Page 29

Lizzie—

Darko and I gather with everyone at the dining table. Besides us, there’s Utah and Kate, Baja and Elaina, Rock and Evelyn, one of the two nomads, as well as the prospects and all the kids and babies.

Rita, the middle-aged woman who cooks for the club, carries in another platter and sets it on the already overflowing table. “Eat up, everyone.”

She hustles into the kitchen.

Darko serves me a platter of scrambled eggs, and I take a portion, then he helps himself and passes it on. “I take it Trez and Isabella have power?”

“Yeah. They’re safe, and they’ve got enough supplies to last a week if they needed.”

“Night Train and Wildman?” Darko adds.

“They’re good, too. It was mostly downtown that lost power.”

Darko forks up a sausage and puts it on his plate, then passes the platter. “Anybody at The Cherry Bomb, or did they all make it home safe last night?”

“They shut down early,” Rock replies, munching on a piece of bacon.

Darko lifts his chin across the table to Shack. “Where’s Keno?”

Rock answers for him. “He rode up to The Cherry Bomb last night with Critter. He ended up driving Gigi’s car to her place during the storm.”

Darko grins. “I see.”

After we eat, Rock motions to Darko, and he stands, leaning toward me.

“Gonna go talk with Rock for a bit.” Then he kisses my forehead, and the two of them walk off.

The moment he’s gone, Kate curls her finger at me and heads to the kitchen door.

I toss my napkin down and follow, carrying mine and Darko’s plates. When I reach the kitchen, Kate takes them from my hands, dumps them in the sink, then pulls me to the corner.

“Okay, spill.”

I huff a laugh. “About what?”

“Don’t give me that. You know about what.”

I shrug. “It’s complicated.”

“Not from what I saw. He’s totally into you. Have you two… you know?”

I look away and swallow.

“Oh, my God. You have! How was it?”

“It was great. Fantastic. Amazing. What do you want me to say here, Kate?”

Her grin falters. “I want you to be happy.”

“I’m sure it’s just casual for him.”

Her hands land on her hips. “Don’t you dare tell me you’re just a notch in his belt. That’s not what you are, Lizzie. Don’t even think it.”

“How do you know? Have you talked to him?”

“Have you ?”

“Look, this is all new. It just happened last night. I don’t think either of us is ready for any deep conversations about it.”

“Okay. I get that.”

I take a deep breath and cross my arms. “Does everybody know?”

“You mean the guys? I don’t know. They made those cracks about you guys not having time to have sex in the shower, so maybe. I don’t think Darko would talk about it, but they like to rib each other. They may think they know, but they’d be guessing. Hell, maybe they think he’s been doing you since you started working for the man.”

“Oh, Jesus.”

“It’s nobody’s business but yours, Lizzie.”

“Tell them that.”

“I’ll tell Utah. If it’s a big deal to you, maybe you should say something to Darko. Tell him you don’t want to hear any of that teasing.”

“I could never say that to him.”

“Then maybe I will.”

“Just stay out of it. Please?”

Elaina and Evelyn both poke their heads through the door.

“Come on, you two. We’ve got a tree to decorate,” Evelyn says.

“We’ll be there in a minute,” Kate replies, and they duck out. She grabs my arm. “Have you got anything for Darko for Christmas?”

“I didn’t think we were exchanging gifts.” I frown. “Do you think he’s going to have something for me?”

“I don’t know. I can ask Utah to find out.”

“I know you guys are doing that Secret Santa deal, but with the storm, half the club isn’t even here,” I say.

“Yeah, we may not actually do that until New Year’s Eve now.”

“What did you get for Utah?”

“A subscription to beef jerky of the month,” she says with a straight face.

“You did not.”

“I did. And you know how we tease each other that he’s Bud and I’m Sissy from Urban Cowboy? Well, I got us plastic license plates with Bud and Sissy on them to put in his truck window.”

“Ha! I love it.”

“Oh, and I also got him a new motorcycle.”

My mouth drops open. “For real?”

She nods. “He’s been looking at this thing for a year and a half. I’ve just got to pull off giving it to him.”

“Where is it?”

“Rock’s hiding it in the shed behind the clubhouse. He promised me he’d have the prospects dig a path out there, so I can take Utah out there and surprise him.”

“Wow. That’s a really great gift.” I bite my lip, thinking there’s no way I can compete with that.

She sees my expression, and her shoulders deflate. “We’re married, Lizzie. No one expects you to give Darko anything like that. Maybe more like a token or something funny.”

“Like what? And where would I get it?”

“Maybe I can ask Rock if you can buy a bottle of booze from his stock and give it to him.”

I make a face. “Booze? I don’t know.”

“Too impersonal?”

“It just doesn’t have any meaning behind it, you know?”

“I guess you’re right. Well, I’ll keep thinking on it.”

The sound of Christmas music blasts from the other room, and I frown. “So, how’s your mother? Is she safe in the storm? Did she get stuck at the diner?”

“They closed up early. She stayed at Cora Lee’s house, so neither of them would be alone. I told her they could come here, but they didn’t want to do that.”

“Does Cora Lee have power?”

“Yes. They’re fine.”

“That’s good.”

“Come on.” She hooks her arm in mine. “Let’s go decorate the tree. Maybe a gift idea for Darko will come to us.”