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“Yet,” Seb adds, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and kissing the top of her head. They really are annoyingly cute when they want to be.
“I mean it, Mum. I’m not about to bring a girl home to meet you or anything.”
She continues to study me, her motherly instinct clearly sensing that there’s more.
“You need to let it go, Toby,” she whispers. “It’s over.”
“I know, Mum. I’ve got everything under control. Trust me, yeah?”
“Toby, I—”
“So what’s for dinner? It smells amazing,” I say, twisting out of her hold and stepping deeper into the room where Galen has a beer waiting for me.
“You promised me a roast dinner,” Stella points out. “You’d better not have gone back on that.”
“You think I’d be brave enough?” Galen asks.
“You’ve got a problem, baby,” Seb mutters.
“What? I’m just embracing my inner Brit and making up for all the lost dinners.”
Seb and Galen laugh at her. All the while, Mum’s concerned gaze still burns into me.
* * *
“So… aside from Toby’s mystery girl, who else has news?” Galen asks once we’re all sitting with empty plates and more than full bellies.
Everyone looks around at each other.
“No? So everyone’s lives are calm and normal?” he asks with a smirk. “That can’t be right. Who’s hiding something?”
“Maybe it’s just time for some normalcy?” Mum says softly. “I think we’ve all had enough drama.”
“Amen to that,” Stella says, lifting what’s left of her glass of wine to her lips.
She, Seb, and Mum fall into a conversation about school while Galen’s phone dings in his pocket.
“Sorry,” he mutters, pulling it out to read, but no one pays him any attention. Well, no one aside from me.
“What’s wrong?” I ask when his brows pull together, concern obvious on his face.
“Uh…” He hesitates, looking at me across the table.
Unlike Stella and Mum, the two of us haven’t really spent all that much time together yet. He’s been busy with work, and I’ve been spending all my free time either torturing a man or stalking a woman.
“Things aren’t going very smoothly with the Wolves’ new leadership in Lovell,” he confesses.
“Archer having issues?” I ask.
“Seems that way. Some of Luis Wolfe’s right-hand men aren’t impressed with the changes he’s already putting in place.”
“Is Damien getting involved?” I’m aware that he’s been helping both Archer and Cruz in their takeovers of both the Lovell Estate gang and the MC we share our territory with.
“He’s monitoring the situation,” Galen says hesitantly.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Seb pipes up, clearly listening.
“I’m sure Archer and his boys have it under control.” My brow lifts, questioning that statement. If we know about it, then he’s clearly not dealing with it well enough. “Just be ready should he need backup.”
“What about the Reapers?” I ask, looking between Galen and Seb, assuming he might know more via his connection to Emmie.
“Quiet,” Seb answers.
“Well, I guess that’s something.”
“The concern,” Galen starts, “is that Ram and Luis were working together before they were taken down. Both have enough loyal followers to cause Cruz and Archer issues. Only time will tell just how loyal they were.”
“They were both scumbags,” I scoff. “Surely they’ll see the light now one is dead and the other is behind bars.”
“Only time will tell.”
