Page 21 of His Flawed Ride

He can’t know that. I turn the ignition on and peel out of the diner’s parking lot. It’s confirmed when I arrive back at the club. Slade storms over before I have the chance to park and throws open my door. I can’t be trapped in the truck if he decides to throw hands. He’s pissed.

“What’s going on between you and my sister?”

If I tell him nothing, I’ll be lying to a brother. If I tell him the truth, it will fracture my relationship with a brother. I knew I was fucked the day I found out who she was.

I opt for partial truth.

“Brother, I watched over her last night cause after you asked me to drop her off at the motel, something spooked her and she had me take her to the bar. She was drinking hard, and she was actin’ suspiciously when I walked her back to the motel. I parked up and watched from my truck.”

This knocks the fury out of him, and his brows knit together in confusion.

I add, “The only thing I could see were motorcycles, they were there when she ordered me to take her to the bar, and they were gone when she was content to return to her room.”

“Are you sure?”

I nod. Without another word, he struts off and I make my way up to my room for a shower and more sleep. Only, as soon as I step into the bar, Leo’s in front of me.

“Have you spoken to Grim lately?”

It’s not the question that sets me on edge, it’s the tone in which he asks.

“Yeah, a few days ago.”

“How was he?”

I keep the conversation to myself, but tell him, “He was fine. Getting on with Nora and the new baby.”

He nods but he’s lost in thought. He, like Slade, walks off without another word.

What the fuck is going on with Leo and Grim?

Chapter Six

Leo

Why can’t I let this go? A question I ask myself repeatedly. The paranoia is intensifying each day and nothing I tell myself is taking the building pressure off. I can’t remember the last time I held down a conversation without Nora invading my mind, her watching as Grim tortured the shit out of her ex. Why the fuck did I let her stay and then shoot her ex with Grim at her back.

I let myself into my house and the place is quiet. Though that’s what I want on a good day, with that bitch taking up residence in my head, I’ve come to hate the quiet.

I dump my keys, smokes, and phone on the kitchen table, and find Holly nursing Roman in the living room.

I lean over her chair and kiss my wife and then stroke my son’s head.

“Where’s Rayna?”

“She’s over at Nina’s with Seb.”

She’s been spending more and more time over at the McCarthy’s, and though they’re her family, I’m left wondering if it’s the baby driving her away.

Reading my face, Holly, tells me, “She’s having fun with her cousin while her baby brother is being boring. He sleeps, eats, and then sleeps some more. She’s fine.”

This is one of the things I love most about her. She can read me like a book. It’s not good out on the streets, but in my home with the woman I married, I love it.

“When he’s bigger, and he’s on the move, and she’s able to interact with him, it’ll be different. I promise.”

I grab myself the orange juice from the fridge while she burps Roman and settles him in his bassinette.

Holly comes up behind me and winds her arms around my waist, pressing the side of her face to my back.