EXILE
Waking up next to Lula put me instantly in a good mood. Knowing Nova and the girls were in the same house made me feel even better.
Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I admired Lula resting on her side, facing away from me. My fingers skimmed her arm, where the Crimson Guard tattoo was inked into her soft flesh.
I still struggled to see her as a biker. She was so fucking beautiful and classy. Something felt too delicate about Lula to imagine her riding a motorcycle and throwing punches.
Our relationship was still so new. Lula was a stranger in a lot of ways. What I didn’t think possible today might seem very normal in a year from now.
My fingers tracing her tattoo woke Lula. She turned toward me and smiled warmly. Our gazes met first, followed by our lips. I could get used to waking up to Lula’s touch.
We enjoyed a quickie before heading to the shower to clean up. Soaping each other up led to more fun. Eventually, Lula sniffed the air.
“Is Nova cooking?”
Realizing we needed to be grownups and leave the shower, we dried off each other and got dressed.
Lula and I exited the bedroom to find Nova in a blur of kitchen activity. She worked on an egg and potato hash on the stove while also heating the waffle maker. The dishes were done, and she’d cleaned the counters.
“Please stop working,” Lula told Nova. “You’re my guest.”
“I’m no freeloader.”
“Guests don’t need to work for their supper,” Lula said and took the sponge from Nova’s hand.
Feeling scolded, my sister lost her smile and looked to me for reassurance. “What am I doing wrong?”
“You need to relax,” I said and poured coffee for Lula and me. “We don’t need a big breakfast.”
“This kitchen is beautiful, and I wanted to cook.”
“Well, okay,” Lula said and took the cup I offered her. “But I want you to feel like you’re on vacation here, not that you’re freeloading if you don’t clean and cook.”
Nova’s blue eyes revealed a mix of emotions. My sister was an incomplete person. I’d realized that within days of bringing her to Baton Rouge. She had no hobbies unrelated to motherhood or caring for a house. She didn’t have friends. Her entire wardrobe was “mom casual.”
Taking a vacation wasn’t something Nova knew how to do. We’d never gone on any trips. She wasn’t sure how to function away from home.
Right now, Nova felt lost. Knowing she couldn’t change her personality overnight, I refocused her attention on breakfast.
While she made food, I went to wake the girls. Skylar slept upside down with her feet resting on her pillow and her head poking out at the bottom of the comforter.
Lyric slept on her back with her arms and legs sticking straight out like a starfish. Ramen was curled up between the twin beds. He looked up at me when I entered.
“Go find your friend,” I told the dog and gestured for him to leave the room.
Ramen took off, as if understanding my words and excited to play with Xena again.
“Morning, Sky,” I said and stroked her head. “Your mama is making breakfast.”
“Uncle,” Lyric mumbled from the other bed.
I reached over to stroke her head, winning a smile. “Did you sleep okay?”
Lyric nodded immediately while Skylar ignored me and kept her eyes closed. I decided to let my older niece sleep for a while longer. Picking up Lyric, I carried her to the hall bathroom, where her step stool and potty cover were set up.
After washing her hands, Lyric touched her head and frowned. “I need my hat.”
“So do I,” I said and patted my head.
Lyric smiled at me with such love that my chest hurt. I couldn’t imagine living away from the girls for long stretches of time. But leaving Lula was also bound to kill me.
“No crying in baseball,” Lyric said and stroked my cheek. “Be my pack mule. I’m hungry.”
I carried Lyric to the kitchen, where Nova and Lula stood side by side, drinking coffee and eyeing the filled plates resting on the island.
“Skylar requires more sleep,” I announced while setting Lyric in a chair. “What hat do you want?”
“Dumbo,” she said and reached for her milk. “I am an elephant.”
“They’re so talkative,” Lula told Nova as I walked down the hallway to retrieve Lyric’s hat.
“I talked to them a lot when they were little. I probably talked too much. They know words they shouldn’t.”
“I was the same way with Dillon. I read to her constantly. Every show we watched had subtitles on. She became obsessed with words and then reading.”
Dillon appeared, as if beckoned by her mother’s praise. “I have schoolwork,” she said and slid into the chair next to Lyric.
Nova balked. “On the weekend?”
“I always request extra work,” Dillon said and added a spoonful of sour cream to the potato and egg hash. “I’m hoping to skip grades when I get to middle and high school.”
“Her cousin is on schedule to skip grades,” Lula explained to Nova. “They’re very competitive.”
“He’s a genius,” Dillon said and shrugged. “I’m just smart.”
“I’m smart,” Lyric announced. “I know how to crap in the toilet.”
“Yes, you do,” Nova cooed. “You learned to use the toilet so fast.”
Lyric nodded wildly. “I was faster than Skylar.”
“Where is Skylar?” Dillon asked, sounding suspicious.
“Skylar wanted more sleep.”
I settled with a plate at the kitchen island while Lula took the seat between Dillon and me. After slipping me a fork with a little Eddie Murphy face taped to the handle, Nova ate standing up as usual.
My sister smiled at Lula. “My oldest was a great sleeper when she was little. I got so many naps when she was first born. It was great.”
Lula stroked her daughter’s head. “Dillon was an easy baby. Slept and ate well. Even as an infant, she wanted to show off.”
Dillon grinned at me. I shared her smile, feeling protective of the mini-Lula. No one in my family ever enjoyed school. Dillon’s competitive nerd nature was fascinating to me. I also loved how she treated the biker lifestyle as normal.
As much as I wanted to spend the entire day hanging out with my favorite girls, Clint, Rock, and Zodiac showed up after lunch to talk to me at Ford’s place.
“Why can’t I join this conversation?” Lula asked.
“Yeah?” Skylar insisted, having woken up in a clingy mood and barely letting me piss in peace.
Zodiac leaned down and said to Skylar, “This is man talk. You’re just a girl.”
“You’re a mule.”
“I will tolerate your accusation. Now buzz off.”
Frowning at Zodiac, Lula asked, “Okay, now, explain why I can’t come to this meeting?”
“You’ll distract Exile, and I need my VP to be sharp,” Zodiac replied immediately as if he had that answer locked and loaded. “See, he’s been shirking his duties lately, and I would hate to have to replace him.”
“Who would you replace him with?” Nova asked from the couch, where she was stretched out with Lyric.
“Sugar, maybe,” Zodiac said while stroking his beard in thought. “No, Toxin would be a good VP. He nods at everything I say and lacks a heart, so he’ll never fall for a hot lawyer.”
“Toxin called you a booger eater,” Nova announced, snickering. “He would undermine your authority.”
“Fine. I’ll pick Sugar, then. It’ll give him something to do besides try to fuck you.”
“Language,” Nova hissed.
Zodiac waved off her anger. “Stop mothering me.”
“You know what?” Lula announced and stepped back. “I don’t want to be part of this conversation.” Hugging me, she smiled. “You can tell me everything later.”
“Or I can,” Clint said and turned to walk out the door. “You’re the club’s lawyer, after all.”
“And your cousin!” Lula called out before kissing me goodbye.
I followed after Rock and Zodiac as they left Lula’s house and traveled down the front path to the sidewalk. We headed past Pax’s house, where Bebe gardened with Elijah and Jenan.
Clint entered his parents’ house and walked straight to the back doors. Ivy and Shay stood in the kitchen and never reacted to our stroll through the family room and dining room. Two Chihuahuas slept curled up together near the windows, basking in the sun.
Once outside on the deck, Clint took a seat at the long table. Rock settled next to his president while I did the same at the other end with Zodiac.
“We’ve gotten news about several of the men involved in the garage attack,” Rock stated and glanced around as if ready to hit someone.
Clint continued when Zodiac and I only nodded.
“Two of the men who hit the parking garage were from New Orleans. We sent a few private dicks to talk to their inner circle. Before one of the fuckers left for Little Memphis, he claimed a woman from Dallas hired him to grab her husband’s girlfriend.
Now, that sounds like bullshit, right? No way would an entire team be necessary to grab a normal woman. ”
Feeling chatty, I suggested, “It’s possible this guy thought that was the job when he left New Orleans.”
Clint nodded. “We figure the first team was purely expendable and never knew about the second team. The guys from New Orleans rented a sedan from a place near where they lived. They arrived in town the day before and put little effort into planning. The second group was using stolen SUVs from Austin. Their weapons were better. Most were former military. So, we can assume the first group was the decoy team.”
“What does that tell us, though?” I asked when Zodiac remained silent.
“A woman in New Orleans hired the asshole who shot your sister, right?”
“Do you think it’s the same bitch?”
“Possibly. Our private dicks tracked down a security picture of the woman. They found out where she was staying in New Orleans. Her ID and cards were likely fake, but they might bring us closer to her real identity. If we find her, we might locate who sent her.”
Zodiac and I took a look at the security footage on the phone Rock handed to us. The woman fit the description that Nova’s shooter gave us about the person who paid him.
“This is good,” Zodiac said, tapping the screen. “We never found shit about the woman behind Nova’s shooting. Now, we’re one step closer to the Void.”