Page 22 of All Our Ghosts

“Makes sense. The question is why though.”

Cole shrugs, clearing his throat. “Abuse is my guess, but she won’t talk about it. She’s strong, I can tell that much, but whatever she went through has to be fuckin’ bad.”

I watch as Scottie heads into the office, leaning against the door frame as he chats with Kadence, her face lighting up for a split second when he makes her laugh. My temper flares at the idea of someone breaking her down, but the way she cowered from me and the way she shrinks in on herself is starting to make a whole lotta sense.

“Just be nice,” Cole says, poking me in the arm with a pointed look.

“Chill, Cole. I’ll be nice.” I smirk, making Cole roll his eyes.

“Yeah, well, don’t make me kick your ass, Holden. It was embarrassing the last time I did it.” Cole grins, clapping me on the shoulder as I laugh.

“If I remember correctly, we decided it was a tie.”

“Youdecided it was a tie,” he jests, slowly backing away from me and back towards the clubhouse. “Oh, Wolfe, Blake, and Trey should be back from their run Friday, which means–”

“Family dinner,” we both say in unison as I nod.

“I still can’t believe you let them take Blake.”

“I didn’t let them do anything. Blake showed up at the first drop with her shit after I already told her no and forced them to let her ride along. Girl’s persistent.” Cole shakes his head. “Wolfe said something about ‘If they don’t take her with them, she’ll draw dicks on Trey’s falcon paintings and hide Wolfe’s favorite knives while they’re gone’.”

I have to stop myself from laughing as I brace myself on my handlebars. “Never thought I’d see Wolfe afraid of a twenty-five-year-old.”

“I think it was more so he didn’t want to hear Trey bitch the whole time if they didn’t take her.”

“You still worried about patchin’ her in?”

Cole shakes his head. “Nah, she can handle her own. I was thinking about doing it after they got back, but we’ll wait to do it. Marlowe wants everyone at the house by seven Friday night and I’m gonna bring Kadence, get her acquainted with some of the women–Don’t look at me like that.” He sighs.

I chuckle, “I’m not looking at you like anything,” I pause. “You think that's a good idea though? You know how Ma gets with new girls.”

“She’ll be fine.”

“Ma or Kadence?”

Cole shrugs, “I’m hoping Blake can be a buffer.”

I raise a brow at my friend, snorting a laugh. “I see.”

“What?” Cole asks.

“Nothing. Just you punishing Blake by sticking her between Ma and fresh meat.”

Cole tries to hide the smirk growing on his face but fails. “If she wants to be a member of the club, she’ll learn to take orders like one and see what happens when you don’t–and Kadence isn’t fresh meat.”

I grin, knowing full well the soft spot Cole has for Blake. “Yeah, okay, big guy.”

“You know what?” Cole chuckles, turning to head back into the clubhouse, “Get your ass back to work and get a fuckin’ haircut.” He grins.

“I will after you do.”

I watch as Cole tosses his head back and laughs, “Touché, Nash. Get back to work!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I mutter, shaking my head and make my way back over to the shop.

KADENCE

The first few days I’ve been here have been weird. Some of the guys have made their presence known, introducing themselves and being polite for the most part. Cole checks on me every now and then but mostly leaves me to focus on the paperwork. Scottie pops his head in, making fun of the abundance of coffee I’ve had but still refills the coffee pot for me. I think we’re in some sort of weird pissing contest of who can drink the most cups in the day and honestly? It’s nice to have something so easy to focus on aside from Cole’s files.

---