Page 34

We’d all agreed we wanted to be a part of a club where we’re not always watching our backs, staying out of the cops’ line of sight, and keeping our asses out of jail or, worse, out of the ground. We want what we’d made in this club, but sometimes even the most peaceful clubs needed to defend and we all agreed to step up when the Widows moved to town and started their shit.
“Race!” Bear called, and Race stepped out from the shadows in the back of the room.
“Yeah?” He grunted.
“I’m putting you on Becs.”
Her head snapped toward her brother, and I tried to control my reaction. What the hell was he doing? Forcing those two together was going to blow up harder than the shit with the Widows.
“No.” Becs hissed under her breath.
“Not your choice, Becs.” Bear shook his head. “I need to keep you and that baby safe.”
“Bear,” she hissed, but he kept his eyes locked on Race until he nodded.
“Whatever you need.” Race called out.
“Good. The three of us will meet tomorrow and work out the details. If me or Race can’t be with her, I’ll be pulling you guys in. We also need to keep all eyes out for Snake. The faster we find that bastard, the faster this all ends.”
There were grunts of agreement, and a solemnness overtook the group until Race spoke up again.
“We done here?”
Bear nodded in his direction, and he slammed his bottle on the bar before leaving through the back door.
“Fuck.” I ran my hand through my hair. “That went about as well as we expected.”
Bear frowned. “Yeah.” He raised his voice slightly over the now hushed crowd. “Have fun tonight, boys. Tomorrow, we move hard on this shit.”
Again, murmurs of agreement floated through the room. I looked down to see Maggie was watching Becs whose face was pale. I reached out with my free hand and squeezed her shoulder. “We need to keep you safe.” I dropped my hand and gestured toward her still mostly flat belly. “And our future Sinner you’re carrying around.”
Her lips tipped up at the corners. “What makes you think it’s a boy?”
“What the hell would you do with a girl?” I teased. “Play dress-up? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything but jeans and a T-shirt.”
She punched me in the shoulder and smiled. “You’re a jerk. I’ve dressed up, and you know it. Besides, maybe my little girl will like jeans and T-shirts.” She patted her stomach, and I smirked.
“What if she likes the color pink? Or likes unicorns and kittens? Girly shit like that.”
Becs made a face of disgust and laughed before she dropped her eyes from mine and looked down at Maggie who was smiling. “Seriously, Maggie, why do you put up with him?”
Maggie blushed just like we both knew she would. I’d never in my life knew someone who was so shy, but I was starting to see her personality coming through, and I was only encouraging it. “He’s nice to me.”
Her words were quiet but packed full of shit I didn’t want to think about. Like how Snake treated her…fuck, like every douche had treated her before she moved here. I squeezed her hand and thought I’d try teasing her some tonight too. “That answer’s okay for now, baby, but next time, your answer should be because he’s so fucking hot.”
She smiled wide and giggled, her face turning crimson. I never thought she’d say more, so it surprised the shit out of me when she spoke again. “I like pink and kittens. Guess I’m girly.”
It took me a minute to understand why she was saying that until I remembered what I’d just said to Becs.
Becs spoke before I could. “I like cats too.” She elbowed me in the side. “Gunner’s teasing me because Bear’s allergic to cats, and we could never have them growing up.” An evil smile played around her lips. “Maybe I’ll get one now and move in with Bear to pay him back for the Race shit.”
Maggie reached out and squeezed her hand, but did it while smiling. Becs tilted her head to the side. “Did you ever have a cat?”
Maggie shook her head. “No.”
Again, I thought that was all she’d say because she hadn’t been sharing much with any of us about her past, but again, she shocked the hell out of me when she continued speaking.
“We moved around a lot and didn’t always have a place of our own, so we couldn’t have any pets.”