I take the glass from her and trail behind as she takes us down steps that lead to the area downstairs. “You guessed right.” This is a clubhouse I definitely expected. There’s a bar at the back with a flag hanging above the liquor cabinets. Couches are against one side of the room, where a billiards table is in the middle. A stripper pole opposite the other side, and more lazy seating. The main door is rolled open, so you can see directly out the front to where the parking is and where bikes are lined, separating the entry to the front area, and around the back of the bar, there’s an identical door that’s open with more tables and seating and where the bar wraps around to be mirrored. That side is widened out to see the mountains in the back and greenery. Unfortunately for me, I also know that a few yards back from there, there’s a stack of bodies on a mountain of one another. I wonder how the hell they’re going to get rid of that. Fucking Gio. I know he had his hands in helping Papa.

“So…” Jade directs us to the other side of the bar, sitting on a swing chair hanging from the overhead pillars. She pats the spot beside her. “This is my favorite spot since being here. At least I can look out at the mountains and pretend my man isn’t a complete psychopath.”

I snicker, rolling my lips behind my teeth to stop my laugh. “I don’t know what the fuck is happening.”

“You don’t know me,” Jade says, turning her body to face me. Music is blaring off behind us, and I can hear more bikes rumbling into the entrance. “But I think I have a feeling of what is going on between you and Wicked.” I take the first sip, hissing when the tequila burns its way down my throat before settling in my belly. “You and he?”

It’s a question, and one I don’t mind answering because it’s too obvious to ignore even if I wanted to. “It has happened. Continues to happen.”

“Really…” Jade smiles proudly. “He’s so secretive and—”

“—annoying?” I add, and we both laugh. For the first time in years, with the exception of Betty, I feel my age. Like the world and life I was thrust into can fucking wait. Also knowing Papa is still alive has taken a load off my shoulders, even for just a few moments.