Cruz (Dark and Dirty Sinners' MC #5) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,26
bet.” I peered down at the calendar, checking to make sure I had time before Laura’s for a call, and then I blinked. “Huh. She’s scheduled for ink today.”
“She is?” She pouted. “She didn’t split with the details yesterday.”
“Knowing Steel, he told her to be cagey. It’s a good thing I know she loves him or I’d slap that man.”
Giulia grinned. “She’s leading him around by the dick.”
“How it should be, kemo sabe,” I said sagely. “Although, I don’t wanna know about my bro’s dick, even if you’re leading him around by it. Knowing he has a Terminator penis is more than enough.”
She whistled under her breath. “I’m a lucky woman.”
“Enough,” I groused, but I dropped my feet to the ground and stared at the calendar. “When do you want to talk about your new design?”
“I figure I’ll let you come up with it.”
“You don’t want any say in it?”
“Nah.”
My brows rose, but inside, excitement hit me. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. I trust you.” She rubbed her brand, a miniature version of one of the skulls Nyx had decorating his back. He must think I was a moron if he didn’t realize I knew what each one represented—the death, by his hands, of a pedophile. “I think you get me, and you, more than anyone, understand the vibes of the club.”
Studying her, I granted her a small smile. I knew how it felt to feel lost, but my reasons were totally different than hers. She was trying to make the club her family, but there was no point in that. Not that I was going to tell her she was wrong or anything.
Did I look like I had a death wish?
Cruz, in a rare display of openness, had already told me about the rumors whispering through the compound about her…but it wasn’t like I hadn’t figured that out either. Not when she had two skulls now, which meant she and Nyx had gone a-hunting together. That also meant Giulia had pedo blood on her hands, and she wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it.
Me? I was the one losing all the sleep. Well, me and Mav. The local insomniacs. We should have started a club of our own together.
“I’ll text you a design, okay?” I wriggled my shoulders. “Might not be for a few days.”
“You busy?” She arched a brow. “That’s great.”
“Yeah.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “It’s great but I’m a one-woman-show, Giulia. There’s only so much I can do.”
“If you need help around the place, I’ll gladly pitch in.”
If she’d told me she shat eggs, I’d have been less surprised. “You want to help out?”
She shrugged, and I immediately sensed she regretted making the offer, which made me feel like a piece of shit. “I mean, it was just a suggestion.”
I actually liked my sister-in-law. She was good for my brother, and if it was true that they’d hunted as a pair, then I figured Giulia was the kind of crazy who could take Nyx unto death. But she was delicate, more delicate than I thought Nyx knew. She’d been assaulted, attacked in the press, vilified… then it hit me.
Her assault had gone down in the new bar the Sinners had started in West Orange… where she worked.
No woman could be satisfied working around the compound. Disinfecting shit only took up so much time, and while cooking for a bunch of bikers was probably like feeding an army, I had to figure that wasn’t enough job satisfaction for anyone other than a clubwhore. Which Giulia definitely wasn’t.
“How would you like to help out?”
She stiffened a little. “It’s okay, Indy. It was just a suggestion. I don’t need your pity.”
“Good thing,” I retorted, “because you weren’t about to get any.” I shrugged when she glared at me. “You surprised me.”
“Why? Think I’m only good for cooking, cleaning, and fucking your brother?”
I winced. “Well, he’d be the one who’d know about the latter, as for the rest, I didn’t think so, but to be honest, I never really thought about it.”
“Well, I have.” She bit her bottom lip, her shoulders hunching a little as she mumbled, “I need to get out of the clubhouse. Tormenting the clubwhores has been fun, but I liked working at the bar, and every time I drive past it, I want to scream. I was thinking about the diner, and I know Steel would give me a job because they’re crazy busy and need all the help they can get—”