Page 24 of Magnum, Volume 2

“I need to change shirts,” I told him. “I’m showing way too much cleavage to meet new people!”

He laughed. “Darlin’, your tits’ll make you fit in. These are bikers and their ol’ladies.”

And there was that term. Old ladies.

It was almost enough to make me not want to date a biker, right? Did I want to be referred to as an ol’lady? No, I didn’t think so.

But I was trying not to make judgments until I met everyone. I liked the men I’d met. Every one of them. They’d put themselves in serious danger to try to find the biological brother of one of their MC brothers, and they’d all gone at the problem logically, understanding why they couldn’t kill the men responsible — or even beat the fuck out of them.

Their wives and girlfriends deserved the benefit of the doubt.

Ember met us in the parking area and gave me a hug. “I’m so glad you’re here. Magnum was worried you’d stress, so I couldn’t tell you what we were planning, but I made sure we have plenty of ginger ale, and we have plenty of food.”

She practically pulled me across the parking lot and into an impressive clubhouse, with about a dozen screens around the room, some showing video games in progress, some showing a football game, and two showing the parking lot from different angles.

And I couldn’t believe Ember had remembered when I told her my drink of choice is either bourbon, neat, or bourbon and ginger ale.

A woman in jeans and a black tee met us at the door, and Ember introduced her as Velvet. I remembered that she was Mad Dog’s wife, which means there was likely some kind of protocol about the order people got to meet me.

“My husband thinks highly of you,” Velvet said. “It’s good to finally meet you.”

The two women steered me toward a table loaded with food — casserole dishes and platters. This was clearly potluck and not catered. I recognized what looked like cornbread, some mac-n-cheese, a potato and cheese dish, and then more people were talking to me and I had to look up.

I met Tempe and immediately liked her, then Tori walked to us, and I recognized her without an introduction. “OMG,” I told her. “I’m obsessed with your channel! I even made my own cheese after watching you make it!”

She laughed. “It’s so much better than the storebought stuff, isn’t it? And I love your channel, too. No clickbait, just the facts. I appreciate that.”

Tess stayed back for a while, but eventually stepped forward and introduced herself. “Frost says you have a good head on your shoulders. Our men like you, despite your job, and that’s saying something. Still, you could do them a lot of harm with just a few stray words.”

She was a criminal attorney, so I didn’t get offended. I didn’t know why Frost had told her, maybe because I hadn’t spent much time with Bobcat, so he didn’t know me as well as the others.

“I’m aware,” I told her, “and I’ve been, and will continue to be, careful. I know they helped because it meant rescuing Gears’ brother, but there’s no way I can ever thank them for all they did. I’ll go to jail myself before I risk any of them.”

She nodded. “So they say. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Rumor has it you’re researching the whole missing scientists thing now?”

“Just one of them.”

Another nod, and then Tempe was on the super-nice, professional-looking bar with tons of warm wood and shiny chrome, wearing jeans, a lavender sports bra, and lavender bunny ears, dancing like a stripper.

Tess rolled her eyes and said, “You a table dancer? She’ll drag Cheyenne up next. Maybe Kitty.”

Ember tried to drag me up on a table to dance with her, but Tori rescued me, and we talked about algorithms and editing software until Mad Dog jumped onto a stage and said, “Storm, can you come up here, please?”

I frowned at Ember, who nodded for me to go, and then Velvet was beside me, an arm around my waist, walking me to Mad Dog.

“There are no secrets in an MC,” Mad Dog said to the room once I was on the stage with him. “All of you know how Magnum’s Storm helped us get Mason back. We figure enough time has passed, it’s safe for her and Magnum to quietly be together.”

He looked at me and then back to the room. “She’s Magnum’s, but even if she wasn’t, we’d owe her.” He looked at me again. “Whether you’re in Magnum’s life or not, if you need us, you let us know. I’m officially making you a friend of the club, whether or not you’re in Magnum’s life.”

I stared at him a good ten seconds before I could come up with anything to say.

“I’m never speechless, so congrats for that, and thank you. It means a lot, but I feel as if I’m indebted to all of you, for going above and beyond to…” I shook my head and looked out at everyone in the room. “I was so focused on finding the missing, and then when two investigations slammed into each other…” I blew out a breath. “I didn’t have any options, but I wasn’t going to let it go. I couldn’t. So many of you got involved, and it showed me how tight your organization is. You aren’t just people who hang out together, but friends, and also professionals.”

I looked to the women, still around the table we’d ended up sitting at, talking and drinking together.

“Thanks to all of you for the warm welcome. I didn’t know what to expect when Magnum surprised me by bringing me here right from the airport, but it’s been fun.”

Chapter 11