Page 11 of Alice & Meg: Summer Vacation (Fallen Lords MC & Devil’s Knights MC Crossover)

The line for the jet boat was already winding halfway around the upper platform when we got there. It snaked past the shaded picnic area that housed a restaurant, a bar with neon margarita signs, a cute little donut stand that smelled like heaven, and an ice cream cart that looked like it had been plucked straight from a fairground.

Wendy frowned at the line.

“Do we have to stay in line?”

Slayer snorted.

“Um, if you want to get on the boat, yeah.”

She narrowed her eyes at the nearby ice cream stand.

“Would you go get me an ice cream?”

He stood with a shrug.

“What flavor?”

Wendy shielded her eyes from the sun.

“Surprise me?”

He chuckled.

“You got it, babe.”

King and Wrecker stood up at the same time.

“Where are you going?”

I asked Wrecker and squinted up at him.

He slid his sunglasses to the top of his head.

“Babe, I don’t even have to ask if you want ice cream.”

I grinned.

“Extra sprinkles, please.”

“I second that,”

Meg added and raised her hand.

Hero stood too, but Reva jumped up beside him.

“I don’t know what flavor I want. I’ll come with.”

Rigid, Clash, Adley, Greta, and Bear all followed them like children chasing a sugar truck.

Which left me, Cyn, Meg, Raven, and Wendy standing in line that was thankfully shaded slightly by the overhang from the restaurant’s roof.

I nudged Cyn and nodded toward the bar.

“You think I can bring a margarita on the boat with me?”

Meg laughed.

“If you don’t want your margarita to get waterlogged, you should keep it on land.”

Raven’s eyes widened.

“I knew it! We’re going to get soaked, aren’t we?”

Meg looked around and lowered her voice.

“I mean, don’t tell Adley, but yes. We’re about to get drenched. They do these crazy stops and turns that just dump water into the boat. Being in the front row is the worst, though.”

Wendy clapped her hands.

“We are so putting Adley in the front row.”

I bumped her shoulder.

“That sounds evil, and I like it.”

Wendy sighed, and her smile faded.

“I just want Adley to loosen up. She just seems different since she came home. She won’t really talk to me about it, other than she just wants to be closer to family.”

“What did she do in Chicago before moving home?”

Meg asked.

“Marketing for some big company,”

Wendy said.

“She lived in a beautiful apartment, and we thought things were going great for her. About two months ago, she told us she was moving home. Quit her job, gave up her apartment, and now she’s staying in the basement until she gets back on her feet.”

“She’s burned out,”

Raven said with her arms folded.

“From the little she told me, she was just done with the big city. I can’t really blame her.”

Wendy sniffled and rubbed her nose.

“That may be, but why won’t she talk to me about it? It’s kind of like she’s just given up.”

I slipped my arm around Wendy’s shoulders.

“She’ll be fine, honey. I think she just needs a reset, and what better place to do that than with the club surrounding her.”

“She said she was going to work for the club,”

Meg said.

“Is she going to do marketing for it?”

Raven snorted.

“She is going to be slinging drinks and managing the pool tables. We’re short-staffed, and having Adley home to help is great.”

Wendy tilted her head.

“But once we hire some more people, she could do marketing for the pool hall and bar.”

Raven shrugged.

“If that’s what she wants. I just don’t think we should make her feel bad for just wanting to work at the pool hall.”

She motioned at all of us.

“We all do it in one way or another.”

“Meg hangs out at the pole dancing studio,”

Cyn laughed.

“Oh, stop,”

Meg said and waved her off.

“You’re right there next to me. It’s a good workout, and Lo isn’t complaining about the things I’m learning.”

Raven blinked rapidly.

“Oh, hell. We are so adding a pole dancing studio to the pool hall.”

I laughed.

“Could you imagine? No one will be at the pool hall; they’ll all just be watching the pole dancing.”

We kept talking and laughing about learning pole dancing, throwing out ideas and names for what we’d call our fantasy studio, but I leaned into Wendy again and said quietly, “I know how worried you are about Adley, honey.”

Wendy sniffled again and smiled.

“I just want her to be happy, and I just don’t think she is right now. I don’t know how to help her.”

Meg smiled and nudged her gently.

“You are helping her.”

She nodded toward the cluster of our people gathered around the ice cream stand.

“Right now she’s with her dad getting ice cream, and she’s damn lucky to be able to be on this amazing vacation with us.”

Wendy chuckled.

“Yeah, I know you’re right, but I just wish she would talk to me.”

“Give her time. Maybe she’s still trying to figure out what she wants and can’t say it out loud yet. Just be there for her, Wen,”

I said softly.

The line surged forward, a good twenty feet at least, and stopped again.

Meg bounced slightly on her toes.

“Oh, we’re almost to the stairs down to the dock!”

The rest of the group returned, and with them? Ice cream glory.

King handed Meg a cone that looked like it had been engineered for a carnival. Five inches of towering vanilla soft serve with a blizzard of rainbow sprinkles.

Her eyes went wide.

“Holy cow! How am I supposed to eat this before we get on the boat?”

Wrecker handed me one identical to Meg’s. My mouth watered.

King shrugged and took a bite of his own cone, already half gone.

“Start licking, babe.”

Reva choked on a laugh, and Hero patted her back with a smirk.

“That’s not how you act when I tell you to start licking.”

The group erupted into laughter, including some of the people in line behind us. The mix of sugar, sun, and club energy was downright contagious.

I dug into my ice cream, careful not to let it drip all over my hands. The line kept moving, slow but steady, and soon we’d be boarding the boat that promised to soak us to the bone.

And with Adley in the front row? Oh, it was going to be a damn good day.