I heard their conversation from the hallway and then entered the room, retaking my seat.
“Yeah.” Mia looked embarrassed.
“It’s fine,” Linden said tightly. She stood up and walked out. The front door shut.
“What was that about?” I asked.
Darcy rubbed the back of her neck. “We had a friend leave town because of personal stuff—and she’s been incommunicado. A few weeks ago, she started reaching out again. But not to Linden.”
“And Linden feels slighted?” I guessed.
“No. Linden feels guilty.” Mia sighed. “Remember how I mentioned some stuff went down a while back?”
“Yeah.”
“Linden was involved, and Rach—well, she was on the shit end of the stick. It wasn’t Linden’s fault. Just club stuff and the way things turned out.”
“What kind of club stuff?” I asked.
“Tell her,” Allison said quietly. “We can’t keep this from her. Not if she’s going to become an Old Lady. She’s got to go in with her eyes wide open, or not at all.”
I bit my tongue at hearing her statement.
“Maybe Slash should be the one to have this conversation with her,” Joni said.
“Slash is still out of town, and we’ve got enough crap to talk about when he gets home. Someone please tell me what I’m missing,” I begged.
“We’re kind of in a cease-fire with a cartel,” Mia blurted out.
My eyes widened. “With awhat?”
“Yeah.” Mia made a face. “It was bad. A lot of bloodshed.”
“Like, actual bloodshed,” Darcy added.
“We’re all just sort of getting back on our feet,” Joni said. “The last several months have been brutal emotionally.”
“How can—I mean, a cease-fire?” I asked softly. “So, at any moment it could…notbe a cease-fire?”
“Technically, yeah,” Mia said.
“And you’re all justokaywith this? With your lives being in danger?” I waved toward the babies. “They’re in danger?”
“Yeah, I’m not sure how we can rationalize this one away,” Joni murmured.
“Maybe we should’ve let Slash handle this,” Mia said. “Our men have ways of calming us down when they deliver this kind of news.”
“Yeah, it’s called sex,” Joni quipped.
“This isn’t funny. This isn’t a thing to joke about,” I said.
“No, you’re right,” Darcy agreed.
She fell silent.
“That’s it?” I demanded. “That’s all you’re going to say?”
“What more should I say?” she asked. “You’re not going to like my answer.”