Page 7

Dice

“You’re not going anywhere. My nerves are shot from you four galivanting around the damn farmers market today.”

Poppy plopped herself on the couch with her bottom lip poked out like a kicked puppy. “We were pretty good at the market. You still have money left in your pocket.”

Yarder grumbled. “Barely.”

“How about we have a fire outside?” Olive suggested and was already standing like the decision had been made.

“S’mores,” Adalee chirped and snapped her fingers. “I’ve got everything in the kitchen to do them.”

“I’m down,” Rocky called from the kitchen.

“Are you in there lookin’ for food again?” Olive hollered. “We ate half an hour ago!”

Rocky came into the room rubbing his stomach like he hadn’t eaten in days. “I’m growing. What do you expect?”

“I expect I’ll have to get a second job to feed you,” Olive muttered.

Cue Ball slung his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “The kid’s grown three inches this month, babe. Let the boy eat.”

“As long as he leaves food for the rest of us,” Saylor laughed.

“I can call Stan and see if he’ll bring some of those new cheeses I ordered for samples,” Dani offered and pulled her phone out of her back pocket.

“Oh, yeah—cheese!” Fallon cheered like it was the second coming.

The room erupted into motion. People got up, chairs scraped, someone knocked over a soda can, and Adalee headed toward the kitchen with Rocky trailing her like a shadow.

I was about to follow when my phone buzzed in my pocket.

One new message. No name.

123 W Palm Trail

I stared at it. Just an address. No other words. No punctuation. Just… that.

“Everything good?” Smoke asked as he was halfway out the door.

I didn’t answer right away. My stomach tightened.

“I just got a text,” I finally said.

“And?” Smoke laughed like I’d told him a joke.

“Who’s it from?” Dani asked, already typing away on her phone to Stan.

“I don’t know.” I held up the screen. “No contact saved. Just the address.”

“What’s the area code?” Adalee called from the kitchen, her voice muffled by cabinets opening and closing.

“Is it the number you have for Stretch?” Smoke asked and leaned in to look over my shoulder.

Fade stuck his head back in through the open door. “Babe, you coming?”

“As soon as we figure out who just texted Dice!” Adalee called back.

“Area code,” she demanded again. “What is it?”

I tapped the number. “508.”

“Address is nine minutes away,” Smoke said. He was already pulling up maps on his phone.

“Oklahoma,” Adalee shouted. “508 is from Oklahoma.”

And just like that—it clicked.

“It’s not Stretch,” I said, everything inside me going still. “It’s… it’s not Stretch.”

“Then who is it?” Dani asked.

Smoke, Dani, Adalee, Fade, and Rocky were all looking at me now like I had the damn answer to the universe written across my forehead.

I did. Sort of.

This had to be Lainey.

Problem was, no one here knew about Lainey. I hadn’t said a word since I ran into her. I didn’t know what we were. A spark reignited? A mistake waiting to happen?

“What the fuck are we doing?” Yarder barked from outside.

“Dice got an address texted to him,” Rocky yelled back.

“What?” Yarder marched back in, eyes already narrowed. “What is going on?”

Shit.

I was already in hot water for not telling him about my phone call with Stretch. One more slip-up and he might decide I didn’t need to be involved in anything club-related anymore.

“It’s probably…” I tried, but the words stuck in my throat.

“Probably who?” Smoke smirked. “Santa? The Boogeyman? Who, Dice?”

“Lainey.” I let the name out on a breath. “She’s a girl I used to date. High school. We… we ran into each other a week ago. I gave her my number. Guess she finally texted.”

“But it’s just an address,” Dani pointed out. “How do you know it’s her?”

“I don’t,” I admitted. I started typing. Who is this?

“Even if you know it’s Lainey,” Yarder snapped, “you’re not going alone. Take Smoke.”

“I’ll make a snack list!” Adalee shouted cheerfully from the kitchen like we weren’t potentially walking into a trap. “You can stop at the store on your way back.”

“Did they reply?” Smoke asked and glanced at my phone.

“Who cares?” Yarder barked. “You’re taking Smoke. Whoever’s on the other end of that number could say they’re the damn Easter Bunny. The only way you’re gonna find out is by going to the address.”

“Jesus,” Smoke muttered. “This is what I get for not hauling ass outside faster. Aero, Throttle, and Compass didn’t get stuck on your booty-call patrol.”

“I can go alone. I can—”

Yarder’s glare shut me up. “Smoke goes with, or you don’t go at all,” he said low. The kind of quiet that came before someone got shot or promoted—maybe both.

“Stan said he’ll be here in half an hour,” Dani announced. “You’ll be back in time for cheese.”

“Fine,” Smoke grumbled. He leaned over, gave Dani a kiss, then dug his keys from his pocket. “Let’s go.”

“Anything looks off, you two stand down and call me,” Yarder ordered with his eyes locking with mine like he could read the doubt in me.

Because now that I had a second to breathe… yeah. There was doubt.

If it was Lainey, why didn’t she say more?

And if it wasn’t Lainey… who the hell knew I was close enough to her that a text with just an address would make me jump?

Smoke and I walked out of the clubhouse. The laughter and noise of getting the fire started in the backyard prep echoed, but I was already in another headspace.

One where this ended with either relief—or blood.

Our bikes were parked side by side, like they always were. I watched Smoke swing a leg over his ride, and his expression was unreadable.

I straddled my bike and started the engine. The growl felt good in my chest. Familiar. Like armor.

We pulled out of the lot and onto the road.

Smoke hung just behind me, letting me lead. The wind hit my face, and I forced myself not to overthink.

It was nine minutes.

Just nine minutes.

In nine minutes, I was either going to see Lainey again… or we were going to walk right into a trap.

And I wasn’t sure which one scared me more.