“Stella’s guy?” she asks, assessing me.
“Um… yeah. Harley’s mum, I assume.”
“Jada,” she says, finally breaking a smile. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard… a lot about you, and not all good.”
“Well,” I say, holding my hands up in surrender. “I can’t really argue with that.”
“He’s cool, J,” Kyle adds, helping me out. “I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about.”
“Not true. I worry about all my kids.” She smiles at him, but when her eyes return to mine, there’s a darker edge to them. “You’re not the only one with connections to some dangerous men, Sebastian. Hurt one of ours, and we’ll make sure justice is served. With blood.”
My chin drops as Kyle barks out a laugh beside me.
“Okay, that’s our cue to go.”
I follow Kyle out of the kitchen, looking back briefly before we leave the house, Ashton is jogging down the stairs to catch up with us.
“She’s joking. Right?” I ask, her words still on repeat in my head.
“What did Momma Hunter say?” Ash asks.
“Threatened Seb with blood spill.”
“Damn, she must really not like you.”
“She is joking, right?”
We come to a stop at Kyle’s car, and he turns to me before we climb inside. Ash doesn’t bother waiting and slides into the passenger seat.
“Yes and no. Stella and her dad probably didn’t end up here by coincidence.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Have you ever heard of the Harrow Creek Hawks?”
“Umm… no. Should I?”
“I have no idea. It hasn’t been my life for a while.”
Before I can respond, he ducks into the car, leaving me standing there with my head spinning.
“You were in a gang?” I ask after a few minutes of silence as he drives us to wherever we’re going.
“I was never really in it. But my brother is more than connected, and some others I know. This motherfucker ain’t all that innocent either,” he says, nodding to what I now realise is a very green looking Ash.
I guess that explains why we all hit it off so well. We’re all cut from the same cloth.
“She’s right, though. Stella’s one of us as much as she is one of you. Our girls see her as a sister. You hurt her, you hurt us. And I’m sure you don’t need me to spell out what that means.”
Kyle’s eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror.
“And I thought we were just working out. I wasn’t expecting the death threats,” I mutter, looking out at the passing houses.
“Then you’d better look after our girl.”
We meet a couple of the guys’ teammates down at the beach, and one guy who graduated last year but hasn’t left town for college takes charge of their insane morning workout.
And when I say insane, I really fucking mean it. These guys do not mess about, and by the time we’re done, my legs are like jelly, every muscle in my body quivering with exhaustion, and I can’t catch my breath.