White Heat (Lost Kings MC #5) Read Online Free Page B

But I’ll be dammed if I even want Sophie at my wedding let alone in it.
    Sophie’s been chugging wine since she got here and signals the waiter for more before turning my way. “Are you going to be a deadbeat bride again?” Sophie asks.
    Ross snickers. “Do I even want to know?”
    “She wasn’t—”
    “I’m not into all that girly, wedding crap,” I explain to Ross’s shock and disgust.
    “But…but, you’re like the girliest girl I know,” he says with mock surprise.
    “I am not. That would be Mara.”
    At the sound of her name, she tips her head up. “What now?”
    “Are you on your phone at the dinner table?” Ross asks.
    Mara’s cheeks turn pink. “I was checking on the baby.”
    “Yeah, right. Damon’s probably texting her all the filthy stuff he plans to do to her when she gets home,” Lilly fake-whispers.
    The pink on Mara’s face deepens. “Shut up.”
    “Oh my God! He is!” Lilly snickers and points at Mara’s now crimson face.
    “Why didn’t he come?” Ross asks. Lilly giggles at the word “come” like a fifteen-year-old boy. Dear God, are we really a group of thirty-something professionals, because you’d never know it by listening to us. Which is why I love my friends so much.
    Well some of them.
    My gaze flicks to Sophie and she gives me a weak smile. I can’t help but notice how uncomfortable she seems around me. I realize she and I haven’t been alone together since the night of the fundraiser. Somewhere down deep, her conscience must have some shame.
    “Where’s Rock?” she asks.
    Nope. Any softness I was feeling toward her poofs away when his name rolls off her tongue.
    “Home.”
    “With the muffler bunnies?” she jokes.
    I glare at her. The table falls silent and I hate that I made everyone uncomfortable. “No,” is my clipped response. “They’re gone.”
    “Yeah, but more always find their way there, don’t they?” Lilly asks.
    “Sure. But I trust Rock. He’s not interested in scheming, backstabbing tramps.”
    Sophie opens her mouth to say God-only-knows-what, but we’re interrupted by the waitress bringing our salads and baskets of Brazilian cheese breads. Sophie plucks a slice out before the waitress even places it on the table. Ross wrinkles his brow. “What?” She shrugs. “I haven’t eaten all week.”
    Thankfully everyone turns the discussion on Mara and whether Damon’s going to run for the vacant family court seat that just opened up.
    “Hope, would you end up in front of him, then?” Sophie asks.
    It’s not the brightest question, and I’m a little surprised.
    “Nah, something like that he’d have to recuse himself,” Mara says, shaking her head.
    The rest of dinner is uneventful. Everything’s fantastic and I wonder if I can cajole Rock into throwing on his suit and having dinner here one night. Then I remember the last time I got him in a suit was when Sophie hit on him and I’m right back to my foul mood.
    We end dinner with coffee and coconut cream pie. As I’m thinking about whipping out my Visa, our waitress informs us that the bill’s already been paid. “Happy birthday, from Damon,” she explains.
    “Jeez, Mara, that was awfully sweet of him,” I say.
    Ross chuckles. “Yeah, if I’d known that, I would have ordered the Hennessy X.O.”
    While we’re walking out, the girls bring up my wedding again.
    “Did you set an actual date yet?” Sophie asks.
    “Not really.”
    We did. But I don’t feel like telling Sophie.
    “Will Rock wear his cut to your wedding or do you think you can get him in a suit?” she asks and I don’t care for the snide tone I detect in her voice.
    “Why? Are you planning to try and fuck him again?” I snap. Whoops . Almost made it through the evening without losing my temper.
    I said it low enough that we’re not causing a scene. Yet. But everyone in our party heard my question. No one seems to know what to say or do.
    “Uncomfortable,” Ross mutters, looking around for the