29 #2
A moment later, Priest stepped forward with Blue beside him and their son tucked securely against his chest. The noise dipped enough to register as respect rather than silence.
I couldn’t hear everything he said, but I didn’t need to.
Bottles lifted. Somebody whistled, a hand slapped a nearby table, and a rough cheer rolled through the room.
Blue flushed while Priest stood beside her with the unmistakable satisfaction of a man publicly claiming the family he had nearly lost.
There was no confusion about what the club had just been told. Blue was his Old Lady and Little Jax his son. This was their place now.
Evan leaned closer to me. “Well. That was aggressively heterosexual and weirdly moving.”
I elbowed him, though he wasn’t entirely wrong. He rubbed his side without conviction. “You know I’m right.”
Blue eventually made it back to us after being intercepted by several women who clearly already loved her. Priest stayed close through all of it, Little Jax secure against his chest until Blue took the baby again.
We settled into a corner with oversized couches. Jade lingered beside me for only a few seconds because her attention had already found the pool tables.
I followed her gaze. Jackson stood with Cage and Ledger, a cue in one hand. Whatever nerves I had carried into the compound shifted when I saw how quickly Jade’s face changed at the sight of him. “Go on.”
Her eyes snapped to mine. “You sure?”
“That’s why we came.” The reminder settled something in me too.
Hope flashed across her face before she could hide it. “Okay.”
She crossed the room trying for casual and failing in a way that made my heart ache. Jackson noticed her almost immediately and made room at his side. Cage grinned while whatever Ledger said next made Jade laugh. Only then did some of the tension leave my shoulders.
Two women joined us soon after. The first looked older than Blue and me by maybe a decade, composed in a way that suggested she missed very little. The younger woman beside her was athletic and sun-browned, her easy confidence fitting the clubhouse as naturally as the cut on Blue’s back.
“Tessa,” the first woman said, warmth softening her expression when she saw Blue. “It’s good to see you back. Prez here was losin’ his mind with you gone.”
Blue’s smile turned small and genuine. “It’s good to be back.”
Tessa shifted her attention to Evan and me. “You must be the hospital people, I’m Graves’ Old Lady.”
Evan looked delighted by the introduction. “That sounds either affectionate or threatening,” he said, his curiosity clearly beating whatever nerves he might have carried in with him.
The younger woman laughed. “Could be both. I’m Raina, Nomad’s little sister.”
Blue made the introductions. “This is Lila and Evan.”
I nodded, but my attention had already wandered back to Jade.
She stood beside Jackson while Cage lined up a shot.
Ledger watched from the other side of the table, calm as ever.
Jackson’s body stayed angled toward Jade even when his attention should have been on the game, as if tracking her had already become instinct.
Then he looked up and caught me watching. The slow wink he sent across the room had no business landing as hot as it did.
Evan saw it too. Of course he did. A laugh slipped under his breath. “That man is shameless.”
I kept my eyes away from Jackson on principle. “Be quiet.”
“I didn’t even really say anything yet.” His grin said he considered that a technical victory.
“You were about to.” I knew that grin too well to pretend otherwise.
Then his attention drifted past me toward the bar, and the humor disappeared from his face.
Ink sat half-turned on a stool with a woman pressed against his shoulder.
Tiny shorts and a tight black top made her intentions obvious before her hand ever slid along his arm.
She leaned in to whisper against his ear with practiced confidence.
Ink looked neither interested nor bothered. He looked used to it.
The brightness went out of Evan so quickly my stomach tightened. Raina caught it too. Her eyes flicked once toward the bar before she perched on the arm of the couch beside him, close enough to keep the conversation private without making it obvious she was offering cover. “That’s Vixen,” she said.
Evan gave her a blank little smile. “That supposed to mean something to me?”
Raina’s mouth twitched. “Only that she knows how to put herself near power and make it look accidental.”
My attention sharpened. She kept her focus on Evan rather than the woman across the room. “She does that. Angles herself where she thinks she’ll get the most attention, the most benefit, the most leverage. Doesn’t mean much.”
Evan’s expression stayed smooth, but I knew how much effort that cost him. “And Ink?”
Raina answered without pretending the situation was something prettier than it was. “He doesn’t take her seriously. She’s not someone he builds anything with. More like a habit when he wants one.”
Evan leaned back as though the explanation had no place to land. “Sounds like his business.”
Raina studied him briefly, then let the subject go. I did the same because Evan would only retreat farther if I pushed him in front of strangers.
Conversation gathered around us again. Tessa asked how long we had been in Bay of Saints, and Evan needled Blue about whether Priest planned to let her have opinions about her own wedding. I tried to stay present, but my eyes kept finding Jade at the pool table.
Tessa caught me at it. “So,” she said, easy as anything, “your daughter’s Deacon’s, huh?”
I turned toward her so fast my neck protested. “What?”
Raina lifted both hands, smiling. “No judgment. Promise. Word just gets around in places like this.”
Tessa nodded. “And Deacon’s pretty proud that he has such an amazing daughter, so he hasn’t exactly been quiet about it.”
Heat rushed into my face before I could stop it. “He’s been talking about it?”
Raina’s mouth curved. “Not in some weird way. More in a finally got hit in the chest with fatherhood and liked it sort of way.”
Tessa tipped her chin toward the pool tables. “The way she couldn’t wait to get over there to him, and the way he is with her once she did, made it pretty obvious anyway.”
I looked back despite myself. Jade leaned against the table laughing at something Cage said while Jackson stood beside her, cue in one hand, attention split between the game and his daughter.
The sight still carried a sharp edge of grief for everything both of them had missed, but there was something good underneath it now too.
They had today. They could have tomorrow.
When I turned back, Tessa and Raina were both watching me with entirely too much interest. Raina smiled. “Looks like he definitely still has a thing for you, Mom.”
Tessa snorted softly, and I shook my head before either woman could build a story out of one wink. “No, there isn’t anything going on with us. That was over a long time ago when he left. Right now this is just about him and Jade getting to know each other and building a relationship.”
They exchanged the exact same amused look before Tessa settled back into the cushions. “Someone better tell him that.”
Raina nodded toward the pool table. “And that look he keeps giving you. Because, honey, that look says I’m ready to devour you the minute you let your walls down.”
Blue choked on a laugh, and Evan came back to life just enough to betray me. “That is exactly the look.”
I glared at all of them, already regretting ever letting Evan meet people who encouraged him. “That is not a look,” I said sharply.
Raina laughed. “Please.”
Tessa’s mouth curved. “And your eyes are not exactly saying stay away, either.”
Raina giggled. “No. Yours say come and get me, big guy.”
My face heated even more. “That is absolutely not what is being said between us.”
Blue, Evan, Tessa, and Raina exchanged one deeply unconvinced look before chorusing, “Sure.”
Traitors. Every last one of them.
Betrayal deserved dignity. Unfortunately, mine vanished the second I looked back toward the pool table on reflex. Jackson’s head came up as if he had felt it. His mouth curled slowly before he gave me another smoldering smile and wink.
Nobody on the couch said a word for one glorious beat before Evan made a tiny delighted sound beside me. I turned back around with whatever dignity remained.
Priest joined us a few minutes later, settling beside Blue with the easy certainty of a man who never questioned where he belonged. His arm stretched along the couch behind her, and the way Blue softened into his space carried more intimacy than any public display could have.
Little Jax started fussing in her arms, restless little sounds building toward a cry. Blue shifted him against her. “He’s ready for a bottle,” she said, already preparing to stand.
Evan rose first. “Sit down. I’ll get it.”
Blue looked up at him. “You don’t have to do that.”