Page 17 of Hardy

He took her hand, locking theirfingers together.

“Take me to the depths ofhell,” he said.

She chuckled, grabbing a trolley, andplacing it in front of him.“You’ve been to the storebefore.”

“Only on orders, Tiny’sorders.”

“How are you handling the changein leadership?”she asked.They walked toward the fresh foodsection, and she started looking at the produce that wasavailable.

“It’s great.Lash was thebest guy for the job.”

“Are you sure?”

“I couldn’t look after TheSkulls like Lash can.He’s the most stable out of all of us.Heknows when to make the hard decisions.”

“It must be all different foreveryone.I mean, Tiny’s been the leader for so long,” she said,getting some fresh onions, peppers, and potatoes.

“Tiny knows what he’s doing.He’dnever leave the club in the wrong person’s hands, and he’sright.”

“How’s everything with Alexnow?”

“We’re all guilty as fuck.Sunshine made us open our eyes, and we didn’t have a choice but topay attention to what she’d brought us.It was fucking shit whatwe’d done.”

She added in some celery and lettuce.Thisentire trip was surreal to her.She didn’t have a clue what to makeof his presence.

“At least you’ve learnedfrom your mistakes.”

“We have.The Skulls is changing.I just hope we’re all ready for this change.”

“Do you think this changeis going to be good or bad?”she asked.

“We’ll find out.Lash is a goodguy, andTiny’s still playing his part.Only time will tell.Lashhas a good reputation, and anyone who tries to take us on will bein for a big fucking surprise.”

“The whole club is happythen?”Rose asked.

“Yes.Lash is by far thebest option out ofall of us.He knows what he’s doing.I don’t want the club on myback.”

They moved around an aisle, and Rosepaused to watch him as he looked at the steaks on the counter.ThisHardy she wasn’t used to.

“What do you think of thesesteaks?”he asked, holding them up.

“They lookgreat.”

“We can grill them up whenwe get back.Baker’s probably starving.”

“I like that,” she said,thinking about the biker at her home, digging through the weeds.“We owe him for helping out.”

“I can stick around, have a drinkwith you.Maybe we can pick up a movie for us all towatch?”

Rose tilted her head to the side towatch him.“I like that idea.”

Hardy picked up several steaks, andseveral more.“For your freezer.”

“You’re planning oninviting yourself around for more steaks?”she asked.

“Who else are you going tocook them for?”

She gave him a smile, stepping upclose.“There’s no one else, Hardy.”

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