Page 96 of Thornhill Road

Pedicures Sunday? I want to hear all about Sturgis before the memory starts to fade.

I laughed quietly to myself, shaking my head as I typed out my reply. A part of me knew my memories from Sturgiswouldindeed fade, as all memories did—but I couldn’t imagine forgetting any of it any time soon.

Yes! We’re overdue. Would you mind if I brought Mary-Kate? I’m sure she would love a little pampering.

Jenna’s reply came just as I reached the open door of an empty garage bay.

Can’t wait to meet her.

I caught the attention of one of the guys not busy under a hood and asked if he could point me in the direction of Winnie’s office. I was surprised when he asked if I was Mustang’s woman but didn’t hesitate to answer in the affirmative. Armed with that knowledge, he didn’t point me in the right direction, he escorted me right to the office door. When I thanked him, he gave me the universal badass chin jerk of acknowledgment, then I knocked twice and poked my head in to see Winnie.

“Hi! Get in here. Have a seat,” she insisted.

“Am I interrupting?” I asked, moving to sit on the couch facing her desk on the opposite side of the small room.

“Not at all. I’m just putzing around. Miles is working his apprentice shift out there today, and he’s off in another hour or so. Otto’s at a summer day camp, and Jett is with some friends. I was caught up about an hour ago, so I’m killin’ some time.”

“Oh, I didn’t know Miles was an apprentice.”

Winnie raised and lowered her eyebrows, like she could hardly believe it herself. “Yeah. Before I know it, he’ll be a Stallion probie.”

I considered this and asked, “Do you think all your sons will want to follow in Bull’s footsteps?”

Winnie propped her forearms atop her desk and casually leaned against them. “There were a few years when I thought I might catch a break with Jett, but the older he gets the moreunsure I become. He could still surprise us all, but only time will tell.”

She shrugged before she continued.

“Miles will be a senior this year, and I’m sure theonlyreason he’ll graduate in good standing is because he knows his father will kick his ass if he doesn’t. He’d live on the compound if he could. I knew a long time ago he was born and bred to be a Stallion.

“As for my baby, his daddy is his idol—but he’s five, so I don’t have to worry about him for a while,” she said with a smile of relief.

I thought about why I was sitting in Winnie’s office, and the meeting that was happening in the clubhouse. I wondered if Winnie was guaranteed to live a life of worry until her dying day, every one of the men in her family destined to wear the Stallions patch on their backs.

Except, she’d been part of the club life for a quarter of a century, nearly all her adult years. Maybe she’d built an immunity to all the ins and outs of their world.

“Do you get used to it?” I wondered aloud. “I mean, the worry about…club business?”

Her face softened in understanding before she told me, “Yes and no. You get comfortable once you learn the world they live in has its own set of rules, and that familiarity eases the worry. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sleep a little less any time Roy goes out on a run.”

“And what about what’s going on right now? Mustang keeps telling me it’s nothing—but is that true?”

She paused before answering, and I could tell by the look in her eye she was about to drop the kind of wisdom only a veteran ol’ lady would know.

“Most valuable piece of advice I could ever give you: never doubt your man. Not ever. I know Mustang. He doesn’t playgames, and he shoots it straight all the time. It’s why Roy trusts him so much. He’ll tell you what you need to know. Nothing more, nothing less.

“I’ve lived through some dark times with the Stallions. I wasn’t caught up in the thick of it, but my old man was at the heart of it, so I felt it just the same. Your man won’t lie to you. Mustang loves you, and it’s plain as day you love him. When things are tough, he’ll need you, and you’ll feel the weight of that responsibility—but he won’t burden you with the small stuff.

“They’re handling it. Remember they’re not alone. They have each other, and that means more than either you or I could ever truly understand.”

I nodded, on the fence as to whether or not anything she’d said made me feel better. On the one hand, it seemed I didn’t have anything to worry about at present. On the other, it sounded like worst things could andwouldhappen, and I needed to be ready to take that on when they did.

Then I thought of Mustang. I remembered him pulling me back against his chest, holding me tight as he told me he loved me for the first time, and I knew I’d walk through fire for my man.

Before either of us could change the subject, Winnie’s mobile began to ring on top of her desk.

“Hmm,” she hummed, glancing at the screen. “It’s Mustang.”

She swiped her finger in order to answer the call and put it on speaker. “Hey Mu—”

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