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When I mention in passing how I plan to firebomb a realtor’s car, they perk up. With their minds on a distraction, I bring up XYZ Coffee.
“It’s a nifty place. Maybe hit it up for cupcakes and coffee. Be sure to leave a nice tip. Help that lady out until she realizes her business won’t last.”
“Why not let her learn the truth right now?” asks Goose—formerly Lisa Palmer—as she warms a bowl of chowder for herself. “Why drag out the inevitable?”
“She’s all alone in McMurdo Valley. Failing is easier when you have people around to tell you nice shit,” I say and glance at her. “Imagine if you were having a bad day with no one to make you laugh or get stoned with.”
“How do you know this woman?” one of the younger guys, Dice, asks from his spot in the kitchen.
“I was just walking around and saw the coffee shop. Seemed strange to have a new business without anyone gossiping about it, you know?”
Sitting across from me, Walla Walla spreads his large build out along the couch. His blue-eyed gaze holds mine as a smile curves the corners of his big mouth. I wait for him to say something smartass and call me out for having a crush.
“I like coffee and cupcakes,” he says, still grinning at me. “I’ll drop by tomorrow and help out this poor lady.”
“She makes sandwiches, too.”
Walla Walla nods, still smirking. “Cupcakes are a thing ladies have at their parties.”
“I think the pot broke him,” says Tomcat—born Nash Childs—from the kitchen as he studies the stash on the counter. “Maybe it was laced with something.”
“Naw,” Walla Walla mumbles, still holding my gaze as he watches me through his long blond hair. “I meant if this lonely lady needs more business, maybe Irina will order cupcakes for that baby shower she’s having next week.”
Nodding, I realize I’ll need to be the one to ask. When I do, those biker wives—Irina, Selene, Yazmin, Landry, and Ruin’s sister, Wynonna—are bound to assume shit about Xenia and me.
Two days later, I show up to Eagle’s housewarming party with a plan. I linger around Irina and wait until I see a chance to mention the coffee shop. She agrees immediately, choosing not to tease me. Of course, I catch Wynonna gossiping. That’s why I flee to the side deck while the others fill the interior space and grill on the main deck.
Making friends with those biker wives might help Xenia. At the end of a bad day, she comes home to a tiny place she doesn’t own in a town where she’s a stranger. I don’t get the feeling she has friends calling or family checking in with her.
Though I don’t mind loneliness, Xenia’s bound to get swallowed up by it. Having girlfriends could be a good thing.
My friendship hasn’t hurt, either. The club guys and Goose have hit up the coffee shop and spent money.
That’s why I get to wondering if Xenia is still so sad. I even crept around her place last night when the weather was good.
I caught Xenia returning home from what I think was a date. She didn’t look particularly happy.
I’m unsure how I feel about her dating. Xenia can’t be mine, but I still want to fix her life. A man might erase her sadness. I should support that, just like I do when Kourtney dates men I can barely tolerate.
“Did someone get your back up?” Eagle asks me as he joins me outside while holding his baby girl.
When I don’t answer his question, Eagle’s frown shifts into another mode.
“I don’t want any fussing over what I’m about to say,” I mutter as the urge to return to the woods gnaws at me.
“I’ll try, but fatherhood’s made me fussy.”
Smirking at his words, I can’t settle on what I’m willing to share.
I always see Xenia in my mind. I constantly feel her out in the world. Her memory keeps me awake every night.
That’s why I worry my feelings will bleed into my words. Finally, I admit, “There’s a woman new to town, and I like looking at her. Feels good to think about her. But I’m not planning on doing more than that.”
“Who’s saying you need to?”
“No one yet. It’s just how these things go.”
Eyeing his cradled daughter, Eagle nods. “You know your boundaries. If you’d be crossing one to be with this woman, you best not try.”
