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As soon as she was in the room, my heart felt lighter, my soul more at ease. That was the way it had always been with Quinn. If I could have fallen in love with her, our lives would have been so much easier. Instead, she had fallen for my idiot older brother, and I’d had to pick up the pieces time and again until recently.
Which probably made the fact that I’d never had romantic feelings for her a good thing. Because the protective feelings I already had regarding my best friend were enough to make me tear my own brother’s head off his shoulders. If I’d ever actually been in love with her, I probably would have shot him in the face years ago.
“I was so worried about you!” the women said in unison as they hugged each other.
Giving a shaky laugh, Quinn stepped back. “You look sick,” she observed, her weak smile falling. “Are you okay?”
“Just a headache.” Kelli brushed off her concern. “I’m happy to see you, babe. You and the baby biker okay?”
Quinn touched her hands to her stomach where the smallest baby bump was starting to form. “We’re good. Raider brought me home early last night, so I was here when the shooting started.” Tears filled her eyes as she turned to face me. “Colt,” she sobbed as she threw herself against me. “Uncle Jack and Uncle Chaz…” She buried her face in my shirt, her fingers clenching my cut as her tears soaked through to my chest. “I’m so thankful you weren’t here.”
I cupped the back of her head, holding her against me as I kissed the top of her sweet-scented hair. “Don’t cry,” I begged. “You know it kills me when you cry, Quinnie.”
She sucked in a deep breath and held it, trying to calm down for me. Pulling back, she exhaled slowly and gave me a trembling smile. “I’m glad you’re back,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “I was so worried about the two of you.”
The kitchen door swung inward, and Raider walked in. Taking one look at Quinn’s face, he groaned and crossed to us. Pulling her into his arms, he shot me a death glare. “She just stopped crying,” he snarled at me. “Now, you show up, and she’s dehydrating herself all over again.”
“I’m fine,” Quinn tried to protest against Raider’s cut.
“I wish you would go back to our room and rest,” he grumbled, kissing the top of her head. “All this stress isn’t good for you and the baby.”
“Neither is staying locked in a room,” she snapped and attempted to push away from him. “I’m pregnant, not fragile.”
Raider only tightened his hold around her, tucking her in closer. “Maybe not fragile, but you are fucking precious to me. Baby, please, for the sake of my sanity—rest.”
“I think you should relax, boys,” Aggie cut in. “If she wants to be out here helping us, she’s more than able to. Quinn knows her limits and won’t push them, will you, honey?”
“Damn it, Ag,” Raider growled at her.
But Quinn was already pushing him back and moving toward the stove where she took over flipping pancakes for the old woman. Raider bit off a curse and took the mug of coffee Flick offered. After she handed over a fresh cup to me, her blue gaze went back to Kelli for a second before she turned those knowing eyes my way.
“The brothers are all up in Bash’s office,” she said quietly so as not to draw the attention of the women at the stove to us. “Get going before they come looking for her.”
I had to focus on not cracking the new mug in my hands. Taking a big swallow of the contents, I set it on the counter. “You listen to it yet?”
“The brothers have,” she assured me. “Jet asked me to leave after I got the files open. But the look on his face told me all I needed to know.”
Raider placed his coffee beside my own. “There were s
ome interesting conversations, let’s just say that.”
“Was she telling the truth?” I gritted out, my eyes on Kelli as she leaned against the wall by the door, sipping her coffee and looking like she was about ready to fall over. I ached to pull her into my arms and tell her how sorry I was. To hold her close and protect her from what might happen upstairs.
But I couldn’t do that. This was going to be hard for both of us because there was nothing I could do while they questioned her but watch.
“Oh, she was telling the truth, all right. Girl could bring down the entire Senate with some of those secrets she was spouting about her daddy.”
The relief I felt was like a punch to the gut by the Hulk. Releasing a pent-up breath, I crossed the room and grabbed her wrist. “Let’s go,” I muttered as I pulled her out of the kitchen, needing to get this over as quickly as possible.
“But you didn’t eat yet,” Quinn called after us.
“They’ll eat later,” I heard Flick assure her as the door swung shut behind Raider.
The rest of the clubhouse was filled with the pain and loss the last week had brought. People were still lying around in their sleeping bags or on various furniture, but I could hear the sheep weeping as we stomped past.
Four brothers had been lost in this damn war with the Italians, and that was four too fucking many. I marched up the stairs to Bash’s office, practically dragging Kelli behind me, and knocked twice before opening the door.
Every brother was sitting around the room, waiting expectantly for us. I pushed Kelli into the vacant chair right in front of my brother-in-law’s desk, already turned to face the others for the interrogation that was about to ensue.
