Page 44 of Savage Lust

Several vehicles were already there. I recognized Dylan’s Jeep and relaxed. I didn’t feel so out of place when she was around. The feminine energy was appreciated. Cam rode past the cars and turned around in a wide area at the top, leaving his bike beside several others facing outward.

He backed the bike in a lot, as if he was always ready to make a quick getaway. Maybe he was.

That thought left a prickle up the back of my neck. Each time I started to feel a sense of normalcy in Cam’s world, something popped up to remind me of all the frightening tales Mom had told me. Each time made it harder to convince myself she was just trying to spook me.

I followed Cam through the tidy backyard and up the back steps, through a laundry room, and into the kitchen. Instantly, the scent of garlic and pasta sauce wrapped me in a fond memory. I’d went to an Italian restaurant in the city with Mom a few times, but those aromas didn’t even come close to this.

My mouth watered and my stomach growled.

“Dad made lasagna,” Dylan called from the stove, over the bluesy music and laughter that trickled in from the other room. “He put tables out in the living room, too.”

I was about to ask if she needed help, and then AP stepped into the room, oven mitts on his hands. The fluffy green gloves looked out of place on the denim-clad, scruffy man.

“What’s happening, kids?” He grinned, but then looked from me to Dylan. In that one look, a thousand different questions passed.

I was eager to know what they were. Cam didn’t seem to care at all. “Not a damn thing. But I’m about to rip into that lasagna, old man.”

Merc slipped in behind his dad, a beer in his hand, and the corner of his mouth twisted up beneath the facial hair in an uncharacteristic grin.

Cam narrowed his eyes. “What?”

Merc’s face exploded with a smile that could light up the entire desert on a moonless night. He should really do that more. “Deke’s out.”

Cam whooped, stopping just shy of jumping into the air before he stormed past Merc. I followed so far as the doorway, to see Cam wrapped in a back slapping bear hug with a guy that looked like he’d been a biker for longer than I’d been alive.

Dishwater brown hair, threaded with gray, pulled back in a ponytail. Tall and slender, with faded jeans that were almost too big. Beside him stood a mousy woman with a smile that hinted at her former beauty. Now, she just looked tired and relieved.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here.” Dekes, I assumed, murmured into Cam’s neck.

“Don’t be. You’re here now, brother.”

“Who’s this?” The man settled his kind brown eyes on me, over Cam’s shoulder.

“Riley.” Cam turned to me, grinning and waving me to him. “Come meet Dirty Dekes.”

“Call me Dekes, or Frank if you want. This is my old lady, Shannon.” I shook her small, but warm hand before he tilted his head sideways. “Do I know you?”

His wife jabbed a bony elbow into his side and raised both her eyebrows in thatI already told you thisway of wives and girlfriends.

“Archer’s girl?”

“Seems so.”

“Well then!” He scooped me up in a big hug. “Sorry for your loss, kid…but good to have you here.”

And unlike with Preacher, Dekes seemed genuine and, in truth, it felt like he might be family.

***

The lasagna was delicious. Savory sauce covered pasta that practically melted with each bite, all wrapped up in gooey cheese. I ate until my stomach hurt. Considering how few hot meals I’d had the past few months, that didn’t take long.

But I had a chance to study Cam in his element. Guard down, belly laughs, two plates of food. Dekes, apparently, had been a big influence on his life in the club.

Others had joined AP’s family seated around folding tables in the great room. Puck and Jester were here. Puck’s son, barely more than a toddler, rolled trains around beneath his table. Every so often he’d sneak grins highlighted in red sauce in my direction.

There was a family feel, an easiness that was missing at the clubhouse. Even I relaxed, enjoying a glass of wine as Cam’s face lit in a big smile to some jail story Dekes regaled us with.

“I tell you, kid, you damn sure don’t want to go back. They ain’t washed none of the pods since you were there.”

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