Liam nods, the movement dismissive, his wheels already spinning on his next move. “What’s the plan?” he asks, his gaze leveling with Judge’s.
Judge grins. “I thought you’d never ask.”
BOO
Lord,they’ve been in that room for a long time. I can’t keep from staring at the door separating me from Priest and my brother. There’s been no shouting or fighting, so it must be going well. After they’d let me tell my story, Judge had asked me to step outside. Priest had tried to come with me, but Judge ordered him to stay, my usefulness to the current discussion clearly over.
“If you keep staring at the door, you’ll go crazy,” a voice remarks, breaking into my thoughts. A woman with red hair joins me on the couch, cradling a baby in her arms. “Trust me, once they go in there to solve the problems of the world, it can take days.”
I say nothing as I stare back at her. Women have never been kind to me. Hell, most of the women I’ve met over the years were captives, just like me. They would stab you in the back in an instant if it meant they could survive another day.
“Blair,” the woman says, extending her hand. “I’m GP’s ol’ lady, and this is our daughter, Henley.” She shifts the sleeping infant in her arms. Under her little black Harley hat is a swatch of red hair, like her mother’s.
Tentatively, I take her hand in mine and give it a quick shake. “How old is she?”
Blair smiles. “Six weeks.” The little girl stirs, snuggling in tighter.
“They’re cute when they’re that age,” another woman says, joining us. She has a short pink and blonde bob haircut, and her skin is covered in tattoos. Two other women approach, hot on her heels. “Just wait until they become teenagers and hormones hit. The hormone monster lives at my house permanently. My sweet little Hayden is gone. Now it’s all grunts and being glued to her phone.”
“Shelby,” she says with a soft smile, then points at the others. “This is Cora, and this is Grace.” Each woman wave as they settle into the loveseat across from us. “Lindsey and Delilah wanted to be here, but they couldn’t get away from work.”
Work? They’re allowed to work?
“I know you probably have a lot of questions,” Cora acknowledges, “but I need to thank you for what you did. You brought Priest back to us, and you protected my son.”
Her son. Big Dick’s son. The kid he’s determined to take from his mother.
“I didn’t do anything,” I tell her, unsure of how to respond to any of this. All these women surrounding me is making me nervous.
“You did, honey,” Grace adds. “You saved him, and Cora and Harrison in the process. He wouldn’t be here without you.”
“Oh no,” I say, shaking my head. “Priest is the one who saved me.”
“That’s not the way we heard it, and trust me, sugar, pillow talk with these guys is all club business these days.” Shelby smiles. “It’s a nice break from Wyatt’s rambling about some new computer chip coming out. The man could talk to a wall if it’s about computers.”
Wyatt. I don’t recognize the name, but Priest had mentioned a member who likes computers. “Is he… Hashtag?”
“The one and only. But he’s Wyatt to me.”
“And you?” I ask the older woman of the group. “Are you with one of the guys too?”
“Judge,” she replies, beaming. “That cantankerous bastard is all mine.” The ladies erupt into laughter, as if there's an inside story that I’m missing, but I don’t even care. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that these women, all with lives of their own, are in actual relationships with the men of this club. It’s all so foreign to me.
“Sorry,” Grace says with a sheepish smile. “Once you get to know the guys, you’ll understand the laughter. Life with them is interesting, to say the least.”
I press my lips together in a failed attempt at a smile. “I wouldn’t know about that.”
“You will, honey. Give it time. We know you’ve been through a lot, which is why we haven’t come barging in and meddling like we tend to do. I know things must feel upside down right now.”
“That’s an understatement.” I snort. “One second, I’m a slave for the Screwballs, and the next, I’m here with Priest. Oh, and I have a brother I didn’t know about, so basically, my life is like a soap opera.”
Grace nods, placing a hand on my knee. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“But these men are good men,” Blair boasts. “They may look like scary beasts, but they’ll knock themselves out trying to help you.”
A tear escapes my eye, quickly followed by another one. “It’s all just so much,” I admit.
“Of course it is,” Grace says softly. “And you take all the time in the world to wrap your pretty little head around it. Judging by the way Priest looks at you, I don’t think he wants you going anywhere anytime soon.