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My eyes just met Bear’s when his phone rang, and he held it up to show Gunner the screen, which said Dimarco. I knew that had to be Luke Dimarco, the cop who’d found himself involved in a situation he probably didn’t need or want to be involved in, but he was too good of a guy to look the other way. My brother respected him, which meant the club respected him, even though cops being friends with MC members wasn’t typical. It was just another way my brother was turning this club around. When Gunner grinned down at his shoes, he confirmed it was who I thought it was. Bear waved his hand in the air to silence everyone, and the room quieted instantly.
He lifted the phone to his ear and said hello while we all waited. The call lasted less than a minute before he ended it and shoved his phone into his front pocket.
“Well?” Gunner asked.
“Said there was a fire at the Widows clubhouse, they were just called out, and he was on his way. Asked me what I knew. Told him I don’t know shit, that I wasn’t there.” Gunner chuckled when Bear continued. “Told him to let me know if we were still meeting tomorrow.”
Relief washed over me when I saw Bear share a smile with Gunner, and I finally closed the distance between us, pushing to stand under his arm and wrapping my arm around his waist.
His eyes flicked down to mine. “Surprised you listened, and I didn’t see you there.”
Pushing back the memories of Race seeming to understand my fear and comforting me, I rolled my eyes and played the role Bear expected me to play. “I was detained.”
Bear’s gaze shot to Race, who nodded his head. “Only doing my job, brother.”
Bear sighed and looked down at me. I shrugged my shoulders as if it was no big deal. “I was worried about you.”
“Where are the rest?” Race asked.
Bear sighed and faced the room. “Pop was shot.”
“What?” I pushed back and stared up at Bear. Pop was the oldest member of the club and something of a grandfather to all of us.
He smiled sadly. “He’s fine. It was a graze. Ritz and Skinner took him to Kat. Bull was swinging by there too. I sent Tank and the others to drive a bit, maybe head over to Hanks for a beer.”
Kat was a doctor who owned her own clinic on the outskirts of New Hope. Bear found her when he was rebuilding the club and asked her to be an on-call doctor for the club’s members. It was all in an effort to avoid questions at the emergency room if the members found themselves in a situation that was hard to explain. She’d agreed, but with stipulations, one being she wouldn’t be involved in anything illegal, and over the years, it became very obvious we were lucky to have her. Tonight was a good example of why.
“Smart. All in different places, can’t have done much in one.”
“Exactly,” Bear said.
A few members pushed by me and began speaking to Bear quietly, and I knew that was my cue to leave. Maggie and Gunner were wrapped up in each other, and Bear would be busy with club stuff through the night so I would just go home. I needed a break anyway.
Heading toward the bar, I grabbed my purse, only then realizing I didn’t have my Jeep. I was planning to go after my brother earlier and didn’t even have my Jeep. I always drove myself, so it was easy to forget that Bear had brought me tonight, but I still felt like an idiot. Sighing, I rubbed my forehead with the palm of my hand. Guess I was either sleeping on the couch in his office or I was walking. Somehow, I didn’t think Bear would like me walking those few miles alone at night.
“You good?”
My head snapped to the right when I heard Race’s voice, and I studied him for a moment, shocked he asked me that. He never asked me anything about myself, and he especially never cared how I was.
Nodding slowly, I replied. “Yeah, I’m good.” When he didn’t say anything, I gestured toward the door. “Just gonna go.”
“Need a ride?”
“No,” I replied immediately even though I absolutely needed a ride.
“Didn’t Bear bring you?”
I hesitated, but then replied honestly. “Yeah.”
He grinned slowly, again shocking the hell out of me. This wasn’t how we typically spoke to each other. When we did speak, we were usually short and abrupt. “Then how were you planning to get home?”
I knew he was teasing me, but I didn’t know how to take that. All I could hear in my mind was him saying I was flaky, and because of that, my mood went from somewhat relaxed and curious to defensive.
I straightened my shoulders. “I’ll just walk. It’s nice out.”
His grin dropped immediately. “You’re not walking, Becs.”
I grabbed my purse and pulled the strap over my head so it hung across my body. “Have a good night, Race.”
