“Nave, Dezi, Dezi, Nave,” Fallon said.
But the two men were already staring each other down in a way that almost seemed to say they weren’t exactly strangers.
How could that be?
“Nave, was it?” Dezi said in a tone I immediately didn’t trust.
“Yep. Vodka is fine,” he said, even though Dezi was already holding the bottle. Like he already knew what Nave drank.
My gaze slipped to Fallon, but I didn’t see the same suspicion on his face that I was feeling.
To my other side was Voss. And not far behind him was Louana.
I was curious to see if I could ask either of them about it later.
Maybe I was just being suspicious for no reason.
Projecting my own secret shit onto them.
“So who is… oh shit,” Nave started when he looked a little closer at me. “Fuck, man. Been a minute,” he said, slapping a hand down on my shoulder. “You, I don’t know,” he added, looking over at Voss.
“This is Voss. He’s a buddy of mine from on the road.”
“Voss. Nice to meet you. And… you,” he said, looking at Louana. “I know you,” he went on, but in a way that suggested that he couldn’t place it.
“Louana,” she supplied.
“Shit. Right. Yeah. Dad single-handedly kept the lye business going there for a couple decades,” Nave said, smirking. “The fuck are you doing here?”
“Prospecting,” she said, shrugging.
“Yeah? Good for you. Walking funny. Got a bum leg?”
“Damn. I thought I was hiding it well,” Louana said, sighing. “I got shot a couple weeks back.”
“Small fucking world. Me too,” Nave said, yanking up his shirt to show a pink, just-healed bullet wound on his lower stomach. “This was a bitch. Is it your leg or your ass?”
“Both,” Louana supplied.
“Through and through,” Nave said, nodding. “No one fishing around in it for the bullet, at least.”
“Just the fragments,” she countered.
“Just as bad. Sounds like you need a drink too,” he said, waving toward the bar where Dezi was lining up shots. “So you wanna be a biker,” he concluded, shrugging it off. Like it didn’t seem strange at all that we now had a female prospect after so many years.
“It’s an option,” she agreed, nodding. “So, you’re here now. Which means you sleep over Voss or Valen, or under me,” she said.
Yeah, her stubborn ass had started climbing to the top bunk a couple days back. Even though she cussed like a fucking sailor as she climbed up and down.
“Babe, if I ever turn down being under you, take me out back and shoot me, yeah?” he asked, giving her a smirk that made a growl start to form in my chest.
And the only reason it didn’t burst out of me was because Voss took the opportunity to clear his throat and tell me to take a walk with him.
“She ain’t yours,” Voss said as we stepped outside, the sounds of the party muffled as soon as the door closed.
“I’m well aware of that,” I said, rolling my neck to try to relieve the tension.
“Looked like you were gonna rip the face of a potential brother off for looking at her is all,” Voss said, walking over toward the picnic tables to sit down.
“It’s complicated.”
“Figure, if she gets patched, you’re going to see her date eventually.”
I didn’t expect the overwhelming surge of jealousy at that, but there was no denying the way my jaw and fists clenched, my stomach tightened, and possessiveness damn near overtook me completely.
“Look, I know that. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“Could do something about it.”
“It’s complicated.”
“’Course it is.”
“It is,” I insisted.
“Alright,” he said, shrugging, letting it drop since he’d already meddled more than was normal for him.
He didn’t expressly say it, but I could tell he liked Louana. I’d never considered him a thoughtful sort of guy, but he always got her drinks if he got them, or brought her back food if there was something in the kitchen. Hell, he even brought her the bullet that had gone through her, after he’d had someone put a hole in it and attach it to a chain so she could wear it as a necklace.
Maybe a part of him had been being nice to her because she clearly meant more to me than I was willing to admit, and he wanted to be on her good side. But I thought it was probably more than that. He just liked her as a person.
And, yeah, what was not to like?
Sure, she was a hard-ass with a short fuse and a smart mouth, but I’d always liked those qualities of hers.
“Yo,” Louana said, making the two of us jolt like we’d been caught doing something we weren’t supposed to be doing. “Did you see that back in there?” she asked.
“You throwing yourself at Nave?” I asked, instantly regretting it when her brow quirked up. “Yeah, saw it.”
“I can throw myself at whomever I want. But, no. That weird shit with Nave and Dezi,” she said, looking at us for confirmation.
“Yeah,” I agreed, nodding. “I saw that.”
“Dezi grabbed the vodka for him even before he asked for it,” Louana said. “Which is weird. He didn’t offer me vodka the first time he poured me a drink. It’s always whiskey or scotch with the guys here.”
“Yeah, I agree. They knew each other,” I said. “The question is whether we say something to Fallon or not.”
“I think we kind of have to,” Louana said. “If they’re keeping secrets, he’s not going to like that.”
This was the part where I was the hypocrite then.
Because I agreed with her.
We did need to tell Fallon.
But I was also not giving him the whole story.
I kind of felt like a dick not giving them the same privacy I was keeping for myself.
“It’s probably nothing,” Louana added. “They maybe just knew each other from a job that maybe doesn’t make either of them look good. But that’s the kind of stuff we’re supposed to share. Fallon has had several little sit-downs with me about my life before this club.”
I found myself fucking jealous of all that information he got that I wasn’t privy to. As pathetic as that was.
“Probably,” I agreed, nodding.
“I’ll let Nave have the night to party and settle in, but I’ll talk to Brooks tomorrow,” Louana said.
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed, feeling the buzz of my phone in my pocket, and promptly ignoring it.
Sure, it could have been my parents. Or Vi. But, somehow, I knew it wasn’t them.
It was my past inching closer, getting ready to breathe down my neck.
“Wanna get a drink?” Voss asked, inclining his chin toward Louana, almost like he knew I needed a moment alone.
“Sure,” she agreed, but her jaw tensed. Likely at the idea of walking back into the clubhouse.
She was going to tear her wounds back open if she wasn’t careful. But it wasn’t my place to tell her that. Not anymore.
When I was sure I was alone, I reached for my phone with a sort of sick sensation in my stomach as I saw the number there. And the preview of the whole text.