Page 57 of Thornhill Road

Twister, whose kutte identified him as the Vice President of the Gillette chapter, raised his bottle of beer, but Lyla looked me up and down and barely contained a sneer. I wasn’t sure what that was about, but it didn’t go unnoticed how she’d been introduced as neither Twister’s woman nor his ol’ lady.

“Hi,” I said with a blanket wave. “I’m Tess.”

As soon as I said it, Mustang let go of my hand and draped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. A zing shot through my belly as I smiled up at him.

He’d just made a statement without speaking a word, and it felt good.

Really good.

“Over there are Miles, Jett, Otto, and Axel,” added Winnie, speaking of the boys. “Axel is Wrangler’s youngest. The rest are the hellions I was telling you about.”

“Don’t worry, darlin’. We won’t test you on names until next week,” teased Wrangler.

I laughed as Buck asked, “Somethin’ to drink?”

“No, thank you. I’m good for now.”

Maverick’s lips curled slowly into a smirk as he looked between Mustang and me.

I noticed hisRoad Captainpatch and wondered what that rank entailed. He was wearing a backwards trucker style baseball cap over his long, curly hair. It was grown out halfway down his back, and it was beautiful. I was sure Jenna would kill for a fraction of his hair’s texture.

“Interesting,” he muttered, folding his arms across his chest.

“Won’t last long if you don’t know how to party, sweetie,” piped in Lyla snidely.

“Don’t be thick, sheep. It’s unbecoming. You see whose arm she’s on,” drawled Wrangler.

Lyla rolled her eyes as Twister chuckled.

I was on the verge of an explanatory reply when I felt the vibration of Mustang’s phone from inside his front pocket. He let me go in order to reach for it, then cursed under his breath when he saw who was calling. As he answered, he turned his back on the group.

“Hey, baby. You okay?”

I tried not to react to him calling someone elsebaby, but I still stood frozen as I stared at his profile while I waited with bated breath for his next words.

“Okay. Stay in mommy’s room, princess. Daddy’ll be there in a bit.”

I let out a quiet sigh at the same time I felt all my organs turn to mush.

Mary-Kate was his princess.

My man was hard on the outside and sweet on the inside.

I loved that.

I barely had a chance to recover from my reaction before Mustang turned and I caught a glimpse of his hardened features. Whatever warm and fuzzy feelings I’d felt a second ago were gone in an instant.

“We gotta go,” he told me. He then looked to Winnie and said, “Might need a favor tonight.”

“Whatever you need, Mustang. You know that,” she assured him.

He jerked his chin in acknowledgment then grabbed my hand and started for the door.

I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew from the grip he had around my fingers it was not good.

I didn’t ask any questions.

I merely followed his lead.

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