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Geri is standing against the wall, holding her nose, which is bleeding nicely. I know that sounds bad, but I’ve lost all warmth towards her with the tricks she has pulled over the years. She turns and looks at me with such hate that I’m shocked. I have never seen that on her before. She, I thought was a good person, maybe nosy, talked too much, but I never saw her as a nasty, hateful person. Not until this moment.

My temper rises when Geri flicks a middle finger my way. I rush past Vanessa who tries to grab me, but I dodge her hand and reaching Geri I grab her hair as she tries to ward me off one-handed. I swing her around and smash her face into the wall. I have never felt such rage.

“You have the nerve to be disrespectful to me? I’ve fed you, nursed your tantrums, helped you get jobs, and you steal from me, and then have the nerve to flick me a finger. Well, fuck you, Geri,” I shout, and I shake shit out of her while holding on tight to her hair.

Geri is screaming and clawing at my arms, but I’m not letting go, I’ve had more than enough of this bitch. “I’m officially divorcing our relationship, Geri. From this moment on, you are nothing to me.” As soon as I finish saying that I yank her head down and raise my knee, hitting her in the nose again. I let go of her when a pair of arms wrap around me. I am prepared to fight but looking at who it is, I relax when it’s Joker. Looking back at Geri, she is crumpled on the floor, holding her face and crying.

I step away and turn to look at Joker again, mainly because he’s laughing. “Are you okay, Thumper?”

“Don’t call me Thumper,” I snap, but I’m grinning while I’m saying it.

The fighting has stopped, but I’m stunned when a cup flies off the counter toward one of Snake’s men. A circle of flames is dancing around another one, but I have to admit that it is fascinating. “How?” I mumble, and I look at Vanessa who is standing with the bat resting on her shoulder, with her mouth hanging open.

Trace, who has a cut on his cheek, is grinning like a fool, but his eyes are fixed on something. Turning, I see one of the tables is hovering inches from the floor, and as I stare at it after blinking a dozen times to make sure I’m seeing what I’m seeing, the table spins.

“Bono, Tank, Pyro, come on, stop messing with them,” Tracker says, but he is amused, you can tell by the twinkle in his eyes.

The table drops. The flames shoot towards the nearest asshole who screeches like a girl and runs for the door. A cup, however, stops mid-air, then drops to the floor, smashing. The sound seems to have everyone waking, and men bolt for the door.

Cap, along with the veterans, throws Snake and his men out of the diner. Tracker is following them but stops to grab Geri by the scruff of her neck and hauls her outside, dropping her none too gently on the ground.

“Leave and don’t come back,” Tracker snarls. “You’re lucky I’m having a good day. Oh, Snake, don’t make me come after you, because you’ll not like it if I have to chase you down for any reason. One reason is taking women off the streets, I don’t like that.”

Snake disappears around the side of a building, and two seconds later we hear bikes fire up and head away from the diner. “Do you think he’ll listen?” I ask Tracker.

“No. But then I’ll have to chase him down.”

Now, the smile he gives at that thought is enough to give anyone nightmares. It’s freaky as all hell, and not something I want to see again. Vanessa distracts me, and I hurry back to her where she’s standing with Alice laid on the counter.

The next two hours were spent discussing what had happened. What was learned from the meeting, and what would happen next. Most does not involve me, except the part where I’m to go with Joker to Kansas and the Restless Demons MC clubhouse.

“You are my old lady, Miri. We need to be together now, and where I live, you live.”

I stare at Joker for a few minutes before I throw my head back laughing, and laughing so hard tears run down my cheeks. Once I get ahold of myself I state firmly, “NO!”

How the hell do I find myself on the back of Joker’s hog, as he calls it, riding toward Kansas? Apparently, my name given to me by Tracker, in President mode, is Fuse! Tracker thinks I have a fairly short one and he also thinks once I’ve been trained I’ll be able to knock a man out without thinking twice.

Sitting on the back of Joker’s bike, I watch as the scenery passes. My mind wanders to what I heard Tracker, Cap, Rides, and Joker discussing. They are convinced that Snake and his MC will head to Kansas to test out the Restless Demons territory. Tracker looked delighted at that thought, and I have this notion that he’s a very complicated character. But underneath all the hard I think there is a solidly good person.

Joker keeps rubbing my knee and stroking my calf as we ride. He does it every time we stop at a junction or at lights. It’s comforting, if I’m honest, and I like it. I like Joker, and the more time I’m with him, the more I realize I could fall for him, and fall hard.

Geri is not going to forgive what I did to her, but I really don’t care anymore. I have already put the house sale in motion, and I dropped the selling price enough to get a quick sale. Get my savings back from Geri’s share and forget she exists after that point.

Once we had arrived at the Restless Demons MC compound, we entered the clubhouse and were swamped with questions. Tracker took everyone to church, which surprised me because with what they get up to I didn’t think they were religious!

I’m sitting with a woman called Cilla and her beautiful little girl who keeps saying ‘Ono,’ but I don’t know what that is so I just keep smiling at her. The other lady is called Rory, and she has a cute German Shepherd puppy sleeping at her feet.

“So, tell us if anything unusual happened?” Rory asks me.

I frown while thinking about what happened in the diner. I quickly tell them the tale, and both of them laugh. Cilla, however, looks behind me, and as I turn, I see no one standing there.

“Pyro, you have to stop playing with fire. But you are getting good at it, I’ll give you that much,” Cilla is talking to—Nobody!

Rory laughs, “Just run with it, Miri. Cilla can see and talk to the dead. Ayla can too, and that’s why she’s saying Ono. That is Bono’s name, but she can’t say it all yet.”

My eyes flick around the room, but I see nothing. Cilla takes hold of my hand and holds it out. “Watch,” is all she says, and I watch my hand as a napkin lifts from the table and is gently placed on the palm of my upright hand.

“That was Tank. He said, hi,” Cilla watches me closely.