Page 76 of Idaho

"Maybe I'll-"

"Leave him," I told Hush, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him from going after Lockout. "You'll just make it worse if you talk to him now. Let him get himself under control, then you, or I, can speak to him."

"I don't know," Hush muttered, then a wicked grin spread over his face. "This is kind of my opportunity to pay him back."

"For what?" I asked as we all started walking toward the clubhouse.

"Back when I was first seein' Seek, he meddled. Might be the perfect time to repay him."

"Trust me," I told him with a grin. "You'll have plenty of time for that. I guarantee you my brother will keep depriving himself."

"What makes you say that?" Priest asked.

"It's how he is. Always taking responsibility for fucking everything. As if he has to carry the damn world on his shoulders. He's not going to allow himself to touch a woman he wants. Not yet anyway. Not until he breaks."

"Looks like he broke to me," Smoke said with a grin.

I chuckled. "Nope. That was just him losing his temper. It'd take a lot more than that to make him completely lose it. Trust me."

We paused as we came up to Hush and Seek's apartment. "The real question is," Smoke said, scratching his chin, "how long do we keep it to ourselves?"

Priest snorted in amusement. "I give you guys twenty minutes."

"You think we'll last that long?" Rip asked with a laugh. "And here I thought you knew us." Smoke shook his head mournfully as though the thought of Priest giving us that much credit was upsetting.

Hush chuckled as we all walked into the apartment. The women quit talking as we arrived, and Sloane's face softened as she saw her husband standing there. She got up and went to him with their new baby. He curled his arms around them protectively and spoke to her in a low voice.

Moving away to give them what privacy we could, I looked over and caught Eva staring at them with a wistful look on her face. Those gorgeous eyes turned and met mine and I grinned at the way her cheeks went pink. I was going to make sure she had that someday, if she wanted it. Or at least has the opportunity to find it, I amended. I couldn't give that to her, but taking care of Krier meant no other threats would come after her. I'd make sure of it. Somehow I was going to make an example of him.

"Idaho?" Hush called out. "We're headin' to church."

"I'll be there in just a minute." Walking over, I stopped next to Eva as she stood up from the couch she'd been sitting on. I cupped her cheek. "You good?"

"Yeah," she replied softly, her cheeks going even more red as everyone stared at us.

I didn't give a shit anymore. It wasn't going to be me who was the talk of the club once the guys spilled what happened in that parking lot. Smoke already looked like he was about to burst if he didn't say something. He wasn't going to last the twenty minutes. "I have to go meet with everyone else," I told her. "But Dash and Mel are still patrolling outside. Bear's next door. And we'll be right downstairs."

"I'm fine," she insisted. "I'm having a good time."

"Alright. I'll be back up in a while and we can discuss the plan for tonight." I hadn't even made it out the door when the questions started flying.

CHAPTER 26

Eva

The door hadn't been shut for more than a few seconds before it opened again and Keely popped her head in. "Are they gone?" she whispered.

"Oh my God!" Dani cried, getting up and going to hug her sheepish sister. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she told her, returning the embrace.

"The guys were pissed," Susie told her with a grim look.

"Oh...I know." She sighed and came over to sit on a recliner on the other side of the room from me. "Lock lost his mind on me. What was I supposed to do?" she asked, looking around for support. "Sit here not helping when I knew I could?"

"You don't think Static had it under control?" Gwen asked, genuinely puzzled.

"He did, but there's one thing I know and that's 'the more lawyers, the better'. " She grinned at Dani.