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“Not in the Ridge,” said Celt. “You know that.”
I dragged a hand through my hair, wanting nothing more than to shower and curl up behind Maddie in that bed.
“Tell me, Cook,” Celt said. “After everything she’s been through, did you figure shit out?”
Heat clawed at my skin. “I’m working on it.”
The same way I was working on Maddie seeing Melanie and making sure my mom didn’t go crazy. Keeping my business on the fucking DL. However, tonight had been a great start at erasing the shit stain my dad left on my sixteenth birthday.
“Any news on the guns?” I walked toward the fridge and grabbed myself a beer, needing to calm my tits.
“No.” Celt inclined his head to Roni like he didn’t want her involved. Roni already knew, like every other woman connected to a patched member of the MC. “Apparently, nothinginterestinghas been found.”
I nearly snorted. Interesting was one way to describe it. “The boys’ll keep an eye out. When you returning to the Ridge?” I looked around the cramped and cluttered apartment and downed half my beer in one go.
Most of the apartment was in boxes, everything else was messy. I wouldn’t have normally noticed, but Maddie had cleaned up my house and kept it clean. I probably should warn Celt and Roni that when Maddie woke, she might start cleaning.
“We’re working on it,” said Roni.
Celt cleared his throat. “I’ve talked to Hammer about building a house. His crew completed the recovery house, and they should finish Bou and Wilde’s place in the next couple of weeks. Then he’ll be on our house.”
Roni smiled, knocking her hip into Celt, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, holding her close.
“You guys found land?” I asked, then took another long swig and looked at the backwash remaining. I needed another.
“Building on the spot my old house burned,” said Celt. “It was Pops’s dream to get out of the big city and that’s where he landed, so I’m not keen on givin’ it up.”
“Your sister is a fucking bad ass,” I said.
“Don’t have to tell me.” Celt walked over to the fridge and grabbed two beers. He handed one to Roni.
The two of them looked like they were going to bed, both dressed in sweatpants. Long gone were the days of us going for late-night rides or finding somewhere to party with cheap drugs.
Look at us growing the fuck up. It was terrible.
“You’ll be starting at the recovery house?” I asked Roni.
She sipped her beer, swallowed, and let out a sigh. “Yeah.” She didn’t sound so certain. “I’ll be the head nurse for Doc and Doctor Richardson. They’ve already been talking to me about some of their patients.”
Maddie.
I picked up my beer and finished it off. So much for patient confidentiality or shit like that. Doc and apparently Doctor Richardson didn’t adhere to those rules.
Loyalty was the only thing that mattered in the club. That I got for Doc, but Ava Richardson just left her practice in LA. Shouldn’t she be a little more careful?
“What did they say?” I asked, grabbing a second beer from the fridge. The high from Serenity was wearing off, and the reality of Maddie’s situation, as well as the kids’ at the recovery house, sucked.
I didn’t want to think about it sober.
Roni ducked her head. “Things that shouldn’t be... true. That no one should have to experience. I wish someone could tell me they’re not true.”
I couldn’t. I only took another long chug.
Roni’s body trembled. Celt put down his beer bottle and then grabbed his woman, wrapping her up in his arms. She snuggled into him, her face fitting into the crook in his neck. I looked away and drained my beer, considering a third. I didn’t feel any closer to being drunk.
With a deep breath, Roni mumbled, “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s some dark shit,” I said. It was the only thing I could say to explain what Maddie and others had been through. Nothing was fair. Even those of us in the MC, who lived on the wrong side of the law, didn’t treat people like the fucking Gambinos. Some MCs called it a code, but mostly, human trafficking was a line no one needed to cross.
