Grace shakes her head and pushes away from the table. “Oh, Jesus, girl. No way. Absolutely not. If you’re thinking of going up against the Reckless Souls like that, you can count me the fuck out. Sister or not, you don’t want to do something so stupid, Kenna.”
I wince at her words. “I’m not stupid.”
“No, you’re not. That’s why it’s so shocking that you’ve come up with such a stupid fucking idea. What do you think will happen to you if they find out, and they will, that you tried to get Coop locked up?”
She shakes her head again. “Really think about it, Kenna. Think of what Coop and his buddies did just to rescue Kelsey and in retaliation for taking her.”
The whole town of Angel Harbor is still talking about the dead bodies found near some warehouse on the outskirts of town.
The Angel Harbor News stations still run stories speculating about what was in the house owned by Hector Santos and found burned to the ground in the nice tree-lined neighborhood where the who’s who of Angel Harbor reside.
Coop and his friends had employed a scorched earth tactic to get my sister back and make the Iron Kings pay for having the balls to take her.
“They won’t hurt me, not knowing who Daddy is.”
Grace rolls her eyes. “They’re a goddamn motorcycle club. They run this town. You’re just a rich girl with bad ideas. Do you think you’d get away with trying to take them down?” Grace scoffs, then wipes the corners of her mouth with a napkin. “That’s a risk that I am not willing to take, not even for you, Kenna.”
“It’s not for me; it’s for Kelsey.”
“Kelsey is fine. Happy even, right where she is. This is about you and your grandiose ideas. I have to wonder. Are you really concerned about her, or are you jealous?”
I laugh at her accusation. “Jealous that my sister is letting a dirty biker stick it to her on a nightly basis? Hardly. I’m worried she’ll end up as collateral damage in what the news says is sure to be a gang war.”
“If that’s true, she is in the safest place she can be. Coop will protect her.” Grace leans in, ignoring her coffee, her violet eyes cool and serious.
“They know Coop loves her, Kenna, which means even if you lure her home, she’s not safe. If she’s at your house with you and your folks, the only thing that accomplishes is making the rest of you less safe.”
“No. You’re wrong.” I shake my head, no longer willing to hear Grace’s dire warnings. “You don’t understand.”
“I understand more than you think.” Her words are ominous, and I don’t ask but just focus on freeing my sister.
“Look, I won’t plant anything on Coop. Not yet. Just come with me to their little clubhouse to check out some things. To see what we observe and hear. They’ll never know we were there, but, hopefully, I’ll learn something that can help me save Kelsey.”
“Even if she doesn’t want to be saved?”
“She’s not thinking clearly right now, Grace. Her depression is real. She needs me. She needs us.”
Grace slides to the edge of her chair just as Willow Martinez stops at the table to refill our coffee and deliver our pastries. “Can you make mine to go, please, Willow?”
Willow’s brows dip in confusion. “You’re leaving already? You girls just got here, and my break starts now.” She drops down in the empty chair and smiles at us both. “What’s wrong?”
Grace points at me, a worried expression on her face. “McKenna is thinking about doing something really stupid to save her sister from the clutches of the big bad bikers.”
“Save the eye roll and the sarcasm, please,” I tell her with an eye roll of my own. “I have every right to worry about her.”
“You’re not worried, though. You’re meddling just because you don’t agree with her choices. You just can’t accept it when people make choices different from yours. Should I move back home because you live at home? Should Willow leave For Goodness Cakes and take a job at the gourmet pizza place where you work?” Grace lets out a disgusted huff and pushes off her chair, reaching for her coffee. “Enjoy my pastry, Willow. I’m out of here.”
“But Grace, what about the clubhouse?”
“What about it? You don’t know who you’re messing with, Kenna. Let it go,” she warns, leaving me with one final expression of grave concern swimming in her eyes before she flips her hair off her shoulders and saunters out of the bakery.
“Whoa, I’ve never seen her so pissed,” Willow whispers, oblivious to the stares from the customers seated around us.
“She’s just being dramatic. What are you up to later? You want to come with me to spy on the Reckless Souls?”