“You’re a fuckin’ narc,” she growled.
“My job here is done.” Scooby laughed. “How long did she make it?”
“Two days,” Aero said, holding his hand out to Violet.
She slapped a twenty-dollar bill into his palm with a huff and then shrugged. “I think the takeaway here is that I made it two whole days. I’m a fucking legend.”
Aero wrapped his arms around her and kissed her quickly. “Yeah, baby, you’re right. You’re a legend. Two days without harassing Scooby about his love life. Good job.”
“Suck it. Both of you.”
I was fascinated by the interaction between the group of friends. There was no heat, no anger, just good-natured ribbing. Even with the women. They obviously adored each other. Their men were brothers in the club, but these women had formed a sisterhood and they were welcoming me in. Or they appeared to be, anyway. I wanted to believe all of it. I wanted to belong, but I’d been burned so many times before, I fully intended to go slowly.
Scooby grinned. “Still love you, Letti, even if you are a pain in the ass.”
“Onlyyourass.” She snagged a cookie off a plate on the island and chucked it at him. He caught it easily, taking a bite out of it with a chuckle.
“Go do what you need to do, honey,” I said. “I want to check your bandage when you’re done, though, okay?”
He nodded, kissing my temple before heading out of the room.
Scooby
About half anhour after leaving Rowan, I found her in the great room, curled up on the corner of one of the sofas, watching the kids play pinball, a drink in her hand with Lord at her feet. She was alone, but she was smiling and appeared to be relaxed. I made my way to her, leaning down to kiss her before sitting down. “Hey, baby.”
“Hi. You feeling better?”
“Much. Nothin’ better than a little green to make all the pain go away.”
She chuckled. “I bet.”
“Can I get you anything? A beer or a burger? I assume you haven’t suddenly become an overnight vegan or anything, have you?”
“I was a vegetarian for a while,” she said, her nose crinkling. The tell-tale sign she was about to hit me with one of her horrible puns.
“Oh, yeah?” I braced myself.
“It was a big missed steak.”
“I think maybe I’m the one who needs that beer.”
She chuckled. “You ready to let me look at that bandage now?”
“It’ll keep,” I said. “Why are you sittin’ here alone?”
“I just needed a little reprieve,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, your friends are great, they’re just…”
“A lot.”
“Yeah. I just needed to decompress.”
“You coulda texted me.”
“If I’d felt like I needed to, I would have.”
“Good.” I grinned. “You wanna head up?”
“No, I’m good. This is fun.” She leaned against me. “Unless you want to.”