Page 28 of Lawless
"Hah," she scoffed. "Even if I was, Reaper would have him dead and buried within a week. The bastard's so overprotective, he's more like a father than a brother sometimes."
"Well, that's understandable, considering what happened to Daren," Tessa mused before her gaze snapped over to me. "Do you know about him?"
"She doesn't," Noelle snapped.
"Ah, well." Tessa smoothed her hands in her lap while I wondered why everyone was so hush-hush about this Daren person. "Reaper just wants you to have a good man," she continued to Noelle. "Once you find someone worthy of you, I'm sure he'll approve."
"Again, acting like my father," the red-haired woman grumbled.
"He has to approve every union in the club," Tessa replied as if reminding her. "That's just our way."
"You ladies ready for steak?" called one of the men at the central fire pit.
"Took y'all long enough!" Noelle jumped to her feet. "Come on, Mari. Help me make a plate for Tessa."
"Better make it two," Tessa laughed, rubbing her belly.
Noelle and I grabbed paper plates and I nearly salivated when the thick, juicy hunk of meat dropped onto it. Saving the bigger one for Tessa, we made our rounds to the smaller grills where people roasted corn, potatoes, bell peppers, and other assortments of veggies and sides. If my circumstances of being here were different, I would have been thrilled to have been invited to this block party. It felt so wholesome, warm, and pre-Collapse. It made me nostalgic for the neighborhood cookouts of my childhood. I didn't know anyone still had a community like this, much less a biker gang.
"Having fun,Marrriposa?"
I looked up to see Jandro's flirtatious smile as he wielded a pair of metal tongs in one hand.
"I guess you could say that."
He laughed in response. "It's okay to admit you're having a good time. We know how to party." With his tongs he picked up an ear of corn from the grill, charred to perfection and slathered in butter.
"Would you like a long, hard, succulent corn to go with your thick, juicy meat?"
"Sure." I held out my plate, keeping my face neutral at his innuendo. "I'll take another one for Tessa."
"Mm, I love it when girls double up." He placed another on my second plate. "Makes everything so much more filling, doesn't it?"
"Thanks, Jandro," I grumbled, my face on fire despite my desperate attempt to be unaffected by him.
"Sure thing. Come back to me if you need more," he winked, thoroughly enjoying my discomfort.
I turned to head back to the couches, nearly crashing into a massive, dark form.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry!"
My neck craned up to meet the one dark eye staring back at me. Shadow. I didn't know how I missed seeing him with how big he was. He apparently lived up to his name.
The big man took a seat in a lounge chair next to Jandro's, bringing a large bottle to his lips and drinking deeply. My mouth fell open at the realization he was drinking straight tequila.
"Move it, girl. I'm starving," Noelle complained from behind me.
I hurried back next to Tessa, who licked her lips at the full plate I set down in front of her.
"You are a goddamn angel," she moaned as she began carving into her steak.
The three of us didn't talk much as we stuffed our faces. Tessa mumbled to Noelle between bites about her kids and pregnancy while I took the opportunity to people-watch.
Reaper and Gunner were nowhere to be seen, which surprised me. Scanning the area, I spotted Hades reclining next to a retaining wall, chewing on a bone while Horus perched on the wall above him.
The falcon gnawed at a piece of raw meat in his talon, tearing off chunks to swallow whole while Hades looked up hopefully as if waiting for a piece to drop. When the bird finished its meal without leaving a scrap behind, he let out a series of short screeches as if he were laughing. Hades responded with a toothy smile, yipping softly in return as he stretched out along the floor.
I blinked and returned to watching the humans on the patio. Watching animals act like they were communicating was a bit too trippy for me. But if they were here, their owners had to be nearby.
