Page 36 of Fallen Flame

“We’re here because Alice and the girls are going stir crazy.”

That got her full attention. She blinked. “They are?”

I nodded once.

“I would’ve figured they’d be used to being locked down at the clubhouse.”

A quiet laugh escaped me.

She looked over immediately. “What?”

“You don’t really know Alice...” I motioned for her to follow me toward the front sidewalk. “...or the girls.”

Lark hurried to catch up beside me. “I’m sensing there’s a story there.”

“There are a lot of stories there.”

“Should I be worried?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

I opened the gate leading toward the entrance. “No.”

She looked at me suspiciously. “I feel like that’s not a reassuring answer.”

“It isn’t supposed to be.”

She sighed dramatically. “Fantastic.”

We reached the sidewalk, and I started toward the front doors.

“Ollie.”

I stopped. Mostly because she’d somehow managed to make that nickname sound completely natural. I turned back toward her.

She stood a few feet behind me with one hand resting on her hip. “I’ve always heard...” she said carefully, “...that when Alice is mentioned, I should probably be afraid.”

I stared at her for a second. Then, before I realized it was happening, I smiled. A real one.

She noticed immediately. “There it is,” she said softly.

“What?”

“The smile.”

I shook my head. “Don’t get used to it.”

“Oh, I absolutely plan to.”

I laughed under my breath. “You’re impossible.”

“I’ve been told that before.”

I looked toward the Social Club before answering her original question. “I honestly have no idea what we’re about to walk into.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t?”