“It would solve our problems.” Tate stroked his beard. “You ever been in a fight?”
“No.” I jumped up and started to pace the room. “This is ridiculous, Tate. You can’t send her on a run. Would you send Bettes on a run?”
Tate loved his wife more than anything. He always looked at her like she was some angel who had somehow chosen him. There was no way he would put her in danger like that.
“Is she your old lady then?” Tate challenged.
I wanted to scream that, yes, she was my old lady. But I’d treated her like shit and I didn’t deserve to have her. So I kept silent.
“No,” Jo said, shaking her head and looking at me. “I’m not his old lady or girlfriend. I’m just me and I want to help.”
“Her choice then.” Tate shrugged. “If you decide to do this, Jo, the club will be in your debt. We’ll consider you a friend.”
“Holy shit.” I ran my fingers through my hair and looked at Jo. All sorts of scenarios ran through my head and they all ended up with her dead. “You can’t do this, Jo. We aren’t playing around. You could get hurt or worse.”
“So could you.” She turned to Tate. “I’ve really enjoyed helping out the ladies. I don’t have many friends and I want to help you—all of you. I want to pay back the club for their generosity.”
“No, let’s just forget this idea and think of something else.” I looked to Tate. “Let’s just trailer it into town. We can rent something in Tahoe and then drive it down the hill.”
“That’ll increase the drive time significantly,” he argued, “and it will make the driver a sitting duck. We’re just gonna put Jo in the passenger seat and let Rip drive, if you don’t want to.”
“No,” I growled. “You wouldn’t put Bettes in this kind of danger, and you’re sure as shit not gonna do it with Jo.”
“That’s not your decision to make,” she said, her voice turning to steel. “It wasn’t your decision before you fucking dumped me and it’s not your decision now. Stop talking about me like I’m a thing you can control. I want to go, so shut the fuck up.”
The room turned silent and I forgot that the other guys were around. It was just me and her. She was right. It was her decision. We weren’t even a couple anymore, so it wasn’t like we could talk it out as a team. I had no say.
I lifted my hands up in defeat. “Fine.”
It was a fucking bad idea, but she wanted to do it. It wasn’t my decision.
“All right.” Tate held his hand out to Jo. “The Demon Horde appreciates your help.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jo
My classmates talked and laughed as we waited for the professor. It was the last day of class before the final and he was going to be giving us a study guide. Unfortunately, microbiology was the last thing on my mind. I tapped my pencil on my notebook and stared at the quick schedule I had written. The next two weeks were going to be busy.
May 1st—Today
May 3rd—Final for Microbiology
May 4th—Final Practical for Anatomy and Physiology
May 6th—Nana moves out
May 7th–8th—Go to Reno (!)
May 9th—Take State Boards in Seattle for RN
May 14th—Walk with cap and gown for graduation
My schedule was nuts to begin with and now with this trip to Reno, I had to make every minute count before graduation. Clint agreed to let me stay as long as I needed to, so at least I had a little time. Of course, I would have to live with him. I wasn’t sure if I still even wanted him. He obviously didn’t want to be around me, and after last night’s argument in front of the guys, things would be even more strained between us. I understood that he didn’t want me in a danger situation, but he had no right to tell me what to do.
I squirmed in my seat as I thought about living with him for a few weeks until I found a job. Maybe it was time to look for other options. “Hey Rachel?” I poked her with my pencil.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Do you have a spare room? Nana is moving in with her granddaughter up in Bellingham,” I explained. “I need to find somewhere to live until I can get a job.”
“She just hired you!” she protested. “How can she move so soon?”
“It was just temporary to begin with.” I understood Nana wasn’t being mean, she just wanted to live with her granddaughter and the kids. Living with a biker and a college student had to be hard on an old lady. “Anyway, do you have an extra room? I’d be willing to pay. I’ll get a job flipping burgers until something in nursing comes through.”
“No.” Rachel shook her head. “Randy’s brother is living with us. Between him and the girls, we’re already bursting at the seams. You could put up an ad in the student union.”
The professor walked in and we all forgot our conversations and prepared for class. It was my last one as a college student. Soon I would be an RN, and suddenly my mind began to whirl. The professor handed out the study guide, but I thought about where I would live and what my life would be and what I wanted.
The problem was that I didn’t want to move out, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to live with Clint either.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jo
When the morning light hit my face, I dragged my eyes open. Last night was the final for Anatomy and Physiology, and it had been intense. Today was Nana’s last day to pack because she was moving tomorrow, so it was definitely going to be another busy day. As I got ready, I noticed there was a note stuffed under my door.
You need to learn to drive the Lambo. Today.
2 P.M. Bettes will watch Nana.
At two o’clock, Nana was snoozing in the chair when Bettes came over. Nana’s boxes were totally packed so we had to clear a space to sit on the couch.
“Heard you were helping out the club. You’re being very brave,” Bettes said, giving me a wink as we sat down at the kitchen table.
“Or very stupid,” I replied, laughing. “I’m sure nothing will happen.”
“Either way, I want to wish you good luck.” She squeezed my hand. “We’d love it if you were an old lady, you know. I hope it works out between you two.”
“Me too,” I admitted.
“Well, Tate said you’d be a friend of the club, so you’re always welcome.” She frowned. “But we’ve never had a woman who’s a friend of the club, so I don’t really know what that means.”
I didn’t know what it meant either, to be honest. But before I could say anything, something roared from the street outside. We jumped. It sounded like some sort of mechanical predator.
“What was that?” I twisted and looked out the window. It was a yellow Lamborghini. The car they were dropping off in Reno.
Bettes laughed. “I would guess that’s your driving instructor.”
Clint climbed his way out of the car and started walking toward the house. He was wearing his uniform from the shop with a few permanent oil stains on the front. So many times, I’d watched him come home and helped him take off that uniform. I missed those days, but I didn’t want to be with the guy I saw the other night—the guy who tried to tell me what to do and run my life.
“Hi, ladies,” he said, coming into the house. He looked at me. “You ready?”
“I just need to get my shoes.” I flew to my room. What should I wear to learn to drive a sports car? Flip-flops were probably a bad choice, so I put on my sneakers.
Clint didn’t really say much as we walked out to the car. He opened the passenger side door for me and I slid in. It was gorgeous. Black leather was everywhere and it was so soft.
“Here, let me help with your seat belt.” He leaned into the car.
“I got it,” I said, reaching for the seat belt over my shoulder. It wasn’t there, so I turned to find it.
“Like this,” Clint said, lowering a bar a
nd harness over my chest. His knuckles brushed my breasts as he started to adjust the belt. We both froze and he backed up. “You get the idea.”
He got in the driver’s side and started the engine. The roar that I heard from the living room bubbled up from underneath the hood. Being so close to the engine, it was loud but even, like a purr. Clint put it into gear and glided away from the curb. I paid close attention to his movements as he drove.
We ended up at an empty parking lot outside of an abandoned shopping mall. I laughed to myself. This felt like when I was fourteen and my dad decided my sister and I should know how to drive the old Caddy.
“Jo.” Clint turned to me. “You need to know how to drive this car. If you’re driving, it’s because something bad has happened to me.”
That sobered me up really quickly.
“I know what I agreed to.” Images of Clint bleeding and staggering flashed through my mind. “It’s not for fun, I get it.”
It took me nearly an hour to figure out the clutch, but I was finally able to pull out in first gear. I didn’t glide the way Clint did, but at least I had stopped stalling the engine. After a while, I got the hang of it. Just touching the accelerator with my toe was enough to send it flying, so it took me another hour to work on accelerating without crashing.
Clint had been all business during the lesson. He’d said nothing about me jumping in and volunteering to help, even though he obviously didn’t like the idea at the time.
“You think you’re ready for city streets?” he asked, after I had mastered shifting gears. “We have an errand to run.”
It was slow, but I made it the three or so miles to our destination—which turned out to be a pawnshop. I’d been in a lot of pawnshops when I was a kid. When waitressing, my mom often nicked things, as she called it, and then sold them. When I was older, I realized that nicking meant stealing. All of those old feelings of shame came rushing back.
“What are we doing here?” I asked. I didn’t take Clint as someone who would steal something and then fence it. But maybe I had been wrong. My fingers clenched the steering wheel as I waited for his answer.
“He’s got a set of nice quality euro gauge wrenches. He wants to sell them pretty cheap. We’re using bits and pieces at the shop. I’d like to get a nice set. It’s easier to keep track of them all when they’re a single brand.” He climbed out of the car, but then leaned back in. “You coming? I want to get you something too.”
He wanted to get me something? At a pawnshop? I scrambled out for the car, figured out which button locked it, and ran after him.
We walked into the secured vestibule and waited to be buzzed in. We were greeted by a huge glass display case of diamond rings. I froze. He wasn’t thinking of proposing, was he? I started to laugh but instantly sobered up. A month ago, that wouldn’t have been a joke.
“Hey, Clint.” The pawnshop guy smiled warmly at us. “You here about that wrench set?”
I stepped to the side and let them do their business, and gazed at all the sparkly rings in the glass case. I knew he really hadn’t meant to get me a ring, but I looked through them as if we were going to get engaged.
“You want to look at something while they’re talking?” a salesgirl asked. I had been so engrossed in the rings, I hadn’t even noticed that she walked up.
“I’m just looking,” I said, looking down at the sparkles.
“You wanna try one on?” the girl asked, getting out a set of keys on a ring. “You don’t have to buy it. I’d much rather do this than inventory in the back.”
“Are you sure we won’t get in trouble?” I glanced back at Clint; he and the employee were looking at tools.
She laughed. “Nah, that guy is my dad. It’ll be fine. I’m Ronnie. We’ve got a two-carat solitaire over here. That one’s fun to try on. It’s real big.”
After the first ring, I couldn’t get enough. Ronnie pulled out an entire tray to look at.
“I could never wear this to work,” I said, admiring an emerald-cut diamond ring that had a massive cathedral setting, according to Ronnie. “I’m going to be a nurse and it would catch on my gloves all day.”
“Right.” Ronnie frowned and scanned the case. “How about this one? It’s a band, but it’s three carats total, and see this setting? It’s a channel set, so it might work with your gloves.”
I tried on the ring. Five huge diamonds set into a band. I ran my fingers over the edges, a smooth rim of metal protected the edges of the diamonds. It would be perfect. I just needed to find the right guy. I used to think that was Clint, but I just couldn’t be with a man who made decisions about my life. That was my job. Going on this run, living the way I wanted to, I was in charge of all of that.
Too bad. That one month we’d been together had been amazing.
Ronnie looked at an inventory list. “I’m pretty sure that one is platinum.”
“Jo?” Clint said from behind me.
I jumped and tore the ring off my finger, giving it back to Ronnie. Had he guessed what I was doing, thinking about?
Based on his scowl, he knew exactly what was going through my head.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Clint
After Les and I agreed on a price for the wrench set, he disappeared in the back to write up the bill of sale. I walked over to where Les’ daughter Ronnie was showing Jo a bunch of diamond rings. Words like forever and wife popped into my head. Last month I had been ready to buy one of those damn rings, because I fucking loved her.
I was in love with Jo.
The floor shuddered a little under my feet and I looked around. It wasn’t an earthquake, it was just me. It was just my fucking world moving. I loved her.
But I’d almost placed a bet and nearly left her to die in a car accident. Then I was a total douche to her in front of the guys.
I walked up behind her. “Jo?”
She let out a squeak and handed something to Ronnie. Definitely a ring. Ronnie put it back in the case and Jo turned to face me.
“I was, um, just looking.” She shoved her hands in her pockets and gave me a tight smile. “Are you ready to go?”
“I wanted to get you something while we’re here,” I explained. I took her hand and we walked across the small shop to another glass case, this one full of guns.
“A gun?” she asked, swallowing hard. “I don’t need a gun.”
“Well, you have to be able to protect yourself in Reno,” I told her. “I would suggest a nine millimeter. They’re small, but they pack a punch. They’re a little hard to aim, so you have to use it in close quarters.”
“Are you telling me this so I’ll back out?” she asked. All the blood had drained from her face and her mouth was set in a grim line.
“No. Look, I’m sorry I was a dick the other night. I just don’t want you to get hurt. I trust you to make your own decisions, even if it means coming with us.” I ran my fingers through my hair. A firefight could be a very possible situation in Reno and I had to keep her safe. I couldn’t let her down like I did that night I thought about placing a bet. Keeping her safe also meant making sure she was prepared. “I want you to have the proper weapon.”
Les came back and laid my wrenches on the glass case of guns.
“Are we looking at the nine mils today, then?” He bent down to unlock the gun case.
“What knives do you have available?” Jo asked, sweet as pie, from my side. “I’d like a stiletto and a set of throwers.”
Les raised his eyebrows and looked at me, then turned to Jo. “Well, knives can be just as deadly as guns, but only if you know how to use them properly. You’d have to be pretty badass with knives to use them as effectively as a gun. A little purse gun, like this Kel-Tec here, would fit real nice in your purse, ma’am.”
Jo crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.
“We’re gonna look
at knives today,” I told Les. “If there’s anyone who knows how to use a knife properly, it’s this badass. Let’s get her whatever the badass wants.” I reached out to put my arm around her waist, but before I could make contact, I stopped. She wasn’t mine—not anymore. I couldn’t forget that or else I would end up letting her down and hurting her again.
Jo ended up with a set of five throwing knives and a skinny stiletto with a quick-draw holster. If things got hand-to-hand, she’d be fine. But a gun would be better if she had to shoot out the window of a moving vehicle or something.
“Sure you don’t want a gun too?” I asked as Les was doing the paperwork on our purchases.
“No guns,” she assured me. “When I was a kid, guns usually meant bad things were going down. I don’t like them.”
“All right, no guns,” I said. We paid for our purchases and headed out to the car. “Take us back to the garage. We’re a little behind schedule and Skeeter needs to finish up a few things on the registration and Nevada plates.”
Jo accelerated to pass a slow-moving truck. She was a fast learner and handled the car perfectly. I liked watching her long legs move as she worked the pedals. Those stupid posters we had around the shop were wrong. Women were way hotter in the driver’s seat than they were lying across the car in a bikini.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jo
I squeezed Nana tight as we said goodbye in the driveway. All of her stuff was packed and she was heading out today.
“I’ll be back down for your graduation, young lady,” she said, dabbing her eyes. “We’ll have a nice party and a long game of gin. I’ll even let you win.”
“Thanks, Nana.” I smiled. I was lucky to have had even a short amount of time with her. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“You’ll have to remember to keep my grandson in check.” She winked at me. “He doesn’t eat nearly enough vegetables.”
“Come here,” Clint said, giving her a big bear hug. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but I’ll come visit at Missy’s house.”
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