Page 104 of The Vows We Keep
Niro chuckles. “Go get Iris. Take an extra helmet for her. And drive safe.”
“I will, I promise.”
As I hang up, I realize I kind of like this. It would be too easy to fall into a codependent pattern where we live, sleep, eat, and work together every day. Not going with him on the weapons run has given us both some space, and we’ll have the fun of coming back together.
It takes about twenty minutes to get to Iris, and she waves to me when I fly past her on the opposite side of the highway. I have to make the turn at the next exit to get to her. As I do, I swear I see the guy from the club—the one with a needle—drive past me in a gold sedan headed in the opposite direction. My instinct is to turn around and follow him. But I can’t leave Iris alone. I pull over to the side of the road, and call Martin, the prospect. I tell him where I am and what I saw, and he sets off from the club to do what I can’t.
“Cat,” she says, her voice heavy with relief, as I climb off my bike. Once my feet are on the ground, she throws her arms around me.
I hug her in return. It feels ... normal. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
“Can I borrow your phone to call Spark and let him know you’re here? My battery died about ten minutes ago, and he’s probably climbing the walls.”
I find Spark’s number and dial before handing it to her.
“Hey, no, it’s me. My phone died ... I’m fine ... honestly ... yeah, sorry I worried you. You can spank my ass later for not having the portable charger with me.” Iris laughs at whatever Spark says in response. “I’ll hold you to that. So I just leave the car? ... Okay. Yeah, I’ll let you know when I’m home ... Love you too.”
She ends the call and starts to wriggle into the leathers I brought her. They’re too big, but it’s better than not wearing any. “I think I just gave him a heart attack.”
I offer her the extra helmet. “What about you? Are you panicked?”
Iris looks up at the sky for a moment. “No. In fact, I feel a bit more like me, Cat. A little less scared of ... well, everything.”
“That’s really good.”
She smiles, and when she does, I can see why Spark is so taken with her. “Yeah. It is.”
On the way home, I feel a sense of foreboding trickle down my spine like ice water. I check the mirrors for the gold sedan but don’t see one. When we get to Iris and Spark’s home, I pull up on the drive. “Wanna come in for coffee?” she asks.
It’s a Sunday. I have no major plans beyond working out. Laundry, maybe. “I’d love that.”
We remove our coats and boots by the door and step into the open-plan living area. I love the photographs of Spark and Iris dotted around the place. Spark goes from being the intimidating sergeant at arms to a doting partner in a heartbeat. In nearly every photo, he’s looking at her like she’s the sun rising.
It’s prompting me to take more photos of Niro and me.
We make our way to the kitchen. “I can’t believe I get to live here,” Iris says. “I used to live in a shithole, until Sparkconvincedthe landlord to fix it up for me.”
She makes air quotes with her fingers aroundconvinced, and I can only imagine how convincing Spark could be if he wanted to. Iris starts to make the coffee.
“Is Michael staying at your uncle’s?” The man I now know is basically the head of the Irish mob.
“Just for a few days. But he was missing Spark this morning. Spark’s so good with him. So’s Niro. I’ve never really understood why Michael is so taken with him, to be honest. Niro is just so ... oh God, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean he isn’t a good person or anything, it’s just—”
“It’s okay. I think maybe the misunderstood understand each other.”
Iris closes her eyes for a second and takes a deep breath. Only the sound of bubbling and dripping coffee fills the room. “That’s beautiful.” She opens her eyes. “It strikes me that maybe that’s why you and Niro get along so well. You defy all the rules of what the club is about, and yet they’ve embraced you, and you deserve it, Cat. You’re one of them, and yet one of us.”
“One of us?”
“The old ladies. I don’t know anyone else who straddles both spaces. And it takes a confident man to deal with that. You’re right. Maybe for years, no one has properly understood Niro, and that prickly exterior of his is to keep us all away.”
“Beneath it, he cares deeply.”
Iris grins. “Don’t they all. They strut around in their leather vests and project this utterly fearful image, and then you find out they’re all squishy in the middle.”
“I doubt they’d appreciate being called squishy in the middle.”
Iris pours us both a cup of coffee and offers me cream and sugar. “Yes, but they’ll never know I said that. Old lady code of silence, right?”
