Page 67 of Manny

Manny turns. When his eyes meet mine, his lips twitch. He has no clue what I did to myself in my shower last night, and I’d like to keep it that way. Instead, he smiles and says, “Cinnamon roll?” He shoves a plate at me.

They do look and smell delicious. “You got up early just to make these for us? Cash should give you a raise.” I take one off the plate. For some reason, that seems to please him.

“Don’t say that too loudly.” Harlem claps me on the back. “Right, Manny? It’ll go to your head.”

Manny tears his eyes from mine and gives Harlem a chin lift. “H, I was beginning to forget what you looked like.”

He runs a hand through his short hair. The man is built like a truck. He’s good to my sister, and he adores Cami. When Indi was giving him grief before they got together, it didn’t deter him. He knew what he wanted and went for it. Not having a solid father figure in my life wasn’t easy, but the love both Indi and I had for our grandmother spoke volumes. I promised I would never subject my son to violence of any nature. I like what this club stands for and I know every single person in this club has each other’s backs.

“Yeah, this whole Shade shit got us all worried. Me and Tag have been workin’ with Rock and Jett to try and find her,” Harlem says.

“I take it that’s not goin’ so well?” I interject.

His eyes meet mine. “Got it in one. Bitch doesn’t wanna be found, and the trouble with a sniper on the loose is she can come back anytime, undetected.

We couldn’t live in lockdown forever, but the club is still cautious, especially where she’s concerned. She came this far before, and worse; Riot was kidnapped.

“So she just disappeared off the face of the earth?” I say. “Her vengeance was deadly. We know she’ll be back at some point if she’s that bitter and twisted.”

“She’s bat shit crazy,” Manny agrees. “And shady. How she managed to slip away I’ll never know, but our focus was on getting Riot back.”

I smirk. “Bet that’s the most action you’ve seen in a while.”

He stares at me. “In more ways than one.”

“Well, we still gotta be vigilant, especially where Lace and Halo are concerned, especially now that Halo is pregnant,” Harlem says. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been watching Lace for a little while, and why I rushed to the hospital last night. I never want to see anything happen to her. Now that there’s a baby brought into the mix with Riot and Halo, it brings up all kinds of things for me. The need and urge to protect is wild in my veins for the people I care about, and the few I love.

I opened up last night about Jill, and I’ve no idea why, but hearing about Manny and his step-dad hurting him made me want to break some bones. Shared trauma is one thing, but opening up to strangers, pretty much, is another. I can’t deny that I feel comfortable with the two of them. Indigo is the only one I’ve ever shared stuff with. Not even my MC family knows the extent of it, just that it happened and I’m a single dad. I suspect they have sympathy for me, and I know Harlem looks at me with respect, being a single dad himself when his wife walked out. I gotta respect the shit outta that, too. It’s one of the reasons I knew he’d be a good man for my sister, she just had to see past her own nose. Our childhood being around a motorcycle gang was so fucked up, it put Indi off for life. Until Harlem.

Me? This life has always been in my blood. I may be nothing like my old man, thank fuck, but I have the MC brotherhood running through my veins. I always wanted the family, without all the violence.

“Shit’s fucked up when there’s a chance she’d start goin’ after loved ones,” I agree.

“Unfortunately, that’s how some of these crazy fuckers operate,” Harlems sniffs. “We should be thankful she didn’t go after Halo to get back at Riot. Then again, she didn’t keep tabs on anyone he was close to. She wanted him, and she pulled out all the stops to do just that.”

“Nobody really knows what she has plans for next,” Manny’s tone is grave. “Hope she’s not festering somewhere, plotting her next move.”

Harlem gives him a look. “You still recoverin’ from havin’ to hold a gun?”

Manny rolls his eyes. “I’ve held a gun plenty of times. I just don’t like them.”

I chuckle. I can no more see Manny shooting someone than I can see me making goddamn cinnamon rolls. “Thought you’d be worried about messin’ up that hair of yours.”

He narrows his eyes, but it’s playful. “Like I keep saying; I’m not just a pretty face.” He gives me a wink and takes off, sliding the cinnamon rolls on the end of the table near Cash’s chair. My eyes skim over him as he leaves; patent leather pants. A black, fitted Queen t-shirt and his signature apron.

Harlem turns to me. “You good?”

I avert my eyes. “Yup, you?”

“Never been better.” He slaps me on the back. “Haven’t seen you around the clubhouse for a while.”

“You mean pussy?”

“Sweet butts talkin’.”

Shit.

“How do you know what the sweet butts are sayin’?”

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