“I’m starved,” I said.
“Me too,” Lasso groaned. “But Sierra is working until eleven, so I guess I’ll just eat the food until then.”
I laughed. “You have problems, man. Serious fucking problems.”
Lasso joined in. “You have no idea, brother.”
He was right. All I knew was that he had family back in Texas that he never talked about or talked to. Or went to visit. “Then I guess you’re my date for the evening.”
“No offense, bro, but I’d rather stare at Mandy’s face while I eat. Yo, Mandy!”
She turned at Lasso’s loud twang, smiling in confusion at his wide grin. She spotted me and her grin brightened, waved as she carefully made her way to our table. “Hey guys, did you save me a seat?”
“Here, take mine,” Lasso offered with his most chivalrous smile, Texas charm a mile wide and twice as deep. “He was miserable without you, sweetheart.”
“Yeah?” She flashed a teasing grin my way. “Then I’ll make sure to eat with my hands, remind him of what a lousy dinner companion I am.”
Lasso tossed his head back and laughed. “I really like her, Savior. Keep her or I’m stealing her.”
“I am a woman, not a piece of property, thank you very much!” She crossed her arms, doing her best to look offended. “Besides, I’d never let myself get stolen by a guy named after a rope.”
He laughed again, shaking his head as he walked away. “I think Lasso likes you.”
Her smile was sweet. “He’s a decent guy. Too much charm, but he seems nice enough. And I’m an expert at spotting the not so nice ones.”
I knew there was more there, but tonight I didn’t want to hear it. Tonight, I wanted to enjoy the beach and the food, the booze and Mandy. “Yeah, he’s good people.”
“You all seem to be,” she said with a sigh. “You know, when I was kid, I resented the hell out of you fuckers. I imagined the absolute worst because it made it easier to hate you than own up to the fact that my brother, my hero, preferred you all to me.”
“Mandy, it wasn’t like that.”
“I know,” she said on a sigh. “With age and hindsight, came wisdom. The resentment went away. I’m happy he had a family again.”
Damn, this girl killed me. She fucking gutted me and . . . I didn’t know how the fuck to feel about that. Women didn’t get to me, not outside the bedroom. They could make me holler, shake and come, but they didn’t get to me.
“You have that now.”
“No, I don’t. But that’s okay, you know. I’ve learned to live without it and it’s not so bad.”
“You don’t want a tribe of your own?”
She had to. Even the most fucked up of the Reckless Bastards had survived because of us. We kept our shit together, our noses mostly clean because of the club. The brotherhood. Because we knew there were other people relying on us.
“I don’t know. I haven’t had one since I was a little girl so I haven’t given it much thought. I do well on my own.” She seemed to believe her words but I knew it was because she didn’t know the comfort of having a tribe, a family.
And I also knew why I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Fucking Ammo, meddling bastard that he was. Found a way to give his kid sister the family he’d always wanted for her.
“For now, we should agree to disagree.”
Her brow arched. “Sounds like you plan to try and change my mind.”
I shrugged. “I can be very persuasive when I have to be. Or even better, when I want to be.”
“Yes, but is your meat this juicy?” She stabbed a thick slice of steak from the platter and bit into it with the most sinful moan.
Never in my life had I found myself so jealous of a piece of fucking steak.
Chapter 11