Page 74 of Fighting a Riot

My brows drew together. “It’s my hair in the picture… I don’t understand why he has to be cool with it.”

She gave me a patient smile. “Yeah, but I heard you two had a run-in with the cops last night. Things work differently with the brothers.”

Yak’s head wobbled. “Yeah, but if you keep it to the back of her head, that’s cool. Anything else, I’d rather you wait until this shit dies down.”

The volume on the radio was pretty low on the way to the clubhouse. I glanced at Yak’s profile, marveling at his relationship with Fred and Sydney. The three of them were tight like they’d been through some rough times together.

I spoke without thinking. “I’m surprised you’re not attracted to Sydney. She’s got that sexy, edgy vibe going on.”

He gave me a sideways glance. “Nope. She’s married to Fred, over ten years now. Even if she weren’t, she wouldn’t even be on the radar.”

“Really? That’s surprising. She seems much more your type than me.”

He shook his head. “Thing is… a dead cell phone isn’t what she would call ‘the story of her life.’”

I felt a smidge of embarrassment at the reminder of how we met, but it was chased by a wave of warmth.

I caught his eyes. “It’s not the whole story.”

He grinned. “Nope, but it’s a good start. Besides, edgy chicks aren’t my type.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Don’t tell Sydney, but she’s prone to drama.”

I nodded. “Okay, so who did you meet first? Fred or Sydney?”

A wistful smile crossed his face. “Believe it or not, I met them at the same time but in entirely different places.”

“That sounds bizarre.”

He stared out the windshield. “It is. Syd joined my last foster family about eighteen months before I got out of the system. That… family liked to have as many kids under the roof at a time as the system would allow.”

“They did?”

His lips quirked and he shot me a wry look. “Yeah. Gives them a bigger paycheck from the government to buy us all food. Not that they bought decent food and they didn’t even make sure all of us got it.”

“What?”

He grimaced. “There was a cabinet with canned food. They stocked it twice a day. We all had to fend for ourselves. Sydney’s first night, this asshole a year younger than me took the bowl of canned chili she’d made for herself.”

I closed my eyes and sighed.

He huffed out a chuckle. “Thing was, he didn’t know I’d just come back. I beat his ass and made sure Sydney got to eat.”

I glanced over at him, admiring him anew. “And I’m gonna guess you two were thick as thieves after that.”

He laughed. “Fuck no. She hated my guts for that. A fourteen-year-old having to rely on my ass to save her. She almost didn’t eat the damn chili.”

We braked for a traffic light. “Anyway, after that she kept to herself and I figured that was that. Instead, I found her following me back from the Riot clubhouse.”

I shook my head. “Wait. I thought you couldn’t patch in before twenty-one.”

His eyes met mine. “Mallory’s man, Cal, started prospecting early and patched in at eighteen. I’d heard rumors about him –he’s two years older than me– and I wanted to finagle the same deal.”

“Did you?”

The light changed and he turned onto Blanding Boulevard. “No. Teach wasn’t down with that said Cal had been a rare exception.”

I nodded. “So where does Fred come into play? Did he try to get in the club and change his mind?”

He chuckled. “No. He’s the person who told me the rumors about Cal. He’s also the person who kept me from strangling Sydney that night when I found out she’d followed me to the clubhouse.”

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