Page 63 of Darlin'

"Sure do." Jesse grins. "Good thing I know my way around a hole, huh?"

"Jesse!" I groan, shoving him as dread washes over. "I told you to?—"

"Oh my fucking God!" Marlow exclaims, her keen gaze darting between Jesse and me. "Well, I'll be damned." She crosses her arms, tapping her foot on the ground. "You guys finally did it, didn't you?"

"I'll see you girls around," Jesse sings, joining the boys inside the bar.

"Well, well, well," Marlow says, wiggling her brows. "Pot finally boiled over, I see."

"I don't want to talk about it," I say, facepalming. "No one was supposed to know. Ugh!" My eyes spring open. "Do you think Jesse's going to tell everyone now?"

"Nah." Marlow waves me off. "Jesse's a lot of things, but the man doesn't kiss and tell. When he and Andy were seeing each other, he never shared details. At least not with Beau, that is. I think you're safe."

"Andy, right." I sigh, forgetting they were also once intimate. "I love that for me." With a frustrated grunt, I pinch my nose. "She's gonna shank me if she finds out, isn't she?"

"Don't worry, babe." Marlow pats my shoulder playfully. "I'll protect you." She motions around my body. "This will be a shank-free zone. I got you."

"Thanks," I mutter as Pippa scrambles toward us. "Don't tell Pip, okay?"

"Sav!" Pippa pulls me into her suffocating arms. "Everyone's talking about what happened last night. Are you okay?! That must have been so scary! Let me take alook at you." I chuckle as she forces me to twirl around. "Still adorable; that's a good sign." Her voice dips to a more serious tone. "You doing okay, hun? I'm sure being shot at has shaken you up a bit, right?"

"Honestly, I'm fine," I say. "I was a bit rattled last night, but more so 'cause I was being shot at by a kid.”

"Yeah." Pippa sighs. "It's disgusting what those Vipers do." She clicks her tongue. "Wish we could help 'em all." Her phone alarm sounds. "Okay, well, listen, I gotta go pick up the kids from preschool now, but why don't you and Marlow come over tomorrow or something, and we can finalize a few things for the toy drive? Jo's got everything planned so far, but we need a couple more ideas." She smiles at Marlow and me. "Could be fun? I'll make nachos and margs."

"I'm down," Marlow says, nodding at the bar. "A couple of the bullets hit the electrical panels and plumbing, so we won't be working for a while." She gives me a sly smile. "You won't be busy, will you, Savvy?"

"I'll be free," I say. Gosh, she's such a little antagonist sometimes. "Just text us later."

"Will do," Pippa says, trotting off to her mom-mobile as she waves to an Escalade parking beside her car.

Miguel gets out of the car, waving back at Pippa as he walks toward the bar. His nose scrunches up as he scans all the men with tool belts and ropes of electrical wiring. He briefly glances in my direction, offering a small smile. I return it, deflecting my gaze back to Marlow.

"You wanna help Beau and me?" Marlow asks, chuckling. "Well, at leastIthink it's helping. Your brother mightdisagree but like, why are there so many types of screwdrivers anyway. Me, I prefer a good Allen key, you know, the ones you get with Ikea..."

Marlow continues talking, but I tune her out as Billy and Jesse exit the clubhouse and meet Miguel in the center of the parking lot.

"William," Miguel hums. "Glad to see you're alive and well. What's going on here?"

"William?" Billy asks. "You trying to make an enemy out of me, Mendoza?"

Miguel expels an unamused laugh. "That depends. Do you have it?"

"We told you we'd have it." In the corner of my eye, I see Billy hand Miguel a duffle bag. "It's all there. Month's worth."

"Feels a little light," Miguel says. "Do I need to count?"

"Careful, Mendoza," Billy grunts. "Getting awfully close to offending me again."

"It was a joke," Miguel says. "Is your father always this serious?"

"We always take our business seriously," Jesse replies in a stern tone. "If we didn't, we'd be in jail."

"Right." Miguel snorts. "Well, I was going to grab some lunch at your bar today, but I take it you're closed?"

"For a few days," Jesse says. "Doing some much-needed renos."

"Renos?" Miguel asks, wary.Why is Jesse lying?"I see. Well, that's unfortunate. I guess I'll have to come back another time."

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