“Sure, it is. Okay, whatever. You ready to go or what?” Apparently, Zander wasn’t going to inquire any more about me or our relationship, which was fine with me.
“Yeah, give me two minutes.” His brother huffed. “Zan… two minutes. Go talk to Dad or somethin’ until I’m done.”
“Where’s he at?”
“I don’t know, but he’s here somewhere because Mom still won’t let him come home.”
“Those two.” Zander sighed, shaking his head. He pointed his finger at his brother. “Hurry up.” Then his eyes landed back on me. “Nice to meet you, Maddie.” And as quickly as he appeared, he was gone, leaving me with all sorts of new questions.
Once the door closed, my mouth opened. “Why did you tell him I was your girlfriend? And why did you never mention him before?” I was insulted he didn’t think me worthy enough to tell me about his other family member. “Do you have any more, other than Riley and Zander?”
“No. Only the two.”
“So why did you call me your girlfriend?”
“Because you are.”
“Since when?” I wasn’t going to get my hopes up because everything pertaining to Lincoln lately confused me.
“I told you. Since we had sex.”
“But then I told you I loved you, and you told me you didn’t feel the same way.”
“So.” Anger lit his one-word reply. Why was he getting upset with me? I was only trying to clarify what we were to each other, if that was even possible.
“I don’t understand.” My head started to hurt.
“Listen, I have to go. We’ll talk when I get back, okay?” I gave him a noncommittal half-shrug. “And don’t go anywhere.”
He walked out before I could ask him how he was gonna stop me if I tried, which would’ve been pointless, seeing as I couldn’t get far with no money.
Stewing in the room lasted a whole twenty minutes before I decided a drink was in order.
Nothing crazy, just something to help take the edge off until he came back.
36
“So, what’s the real reason you didn’t tell me about Maddie? You hidin’ her away for some reason?” Zander’s curiosity riled me, and although he hadn’t said anything wrong, his assessment of the situation was spot on, pissing me off because there wasn’t a fuckin’ thing I could do otherwise. I had to keep her at the clubhouse until further notice, or until Marek told me she had to go someplace else.
I couldn’t take her out to eat, or to go see a goddamn movie because the threat against her, against us, was still prevalent, even though those bastards still hadn’t made a move. Yet.
“It’s complicated,” I finally replied, tapping the steering wheel to the beat of the song on the radio to distract myself. It wasn’t working.
“Yeah, you said that before.” He looked out the window. “I hope it gets better as we get older.”
“If Mom and Dad are any indication of what’s to come, we’re fucked.” Zander’s only response was a halfhearted grunt. “What’s goin’ on, man? Everything okay?”
“Kim’s been texting me. I think she wants to get back together.”
“Do you want that?”
“I don’t know. She messed me up pretty bad when she broke up with me, and over text, which was… I deserved better than that. I don’t think I can trust her, but….”
“But what?” He didn’t answer, so I did it for him. “But you still love her.”
Love was an annoying concept, one that screwed up a lot of people, giving some a reason to act stupid.
“Yeah, I think so.”
I hated that with everything goin’ on at the club and life in general, Zander and I hadn’t gotten much time to hang out, something I was set on changing very soon. I missed him. He was a cool dude, calm, hardly letting anything bother him. His resemblance to our father was uncanny, but thankfully, he didn’t inherit the ol’ man’s temper.
“Then you have some stuff to think about. If you do give her another shot, make sure it’s what you want. Don’t let her pressure you into anything because you feel some type of way toward her.” I offered my advice, but it was up to him to make his own decisions. Zander was nineteen, only a couple of years younger than me, but he was certainly old enough to make his own decisions. One of them being moving in with Luke, who had recently returned home. He’d been staying in Seattle with his ex-girlfriend, Aubrey, but shit went south when her grandmother died. She’d taken off on him, and he hadn’t heard from her since. That was months ago.
Looked like relationships weren’t any of our strong suits.
“I’ll figure it out.” He changed the station, tapping his hand on his thigh when he came to a country song he liked. “So gettin’ back to my original question.” I kept my focus on the road ahead even though I knew he was looking at me. “What’s the deal with Maddie?”
“I thought I already said it was complicated.”
“So? We have some time before we get to the house. Out with it.” I finally turned toward him, his smile easing my anxiousness.
I’d never hidden anything from my brother before, and I wasn’t about to start now. “The Reapers were keepin’ her against her will, doing things to her…” I needed to take a breath because referencing what happened was enough to enrage me all over again. “Anyway, after one of my fights, we got into it with them, and she was there. And now she’s with us.”
“Is that how you got that scrape on the side of your head?”
“Mom told you what happened?”
“Yeah, and she wasn’t happy at all. More worried than anything, though.” He punched me on the arm. “Glad you’re okay.”
“Me too.”
“Ya know, they probably didn’t take too kindly to you snatching her from them, but I’m glad you did.” Zander knew a bit about the Savage Reapers and the dealings between our clubs, more so in the recent past than as of lately. He never showed any interest
