Page 58 of Devil's Due: Sarge

She texted me thirty minutes ago that Jinx had escorted her and Nic back to the clubhouse.

“I got a woman here?” I call out as I walk through the front door.

Greer pokes her head out of the kitchen and dammit, her smile undoes me. “Hi, babe,” she greets me.

“Got a kiss for your man?”

We meet at the bar, leaning over it tomeetwith our lips, and she sighs. She does that when we kiss and I love it. “How was your day?” she asks.

“Busy. How about you?”

“One of the girls we’re preparing to move out, and we’re preparing to take two more in her place.”

“It never ends.” I hold her face in my hands. “Then you come back tothisplace. We really fucking need a place of our own.”

“You want to eat out here or in the room?” she asks rather than comment. The woman doesn’t complain, she just gets on with life.Dammit, but she amazes me at every turn.

“You cooked?” I ask, surprised as all hell. The woman worked hard all day.

“Yeah. You know… it’s not much. Just a simple chicken alfredo. I cheated with the salad stuff the last time I went grocery shopping and got it all pre-chopped. The parm bread is baking in the oven. That’s all we’re waiting on.”

“Let’s eat in the room. What do you want to drink?”

“An ice-cold cider would be great.” Right then, the alarm on the new phone I’d bought her goes off. “Bread,” she says, running off.

I slip behind the bar to grab her a cider and myself a cold brew from the cooler, then join her in the kitchen. There’re parmesan toasts bubbling away on a sheet pan and a skillet full of chicken alfredo. She hands me off a plate.

“Get your alfredo before the brothers smell it and it’s gone,” she orders. While she prepares a salad on her plate, I pile pasta on mine. Then we switch. Both of us take our toasts, drop them on our plates, and head back to our room.

She and I change out of our clothes, me in sweats and a tee and Greer in shorts made out of sweat material and a tank, then we climb in bed to eat.

First bite of pasta and I swear my eyes roll back in my head in ecstasy. The universe loves me, giving me a woman who can cook. Still chewing, I jump right into what Vlad and I’d discussed. “Vlad thinks we should build on the property next to him and Nic.”

Placing her fork on her plate, she turns her whole upper body to face me. “Build on their property?”

“It’s club property.” I swallow, then shoot back a mouthful of beer. “I think it’s a great idea. The property already has water, sewer, and electric running to it. That means we can spend more on the house.”

“Don’t,” she says.

I narrow my eyes at her. “Don’t what?”

“I’m not my mom. I don’t care where I used to live. That’s not me. I don’t need an expensive house. I—”

Her tirade officially gets cut off when I press my hand over her mouth. “You done?” I ask. She nods. “Right. I’m not saying you need a mansion. I’m just saying we can have the house we want. Don’t put words in my mouth.”

She blinks, letting my words sink in, then suddenly she leans over to kiss me. “I’m sorry.” Her eyes begin to water. “I just… I’m happy here, you know? The brothers, Nic, you. It would kill me to find out you all thought I was anything like my mom.”

“Never thought that, baby.”

Her watery smile meets her eyes when she says, “Then let’s build.”

“Tomorrow we’ll go talk to the builder.”

21

Greer

My phone beeps with a missed call notification. The sun’s not even up yet. With bleary eyes only halfway open, I pick it up from the bedside table and stare down at the number. A Florida number. There’s a voicemail notification. For that, I slip out of bed and walk quietly over to the bathroom. Leaning against the sink, I press theplaybutton and put the phone to my ear.

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