Jessa laughed. “You think I’m ever bringing a guy home? I’m pretty sure any guy I date is going to piss his pants when he realizes there’s an entire motorcycle club at my back.”
“Perfect,” Hatchet growled. He took a bite of his toast and chewed it slowly. “If he’s not man enough to stand up to us, he isn’t good enough for you. I’m serious, though. I don’t want us to have secrets. Well, except for the secret about Merci and me. You need to keep that to yourself until we get a chance to tell Merrick.”
Jessa rolled her eyes. “Got it. Selective honesty. Speaking of Merrick, can I skip dinner at his house tonight? Gracie invited me and some other girls over for a sleepover. They want to meet Chaos, so I’d be taking her, too.”
Hatchet pretended to mull it over, but I could see the wheels spinning in his head. If Jessa were gone for the night, we’d have the house to ourselves. Based on the girl’s grin, she knew it, too.
“Fine,” he said. “But I’ll be checking in with Bayou to make sure you’re behaving.”
She wrinkled her nose. “You’re kind of overprotective, you know that?”
“Someone has to look out for you, kid. You can’t hate me for wanting to keep you safe.”
Jessa huffed. “I might—just a little.”
“And you better make sure Chaos comes back in one piece. She’s still a puppy. I don’t want her getting hurt or eating something she shouldn’t.”
Jessa snorted. “Chill. I’m taking her to a sleepover, not doggyfight club.”
“First rule of doggy fight club? Don’t tell Hatchet about doggy fight club.”
Hatchet shot me a sideways glare. “Don’t you two start teaming up against me.”
I shoved his shoulder. “Too late. You’ve got two strong women in your life now.”
He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into him.
“So,” Jessa said, eyes flicking between us. “If I’m gone all night, you two are just going to play board games and watch movies, right? No shenanigans?”
Hatchet grunted. “You worry about your plans, I’ll worry about mine. I mean it. Be good tonight.”
“I promise not to do anything you wouldn’t do,” she sniped as she headed to her room.
Hatchet shook his head, taking the last bite of his breakfast.
I snickered. “That’s not the comfort she thinks it is.”
“I’m sure she knows that,” he said, rubbing his beard. His jaw worked like he was still trying to decide if letting her go was a mistake.
“You good?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I just worry about her ending up in every possible bad situation my brain can come up with. Or screwing up and making her life worse off than it was before me.”
His raw honesty tugged at something deep in me. I brushed a hand on his arm, tracing the ink. “You’ll make mistakes, but you’re doing more good here than you can even imagine. You’ve shown up for her. Which is more than she can say about anyone else.”
He let out a slow breath, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. “See you after work. Think about telling Merrick at dinner?”
I hummed in consideration, pretending to weigh the idea. “Maybe,” I said, stepping closer until my chest brushed his. I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Or maybe I want to be your dirty little secret tonight.”
His fingers tightened on my hip. “I like the sound of that more than I should. Fuck, this is a bad idea. There’s no way I can keep hiding this.”
“You thrive on bad ideas.”
“I’m aware. You’re the best one I’ve ever had. Are you sure you want to keep this secret longer than we have to? Merrick’ll flip his shit when he finds out we’ve been keeping this from him.”
“I don’t want to keep us a secret forever. Just for now. I like having this to ourselves. No commentary. Well, minimal commentary now that Jessa knows.”
A reluctant grin tugged at his mouth. “She’s going to hold this over our heads to get whatever she wants.”
