He shakes his head. “I don’t plan on staying around long enough for that to happen. Now, come on, we have a lot of work to and we can’t spend all day here chatting.”
He doesn’t wait for me to say goodbye. He mounts his bike, starts it, and whatever meaningless words I want to say to him would drown beneath the rumbling roar of his engine before they’d reach his ears.
I hop into my truck and start it up. In my rearview mirror, I watch Crash drive away, heading towards Kendra’s house. I know he’s right, we don’t have much time, but oh, how I wish he were wrong.
“I like him,” Josie says, watching Crash in the rearview mirror.
“Me too.”
And that could be a big problem.
Chapter Eight
Crash
She’s waiting for me with hands on her hips when I pull into the space beside them in the parking lot of the Timberline Tavern. Eyes wide, more than a little angry, and a defiant tilt to her chin. Even furious, she’s more attractive than I’d like to admit. Which is exactly the reason I’m showing up here, late — more than half an hour behind her and my brothers in the Twisted Devils. My brothers all poke their heads out the door or put them up at the windows to give me confused looks as I kill the engine of my bike and hop off.
But what none of them know is that this ride was necessary. I needed space to clear my head because, for a few moments back in the parking lot, when I was chatting with Violet and watching Josie happily read a good book in the front seat of Violet’s truck, things felt too good, too real, too normal. And that’s the kind of distraction I can’t allow myself to have.
“You’re late,” Violet says.
“I am. I was busy.”
“What? Being an inconsiderate dick? Because you don’t have to go for a joyride to do that; you’ve done an outstanding job of it right here, without abandoning your friends and the people who need you.”
“If you’d rather I leave, I can do that.”
She folds her arms over her chest; she probably intends it to show that she’s angry, but all I can see is how her crossed arms accentuate her shapely tits. This woman is the kind of irresistible distraction that’s more than a little dangerous.
“You know I don’t want that. I’m sorry to just snap at you, but I can’t stop thinking about Kendra. So, please, stay. Just let me get you and the others some drinks and then can you keep an eye on Josie for me?”
“You want me to play babysitter?” I make it sound like I’m reluctant but, with the way her tits look I’d be hard pressed to actually say ‘no’ to this woman. And besides, Josie ain’t that bad of a kid to spend time with.
“Yes. You, or Blaze, or Mack. Just while I finish getting everything ready to open up the bar again for tonight.”
“You’re still working tonight? After everything that’s happened?”
“Like you’re always talking about, I’ve got business to take care of. This bar is my life, Crash. I sunk my savings and inheritance into it, and so did Kendra. If I let things slack off or go to waste just because I’m worried about her, I’m throwing away everything that she and I worked so hard to build.”
It’s the kind of answer has me nodding my head with respect.
“Fine, I’ll watch the kid.”
“You will?” Her face lights up, and the warmth cuts through the chill Colorado mountain air.
“Yeah. We’ll sit and read Goosebumps. It won’t be so bad. You take as long as you need.”
She throws her arms around me in a hug that makes any residual anger and resentment feeling melt into a puddle of something I’d rather not admit is damned close to affection. Or even something more.
“Thank you,” she says, and then she plants another kiss on my cheek.
“Don’t mention it,” I say.
We head inside. The bar is still half a mess, but Violet’s done a good job of scrubbing away the blood — which is probably the first thing she did, so that Josie wouldn’t ask any troublesome questions — and the place just looks like it was the site of the world’s angriest rave.
My brothers approach me as soon as I’m through the door. Mack’s got a bottle of beer in his hand and Snake is holding a nearly empty glass of what I’m sure is bottom-shelf whiskey.
“What now, Crash?” Mack says, taking a swig from his beer.
“You want us to go—” Snake starts.
But I cut him off. “No, Snake, just no.”
“—I was going to ask if you wanted us to search the town.”
“Yes. Since you’re not offering to kill someone, yes,” I say, relieved.
“That sort of thing is more my job, Snake,” Mack says.
“Keep telling yourself that, Mack. But we both know which one of us is better at it,” Snake says. “And which one of us has gone soft since he’s become a father.”
“I’d trust Sophia — or even Matyas — to pull a job before I sent you to do it,” I say. “But, let me just stop you both right now. Mack, I want you to go check in with Blaze, make sure everything is still good at Max’s repair shop. If Blaze needs a break, you relieve him. If not, I want you to go scout around. Maybe do a little surreptitious drive by of the Death’s Disciples clubhouse, see if you see anything. Snake, I want you to stay here. In the corner. Out of the way.”
“Fine, but Josie and I were talking earlier about watching a movie. She wants to see Dead Snow.”
“Dead Snow?” I say. “Do
