Unbeloved by Madeline Sheehan Page B

he’d found living on the streets. In return for saving his life and giving him the protection he’d needed, Deuce had only asked for one thing in return . . . his loyalty.
    Now, Hawk had been kidnapped by an uncle everyone had thought dead or living on the lam, and who was threatening to turn either kill Hawk or turn him over to the federal government if Deuce and Preacher didn’t concede to their terms.
    It was a little too much to take in all at once, more so because Hawk wasn ’t here to confirm any of it, or let me berate him for lying to me all these years.
    Although it finally made sense to me why Hawk never insisted on Christopher taking his last name. Young wasn ’t his actual name.
    And for some reason, knowing that was why, because he ’d been in hiding and hadn’t been able to give his son his real last name, hurt my heart in a way that left me physically aching.
    “ I don’t mind either,” I said. It was true that I’d never been one for the spotlight, even in my youth. While most of the other women who’d hung around the clubhouse had always tried to outdo one another when it came sex appeal, I’d never even attempted it. Being wanted by many wasn’t something I’d ever aspired to, despite the way my life had gone.
    “ Speak for yourselves,” Kami retorted. Leaning back against the couch, she folded her bony arms across her chest, purposely pulling down the neckline of her lacy black camisole. “I’m still hot. Forties are the new twenties, ladies.”
    My eyebrows shot up and I couldn ’t stop the laugh that escaped me. “Are you serious?” I exclaimed. “Forties are the new twenties?”
    My forties were most definitely not my twenties . Most mornings I stood in front of the mirror staring down my reflection, wondering disparagingly where my twenties and thirties had gone to. That wasn’t to say I felt myself ugly or lacking. Other than the slight signs of aging around my eyes, I’d been blessed with very fair freckled skin that had kept up its elasticity nicely through two children and four decades, even though not everything on my body was as perky as it once had been. Not that it mattered. Since I was no longer having sex, hadn’t engaged in anything more than meaningless kisses after a few awkward dates with men I hadn’t felt more than a speck of interest for, since . . . since Jase and I were last together.
    Looking to the bar, where I ’d last seen Jase, I found him watching me. Setting down his glass, he smiled kindly at me. The smile didn’t sit well with me and, suddenly awash with discomfort, I quickly looked away.
    “ Ignore her,” Eva said, laughing. “She’s full of shit. Since realizing she’s now the mother of a teenager, every year she’s doing something new and ridiculously expensive to try and stop the aging process. This year she’s given up sex.”
    My mouth fell open and my surprised gaze flitted back to Kami. “You gave up sex?” I sputtered. “Are you blackmailing Cox again?”
    Aside from the two beautiful boys they ’d produced together, Cox and Kami were notorious for two things: Fighting. And sex. All the time. If they weren’t doing one, they were doing the other, or engaging in both at the same time.
    Crossing one leg over the other, showcasing her expensive black heel ed boots, Kami sniffed imperiously. “Fuck that asshole. Forty-three years old and he’s still going at it like a jackhammer on crack every chance he gets. He was wearing me out! It’s his fault I’m getting wrinkles!”
    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,