“Yeah, it is,” Rue said with a nod.
We chatted a little as I put a take and bake pizza in the oven—my version of cooking—and caught up with everything that had happened in the last two weeks with each of us. Once the pizza was done we began eating and learning a bit more about each other’s backgrounds.
I hadn’t realized—though maybe I should have because of the boys’ ages—that Ryan was Rue’s brother and Teddy was his friend. Rue and OD had basically adopted them as their own though. Same with Norman, apparently.
“Hopefully, I’ll get to meet your mother and sister one day,” I told Camila, then took a bite of my pizza. The gooey cheese burned my mouth a little, but it was so worth it. Thanks to theZofran I could actually eat and felt almost human again. The morning sickness had been a killer. It still wasn’t a complete fix for me, and I had to be careful to eat often enough, but not too much or I’d still end up throwing up, but it was a huge improvement.
“I’m sure you will!” Camila replied.
“And we can’t wait to meet your family, too. Four sisters.” Rue let out a whistle. “Your parents had their hands full.”
I laughed and nodded. “We didn’t always make it easy for them.”
We all fell silent as we continued to eat. Camila finally looked around and said, “Thank you so much for having us over. We’ve been meaning to get together with you, but fully understand how hard it can be during this time.” She rested a hand on her huge belly. She was past due at this point, according to Bolo.
That was going to be me soon. Well, hopefully not the past due part, but having a big belly like hers. And I was really looking forward to it. I wanted to feel my baby kick so badly. To have reassurance that she or he was in there. Other than the throwing up—and now the blood pressure fiasco—I only had small indications that he was in there. My clothes were fitting a bit tighter and my stomach was starting to round out just a little bit.
I gave them a sheepish smile. “Well, I wanted to have you over to get to know one another. But also…”
They gave each other knowing looks.
“You have questions,” Rue said, finishing my sentence. She didn’t seem to be having any troubles with morning sickness as she started in on her third slice of pizza. I made a mental note to go over pregnancy symptoms with them later.
I blew out a relieved breath. They seemed like they expected this. Camila confirmed it by leaning over and patting my hand.She and I were sitting next to each other on the couch while Rue was in one of the recliner chairs. “I do.”
“We figured you would,” Camila told me. “It’s only natural.”
“Yeah,” Rue said, lifting the slice of pizza up and taking a large bite. She chewed a few times, then swallowed. “This is kind of a crazy lifestyle for normies.” She pointed between herself and us. “We’reallthe normies by the way.”
I laughed at that.
“How much has Bolo told you?” Camila asked, sounding a little hesitant.
“That they protect the city.” I went on to explain the conversation that we’d had. The girls were nodding along as I spoke.
“As an old lady you’re allowed to know the details,” Rue told me. “Some clubs don’t, I guess? But Ruck told us that wasn’t the way their club did things. He says if we don’t know what they’re involved in, we won’t know the threats coming at us.”
“And they’d rather we knew so we could avoid them if possible,” Camila finished.
“That makes sense,” I replied. Steeling my nerves, I asked the most pressing question first. It should be one for Bolo. But I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear the answer from him. I didn’t want to have to temper my reaction. I wasn’t even sure what that reaction would be until I had my suspicions confirmed. “D-Do they kill people?”
The women looked at each other again, then focused back on me. “Yeah,” Rue said, as Camila nodded along, “they do.”
“But only bad people,” Camila added.
I absorbed that for a moment and was surprised that I didn’t feel as freaked out as I thought I would. Probably because I’d suspected it ever since Bolo said they ‘take care’ of criminals. Obviously they weren’t taking care of them in a caring way. I wasn’t stupid. And leaving them in the city would just causeextra trouble and potential risk to their families. “That doesn’t…worry…either of you?”
Camila bit her lower lip, then sighed. “I think it would help if you knew how we came to meet the MC.” Rue nodded at her to continue. “My mother, sister, and I were on the run. A really…bad man…was trying to kill me, and wouldn’t have hesitated to kill them or use them to get to me.”
My eyes widened. “Seriously?” They both nodded. “Oh my God. The police?”
“They were trying. The Marshals were barely keeping us safe in witness protection. They didn’t know it at the time but they had a leak. The FBI was trying to take down this man for all his crimes.” She hesitated. “He murdered my father and I witnessed it.”
I sucked in a horrified breath. I couldn’t even imagine watching anyone in my family be killed in front of me. Reaching over I grabbed her hand and squeezed, but didn’t interrupt.
“There were many times they barely got us moved in time. Then we came here, to Phoenix, and I moved in next door to Kilo.” Her smile softened. “We fell in love even though I tried not to. I didn’t want to love him then have to run again. He and the club went after Kruzman. They made it so I never had to worry about him again. Never had to worry about my mother and sister’s safety again. It was a huge burden lifted off my shoulders. I’ll always be grateful to them. And they became like another family to me. I’ll take their secrets to my grave.” There was a fierce determination lighting up her eyes.
“I get it,” I told her. “That sounds so…insane. Like a fiction story, not real life.”
