Chapter Eight
Lark
The Social Club was complete chaos.
The good kind of chaos.
The front doors were locked, the sign was flipped to closed, and every person inside belonged to the Fallen Lords or was connected to them somehow.
Music blasted through the speakers while people shouted over one another, drinks sloshed over the sides of cups, and cornhole bags flew through the air like weapons.
Ever bent over laughing as my last bag bounced off the edge of the board and landed uselessly on the floor.
“That should’ve counted,” I insisted.
“It barely even touched the board.”
“It thought about touching the board.”
Ever straightened and wiped beneath her eyes. “That isn’t how cornhole works.”
“That sounds like a flaw in the rules.”
She shook her head while Jude called her name from across the room. He stood near the giant beer pong setup with Cole and Calla, but his eyes were fixed only on Ever.
She lifted her hand to let him know she saw him. “I’m going to find out what he wants.”
“He wants you,” I pointed out. “That seems pretty obvious.”
Ever rolled her eyes, but her smile widened as she walked toward him.
I picked up the last two cornhole bags and dropped them onto the board before looking around the Social Club.
The axe-throwing lanes took up the back section of the building, separated from the rest of the room by heavy dividers and metal fencing.
The giant beer pong setup dominated the opposite side, with oversized buckets arranged on the floor and enough space between them for people to throw volleyball-sized balls.
Everywhere I looked, someone was laughing, arguing, competing, or drinking—sometimes all four at once.
I knew everyone here. Maybe not deeply, but enough that none of them felt like strangers. I worked with Ever. I’d spent plenty of time around Jude. Most of the club had been in and out of the Dairy Bar more times than I could count.
I shouldn’t have felt awkward, but the Fallen Lords weren’t just friends who hung out together.
They were a family. A big, loud, foul-mouthed family who argued like they wanted to kill each other and would probably bury a body together ten minutes later.
I didn’t belong to anything like that. I never had.
My dad died before I was born, so I only knew him through a handful of pictures and the stories my mom told me. Then my mom died the day after I turned eighteen, as though life had waited until I was technically an adult before yanking the last piece of family I had away from me.
I’d been on my own ever since.
I had friends. I was good at making those. I could walk into a room full of strangers and find someone to talk to before I even had my coat off.
Friends weren’t the same thing as family, though.
Friends went home.
Family was home.
I shoved the thought aside and headed toward the long bar that ran along one wall. Thorn stood behind it with a towel thrown over one shoulder, pouring drinks like he’d been born with a bottle in each hand.
“Rum and Coke, please,” I called as I slid onto an empty stool.
Thorn glanced over while filling a row of shot glasses. “You having a good time?”
“How could anyone not have a good time hanging out with the Fallen Lords?”
“That’s what we like to hear.” He pushed the shot glasses toward Slayer, then grabbed a clean glass for me.
I knew exactly where Oliver was without having to look for him.
He stood near the axe lanes with Arlo, his broad shoulders turned partly toward me while they talked. He wasn’t staring, but his gaze had swept in my direction more than once since we walked inside.
He stayed close enough to reach me without acting like he was following me.
It should’ve bothered me. Instead, I liked knowing he was there.
“There she is,” Alice called.
She came toward the bar with Karmen and Nikki beside her, all three of them laughing so hard I wondered what I’d missed.
Alice grabbed the stool next to mine while Karmen and Nikki claimed the other two.
Thorn set my rum and Coke in front of me, then braced his hands on the bar and narrowed his eyes at the three women. “I’m going to need to see some ID.”
Alice stared at him for half a second before throwing her head back and laughing.
Karmen slapped one hand against the bar. “Oh, Thorn. I always knew you were my favorite.”
“You told Nickel he was your favorite ten minutes ago,” Nikki reminded her.
“He wasn’t carding me ten minutes ago.”
I slowly turned toward Thorn and pressed one hand to my chest. “Excuse me.”
He looked at me. “What?”
“You didn’t card me.”
Thorn gave me a long once-over. “You look trustworthy.”
“That is the rudest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
Alice reached over and patted my hand. “Don’t worry, honey. Give it a few years.”
“A few years?” I gasped.
Karmen leaned closer to me. “He means decades.”
“Now you’re both making it worse.”
Nikki pulled her wallet from her back pocket and slapped it onto the bar. “I have my ID, but you better make sure you get the birth year right when you tell everyone how young I am.”
Thorn didn’t touch the wallet. “I already know you’re old enough to drink.”
Alice leaned across the bar. “Then why did you ask for our IDs?”
“Because it made you three happy for five seconds.”
Karmen pointed at him. “Smart man.”
“Survival instinct,” Thorn corrected.
Jude and Ever reached the bar, and Ever tucked herself against Jude’s side while he wrapped one arm around her waist.
“What do you want?” Jude asked her.
“Something fruity.”
“That narrows it down.”
“I trust you.”
Thorn tossed the bar towel onto the counter. “Good. Because I’m apparently the only asshole in this building who knows how to make a drink.”
Jude looked behind the bar. “You want me to make it?”
“No,” Thorn muttered. “I want one person to appreciate me.”
Alice lifted her drink. “That’s why we had kids. They do things for us when we don’t feel like doing them.”
Nikki nodded seriously. “Exactly. That’s why they’re alive.”
Jude stared at them. “You two know neither of you gave birth to me, right?”
Alice waved him off. “Details.”
Ever laughed against his shoulder while Jude shook his head and reached for a bottle behind the bar.
Thorn slapped his hand away. “Get out of my bar.”
“You just complained no one was helping.”
“I didn’t ask for your help, though.”
“That’s because you enjoy suffering,” Nikki said.
Thorn pointed at her. “I’m cutting you off.”
“You haven’t even given me a drink yet.”
“Then I’m ahead of schedule.”
A roar of shouting exploded from the axe-throwing lanes, loud enough to pull everyone’s attention toward the back of the building.
Alice twisted on her stool. “What the hell are they doing now?”
Nikki grabbed the drink Thorn had finally set in front of her and slid off her stool. “Pipe said something about proving Wrecker was getting slow.”
Alice’s eyes lit up. “Oh, this should be good.”
Karmen picked up her glass. “Or bloody.”
“Either way,” Alice said, “we don’t want to miss it.”
Everyone seemed to migrate in the same direction, so I followed along with my rum and Coke in hand.
Four targets stood side by side, each already peppered with deep cuts from years of use. Wrecker, Pipe, Brinks, and Maniac stood in the throwing lanes with axes in their hands like they’d been born holding them.
“They’re really making a competition out of this?” I asked.
Alice snorted. “They make a competition out of everything.”
We stopped behind the safety line with everyone else. I leaned against the railing, lifting my rum and Coke to my lips.
Without thinking about it, I ended up beside Oliver.
He didn’t acknowledge it. He just stood there with a glass of water in one hand, his attention fixed on the four men lining up their throws.
Four axes flew almost simultaneously.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
The room erupted.
Wrecker’s landed dead center. Pipe’s was close enough to make him curse under his breath. Brinks smirked as he took a sip of his drink. Maniac just grunted before grabbing another.
“Told you,” Wrecker said.
Pipe pointed at the target. “That board’s crooked.”
“The board ain’t crooked,” Wrecker answered.
“It moved.”
Brinks barked out a laugh. “You’re blaming the wood now?”
“I’m blaming old age,” Pipe shot back.
Wrecker snorted. “Funny coming from you.”
Maniac finally spoke. “You both throw like shit.”
Pipe looked over. “Says the guy who missed.”
“I didn’t miss.”
“You literally did.”
“It was strategic.”
Brinks shook his head. “The only strategy I see is making Wrecker think he’s better than he is.”
Wrecker took a long drink from his beer. “I don’t have to think it.”
A chorus of groans and laughs rolled through the crowd.
Nikki cupped a hand around her mouth. “Pipe!”
Pipe didn’t even look at her. “What?”
“If you lose again, you’re taking me out to dinner.”
“I already take you to dinner.”
“A nicer one.”
He sighed dramatically. “See? This is what happens when I lose.”
Alice laughed. “No. This is what happens when you get married.”
Even Karmen chuckled.
Pipe pointed at the women. “I don’t need commentary from the peanut gallery.”
“Oh, you absolutely do,” Nikki shot back.
“You’re insufferable.”
“And yet you still married me,” she shot back.
Pipe smiled despite himself. “Still questioning that decision.”
Nikki blew him a kiss. “Liar.”
The teasing kept flying back and forth while another round started, but my attention drifted away from the targets.
It settled on Oliver.
His shoulders weren’t as tight as they’d been since I’d met him. The permanent crease between his brows had softened. He wasn’t laughing like everyone else, but every now and then the corner of his mouth twitched.
It wasn’t much. Honestly, if I hadn’t been standing beside him, I probably would’ve missed it.
Arlo wandered over and bumped Oliver’s shoulder. Oliver bumped him right back without taking his eyes off the lanes.
No words. No acknowledgment. Like they’d been doing it forever.
A few seconds later, Nikki squeezed past us to grab a mozzarella stick from the table. She patted Oliver on the back as she walked by. “You keeping out of trouble?”
“I wasn’t in trouble.”
“Good answer.” She kept walking before he could say anything else.
“You okay?”
Oliver’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
I looked over and he was watching me now instead of the competition.
“Yeah.” I smiled. “Just watching.”
His gaze flicked back toward the lanes. “Wrecker’s gonna win.”
“I wasn’t talking about them.”
That got his attention. He looked back at me, waiting.
I tipped my head toward the crowd. “You all really like each other.”
One side of his mouth lifted. “Most days.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I mean... really.” I looked around at Alice laughing so hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes, Nikki still heckling Pipe, Karmen shaking her head while trying not to laugh, and the rest of the club carrying on like this was just another Saturday. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Oliver followed my gaze. For a long moment, he didn’t say anything. Then, quietly, he said, “They’re family.” Simple. Matter-of-fact.
“Your family,” I pointed out.
He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.” Something flickered across his face before he buried it again behind that same gruff expression he always wore. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something he was ready to talk about.
I wanted to ask.
I wanted to know why someone surrounded by people who would do anything for him still sounded unsure that he belonged.
Some questions could wait.
And somehow, I had a feeling Oliver’s story wasn’t one he’d give away easily.