Chapter 4
M atthieu walked up the driveway of Sunny and Duke’s place.
What the hell was he doing here?
This wasn’t his scene. Was it?
Merde .
You paid back one little favor . . .
He’d paid that favor back tenfold by dealing with those demon twins, Royal and Baron . And now he found himself being invited to Sunday afternoon barbecues with Ink and all his friends.
He knew that Ink wanted him to move here. To settle down, work for him, maybe even join the Iron Shadows. His parents would roll over in their grave if he did that.
They’d never wanted him to become a member of the French Special Forces, either.
The only reason he’d started riding bikes had been to annoy them when he was a teenager.
He’d been such a jerk.
He didn’t actually own a bike anymore. It was difficult to have multiple vehicles when you didn’t have a home.
As he walked around the corner of the house, he stopped for a moment to take in everyone.
Duke was at the barbeque and the smell coming from it was, admittedly, delicious.
It wasn’t croissants and champagne.
It had been a long time since he’d been back to France. He’d lived in the United States so long that sometimes it was difficult to remember that it wasn’t home.
Although he could never get used to spray cheese.
Cheese should never come out of a can.
That should be a universal rule.
He glanced around. All the girls were sitting on chairs, and most of them had on jackets since it was still spring and there was a bit of a chill in the air.
He went through their names. Most of them he knew, some of them not as well as others, though.
Betsy. Sunny. Millie. Livvy. Jewel. Tabby. Greer. Emme.
Next to Duke at the grill was Ink.
Spike and Reyes were behind them, several steps back talking to Sav.
Then, closer to the girls, Jason and Razor were standing with Butch and Hack.
He wasn’t quite sure why he was here, though. He wasn’t a member of the MC.
“Yo, it’s Mr. Sleepy. What are you doing here, Frenchie?”
He groaned.
If he’d known they were going to be here, he might not have come. A long arm was slung around Matthieu’s shoulders as Baron leaned on him.
“I didn’t fall asleep,” he grumbled. “You drugged me!”
“Royal? Did you know Mon Copain was gonna be here?” Baron asked.
“I did not.”
“You do realize that you’re referring to me as your boyfriend, right?” Matthieu said dryly.
“Nah, I’m saying my friend,” Baron objected. “Don’t you want to be my friend?”
“I do not. And I also think that I might understand the French language better than you.”
“What are you talking about?” Baron asked, moving away from Matthieu to stand next to his brother.
“I have great command of the French language. Took it for two semesters in high school.” He leaned his bent arm on his twin brother’s shoulder and smirked at Matthieu.
“You trying to tell me that my French is no good? That wounds me, man. It bites deep.”
“You only took that class because you thought you were in love with Libby Stein,” Royal commented.
“Ahh, that’s right,” Baron said with a sigh. “Libby. Good times. So long ago.”
“It was last year,” Royal said dryly.
“Yeah, like I said. A lifetime ago. So what are you doing here, El Capitaine?”
“Are you calling me a rock?” Matthieu asked.
“A rock?” Baron asked.
“Like the one in Yosemite National Park?” Matthieu asked. “El Capitan.”
“Ahh, no. I was referring to your rank in the French Special Forces.”
“I wasn’t a Capitaine in the French Special Forces.” He had been a commandant, which was higher than a capitaine. But these two didn’t need to know that.
“Too bad. Do you know any explosives experts?” Baron asked.
“Why would you want to know that?” he asked. “And why not ask Ink?”
“Um, first, because Ink would never give me that sort of information,” Baron replied. “He’d think I wanted to know for nefarious purposes.”
Royal made a strange noise.
“And, see, I need some advice. I’m having a bit of trouble with this bomb I’m trying to create.”
He was joking.
He had to be joking.
Matthieu was worried that he wasn’t joking. “You cannot build a bomb.”
“Can’t I?”
“I meant that you will not build a bomb. Does Ink know about this?” he asked with alarm.
“Relax,” Royal told him. “Baron is just joking with you.”
Matthieu stared from one to the other. He wasn’t so sure. They could be joking or they could be secretly plotting to take over the world.
“He doesn’t believe you, brother,” Baron said.
“Very upsetting,” Royal stated. “I’m hurt.”
“I would be too,” Baron agreed.
“Either way, I don’t know any bomb experts,” Matthieu told them.
Baron smiled wide. He was in his usual attire of ripped jeans and a faded band T-shirt while his brother was wearing pressed slacks and a short-sleeved, dark-blue shirt.
“I don’t know why he wouldn’t believe me, I’m very believable.”
Dear Lord.
One day, these two were either going to rule the world or destroy it.
He wasn’t sure which.
Part of him hoped he lived long enough to see which it was, though.
“Matthieu, you’re here!” Ink called out and the twins disappeared. “Everything all right?”
“Uh, your stepsons are . . . terrifying.”
“Shit. What did they do now?” Ink asked.
“I think one of them might be building a bomb,” he told him.
“Baron?” Ink guessed.
He nodded.
“Yeah, it wouldn’t be the first time. Worst part of it all is that Zippy is trying to help him. Fuck me.” Ink shook his head. “I try not to think too much about how my kids are going to be in the history books of the future.”
“If there is a future after they’re done,” Matthieu muttered.
“Yep. Come on.”
“Matthieu.” Duke nodded. “Glad you’re here but you didn’t have to buy me flowers.” Duke grinned.
“Haha.”
“Matthieu, hi!” Sunny walked up and pressed herself against Duke’s side.
“Hello. For you.” He handed over the bouquet of flowers. He’d chosen one with pink and yellow in it. He’d thought that Sunny would like something cheerful and bright.
Her eyes lit up. “Oh my goodness! For me? Really?”
“Of course.”
“Not sure I’m all that happy about you buying my woman flowers,” Duke said.
Matthieu tensed. Had he made a wrong move?
“They’re for the hostess. I brought you beer.” He held up the plastic bag he was holding.
Duke grinned. “That’s all right, then.”
“The flowers are so pretty. Thank you, Matthieu.” Sunny held the bunch out to the side so she could hug him with her other arm.
Matthieu patted her back, awkwardly, not wanting to incite Duke’s wrath. Not that he was interested in Sunny. And even if he was, he would never make a move on another man’s woman.
That just wasn’t done.
Sunny let him go and stepped back, straight into Duke’s arms. Matthieu had noticed how possessive these men were of their women.
While he’d been with plenty of women, he’d never been possessive of any of them. He wasn’t sure he’d ever experienced jealousy.
Maybe because you’ve never been in love.
He’d witnessed Ink telling Betsy she couldn’t do something that he thought might put her in harm’s way. While he understood being protective to some extent, he thought his mother likely would have slapped his father if he’d been as bossy with her as Ink was with Betsy.
He couldn’t ever imagine acting like some of these men did. When he was at a club, he looked after the subs in his care. And he felt protective toward Betsy. Maybe even a little bit toward her children. Even if two of them seemed to be the sons of Satan.
But he would never fall in love with someone. Would never wish to possess someone.
“You are welcome, Sunny,” he told her.
She smiled and skipped off inside with the flowers. He winced as they bounced around. Hopefully none of the flowers were destroyed by the time she got them in a vase.
“So, I was surprised by this invitation,” he said.
Duke raised his eyebrows and glanced over at Ink. “You were?”
The other men stepped up closer.
“I’m not a member of the Iron Shadows. I’m not really friends with anyone except Ink. And that’s debatable.”
“Hey! I thought we were good friends.” Ink grinned.
Matthieu huffed. “I don’t know. Would a good friend send his friend to extricate his stepsons from a boarding school without warning him that they were diabolical geniuses with a penchant for wrecking cars?”
He still missed that car. It had been his baby.
Hmm. Maybe he could be more protective and possessive than he’d realized.
Because he’d certainly been possessive of that beautiful car.
“You’ve got to get over that, man,” Ink advised. “It was years ago.”
“It was a 1968 Dodge Charger,” Matthieu said mournfully.
Razor whistled. “Shit. Bet that was a beautiful car. And highly sought after.”
“Yeah. I know,” he replied dryly. Way to rub salt into the wound. “So what am I doing here?”
Ink glanced over at Reyes. “You know that I want you to come work for me fulltime.”
He did.
But Matthieu was reluctant to tie himself down. He’d been moving around for the last eight years, going where he felt like going. Doing whatever he wanted and that was the way he preferred it.
Forming roots and relationships wasn’t something that came easy to him. And he wasn’t sure that he wanted to do that here. He wasn’t entirely sure that he fit in here.
Although he did keep coming back here. There seemed to be some sort of gravitational pull that drew him back. And each time he did, Ink seemed to convince him to work for him.
Honestly, it seemed like the man desperately needed him.
“We want to talk to you about joining the Iron Shadows,” Reyes said.
“And coming to work for me full time,” Ink added. “You know I need more guys like you. With experience. And knowledge. I’ve got more work than I know what to do with.”
“You need me,” Matthieu stated.
“Yeah, I need you,” Ink agreed.
“And we want you in the club,” Reyes added.
“Why? You’ve got plenty of members.”
“You can never have too many good men. Smart men. With experience,” Reyes said.
Hmm.