Chapter Twenty-Five
Hex opened the door to the diner Elle had negotiated with Mama over, and held it open for Elle to enter, then followed her inside. She’d stopped just inside the door, looking around for Mama.
“Two?” a waitress asked, approaching them.
“Actually, I see our party,” Elle said.
Her tone told Hex she was smiling without having to look at her. She stepped past the hostess and into the diner. Hex followed her without a word.
“Hello, Mama,” Elle said as they reached the table.
Sandy Williamson was sitting at a four top, her back to them as she faced the window, sipping at a mug of what was likely coffee.
“Elizabeth, there you are!” Sandy stood and wrapped her arms around Elle. She looked at Kevin, her eyes skimming his too long for society hair, his cut, down to his jeans and boots, and frowned. “I thought you were bringing your new roommate. Did something happen and Kevin brought you instead?”
“No Mama, and I told you roommate wasn’t the word I would use.” She pulled away from her mother then slid into the other side of the booth, turning to give Hex a smile.
Hex didn’t wait to be invited, but slid into the booth beside her, draping one arm along the back of the seat behind her.
Sandy’s gaze went back and forth between Elle and Kevin as if she suspected there was more that she wasn’t being told.
He wondered what was going through her head, but knew she wouldn’t be telling them, because someone might overhear them and then rumors might start. Sandy would avoid that if possible.
A waitress appeared, she handed them menus, brought glasses of water, and took their drink orders before disappearing again.
“What’s going on here?” Sandy’s voice was careful as she continued to look back and forth between them as if not sure which one would answer her.
“I told you. I brought who I moved in with.”
“You’re living with Kevin?” Sandy frowned.
“I am.”
“As?”
“What do you mean, Mama?”
Elle was enjoying this, at least a little. Hex couldn’t blame her. There had been times her mother had made things far harder than they’d had to be because of her insistence that everything had to appear proper and just so.
“I’m not sure it’s appropriate for you to live at Kevin’s house. You’re an unmarried woman and he’s a single man. People will make assumptions.”
“What kind of assumptions, Mama?”
Elle was getting into this and while it was amusing, Hex knew she’d regret it later.
He dropped the hand along the bench behind her onto her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze.
She turned to look at him. He looked down at her, trying to get her to read his expression enough to have mercy on her mother.
“I’m single?” He lifted one brow. “Does this mean I can hit the Savage Angels tonight, pick up some chick and bring her home?”
“Try it and see what happens.” Elle narrowed her eyes at him.
“Never gonna happen.” He leaned close and dropped a kiss on her forehead before straightening and turning back to Sandy.
She stared at them with wide eyes.
“You’re together.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
“We are,” Hex said.
He had no doubt Elle would confirm it. She hadn’t hesitated to lean into him, and even now, she tilted her body just slightly, so her shoulder and arm rested against him.
Not hard, she wasn’t lying on him, not that he would complain, but they touched all along the side of both of their bodies.
He thought she was using the contact to be reassuring and the last thing he was going to do was deny her that.
Sandy’s mouth hung open for a few seconds, then she seemed to realize where they were and that someone might be looking. She closed her mouth, straightened her back, and squared her shoulders.
“This seems awfully sudden, especially after last week.” Sandy’s tone was more than a touch haughty.
“It might be, Mama, but it’s happening. I’ve found where I want to be and I’ve been happier in the last few days than at any time in the last year.”
The waitress came back with their drinks, asked for their orders, and left again once they’d given them to her.
Sandy looked back and forth between them for a moment before speaking.
“I understand that, dear, you two have always had something between you, but what will people say?”
“I don’t care, Mama. I’m through worrying about what people think. I’ve decided to live by the three F rule.”
“Three F rule?” Mama frowned.
“If they don’t fuck me, feed me, or finance me, their opinions don’t matter.”
Sandy’s mouth fell open again, but only for a few seconds.
“Elizabeth!” she said, her voice soft as she looked around to see if anyone was close enough to overhear. “Language.”
“Again, three F rule, Mama.” Elle looked down into her lap, took a deep breath, and looked up at her mother again.
“I ignored my gut and listened to you that I’d come to love Michael.
I trusted until I couldn’t anymore. Since I walked away that day, I’ve learned a few things that let me know my instincts were right.
No matter how hard I tried, I never would have been happy with him.
He never would have loved me. Especially not the way that Kevin already does.
” She reached up and clasped his hand where it hung next to her shoulder.
Hex slid his arm off the back of the bench and let it lay across the top of her shoulders as he held onto her hand and pulled her into a quick side hug before easing his grip.
He would stand by her as long as she wanted him and he’d fight to make sure she wanted to be there for the rest of their lives.
He would stand at her back, support her, and protect her in any way he could.
“What are you talking about? Of course you could have loved Michael.”
“I probably could have, though I think if it was going to happen, it would have by now. But one thing I’m sure of, Mama, is that if he continued going out of town and picking up men in bars for random encounters, when I found out about them, I would have come to hate him.”
Sandy’s eyes went wide.
“Elizabeth. I taught you better than to carry rumors.”
“I’ve seen the security footage myself, Mama, it’s not rumors.
I knew he was going to Biloxi at least once a month.
He told me it was business meetings with his broker, and I never questioned it, but Mama, he’s not licensed in Mississippi.
Why would he be working with a broker there?
And if the broker is licensed here too, why not have the meetings here too, at least some of the time?
” Elle shook her head. “I’m not going to debate this.
I came to show you I am safe.” She squeezed Hex’s hand.
“I came to let you know I’ve moved and where I am. ”
Sandy stared at Elle for a full minute, Hex wished he had some clue what she was thinking, if only so he could stop her from saying anything that would hurt Elle.
After a moment she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if she was drawing herself together and putting together all the pieces that had been scattered by Elle’s defiance.
“So you’re living with Kevin.” She glanced in his direction, then back to Elle. “I guess I can accept that, though I really wish you were married. But I guess for now it’s better to let things die down after that. Are you in that awful clubhouse?”
Hex fought the urge to roll his eyes. Sandy had never been to the clubhouse, or the compound, at least as far as he knew.
Her opinion that it was awful was directly from his mother, he had no doubt.
Mother had been there exactly once, shortly after he’d been separated from the Army and had only just gotten his colors.
He’d still been living in the bunkhouse style rooms with the prospects, as he hadn’t been given a room of his own yet.
That was before they started building homes on the compound.
He was the one who’d insisted they needed more housing, and he’d gotten it started when he’d been elected president.
Hex couldn’t be sure, but he suspected his push for a few houses, at least for those ready to get out of the party atmosphere of the clubhouse twenty-four/seven, had been part of what had gotten him elected.
“No, we don’t live in the clubhouse. We’re on the same property, but we have a nice four-bedroom house of our own. If you’d like, you can come out to see it, when you have time,” Elle offered. “I’m still getting settled in but it’s a nice house.”
Hex didn’t even blink. Elle had already asked if she could invite Mama out.
He had no problem with it, though he didn’t think Sandy would be interested in coming out, at least not until she found out about the baby and wanted to stick her nose into how Elle chose to decorate.
He had never wanted to keep Elle from her mother, only to keep her safe.
Being on the compound where the Warriors could keep an eye on who came and went, he was better equipped to do that.
It was part of why he’d wanted to be sure there was room for everyone in the club to build if they wanted.
“Are you okay with that?” Sandy asked, looking at him.
“I am. You’re welcome any time. Right now you’d have to stop at the gate and wait to be let in, but that’s temporary.”
Sandy scowled.
“Wait to be let in? Are you locked inside?” She turned to Elle.
“No, Mama, I’m not locked in. I can come and go as I want. It’s people who aren’t part of the club who get stopped.”
“So you’re part of his club now? Does that mean you’re going to be one of the Angels or worse yet, one of the Belles?”
“That’s it.” Hex slid out of the booth and reached for his wallet. “I won’t sit here and listen to you insult her.” He pulled out several bills and dropped them on the table before holding out one hand for Elle.
“Wait. I’m sorry,” Sandy said, her words rushed. “I didn’t mean it. Please stay, I’ll stop.”
Hex looked at Elle, leaving the choice up to her.