Page 68 of Savior

Mike grabbed a mug from the cabinet and filled it with coffee, giving me a relaxed smile. “Celia invited me to go to war. My schedule’s pretty empty these days, so I thought, why the hell not? You feeling okay? Because I gotta be honest with you, you look like hell.”

I self-consciously covered my face before asking, “Does Lauren know you’re going to be here?” I kept my voice low, not out of fear of someone overhearing, but because it felt like my brain was being stabbed with an ice pick. “I’m just not sure that springing something like this on her is the—” My words tapered off as the woman in question entered the kitchen.

I held my breath, wishing that I was anywhere but ground zero. The hangover wasn’t helping things, either. My mother had been insistent that we needed Mike, but given what I’d seen of him the last time, I hadn’t expected him to show.

The man now standing in front of me looked nothing like the man I’d seen wrapped up in a quilt. The scraggly beard was gone, leaving his jawline with the slightest hint of a five o’clock shadow. It was clear he’d also had a haircut recently.

Those weren’t what struck me the most, though. It was the brightness in his eyes again. Mike was sober.

That made one of us.

Even if he gave us a fighting chance against the Sons, it didn’t mean that he was off the hook with Lauren for the things he’d done while using.

“Good morning, Lauren,” I whispered, trying to infuse as much cheerfulness in my voice as I could muster in an attempt to defuse the situation.

“Morning, Kate,” she answered distractedly, making her way around the island toward her husband.

“Um, did you…” I struggled to think of something, anything to prevent bloodshed before I’d finished my coffee and sobered up. “Did you get a new shirt? It, um, it really brings out the color of your eyes.”

Her mouth lifted in a grin as she glanced down at the purple maternity top. “Thank you. I got this last week… it’s like nothing fits anymore.”

Mike handed the full mug to her and waited until she lifted it to her lips before saying, “I seem to recall at least one thing still fitting.”

A spray of coffee went flying from her mouth, onto the island and the papers I had spread before me. I dabbed at them with my napkin while she coughed and spluttered before cocking my head to the side, observing the two.

She moved as if to brush past him, letting her hand linger against his backside. He smirked and poured himself a cup of coffee while whistling a tune.

“You two aren’t killing each other,” I noted.

“I knew I was forgetting something,” Lauren said with another strange grin.

He wagged a finger at her. “That’s right. It was on the agenda after morning coffee, I believe. Drink up, Red. I wouldn’t want you to be late for my untimely demise.”

With another grin, he set a bottle of aspirin in front of me. “A couple of these… maybe a little hair of the dog, and you’ll be right as rain.”

I winced. “How’d you know?”

“You reek of booze and bad decisions, Counselor.”

The screen door slammed shut with a bang before Zane and Dakota entered the kitchen. I climbed down off my stool, feeling as if I’d entered a different dimension. “Do you see this?” I pointed to Mike. “Am I the only one confused by what’s happening here?”

Zane’s eyebrows moved up, and he immediately backed out of the room, leaving Dakota on her own.

“What’s wrong?”

“This.” I gestured with my hand. “They’re acting… I don’t know… weird.”

It shouldn’t have upset me. After all, it wasn’t my marriage. Lauren wasn’t the first person to go running back to an addict, but she was the first I’d seen to be so blasé about it.

Dakota looked between the two of them before moving toward the pantry with a shrug. “What’s the big deal, Kate? Ooh, did Mama get more blueberry bagels? Baby Thor is craving one.”

“Baby… Thor?” I asked slowly. Please tell me that’s not the name you’ve picked out.”

She disappeared into the pantry before reappearing with the bag of bagels held over her head in victory. “Score! And, I’m trying out several names just to see what feels right.”

“What are some of the others?” Lauren jumped in to ask.

Dakota dropped the bagel into the toaster before leaning against the counter. “Well, there’s Tyr, Heimdall, Loki—only if we’re talking like Marvel movie universe, though. Obviously not comic book universe Loki. Um, what was the other one? Oh! Jake.”

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