Ride Steady(136)

Joker had stopped at his bike and was grinning when he said, “Sorry, Lie. Shit’s gone down that I had to focus on. But I’ll give you and Mrs. Heely a call if I can make it.”

“You didn’t hear me, Car,” Linus returned. “This is a command performance. There’s no if about it.”

“Gotta talk to my girl and see if she’s free.”

This bought him several beats of silence before, “Your girl?”

“The shit’s that gone down I had to focus on,” Joker explained.

“Right,” Linus said slowly. “Few weeks ago you rolled your bike to my garage tellin’ me you been around awhile and just got your shit sorted to make an approach, but no woman involved in that shit. Now you got one and she’s one you’d bring to Kam and Mrs. Heely?”

“Yeah,” Joker answered easily.

“Uh, son, maybe you don’t get this. You don’t bring just any woman to Kam and especially not Mrs. Heely. Those women are gonna pick her over like vultures. Nothin’ but the best for the kid they let into their hearts but lost then got back only very recently.”

That felt good, but still Joker shared, “Wouldn’t bring anything but the best to either of them, brother.”

Linus was again quiet before, “You sayin’ this is serious?”

“I’m sayin’ you meet her, you know I’d be a fool not to make it that way. And, Lie, I’m no fool. So I didn’t f*ck around makin’ it that way.”

“Shee-it,” Linus pushed out. “You can say that again. It’s only been a coupla weeks.”

“Not like you, I know I got it good, I don’t wait a year to tag it as mine,” Joke gave him shit.

“Below the belt, bud,” Linus replied, a smile in his voice. “Now I gotta hope like f*ck she’s off work. This I gotta see.”

“Goin’ to her now. I’ll ask. Text you if I can confirm and I’ll get in touch with Mrs. Heely,” Joker said.

“Right. Either way, ’spect I’ll see you soon.”

“You will, Lie. Tell Kam I said hey, and same to your kids.”

“You got it. Later, Car.”

“Later, Lie.”

They disconnected and Joker shoved his phone in his pocket before mounting his bike. He was riding to Carissa when he felt it ring. Riding, he didn’t grab it.

He was still riding when he felt it vibrate with a text.

At a red light, he took it out.

The missed call was Carissa.

The text was her too.

I need you home, sweetie.

He didn’t like that, the call and then a text and what that might say with all the shit she was swimming through.

But he liked the way she used the word home.

He sent a quick text back, Almost there.

Then he got his ass there.

He parked in the back and came through the back door to see her in the kitchen, Travis to her hip, her eyes on him, and her expression openly freaked.

He didn’t like that either. Not at all.

“Talk to me,” he ordered and it came out almost like a bark.

“Okay, I went to that place that Stacy told you to tell me gives good money and doesn’t mess you around on used jewelry.”

“Knew you were doin’ that today, Carrie,” he told her, and he did know. He just hoped Stacy was right and they didn’t f*ck his girl over because he was in the mood to have dinner and relax with his woman and her boy, not go out and teach some jeweler * a lesson with his fists.

“Well, before I went, I looked it up on the Internet. Checked to see what I should get, you know, on online auctions and other places, just in case he still tried to undercut me.”

“Right,” he bit out when she stopped talking.

“And they didn’t. They actually gave me better. It’s quality stuff and my engagement ring was three and a half carats. The tennis bracelet brought almost as much as the engagement ring. It was a lot, Carson. Far more than I expected. And they don’t do commission. He bought them right there.” She shook her head. “It’s enough to pay off my attorney bill and my credit card and get Travis some new clothes and have some left over to actually start a savings for when I might be able to go to school to be a stylist. I mean, I should have thought of doing this months ago.”

“None a’ this explains why you look freaked,” he pointed out.