Chapter Twenty-Two
Clint
When I’d gone home to grab a few clean shirts last night, I didn’t expect to run into Jo—in her panties—and then fuck her. It was right out of my dreams. All day long the memories were on an auto loop in my head and my dick was damn uncomfortable. I’d been avoiding seeing her for weeks and in one night, I shot it all to hell.
The absolute last thing I wanted to do today was go home and see Jo and Nana. But Nana had called at lunch and said we needed to have a family meeting. When I was a kid, family meetings were only about bad things, so Nana had something up her sleeve for sure.
Nana looked up from her evening game shows when I walked in the door. “Clint, dear, thank you for coming home. Why don’t you get washed up and meet us in here for our little chat?”
“Okay,” I said, looking for Jo. She wasn’t around, but Nana had her monitor on the coffee table. Jo must be in her room somewhere. After taking off my dirty work boots, I headed for my bedroom.
The memories smacked me like a two by four when I walked through the door. The last time I’d changed out of my work shirt in this room, Jo had unbuttoned it for me. I’d asked Bettes and Krista to clean everything out and move it back to Jo’s room, but they couldn’t box up the memories.
After changing out of my shop uniform, I went back to the living room and sat on the couch. Jo sat next to me and looked a little nervous. She didn’t know Nana’s news either. Interesting.
“Well?” I asked. “What’s with the family meeting, Nana?”
“I’ve decided to move in with your cousin Missy,” Nana said, folding her hands in her lap. “I think with the kids and Carl being shipped out, it’ll be more of the environment I’m used to. Not that I don’t love you, Clint, or you, Jo. But you’re both young and single. This isn’t the place for an old woman. I need family, grandkids. I just think it would be the best for everyone.”
“Where does Missy live?” Jo asked carefully. She was probably thinking about her job. I was thinking about her.
“Bellingham,” I answered for Nana.
“Oh.” Jo put on a smile. “I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time with the grandkids.”
“That’s two hours north of here, Nana. That’s practically Canada,” I pointed out. “It’s a least a five to six-hour drive from your home in Ilwaco. Are you sure this is what you want?”
“Yes.” Nana nodded. “I’ve given it some thought. When we started this plan, we knew it might be temporary. So, I’ve decided to move out at the end of the week. I don’t have much to pack and Missy will come down to pick me up on Saturday. I’m going to leave some extra money for you, Jo. I’m sure Clint will let you stay here through your graduation.” She raised an eyebrow at me.
“Of course.” I turned to Jo, but she was staring straight ahead at the wall. “You can stay as long as you need to.”
“Thank you, Nana. That’s very generous.” Jo put on a bright smile and stood up. “If you both will excuse me, I don’t want to be late for class.”
Jo closed the front door behind her and I glared at Nana. “This is her livelihood, you know,” I muttered. “You just told her she was fired. She can’t go up to Bellingham. She’s going to be looking for a nursing job soon.”
“Clint,” Nana said with a little bit of edge to her voice. I hadn’t heard that edge since she lined me out about my gambling. “It’s my life too, and I can do what I want. In case you haven’t noticed, Jo is a confident and capable woman. She’s going to land on her feet—even without you. You two can’t keep going on like this.”
The more appropriate question was, how would I do without Jo?
“Wait, what do you mean we can’t keep going on like this?” I asked.
“I’ve known about your romance. We are all living in the same house. You thought I didn’t notice?” She shook her head. “I don’t know what you did, but you either need to fix it or let her go. Jo is just going to ruin her life pining away after you if I stay here.”
“What?” My jaw dropped. Nana knew? “How did you know?”
“Oh, Clint.” She laughed. “I saw you ask her to dance the foxtrot—I knew. Then later...well, if I turn my hearing aids up real high, I can hear the neighbor farting in the shower.” She laughed at her own joke and then sobered up. “That girl loves you and you love her. What I can’t understand is why you’re torturing both of you.”
I stared. When did my grandmother become a relationship expert?
* * *
Bettes had a last-minute appointment with one of her catering clients and wasn’t able to sit with Nana while Jo went to class. So it was up to me to stay. Tate and the rest of us still had some planning to do on the trip to Reno, so after Jo left, I invited the guys over for pizza. Tate, Rip and Roach all sat around the living room. This was Roach’s first big operation with the club so he brought some cigars and I broke out a case of beer we had in the fridge. Rip rolled out the big map on the coffee table and was studying it.
“So, if we’re dropping off the vehicle here...” He marked the guy’s house with the remote control. “We’ll be dropping into Reno from South Lake Tahoe or from Carson City and driving north. Minimal visibility on roadways that are part of the Silver Souls territory.”
“We can’t come up through the south through Carson City. The Riot Riders just took that as their territory and they’re a bigger problem than the Silver Souls,” I explained.
“Oh!” Jo walked through the front door. Her eyes went wide and she coughed a bit at the cigar smoke. “I didn’t realize we had guests.”
“Sorry, we have to get some work done.” I shrugged. “Can I catch up with you later? About earlier?” We needed to talk about Nana moving out and what Jo planned to do.
“Yeah.” She ducked her head. “Good night, everyone.”
We continued our planning. We threw out multiple options, but it all boiled down to one thing. “You can’t go in there alone,” Tate grumbled, stubbing out his cigar. “But if I put another guy in the Lambo with you, the Silver Souls are gonna notice.”
“It’s fine. I can take care of myself,” I argued. We’d been at it for the last hour.
“What about me?” Jo asked from the hallway.
“How long have you been standing there?” I demanded. “What did you hear?”
Jo sat on the arm of the couch—right next to Roach. “I heard that you need some backup and that it can’t be one of the guys. How about me?” She shrugged. “You guys are going to Reno, right? We’ll be just another couple of vacationers.”
She was wearing a pair of old flannel shorts and her legs were dangerously close to Roach’s arm. I scowled.
“It would solve our problems.” Tate stroked his beard. “You ever been in a fight?”
“No.” I jumped up and started to pace the room. “This is ridiculous, Tate. You can’t send her on a run. Would you send Bettes on a run?”
Tate loved his wife more than anything. He always looked at her like she was some angel who had somehow chosen him. There was no way he would put her in danger like that.
“Is she your old lady then?” Tate challenged.
I wanted to scream that, yes, she was my old lady. But I’d treated her like shit and I didn’t deserve to have her. So I kept silent.
“No,” Jo said, shaking her head and looking at me. “I’m not his old lady or girlfriend. I’m just me and I want to help.”
“Her choice then.” Tate shrugged. “If you decide to do this, Jo, the club will be in your debt. We’ll consider you a friend.”
“Holy shit.” I ran my fingers through my hair and looked at Jo. All sorts of scenarios ran through my head and they all ended up with her dead. “You can’t do this, Jo. We aren’t playing around. You could get hurt or worse.”
“So could you.” She turned to Tate. “I’ve really enjoyed helping out the ladies. I don’t have many friends and I want to help you—all of you. I want to pay back the club for their generosity.”
“No, let’s just forget this idea and think of something else.” I looked to Tate. “Let’s just trailer it into town. We can rent something in Tahoe and then drive it down the hill.”
“That’ll increase the drive time significantly,” he argued, “and it will make the driver a sitting duck. We’re just gonna put Jo in the passenger seat and let Rip drive, if you don’t want to.”
“No,” I growled. “You wouldn’t put Bettes in this kind of danger, and you’re sure as shit not gonna do it with Jo.”
“That’s not your decision to make,” she said, her voice turning to steel. “It wasn’t your decision before you fucking dumped me and it’s not your decision now. Stop talking about me like I’m a thing you can control. I want to go, so shut the fuck up.”
The room turned silent and I forgot that the other guys were around. It was just me and her. She was right. It was her decision. We weren’t even a couple anymore, so it wasn’t like we could talk it out as a team. I had no say.
I lifted my hands up in defeat. “Fine.”
It was a fucking bad idea, but she wanted to do it. It wasn’t my decision.
“All right.” Tate held his hand out to Jo. “The Demon Horde appreciates your help.”