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South Paw stood at the gate and opened it when he saw us coming.
Duke parked in the gravel lot next to another bike that I knew instantly was Savage’s. There were only a few other bikes and no cars in the lot. Old Ladies and kids weren’t here tonight.
I climbed off the motorcycle before Duke cut the engine, and I waited for him. We walked up the pathway to the clubhouse porch steps, our arms brushing.
My body was a live wire when he was near. The night we were together, something changed for me. Now I couldn’t stop thinking about him or what we’d done in bed together.
I pushed open the front door of the clubhouse. Waverly was sitting on the couch, her Doc Martens resting on the coffee table. She was eating something I couldn’t decipher, but it smelled delicious.
“Didn’t you just eat?” I asked, taking a seat next to her.
“This is comfort food,” she said. “I’ve been abandoned by my mother.”
“Oh, we’re resorting to dark humor, are we?”
“If we didn’t laugh, we would cry,” Waverly pointed out.
“What is it?” I leaned forward to inspect her plate.
“Crow made chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes last night,” Savage said from the recliner on the other side of the room. He took a sip of his beer.
“Crow did this?” I asked in amazement. “That kid knows his way around the kitchen.”
“You want something to drink?” Duke asked me.
I shook my head.
The four of us were quiet as Waverly finished her food. My mind turned over ideas about how to find a place for us to live that would be both affordable and safe. That would come, but Waverly and I needed to have another discussion—one I didn’t want to speak about until we were alone.
“That was really good,” Waverly said as she polished off the last bite. She got up and rinsed her plate before sticking it in the dishwasher.
I studied my sister as she moved around the kitchen, putting things away. Though I didn’t like the outright deception and lying to me about her whereabouts this evening, I couldn’t help but realize that she definitely wasn’t a kid anymore. And it wasn’t just because she’d stolen my leather corset, or that it actually fit her. No, it was the fact that she moved with assurance and grace. I realized that a war of teenage independence was raging within her.
I hadn’t had the chance for that. When I’d been a teenager, she’d been a young kid, and I’d been old enough to take on the responsibility of looking out for her. I’d become a mother long before I’d wanted to—but it had been out of sheer necessity.
And I’d do it all over again. All of it. Just to make sure she was fed and safe. It was clear now that I’d have to. My mother had shirked her maternal duties.
“You tired, kid?” Savage asked Waverly.
“Stop calling me that,” she said reflexively.
Savage snorted. “I will when you stop acting like a child.”
“Savage,” I warned. “It’s late. I’m tired. Waverly’s tired. And this doesn’t really concern you.”
“It doesn’tconcernme?” His mouth nearly gaped. “For fuck’s sake, Duke and I are basically her brothers. She got herself into some shit, and the three of us had to stop our night to bail her out. Now you guys are homeless and it falls to me and Duke to look out for you—like hell this doesn’t concern me!”
“Oh, this is fun.” Waverly wrinkled her nose. “Did I ask for two overprotective biker boys to act like big brothers? No. Did I ask you to trek across town and embarrass me in front of my boyfriend? Also no.”
“Embarrass you? Embarrassyou?”
“Savage,” Duke growled. “Walk it off.”
With a huff, Savage stood up from the recliner and stomped down the hallway. A moment later the screen door slammed shut.
The three of us didn’t say anything for a while and then Waverly piped up, “I don’t have any pajamas.”
“You can borrow one of my T-shirts,” Duke said.
