Cocky Secrets (Cocker Brothers #29)

99. Sofia Sol

NINETY-NINE

Sofia Sol

M y chest is pounding like my heart wants out.

I was teasing him for the fuck of it, that’s all.

Was there more underneath that, if I’m honest with myself? I brought him food, but nobody asked me to. Why did I do that? I don’t bring men food unless I’m eating, too. This was more like—I shudder to believe it—taking care of him.

He pushed an officer, Celia told me over our meal, to sacrifice himself for her. If he came out as the bad guy who was also protective of the sweet girl in our club, they’d be distracted by keeping a closer eye on him—the wild card—it would make her look good, and take the magnifying glass off her. Then all the stories matched, and the cops wanted to let the Ciphers off the hook anyway. Everyone who sees as much darkness as cops and bikers do, are perfectly fine with an evil fuck like that shopkeeper biting the dust.

As she told me how it all went down at the station, all I could think about was what Luke had done for her. Could have put him behind bars for a night or more, and that didn’t matter to him. It shouldn’t, and it didn’t.

There we all were, satiated by Melodi’s delicious cooking, and Luke was outside, taking it upon himself to fix Tonk Jr.’s broken ride just in case it was needed. We all know Junior is smart as hell, and the chances of him coming up with the scheme to ride and impress Tonk Sr., were high. Only trouble was, his Harley has been busted for over three years. The guy is book smart, not mechanics smart. He looks at an engine and none of it makes sense. Luke is the opposite—he sits next to one and it purrs for him in no time. It was generous to offer his expertise. I didn’t like to think how hungry he must be after the interrogations and then hours of repair.

Selfless and starving isn’t cool.

That’s why I brought him dinner.

No other reason.

Taking a seat in one of the antique rocking chairs center stage of the old back porch, I stare at the spot where Atlas and I changed everything, while the laughter of Ciphers rides on the breeze again. Melodi smacking greedy hands that won’t let her leftovers go in the fridge just yet. Scythe’s deep baritone above it all. “We are Saints fans in this house, Jett, not Falcons fans!”

“How many times do I have to tell you? My nephew, Eric, plays for the Falcons so I am rooting for the Falcons until he retires!”

“You’re rooting for ‘em because your ass is from Atlanta and no matter how many years you been livin’ here, we still can’t beat it outta you! Go Saints better come out of your mouth from now on, I mean it, or this flat-screen will crash to the ground, and you won’t be watching anything! You got me?”

Honey Badger and Fuse’s unmistakeable laughter drifts to me, before Tyler announces, “I’d pay cold hard cash to watch you try to smash that thing!”

“Oh, I’d do it!” Scythe demands. “How much you want to bet?”

Dad laughs, “Keep your money, Ty, you need it for all those kids you keep popping out.”

Melodi won’t have any of that. “Who’s popping out what? Excuse me? Because if it was Tyler he’d have gotten a vasectomy by now!”

“Hey!” Ty laughs, “I’ll have you know I’m very supportive of Inez.”

“When it’s not you in pain, you’re a peach!” To the rest of the Ciphers she loudly explains, “My Tyler needs more pain killers than any of us. It’s a blessing he’s not an addict or we’d never get any for ourselves when we need ‘em.”

Scythe maintains his stance. “Jett needs to pick a side, this side, and stick with it. Loyalty is number one for us, always has been. Is it us or them?”

I stop rocking.

Stop listening.

Everything goes numb inside me.

What have I done?

The back door’s clatter surprises me into looking over. A part of me jumps, hoping it’s Luke. But that’s crazy because he’s not in the house. I’m losing my mind.

Atlas and Celia walk up, porch creaking under their boots.

She swats at the air. “Holes are so big in the mesh out here, you can hear mosquitos laughing as they fly in.”

Atlas teases her, “Ceels, you have to kill the thing or it’ll just come back, stick his sucker in you with that poison so you don’t know it’s happening until he’s long gone.”

“I remembered too late. I saw it and thought, get it off me!” She reenacts the swatting, mood light. They take the tattered chairs opposite me, kicking their feet on this shitty coffee table, and leaning back.

Atlas throws his hands behind his head, long hair draped over his shoulders. He lets out a satisfied groan. “Melodi’s cooking, man, I never get tired of it.”

Celia rests her hand over her stomach. “So full but I didn’t want to stop.”

“Never do, never will.” He jogs his chin at me. “Where’d you disappear to?”

Bringing one boot up on my chair, the other flat on the hardwood floor, I shrug, “Took some food out to Luke.”

Atlas’s eyes flicker. “Why’d you do that?”

Celia parrots him, knowing me well. “Yeah, why? You ate with us. You mean you just brought Luke food?”

“It’s not that crazy.”

“It’s definitely a first.”

Annoyed, I stare off and mutter, “Atlas, you look like you could shit a diamond. Loosen up.”

Celia glances over, smacks his arm. “What’s up with your face?”

His voice is on edge. “Did Luke ask you to serve him?”

“ Serve him? I didn’t serve anybody!”

“You brought him food when he’s got two working legs.”

“Okay, first thing you need to do is,” I lean forward, dropping both boots down with a thump. “Get off my back. And the second thing is get off my back!!”

Atlas just glares.

Leaning over to see him better, Celia asks, “What is going on that I don’t know about?”

“Nothing,” we both say at the exact same time, which sounds about as convincing as a naked, lipstick-smeared prostitute claiming she’s never been with a man before.

I jump up and head for the house, grabbing the handle of our back door and opening it just as I overhear Celia ask Atlas a quiet but excited, “Did something happen between Luke and Sofia Sol?”

“No!” I shout. “I just brought him a meal, it doesn’t mean anything more than that! Why are you guys looking at me like I’ve stripped naked and run screaming through a church? Luke never asks for anything. He sacrificed himself today. He’s out there breaking his back fixing Junior’s ride and nobody asked him to be that nice. So I brought him dinner because I thought he might be, wait for it, wait for it, HUNGRY! Big whoop! It’s just food, it’s not a marriage proposal. Give me a fucking break!” I storm inside, look around and find everyone staring. Even the one cat we have, Tickles, is looking at me.

Can’t remember exactly what I just said, too upset to know, but by the looks on everyone’s faces it didn’t come out how I meant it to. Too much interest shifting into worried glances passed around by the elders.

Ducking my head I take quick strides to get the fuck out of here, find some privacy. The rest of the house is quiet, and I know how to lock a door.

Mom’s voice drifts into the hall like it’s chasing me. “I think we’ve got a problem.”