Page 23 of Idaho

"Anytime." He paused then shot me a grin. "Good luck."

I chuckled as I walked away. I was going to need it. Something told me I was going to see more of the fiery side of Eva than I had even last night. She'd been exhausted and shocked about what had happened and it had mellowed her out. Walking past my door, I continued down the hallway until I reached the area that the larger apartments were in. These were earmarked for the men with wives and families. I knocked, then leaned against the doorway with my arms folded over my chest.

"Hi, Lock." Sloane sounded surprised. She hesitated when I didn't say anything, then sighed. "We need to put name tags on you two," she declared. "Sorry, Idaho."

I laughed because technically we had nametags on our cuts, and Lock had a full sleeve tattoo on his right arm, but with my arms crossed it covered my name tape and no one had clued into the tattoo difference yet. "No problem. I'm used to it. Can't expect you to be able to tell us apart if no one else can."

"What can I do for you?"

"Can I come in for a moment?" She hesitated, looking torn. I wanted to kick myself. Of course a woman with her background wasn't going to want to invite a stranger into her home. Especially not when her husband was still downstairs. "Actually, here's fine," I told her.

"Oh... I-"

"It's okay," I assured her. "I just wanted to see if you could do me a favor?"

"Sure," she said with a genuine smile. Her bright blue eyes were eager as she agreed to help me without any kind of hesitation. "I've been meaning to have Riptide invite you over for dinner," she added. "It's just been a little busy with Christmas approaching."

Fuck. She was sweet. I didn't know Rip very well yet, but I knew he was a lucky fucker. Here she was, nearly ready to give birth and she was worried because she hadn't had me over and welcomed me to the club yet. This was the kind of woman ancient wars were fought over. Not that I wanted her. No, my head was too filled with a pair of big green eyes. And despite what my brother thought of me, I wasn't the kind of guy to take another man's woman. Didn't mean I couldn't appreciate quality when I saw it. In fact, that was exactly what I did with my business every day. Found quality people and recruited them into my employ.

From what I'd seen so far, and read in their files, most of these guys had found themselves incredible women. The few who were still single seemed to enjoy bringing women home, except my brother and Static. They were as bad as I was about remaining alone.

Butcher and Toxic were the only two keeping the wild times rolling around this place, it seemed. Though, much to Scarlet's dismay, neither would touch the sweet butts. Only the nomads and some of the guys from The Berserker's Rage guys paid attention to them when they came into town.

Shaking myself from my thoughts, I asked, "Would you be able to get me a complete list of everyone living over at the apartments?"

Her eyebrows winged upward. "Do you need it to help with the problems at the school?"

I didn't want to lie to her, but I also didn't want to ruin the surprise I had planned. "Yeah."

"Okay, I'll get it to you as quickly as I can."

"Thanks."

"You're most welcome." She shut the door with a smile and I grinned as I walked back to my room. I was hoping my surprise would gain me some points with the women, and by default their men, but mostly, I just wanted to make sure those families had a Christmas they wouldn't forget.

Pushing thoughts of the upcoming holiday aside, I smiled and opened my door, preparing for the upcoming fight.

CHAPTER 10

Eva

Irolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. My mind was foggy and my mouth was so dry it was hard to swallow. That was the last time I went drinking with the girls. The way I was feeling right now wasn't worth the small amount of fun we'd had. Not to mention how quickly it had all gone downhill. I frowned as I recalled the events from last night.

Looking around, I sighed. It hadn't all been some dream. I was sleeping in Idaho's room, not my own. I sat up, groaning when my head spun. It wasn't just the hangover plaguing me, but the lack of sleep as well. I needed a solid nine hours of sleep a night or I woke up grumpy and ready to fight the world.

Slipping out of the bed, I went into the bathroom and took care of business before I pulled my toiletry bag over and brushed my teeth. I ran a brush through my hair, then splashed cold water on my face, washing off the remaining makeup from the night before. I contemplated putting more on, but decided against it. I didn't wear much to begin with, just some eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick normally. My mother didn't approve of wearing more so I'd never gotten in the habit.

My stomach growled, reminding me that it was empty. I hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday. That had been a quick bite between classes at school. It wasn't surprising that I was hungry after all that time. My head was aching, but otherwise, I felt fine. I walked out of the bathroom, wondering where Idaho was when he walked through the door.

I froze as his gaze landed on me. He looked good enough to eat in jeans and a white t-shirt with that leather vest on over it. His hazel eyes were mesmerizing and it was hard not to admit that he was even more handsome this morning than I remembered from my drunken fog. That was unfortunate. It would be so much easier to be angry if he wasn't gorgeous. His brown hair was a bit longer on top and shaved on the sides and looked like he'd been running his hands through it.

"Good, you're awake. How're you feeling?" he asked as he walked over toward the night stand. He pulled a bottle of water out of the small fridge there and handed it to me.

"Fine." I took it from him, but didn't drink it yet. "Where have you been?"

"Church."

I frowned. "You went to church?"

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