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I grin. “Not your first choice, I take it?”
“Nope. We usually get half-and-half, but a piece of pineapple always seems to make its icky way ontomyside.” She gives her whole body a disgusted shake that I catch out of the corner of my eye. “This way, you two can enjoy your abomination and I’ll have my sausage, mushroom, and olives like a civilized person.”
“I didn’t think pineapple belonged on pizza before I tried it,” I admit.
“I’ve tried it. It’s the devil’s pizza topping.”
“Okay.” I raise my fingers off the steering wheel in surrender. “More for us.”
I turn into the parking lot and drive around the building, claiming a spot close to the door.
“You know your way around this place,” Emily says.
“It’s almost halfway between our upstate and downstate clubhouses so we meet up here once in a while.” I gesture toward the larger building in front. “They have a sit-down restaurant too.”
“Downstate is Grayson’s club now, right?” she asks.
I don’t know why I’m happy she pays attention to stuff like that. Or that she cares enough to ask questions. But I am.
“Yup. Z stole him from us.” It’s supposed to be a joke but damn if it doesn’t feel like Downstate’s robbed us of a lot in the last couple years. But Emily doesn’t know that.
“You’re all club brothers, though, right?” she asks. “So, still part of the same club.”
“Right.” I lean back and buckle my belt. “You know how you can love a family member but not alwayslikethem? That’s kind of what the relationship between Upstate and Downstate was for years.” I stare straight ahead out the windshield. “Z taking over as president has brought the two clubs back together in a lot of ways.”
“But a little of that competitiveness still remains?”
Damn, she’s perceptive. “You could say that. Things are a lot better down there with Z in charge. In the past, our clubs didn’t always see situations the same way.”
She seems to turn that over in her head. “Serena’s very tight-lipped about club stuff. But I know her ex was part of your…part of the…downstate club.”
My jaw tightens at the mention of Shadow. He’s dead and buried for betraying the club. I need to tread carefully when I talk about him.
“Yeah,” I answer slowly. “He was one of the brothers who didn’t operate within our code. Guys with his outlook didn’t stick around after Z stepped into the president’s role.”
She blows out a slow breath. “Thank you for being honest. I like Grayson. I really do. But when she told me he was part of the same club, I worried about her alot.”
I rest my hand over hers. “You’re a good friend.”
“She’sa good friend.” Emily sighs and seems to shake off the seriousness of the conversation. “We better order those pizzas, or we’ll be here all night.”
“Damn, I meant to call before we left the park.” I slant a look at her. “Someone distracted me.”
“Careful, Dex. I wouldn’t minddistractingyou again. Right here. Right now.”
God damn, what did I do to deserve this woman?
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Dex
Libby pounceson us as soon as we step inside the house. “I’m starving!” She grabs one of the pizza boxes out of my hands and unwinds the plastic bag from my wrist, then hurries into the kitchen.
Emily chuckles and sets her purse on the table. “You better hurry if you want that pineapple.”
In the kitchen, Libby’s busy setting the table for the three of us. I drop the other boxes on the counter. “Your sister said I should hurry or you’d eat all the pineapple.”
She stops and a devilish smile spreads over her face. “Well, you’re our guest. I don’t want to be a total animal in front of you.”
