Chapter Three
Bone
The ride from the clubhouse to Ma’s house wasn’t long enough, but I appreciated any excuse to get on two wheels.
I eased down the long road, not in any hurry.
The sun was bright overhead, warm enough that I’d left my jacket behind and only had my cut over a black T-shirt.
My shades kept the glare out of my eyes, and the wind pushed through my hair as I rode.
Trees lined both sides of the road, thick enough in spots that the branches nearly reached across the pavement.
There wasn’t much traffic out here. There was nowhere for anyone to go unless they were headed to the clubhouse or one of the two houses between us and the main road.
That was exactly why I liked it.
Quiet.
Private.
Nobody up our ass.
I’d spent enough time around people to appreciate when there weren’t any.
The new load of walnut had shown up in good shape. Every slab had been accounted for, and whoever had loaded the truck actually knew what the fuck they were doing. Nothing damaged. Nothing warped. The moisture readings were where they needed to be.
Dealer and Bull were helping get the last of it situated when I left, and Myth had promised to make sure Taco didn’t decide he suddenly knew more about woodworking than the guys who actually built the coffins.
I had my doubts.
There were already a couple of custom orders waiting on the walnut.
One was for some rich bastard whose family wanted to bury him in something nicer than most people’s dining room tables.
Worked for me.
Dead people didn’t give a shit what they were buried in. Their families sure as hell did. And the Grave Prowlers were happy to take their money.
I rolled around the slight bend in the road, and Ma’s house came into view.
So did something that hadn’t been there the last time I’d driven by.
A dark SUV was parked in the driveway next door with a small, enclosed trailer hooked to the back.
I slowed slightly as I passed. Well, shit. Apparently, somebody had moved in.
Ma had mentioned a couple weeks ago that Deedra had died.
I’d known Deedra, though I couldn’t say I’d known her well.
She’d lived next to Ma for years but mostly kept to herself.
I’d cut her grass a few times when I was already doing Ma’s and shoveled her driveway after a couple of bad snowstorms. Beyond that, our conversations had mostly been waves from across the yard.
I hadn’t even known she was sick.
Ma said she’d found out from somebody in town that Deedra had passed, and after that, I hadn’t thought much about it.
Looked like somebody had gotten the house.
I pulled into Ma’s driveway and parked beside her car. I killed the engine, dropped the kickstand, and climbed off.
“Ma?” I called as I opened the front door. Nothing. I stepped inside and shut the door behind me. “Ma?” Still nothing.
I pushed my sunglasses onto the top of my head and looked around. The living room was empty. TV off. No music coming from the kitchen. No sound upstairs. “What the hell?”
I’d told her I’d stop by today, though I hadn’t given her a time. That usually didn’t matter. Sundays were one of the few days she didn’t have ten different things going on.
I walked into the kitchen. Empty, her purse sitting on the counter with her keys beside it.
I glanced through the window over the sink. Her car was definitely still in the driveway.
“Ma?” No answer.
I opened the refrigerator because I was there and grabbed a bottle of water. Priorities. I twisted off the cap, took a drink, and looked through the back window.
Maybe she was in her garden. The woman could spend half a damn day screwing around with plants and somehow call it relaxing.
I headed for the back door and stepped outside. “Ma?”
Nothing.
I walked across the patio and looked toward the garden. Empty. Her gloves were sitting on the little bench beside the raised beds, but she wasn’t anywhere around them.
I frowned. Where the fuck?
Laughter drifted around the side of the house and then I heard my mother’s voice. I couldn’t make out what she said, but I knew the sound well enough.
I shook my head. Of course, the new neighbor. Ma couldn’t leave well enough alone if her life depended on it.
I headed around the side of the house, bottle of water still in my hand, and I saw Ma first. She was standing near the SUV in the driveway next door, one hand braced on the side of it while she talked.
Then I saw the woman with her and my steps slowed.
Well, hello, neighbor. She had her back partially to me, but I could see more than enough.
Jean shorts. White T-shirt. Black Converse. Nothing special, except somehow it all looked pretty fucking special on her. Her dark hair was piled on top of her head in a messy knot that looked like it was barely hanging on. A few pieces had escaped and hung around her face.
Ma said something.
The woman tipped her head back and laughed.
Not a polite little chuckle. A full laugh. Her eyes closed, mouth open, one hand going to her stomach as if whatever Ma had said was the funniest damn thing she’d heard all day.
I smiled before I realized I was doing it.
Leave it to my mother. The woman couldn’t have been here long enough to figure out where the nearest grocery store was, and Ma had already made a new best friend.
“Ma.”
Both women turned.
Ma smiled and the other woman stopped laughing.
I got my first good look at her.
Dark hair, brown eyes, and a pretty face. Really fucking pretty face.
There wasn’t anything overly done about her. No makeup that I could see beyond maybe some mascara. She looked like she’d spent the day moving, which made sense considering the trailer behind her.
Her gaze traveled over me.
Quick. But not quick enough that I missed it.
Her eyes came back to mine and something passed between us.
Nothing earth-shattering.
I didn’t suddenly hear wedding bells or whatever bullshit people claimed happened when they met someone important. I just noticed her, and judging by the way her eyes lingered on me for half a beat, she’d noticed me too.
“Bone.” Ma waved me over. “Come meet Hazel.”
Hazel. I walked across the strip of grass separating the two properties. “Been looking for you.”
“I’ve been right here.”
“Your car’s at your house. Your purse is at your house. You weren’t,” I pointed out.
“I walked twenty feet, Bone. I didn’t run away.”
“Could’ve said something.”
“To who? The furniture?” she sassed.
The woman, Hazel, pressed her lips together.
I looked at her. “You can laugh.”
That did it. She laughed. “Sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Not really.”
Ma reached over and touched Hazel’s arm. “Hazel, this is my son, Bone.”
Hazel looked at me. Then Ma and then me again. Her eyebrows drew together. “Wait.”
I already knew where this was going.
“Your son’s name is Bone?”
Ma smiled.
I sighed. “Road name.”
“Oh.” Hazel nodded slowly. “Okay. Because I was about to have several questions for you, Pink.”
I looked at Ma. “Pink?”
She lifted her chin. “You know I like when people call me that.”
“Why?”
Hazel answered before Ma could. “Because that’s her name.”
“That’s not her name.”
“It is now.”
I stared at my mother. She had pink streaks in her hair. Her nails were pink. The woman had owned more pink shit in my lifetime than any person reasonably should. Still. “We still doing this?”
“Don’t start,” Ma warned.
Hazel glanced between us. “Do people not call you Pink?”
“They do, but my son, who also picked his name, doesn’t like it.”
I groaned.
Hazel laughed again. I had a feeling that sound was going to become a problem.
“So you’re the new neighbor.” I nodded toward the house.
“That’s me.”
“Just get in?”
“Yesterday.”
“Yesterday!” Ma repeated. “And she’s already my favorite.”
I looked at my mother. “She’s been in Wisconsin for a day.”
“And?”
“That’s all it takes to replace me?”
“You’ve had years to secure your position.”
Hazel covered her mouth with her hand.
“Don’t encourage her,” I warned.
“I haven’t said anything.” She raised her hands in surrender.
“You’re laughing.”
“I can’t control that.”
“Sure you can.”
“Nope.”
Ma slipped her arm through Hazel’s. Traitor.
I glanced toward the SUV and trailer. “Still got boxes?”
Hazel shook her head. “Nope.”
“No?”
She hitched her thumb toward the house. “Everything’s inside.”
I looked toward the house and then back at the trailer. “You unloaded by yourself?”
She tipped her head to the side. “What, like it’s hard?”
She went up a huge notch in my book. “I can help if there’s anything left,” I offered.
She smiled. “I’m good.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
My gaze moved to the SUV. The trailer wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t one of those little open utility trailers either. “You drive that here yourself?”
Hazel followed my gaze. “The SUV?”
“The SUV with the trailer attached to it.”
“No. I hired a team of highly trained squirrels.”
I looked at her, and her lips curved slightly upward.
“Yes, I drove it.”
“From where?”
“Ohio.”
My eyebrows lifted. She’d hauled that trailer from Ohio by herself? “Not bad.”
“Wow.” Hazel pressed a hand against her chest. “High praise.”
I chuckled. Most people would’ve looked at a long drive with a trailer and decided they needed somebody else to do it. She’d apparently hooked the damn thing up and handled it herself.
“See?” Ma said. “We’ve got everything handled.”
“We?”
“Yes, we.”
I looked between them. “You’ve known each other for what? An hour?”
“Long enough.”
Hazel nodded. “We’re very efficient.”
Ma smiled up at me. “You can get back to your biker thing.”
My jaw tightened. “My biker thing?”
She waved one hand vaguely toward the road. “You know. Whatever it is you boys do down there.”
I knew damn well she knew what I did down there.
Not everything. There were things Ma didn’t need to know, and I planned to keep it that way. But she knew I was President.
She knew the coffin business and she knew the club owned Peace View. She knew being President wasn’t a hobby I fucked around with when I didn’t have anything better to do.
I narrowed my eyes at her.
She smiled sweetly.
I let it slide.
Mostly because Hazel was watching us with open amusement and I wasn’t giving either of them more ammunition. “Actually, that’s why I stopped over.”
Ma’s smile faded a little. “Something wrong?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Just going to be busy the next couple days.”
There were a few things I wanted to make sure were locked down before the next casket shipment left Wisconsin. “I’ll drop by when I can,” I told her.
“You don’t need to check on me every five minutes.”
“Never said I did.”
“You were wandering around my house looking for me five minutes ago.”
“You weren’t answering.”
“I was next door.”
“I know that now.”
She stepped closer and reached up. I knew what was coming and didn’t stop her. Ma put one hand against my cheek, then the other, patting both sides of my face like I was ten years old instead of a grown-ass man who had half a foot and a hell of a lot of weight on her. “I’ll be fine.”
“I know.”
“And now I have Hazel.”
Hazel lifted a hand. “Apparently.”
I glanced at her and she smiled.
Ma gave my cheeks another pat. “Stay safe.”
“Always.”
She gave me a look and we both knew that wasn’t entirely true.
“I mean it,” she said.
“I know.”
She dropped her hands.
I stepped back and pulled my sunglasses off the top of my head.
“Nice meeting you, Hazel.”
“You too, Bone.” The way she said my name caught my attention.
Maybe because she’d questioned it five minutes ago.
Maybe because I liked the way it sounded coming out of her mouth.
Didn’t matter.
I gave her a nod and slid my sunglasses over my eyes. Then I turned and headed back across the grass.
“Ready for some lasagna and wine?” I heard Ma say behind me.
I shook my head. Jesus.
I climbed onto my bike and started it. The engine came to life beneath me, loud enough to drown out whatever the two of them were saying now.
I looked over anyway.
Ma had one hand on Hazel’s arm as they walked toward Hazel’s front door. Hazel said something. Ma laughed. Then Hazel laughed with her.
They disappeared into the house together, talking like they’d known each other for years instead of however many hours they’d actually spent together.
I pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road.
I had shit to do.
The wood was handled, but that was only the first thing on my list. We had a casket to finish, a shipment to prep, paperwork to check, and a run that needed to go exactly the way it was supposed to.
Club business.
That was where my head needed to be.
I twisted the throttle and picked up speed. For some fucking reason, though, a pair of brown eyes, jean shorts, and a smart mouth followed me all the way back to the clubhouse.