“You’re probably right. I doubt Rooster will stay in New York much longer. It’s not convenient for Shelby to be all the way up here. And apparently Priest strongly hinted he’d like Rooster either in Tennessee or heading up the Nomads.”
“Oh shit,” she breathes, eyes going wide. “If Rooster goes, then Jigsaw goes.”
“Right.”
“Z worked so hard to fix Downstate. That would suck, to lose so many of his officers.”
Pride swells in my chest. My club has no idea how lucky they are to have Heidi as an old lady. “It would. And I’m not sure who he could count on to step up.”
“You could help Z. You did it before.”
I shake my head. If I’m moving, I want to put more distance between us and New York. “It’s not far enough away.” From your brother.
Her gaze shifts toward the window. “You’d really give up being vice president?”
Anger burns at the back of my throat. All the second-guessing and ball-busting Rock’s been doing to me lately take on a new meaning. “Rock hasn’t let me be much of a VP.” The truth slaps me in the face. “He’s been lying to me since I accepted the patch.”
The hard expression on her face softens, and she cups my cheek. “That was personal, though. It had nothing to do with your ability to be his VP.”
Rock tried that excuse too, but it doesn’t fit the facts. “Doesn’t matter. Result’s the same. He doesn’t trust me. And I sure as fuck don’t trust him now. Or your brother.” His betrayal stings so much sharper than Rock’s.
“Move away from Marcel?” she whispers. “I never thought I’d do that again.”
Fuck, I forgot about her time living in Alaska with fuckhead Axel. “It wouldn’t be like when you moved to Alaska. You wouldn’t be alone and isolated,” I assure her without mentioning Axel’s name.
“You’re right. It’d be nothing like that. I actually like Tennessee. Being close to Nashville could be a lot of fun. We’d get to know our Deadbranch family.” She glances at Alexa. “I could see us living there.” Her thoughtful expression shifts to a disappointed one. “But we just built our dream home.”
“I’ll build you another one. Cost of living’s cheaper down there, for sure.” I raise an eyebrow. “We could have a swimming pool in the backyard.”
“We could do it.” She wraps her arms around me and squeezes. “You, Alexa, and baby”—she pats her stomach— “are all the family I need.”
“Same here, beautiful.”
Away and fully out from under Marcel’s shadow? The idea feels like a tangled knot of betrayal and excitement inside my chest.
“Why did they wait so long to tell us? That’s what hurts the most,” Heidi whispers. “He said it was because of school, then our wedding, you being in the hospital…”
“Your brother’s a master at coming up with excuses.” More anger than I’d intended vibrates through my words.
“Wait, what did he tell you about Charlotte?”
Shit, here I am whining about people lying, and I never told Heidi this. But it was Charlotte’s pain to share—not mine. “He told me Charlotte had a miscarriage shortly before Grace was born.”
She sucks in a deep breath, and tears fill her eyes. “Oh, no,” she breathes out. “Oh my God, and I keep bugging them about having a baby.” She slaps her hand over her mouth. “Why didn’t she say anything?”
“I guess she didn’t want to talk about it or want Hope to know.” I shrug. “I didn’t probe too much. Your brother was kind of torn up about it himself but wanted to respect her wishes. You know, until he blabbed it to me to cover up his own secret,” I finish with a bitter laugh.
“Ugh. He really never said anything to you about Rock?” Heidi squints at me.
“Nothing.”
“You two are so close. I thought you talked about everything?”
“So did I.”
“I just don’t understand.”
“This is going to sound pathetic.” I pause and think of how to put my feelings into the right words. “Even though he’s a piece of shit who abandoned you guys, Teller had a dad for ten years.” My voice falters, but I push out a rough rasp to finish the thought before I lose the nerve. “I never knew mine. And—”