Page 16 of Hammer’s Fall

“Not at all. You like coffee?”

Camila set her plate on the table and sat.

“I do. I was looking for some when I went into the kitchen earlier, then I got distracted.”

“No problem. I’ll bring you a cup.”

“I should get it,” Camila started to push to her feet. “You are not a servant.”

“Don’t worry.” Winter’s hand on her shoulder pushed her back into her seat. “I offered. It’s not like you demanded I fetch it for you. Sit. Eat. I’ll be right back.”

By the time Winter returned, she’d started eating.

“I wasn’t sure how you take it, so I brought both cream and sugar.” Winter set down two cups, then pulled a handful of sugar packets and little plastic cups of half and half out of somewhere and dropped them on the table between them. Camila tore open a couple packets of sugar and watched them pour into her cup when movement across the room caught her eye. Looking up, she saw Hammer headed in their direction. His hair stood in wet spikes on top of his head, and there were a couple of spots on his torso where his shirt was a little darker than the rest. She suspected he’d rushed getting dressed. But why? Was there something going on that he’d been in a hurry for?

She turned her attention back to her plate, though she found herself glancing his direction as he headed to the end of the line and picked up a plate.

“He’s a good-looking man,” Winter said from across the table. “While I don’t know him all that well, I’ve never heard of him mistreating women. Do you have feelings for him?”

Camila looked up at the other woman, her eyes wide. How had she known that? Was she that obvious?

“Don’t worry.” Winter laughed. “I only noticed you watching him just now, and given the history, it seems inevitable.”

“I’m not so sure,” Camila said, her head tilted down to her plate. “It’s not like I have anything to offer. No man is going to want anyone as useless as I am.”

“I’m going to let you in on a secret,” Winter whispered, leaning close so no one would overhear her.

“What?” Camila leaned close—she didn’t want to miss a single word.

“These men don’t care. You have the only thing one of them might want, the key will be figuring out which one, and if they’re part of this chapter.”

“What do you mean? I have nothing. Nothing. One set of clothes that I walked out of my childhood home wearing. That is all I have to my name.”

Winter’s secretive smile grew into a grin. “And that’s the beauty of it. If these men want something, they get it. If they want connections, they make them. They don’t barter women to advance themselves. If one of these men says they want you, then that’s exactly what they want. You.”

Camila blinked, not sure what to say. It was something she’d always wanted. Someone to want her for her, not for what she could do for them or for what connections she brought, or who her family was. How was it possible that she’d managed to possibly find exactly what she wanted from a situation she never could have predicted. She bit her lip as she looked at the other woman, then dropped her gaze back to her plate.

So much had happened. So much had changed. She wasn’t sure what to do or how to handle it all.

“Hey, mind if I join you ladies?” Hammer’s voice drew her attention. She turned to watch him approach.

“Not at all. Have a seat.” Winter picked up her phone. “Did you see Bishop on your way down? I sent him a message that food is ready, but I haven’t seen him yet.” She put her phone back down.

“You might want to call him,” Hammer put in, “The last I saw him was in the gym and he had headphones on.”

“Thanks.” She picked up the phone and dialed.

“I figured you would have already eaten,” Hammer said, turning to look at Camila.

“Loki just finished cooking. We helped carry it all out.”

“Then you’ve met more of the club. That’s good. How did you like Loki?”

She lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “He was okay. He didn’t say much.” Why did he want to know what she thought of his friend? Was he trying to find her someone to be with, to protect her, so he could do what he wanted?

Camila might not have been around the Sons of Sin long, but she’d already noticed they were open about things like sex, not bothering with privacy or who might be watching. Was his need to take care of her, to make sure she didn’t do anything to harm his club, keeping him from taking care of his own needs? It felt like a band tightened around her chest and the back of her throat burned at the idea that she was keeping him from his own interests. She hated being a burden, and this was just another way she was imposing on these people who had helped her so much, even if that hadn’t been their intention at the time.

She wanted to be able to help them as much as they’d helped her. But the more she got to know them, all of them, the more she felt like a burden. Like someone no one wanted to deal with, but they didn’t know what else to do with. She hated feeling that way, but what could she do about it?