“Neither do I.” I looked up at her with tears in my eyes. “He never should have come back.”
“You don’t mean that.”
I didn’t mean it, not really. However, I couldn’t help but think about all the problems I’d had since he returned from the dead. But then I also wouldn’t have this baby.
“I think I do,” I lied.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Morgan
I woke up and reached my arms above my head, stretching my body after a night of fitful sleep. I was still so tired and wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but it was Thanksgiving. And while there were plenty of women and men available to make sure everything went off without a hitch, this was a tradition.
My mother and I in the kitchen, fixing dinner.
There were years when it was just the two of us, and there were years my father joined us. After Devlyn and Henley’s parents died, they had dinner with us.
I stared at the ceiling, thinking about what might happen today. About all the things that could go wrong. The tension between my father and Jude, Jude and my brother. Darcy and her son. Darcy and my father.
Then there was King’s brother Hemlock, and his father Snoopy. Thanksgiving was a powder keg this year, one that could blow with the slightest spark.
I quickly showered and dressed in the clothes my mother had loaned me. Despite starting to show, we were close enough in size. I would have to go without underwear. I could wear the bra I wore the day before, but borrowing underwear from my mother was not happening.
We were close, but not that close.
I slid the chair I’d placed in front of the door to the side. My mother’s words about Jenna breaking in while I slept had kept me up most of the night.
I slipped into the hall and made my way downstairs. The clubhouse was quiet. My father and his men had opted to stay at a hotel, while King and the others had rooms here.
I walked into the main room and was surprised to see everything set up the way I’d asked. There were multiple tables spread throughout the room, surrounded by chairs.
Tablecloths covered the tables and three long tables had been set across the room to hold the food. Dinner would be buffet style, making it easier for people to help themselves.
“Morgan?”
I spun around and found Brian sitting at the bar with a young man wearing a Silver Shadows’ cut. Grace had introduced him as Johnny.
“Can I get you anything?” Brian asked.
“I’d love some coffee.”
Brian smiled and moved behind the bar. I sat down, and he placed the coffee in front of me. I looked up at him with confusion, and Johnny chuckled beside me.
“Prez told me how you like your coffee.”
Of course he did. I smiled at Brian. “Thank you.”
He nodded and began to wipe down the bar. I noticed he did that a lot, and I wondered if it was a nervous thing, like me biting my lip.
“How long have you been in the club, Johnny?”
“Just got patched in after the war.”
The war. The reason Jude came back to life. To protect my brother. That much I knew. He hadn’t told me anything about why he disappeared, only that it was to protect me. And he came back to me for the same reason. Only it had been months and there wasn’t any danger.
No one had even made an attempt. Except for Jenna, who had decided to make my life hell. Speaking of, she came stumbling into the room with Opal, another one of the club whores.
Opal wasn’t terrible; she didn’t mouth off, just glared at me from across the room. She slid onto a stool next to Johnny and rubbed her hand over his thigh.