Page 40 of The Vows We Keep
“I’m not leaving you with him,” Neva says, glaring in my direction.
“Chill, bitch. I got your girl. She’s safer here with me than she is with you.”
Neva’s jaw drops.
“Don’t call her a bitch.” Catalina raises an eyebrow in my direction. “And you can stop it with the pissing-on-me-so-everyone-knows-I’m-yours shit, right now. I’m no one’s.”
There’s a fire in her eyes. Not the cozy campfire kind, but the flash fires that come out of nowhere. My cock twitches. “Pretty sure I’m gonna keep fucking that up, so I’m not going to apologize.”
Neva shakes her head. “This is all screwed up. He’s lying. They all are. It makes more sense than believing Los Reyes, our family, are culpable in this.”
Catalina touches Neva’s arm. “I think the Outlaws have no reason to lie to me, and Perrito hasn’t been transparent with me and Mamá for a reason. But he doesn’t know we’re here, so we’re safe for a few more days. Go back to the house. Get some rest. Pack up if you like. I’ll message you.”
“You’re making a mistake, Cat,” Neva says.
Catalina glances in my direction. “Maybe I am. But what are my other choices?”
Neva crosses her arms and sighs. “Fine. I need a ride back.”
“Switch,” I shout. Our medic is standing by the bar, talking with Vex.
“What?” he replies but doesn’t move.
“Neva needs a ride back to their place.”
He shakes his head. “So why don’t you take her in the van?”
I roll my eyes and remember what Bates said about asking people for help when I need it. “Please.” I choke out the word. It feels a little too close to begging someone instead of doing shit myself. “I need to help Cat with this thing with her dad.”
Switch looks at Neva as if he’d rather eat dirt. “Fine. But she’s not sitting behind me on my bike again. I’ll get the keys to the tow truck.”
“Wouldn’t want to sit on anything to do with him,” Neva mutters as the three of us watch him walk out of the building toward the repair shop.
“Neva won’t be at risk with him, will she?” Catalina asks.
I glance into her eyes and think of what ink I’d mix to make that exact shade of brown. “He’s our medic. Military trained. He’d rather chew his own arm off than hurt someone who didn’t deserve it.”
Neva offers her arms to show me the red lines left by the cable ties. “I beg to differ.”
I can’t help but huff out a laugh. “I said ‘someone who didn’t deserve it.’ He did that when you’d stupidly kidnapped the club treasurer, thinking he was the president of the Iron Outlaws, and tied him to a chair. We’ve since determined you aren’t a risk. Switch isn’t gonna hurt you. Piss him off, and he might just shove you out of the truck in the middle of nowhere. So unless you wanna walk, I’d be nice.”
Neva’s eyes narrow. “How utterly reassuring. I still think this is stupid, but stay safe.”
Catalina tugs her into her arms. “You too.” She whispers something I don’t catch and watches her friend as she leaves.
Me? I watch Cat.
She’s tall for a girl, and I like it. I’m six four. She’s gotta be near five ten. Sure, there’s a thick sole on those biker boots of hers, but I bet she isn’t short without them. I kind of like that I can still manhandle her, but that she isn’t breakable. If I were Spark, I’d be terrified of snapping Iris in half. Not that I want to think about my brother fucking.
“I like your clubhouse,” Cat says. “It’s big compared to Los Reyes.”
I take in the surroundings through her eyes. “We’re lucky. King’s grandfather bought the land in Asbury Park decades ago.” A building permit was issued in the nineties to construct a housing development not too far from the clubhouse, but the access road would’ve passed right by the edge of our lot. Arthur “Camelot” Hills, King’s father, followed all the legal processes to object, and the whole club, bikes and all, showed up at the town hall to discuss it. Camelot asked if they thought people would be willing to buy a house if their main road went by him and the club every day.
Sure enough, the permit disappeared and was never revisited. Amazing what a leather cut and a fuck-you attitude can do.
“I’m guessing you want to talk to the brothers about what they know, see if it’s any different than what I told you,” I say to Cat.
She yawns and then blinks. “Yeah. Sure. But can a girl get a large cup of coffee first?”
