Page 100 of So Steady

“So?”

“So, you’re not an idiot. You knew he looked dodgy and he wouldn’t tell you where he lived or talk about his past, and you just rolled with it. Now you’re acting all…butthurtbecause, wow, shocking news, he’s got a history and he used to be dodgy. Like geez, what a twist? Who could have known?”

Her twin’s jaw jutted, and Nicole balled her hands into fists. She and Sam rarely fought, but when they did, it was always a knockdown, drag ‘em out. If Sam went for her hair, she was going to knee her right in the groin.

“I might go!” Gil said, backing away from the dining table as though it might burst into flame.

As though on cue, Tabby burst into the room, her blue eyes shining. “Are we having a fight about Noah?”

“No,” Sam hissed.

“Yes, but you don’t need to be so excited about it,” Nicole snapped.

“Woot!” Tabby pulled off her olive-green army jacket. “Let’s air some emotional wounds! Springer style!”

Gil practically ran to the door. “I’ll be downstairs if you need me!”

Tabby raised her fists, posing like a 1920s boxer. “So where are we at, accusation-wise?”

“Go away,” Nicole said.

“Don’t tell her to go away, she can stay if she wants,” Sam snarled. “I can’t believe you fucked Noah. You fucked him and now you’re trying to defend him even though he’s been stealing from us. You don’t even know him!”

Nicole forced a laugh because she knew it would drive her twin batshit. “So, this is about who knows Noah better, is it?”

“That’s not my point!”

“You’re getting angry like that’s your point,” Tabby piped in.

“Shut up,” Sam snarled.

“Don’t tell her to shut up.” Nicole turned to Tabby. “You’re such a shit-stirrer, why can’t you just butt out?”

Tabby raised her hands. “I’m just trying to help! Money stuff aside, I don’t care that you fucked Noah.”

“Of course you don’t! According to him, you took him aside and told him to seduce me.”

Tabby scowled. “I have never used the word ‘seduce’ in my life and you know it. Anyway, what’s your point? You saying you didn’t like it?”

A hot ringing in her ears. She ran toward Tabby, intending to push her, punch her; make her take it back, but her sister ran away, cackling.

“What the hell?” Sam screamed. “Whoareyou fuckin’ people?”

“Your sisters,” Tabby said cheerfully. “Why are you so cut about Nix banging Noah? It was always going to happen. They have more chemistry than…somewhere with a lot of microscopes.”

Sam bared her teeth.

“A high school science wing! Anyway, if I’d known Noah had that much bad boy cred, I wouldn’t have made it happen. Fucking a bikie is taking it a bit far.”

“He’s not a bikie,” Nicole snapped, lunging for her. “And you didn’t make it happen.”

“I sort of did,” Tabby said, dancing away. “And you have to admit, Paula showing up here with a Sergeant at Arms, asking for money means Noah’s probably still tapped into the dodgy bikie scene.”

“‘Probably’ isn’t evidence,” Nicole snapped. “He’s known Paula for a long time. He was trying to give her a second chance outside The Rangers, like the one Dad gave him.”

Tabby’s brow wrinkled. “Dad?”

“Yes. Dad knew about Noah being in The Rangers.”

---