Page 76 of Wife Number One

I nodded.

He pulled back. “She agrees. She’s staying. Queenie, can the kid stay with you tonight? Kara needs to sleep.”

I started to disagree, but Hayley Jade had already laid her head down on Queenie’s shoulders miserably, her tear-streaked face buried in the older woman’s neck.

I could barely breathe for wanting her to find that sort of comfort in me.

But I clearly wasn’t the person who could give it to her right now. “Would you mind?” I asked Queenie.

She gave me an understanding nod. “Not at all, sugar. Hayley Jade and I will have a sleepover in my room tonight. Aloha can sleep in the van.”

To his credit, or maybe it was the glare Hawk sent his way, Aloha didn’t make a sound of complaint. He just grinned, picked up a cushion from the couch, and tossed it in the air, catching it easily a second later. “I’m all good out there. It’ll give me a break from Queenie’s snoring.”

Queenie rolled her eyes. “You ain’t fooling nobody, saying that chainsaw-like noise coming from our room each night ain’t you.” But then she put her hand to his cheek and drew him in, pressing her lips to his. “Thank you. See you in the morning.”

She stopped in front of me. “Hayley Jade, you want to say goodnight to your mama?”

Hayley Jade didn’t utter a word.

I wanted to tell her I loved her. That I always had and that everything was going to be all right.

But I couldn’t even promise her that.

War cleared his throat after Queenie left, his lightly bearded face full of sympathy. “You can stay in my old cabin. I haven’t used it in years. Not since Mila was born.”

“Okay,” I whispered, not even looking at him, too focused on the fact my daughter would rather be with anyone but me. “Thank you.”

Ice cleared his throat awkwardly between me and Hawk and War. “Uh, actually, the cabin hasn’t been cleaned since the guys from the Ohio chapter came to stay…”

War recoiled. “Why the fuck didn’t someone get on that? Jesus fuck, do I have to do everything myself?”

Hawk glared at Ice like he was the one who was supposed to have done it.

Ice shoved his hands in his pockets, his cheeks pink with embarrassment at being reprimanded in front of all of us. “Sorry. The other prospects and I will get on it tomorrow. In the meantime, Kara can have my bed. All the other rooms in the clubhouse are full.”

I shook my head quickly, the thought of staying in Ice’s room sending panic up my spine. “I don’t need a bed,” I assured them. “I can sleep on the couch.”

I already knew I wouldn’t sleep at all.

War nodded. “If that’s what you want…” He glanced at Hawk. “That good with you?”

Hawk looked away quickly. “What do I fucking care?”

War snorted on what sounded like amusement. “Yeah. Okay then. Keep telling yourself that. If everyone is safe and has somewhere to sleep, I’m going home. I’ve got a very pregnant partner who I know won’t be sleeping until I report that everyone is okay. We’ll sort out the cabin in the morning. A few of us can go down there, if need be, and get it fixed up.”

He smiled gently at me. “This place is safe. We’ve got cameras and someone on the gate twenty-four seven. It’s good to have you back here. We’ve all missed you. I hope you know that. You’re one of us. You always have been, and we take care of our own.”

“Thank you,” I whispered to the kind-eyed leader. But I wasn’t one of them. I wasn’t a part of anything bigger than myself, really. I hadn’t seen Rebel in years. My family had watched a man isolate and abuse me for half a decade and had never lifted a finger to help. And Hayley Jade didn’t even know who I was, other than the woman who had taken her from the only mother she remembered.

Everyone said their goodnights, Fang guiding Rebel toward the parking lot to take her home, Hawk, Ice, Ratchet, and the other guys all disappeared into bedrooms, or in the case of Aloha, cars to sleep in for the night.

I curled up on the couch, tugging a thin blanket over my shoulder that I found in the corner.

Even locked in Josiah’s house, I couldn’t remember ever feeling so alone.

22

HAWK

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