“Yeah, yeah, you’ll have to beat the shit out of me,” Nave said, rolling his eyes.
“Actually, I think Danny would do the honors,” Fallon said.
“In that case…” Nave said, smirking at Danny, getting a chuckle out of Fallon.
“Someone gonna get him a drink?” Fallon called, leading Nave over to the bar where Dezi had scooted behind.
“Nave, Dezi, Dezi, Nave,” Fallon said.
But the two men were already staring each other down in a way that almost seemed to say they weren’t exactly strangers.
How could that be?
“Nave, was it?” Dezi said in a tone I immediately didn’t trust.
“Yep. Vodka is fine,” he said, even though Dezi was already holding the bottle. Like he already knew what Nave drank.
My gaze slipped to Fallon, but I didn’t see the same suspicion on his face that I was feeling.
To my other side was Voss. And not far behind him was Louana.
I was curious to see if I could ask either of them about it later.
Maybe I was just being suspicious for no reason.
Projecting my own secret shit onto them.
“So who is… oh shit,” Nave started when he looked a little closer at me. “Fuck, man. Been a minute,” he said, slapping a hand down on my shoulder. “You, I don’t know,” he added, looking over at Voss.
“This is Voss. He’s a buddy of mine from on the road.”
“Voss. Nice to meet you. And… you,” he said, looking at Louana. “I know you,” he went on, but in a way that suggested that he couldn’t place it.
“Louana,” she supplied.
“Shit. Right. Yeah. Dad single-handedly kept the lye business going there for a couple decades,” Nave said, smirking. “The fuck are you doing here?”
“Prospecting,” she said, shrugging.
“Yeah? Good for you. Walking funny. Got a bum leg?”
“Damn. I thought I was hiding it well,” Louana said, sighing. “I got shot a couple weeks back.”
“Small fucking world. Me too,” Nave said, yanking up his shirt to show a pink, just-healed bullet wound on his lower stomach. “This was a bitch. Is it your leg or your ass?”
“Both,” Louana supplied.
“Through and through,” Nave said, nodding. “No one fishing around in it for the bullet, at least.”
“Just the fragments,” she countered.
“Just as bad. Sounds like you need a drink too,” he said, waving toward the bar where Dezi was lining up shots. “So you wanna be a biker,” he concluded, shrugging it off. Like it didn’t seem strange at all that we now had a female prospect after so many years.
“It’s an option,” she agreed, nodding. “So, you’re here now. Which means you sleep over Voss or Valen, or under me,” she said.
Yeah, her stubborn ass had started climbing to the top bunk a couple days back. Even though she cussed like a fucking sailor as she climbed up and down.
“Babe, if I ever turn down being under you, take me out back and shoot me, yeah?” he asked, giving her a smirk that made a growl start to form in my chest.