to ask Janna back to see if she can do a voice identification. But for now, we’re good.”
“I’d never forget that voice,” Janna told him, and he looked at her.
“That’s good, Janna, but hopefully we won’t need that.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t come in earlier,” she said in a small voice.
“You’re here now and that’s all that matters. Now, I’ll go get that printout of your statement, you can sign it and then you two can go,” Marker replied.
He got a nod from Janna before he took off.
Beck curled her so they were front to front.
“Still good?” he asked.
She gave him a little smile. “Yeah. Still good since the last time you asked half a minute ago.”
He just glided his hand up her spine into her hair and tucked her cheek to his chest.
“Shouldn’t you call someone in your club?” she asked.
“About what?”
“Well, this guy was in your club,” she pointed out. “Shouldn’t they know?”
He dropped his hand to the back of her neck and she tipped her head to look at him.
“Babe, I’m gonna have to step outta the club.”
She appeared confused. “Why?”
“Because I made a deal to inform on them.”
“But there was nothing to inform on, except one of them was a killer, and they got rid of him so why would they care?”
“It doesn’t work like that. In a brotherhood, it’s about honesty. I’ve been lying to them for months.”
“Lying to the other them. You told me earlier tonight you have a new name, a new charter.”
Well, damn.
He stared down at her.
“So you didn’t do anything to this club,” she finished.
Shit.
“Do they have to know you were set to inform on them?” she asked. “Or, the old them?”
He hoped not.
“No,” he answered.
“Okay, then, do you want to be out of that club?”
Yes.
No.
Fuck.
“I think they’re goin’ in a good direction,” he shared.
“So, don’t step out.”
“I watched every one of them go at Rosie.”
“Ah,” she murmured.
“Core asked after you,” he said, though he had no fucking clue why.
“Core?”
“A brother. He wants me to bring you around to party.”
Something slid over her face he couldn’t read.
Then she breathed, “Oh my God, my mother would absolutely lose her mind if she knew her daughter was partying with bikers.”
Beck again stared down at her.
“Porn costumes and makeup and partying with bikers,” she said, now something happening to her face he’d never seen. “She’d . . . she’d . . . totally freak.”
That was when Beck found himself grinning because she burst into uncontrollable giggles.
“I think . . . I think I want to try a reconciliation just so I can bring you over and introduce her to you,” she said through her cackling. “That would be, like . . . hilarious.”
And that was when Beck found himself smiling down at her.
“You c-could b-be all big and hot and s-scarred and b-b-badass and stare her down. Share about your record. Wear your knife on your belt. Oh my God,” she bent to the side, still in his arms, “I c-can’t breathe.”
He hated to say what he had to say.
And he gave her some time to laugh, get it out, and that time he gave was selfish, since he got to watch her do it and it was really freaking cute.
But then he had to say what he had to say.
“You do know you’re losin’ it ’cause you’re letting some serious shit go,” he murmured.
She straightened in his arms and looked into his eyes, lifting her hands to rest them on his chest.
“Oh, I know, honey, and isn’t it awesome?” Her attention shifted over his shoulder then back to him. “Call your club. Don’t cut ties until you’ve had time to decide. Lieutenant Marker is coming back. I’ll sign this thing. Then we’ll stop and get ice cream on the way home. My mom was mean, and my dad was pretty much a non-entity. I think he was more scared of her than I was. But he had this great hot fudge recipe he got from his mom. And sometimes when Mom was at choir practice, or prayer circle, or whatever, we’d make it. I’ll make it for you. You’ll love it.”
Her dad sounded like a limp-dick motherfucker.
But Janna being bossy was all kinds of cute.
That said, he was not a chocolate and sweets kind of guy.
He was a beer and nachos kind of guy.
“Sounds great,” he muttered.
She beamed up at him, rolled up on her toes and touched her mouth to his.
Then she pulled out of his arms and turned to Marker. “Is it