“Yeah,” Wei answered, moving further in and doing it in the direction of the fridge. “Usual drill. Ma and Chen came early, set up the restaurant, got shit sorted. Then I came out. Then Xun. Abel finalized things in Daytona and got here about a month ago.”

If I wasn’t freaked out, I would wonder about the “usual drill.”

But I was freaked out.

I was freaked out because a month ago I woke up with a rabid desire to go to Serpentine Bay. A rabid desire that was not about communing with my biker brethren while on holiday in a cool coastal town. It was a rabid desire for something else; I just didn’t know what it was (then).

I’d gone straight to work and asked my boss for vacation the minute I could get it.

Which meant I lived a month needing to be on the road to Serpentine Bay. A month where my mother gave me shit (as per usual), my father gave me understanding (also as per usual), and I practically counted down the minutes until I could get my ass on the road.

I’d arrived yesterday, unpacked my bags in the hotel, and went out.

Searching.

For what, I did not know.

But I’d found it.

“Lilah?”

Abel calling my name meant my eyes moved slowly to his.

He was studying me closely.

“What’s up?” he asked.

We had an audience. It was clear he was tight with these guys. They were family the way I knew family, that meaning they didn’t share blood but they were family all the same.

Still, at that moment, I didn’t feel like sharing the latest bizarre nuance of all that was happening with anyone but Abel.

And maybe not even him.

Yet.

So I answered, “Nothin’.”

Abel gave me a sharp look that would have been scary if he hadn’t vowed never to harm me in a way I believed him, as in believed him. Then I felt relief when he didn’t push it, just nodded his head and looked to his brothers.

“Grab her bags and get her upstairs so I can get my shit done,” he ordered.

“Roundin’ it out,” Xun stated as he moved back to the bags he’d dumped, “Abel’s the oldest. He’s cocky and arrogant and badass and should be a general, not a biker, seein’ as he likes givin’ orders so fuckin’ much.”

“It’s that big of a pain in your ass,” Abel began. “I’ll take her shit upstairs.”

“I’ll take it,” Xun muttered, grabbing the handles.

“I’ll escort the lovely to Ma’s pad,” Wei said from beside me. I looked to him and saw he’d purloined a hunk of cheese from Abel’s fridge and was gnawing at it. He grabbed my hand, lifting it and curling my arm close to the side of his chest.

That was when it happened.