Page 56 of Diary of a Biker Queen

It wasn’t exactly the warmest of exchanges, and I couldn’t blame Chaos for still holding me at arm’s length. There was a lot of history between him and me, and a lot of bad blood. Things had improved right before I’d left Saint View though. I’d given him the restaurant-sex club I’d blackmailed him into running for me. Now it was his, free and clear, and it was thriving, thanks to him.

At least for now, while my father wasn’t interested in it.

Hopefully it would stay that way, and my father would forget all about the businesses I’d walked away from to save my sister.

“I just came to see Isabella,” I told them.

Kara jerked her head toward the living room on the other side of the kitchen wall, where a TV played. “She’s watching a movie with Jax.” Her mouth pulled into a taut line, and then she sighed and grabbed a tea towel, wiping off her hands. She moved around the kitchen, taking out a couple of bottles of lemonade and a bag of chips. Then set them both down on the counter and pushed them toward me. “Here. Take them snacks. You’ll be their new favorite person.”

I smiled at her gratefully and reached for the goods. “Thank you.” I knew that, really, it was her who had allowed my sister to be here. Chaos and Hawk and Grayson, Kara’s three partners, all lived here too, but I knew them well enough to know they would never allow Isabella to stay if Kara hadn’t wanted it.

I wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d said no. Seeing my sister every day had to remind her of me and my father, and the things we’d done to Kara and her family.

I swallowed thickly. “Thank you. Again. For having her here. I know you didn’t—”

Kara cut me off. “Stop. I don’t need your thank-yous. That girl hasn’t done a thing wrong. She just had the unfortunate experience of being born into the wrong family. And the main clubhouse isn’t the most appropriate place for a teenage girl to live.”

From what I could tell, the guys at the club were all very fond of the kids who resided in the compound, and they toned down the bad language and lewd remarks whenever they were around.

But I could also see it was a balancing act, one Kara’s family and the club handled well. The guys kept it PG when the kids came to the clubhouse, and in return, Kara and Chaos and Hawk and Grayson kept their kids out of it at night when things had the tendency to move beyond a family friendly rating. It gave the men time to be together, to drink and party, and to get their dicks wet with the club girls or their old ladies.

The respect went both ways and had to be the only reason this living arrangement worked for any of them.

“I’m just grateful to you for giving her a safe place to land when I couldn’t.”

Chaos nodded curtly. “She can stay here as long as you need. Or as long as she wants. She’s the perfect houseguest, and Jax is loving having another girl around the same age to hang out with. Hayley Jade and Wren think she’s the coolest.”

I didn’t say thank you again. I just shifted the snacks around in my arms and took them into the living room.

Isabella glanced up when I entered and smiled brightly at me. “Hey! I thought I heard your voice out there. Ooh! Snacks. Gimme.”

Her and Jax pounced on them, and I grinned at the way the two of them were sprawled out on the couch, all gangly legs and arms, fully relaxed.

I sat next to my sister and nudged her with my elbow. “You doing okay?”

She shoved a handful of chips in her mouth but answered anyway. “Yep! Kara got me some schoolwork to do. She homeschools Jax, but she’s a grade younger.”

I looked over at Jax. “So you can ask Is all the answers then?”

She smiled at me. “Naturally. Don’t tell my sister though.”

“I heard that!” Kara called from the kitchen.

I wasn’t surprised she was eavesdropping. She didn’t fully trust me, and I couldn’t blame her for hovering when so many of her memories would have me as a predator.

No amount of talk would convince her I wasn’t that man anymore. I just had to show her. “So what’s on the TV?”

Isabella shrugged. “Truthfully, we weren’t really watching it. We were mostly talking.”

“About what?” I stole a chip from the bag and crunched it.

“Do you really want to know?”

I crossed one ankle over the other and leaned back against the cloud of soft couch cushions. “Of course I do.”

Jax folded her bare legs and feet beneath her, sitting cross-legged so she could twist to face me. “Issy has a crush on one of the prospects.”

The smile fell off my face. “One of the prospects? As in those fully grown men who live up in the clubhouse and have—”