Page 14 of Consequences

“Surprised the hell out of the kids. Why is the best place to fuck her in the backseat of her car inmydriveway?”

Lex’s jaw drops, and even Venom’s surprised by his nonchalant response. “You know?”

“I’ve known for a while. I figured we were just not talking about it until I caught them.”

“I’m gonna go and let you deal with that,” Venom says. “Thanks for the beer. I’d say thanks for the advice, but you gave me none. So… bye.”

Laughing, Lex slaps his leg as he stands. “You know what you need to do. You don’t need me to tell you, bud. When you’re ready, it’ll happen.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says and walks out through the house to find Gavin and Hailey standing against her car.

“Venom, hey,” Gavin says.

“Might wanna get out of here. Colt knows,” he tells the Prospect. “Just warning you.”

It makes him smile when the younger man kisses his girl quickly and hops on his bike, peeling away as quickly as possible. Maybe the night wasn’t a total bummer.

Chapter Five

Griffin’s Beach

Gavin

The fact Colt hasn’t killed Gavin yet is a miracle. He still doesn’t know why he let her talk him into fucking in the backseat of the car parked in the driveway, but when the woman he loves says she has to have him, he’s not saying no.

“Hey, hey!” Ty shouts as he and his girlfriend, Tara Parker, walk into the clubhouse. The light-haired man looks over the moon, and Gavin doesn’t remember ever seeing the pre-teen looking boy walking in with them before.

“What’s going on?” Shep asks with Heidi trailing behind him with tired eyes. “Heidi didn’t make it home until after three, and we didn’t get to sleep until after six. What’s so important we have to be here so damned early?”

Looking around, Gavin realized most of the club is here, including the women. And it’s noon. On Friday. He has to be here to do the cleaning regardless of what today may be, but everyone else got a message.

“What’s this about?” Colt asks with Lex on his lap.

Afternoon delight. No wonder Colt’s unbothered to be here at what’s considered early for the rest of us. He’s going to get it on later.

Now, Gavin thinks about Hailey. They’ve been together for a while now, and he realized last night when they were talking on the phone that he’s in love with her. He knows she’s not quite there yet, and with her terrible upbringing and lack of support from parental figures before Colt and Lex, it’ll take her a little longer.

She’s been bringing up college a lot lately, and Riverview isn’t that far away. He’s trying to prove to her that it won’t be a big issue, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to make it work. This won’t break them up if he has any say in it.

“We got married!” Ty shouts. “And we officially adopted Mattie!”

The new family beams, and Gavin is genuinely happy for them. Mattie’s father was a serial killer who abused him and Tara before getting locked up the first time. He’s now long dead, thanks to Jennings calling in a favor in prison, and Tara became Mattie’s legal guardian, taking him away from an abusive aunt.

There seems to be a weird theme with outsiders and this club.

“Congrats!” Lex says, jumping up and hugging them. “Welcome to the family, Mattie. Officially. You’ve always been one of us.”

“Good to see you made good on your promise to him, brother,” Shep says and hugs him.

“He promised Mattie that they’d be a real family when Tara was kidnapped by Billy,” his father mutters into his ear. “Glad that son of a bitch is dead.”

Everyone cheers and toasts, the beer and liquor flowing freely, and Gavin chuckles. If he waits long enough, he can join in without anyone noticing or caring. After all, he turns nineteen tomorrow.

“Hey,” Hailey says, sneaking up beside him.

“Hey, beautiful.”

She ducks her dark head, but he catches the smile. “Any chance we can sneak away somewhere private?”

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