Joker (Hell's Ankhor #8) - Aiden Bates Page 0,7

me stupid.

“Nah, no way,” I muttered.

“What do you mean, Brennan?” Blade asked. He narrowed his eyes curiously at me. “Joker?”

Brennan nodded at the half-finished carving I was fiddling with. “Come on, Joker, you haven’t shown them that?”

“Shown us what?” Heath asked.

I clenched the carving a little tighter, but that only made everyone’s gaze fall to it. There was no way to get out of this now—Brennan wasn’t going to back off, that much was clear from the way he was smirking at me. And I wasn’t going to let him win this little standoff, even if it made me uncomfortable.

I tossed the carving to Blade. He caught it easily and turned it over in his hands, examining it while I crossed my arms over my chest and sneered. I didn’t care what he thought about it. At least, that’s what I told myself, trying to ignore the nerves curling in my belly.

“You carved this?” Blade asked as he examined the wood.

“Well, yeah,” I said. “So what?”

“It’s good,” Blade said, sounding a little impressed and surprised. “Really good. I didn’t know you could do this.”

A strange mix of irritation and self-satisfaction replaced the nerves I felt—I was pleased he thought it was good, but at the same time, I was annoyed it surprised him.

“Why do you sound so shocked?” I asked with an edge of frustration in my voice. “I’m good for more than just the grunt work I do around here.”

It was true, I mostly did manual labor around Ankhor Works and Ballast, but I’d also never asked for more responsibility, out of fear that Blade or Priest would ask me to do something I wasn’t capable of doing. But Blade didn’t need to know that.

Blade blinked at my sudden outburst but didn’t argue. Instead, he just looked a little thoughtful as he peered at me.

“Hey, Joker,” Maverick said. He took the carving from Blade’s hands and ran his thumb over the emerging shape of the dog. “All the little wooden toys you’ve given Gracie… you made those?”

Ever since Grace had joined the Hell’s Ankhor family, I’d been giving her little carvings I’d done—carefully sanded to glassy-smooth, of course. Little dogs, blocks, people, whatever caught my attention. They weren’t anything fancy, but I’d made her a lot. It made me happy to see her playing with them, spread out on the floor of the clubhouse or the backyard. And I’d never told Maverick and Jonah I made them, I just kept letting them appear. They both knew I was the source, but apparently they’d thought I was buying them.

“Yeah,” I said with a shrug. “It’s nothing.”

“That’s not nothing,” Maverick said. “I didn’t realize you were making them. That’s…” His expression softened, then he cleared his throat. “Thank you, Joker.”

I caught Brennan’s eye. His expression was open and almost—shocked. He glanced at the carving in Maverick’s hands, then met my eyes again with a shy smile. I felt my cheeks heat and quickly looked at my feet. I didn’t know what I expected from his reaction, but seeing his careful interest made something in my chest clench. I didn’t know if it was embarrassment, or maybe something closer to pleasure.

Everyone else nodded in agreement as they passed the carving around, admiring it. I flushed a little, staring at my feet. The warmth that bloomed in me was a little unfamiliar, but not bad, and I bit back my immediate instinct to brush it off with a joke or a snide comment. Because even though it was a little awkward, I did want them to realize I could do more than mop floors and fix engines. Even if there were limits to what I was willing to admit.

“Well, that’s it, then,” Blade said with a definitive nod. “You should work with Brennan on the sign.”

The warmth dissipated like steam as the familiar old anxiety came back. “What?”

“You clearly have the skills,” Blade said. “And Brennan’s a professional, if he thinks you can do it, you can.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “It’ll look great. And it’ll be even better if we can say a club member made the sign. You’ll do us proud.”

It was clear from Blade’s excited grin that there was no way I was getting out of this assignment without a fight. Honestly, I didn’t want to back out. I was nervous, sure, but… maybe I could do this. Blade was giving me a chance here, a real chance, to step up in the club and prove I still