“So don’t get caught,” Nic says, startling me. She’s leaning against the doorjamb. Her arms are folded over her chest, pulling up her shirt and—thankfully—revealing a small pair of cotton shorts. Decency—I guess she has some of it. “Look, Jer, this is important to Alex. She asked me to talk to Duke.”
And suddenly it all makes sense. My sister is the mastermind behind this little plan. If it was Duke’s idea, he’d just do it himself and fuck Trigger if he didn’t like it. But this is Nic being Nic and trying to protect the people she loves—and she loves Alex like the sister she never had. Apparently she loves Duke enough to spare him Trigger’s wrath. I’m her fucking brother, and she can’t spare me? If I sent Christmas cards, my bitch sister would be off my list.
Duke silently watches Nic push off the doorjamb and shuffle over to the fridge. I watch his eyes travel from hers down to her protruding stomach and then slide down her legs to her bare feet. Duke looks at Nic in a way I’ve never seen a man look at a woman before. I mean, people say they’re in love all the time. They say they care about people, but then shit happens. They leave, or they get sent away. But none of them ever look at the person they say they love the way Duke looks at Nic. It’s like he’s making sure she’s okay and she’s got all her limbs.
Duke told me the last time we were changing the oil in her car that he needs help painting the spare bedroom for the baby. He doesn’t need help, and I called him on that, but then he told me that being a man means being involved. It means sometimes doing lame shit like painting a room and putting together baby furniture, and that as the kid’s uncle, I have a responsibility to make sure he or she is taken care of. It kind of freaked me out—made the whole baby thing that much more real. Everything is changing, and I don’t know how to deal with half of it. Like now, being told to set up a meet between Alex and her brother. It’s heavy shit that I worry I’m going to seriously fuck up.
“Neither of you want to take the heat,” I mumble.
“No,” Nic says. She opens the fridge and pulls out the peanut butter and jelly, then sets them on the counter and turns back toward me. She turns her attention to Duke and nods her head. “Tell him, baby.”
“What you’re about to hear stays between us, got it?” he says, and I nod my head. I know better than to run my mouth—usually—about shit a member tells me. It’s been months, and I haven’t told anyone about the bitch Ian had me get rid of. I can keep my mouth shut when it matters.
“We put it to a vote—moving Junior to a more permanent location—and Trigger lost his shit. As far as the club’s concerned, whether or not Princess and Junior see each other again is up to her old man. She’s not voted in and likely won’t be unless she can win Grady over, so it’s not a club problem. But it becomes a club problem if a member interferes with another member’s personal life. We can’t have tension among the brothers.”
“Yeah, that policy is bullshit. You all are always up each other’s asses. This is going to cost me my patch.”
“Not if you didn’t know you weren’t supposed to do it,” Duke says.
Bullshit. These assholes talk about their policies and codes, and they never fucking follow them. It’s just a convenient excuse to avoid getting their hands dirty.
Nic sighs loudly from her spot and taps her foot on the floor. She opens her mouth but waits a moment before speaking.
“The club can’t handle any more stress, Jer. We lost Chief, and with this Italian in town, everybody is on edge. The guys are all on security detail every single day, and Ian is still looking for Darren’s parents. Duke isn’t going to be able to focus and keep us safe if he’s distracted with thinking that Ryan is going to go off on him at any moment.” Nic puts a hand on her stomach, and it’s fucking unfair because she knows using my niece or nephew against me works every time. The way I see it, motherhood doesn’t really run in her genes, and I don’t want to do anything to make being a mom more difficult on her. Growing up without a mom sucks, and I don’t want that for my niece or nephew.
“Fine. Fucking fine,” I say. Pushing back from the table, I glare at Duke whose expression is as flat as it has been for the last several minutes. He doesn’t like to talk about all the shit that’s fucked in our world right now, and I don’t blame him, but hell. Why couldn’t either of them tell Alex that she’s just going to have to deal with Trigger over this shit? Pussies, the both of them.
“By the way,” I say, “Miss Priss was asking about the Italian.”
“Don’t tell her shit,” Duke says. “Club business.”
“I know that. Just letting you know. She was pushy.”
Nic’s back is to me as she works at making her sandwich. She turns around mid-bite and says, “Tell her it’s being taken care of and she doesn’t have anything to worry about.”