Page 73 of Saint's Sinner

“By had words, do you mean actual words, or words punctuated with right crosses?” Axel asked.

Pope gave the kid a wink. “I plead the fifth.”

“And it’s right crosses for the win,” Bellamy said.

Though Kat laughed alongside everyone else, it was impossible to miss the sadness in her gaze, or the way she leaned into Mark and closed her eyes every now and again, like she was trying to hide the fact that she longed to have their boy pressed between them. He felt for them, he truly did, unable to imagine what it would feel like if the shoe was on the other foot. He just hoped seeing less of them, or more specifically, Sinn around the place might mean a shift in attitude back to being the Teddy they’d loved.

“So get this,” Mark said. “I reached out to that salvage yard Teddy had been pussyfooting around about visiting and was told flat out that we weren’t welcome to come up there.”

“You’re fuckin’ shitting me?” Sinn snapped.

“Afraid not,” Mark said. “I can’t tell if it’s a dead end or if Teddy spoiled it for us but I aim to find out.”

“Bastard.”

“For now, we’ll keep putting feelers out and see if we can’t scare up some of those parts,” Mark said. “I do have some good news though. I talked to those folks on the corner who own the furniture store. The rumors were spot on, they are planning on selling the place, but hadn’t decided on which realtor to list it with, which works out for us, since I offered to purchase it outright. We’ll meet with the bank to set up an inspection and all that legal bullshit later in the week.”

“Holy shit, that was fast,” Sinn said.

“They say why they’re in such a hurry?” Creature asked.

“In a word, triplets,” Mark said. “Their son and daughter-in-law live in Minneapolis, and they plan to relocate up there to help with the new arrivals. They’re hoping to be settled in before the birth and having a buyer lined up that doesn’t have to deal with loans will hasten that along.”

“Do you need me at the bank meeting?” Pope asked.

“Please.”

“Let me know when and where.”

“You did good finding this place,” Dalton said as he leaned over in his chair to retrieve another beer from the cooler.

“You finish that one and you’re crashing at my place tonight,” Wreck told him. “If I take you back to the home drunk, they’ll have both our heads.”

“In that case, I’ll help myself to a pair,” Dalton declared, plucking two dripping bottles from the ice.

Everyone laughed at that, while Dalton used the side of his chair to pop off the first top and kick it back.

“Want a beer kid?” Bellamy asked as he headed for the cooler.

“He ain’t legal,” Creature snapped at the same time as Axel declared. “I don’t drink.”

“Fair enough,” Bellamy said as he glanced between them.

“I wouldn’t want one even if I was legal,” Axel admitted. “My old man does enough drinking for both of us.”

“Angus still tyin’ them on like there’s no tomorrow?” Dalton asked.

“Worse,” Axel said. “It’s more like he’s a camel storing up for the next prohibition.”

The way he said it, without a trace of humor, left Saint wondering how bad things were for him at home and if there was anything the club could do to help make things a little better for him.

“So, no meal would be complete without Kat’s rum-soaked strawberry shortcake, so where you got it hidden?” Dalton asked.

“In the fridge,” Kat said, laughing. “At least let your food settle a little longer before diving into it.”

“Now where’s the fun in that?”

“Speaking of fun, guess who reached out to me the other day?” Kong said.

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