Page 65 of Greedy Grizzly
“I’m not judging you. You found a place to settle down, and I’m happy for you.” I squeezed Landon’s hand, hoping he sensed my duress. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Bridget was a club girl in a MC like me?
How was it possible we were living similar lives? It was crazy.
A shiver worked its way through me, suddenly chilling me to the bone. Landon stroked his thumb across the top of my hand, reassuringly. He’d been on the list as my guest when we arrived. I was so grateful to have him by my side after hearing Bridget was a club girl.
Had I heard her wrong?
Perhaps this was a strange fever dream and I’d wake up in the hotel room with Landon and Toby next to me. Yes, I was dreaming.Wake up, Libby. Wake up!
“So there you have it.” My sister’s voice chased away my silly thoughts. Right here, right now was real. “What have you been up to the last decade?”
I didn’t know what to say. Something told me not to tell her the truth until Landon and I could discuss our findings. For all I knew, the MC she was involved with was an enemy of KLMC. The Knights ruled the Upper Midwest and had few allies. Storm would want to know everything before I brought Bridget into the fold of my life in the club.
Wait.
Storm’s dad’s chapter had just been attacked—in South Dakota. His younger sister had been killed. As a club girl, I wasn’t privy to “club business.” But I heard things. Landon shared some details with me, which I promised never to repeat. What were the chances of Bridget knowing the man Storm had been looking for all year? I needed to be careful, very careful with my sister.
“I moved around quite a bit until I found a place I liked. I’m a LPN,” I told her, thinking it should be okay to admit I was in the medical field.
“You’re joking.” Bridget stared at me with a perplexed expression. “You hate hospitals because of Mom’s illness. I distinctly recall you saying that.”
“I don’t work in a hospital. I’m in a—” I chewed on the corner of my lip, selecting my words wisely. “A family practice office.” A partial lie. The Knight’s Legion MC was definitely a family and with all the new babies and children, Patch and I kept pretty busy.
“Huh. That’s shocking and so normal compared to me. I shouldn’t be surprised, although I am.”
“Why?” I asked, feeling very offended when I shouldn’t. Why would she find it shocking that I had a normal life? Had she thought I wasn’t smart enough to go to college? Dang, her direct and rude self was still very much in her.
“I just mean, you never seemed ambitious and you hated school. I thought Landon here might have been your ticket to easy street.”
I glanced at Landon. “He’s not. We do all right. He’s in IT and I’m an LPN. We’re not rich or anything, but we’re happy.” Look at me trying to convince her we had normal lives.
But you don’t have a normal life. You’re a club girl like her.
Why did I feel ashamed of the path I’d chosen and had liked? I shouldn’t feel dirty and embarrassed, but that was how I felt. If she knew about Toby and how he was with meandLandon, she’d probably die laughing at me.
“After you get back home, maybe we could come out to visit you?” Landon asked. What was he doing? Wouldn’t that put us right in her club’s territory? That could be dangerous!
“Sure, that would be great. My place is small, so you’d need to get a hotel room,” Bridget replied. “Scornrock is kind of a dusty old town. Nobody goes there on vacation.”
I stared at her lost for words, still trying to dissect Landon’s thought process.
“We don’t mind. Do we, Lydia?” Landon nudged my shoulder. “We like roadtrips.”
I nodded. “We do. I could bring some casseroles so you don’t have to worry about cooking while you recover.”
“That would be terrific. Usually, I do all the cooking for the club but things have been in shambles since the president died last year and his successor, his nephew, disappeared. The new guy in charge is a piece of shit, excuse my French.” She waved her hands in front of her. “Nevermind any of that. I had a helper but she just had a baby and is struggling with motherhood.”
My heart instantly ached for the woman. “Having a baby is a huge adjustment. Is it her first one?”
“Yep. And she’s young and her baby daddy is gone. He was the successor. She’s basically alone.”
“Wow. That’s rough.” I couldn’t imagine having a baby without the support of the father.
Landon shifted in his seat, drawing my attention. He didn’t seem well, almost like he needed to get out of the room ASAP.
Bridget yawned just then, and it gave me an out.
