“Not my Old Lady. My brother’s,” Archer said.
“Shut the fuck up. I thought Ripper was with?—”
“Brooks,” Archer interrupted. “He goes by Brooks now. He works at Elk Ridge with me as a horse groomer.”
“Brooks,” Smoke said, turning the name over in his mouth. “He got out a few years ago, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Archer said.
An awkward pall settled over the four of us. Logan squeezed Smoke’s fingers.
“Right, we gotta get going,” Smoke said, holding his free hand out to Archer. “Good seeing you, brother.”
“You too,” Archer said.
“I’m in town a few more days. You and Rip—Brooks—have time to grab a beer and catch up?” Smoke asked, his gaze darting to me before returning to Archer.
“Yeah. Definitely.” Archer nodded. “Where are you guys staying?”
“The Regal Beagle,” Smoke said.
“Cute place,” I murmured.
“Very cute,” Logan agreed.
“Nice meeting you, Poet,” Smoke said.
“You too.”
Smoke and Logan crossed the street, leaving me alone with Archer.
Alone with Archer, and a ton of questions.
I turned to stare at him. To his credit, he was staring back and not attempting to look anywhere else.
“That’s Smoke,” Archer said unnecessarily.
“So I gathered.”
“He’s originally from the same MC chapter that Brooks and I were in. But he and a couple other brothers moved down to Waco and joined the chapter there a couple of years ago.”
“Uh huh.”
He fell silent.
“Why did he call you Bandit?”
“That was my road name. It’s the name your biker brothers give you,” he said slowly.
I swallowed. “Brooks’ name is Ripper?”
He nodded.
“Smoke thought Brooks was with someone else,” I stated. “He was trying to ask about her. But you interrupted.”
Archer stilled and his hands clenched.
“He was involved with someone else, wasn’t he?” I asked. “There was another woman. There’s a woman in his past—and he hasn’t told me about her. He told me he didn’t have girlfriends.”
