Without a word, he filched the Red Bull from my hand and guzzled it. “This’ll keep me going for a while. I swear. If I get tired, we can pull over and I’ll crash for a bit.”
“Why didn’t you want Zip or Boxer to drive the truck back?”
“It would’ve been more trouble than it was worth to get one of the bikes stored properly in the truck bed—besides, three of us sitting in this truck would’ve been cramped.
“If only my wrist wasn’t in a cast,” I muttered. “Then I could’ve driven your truck. I’ve got experience driving a truck, you know.”
“Your truck is an accident waiting to happen. When was the last time someone took a look at the engine? It’s gotta be at least twenty-five-years old.”
“It belonged to my grandfather,” I told him. “And it does just fine.”
He made a noise in the back of his throat. “We gotta get you a new truck.”
“You could just give me this one.” I slid my hands over the hood. “It’s a beautiful, purring beast.”
“Maybe for an anniversary gift,” he said with a grin.
“How about an I’m-sorry-I-torched-your-bar gift.”
“We’ll see.”
We got into the truck and then drove away from the diner. “Who taught you to shoot?” he asked. “Been meaning to ask you that.”
I briefly looked over at him. Even with exhaustion tugging at the lines around his mouth, I thought he looked formidable and in control.
“Grammie,” I said. “She and Gramps are both from Chicago. Gramps was from the North side. Grammie was from the South side. A regular West Side Story, you know? They weren’t supposed to be together. They both came from—ah—less than stellar families.”
“O’Banion,” Colt murmured. “That name sounds really familiar, but I can’t place it.”
I sighed. “My grandfather’s side of the family were Chicago bootleggers in the nineteen twenties. Big feud with the Italians, aka Al Capone’s crew…who just so happens to be one of Grammie’s relatives.”
There was a moment of stunned silence and then Colt started to laugh. He chuckled for a good few minutes before he was able to calm himself.
“All this time, I was worried about how you were gonna adjust to my life and running around with a bunch of criminals. Turns out, you’ve got notorious criminals on both your sides of the family.” He looked at me. “You really are the perfect woman for me.”
Chapter 21
We madeit back to the clubhouse in record time.
“Has he slept at all?” Boxer asked after a hug in greeting.
I shook my head. “I think he’s running on pure adrenaline. He’s going to crash soon though, right? I mean it’s been over twenty four hours since he’s slept.”
“Church!” Colt barked.
I looked at Boxer. “Finish your meeting quickly and then he needs to go to bed.”
“You know,” Boxer said, stroking his jaw, “he wouldn’t take kindly to knowing you’re calling the shots.”
“Trust me, we’d all be better off if he got some rest. You can’t be clear-headed when you’re exhausted.”
“He’s just gonna fill everyone in. Should be a quick meeting.” Boxer squeezed my shoulder and then followed his brothers out to the shed.
I went into Colt’s bedroom to change and there was a knock on the door when I was drawing the string tight on my pajamas.
“Come in,” I said.
The door opened and Joni’s face appeared. “Hey, welcome back.”