Chapter Five #2
Cleo glanced at the picture, and her gaze veered over to Addison’s chest. She blinked then darted her eyes back to the pile.
Had it been a man looking at her chest, Addison could’ve taken offense.
But that’s not what Cleo was looking at.
Her cheeks pinkened, and she grabbed her glass, taking a huge mouthful.
This was crazy territory that very few ever had to navigate. It was the elephant in the room. And it would stay that way until it was addressed. Let’s rip that band-aid off.
Addison rested her elbows on her knees, and cocked her head. “This is weird, right?”
Cleo’s brows shot up, and her knuckles whitened over her tight grasp of the glass. “I’m enjoying it.”
“So am I. But can we agree that this is” —she shrugged— “Well, it’s strange. I have your brother’s heart beating inside of me. That’s fucking weird.”
Cleo’s glanced down at her chest, and her lips twitched. “It’s a little weird.”
Addison nodded, smiling. “Right? So let’s embrace it. Because it’s silly for either of us to worry about saying or doing the wrong thing. There are no rules, and if there are, I don’t know them.”
“Me neither,” Cleo muttered.
“So let’s agree that this will be weird until it’s not.”
Cleo nodded, and the tension in her features eased. “Okay.”
Perfect! There was one more elephant in the room, though she doubted Cleo recognized it.
Addison had prepared a well-thought-out and meaningful speech.
She wanted to make sure she expressed her full gratitude without fumbling over her words brought on by emotion.
She’d rehearsed it three times this morning.
And now I don’t remember a goddamn word of it. She’d have to wing it.
Addison drew in a breath. “Since we’re talking about Knox’s heart, I want you to know how truly thankful I am to your brother.
” Addison paused, reining in her emotions.
Or trying. Cleo reached out, clasping her hand.
“The night of my surgery, my nurse, Andrea, told me his heart was a gift. And I promise to never take it for granted.”
Cleo’s eyes welled. “I know you won’t.”
Addison’s vision blurred. She was not usually overly emotional, but a tear slipped down her cheek.
“And thank you.”
Her brows furrowed. “For what?”
She sighed. “For being open to hearing from me and sharing Knox with me.”
Cleo wiped her eyes, smiling. This moment had to happen. It was raw and hard but necessary. She’d expressed her gratitude through her letters lots of times. But it was worth saying it out loud.
Cleo sniffled and squeezed her hand. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
Me too.
Addison sighed. “And now that we’ve got the sappy stuff out of the way, and we’ve established the weird part.
” Addison searched for a picture and pulled it out of the pile.
It was Knox shirtless standing with another member and his bike in the background.
She held it up to face Cleo. “Is it okay to say Knox was hot?”
Cleo burst out laughing. It was the perfect icebreaker. And not a lie.
They spent the rest of the afternoon and into the evening having lunch and chatting on the couch as if they’d known each other for years.
Cleo did most of the talking. It was perfect.
Eventually, the subject shifted to her boyfriend.
Honestly? Addison steered it that way. She was curious about Cleo’s man and Knox’s brother in the MC.
“You never told me how you met Wraith. Was it through Knox?”
Cleo sucked in a breath. “Um, sort of.” She licked her lips, shifting in her seat. “We were pen pals. Kind of. I mean, I wrote to him. He never wrote back but…”
A pen pal who doesn’t write back? There were definitely parts of the story she was leaving out.
“Well, you don’t hear that often. Nowadays, it’s all about the dating apps.”
Cleo smiled, but it was tense. Her eyes darted around the room, and the silence lingered. The mood had completely shifted. Was asking about Wraith too intrusive?
“He was in prison.” Cleo gulped. “With Knox.”
Ohhhhh. Well, I didn’t see that coming. She’d never mentioned that in her letters. Would you? Probably not. Addison tried to steel her expression, but she was not expecting that tidbit of information. Knox and Wraith were in prison? Inmates? What the hell did they do?
Cleo inched closer. “It wasn’t anything really, really bad, I swear.”
Oh fuck, did I just say that out loud?
Cleo scanned her face, biting on her lip and looking like she was seconds away from either a panic attack or a breakdown.
Yeah, I said it out loud.
Recovery on this would take some finesse. She smiled to the point of achiness in her cheeks.
“Of course, people go to prison for lots of things. Not all crimes are bad.”
Girl, the sole reason people are in jail is because they broke the law. That’s bad.
Cleo dragged her hand over her face, clearly in distress. “I don’t want you to think poorly of Knox. Because he was a great guy. And Wraith, too.” Her voice lowered. “They just messed up.”
Addison waved her hand. “No judgement here, Cleo. Everyone makes mistakes. Trust me, I know from experience.” Addison snickered, speaking her truth.
But Cleo didn’t seem to be buying into it.
She gave a polite smile, but Addison read through it.
She was stressing over what Addison would think of the men. How do I fix this?
Level the playing field.
Absolutely, not!
Yes.
No!
Tell her.
Goddammit, I hate this story. The mere thought of it usually had her breaking out in hives from anxiety and embarrassment.
She’d spent the last several years trying to rid it from her mind.
Addison peeked over at Cleo, who was avoiding eye contact with her head bowed.
Dammit! Well, if she was forced to remember, it may as well serve a purpose.
“Cleo.” Addison waited for her to look up.
“For my twenty-second birthday, a bunch of friends and I caught a flight to Vegas for a long weekend. We started drinking on the plane, and we continued in the party bus to the hotel and down at the pool where we spent five hours in the hot sun drinking cocktails. Somehow we sobered up enough to go to dinner, hit a show, and two dance clubs where I made out with three different guys on the dance floor before being carted away by my friend, Olivia, who had the unfortunate responsibility of being the designated sober friend for the weekend.” Addison cocked her brow.
“It was also the last time she went to Vegas pregnant.”
Cleo laughed. “It’s sounds like fun.”
Addison shook her head. “It does, doesn’t it?
And somewhere along the way, I walked up to a blackjack table and lost three hundred dollars.
” Addison raised her brows. “In one hand. By the time I got back to our room, I had vomited once in the elevator, but thankfully made it to the toilet for round two. The next morning, I woke up in the bathtub having no clue how I got in but thankful because I’d pissed myself. ”
Cleo’s eyes widened, and her mouth fell open.
“Then I was subjected to brunch looking like a cast member from a zombie movie. And the only reason I know details from that night is because Olivia showed me videos she’d taken. That’s where her enjoyment came from.” Addison smirked. “Does that sound like someone who should be judging anybody?”
Cleo laughed, ducking her head.
“We all make mistakes. No one knows that better than me. I don’t think any less of Knox.”
Cleo peeked up.
“And I’m really looking forward to meeting Wraith.”
Judgement aside, Addison was still curious about the details of their incarceration.
We’ll save that conversation for another day.
****
One stop light in the whole damn town, and they got it.
By all accounts, Killcreek was their town.
There were no police or a higher authority than the club.
They ran it, they owned everything in it, and a selective few were allowed to live there.
But there were conditions and stipulations that everyone was expected to follow.
Ace had made it clear. If you got the red, you fucking stopped.
The last thing they needed was another death on their hands and a reason for authorities to come into Killcreek.
Cross rolled his neck staring up, waiting on the green.
“Longest fucking light ever,” Cue said.
Cross smiled and cranked his engine when the light changed.
They, along with Wraith and Cypher, had the pickup down in record time.
What could’ve been a two-day run was done in twenty-four hours.
All the brothers were on the same page. They wanted to get home, but none was more eager than Wraith.
On the last gas stop, he’d tried to get in touch with Cleo, but his call went straight to voicemail.
They pulled into Grizz’s driveway and parked in front of his house. They used his bunker to store large quantities of cash that needed to be cleaned through the strip club. Barry’s bar and club didn’t make enough for a weekly washing, so they had to store it safe, separate from the clubhouse.
Cross got off his bike and dug into his saddlebags. Each of the four divvied up the cash they were carrying. It was less of a risk than one carrying it all had they gotten stopped by the police. Cross straightened, and Wraith shoved his bag of money in his hands.
“Take it.”
Cross grabbed the bag as Wraith started toward his house next to Grizz’s. Cross stepped onto the driveway, glancing over at the house Wraith shared with Cleo. There was an unfamiliar car parked next to Cleo’s.
“Who’s that?” Cypher asked.
Cross blindly handed him both bags. “I don’t know.”
Strangers were uncommon and unwelcome in Killcreek. Wraith hadn’t mentioned Cleo having a visitor, and from the way he was stalking to the house, he wasn’t aware of it.
“Take this inside,” Cross said and started a slow jog, meeting up with Wraith as he got to the stranger’s car.
“Who’s here?”