Page 7 of The Devil's Scars

Chapter Three

Zoe glanced up as Wolf set a beer in front of her. He sat on the sofa, his arms stretched along its back, long legs spread wide. He regarded her.

“So,” he said, gesturing at the stacks of paperwork strewn across the table. “We celebratin’ or what?”

She leaned back, took a tiny sip of beer. “Yeah, we are.”

A grin split his gorgeous face right in half. “For real?”

“Uh-huh.” The smile that she gave him just knocked the breath out of him with its shining sweetness. Yeah, that wasthe Zoe that he knew and loved. “I’ll do it, Wolf. I’ll take over the studio for you. I’ll start on Monday. Just part-time, OK, until I sort some things out with Keira in terms of babysitting.”

He whooped, and jumped up. He pulled her into a hug, lifted her right off her feet.

She laughed, clung to his broad shoulders. “Jesus, Wolf! Put me down!”

In response, he spun in a circle, and she laughed again. It had been a long time since she’d seen him so lighthearted, and she flashed back to when they were kids, living in the same rough Denver neighborhood, playing hide-and-seek under Wolf’s front porch.

“OK, OK.” Carefully, he set her back on her feet, still beaming. “Fuckin’ awesome, Zee. I’m so happy you’re gonna do this.”

“Yeah, me too.” She straightened her clothes. “I’ve already called Willa, and she’ll bring Keira here the day after tomorrow.”

“I’ll pay for their plane tickets, and all your moving expenses.”

“Oh, no,” Zoe protested. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I know, baby girl. I want to.” His gray eyes were warm. “Call it a signin’ bonus, OK?”

She hesitated. “You – you sure?”

“Totally.” He scowled at her. “I’m still pissed at you that you wouldn’t let me fly you out here to see me today. You should have let me pay for your plane ticket, it would have saved you megatons of hassle and time.”

“I don’t do planes, Wolf. You know that.”

“Yeah, yeah. But your kid sure will… I’m gonna see to that.”

“Better for a baby, for sure. Thanks, Wolf.”

“It’s all good.” He drank some beer, relaxed now. “So. We’re havin’ a big club party tomorrow night at Satan’s. You want to come? Meet some of the guys? Most of them joined after you left town, you know.”

A small, tense silence fell between them now, and it was full of things best left unsaid. What Wolf hadn’t mentioned – and Zoe wasn’t even close to insane enough to bring up – was that about five years back, pretty much the entire Road Devils crew had been wiped out in a huge raid on their clubhouse by The Fallen Angels MC.

Thosehad been dark days in the club’s history. She’d been long gone by then, of course, but she’d lived every second of the crisis by phone long-distance, and in absolute terror that Wolf was going to end up dead – that the life was going to get him at last and after all.

Whatever the hell it said about her, Zoe hadn’t been sorry to hear that The Road Devils club membership had been razed to the ground in a hail of bullets. No, if she were telling the truth, then she’d have to say that she’d been savagely glad that those sons-of-bitches had died. She knew that Wolf had been torn up about it, and she felt bad about that… but she hadn’t wished those guys alive. Not even to spare Wolf pain.

She hadn’t wished it even once.

Rebuilding the club had taken time and dedication, and Kirk Jensen’s contracts and contacts, and the money that had come with all of that kind work, had helped to attract some pretty hardcore and hungry guys. Guys who were now Wolf’s brothers, guys who had rejected Dawson’s offer and who had opted to stay under Wolf’s kinder, gentler, more-legal Presidency.

Guys that she’d have to suss out, and figure out how to work with and deal with.

She knew it had to be done, of course, but she ached to put it all off. Just a bit longer.

“Uh.” She scrambled now to think of a way out of attending a drunken, rowdy biker gathering. “Well, I think I’d better find someplace to live before I think about partying with The Road Devils.”

“No problem,” Wolf said. “I got a place for you.”

“You do?”

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