Page 27 of Savior

I glanced down at my own bump with a solemn nod. “It hurts, doesn’t it? Maybe he’s afraid of the risk. He probably doesn’t understand that we’re women who know how to fight.”

Little Ricky made a noise in the back of his throat that sounded suspiciously like a laugh before looking away.

“I even checked with my obstetrician, and he said it was perfectly safe to go to war with a rival biker gang until the third trimester.”

My lips parted with a soft gasp as I looked up at Lauren in awe.

She’d covered all her bases.

Zane had warned me against doing anything risky when an actual doctor had given her the green light. I smiled, knowing my superhero would have no choice but to let me go after the Sons when presented with solid scientific evidence.

“Dakota,” Lauren said, waving a hand in front of my face.

I blinked, pulled away from my fantasy of winning my first argument against my husband. “Yeah?”

“I’m just fucking with you, but I do have a plan.” She frowned at Little Ricky. “You gonna rat us out?”

He shook his head firmly. “Nah,mi sirenita. You know I could never turn on you. Have you come to your senses and decided you want a real man yet?”

I looked between the two of them, wondering what it was that I’d missed. “Were you—I mean, is there something? I think you’d make a great couple… you know, were you not married to my brother and all.”

Lauren cocked her head to the side. “Do you always talk this much?”

“Absolutely,” Little Ricky interjected with a rough bark of laughter. “Sometimes, I’m like, ‘C’mon, Cap. Give it a rest,’ you know?”

I slugged him in the shoulder and straightened. “I think we’ve gotten off-topic here. It’s clear that Bear isn’t going to let us join their club, so what do we do now?”

Her eyes sparkled mischievously. “Silent Phoenix wants to stick its head in the sand instead of looking into Grey’s disappearance. We can either do what Bear suggested, or…”

“Or what?” I asked, resisting the urge to bounce up and down on the balls of my feet as the popular girl swiped the trays off the table and gestured for me to sit down.

“Or we can assemble our own team,” she finished with a wide grin. “What do you say?”

What did I say?

It was the culmination of every childhood fantasy.

My chance to wear the cape, to be the heroine my father needed.

“I’m in,” I rushed out. “It’s like you read my mind. I’ve got a notebook back at the house with some ideas for what we could call ourselves. The Avengers has already been taken, but what about The Revengers… or the—”

“You know she can’t shoot a gun to save her life, don’t you?” Little Ricky asked, flicking his switchblade open and closed.

“Biscuits and gravy, Little Ricky. You sound just like your dad now, doing everything in your power to keep me out of it. Your face even looks like his.” I used my fingers to manipulate my lips into a sneer similar to the one on his face.

He opened his mouth to argue, but Lauren cut him off. “If you two wouldn’t mind taking a moment to shut the hell up, I’d explain to you that it doesn’t matter. I’ve got a guy that might be able to help.”

“Does Mikey know you’re doing this?” Little Ricky asked, no longer teasing.

Her eyes flashed briefly with pain, and she shook her head. “I’m doing this for him just as much as me. He can’t fight right now. We can either stay in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, or we can go down swinging. What’ll it be, Dakota?”

I’d woken up this morning, convinced that no one could understand my need to find Grey. Kate had gone back to her everyday life, and Mama had shut down emotionally.

Lauren got it, though.

She knew that if the Sons weren’t stopped, then we would never truly be safe. We were bringing children into this world. How could we shield them from the ugliness if we refused to take a stand?

‘When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth and tell the whole world--‘No, you move.’’

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