Noah forcibly loosened his fists. “Why are you telling me this?”
She gave him a look. “Stop dicking around and do what you know you need to do.”
She whirled around and left the laundry in a kaleidoscope of colour. Noah leaned against the washing machine, his head a slow-motion car crash. Nicole, cheated on?
Where he was from, cheating was a fact of life. A guy fucked whoever he felt like fucking at parties, clubhouses and barbecues. The wives and girlfriends took it in their stride, or pretended to because that was the life. You shacked up with a biker, you understood men who lived outside the rules didn’t make an exception for monogamy. His old man had a dozen girlfriends while he was growing up, brought them to parties and to his mum’s place without a lick of shame. But that was biker land. The DaSilva girls had been raised on love and equality by a dad who adored the shit out of them. So how the fuck had Nicole ended up in the same relationship model as his mum—wearing the blame for her partner’s bullshit?
For the first time in his life, he was pissed at Edgar. How had he let Nikki stay in that position? Why hadn’t he tried harder? Made it clear what she was worth? She’d been so desperate in his tattooing chair. So sure he’d lose interest, or it wouldn’t work. She needed affection, security, fucking adoration and no one, not even Sam or Tabby, seemed to realise how much. If that wasn’t Edgar’s fault, whose was it?
He heard Gil laugh and realised he needed to move before he was accused of hiding, probably by Tabby to cover her tracks. He eased the laundry door open and headed for the kitchen.
Everyone was seated at the dining table. Sam and Scott were holding hands, and Tabby was showing Gil something on her phone. Nicole stood over them, passing out pancakes. She had lilac shadows under her eyes. He felt a stab of irritation. Why wasn’t anyone helping her?
“Hey,” he said. “Need any more plates?”
Nicole looked up at him and for the briefest second, he thought she was going to smile, then her gaze dropped to his chest. A crease appeared between her eyebrows and her face changed. She looked panicky, almost terrified.
“What’s—”
“Hey man,” Gil said. “Nice jacket.”
Noah looked down, then back at Nicole’s wide, wondering eyes and it clicked. She knew. It had finally happened. The hairs on his neck lifted in a salute to how fucked he was.
Sam patted the seat beside her. “C’mon, Noah, take a seat.”
He sat, firefighting the panic spreading through him. When did she find out? Had she told anyone? She couldn’t have; Sam would have confronted him, Tabby and Gil would have wanted details. Nicole handed him a plate of pancakes and he took them without a word, wanting to stand and kiss her until he pulled everything she knew about his father out of her mouth.
Sam beamed at him. She was always smiling these days, a side-effect of the Brit sitting by her elbow. Still, he doubted there would be many smiles once Nicole dropped her bombshell. “How was the rest of your shift? You send Daniella out, okay?”
“Yeah, no problems.”
“Daniella’s cute,” Tabby said, forever the shit-stirrer. “She single?”
“Time to start,” Nicole said loudly. “Sam, can you give us a manager run-through?”
Sam saluted her twin and stood up. “Okay, so it’s not been a bad week in terms of productivity, but…”
Noah tried to listen, but it was impossible. How had she figured it out? Had she found his record, or was it just news articles and pictures of his old man? Those things people Googled every now and again?
He shoveled pancakes in his mouth as Nicole took them through her agenda; advertising, finance, general upkeep and the schedule for the next week.
“Is there anything anyone would like to discuss?” she asked.
Yeah, can you not tell everyone my dad’s a bikie?he thought, but he kept his mouth shut.
“Great,” she said. “Meeting adjourned.”
Gil leaned back in his chair. “Fuckin’ finally. Good pancakes, Nikki.”
Noah contemplated pushing him over but thought better of it.
Scott gave a soft round of applause. “You run a tight ship, Nicole. I don’t think I’ve gone to a meeting that good that ran under forty minutes.”
Nicole smiled. “I went to a seminar last year about the Gorman four-point structure. That’s what I use.”
“I’ve heard of that!” Scott said enthusiastically. “Where did you take it?”
Sam caught his eye and grinned, as if to say, ‘Look at these nerds.’ Noah tried to smile back, but in his mind, she was shouting ‘I can’tbelieveyou never told me you were a bikie, you cunt!’ “Coming downstairs?” she asked.