Page 557 of Lodestar

Her shoulders quivered. “That’s between me and her.”

The mousy vibe grabbed my curiosity. “You been hurt by some asshole who needs to die?”

The woman reared back. “Excuse me?”

“Stop scaring my clients,” Rachel snapped, shoving me in the side as she hissed, “Who said you could open my door for me?”

“You had a baby attached to you.” I sniffed. “I thought I was being helpful.”

“Even when you’re dead, you won’t be helpful. You’ll somehow manage to orchestrate things from beyond the grave,” she muttered before pinning the stranger with a professional smile and holding out her hand. “I apologize for the unorthodox start. My name’s Rachel. And you are?”

“I’m Maria.” She bit her lip. “Bear told me to come to you when… I mean, Bear suggested you’d be able to help me.”

“You’re his ex-partner?” Rachel inquired.

My nose crinkled. “You’re Kendra’s mother?You?”

The last time I’d seen that hag, she’d been licking pool balls that some other clubwhore had popped out of their ass for the entertainment of the unattached MC brothers.

I didn’t think Maria was an ass-to-mouth kinda woman.

“For my sins, yes. Not that I’ve heard from her in years.”

Rachel beckoned Maria inside. “Bear did tell me that there might come a time when you’d be in need of my services.”

“I-I can’t afford?—”

“He covered my fees, but even so, I’d do this for free. Rex, Bear’s son, is my partner.” Her smile turned a little less forced. “He’s also the father of my daughters.”

“Bear would have made a wonderful grandfather,” Maria said wistfully as she stepped inside the hall.

“Yes, he would’ve. He made an impact as a father, that’s for sure. I can’t imagine the impression he’d have made on my daughters had he been given the chance.” Rachel held out her arm. “If you’d like to come with me? Star, you can head back to the meeting.”

“Star?” Maria demanded, twisting on her heel with more force than at any other point of the conversation. “Are you Star Sullivan?”

My brows lifted at her suddenly assertive tone.

There was no way in fuck I was heading back to that meeting when this looked set to be more interesting, but it seemed I didn’t need to argue with Rachel to get myself an in.

“That’s my name. How do you know it?”

“Bear. He gave me something to give to you.”

Fascinating.

I shot Rachel a smug smile. “I’ll just head into your office with you then.”

Her eyes narrowed, but she refrained from sighing and merely stepped away. Maria followed, and I brought up the rear.

As we walked into Rachel’s anal-retentively neat study, I plunked myself down on the sofa in front of her desk, sprawling comfortably as Maria headed for the visitor’s seat where she perched on the edge of the chair, her knees tucked together, hands on her lap where she was holding her purse.

I was starting to get the feeling that Maria had been raised in a convent.

“How can I help, Maria?” Rachel asked kindly as she seated herself behind her desk. “Bear informed me that there might come a day when you’d seek out my services but he never actually shared what you might need from me.”

Anxiously, Maria tucked a hair behind her ear. Not that the hair had strayed from her neat chignon.

Seriously, where the fuck had Kendra come from? Maybe she was proof that incubididexist?

---