“Yeah, I worked at a friend’s shop before we moved. I’m competent with heavy machinery, but I’m a fucking magician with semis—”
“That all you do?” he asked, cutting her off.
I stiffened as I realized what he was getting at, and Teddy’s shoulder tightened under my hand. My dad had mentioned that Dragon wanted to talk to Teddy about her job search, and she’d gone into the meeting thinking that.
“Are you asking if I can do modifications?” she questioned emotionlessly. “Or if I’ve done them in the past?”
“Both.”
“Both,” she replied flatly. “Like I told your man…” She jerked her head at Grease. “I haven’t done that kind of work in over five years.”
“For Granger,” Dragon said.
“Yeah, for Granger.” She sat up straighter in her chair, which I hadn’t realized was possible. “Like I said before, I did some work for him over five years ago. I wasn’t happy about it, but I didn’t really have a choice.”
“And nothing since then?”
“She already answered you,” I barked.
My dad called my name in warning.
“You keep your mouth shut,” my grandfather ordered, pointing at me. “You’re here as a courtesy. Nothin’ more.”
I grit my teeth as Teddy’s hand came up and patted mine.
“Is that what this is?” she asked, glancing around the table. “You want me to do some mods? I’m rusty, but I could take a look.”
“We’ve had a call from David Granger,” Dragon said, leaning back into his seat. “Said you work for him, and he’s reachin’ out to see why you’re here.”
“I don’t work for him,” Teddy replied firmly. She was practically vibrating. “I did a few mods over five years ago.”
“And nothing since then?”
“No. Nothing since then.”
“Okay,” he said with a nod.
“Is that it?” she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she rose to her feet. “Cool. Good talk.”
She spun and left the room as Grandpa Casper called my name.
I turned to look at him.
“We had to be sure,” he said carefully. “If we’re shelterin’ her here, we had to be sure.”
I stared at him for a moment, knowing that if I said what was on my mind, I’d be fucked. They could’ve just asked her. Grease, the man she remembered, could’ve stopped by the house at any time and asked her what they needed to know. Instead, they’d called her into the club, sat her down in a room full of men she didn’t know, and interrogated her.
“She’s mine,” I said finally, when I could force myself to speak evenly. “Doesn’t matter what her history is. Doesn’t matter what her connections are. Doesn’t matter if she lied or told the truth. Doesn’t matter what the fuck David Granger has to say. She’s mine, and no one touches her.”
“Curtis, think about this,” my dad warned. “You’ve known the woman less than a week.”
“Her kids are sleepin’ in my fuckin’ house,” I snapped, meeting his eyes. “Yesterday, I sat and watched some weird-ass show for hours with her eldest while they got their hair braided. This mornin’ before I came into work, I stopped to check that her youngest hadn’t fallen out of the loft bed we set up for him yesterday. When Dylan fucked up and brought his girlfriend with him to Oregon, that woman I’d knownless than a daytook a punch meant for your grandson from a man who weighs three hundred pounds. Then she somehow kept her feet and kneed him in the balls so hard that he was still curled up in a ball when I got there. She’s sleepin’ in my bed. She’s on the back of my bike. I don’t need to think about shit.”
The room was absolutely silent when I finished.
“Then she’s got the club’s protection,” Dragon announced.
“She had that when Harv called in his marker,” I replied, looking at him. “Now she’s got mine. There’s not a member of this club who would let you drag their old lady in and interrogate her, scaring the shit outta her in the process. I won’t either. You have questions in the future, you come to me.”
