Page 86 of Burning Ember

Me: The fuck if I know.

T: just a guess but i don’t think its a complament.

Me: Yeah . . . me either.

Ten minutes later, I pull my truck into the courtyard. Kendra and Blaire are getting out of Kendra’s SUV. The back doors open and all the kids pile out. They take off running to the back of the clubhouse where we have a swing-set, a shed full of toys, and a whole lot of room for them to get crazy while their moms plan the party.

“You’re lookin’ nice, Mav. You work today?” Kendra, Septic’s old lady, asks as she comes up to me, gives me a half-hug and a kiss on the cheek. She has large Spanish features, brown hair, and she’s extra curvy. Just how Septic likes ’em.

“Yeah.” I return her hug.

“Although it looks like you had a rough night,” she adds. She’s fishing for details. Details she knows I won’t give.

Blaire is average height with white-blonde hair and blue eyes. As usual, she’s dressed overly modest and uncomfortable. Five years ago, she was a college girl going through a rebellious stage. She and her friends came around the club looking for a good time. What she got was pregnant, with Bodie’s kid. Bodie claimed her, married her, and two years later they had their second child. But their relationship has never been solid. Blaire doesn’t approve of our lifestyle. Like me, she was raised in a very religious family. Unlike me, she still wants to live that kind of life. She’s been pressuring Bodie for years to split from the club. Only knowing Bodie like I do, it’s not the club he’ll be splitting from when it’s finally time to choose one or the other.

We talk for a bit until a red Mercedes pulls into the lot. Nick. She’s driving and Grandma Pepper, Cap’s mom, is sitting in the passenger seat. Taffy, Cap’s daughter, peels into the lot right behind them in her green Mini Cooper.

I greet everyone and then get the hell out of there. Being caught in a hen-fest is not my idea of a good time. Plus, I need to get inside and make sure everything is as it should be.

Entering the club, I see brothers at the bar, playing pool, chilling at a table, drinking beers, looking like a couple of saints. Not a clubpiece in sight. The place is so clean I doubt the old ladies will recognize it. Not to mention Cap and Edge when they return.

Platters of various baked treats and sandwiches line one half of the bar. Enough to feed an army. The clubhouse even smells fantastic. Like cinnamon and just the thought causes my taste buds to tingle. I’m sure Doll’s responsible and the smell tempts me to seek her out.

Taz steps into my path. His jaw is tight, his eyes are black and throwing lethal intent, and he’s biting down on the toothpick in his mouth. He’s also flexing his muscles like he’s about to enter the ring and go a few rounds with somebody.

Fear slithers down my spine.Oh fuck, she gave him the slip.“Where is she?” I grind my molars and look down and into the hallway.

“Had to pull Lo out of Bodie’s bed not two goddamn minutes ago. Fucker’s trying to get caught.”

Fuck. A relieved breath whooshes out of me. He damn near gave me a fucking heart attack. “I’ll talk to him.” Taz gives me a curt nod but doesn’t looked pleased in the slightest.

Griz slaps me on the back. “The girls are all locked in the room. No one’s gettin’ in or out.”

The implications of what he said sinks in. “You locked Doll up?” I take one step toward the hallway.

Griz coughs and speaks up behind me. “Doll?”

My jaw tightens. “Pumpkin.”

“Oh . . . well . . . no. Didn’t see the need to. She’s learned her lesson about breakin’ the rules last night whether she broke them or not. And she’s not officially a clubpieceyet.Not jumpin’ from bed to bedyet, so the old ladies should have no beef with her,yet.”

My blood heats. I don’t know which part of his comment makes me want to punch him in his smug face more.

He holds his hands up as I glare at him. “Just tellin’ it how it is, brotha.”

“Yeah . . . well . . . don’t for once.”

Upstairs, I stall at Dozer’s door. It’s deathly silent behind it. I raise my hand to knock, but falter before my knuckles hit the wood. She could be sleeping. In fact, with all that happened last night and everything she’s done to prepare for the party, I wouldn’t doubt if she was.

At least that’s what I tell myself so I don’t have to man up and face her right now. So I don’t have to come to terms with what I’ve done and pay the price for it, which by her reaction this morning is exactly what she’s going to make me do.

In my room, I change back into my regular clothes and head back downstairs.

“I see Donut’s still alive,” Nick teases as we watch the kids play in the backyard. Nick’s a Barbie lookalike, tall, with blondish-gray hair and gray-blue eyes. She’s slim and sexy for an older woman. But you can tell the life’s taken its toll on her by the hard lines around her eyes and mouth.

“Were you really worried?” I ask.

“Considering the last time he visited the clubhouse, he came home drunker than a preacher’s son on Sunday, yeah.”