bureau, her absence would only hurt even more.

Staying at the clubhouse meant I wouldn’t be alone. Someone was always here—at the bar, in the kitchen, playing pool, or camped out in one of the back rooms doing…whatever. Sex. Sleep. Didn’t matter.

Slowly, I rose to my feet, stretching my aching, stiff body. My leg felt tender and sore now that the alcohol and painkillers had faded from my system. I moved with a slight limp, but it wasn’t bad enough to keep me confined to the bed all day.

After a quick trip to the communal bathroom, I washed my face, took a leak, and went in search of coffee to chase away my headache. Emerging into the main room of the clubhouse, I spotted Big G seated in front of the television in the corner, ignoring the cheesy soap opera on the screen. Roxie was nestled on his lap—barely twenty-three years old, with electric blue eyeshadow, cut-off denim shorts, and a hot-pink push-up bra visible through her skin-tight white tank top. She giggled as she nuzzled into his neck, not-so-subtly shoving her hand down his pants.

Big G growled and swatted her ass lightly. She squeaked in surprise and wiggled closer, sucking on his earlobe.

“Please tell me one of you started coffee already,” I grumbled, shuffling by, not looking too closely at either of them in case I got an eyeful of skin I didn’t want to see.

“Hot and fresh,” Big G said. “Baby Doll should be stopping by with breakfast in a few minutes.”

“Thank God.” I headed for the kitchen door, then paused when I spotted Crash on the other side of the room. Slumped over a table, head pillowed on his arms, fast asleep. I pointed at him. “Was the kid here all night?”

Big G didn’t answer. Roxie had her tongue down his throat.

“Hey,” I snapped.

He broke away with a noise of frustration. Roxie stuck out her lower lip in a pout.

“What?” he replied, exasperated at being cockblocked.

“The kid wasn’t supposed to spend the night here. I said he couldhang out,notmove in.”

Big G shrugged.

“No offense, boss, but I wasn’t really paying attention to the kid or what he was doing after a certain point last night. And neither were you, trying to drown yourself in that bottle of whiskey.”

I frowned. Big G focused on Roxie again, cupping her ass with a squeeze. He murmured something too low for me to hear, and she gasped, biting her lower lip. If the club bunnies weren’t plastered all over Spike for his seemingly endless stamina, they usually made their way into Big G’s bed for the thrill of an older man who knew how to wield his experience well. He never entertained the idea of marriage, but he was more than happy to oblige the ladies and take care of their needs.

“Aren’t you too old to be making out like a dumbass, horny teenager?” I barked. There was no denying the jealousy in my tone, even to my own ears.

Big G tore his gaze from Roxie to look at me, raising his eyebrows.