She glares at me for a good minute before finally realising there’s no way this isn’t happening. “Fuck you,” she snaps and stalks into another of the rooms off the hall.
King comes to me. “This woman is gonna give us nothing but fucking headaches.”
I nod, knowing he’s right. The alternative, though, is one I won’t consider. King’s right: I give a fuck about a boy who grew up knowing only lies. Maddox deserves our care and our help. This is the fucking least we can do for him.
Eloise drags her packing time out until King loses his shit and forces her to finish packing and get out to the van. The four of us make the drive back to the clubhouse listening to her grumble about being made to do something she doesn’t want to do. That is until King turns around and barks, “Shut the fuck up and pull your fucking head in. If you don’t, I’ll take you back home myself and leave you for the wolves.”
She clearly believes him and does as he says. Thank fuck, because the headache I felt forming earlier has taken hold after listening to her shit.
Once we arrive at the clubhouse, I show Eloise and Maddox to the room I had Thorn set up for them, and lay down the rules for staying here. Eloise doesn’t appear to take much of it in, but Maddox listens intently. I can’t get a read on this kid. He was mouthy as fuck the first time we met. This time, not at all.
When I finish speaking, Eloise says, “How fucking long do you intend for us to stay in this shithole?”
I work my jaw. “As fucking long as it takes.” I jab my finger at her. “And if you give my men hell, I’ll give you hell.”
With that, I stalk out of the room and down the hall to my office. I still need to talk to King about the shipment from Torres, and handle some other things that came through on text while I was at Eloise’s. It doesn’t look like I’ll be going home to Birdie any time soon.
31
Birdie
* * *
“She said yes!” I grab my bag out of the car and head into the clubhouse as I share the good news about the Instagram influencer with Cleo.
“Oh my God, that’s fantastic news!”
This influencer has a massive following. Every share she does for our business will give us the kind of exposure we’ve never known.
“I’m putting together a marketing plan with her, so email me anything you want us for sure to cover. She’s going to do her first post featuring us next week.”
“You sound a million times better than you did two days ago. Have you and Winter talked?”
Cleo and I haven’t had a chance to catch up since she helped me see I need to face my marriage problems. “Not really, but I did go to see him at the clubhouse like we talked about. It was good, and we made plans for a dinner date. Stuff came up, though, and he had to cancel. But I feel good about things. I’m at the clubhouse now, dropping in again. Maybe we’ll get our dinner date tonight.”
“That’s so good to hear. I’m happy for you guys.”
“Well, it’s early days yet. We’ve got a lot to work through.” And it’s going to be hard.
The line goes silent for a moment before Cleo says, “Shit, I’ve gotta go, babe. I can hear a client going off in reception.”
“Go take care of it. I’ll talk to you later.”
I shove my phone in my bag and enter the clubhouse. It’s just after 4:00 p.m. and quieter than usual here.
“Hey, Birdie,” Memphis says with one of his flirty grins as I walk past the bar. He’s the biggest player I know, and cocky as hell, but I love him like a brother. I think if I were to mesh my two brothers together, I’d probably get a guy like Memphis; maybe that’s why I love him so much.
I make my way to him. “Hey, Memphis. You know where Winter is?”
He lifts his chin towards the hallway. “Check his office. He was with King last I saw him.” He pauses, his features turning serious. “You good?”
Winter and I didn’t tell anyone we were pregnant, but they all knew from the very first IVF cycle that we were trying. And while we stopped talking about trying to have a baby after a while, Memphis has a sensitive side unlike anyone else here, and seemed to always know when I was up and when I was down. He’s checked in on me a lot over the years; probably another reason why I really like him.
“I think I’m like seventy percent good,” I say, giving him complete honesty.
His brows pull together. “That’s not a high rate of happiness, babe.”
“No, but I’m working on it. How are you?”
“I’m ninety percent good. If I could find a woman to tackle that last ten percent, I’d be a happy fucking man.”
Goodness, it’s been too long since I’ve spent any decent time here. I’ve forgotten how much these guys lift me up. “Maybe I’ll help you with that.”
He grins. “If your friends are like you, send them my way.”
I smile and squeeze his forearm. “You know how to make a girl feel good about herself. Thank you.”
“Anytime. We need to move you up from a seventy to a hundred. You help keep this place running and we need you happy.”
I think about what he said as I head down the hallway. He’s only half right; I used to help keep this place running. I still help out, but not like I did. And I realise I miss it.
I’m almost at Winter’s office when Maddox, the boy I met here the other day, runs into me as he exits one of the rooms. He’s moving so fast that we hit each other pretty hard.
“Fuck,” he says. “Maybe watch where you’re going next time.”
This kid has some serious attitude, but there’s something about him I’m drawn to. I don’t know what it is, but it’s like I can’t look away from him.
But that attitude needs to go. “I was watching,” I say, my tone making it clear I’m not about to argue that point.
“Yeah, well the bruise you probably just gave me would say otherwise.”
“Maddox,” Winter says, joining us, his eyes boring into Maddox. “Where’s Eloise?”
Maddox holds Winter’s gaze, unaffected by the hardness in my husband’s voice. “Fucked if I know.”
Winter’s nostrils flare. “Well go find her. I need to speak with her.”
“For all I care, she could have fucked off and gone home—”
Winter leans in close to him and practically breathes fire when he says, “Go and find her, and stop giving me your goddam attitude.”
With one last scowl, Maddox turns and walks away from us. He doesn’t move fast and I can tell that pisses Winter off just a much as the way Maddox spoke to him.
I reach for Winter’s arm, drawing his attention to me. “Leave him be.” Winter told me why Maddox and Eloise are at the clubhouse. All I can think is that the boy must be feeling lost and confused over the events of the last couple of days since finding out Eloise isn’t his aunt, as well as being forced to stay somewhere he probably doesn’t want to be.
“He pushes all my damn buttons,” Winter says. “He’s given me nothing but fucking lip since he’s been here.”