Unbeloved (Undeniable #4)(23)

Eva rolled her eyes. “You don’t have wrinkles.”

“I do!” Kami protested. “You just can’t see them when they’re hiding behind the Botox! And these strange little hairs were appearing in the worst possible places! It is all Cox’s fault!”

I was still staring at her, my mouth agape. “Wait,” I said. “I’m sorry, but I’m still stuck on the fact that you and Cox aren’t having sex.”

Turning to me, her big eyes wide, Eva mouthed, “Kami isn’t having sex.” Then she wrinkled her nose and gave a slight shake of her head.

And I knew exactly what she was trying to convey to me. Although we came from vastly different upbringings, where Eva had spent her entire life within the confines of a motorcycle club and their social norms, I too had spent a good portion of mine here as well. And I knew exactly how things worked, more so than most.

And what she was telling me was that Kami wasn’t having sex, but Cox most certainly still was.

“He’s adapting,” Kami added. “I’ve had to tase him less and less lately in order to get a good night’s sleep.”

Beside me, Kajika let out a long-suffering sigh, the look on her face speaking volumes about Cox and Kami’s demented relationship. “One would think working for a group of bikers would be worse than being a nanny,” she said, “but after living with you and your family . . . I know now there is nothing on earth worse than that.”

“I don’t blame you at all.” Eva laughed.

“Please, Evie,” Kami said. “How can you judge me? At least my husband isn’t a grandfather.”

“And how old is Cox’s daughter now?” Eva asked, turning to wink at me. “He could be a grandfather sooner than you think.”

Kami’s nose wrinkled. “I’m not sure how old she is. Her mother told Cox I’m a bad influence, so she’s not around much anymore.”

Pressing her lips together, Eva rolled her body against mine and buried her face in my shoulder. As she shook with silent laughter, I was unable to stop the snort that escaped me. Dropping my face into Eva’s mass of long brown hair, I burst into a fit of giggles.

“What?” Kami yelled. “You bitches! I am not a bad influence!”

“Yes,” Kajika said dryly. “You’re a pillar of female empowerment, a model all young girls should aspire to become.”

“Fuck you,” Kami said with a snarl. “Just because I don’t wander around spouting off Indian proverbs at a bunch of biker *s and their whores in hopes of bettering their lives, doesn’t mean I’m completely useless!”

“Oh God,” Eva said, breathless with silent laughter. “Just stop . . . Please, Kami, you need to get laid so badly . . . Shit, I’m gonna pee . . . Just stop . . .”

“Please pee,” Kami snapped, “so we can throw out those disgusting jeans of yours! And that awful T-shirt. Who wears their husband’s clothing, Evie? Who, dammit, who?”

“What is so funny?”

Glancing up, we found Tegen and Danny standing above us. Tegen’s red hair hung in two long braids down her chest, and Danny was dressed in her typical pink, her blonde hair surprisingly short in an adorable pixie cut. As they peered down at us, their expressions varied between curiously amused to downright confused.

“Nothing that concerns your wrinkle-free faces,” Kami said with a dramatic and dismissive wave of her hand. “You’re too young to understand our suffering.”

Howling with laughter, Eva fell forward, nearly falling off the couch entirely, and I quickly followed suit, collapsing on top of her. The bewildered expression on Tegen’s face only served to provoke more laughter, until I could no longer control myself and I laughed and laughed until my belly positively ached.

? ? ?

Seated at the bar across the room, Jase watched, smiling to himself as Dorothy fell on top of Eva in a fit of laughter. How long had it been since he’d last seen her laugh? He no longer cared that Hawk was the reason she was here, because all that mattered was she was here and she wasn’t avoiding him. In his mind, that was progress.

“Wanna hear somethin’ gross?”

Jase didn’t bother looking toward Cox. “No, I don’t.”

Nobody ever wanted to hear what Cox considered gross. It was usually on a level all its own, too repulsive to be considered simply “gross.”

“Yeah, so, you know that new bitch that’s been hangin’ around lately?”

Jase cut his eyes in Cox’s direction. “Young?” he asked. “Kinda fat?”

Cox nodded. “Yeah, that’s her. Roly-poly little bitch. Fucked her in the ass the other day and, get this, she shit all over me. I’m talkin’, this wasn’t no little mess. This was Niagara f*ckin’ Falls pourin’ outta her ass.”

Jase stared at the man, cringing at the visual, wishing he had the ability to un-hear half of what Cox usually said to him. Even so, seeing Cox, a man who was covered from his neck to his toes in mostly violent and crude tattoos, who was pierced nearly everywhere humanly possible, with his eyes wide, both nodding and shaking his head, looking so damn distraught over the ridiculous story, that even in the face of his own disgust, Jase couldn’t help but laugh.

“Brother, that’s f*ckin’ disgusting.”