a knock at my door on Sunday while I’m scrubbing out the bathroom. I haven’t decided on tiles yet so it’s staying just a little gross until I do.
Every time I ask Tomi for opinions on shit he tells me as long as I’m happy he’s happy which is sweet but not at all helpful.
So I open the door to find Trink and Keely standing there with big casserole dishes full of food. I stare at them both like an idiot.
“Did Tomi not call? Course he fucking didn’t. We’re here for family dinner,” Trink says, pushing me gently out of the way and bouncing her way into the kitchen.
Keely smiles a little softer at me, tilting her head and shrugging like there’s nothing she can do about her unruly children. Fully grown adult children who she raised better than this, I’m sure.
“It’s fine! It’s totally okay, I was just—oh.”
The words die in my throat as I look past her to see Tomi out on the front lawn with the rest of his family lifting a giant wooden table from a trailer. King, Hawk, and Hellion are already drinking while their sons do all the heavy lifting, the sounds of their joking and laughter ringing through the quiet streets.
No one would dare come out to complain when it’s the bikers.
“They’re going to take the table around back, Tomi said you have a porch out there big enough for us all,” Keely says, stepping in and kissing my cheek like this is all very normal and not completely fucking insane.
What the hell is happening here?
“I’ve already cooked all the meats, we just need to do salads. Reece has the drinks already, don’t you worry about a thing.”
I glance over at Keely and find her still giving me that same smile. I’m just standing around like a dumbass. “I could’ve… come to you guys. No need to bring everything to me.”
Trink snorts from where she’s raiding my fridge for cheese. “The table is a housewarming present from Mom and Dad, so you get delivery and the pleasure of the lot of us for dinner. Mom’s being nosy, Tomi has been all secretive and she’s getting fucking twitchy about it.”
Keely shoots her a look and says, “I didn’t want you feeling overwhelmed at our place again. Besides, Tomi said he wanted Rue here in the morning to help out with the cladding. I hope you don’t mind, Tomi said it would be okay?”
Now I feel like an asshole so I rush to say, “No, it’s—I mean, thank you. That’s very kind of you and the table is lovely.”
Trink snorts at me and shoos me into the bathroom to clean up for dinner. When I walk back out they’re all ferrying the dishes out to the porch and I find myself in the kitchen with Speck, alive and only a little worse for wear.
I try not to cry.
He grins at me and gives me a look before I dart in close to give him a hug. “Fuck, I’m glad you’re alive.”
He scoffs at me. “I’m harder to kill than that, give me some credit!”
Keely walks in to see us hugging and before I can get too awkward about it she smiles at me like I’ve done something right… so I scurry away to find Tomi, ignoring Speck laughing his ass off at me.
The table is round, thank God, because there's no freaking way I'd be okay with sitting at the head and being the center of attention.
It's bad enough they all keep trying to talk to me.
It takes me three times as long as normal to get my shit together and fill my plate up with food. The roast meats smell freaking amazing, the kind of homestyle I haven't had since my dad died, and there's every type of vegetable you could think of on this table.
"How are your classes going, Angel?" Keely asks, and I try not to choke on my potatoes.
"They're good. I'm in my final year so it's a lot harder, takes a lot longer to study and do the classwork.”
"Doubled her course load too so she should be busy," Tomi says, nudging my leg under the table. I don't know what exactly he's trying to tell me because I'm too busy sweating under his dad's keen gaze. Fuck, his uncles both look like they're trying to look through my skin and into my brain from the other side of the table.
Trink sighs and pokes at her own plate. "You just had