Page 45 of Love Finds Home

“Don’t you know we’re practicing for when we take over as the town busybodies? We have to know everything,” Trish tells me.

“I don’t think I agreed to that when we became friends.”

“Oh, just tell them so I don’t have to keep it a secret.” Ginny laughs. “Please. For me.”

“She’s horrible at keeping secrets,” Lottie whispers loudly so everyone can hear.

“I really am.” Ginny gives me an apologetic look.

“Fine,” I give in. And for the rest of the drive, I tell them about everything. Starting with the marriage that shouldn’t have been to Stefon. The only thing I leave out is the flower petals. Until I know what they mean, they don’t need to know.

I also leave out my activities with Ranger. That’s private.

Chapter 17

Ranger

Today, I’m riding withthe boys. Since the club officially disbanded, we still try to get our bikes out on the range as often as possible. The last few months have been hard with what happened to Lottie and the vet clinic, but today is our day. It always pisses me off when I think about what happened with the Club that I became a part of when I moved here, but the pain is eased when the guys are around. The majority of us are here in this town because of Sarge, and everyone other than Davis served with him at one point in time or another. He’s the soul of us. And these guys? They are my family. Not my brother. Not my ex-wife. And not my fucking parents who decided to stick by my brother and deserted me when I needed them most.

After the craziness, today we all felt safe enough to leave town. Mostly. I still worry about Elle and what those flower petals meant. But I’m not bringing that up with the guys. Sarge is leading us, with Davis and Tiny following him, andJoker and myself bring up the rear. We also have an old Club friend, Preacher, riding with us, which works since one of our stops is going to be his brother’s farm in Briar Mountain where we’ll have lunch. Sam Carmichael, his nephew, is riding along. Him and Joker have an interesting relationship with Joker’s proclivities to skirt the law and Sam being the law, but they get along and work together.

“This is the life boys!” Sarge yells as we rev our engines to hit the road.

It’s the perfect day. Early spring with the sun shining. Not a rain cloud in the sky and the wind is brisk and cool on my face. The wind whipping around me is almost a comfort. The only thing that would make it perfect? If a set of arms were wrapped around me, holding me tight as we fly down the highway. Fuck. No. I don’t need that. Or want it. I’m fine alone. End of subject.

Once we’ve made the fifty-minute ride to Briar Mountain and are sitting at tables in the orchard, Joker sits next to me.

“How’s the side project going?”

“Same thing as every week. He goes to dinner at the Mexican place. I’m not even sure they talk. Then she leaves, he leaves, they go home. Separately. Have you had any luck finding a name?”

He shakes his head. “It’s like she doesn’t exist.”

“But you know she does.”

“I haven’t been able to find it. Thinking about getting Nate involved.”

“Will that involve Daniel, too?” I’d rather keep him out of all of this. I know he takes his risks running a security company, but he’s got a family to think about now.

“Don’t know yet. But if we need to pull him in, we will. I have a bad feeling about all of this.”

“Do you really think he’s cheating on her?” I ask, knowing he might be too invested to answer honestly.

“I don’t know. That would make it so much easier to get rid of him, wouldn’t it?” He gets an evil grin on his face. “I’d enjoy watching her take his balls off.”

“I bet you would,” I laugh. “And as far as bad feelings go, we’re both alive thanks to that gut of yours. You know I’ll listen to anything you have to say about it.”

We look up to find Tiny and Davis sitting side by side, their heads together, a phone between them and both wearing goofy grins. After a particularly loud cackle from the two of them, Sarge finally asks what we’re all wondering.

“What’s so fucking funny?”

Davis can’t keep the smile off his face. He’s totally whipped—and I’m really happy for him.

“The girls are all in Baltimore on a surprise wedding dress shopping spree,” Tiny tells us.

“A surprise?” Sarge asks.

“Yup. Right now, Elle has them trying on evening gowns not fit for public consumption. They are hideous,” Tiny confirms.

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