And they were already seated at the table when we walked in, which was good because I’d spent the last few hours working up one hell of an appetite.
“So, Cade, I hear you chased down our girl all the way to Seattle,” Ari said.
Ari was the manager of Sinister Ink, the Kings of Mayhem tattoo shop. He was also my mom’s boyfriend. At six-foot-seven, he was mammoth. He also didn’t say a hell of a lot, but when he did, you listened.
“I was lucky there was another flight leaving not long after hers,” I explained, heaping mashed potatoes on my plate. “I figured it was going to get me there a lot faster than the Harley.”
“That’s my boy,” my mom said with a wink.
“Pussy,” Isaac muttered with a grin.
Cherry elbowed him. “I would expect nothing less from you, Isaac Calley,” she said.
“And you would get nothing less, baby doll,” he replied, kissing her on the cheek.
Brax screwed up his nose and rolled his eyes dramatically at his parents.
I laughed. Suddenly consumed with a want to have my own son. I looked across the table at Indy, and our eyes locked as she buttered her corn. I wanted to start a family straight away. Get married. Make babies. I had always wanted a family with her. But this was the first time in a long time that it was possible. She smiled and it took my breath away. This woman. She was everything.
Tomorrow I would ask her to marry me.
Properly.
On my knee with a fucking ring.
Not one I’d ripped off my finger and put on hers while I was still inside of her.
“Well, now that we’re all here, I’ve got an announcement to make,” Cherry said, standing up with a huge grin on her face. Everyone at the table went quiet. “Well, there really isn’t any other way to say this than—we’re having another baby.”
To say the table erupted with excitement would be an understatement. Family was everything in the MC. Kids were adored and raised with a hundred uncles and aunts. It was a massive family. So, when one of our own was expecting a baby, it was a big fucking deal.
“Congratulations, brother,” I slapped Isaac on the back.
He smiled but there was something odd about him tonight. Something I couldn’t put my finger on. He was genuinely excited about Cherry, but something was off. Like he had something on his mind. Something big.
“I really need to talk to you,” he said when the table was being cleared and everyone was preoccupied.
By his tone, I knew he wasn’t going to tell me anything good.
We went outside for a cigarette so we were away from everyone.
“Look, I’ve set up this deal,” he said, lighting up a cigarette. “A really fucking good deal.”
“What sort of deal?” Club members didn’t set up anything without it going to the table for a vote.
“Just hear me out, okay.” He drew heavily on his cigarette and looked up at me through his brow. Isaac had this James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause thing going on. It drove the girls crazy—like panty-dropping crazy. His eyes would squint to almost closing, and his brow would furrow up like he had the world resting on his shoulders.
But I wasn’t a horny girl, and his furrowed-brow, tortured-biker routine didn’t work jack on me.
“What sort of deal. Isaac?”
He flicked the ash from his cigarette.
“I was down in Tuscaloosa, met up with some guys. They offered me a good deal.”
“What guys? And what kind of deal?” I asked, my eyes narrowing. This was beginning to sound like a rogue deal, and I prayed he hadn’t made any promises on behalf of the club.
“Just a little heroin.”
“You mean to tell me you went rogue? You went behind the club’s back and made a deal you’re not authorized to make?” I gritted my teeth and sucked in a deep breath in a poor attempt to keep my temper in check. “Damn it, Isaac. Do you know what you’ve done?”
The Knights of Hell and the Kings had an understanding. We didn’t touch their profitable heroin and gun-running trade, and they stayed a certain distance from our interests. It was a gentleman’s agreement.
But, let’s face it. None of us were gentlemen.
Who knew what kind of retaliation The Knights would unleash on The Kings.
It was just the type of shit the club didn’t need right now.
As clubs went, The Kings were bigger, better, and a hell of a lot smarter. But, The Knights were like an over enthusiastic kid brother—full of bravado and bite. They were just itching to pull their dicks out over some feud. The tension between the two clubs had been building for years, and Isaac had just given them a reason to release some of that tension.
“It was an opportunity for The Kings to explore another lucrative market.”