Page 88 of Being Lost

“You hungry?” Pearl asks. “I made a chicken pasta bake earlier.”

When I nod, she starts to serve up two plates. I move to take them from her, which puts what’s happening at the other end of the table in my sights. Inwardly I groan, turning to get Patsy out of there, but I’m not fast enough. Her eyes are already fixated on the scene.

Kink’s seated at the table, on the floor beside him kneels a very naked young woman. The only thing she’s wearing is a blindfold and a collar and attached to that is a leash which Kink has wrapped loosely around his fist.

I turn, opening my mouth to offer some kind of explanation—fuck knows what—but halt as I see Patsy’s lips curve.

Kink loads his fork and completely oblivious to his audience, speaks to the girl by his side. “Open your mouth.” When she does, he places the fork in her mouth, and she closes her lips around the food offered.

I clear my throat, and Kink catches my eye and grins.

“Kink’s got a new pet,” Token says, unnecessarily.

The only reaction Patsy shows is to take her plate from me with thanks, then she tilts her head toward the clubroom. I take mine and follow her out, embarrassed as fuck on her behalf, but to my surprise, she puts her plate down and then covers her face as she laughs.

“Does that happen often?”

“A bit,” I tell her, cautiously.

“I did wonder how he got his handle.” She chuckles and then picks up her fork. “Anything else I should be aware of?”

“Not like that. We only have one Kink,” I tell her.Thank fuck.But again my woman goes up in my estimation. Another might have run from the club screaming.

Dan walks across. “Can I join you?”

I nod, he sits down. He waits until we’ve cleaned our plates, then gets down to what he wants to discuss. He looks first at his mom, then at me. Then he takes a breath. “How do you become a prospect, Lost?”

I hear Patsy’s indrawn breath. Do I wait to find out her opinion before answering her son’s question? But he’s twenty-two, not a kid anymore, and while her views should be taken into account, he’s his own man. I decide to treat him like I’d do anyone.

“You hang around, show your interest. You ever ride a motorcycle?”

“I have.” His face twists. “I don’t have a licence though.”

“Well, you’ll have to do that properly, and get yourself a bike. Prospecting’s not fuckin’ easy, I’ll tell you that straight. You have to do everything that’s asked of you, however outlandish it may seem. You snap to it without question.” I narrow my eyes. “You know why we do that?”

“So you can see what a man’s made of?”

He’s partially right, but there’s a lot more to it. “So every man here knows they can trust you to have their back, to prove your loyalty to the club. It’s not easy, there are failures. You sulk or object or question shit, and you won’t get patched in.”

Patsy sits forward. “I thought you wanted to go to college.”

Before Dan can answer, I interrupt, “He could still do that. If he wants to work in our shop, for example, we can take him on as an apprentice, he can study and get his certificates done.”

“You’d do that?” Dan asks, a gleam appearing in his eyes.

“It will need to be voted on, but I don’t see a problem. If you’re serious, that is.”

Dan shrugs. “I like the club, like the lifestyle. I enjoy the work too. I’m serious, Lost.”

Patsy’s looking concerned. Damn. I don’t want to go against her wishes, but Dan should at least have a chance to prove himself as a hang-around if that’s what he wants. If she doesn’t want her son associated with an outlaw MC, what does that say about the future I want between her and me?

But I’ve misjudged her. She turns to me. “Is it safe, Lost? Dan’s been here on the compound, but he’ll have to go out if he joins you. He can’t be confined to the compound for life. What if Alder finds him? Won’t that bring trouble to the club?”

It’s not her son’s choices she’s worried about. Again, she’s concerned about us. I regard her carefully for a moment, realising she’s been a mom for so long, it would appear she never considers herself.

“I told you, babe, we’ll deal with it. We’ll come out the other side.”

She looks dubious, and hell, if she were to ask, I couldn’t come up with a plan. That idea of using her to draw Alder out is something I need to ponder on. Not putting her in danger, of course, but a word in the right ear could get Alder in the right place at the right time. Then we could end his sorry life and the world would be a lot better for it. It would have to be carefully done, of course. We’d need a plan that was watertight.

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