Page 119 of Idaho

"Yeah," I sighed. "I would have rather been there with the two of you, but she begged me."

"Yeah, I don't know if I could have denied her that either."

I scoffed at that. "Why do you think she asked me?" I chuckled. "She knew what you'd say even to her deathbed wish."

One corner of his mouth kicked up at that. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me?" he asked. "I'd have been pissed, but I wouldn't have cut you out like I did."

"She made me promise. And fuck you. You absolutely would have cut me off for going to help Dad."

"See me doing it now?" he asked with a lifted brow.

"You've mellowed out in your old age."

He snorted and shook his head. "Fuck off."

This time the silence was less tense. We just sat there in it. Comfortable. Coming back had been the right call on my part. He was already halfway to forgiving me by the time we had this talk. Now that he knew it had been Mom who'd been the reason I wasn't there, it took the wind out of his sails.

The door opened again. "Sorry. Seriously. Just makin' sure you two haven't killed each other. You two being quiet is almost as scary as Toxic and Butcher being quiet," Hush said, then shut the door again when he saw we were both alive.

I chuckled. "You have a great family here."

"They're yours now, too," Lock said with a heavy sigh. "Still isn't getting you out of scrubbing toilets." He stood up and went to the door.

"We done?"

"That's all the patience I have for talking about emotional shit today," he replied as I followed him out into the main area of the clubhouse.

"We could still talk about Keely," I offered with a shit-eating grin.

Before he could yell at me the door to the clubhouse slammed open. My hand went directly to the gun at my back. My shoulders tensed when I saw Static walk in. He was covered in blood. His dress shirt ripped in three places. His tie was gone. He'd gone into work this morning to take some time off so he could focus on this Fremont problem with us.

"What the fuck happened?" Lock asked.

Static grinned, then grimaced and touched his split lower lip. He had a black eye and I was sure there were bruises all over his body. "Fucking assholes who took Eva jumped me on the way home."

"We should have killed them," I muttered.

"One might be dead," Static mused. "Strangled him with my fucking tie 'til he stopped moving."

The other men were gathering in the main area along with us, having heard the shouting from upstairs. Didn't take them long to convene.

"Better come with me," Static said.

"You look rough," Toxic told him.

"You should see the other guys. Well, you're about to see one." He led us out to his car, which he usually took into work, and it had a huge gash down the side. They'd run him off the road. He opened the trunk and motioned to the body laying inside.

"Is he dead?" Rip asked.

"Yeah."

"Where's his ear?" Hellfire questioned.

"Bit it off while we were wrestling around," Static admitted. He shrugged when Hellfire stared at him. "Got me the upper hand in the moment."

"Well, fuck," Lock muttered. "You remember where that damn mine shaft was?"

"Yeah, Lock," he said. "I do. There's just one problem."

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