Page 26 of Finn's Future

“No big, scary biker nickname?” she teased. “Something dramatic?”

I snorted. “What, like ‘Reaper’?”

“Exactly.”

“Pretty sure I wouldn’t pull that off.”

She tilted her head, studying me like she was actually considering it. “No, you wouldn’t.”

I laughed and took a drink of water. It had been a long time since I’d sat with someone and had a normal conversation over dinner.

“So, how does it work?” she asked. “The road names.”

“Most of the guys earn them,” I said. “Something they did or something they like. Something that sticks.”

“And you didn’t?”

“Finn is my road name, too. Once I got patched in, it’s the name that stuck.”

She leaned forward just a fraction, resting her arms on the table.

“What’s it mean?”

My grip tightened slightly around my fork. For a moment, I didn’t answer. I didn’t want to. I hadn’t shared my full past with anyone other than my brothers. Not even Lucy knew.

Because my name . . . it wasn’t just a name. It was a line drawn. A moment I couldn’t take back. Blood on my hands and the sound of my mother crying and screaming behind me.

I pushed that memory down where it belonged.

Kate was still watching me, waiting.

“Means I finish things,” I said. The words came out flat and harsher than I meant, and they carried more than I wanted them to.

Her expression shifted. Not fear, but maybe understanding, or maybe just the sense that she’d stepped close to something she shouldn’t push. She didn’t ask anything after that and I was damn grateful for it, because if she had, I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to lie.

Reaper called church just after dinner. The second my phone rang, the calm from earlier vanished.

“Yeah, Pres,” I answered, already pushing back from the table.

Kate looked up immediately, tension flashing across her face.

“Church. Bring the girl.”

“Understood.”

The line went dead.

“What is it?” Kate asked.

“Church. It’s a meeting of sorts.” I grabbed my kutte off the back of the chair. “Reaper wants you there.”

Her eyebrows dropped and her brow furrowed.

I sighed. “Relax. If there was a problem, he wouldn’t be inviting you into the clubhouse.”

She didn’t look like she believed me, but she nodded anyway.

On the ride back Kate held onto me tighter than she had the first time she’d ridden my bike, probably because of the dark roads or maybe because she trusted me a little more.