While I wished to remain in the moment, I couldn’t help but be thankful Griller and his men hadn’t been able to steal another thing from me, more than they already had. I’d always dreamed of one day getting married and starting a family, and those options seemed to still be within my grasp.
Riley leaned over her chair and whispered something to her client, to which the woman shrugged before smiling.
“I have plans after dinner anyway. But we can meet up afterward,” the redhead said to Brick.
“Zoe,” the blonde woman said in warning. She looked back and forth between the woman, whose name I now knew, and Brick. “I hope you two know what you’re doin’. You see what happened when Stone found out about Riley and Kaden. These guys don’t take kindly to other Knights dating their girls.”
“I’m grown. I can hang out with whoever I want.” Zoe’s brows rose. “Besides, even though my dad won’t like it, he won’t go after Brick.”
“He can’t do much damage even if he does,” I blurted, slapping my hand over my mouth as soon as I finished speaking. What the hell was I thinking? I wasn’t part of their conversation, and I had no right butting in. “Sorry,” I said when I saw all eyes were on me.
“Yeah, what she said.” Brick laughed, pulling Zoe off to a corner as soon as she vacated Riley’s seat.
“Looks like you’re up, Maddie.”
The blonde woman who told him to watch himself brought me bottled water. “So, you’re Maddie. I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Braylen.” She pointed toward Zoe. “Her stepmother and Ryder’s wife.” The blank look on my face made her clarify. “Ryder is one of the other guys in the club.”
“And he’s hot.” I turned to look behind me and saw a girl who appeared to be around my age turn the corner. She was pretty, her chestnut-colored hair styled poker straight.
“That he is.” Braylen chuckled, not at all seemingly annoyed the girl fawned over her husband. “That’s Natalie. And if you haven’t guessed already, she’s got a thing for my hubby.”
“And every other red-blooded male,” Riley added, draping a black cape over the front of me before securing it in the back with a snap.
“What can I say? I love a hot guy. Speaking of which….” I turned to see who was in her line of sight and saw Lincoln and Kaden walking toward the salon, stopping outside on the sidewalk for a moment before reaching for the handle. The chirp of the door sounded seconds later, and both guys headed straight for us.
“Hey, guys,” Natalie sang out, and even though I didn’t know her at all, she rubbed me the wrong way. An inexplicable feeling of jealousy erupted, something I’d never experienced before in my short life, and I had to admit... I hated it.
“Natalie,” they replied in unison, but neither of them looked at her. Instead, Lincoln’s eyes were on me, and Kaden’s were on Riley.
The small victory of sorts made me smile, which in turn made Lincoln grin at me like he just heard the best news.
28
“Hey, babe.” Kaden drew my sister in for a hug right before kissing her. A few of the women hooted, but I looked away, not needing to see the display. My focus was on Maddie and no one else, not until I heard Riley ask a question I realized was bound to be brought up at some point.
“What is that?” she asked, patting his lower back. Kaden moved back a step but didn’t say anything, and if I knew my sister as well as I thought I did, there was no way she was gonna let this go. She’d press the issue and demand an answer, right here in front of everyone present. She didn’t care.
When she reached for him again, he grabbed her hand and shook his head. “Stop. We’ll talk about it later.”
“Since when did you start carrying a gun?” I supposed later was right now. I didn’t think he meant to do it, but Kaden glanced over at Maddie before returning his focus on my sister.
“Since now.”
“Why?”
“It’s only a precaution. Don’t get all bent out of shape over it. I know how to use it, and well, I might add.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want you carrying one.” She huffed, her hands finding a home on her waist.
“It’s not up to you.”
Kaden was out of his mind if he thought my sister wouldn’t dive headfirst into this argument. She pulled her eyes from him, and they soon landed on me.
“Are you carrying, too?”
I nodded.
She looked at Brick. “What about him?”
“Everyone is,” Kaden answered, shifting her attention back on him. “Nothing is gonna happen. We’re fine.”
“How can you say that? Something is obviously wrong if everyone was told to carry a weapon when they never had to before.” Riley’s face flushed, and it was only a matter of seconds before she exploded. Because I didn’t want Maddie to be caught in the middle of a potentially volatile scene, I pulled my sister away from everyone else so I could have a few words with her.
“I don’t like this one bit, Linc,” she muttered.
“I know. I’m not a fan either, but we have to protect ourselves in case something happens.”
“What’s gonna happen?” Her eyes searched mine for an answer I wasn’t allowed to give. Club business was just that… business of the club. But I would give her a tidbit of information to try and put her mind at ease. “The Reapers are gonna come back at us because I took Maddie from them. We don’t know how or when, but we need to be ready when they do.”
“I don’t like it,” she repeated.
“You don’t have
