CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE BLOWING SMOKE UP YOUR HOODIE LUNA
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
BLOWING SMOKE UP YOUR HOODIE
LUNA
The little family said their goodbyes—including a stilted one from Mac to me—before leaving.
I couldn’t bluntly ask her what was up. That would be awkward at best and come across as antagonistic at worst.
I was a girl’s girl, never a mean girl.
But I could ask O or Jury.
Just as soon as the latter was done blowing smoke into his hoodie.
And, no, that wasn’t a euphemism for something.
“What was that?” I asked through my laughter while he choked on the cloud that’d puffed right back into his face.
O must’ve been expecting the other questions I had, not my laughter. “What was what?”
“Jury is trying to get his abs high.”
“Don’t let your man hear you noticed I have abs,” he warned.
“At least I didn’t say you were getting your dick high.”
He grimaced. “Appreciate that, ’cause I’m pretty sure he’d rip it off me.”
“This still begs the question… Why is Jury getting any part of his body high?” Ophelia asked me.
“You’d have to ask him. I just looked over to see him exhale into his hoodie and then it floated back in his face.”
“Maybe it’s smoke from my hot abs?” he muttered, clearly not finding the humor in the situation that O and me were.
“We know that’s not it,” O said dryly. “So what happened?”
After looking around, Jury leaned closer so he could keep his voice quiet.
“I knew I couldn’t smoke because Maeve and Lo were here.
Maeve left. Totally wasn’t thinking about how Lo was still right here till I’d already taken the rip.
I tugged my hoodie out to blow down it, but then I dropped it too soon so it just, you know, puffed back up. ” He looked at me. “My bad.”
“Weed is legal,” I reminded through my laughter. O was laughing too hard to add anything.
“Right,” he drawled slowly like he’d forgotten.
With control of my amusement, I gestured toward the front door. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” O said, still wiping under her eyes.
“I know she’s your friend and stuff, so I get if you don’t want to break code and tell me the specifics. But can you at least let me know if it’s a give-it-another-few-days offense or a send-the-biggest-box-of-chocolate-I-can-find thing?”
“Seriously, it’s not you.”
I didn’t think that was true since it definitely felt like a me thing.
I also didn’t know why since she’d been standoffish from the moment I met her at Sweets You Rock with…
It was my turn to lean closer as I ignored the burn that twisted in my stomach. “Did something happen between her and Rhys?”
I’d been so focused on him and Piper, I hadn’t even considered I’d missed shared glances with anyone else. Let alone the woman with the newborn.
Ophelia and Jury burst out laughing.
And he’d had a point. It wasn’t as amusing when the laughter was at me.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
If it wasn’t who I was with…
O looked like she wanted to say more, but after a quick peek around, she pressed her lips closed.
I gave the room my own quick scan and saw most of the people around us were ones who didn’t know who I was.
The pieces clicked together and formed my badge—the only other thing she’d known about me from the get-go. “Oh. Ohhh.”
“Like I said, not you,” O reiterated.
Jury said nothing because a group of incredibly attractive women had been steadily inching into his visual field, and he’d finally spotted them.
An odd mix of interest and disregard crossed his face.
He matched it with a slouched body language that he contradicted by rubbing his thumb across his bottom lip as he watched them.
O rolled her eyes, the rotation ending on me. “Ask Rhys, he’ll fill you in.”
As much as I would’ve loved to follow her advice, he still hadn’t returned. And without the distraction of a baby and an alarmed mother, I realized just how badly I might’ve fucked up.
With the security of the building and the good vibes from the tight group, I’d let my guard down more than I should’ve.
Dammit.
“Speaking of, have either of you seen Rhys?” I asked.
Jury gestured toward the exit. “He was in the hall when I came out of the bathroom a bit ago. Right before I sat.”
“I’ll go look.” I walked into what used to be a lobby and turned down the hall before backtracking to stick my head out the open main entrance. The cool air felt nice as I scanned around.
Maybe he’s like Jury and doesn’t want to smoke in front of me.
But he wasn’t one of the smokers, tokers, or midnight jokers—or whatever that line was supposed to be.
Returning to my original path, I paused to check the tracking app to confirm one of the cars out there in the dark was actually his—it was—before sending off a quick text to ask where he was.
Unsurprisingly, I got no answer. With no other choice, I started down the hallway, hating every step I took.
From what I’d heard, the rooms in the clubhouse were mostly used for two things.
People who needed to crash there because they were in no condition to drive.
Or for hooking up.
Rhys had only had a single beer when we’d first arrived, so he wasn’t the first one.
But there were a whole lot of hot women there. Bunnies, O had called them. And Rhys, despite our story otherwise, was a single man.
A single man who I’d been teasing, even knowing that we couldn’t cross that line.
That he didn’t want to cross that line.
At least not with me. A smokeshow biker babe was probably a very different story.
Maybe all the orders today were to get me to call chicken, and since that failed, he’s proving his point a different way.
And maybe I should pull my damn gun, after all.
Since a weapon in my waistband would be easy to spot, I wore the same ankle holster I wore at Rye. It wasn’t the best or most functional location—and the band pinched my skin—but pulling my gun would cause a panic and raise a lot of questions I had no answer for as Lo, the bartender.
I went for eyes and ears open caution as I scanned the rooms.
He’s either missing or fucking someone.
Neither outcome filled me with joy.
I was nearing the end of the hall when I heard it.
A rhythmic thump.
Growled words.
Soft moans that were growing louder.
More from the deep voice. Or a deep voice. I had no clue if it was the same one.
I froze.
I never froze.
But right then, I had no clue what to do.
Storm in and yell as his scorned girlfriend? It wouldn’t take any acting ability on my part because I was pissed at the disrespect.
Knock to confirm it’s him and then wish the lovers satisfying orgasms since I had no claim on him?
I couldn’t just stand there waiting. If it wasn’t him, and he was injured or gone or whatever, I needed to find him.
The clubhouse was in the middle of nowhere, secured to the teeth, and had alerts to let them know each time someone turned on the long road that eventually, after a lot of twists and turns, led to them.
No one could find the place without knowing where it was.
Glitch had shown me the system on his phone while he’d shown off all of the tech upgrades that modernized the old church.
That didn’t count out an attack from someone we already knew was there.
I need to find Glitch and check his footage.
I kept my eyes peeled as I walked into the main room, but there was no sign of either man. What used to be a stage was walled off to make a meeting room that was for patched-in brothers only, according to the mini tour Rhys had given me. That didn’t include him, but Glitch might’ve been in there.
I’ll check the kitchen first.
Strangely, I was more apprehensive about going into the kitchen than I was about invading their sacred biker space.
Swedes was, by all accounts, incredibly protective of what he considered to be his kitchen and his alone.
I didn’t want to risk him barring me from future dinners.
Especially not when he’d already promised he would cook for me whenever I wanted.
I went slowly as I pushed through the doors.
Every muscle in my body loosened as relief made my head spin.
Rhys and Glitch were both there, along with a big guy with dark auburn hair and a full beard.
And a dog. One who looked an odd amount like the man thanks to their similar hair color. He stood perfectly still by his owner’s side, but his alert doggy gaze was on me.
Cool.
Not missing and not having sex—which would have ended with Rhys missing anyway because I would’ve left him in the woods.
I started to back out of the room when he lifted a hand and crooked his finger at me.
Too relieved to be obstinate, I walked to the mini huddle and was immediately plastered against Rhys’s side.
His sharp gaze scanned my face, and his brows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said. “I was just coming in for water.”
He handed me the full cup from the counter. “Sorry, hellcat. Was filling Nox in.”
The bearded man—who I assumed was Nox—grinned as he looked between us before sticking his hand out to me.
“Nice to finally meet ya, Luna. Would’ve done it sooner, but we just got back to the States this afternoon.
My wife sends her regrets. Or she would’ve if she’d been awake enough to. I’m sure you’ll meet her soon.”
I was so distracted by his accent—Scottish or Irish maybe—that I almost missed what he’d said.
Luna.
All that tension that’d left me returned tenfold.
With my body so tight to his, Rhys felt it. “He’s good, hellcat. Don’t worry.”
Nox offered an apologetic smile. “Lo. Sorry. Won’t happen again. Blame the jetlag.”
“How…?” I asked.
“I’m in the private sector.”
That didn’t explain anything or make me feel reassured.
A deep-dive Google search that went a hundred pages wouldn’t have revealed my name.
I wasn’t, and had never been, mentioned in the news, crime blotters, or on the department website.
I’d never wanted that risk or to limit my opportunities within the force.
Even when I was shot, I’d gotten treated as a Jane Doe because through blinding pain, my sole focus had still been my career.
Like he knew where my thoughts were, he tacked on, “You were a hard one to get any info on. Had to dig deep for just the name. No one else is finding shit.”
“Why did you look?”
“To check out who would be around.”
That was valid.
“Would’ve just met ya instead,” he continued, “but like I said, I was over in Scotland with my wife. Not to mention, I didn’t hear shit about what happened till Glitch looped me in when he admitted defeat.”
“Fuck you,” Glitch said. “It’s not defeat. It’s extra eyes and ears.”
“It’s calling in the best of the best, and you know it, ya muppet.”
“Fine, you’re right,” Glitch admitted with faux innocence. “So you’ll have to tell Dair we need his help.”
Nox gave him the finger.
They talked for a little longer, but it was recapping what I already knew so there wasn’t much to gain.
I still listened. I just did it while petting the dog.
Rhys
Something was wrong.
I hadn’t included Lo—Luna—in the conversation with Nox since he operated in the same shadows Court of Mayhem did. Moral, yeah. Good, yes. Legal? Not so much.
We’d left shortly after, but she’d barely said a word the whole drive.
I was about to push when she finally broke the silence. “What’s the deal with Mac?”
“What about her?”
“She’s, uh, not a fan of mine. There were too many people around for Ophelia to tell me why.”
Shit. I knew who Lo was. What kind of person she was. I hadn’t even thought about how Mac would view her.
“Her ex was the kind of piece of shit who made it necessary for her to go into hiding, pregnant and all.”
“And he was a cop,” she surmised.
“A detective, to be specific.”
“That explains it.” She tilted her head. “Wait, does that mean Maeve isn’t Hollywood’s?”
“In every last way but blood, that’s his baby.”
She smiled. “That must help after what she went through.”
Helps a fuckuva lot more that the bastard is dead.
I didn’t share that with the detective next to me who did operate firmly within the legal limits.
“Is that what that look on your face was when you came into the kitchen? Did she say something that upset you?”
“No, no, of course not.”
“You looked pretty damn upset.”
“Well, you disappeared, and I wasn’t sure if you were having sex or hurt or—”
“Why the fuck would I be having sex?”
She shrugged. “Someone was having sex.”
“Yeah, that tends to happen there. That doesn’t explain why you thought it was me.”
“All I knew was you were gone. And since I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on you, I was a little panicked I messed up. But you were fine. All good.”
She was a little too defensive. Talking a little too fast. Avoiding looking my way as she scowled. It was barely there, but I caught it.
Jealousy.
The first sign of it was usually enough for me to cut off whatever was happening. It meant feelings beyond what I could offer.
So why did her jealousy turn me on so much?