AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But even if fate stepped over to my side…
Would Edana?
5
“I have to do a few things for the club first, then I’ll meet you at home. Or do you want me to swing back here and pick you up?”
I’d bought a house close by back when I was in my twenties. It was where we’d lived until she decided to leave all those years ago.
“Don’t make the extra trip. Sully will take me back.”
“Okay. I won’t be long.”
After a quick kiss and a warning to Sully not to keep Edana here long, to which I witnessed several pairs of rolling eyes, I moved toward Chambers. Marek and Stone leaned against the wall closest to the entryway to the room where we’d made life-and-death decisions not long ago.
“Anything else you want to add to my list of duties today?” I asked, vaguely irritated Prez had dumped what I viewed to be menial tasks on my shoulders. But I didn’t complain. Not out loud, at least.
Marek’s gaze landed on mine, and although he didn’t move a facial muscle or say a word, I could tell my tone annoyed him. But that wasn’t anything new. I’d driven the man nuts from time to time, more so when I was younger. And there was that timeframe years after the first war with the Reapers ended, when some of their members from other charters settled here in California and started to rebuild.
I was screwed up. I could admit it. I craved revenge, and even though those particular members had nothing to do with what happened to Edana, whoever I had a run-in with… let’s just say I made sure they were never seen again. After the fourthincident, Prez suggested I leave for a while because my impulsiveness was bringing heat back on the club. Soon after, I changed my patch to Nomad and had flitted between our charters ever since.
After a brief bout of silence laced in slight annoyance, Marek finally opened his mouth to respond.
“Change of plans. I just need you to swing by Rusty’s Auto and pick up the order Kaden placed last week and bring it back here for him.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah. Jagger’s gonna take care of the other shit.”
Instead of being thankful I didn’t have to run around all over, I asked, “And why can’t Kaden go himself?”
“Because he’s swamped in the garage.” Marek cracked his neck from side to side, his eyes pinned to mine the entire time. “You got a problem helpin’ out?”
Personal shit weighing me down was getting in the way of my place in the club, but hopefully that was only temporary. My personal issue, not my place in the club.
“Sorry, Prez. Just got shit on my mind. No problem.”
Marek’s demeanor relaxed, albeit fractionally. “We’ve all been there, brother.” He clasped my shoulder and gave me a curt nod before disappearing inside Chambers, Stone following him a second later.
Two hours later, I pulled back into the clubhouse lot, parking near the entrance to the garage. What I thought was going to be a quick trip to Rusty’s took longer than I thought because they were waiting on something to arrive from their warehouse, leaving me to sit around and lose myself to my thoughts. Which wasn’t always a good thing. And no matter how much I contemplated Tripp’s words about making a decision, I still hadn’t landed on one.
“Thanks for picking this up for me,” Kaden said, brushing past me to open the back of the van. “I barely have time to take a piss these days.”
Even though Prez wasn’t Kaden’s biological father, some of his mannerisms were identical to Marek’s. From the way he walked to the way he analyzed people, the lines around his eyes creasing whenever he studied someone.
“Doesn’t Tag work with you?” I glanced toward the garage and saw our newest member securing the lug nuts on the driver-side tire.
“Yeah, but we’ve been swamped. It’s great for business, but it gets to be a bit much some days. And because I’m always here, I get the pleasure of hearing Riley’s mouth about it from time to time. But I remind her we need the money for the wedding.”
The reminder that he had a plan for his future made me envious. I wanted that too.
Much like his father, Kaden was a proud guy. Stone and Addy offered to pay for the wedding soon after they’d gotten engaged last year, but Kaden refused. He wanted to prove to his future father-in-law that he could take care of Riley. The tradeoff for his pride, however, was long hours spent getting dirty.
“When’s that taking place again?”
“Next year. May or June. We just have to narrow down the date.”
“Need some help?” Tag walked up behind Kaden, grabbing one of the boxes from the van and flashing me a curt grin when his gaze landed on me.
