Page 99 of The Fates We Tame

Clutch shakes his head. “Generally, if a biker needs one, things have gone to shit.”

“Back to the compound?” Vex asks.

“Need a detour,” Theo says, and then explains.

The shopping is chaotic. I watch as Clutch continues to tease Switch by attempting to pick out lingerie for me.

“I’m happy for him,” Vex says, handing me a small pile of highly practical yet stylish clothes. An ivory blouse, cashmere sweaters, and high-quality denim.

I smile at that. “You are?”

Vex looks down at me. “Yeah. He has such a close family, like me. It’s unusual in the rest of the brothers. But I think that’s what he’s been searching for. The foundation of a family of his own.”

Switch punches Clutch in the arm, and Clutch laughs loudly as other shoppers keep their distance. I see two security guards watching the two of them but doing nothing.

Vex places his arm casually over my shoulder. “I think you’re the difference. I love you and him together, Soph.”

Friendship is such a foreign concept. But as I navigate my way to making friends with people, I realize there is joy in it. “Thank you for being such a good friend to him, Vex. I think you’ve been the difference to him too.”

And that’s how several hours later, I’m standing in Theo’s kitchen, with the rest of the old ladies, in soft slouchy pants and a champagne-colored cashmere sweater that is buttery soft against my skin that Vex chose.

“I hear my man was useless at shopping today,” Gwen says as she joins us in the kitchen.

“He wasn’t useless, in a scenario where I wanted to work a pole. He picked out outfits that would have guaranteed epic tips.”

Gwen chuckles. “Yeah. He likes it when the tits and ass are both hanging out. I save the things he buys me for alone time when we’re at home.”

“Remember that red thing he bought you for Christmas?” Iris asks with a chuckle.

Humorous exasperation etches Gwen’s face as she grips my wrists. “It had cut-out hole access to all the good bits.”

Rae throws her arm over Gwen’s shoulders. “Men are simple, visual creatures. Lingerie does it for them. Especially when they can sneak access to your genitals.”

Ari chuckles. “Genitals is such a weird word.”

“Oh, God,” Briar gasps. “I thought I was the only one who thought so.”

I look down at the large kitchen counter and at the plethora of people and things in front of me.

“This is all amazing,” I say finally. “Honestly.”

“It was Catalina’s idea,” Rae says. “We each brought something we like to eat, something we like to drink, and something we like to read.”

“I skipped the reading part and just brought a buffet of weapons,” Catalina says.

I laugh as I take in the guns and knives of different sizes. There’s a switchblade, and I reach for it before flipping it around as if it were made for my hand.

“Oh,” Vi says. “Can you teach me to do that? Bates would lose his shit if I did that with one of his knives.”

“Why would you deliberately make Bates flip his shit?” I ask.

“Oh, it’s not that kind of losing his shit. It’s the kind where she’d end up naked and pregnant”—Gwen glances at Vi’s growing bump—“again. Or more pregnant. Whatever.”

Catalina leans close. “Bates has a thing for knives and a thing for Vi.”

“Oh,” I say. Then: “Oh!”

Gwen laughs as Vi blushes. “Seriously, you are the worst keeper of secrets!”