Page 146 of Stone

“I’m worried about Kelly,” Elise suddenly breathed, looking at me with troubled eyes. “She’s hit the bottle in a big way. She can’t seem to cope without him. Layla’s with Stevie’s mom at her house, down the southern end of the creek. Kelly can’t even look after her.”

“She’ll come right,” I murmured. “She loves Layla. She won’t lose her.”

Elise sighed. “I hope so. Sometimes, it’s only our kids who keep us going.”

I nodded, thinking of Xander, Gage, Kit, and now Freya. They were my light and my heart. However, the woman in my soulstood next to me, and suddenly, a bolt of melancholy hit because it all could’ve been so different.

“How’s Adele?” Elise inquired. “She said she’s going to Boston next week. I can’t imagine her in the big city. She’s so free-spirited. Imagine her around all those sophisticated city types?”

“She’s a nut.” I smiled ‘cause my wife would never change. Adele and I had grown further apart after Freya was born. Our marriage had been good, but it was dead in the water now. I loved her, and she loved me, but we weren’t in love.

We never were.

But we were happy for a time when the boys were young, and we were building the club. She was a great ol’ lady and a wonderful mother and friend, but it was never more than what it was supposed to be.

A beautiful moment in time.

There was no way I’d tell Elise that, though. Adele deserved my respect, and telling my ex-girlfriend about our marriage problems wasn’t respectful to my wife. I didn’t know if Adele and I would eventually work out. I offered to try, even offered to go see the new shrink in town, Mitch, and try marriage counseling. But she didn’t seem interested.

I’d worked something out. My wife always knew we were temporary. It was the way she planned it. Adele always dreamed of finding her ‘one,’ and I wanted it for her, too. She deserved epic, rip-your-soul-out love. She deserved to meet the man destined to be hers.

That man was never me, and she knew it all along.

We hadn’t officially split or anything. The kids were still young and needed us both. My boys were rascals, but they adored their mother. Her leaving would affect them, and she knew it. Plus, Freya needed her momma, too. My daughter livedamong good men, but she needed Adele’s femininity and caring touch.

So, we’d keep on keeping on and see where the wind took us.

“How’s your mom doing?” I asked quietly.

Elise’s face fell. “Not good. I’m flying out tomorrow. Gonna stay a while. I’m not really sure when I’ll be back. I’d like to nurse her to the end and spend that time with her. We lost a lot of years when she moved in with her sister. She was never the same after Dad died.”

“I’m sorry, Leesy.” My fingers twitched with the need to touch her and give her some comfort. “For everything.”

“You don’t need to be sorry,” she replied softly. “You loved me good, John Stone. It was me who screwed everything up.”

“I screwed up the day I put you on the back of my bike, took you to Grand Junction, and enlisted. Screwed up when I left you.”

“We were young, John,” she murmured. “We thought we had the world at our feet, thought we could have it all. Nobody gets to have it all. Especially not girls like me.”

My eyebrows snapped together. “Huh?”

“It’s okay,” she assured me. “No need to apologize.” She took a breath, settled herself, and plastered a smile on her face.

I knew all her smiles. Happy, sad, concerned, understanding, all of them. That one was her mayor’s wife’s smile, and it was fake as fuck.

“Take care, John,” she said softly. “I’m going home to pack. I’ve got an early flight.”

“Take care, babe,” I replied. “Safe travels.”

My stare held Thrash’s, never wavering, never faltering.

It was that bastard who eventually looked away.

I smirked.

“It’s all there, Prez,” Hendrix confirmed, flipping his cell phone closed. “Five mill. All accounted for.”

I rose to my feet and bit out, “We’re done here.”

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