Chapter Twenty-Three #2
The women all shared delighted looks before taking the cart and heading down to the elevator bank.
Alone, Kylo closed the door and let out a deep breath.
“What the fuck just happened?” he asked.
“Right?” I asked, slapping the table. “You were playing it so cool. I thought this was normal for you.”
“An elderly group of killers and crime scene cleaners? No, darlin’, that’s new for me too. Jesus.”
He raked a hand down his face, then extended that same hand to me. “We can process later,” he said, pulling me out of my seat, then wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close. “Right now, let’s just breathe.”
I nestled into his neck and did just that.
Eventually, my grandmother came back to pack her bag.
Then Kylo and I headed out.
We barely made it across the street before the Cider brothers were leading a chatty, giggling group of older ladies across the dark street as well.
Huck was waiting just inside the door, shaking his head at us as we all moved inside.
As the women fawned over the men, Kylo walked with me toward the kitchen, where a squeal escaped me.
“Traeger!”
He was leaning against the counter beside Eddie, who was making something that smelled heavily of garlic.
My stomach grumbled.
“Funny story. A couple of attractive men showed up at the shop, told me I was in danger and that you needed me, and brought me here.”
“That’s not even the top three strangest things that happened tonight,” I told him, gesturing out toward the living room.
“Is that your grandmother? And her book club?”
“It’s a long, long story,” I told him.
And I wasn’t even sure how much of it I could tell my friend.
“I’m making fettuccine Alfredo,” Eddie said. “Nights like this call for comfort food.”
How was this my life?
A break-in? Hiding to save my life? A dramatic rescue? Hot sex? Running to save my grandmother, only to learn she was capable of saving herself (and cleaning up the evidence)? Coming back to the clubhouse with the same old ladies and my best friend? To… eat fettuccine Alfredo?
“I think you all owe me an apology,” Huck said as he walked away from the chatty older ladies and into the kitchen.
“For what?” Kylo asked.
“For thinking it was insane to suspect an old lady was capable of running an export empire. I think those women out there just proved that ageist shit don’t fly.”
That was fair enough.
“Thank you for getting my friend,” I said, gesturing toward an oddly calm Traeger.
Sure, the guy was always laid-back. But who was as unfazed as he was in the face of all this insanity?
Did he run some super-secret side life that I knew nothing about as well?
“We want to keep you all safe while we figure out how shit is going to shake out now.”
“So… sleepover?” Traeger said.
“Is there enough room here for everyone to sleep?” I asked, thinking of all the older ladies and their delicate backs and knees and, well, whatever other bits might be achy at their ages.
“The guys will give up their beds for guests,” Huck said. “Between Che and me, we have several air beds and cots for everyone else.”
I noticed that two of the men were missing: York and Velle.
They were probably the men who were out taking care of the body.
“Excuse me, are you who is in charge here?” my grandmother asked, coming into the kitchen and looking at Huck.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“We may have a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“Loretta isn’t completely sure she didn’t touch that trash bag on the man’s head with her bare hands.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. York’s history involved hiding bodies for the mob. He knows what he’s doing. No one is going to find any evidence.”
“Oh, good. Well, is that Alfredo?” she asked, moving next to Eddie to sniff the pot.
How was she hungry after taking part in killing a man? Then moving the body? Twice.
“It is.”
“How about I whip up a nice salad to go along with it?” my grandmother offered.
“And I can make some garlic bread,” Barbie offered as she came into the room.
Eddie seemed in his glory, having a bunch of the ladies to putz around the kitchen with him.
Kylo pulled me through the house and up the stairs with him. Upstairs, Dixon and Caymen were stripping and remaking beds, cleaning up junk, and getting the rooms ready for the ladies.
“Let’s wash our feet,” Kylo suggested.
I hadn’t even looked at them. But when he mentioned it, my gaze slid down, seeing the dirt and the blackness from the road smearing my skin. Kylo’s looked much the same.
We both moved back into the shower, scrubbing until our skin was clean, then walked back out together into the bedroom.
Kylo reached for me, drawing me down onto the bed, then curling me onto his chest, his hands drifting through my hair.
“You okay? Tonight was a lot.”
“I’m okay. Everyone is safe, so I’m okay. But… yeah. That was… crazy.”
“Your grandmother is a badass.”
“Right?” I asked, pushing up to smile down at him. “I can’t wrap my head around that. And what did they mean it wasn’t their first body?”
“I think that might be a question for tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ve got enough to think about tonight.”
Kylo tucked my hair behind my ear. “Can I ask you what your thoughts are about this… us?”
“I think…” I paused, sucking in a deep breath. “I think we have something here.”
“I think it’s more than something. Think… think it might be everything.”
“Yeah?” I asked, all the cracks in my heart filling in.
“Yeah. I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of our lives working on that bucket list of yours.”
“I’d like that.”
“Even if being with me comes with… all this,” he said, waving outward at the clubhouse in general.
“I feel like I’m starting to get good at… all this.”
“Practically born to be a biker old lady.”
“So… what happens now?” I asked.
“Now, we have fettuccine Alfredo,” he said. “Then, I guess, anything we want.”