I smiled softly. It was obvious how much Becs meant to her brother, and I loved hearing how he took care of her, but I also hated it. Hated it because it forced me to see the man beneath the leather and club patches. It also forced me to question what I thought I knew about him and the club as a whole. Bull had been sacrificing a lot for me, and he barely knew me. I realized he was doing it for the club, but I was genuinely beginning to believe he would’ve done it even if Bear hadn’t asked him.
“You’re lucky to have him,” I replied sincerely, not for the first time wondering what it felt like to always have a person who had your back.
She smiled. “Sometimes.”
I laughed. “Only sometimes?”
She leaned on her elbows. “You know as well as I do how bossy he is, Josie.”
“Yeah, I do,” I admitted.
“Are you guys…” She hesitated but smiled. “Getting along better?”
I knew what she wanted to know, but I planned to avoid it. “We’ve come to an understanding of sorts.”
She chuckled and stood before gesturing toward the stairs. “I think I’m gonna take that shower. I feel so gross.”
Laughing, I stood and gestured toward the door. “I can understand that. I’ll just let myself out.”
She moved around the counter and wrapped her arms around me. “Thanks for everything.”
Pulling back, I smiled. “You’re welcome.”
I grabbed my purse from the chair and headed toward the front door, calling out behind me. “Text me tonight after you’re back.”
“I will,” she called out just as I was closing the front door behind me.
I was in my car and heading across town in no time, my nerves getting worse as I drove and scenarios of how Dominic ended up with a black eye ran through my mind.
Pulling into Joe’s Café, I looked around and noticed the parking lot was almost empty. Getting out of my car, I hurried to the door and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the open sign. A dark-haired woman behind the counter looked up from a laptop screen.
Smiling, she gestured toward me. “You’re Josie, right?”
My eyebrows raised. “Yes. I’m sorry, have we met?”
She shook her head. “No, but I heard from Sydney that there was a new girl in town with a pretty serious coffee addiction.” When I laughed, she continued. “Syd is my business partner and said you’ve been stopping a lot after work.” She held out her hand, which I immediately shook. “I’m Maddie.”
“Maddie. Yes, I’ve heard about you. It’s nice to meet you.” I gestured to the laptop. “Are you open tonight, or are you here catching up on work?”
“Both.” Maddie laughed. “I was going to close up in about an hour, so you still have time for a fix if you need it.”
“I always need it,” I admitted, and we shared another laugh.
“Here or to go?”
“Here, if that’s okay.”
“Absolutely.”
I gave her my order and waited while she turned to make it, but she glanced over her shoulder and continued talking. “I heard you were the reason Becs got to the hospital in time to have her baby.”
“I just happened to be there when she went into labor,” I explained.
Maddie nodded. “From what I heard, it was a good thing you were.”
“I think that might be a little bit of an exaggeration,” I admitted, but my thoughts were on something else. “Wow, news spreads fast in this town, huh?”
She nodded. “Yep. Plus, Sydney is married to Cam Dimarco, and the Dimarcos are aware of almost everything going on in this town.”
“Oh, right, I’ve met some of them,” I confirmed.
“I heard that too.” She turned and handed me a coffee mug filled to the top. I immediately took it and held it to my nose to breathe in the spicy and sweet combination of pumpkin spice and vanilla.
She smiled when I lowered my mug and pulled some bills out of my purse before handing them to her. “Keep the change.”
“Thank you.” She gestured to herself. “If you need anything else, just holler.”
I nodded before turning and making my way to the back of the small café. After sliding into a booth, I took small sips of my still hot latte and kept my eyes on the door. It was almost six now, and I had my doubts Dominic was going to show, but I refused to give up on him and planned to stay until Maddie threw me out.
Pulling out my phone, I laid it on the table and began sorting through my emails. I could get some work done while I waited. I answered a few, including confirming my attendance at a meeting with the school board president next week.
When the bell on the door rang, my head snapped up, and I only barely contained my surprise that Dominic had walked in. I really hadn’t expected him to show. However, the fact that he did proved the progress we’d made this summer wasn’t entirely lost.
Maddie glanced up, but when he didn’t stop at the counter, she sent me an inquisitive glance before dropping her head to look at her computer screen.
Dominic slid into the seat across from me, but his hood was up again, and his eyes weren’t on mine.
“Would you like a coffee?”
His eyes shifted, so they were on mine where I needed them, and he shook his head. “I’m good.”
“How are your classes?”
“Boring.” He gave me the exact answer I’d expected.
I lifted my cup and took a few sips before slowly lowering it back down to the table. “You going to them every day?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded and gestured to his face. “Wanna tell me the truth?”
He grunted. “Nope.”
“Okay.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Aren’t you gonna make me?”
I shrugged. “Not really sure how I could do that.”
His lips tipped up at the corners, and his shoulders visibly relaxed. He sat back in the booth and crossed his arms over his chest. “Foster home sucks.”
Finally. I’d hoped he’d admit something to me, but I had my doubts. “What do you want to do about it?”
“I’m not leaving.”
“Because of your sisters.”
“Yeah.”
“Are the foster parents good to your sisters?”
He dropped his arms and reached across the table to pick at the edge of the napkin my mug sat on. “They don’t pay much attention to them.”
I knew his sisters well, and they were quiet. Chances are, they stayed out of sight as not to gain any attention. Dominic was not that kid, and when it came to his sisters, he would do anything to protect them.
“Would you be okay with me talking to the social worker? I can see if there are any other homes available to take three kids?”
He pulled his hand back and settled his brown eyes on me. “I’m not letting them separate us.”
“I know that.” I nodded. “I won’t let that happen, Dominic, but you have to trust me and your social worker enough to tell us what’s really going on so we can help you.”
He stared at me for another moment before he eventually nodded, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I was finally getting somewhere. I’d have his social worker in my office as soon as possible to figure this out, and hopefully, she would be able to give me some insight into the home because I wasn’t getting the whole story from Dominic. But at least I was getting something.
“Want that drink now?”
He grinned, and just when I thought he might agree, the bell on the door rang. Both of our heads snapped up, and we turned our attention to the front of the café.
Only to watch one very pissed-off man heading toward us.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
BEAR
“Heard Josie got Becs home and settled today.”
I lifted my head from leaning down over a truck engine and glanced to the side to see Gunner wiping his hands on a garage rag.
Standing to my full height, I took a few steps back and faced him. “Yep.”
“You okay with that?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Not my decision.”
“How is she?”
Leaning my hip against the front end of the truck, I answered as honestly as I could. “No clue. She’s emotional, but she won’t really talk to me. I went home to talk to her after she texted that Josie took her home and she was getting ready to leave for the hospital.”
“Maybe she talked to Josie.”
I thought about that, but then I asked him for something I’d been considering. “You think you can get Maggie over to my place tomorrow to see her?”
“Yep.”
I nodded and watched him closely before speaking. “Feel like you got something else to tell me.”
Gunner tucked the rag into the back pocket of his jeans. “Need to tell you something. I’m asking you to keep your shit together, though.”
“You gonna give me a reason to lose my shit?”
“Probably.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What the fuck is going on?”
Gunner sighed but continued. “Bull called me Sunday night. Told me Josie saw someone watching her in the hospital parking lot when she left.”
My blood began to run hot, but I kept my voice calm when I spoke. “You just tellin’ me this now?”
“Bull gave me the information. I looked into it and thought it was best for your focus to be on Becs.”
“Not your decision to make, brother,” I growled.
Gunner put his hands on his hips. “Felt like it was the best decision at the time.” He held up his hand when I opened my mouth. “Let me tell you what I found out.” I jerked up my chin, pissed that I’d been kept in the dark about anything involving my damn club, but I needed the information he had. “Josie said he was leaning against his bike and only watched her until she got to her car a few spots from where he was. She was smart enough to look at his patch on his vest, and it said Hawk, but that was all she saw. No club name, no title. She told Bull he lifted his chin in her direction after they made eye contact, got on his bike, and left.”
“What did you find out?”
“Did some digging, found out there’s new blood in charge of the Widows nationally, and his road name is none other than Hawk.”
“Fuck.” I swore and jammed my hand into my hair, pulling hard at the strands. Reaching up, I slammed the hood of the truck I’d been working on all day closed. “We have more Widows in town, and you thought it was best to keep that shit from me.”
“Brother…”
“Church tomorrow morning. Officers only. Eight o’clock.” I pointed at him. “Make the fucking calls.”
Stomping out of the garage, I didn’t turn back when Gunner called out my name. Instead, I headed straight for my bike, threw my leg over the seat, and started the engine. Not even bothering with my helmet, I headed into town, knowing I was too fucking pissed to see Josie and should drive until I cooled off, but I was going to need more than good sense to override the adrenaline coursing through my veins. She was to report to me when this kind of shit happened, only me, and I was going to make sure she understood that by telling her face-to-face. Pulling into her apartment complex, I swore when her car wasn’t there. Circling the lot, I pulled back out onto the main road and headed farther into town, keeping my eyes open for any sign of her vehicle. Chances were, she was still at one of the schools working, so I headed in that direction.
Stopping at a red light right in the middle of town, I dropped my feet to the ground and glanced around. When I spotted her car in the small lot on the corner, a surge of anger tore through me. Glancing down the street, I revved my engine when my eyes landed on Joe’s Cafe. She loved their coffee. I’d bet the bike I was riding that she was in there getting one.
Quickly switching lanes when the light turned green, I pulled into the lot and parked right beside her car. I wasted no time jumping off my bike and heading to the door. Yanking it open, I glanced briefly at Maddie, who looked up when the bell on the door rang before looking around the café. Another surge of anger welled inside me when my eyes locked with hers sitting in the back booth.
I headed in her direction, my heavy black boots loud on the tiled floors, especially when there was no other noise. Arriving at her booth, I glanced briefly at the person sitting across from her but didn’t register anything other than it was a man, which only pissed me off further.
I laid my palms on the table and leaned down, putting my face close to hers and lowering my voice to a growl. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Who the fuck are you?”
Glancing to my side again, I did a double take when the person I thought was a man was actually a kid. He pushed to standing and got right in my space. I stood, a little surprised when his eyes were almost level with my own. Not many men were my size, and this one couldn’t be much older eighteen.
“Sit down, kid,” I advised.
Josie slid from the booth and stood, but the kid wasn’t backing down.
“Fuck you.” He straightened his shoulders, his eyes intense as they stared into mine.
“You don’t know who you’re talking to, kid,” I warned, knowing I’d never lay my hands on a kid, no matter how pissed I was. But he needed to back off.
“Don’t fucking care who you are.”
Now he was pissing me off, but before I had a chance to warn him again, Josie stepped between us.
She put a hand on my chest and glanced back and forth between the kid and me. “Sit down, both of you.”
Looking down at her, I opened my mouth to argue when she narrowed her eyes and continued. “I’m not asking. You are not in your clubhouse right now, and if you want to talk to me, you’ll do it the right way.” She glanced over at the kid and softened her voice. “Dominic, everything is fine. Just sit down.”
He looked at me again before facing Josie. “You know this guy?”
“Yes, and he’s a good person.” She pursed her lips before continuing. “Even if he’s not acting that way right now. Would you please sit down?”
Dominic glanced at us again. “I got shit to do.”
“Dominic,” she called out softly when he turned to walk away. “Can you stop by my office after school tomorrow?”
He didn’t verbally answer, but he looked over his shoulder and jerked up his chin before he continued to the door and left. Josie watched him while he walked in front of Joe’s and jogged across the street. Sighing loudly, she turned and faced me, her eyes filled with fire.
That was fine. I felt the same way.
She dropped back into the seat and waited for me to sit across from her before she leaned forward. “Do you have any idea what you just did?” She gestured toward the door. “He is not an easy kid to get to open up, but he was about to until you stomped in here and acted like you had any right to talk to me the way you did all while interrupting a conversation I really needed to have.”
I narrowed my eyes. “The conversation you need to have is the one we’re about to have because it’s about my inability to keep you safe if you don’t tell me when shit happens.”
Her forehead wrinkled. “What are you talking about?”
“Sunday night in the hospital parking lot.”
Her forehead smoothed out. “I told Bull about that.”
“Bull is not the fucking president of my club. Bull does not make the decisions. I do. And because you didn’t come to me, I didn’t have the information I needed until today.”
She studied me for a moment before sitting back and crossing her arms over her chest. “They were looking out for you, but if you see it differently, then that’s a problem you have with them, and it has nothing to do with me.”
I clenched my jaw. She was right, and that was exactly the conversation we’d be having at church tomorrow morning, but I wasn’t telling her that. “I told you to come to me with any information.”
“Your sister just had a premature baby,” she said like I needed that fucking reminder. “I thought
you had enough to deal with. Besides”—she shrugged—“nothing happened. He didn’t even speak to me. He just watched me get into my car, and then he left.”
“Don’t you remember what happened the last time you were alone in a parking lot?”
Her expression hardened. “Yes, I remember, considering it happened to me. But this man didn’t seem dangerous, and he didn’t look or act like the others that night.” She dropped her arms, sat forward, and lowered her voice again. “I locked my doors and called Bull, who met me in the parking lot of my apartment building. I told him what happened, and he’s been staying with me while Gunner was trying to figure out who this person was and why he was watching me.”
“Bull’s staying with you?” I growled.
“I’m confused.” She held up her hand and shook her head. “Why are you pissed about that? You told him, and you told me what our relationship should be. He’s supposed to be protecting me, and by all accounts, he’s doing a good job, considering no one has gotten close to me. Nor have they tried. But you obviously have a problem with the way he’s doing it.” She grabbed her purse from where it lay on the table and slung it over her shoulder before sliding from the booth and standing. “That’s between the two of you.”
“Do not walk away from me, Josie.” I stood, my voice low and menacing. I hated that she was right. Every fucking thing she said was right. She did exactly what they should’ve done in that situation, and I was still pissed.
She only shook her head and marched toward the door with me hot on her heels. When Maddie looked up, Josie held up her hand, and called out, “Thanks, Maddie.”
“Sure, Josie. See ya later.” Maddie’s eyes met mine, and she lifted her hand in a wave. “See ya, Bear.”
I jerked my chin in her direction but continued following Josie outside to the parking lot. When she was next to her car, I grabbed her arm and swung her around, putting us face-to-face. “Is there anything else you’re not telling me?”
She shrugged her arm free from my grasp, but when she didn’t respond immediately, I knew she was hiding something. “Have the Widows approached you?”
End Game (Sinners MC Book 2) Page 14