“One secret I’m sure she won’t mind you keeping from her.”
I raised a brow and laughed, leaning forward and taking the box from Slater’s outstretched hand. My body fell back in the chair with a thud, rocking me into a soothing bounce as I stared down at it in my hands.
When I opened it up, the vintage band of twisted gold shone up at me like a beacon of hope. It had been my mother’s, but after an argument with my father when I was younger, she’d taken it off her finger, placed it on the porch of The Hut, and she’d swung it across the yard with an old broom.
Harry had chased after it and slyly whisked it away intothe safety of the pawnshop. We all suspected Mom knew Harry had it, but she never asked for it back. Not even when Eric had said all his apologies, and they’d fallen straight back in love again. According to her, marriage didn’t need a gold band. All it needs is loyalty, commitment, and understanding. The other stuff is just shit magpies can take from you.
Still, it was something I wanted Ayda to have. Something for her to throw off the porch and crush into the gravel if she ever felt the need to. Something from one woman in my life to the other.
“Those tears in your eyes, Tucker?” Slater said, his smirk growing when I glanced up through hooded eyes.
“Allergies.” I sat up straight, sniffed and ran the back of my hand over my forehead.
Slater laughed, rocking back in his chair. “Any date set yet?”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “Shit’s been a bit—”
“Fucked up. Yeah, I know. We’ve all been here through it with you. You just haven’t seen us for a while. Took Eric along for the ride with you instead of the men who have been here your whole damn life.”
“I didn’t take Eric. He followed,” I corrected him, dropping the ring box on my desk and planting my joined hands to rest in front of me. When I glanced up, Slater had that look about him that told me a lecture was on the tip of his tongue. “Go on,” I urged. “Say what you’ve got to say.”
“Okay,” Slater said through a sigh, lifting his ankle to rest over his knee, his hand clutching at the dusty old sole of his boot. “Do you trust him?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s something. Do you think he’s back herepermanently?”
I rolled my neck, hearing the crack of tension when I moved it too sharply. “I don’t know.”
“How do you feel about it all?”
“Like he’s come in useful so far. Like he was what I needed when I needed it—just some punk who knew enough history of the club to understand why I wanted to do some of the things I’ve done, but still enough of a stranger for me to keep him at a distance. Honestly, Slate, I’ve already got too many enemies. Why make one more of my old man? If he can be useful, I’m going to wring him dry of every good thing he has that helps the club.”
“What if he isn’t here for the good of the club?”
I scowled and smiled at the same time. “You really think the guy who built the Hounds from nothing but two wheels and a piece of leather is going to put us in danger? Nah. He’s got too much of his heart in the soil beneath our boots. He left it here. His life was here. He may be a self-preserving selfish piece of shit at times, but he wouldn’t do anything to hurt the Hounds.”
Slater opened his mouth to speak, closed it and then clearly thought,fuck it. “And if he does?”
I shrugged. “We kill him.”
“Just like that?” Slater frowned.
“Just like that.” I nodded without emotion.
A knock on the door pulled our attention away from each other, the two of us sitting up straighter when Eric walked into the room.
He gave Slater a nod, but he didn’t have to say a word for Slater to turn back to me, push himself up out of his chair, raise his brows and sigh. “I’ll be in the bar. We still heading onthat repo job later?”
“Give me thirty minutes?”
“Sure thing.”
Slater’s eyes held Eric’s the whole way until he sauntered out of the office, closing the door behind him. Eric dipped his chin to his chest, a small, amused smirk playing on his lips as he shook his head.
“Is it me, or is it getting a little cool around here lately?” he asked quietly, turning his head my way as he folded his arms across his chest and stood there, legs apart. Just the way I held myself in front of people, too. It was fucking creepy how many things I’d picked up from him without realizing it.
I shrugged, still hunched over my desk. “Feels kinda warm over here.”