I’ve known Dust since before he became a member of the club, and he’s not the type to let girls hang all over him. While he says Mia has healed from their past, I’m not sure he has. Maybe, just maybe, helping Addison can push him into the land of the living.
I return my attention to the road, and I’m surprised to catch Ms. Whitlock sneaking a peak at me.
“You okay?” I ask. “Do you need to stop off somewhere for coffee? It’ll be my treat.”
“I’m fine,” she says. “Are you okay? Do you need caffeine?”
“Naw. Sleep’s overrated.” And I’m not ready for conversation with her to be over. “Thanks for driving.”
“You’re welcome.” She tucks her silky hair behind her ear. “I’m going to be honest. I didn’t think you’d agree to my driving.”
“Dust’s been up for too long. I wouldn’t have trusted Addison on the back of his bike, and it’s not like Dust, Eli or I had a four-door available.”
She smirks, and I try to memorize how beautiful she looks with that snarky expression.
“What?” I push to figure out her mind.
“I didn’t mean it that way. I thought you would demand that a man drive the car.”
“It’s your car.”
“Yes, but that never stopped any man I was dating from telling me he should be the driver.”
“Sounds like you were dating the wrong people.”
Her head jerks in my direction, but she recovers quickly and watches the road. We ride long enough in silence again that I start to rack my brain for possible subjects to discuss.
She clears her throat once, then again. “I never knew Mia was being abused.”
My spine straightens because I’m not into gossip, but I understand her sad undertone. Guilt is a mean beast. “Not many people did.”
“If I had known, I would have helped.”
“I believe you.” Because I do. “We just got to her first.”
“The Reign of Terror aren’t as bad as everyone says, are they?”
I don’t know how to answer that because we aren’t Boy Scouts. “We help where we can, and never mean harm where we can’t.”
She drums her fingers against the steering wheel. “You introduced me as Ms. Whitlock to your associates. I’m comfortable with your calling me Caroline.”
“Caroline.” I say the name as if it’s a gift, which it is. “It’s nice to officially meet you. My friends call me Pigpen, but if you want, you can call me Abel.”
She turns her head in my direction again, and I stop breathing when her gorgeous blue eyes sparkle at me. “It’s nice to meet you, Abel. And thank you not only for helping Addison, but for involving me. I’m afraid I’ve held some misguided notions about your club, and for that I apologize.”
A smile slides across my face, and I feel like I was just reborn. “That’s okay. Maybe one day when we aren’t trying to save the world we can meet up, and I can tell you more about the club.” Then I realize how forward that sounded, and what bad form it was for the situation we’re in. “For educational purposes, of course.”
She has a cute laugh. One I wouldn’t have expected, but like all the same.
“For educational purposes, I’ll accept.”
Cloud nine. That’s what I’m on, and I have no intention of ever touching the ground again.
Chapter 23
Eli
Sitting in the Adirondack chair on the front porch of Dad’s cabin, I drink from the mug full of coffee. It’s ten-thirty in the morning, and not one of us in the house got enough sleep. After Pigpen left with Addison, Dust and Ms. Whitlock, I stole a couple of hours in one of the beds at the clubhouse. I had considered heading back to my apartment in town, but it wasn’t worth the drive in to turn around and drive back.
I’m at the clubhouse and Dad’s cottage so much that Dad’s told me to move in. I think about it at times. With Mom now gone, I know he’s lonely, but there’s been something holding me back. Something I’ve never looked too hard at, and after that conversation with Emily, I’m starting to take a peek. Maybe I hold onto my own place in the hopes I’ll someday have someone special to bring there, someplace to make a home.
On the arm of the chair is my cell, and I glance down at it for the hundredth time. I’m waiting on a message from Pigpen telling me that Addison has decided to save her life and accept the offer being presented to her. I’m also waiting on a text from Chevy informing me that he and Isaiah are on their way.
Uneasiness swirls through me. Isaiah—my brother’s son. I want to meet him. More than want, I need to meet him, but nothing about this is going to be easy for any of us or for him. He’s a man now—young, but a man all the same. Working a job as a mechanic, and from what I understand, not just any mechanic. He’s some sort of genius with custom cars. Isaiah has made a life for himself, and Dad and I—this entire club—we want in.
There’s no reason for him to give us a shot, but I’m going to ask for one all the same.
A car engine rumbles in the distance, and Nina’s two-door rounds the bend. She parks near the house and has my immediate attention as she slips out of the car. I’m used to Nina in her jeans and shirts, but it’s one of the first times I’ve seen her in a dress. A cotton sundress at that. Red, form-fitting, and possibly the most mesmerizing outfit I’ve ever seen.
Nina shrugs a white sweater over her shoulders, and then she catches me staring. She slow blinks, but then there’s a smile—one that’s just as slow as her blink. I nod my head at her, and she waves at me then returns to gathering her purse from her front seat.
I rub my chin. Holy hell. How did this happen? Emily was right, I am smiling.
I stand as she starts up the stairs, and I meet her at the top. “Morning.”
“Good morning. Chevy received a text from Isaiah a half hour ago telling him he was nearing town, so Chevy left to wait for him at the diner. I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to be here when Chevy and Isaiah showed.”
“That’s no problem. You look great by the way,” I say, and Nina, who had been slipping her car keys into her purse, snaps her head up. Our eyes meet, and though I know I should look away, I can’t.
Nina flushes then tucks a stray strand of hair away from her face. “Thank you. I thought I should wear something nice but casual. It’s not like there’s wardrobe guidelines for a meeting like this. As in, ‘Hi, I’m Nina. Chevy’s mom and the other woman your father was sleeping with.’”
No, don’t guess there is. “I appreciate your being here. Isaiah’s going to have questions, and I want him to have answers.” Even though it punches me in the gut to admit it…. “You knew my brother better than I did.”
Nina’s face softens, and I stop breathing when she reaches out and wraps her fingers around my wrist. “He loved you, Eli. James loved you all. Never doubt that.”
Problem is, over the years since his death, I have doubted my relationship with him. But that doubt has slowly been receding as I’ve learned more of what my brother had done to protect me, my dad and this club during the last year of his life. Meeting Isaiah though, knowing he’s going to demand answers to tough questions, that doubt has resurfaced. But having Nina here helps. She’s an ally I never would have imagined having a year ago.