Page 187 of Romeo

His smile changed, losing the public charm until it felt like something meant only for me. “That one sounded better.”

I shook my head and headed toward my car before my face gave me away.

The knot that had formed when I saw him greet Morgan hadn’t disappeared completely. Neither had my curiosity about King or the men inside.

But none of it felt quite as important anymore.

Jasper was finally in Rosewood.

And when whatever waited behind that clubhouse door was finished with him, he’d promised to come find me.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Romeo

Fiona had been gone less than ten minutes when I walked into church, and somehow that was long enough to make me wish I’d followed her instead.

I’d waited weeks to get back to Rosewood. Months if I counted every time I’d wanted to come but stopped myself. Then I finally found her standing on the clubhouse porch, got exactly long enough to hug her, and immediately had to send her home while I dealt with everything else.

She’d tried not to show her disappointment when I said I needed to come inside. That quiet “Okay” had followed me through the door anyway.

I took a place near the wall beside Mimic and Indie, while Morgan sat at the table between Grace and King. Sal and Mac stood behind her, both men close enough to make their point clear: anyone trying to reach Morgan would have to go through them first.

The room was crowded with family, club members, and enough tension that I should’ve had no trouble keeping my mind on the reason we were all there. Instead, part of me wondered whether Fiona had driven straight home or looked back before she left.

“Chasm isn’t coming,” King said.

Whatever warmth had been left on Morgan’s face disappeared.

I understood why King was pissed. Chasm had come to Rosewood, broken into Morgan’s house, punched Gunner, and disappeared again before anyone could force a real explanation out of him. King had spent seven years believing his best friend was dead, only for the asshole to show back up and start making decisions for everyone else as if nothing had happened.

Morgan seemed less angry than hurt.

“Why was he here?” Gunner asked. “Why didn’t he stay the fuck dead?”

The sharpness in his voice surprised me. Gunner usually conserved anger until he had something useful to do with it, but Chasm had managed to drag history into Gunner’s marriage and force Sarah to relive things none of them wanted brought back into the light.

“Chasm took over as president of the Little Rock Chapter,” I explained. “He was going through Steele’s office and found some files with women’s names on them. They were empty, so whatever information he had, Stone took with him when he left.”

The room went quiet enough that I felt every set of eyes turn toward me.

“Morgan was one of those names. We don’t know if they knew she was married to Chasm. We assume they knew she was O’Malley’s daughter. And by extension, King’s sister.”

That last part still sounded strange.

King had spent most of his life believing the parents who raised him were just that. Last December, when I was in Rosewood meeting the love of my life, he found out they were his grandparents. Now another branch of the family tree seemed to drop on his head every few months.

Morgan was different from the others.

She hadn’t appeared out of nowhere as some unknown sister he had to learn from the beginning. She’d already been part of his life. They had years of memories together from before either knew they shared blood.

I wondered how many of those memories would look different now.

“But you don’t know for sure?” Morgan’s mother asked.

“We don’t,” King answered. “Chasm came to Rosewood to check on Morgan. He said he wasn’t going to make contact. I don’t know what changed.”

“He got jealous,” Morgan said quietly.