Edge Of Fear (Arrow's Edge MC Book 4) by Freya Barker (best love novels of all time .TXT) 📗

in his monotonous voice. Then he signs, “Didn’t think I’d live to see the day, brother. Wish Momma was here. She’d be happy to see another one of her boys finding his rightful place beside a good woman.”

Jesus.

Shit’s getting way too emotional here. What’s fucking next? Holding hands and singing “Kumbaya”?

I glare at Nosh, but he doesn’t give a shit. He’s grinning his crooked grin; one we rarely ever saw in the clubhouse until recently. I’m not sure if that means the man is getting mellower, or whether he’s slowly losing his marbles. Both are possible at his age, I guess.

The door to the clubhouse opens and Luna walks in with her son, Ahiga. The kid just turned seventeen and makes a beeline for the group playing games on the big-screen TV. I’m surprised when his mother walks over to me.

“Gonna say hello and then I’d like a quick word in Ouray’s office.”

“Sophia?”

“Yeah.”

A few minutes later I walk to the back, Sophia’s hand in mine. Ouray and Luna are both in his office.

“Nothing bad, just an update,” Luna is quick to say when she catches the worried look on Sophia’s face. “First of all, Mandy is safe with her sister in New Mexico. Classes don’t start up until the end of August, hopefully we’ll have this case wrapped up by then, but for now they’re in a secure location.”

“That’s good,” Sophia mumbles beside me, and I wrap an arm around her, tucking her close.

“We also picked up the driver, but he wasn’t much help. Turns out he always did the Durango run but was recently changed to another route, round about the time the restaurant opened. The guy who took over was new and he doesn’t know much about him. We checked with the warehouse manager, who couldn’t tell us much more, other than there’d been pressure from higher up to put Jim Marquez, the new guy, on the Durango route.”

“That’s gotta raise some flags,” I comment.

“Sure does. Especially since Jim Marquez doesn’t exist. At least not anymore. The social security number belongs to someone who died in 2019 in a car crash outside Shiprock. Apparently, Clover Produce doesn’t look too closely at their new hires. The Farmington Field Office is looking into the company. Talking to staff and management, shaking a few trees to see what’ll fall out, but other than that we don’t have a whole lot to go on. The lab is doing analysis of the drugs we have to see if they can match them up with other contraband from recent busts. Maybe we can retrace the steps that way, see where it came from, but that takes time too.”

“So what now?”

Luna turns to Sophia with a sympathetic smile. “Now we pick away at loose threads. It’s what we’re good at. It may take some time, but sooner or later we’ll find something.”

“In the meantime,” Ouray jumps in, his eyes also on my girl. “We’re gonna stay vigilant. We’ll keep eyes on the Backyard, but it’ll be business as usual. You don’t have to worry about a thing, we’ll take care of it.”

I can feel Sophia tighten up under my hand.

“Spoken like a true caveman.” Luna, who is very observant, gives her husband a sharp look before she turns back to Sophia. “Ignore everything he said after business as usual, and replace it with we’ve got your back. I’ll make sure you’re kept up-to-date.”

A soft knock has me turn around to find Ravi in the doorway.

“Lisa says dinner’s ready.”

“Perfect. Let’s eat.”

Ouray gets up and walks out of the room, Luna right behind him, but Ravi is lingering by the door.

“Not hungry, kiddo?” Sophia asks him.

“Yeah, but I was just gonna ask…” He flashes a glance my way. “Can Tse bring Van tomorrow?”

When I got to the site this morning, he’d looked disappointed when I was the only one getting out of the Jeep. He’d asked me when I left if I’d be bringing the dog and I told him to check with Sophia. I would’ve said no if her parents weren’t planning to be around for a couple of days. I’d rather she not be alone.

She grins at the kid.

“Fine by me, as long as he doesn’t get in the way.”

His normally solemn face lights up. Not quite a full smile, but a start.

CHAPTER 22

Sophia

BLOSSOM AND DUFF are starting to get on my nerves.

A few days have turned into more than a week and I’ve gone back to my normal hours for the past few days, but they don’t seem in a hurry to continue on that trip they started.

Tse doesn’t seem to mind, which is almost more annoying. I’ll complain about having absolutely no privacy in my own home, and he’ll brush it off.

I’ve been feeling a little off in the morning the past couple of days, a little sick to my stomach. Nothing that has me heaving over the toilet, just enough I don’t want to eat when I get up. Blossom has been forcing ginger tea and crackers on me as soon as I get downstairs, when I just want to be left alone for a few minutes.

This morning I snapped.

Tse just left for Paco’s place and my mother was trying to get me to chew on some fennel seeds when I blew. I wasn’t so nice to my mother, then Duff mumbled something about hormones, and I lost it. Ran upstairs with Van on my heels and flung myself on my bed like a teenager, not a woman in her thirties. Not unlike the many times I did the same thing during my teenage years.

I know I’m being ridiculous, but I can’t stop the waterworks. I just feel so…out of control.

Everything is new and unfamiliar: new place, new job, new relationship, new dog, and now an unplanned pregnancy all within the span of a few months. Oh, and don’t let me forget a drug ring operating from my restaurant and my parents virtually moving in.

Each time I think I’m starting to feel