Chapter Twenty Five

KATRINA CRUMBLED THE list she'd made yesterday and tossed the paper into the trash can in Jagger's room at the clubhouse. Yesterday, Jagger asked her for a list of items she wanted from Mama Sue's house.

The members of Havlin had moved Mama Sue's belongings into storage, and the only thing remaining in the house belonged to her. They'd left her bedroom untouched.

For now, her belongings could go into storage, too. But she needed more clothes.

Jagger promised to grab the items she wanted and have them shipped to Seaglass Cove.

She plopped onto the couch and let her head fall back on the cushion. She was in no hurry to visit Beaverton. There were too many memories there. The heartache of missing Mama Sue would multiply the moment she entered the vacant house when Mama Sue wasn't there to greet her.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

She gazed at the door. Everyone knew Jagger was gone.

The knocking grew louder. She got up and crossed the room.

"Who is it?" she yelled.

"Cora."

She unlocked the door and opened it. "What's up?"

"Wire's got two calls he's going on this afternoon, so I thought I'd come over and see what you're doing."

Katrina swung her arm. "Come on in."

"Feels weird." Cora glanced around. "Is Jagger going to kick my ass when he finds out I'm here?"

"Probably."

Cora whipped around and gawked at her. She rolled her eyes. Jagger would be happy she had company and obeyed him about staying inside the clubhouse while he was gone.

"Do you ever wonder what's in our DNA that makes the females in our family go for older men?" Cora walked around the room. "Watching my parents, age never really mattered to me. But seeing you with Jagger is strange. You're savage but simp with him."

"Oh, and you're slaying your ship?"

"I don't flex." Cora scowled. "It's you who walks around like you're the GOAT."

Tired of the pissing contest, Katrina snorted. "You're younger than me."

"Right." Cora frowned. "I bet everyone looks at us weird."

"Who cares what other people think?"

Her aunt shrugged. "I don't care. Maybe I'm having an epiphany or seeing myself through other people's eyes."

Katrina had nothing to say. She'd spent a lifetime loving Jagger. There was nothing she would change except to love him openly for the rest of her life.

"So, here's the truth." Cora sat down beside her. "I overheard my parents talking about Jeff...your dad—"

"I know his real name."

"Right." Cora inhaled. "I was probably twelve years old at the time. They were discussing how he'd run away from home with his girlfriend. A girlfriend who told her she was pregnant. My parents...I don't know if they believed her or if they were against my brother having a kid at the age of eighteen—I have no idea because I wasn't even born. But I hate to think they wouldn't help him. Obvi, I wasn't there when it all went down."

"Why are you telling me this," said Katrina.

"Because I would hate for you to think I knew about you and didn't find you before now."

"That's ridiculous. I haven't even thought of you because I didn't know any relatives were out there. Dad never spoke of his parents. Though, he was in prison by the time I was four years old. We didn't have many heart-to-heart conversations in the penitentiary. Most often, we played Hangman with the pencil and paper they gave us during visitations."

"So, you're not mad?"

"Girl—Aunt, whatever you want to be called, you need to stop worrying so much." Katrina put her feet up on the coffee table. "What did you think would happen if I found out you overhead a conversation as a kid that had nothing to do with you?"

"You'd never forgive me."

"Cray." Katrina shook her head, unable to understand Cora's reasoning. But she was curious. "Why's it so important to you for me to like you?"

Cora frowned. "We're very different."

"You can say that again." Katrina snorted. "I bet you never thought you'd have a niece who grew up in a motorcycle club."

"I bet you never thought you'd have an aunt younger than you who inherited everything her parents left behind when they died, and I have more money than I can spend myself."

Cora's eyes widened in disbelief that she'd spoken her thoughts out loud and shook her head. A few seconds later, she laughed.

Seeing the humor in the conversation and considering Cora married a biker, Katrina gave her aunt a genuine smile. Maybe they had more in common than she'd thought.

"You know what I want to do?" Katrina stood. "Let's go have a drink."

"Alcohol?"

"Duh."

Cora hurried to keep up with her. "I'm not a big drinker."

"Neither am I, but I'm tired of waiting for Jagger to call with news about my dad." She walked straight to the counter at the side of the clubhouse. "And since Jagger wouldn't like it if I drank with the bikers, I'll drink with you."

"Don't I feel special," muttered Cora.

As she started looking through the assortment of bottles, the Havlin members loitering around the club migrated in her direction. She shooed them away. They could get their own damn drinks today.