“What was she doing there?” I ask again, almost to myself and Theo sighs.
“Honestly, T, with Mom it could be anything.”
I nod, watching the cars drive past us as I try to wrap my head around everything that’s happened in the last forty-eight hours and everything that still needs to be done.
“Does Mom have life insurance?” I ask and Theo shrugs.
“I doubt it. She would have considered it an unnecessary expense.”
I drop my head into my hands and suck in a breath. “How are we going to pay for a funeral, Theo? I don’t have anything.”
He wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into his side. “We’ll have to cremate her and spread her ashes. It’s not like we have anyone to invite, anyway.”
“We could do it at the beach she loved in Grand Isle,” I suggest and he nods.
“Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll take care of everything, okay?”
I nod, relieved that he’s willing to take the lead because I’m barely hanging on at this point and I can’t imagine adding anything else to my plate.
Chapter Two
Lincoln
Aerosmith spills out of the bar’s speakers as our waitress, Kelly, stops at our table and sets a bottle of beer down in front of Moose and me.
“Can I get you boys anything else?” she asks, flashing me a teasing smile that makes me want to pull her into my lap.
“What time you get off tonight, Kel?” I ask and her grin grows.
“Well, I suppose that depends on how good you are, biker boy. But I clock out at eleven.”
With a wolfish grin, I reach for her and she slaps my hand away as she backs away from the table, shaking her finger at me. Kelly and I have been dancing around each other since the guys and I first started coming to this bar a couple weeks ago and I’m eager to make something finally happen between us.
“There’s Smith,” Moose says, nodding toward the door and I glance up as our brother weaves through the crowd toward our table. As soon as he sits down, Kelly is back with a beer for him and she flashes me a wink before returning to the bar.
“What a fuckin’ day,” Smith says as he grabs the bottle and raises it to his lips, chugging half of it. Two girls walk past him, makin’ eyes, but he doesn’t even notice them. With a sigh, he sets his beer bottle down and scrubs his hand over his face, looking exhausted.
“Keep that up and you’ll be sleeping on the floor,” I point out, glancing down at the dirty bar floor with a grimace. He scoffs.
“After all the shit I dealt with today, it might be an improvement.” He casts and annoyed glance at a group of college aged girls giggling in the corner and I bite back a smirk. Smith is usually a pretty easygoing guy but he’s had a lot on his plate lately and it’s making him short-tempered.
Moose quirks a brow. “Your brother?”
“Who fucking else?” he snaps and I can see the stress plain as day on his face. Since they were little, Smith and his little brother, Clay, only had each other to lean on and they were as tight as two people could be. Clay has always been a bit of a troublemaker, though, and a few years ago, he started getting into drugs. Now, it seems like all Smith does is clean up after his brother and try to save him from himself.
“What did he do this time?” I ask and Smith shakes his head as he downs the rest of his beer and holds his empty bottle up in the air. Kelly nods in our direction and holds up a finger, indicating that it will be a minute. Sighing, he turns back to the table.
“Rodriguez called me this morning. Turns out my baby brother got arrested for harassing some poor young lady yesterday and spent last night in a jail cell sobering up. When I picked him up, we got into it and he ran off. I’ve spent all day trying to find him.”
“No luck?” Moose asks and Smith shakes his head.
“Nope and I’m worried he’s somewhere with a goddamn needle shoved in his arm.”
My thoughts drift to my sisters, Nora and Rowan, and I feel a pang of guilt as I raise my beer bottle to my lips. I don’t envy Smith’s position but I sure as hell understand it. And I know the hell he’ll be in if he isn’t able to save his brother.
“Take a load off, brother, and tomorrow we’ll help you find him.”
Smith nods as Kelly stops at our table and drops his beer off. She meets my eyes and I grin as my cock jumps in my jeans. Goddamn, I’m excited for tonight. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a beautiful woman underneath me and I’m hungry for it. She turns and walks away, her hips hypnotizing me with their gentle sway and I lick my lips.
“Man, I wouldn’t,” Moose warns and I blink, glancing in his direction.
“Huh?”
He tilts his head toward the bar, where Kelly is filling a glass with beer. “That one is trouble.”
“Kelly?” I scoff, shaking my head.
“Yeah, Kelly. A girl like that is old lady material.”
“Careful, Brother,” Smith teases, a smile on his face for the first time tonight. “You dip your wick in that and next thing you know, you’ll be down on one knee with a ring in your hand just like Storm and Chance.”
I shudder. Our brothers, Storm and Chance, both fell hard and got married recently and as much as I like their wives, I’m not about to make that mistake…again. Fool me once and all that.
“Yeah, that’s not going to fucking happen.”
“Pretty sure that’s exactly what Storm said before he met Ali.”
“Or Chance before he met Carly,” Moose adds.
I shrug. “I’ve got more willpower than either one of them and I’ve already almost made that mistake once before.”
“I don’t know,” Moose murmurs with a shrug. “They seem happy.”
“They seem whipped,” I quip and Smith snorts.
I watch Kelly as she works behind the bar and a smile teases my lips. “I think you’re wrong about Kelly.”
“Dun, dun, dun-dun,” Smith hums and images of my first wedding rush back to me as I kick him under the table.
“Jackass.”
I glance to the other corner of the bar, catching the eye of a pretty little thing in a denim mini skirt and tank top. She holds my gaze for a few seconds before smiling and looking away. I grin, grabbing my beer and taking another drink as I keep my gaze on her. She meets my eyes again and her pale cheeks turn pink. I picture her on her knees in front of me, pink still staining her cheeks as she wraps her lips around my cock and shift in my chair. My jeans feel tight and I swallow down some more beer but I can’t even taste it anymore. If Kelly’s off the table, I definitely have another option.
“Also, a bad idea,” Moose says, and I turn to him with a frown.
“Why the hell are you trying to ruin all my fun?”
“Don’t do it, man,” Moose warns, shaking his head. “That girl’s got stage five clinger written all over her. She’ll have a tracker embedded in your nuts before you even realize what’s happening.”
“Thanks for the visual, asshole.”
He shrugs and my gaze is drawn back to the corner as I think about risking it anyway. Fuck, I’m so goddamn horny that I might just take on a stalker. No, scratch that. I swing back toward the bar and Kelly smiles, tempting me once again. Damn. You know what, I’m not going to catch feelings for the girl after one wild night. Never going to happen. Smiling, I push my chair back and stand up just as my phone starts ringing.