“Yeah, things have improved.” A hell of a fucking lot, now that Joseph’s guns were out of the picture.

“Nitro!” Devil called out when he spotted us. He sat on one of the couches with a chick on his lap, a smile a mile wide on his face.

As I took a step in his direction, Tatum held back. “You go,” she said, “I’m going to say hi to Kree.”

I followed her gaze to see Kree approaching. Smacking her ass, I let her go and headed over to see Devil.

He jerked his chin at Tatum. “She the one who’s been fucking with your head?”

Glancing at Tatum, I nodded. “Yeah,” I said, distracted by the smile on her face. She was fucking beautiful when she smiled.

Devil motioned for the chick to move off his lap. She pouted and grumbled some shit I couldn’t hear.

“Babe, I told you I’d be busy until later,” he said to her as he stood.

“You’re always busy,” she snapped, snatching her bag up off the table.

Devil watched as she took a step away from him. “Where you going? I thought we were on for later?”

“I’m going to find someone who doesn’t ignore me,” she said, leaving.

Devil shook his head as he stared after her. “Fuck. Women.”

“You gonna go after her, brother? What’s that thing you told me about laying down and letting pussy whip you?”

He turned to me with a huge grin and slapped me on the back. “Nah, Nitro, I’m a lover, not a fighter. That one’s got a temper on her. She’s too fucking much for me to handle. I’d rather get a drink.”

A few minutes later, we had beer and I sucked some back while I watched Tatum with Kree. Her gaze caught mine and I jerked my chin at her to get over here. She lifted a finger to indicate she’d be a minute. When her attention shifted back to Kree, I dropped my eyes to check out her ass. She’d worn those skintight jeans of hers I loved, and I struggled to drag my gaze from them.

“Nitro.” King’s voice sliced through the air and I looked around to find him standing next to Devil. “I see you brought the blonde with you.”

I held his gaze. I knew what he was asking. King never missed a beat and always liked to know what members were up to in their private lives. The crazy fucker was the most paranoid person I knew and was always concerned that outsiders would come in with an agenda.

Nodding, I said, “Yeah. That a problem?”

He drank some of his whisky while silently contemplating that. Finally, he said, “If you don’t think it will be, I trust that.”

The noise in the room picked up and we all turned to see Kick and Evie enter, a huge smile on Kick’s face as he held his wife close.

“That fucker ever stop smiling?” Devil asked.

“You’d be smiling like that too if King had finally let you back out into the real world,” I said.

Devil grinned. “True.”

King changed the subject. “Anyone know Kree’s story?”

I drank some beer before answering him. “Nope. All I know is she’s from Brisbane. Nash recommended her when Kick asked and to be honest, she was a good recommendation. Always on time, works hard and keeps to herself.”

King watched her as she laughed with Tatum. “Yeah, but I wanna know everything there is to know about anyone working here. Find out and get back to me.”

Tatum said goodbye to Kree and walked to where we stood as Kree exited the room. She met King’s gaze and pushed her shoulders back, standing tall. She never backed down and I fucking loved that about her.

“Tatum Lee, I see you’ve decided to hang out with us again,” King said, his voice dangerously low. I felt my protective streak kick in and knew that if he pushed this with her, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from stepping in for her. And I wasn’t sure how that would go down with King.

Before she could answer him, Devil’s eyes were drawn to the other side of the room and he whistled low. “Fuck me… I’m out of here.” With that, he strode towards a brunette I’d never seen before.

Tatum held King’s gaze. “This time it’s completely my choice to be here, King.”

“We’re not gonna have a conflict of interests, are we?”

She frowned. “To do with what?”

“Your boss.”

“Whatever happens between your club and Billy has nothing to do with me, so no, no conflict of interests.”

He drank the rest of his whisky and reached across to place the empty glass on the counter. When he looked at her again, he said, “Good.”

“Why did you take my back when my lawyer friend, Duvall, was giving me a hard time outside Billy’s club?”

His nostrils flared as he remembered that encounter. “Tatum, if a person looks out for me or someone I care about, I look out for them. You were there for Evie when she needed someone. I won’t forget that.”

“King!” Kick motioned for King to come over. It looked like he and some of the guys were revved up about something and King left us to check it out.

Tatum’s arms circled me as she moved close. Her mouth pressed to my throat and she kissed me there before lifting her face to me. Smiling, she said, “I’m glad you brought me. I needed to come back here and change the feelings I associate with this place.”

Placing my hand on her ass, I said, “Is that working?”

“It will.”

I held her gaze for a long few moments as unsaid words passed between us. “A lot’s changed since then.”

“Yeah, it has.”

I dropped my face and placed my mouth close to her ear so she could hear what I said. So she couldn’t mistake a word of it. “I want a lot more to change still, Vegas.”

Her arms tightened around me. “Me too.”

 

* * *

 

Five hours later, the party was in full swing, but I was ready to take Tatum home. Hell, I’d been ready to leave for four and a half fucking hours. But the club needed the time together to let our hair down after months of being tightly wound, so I stayed. The only member who seemed unable to relax was Hyde. He sat in the corner drinking all night, mostly alone, and mostly with a scowl on his face. That wasn’t unusual behaviour for him, though. Jekyll and fucking Hyde. He was either up or down, happy or grumpy as fuck. There was no in-between for him.