Page 26 of Dane

“That’s it?” I looked from Lana to Ethan and back.

“That’s it, Brielle,” Ethan stood. “You did great.”

I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Sagging in relief, I leaned back in my chair and let out a long breath.

Dane stood and held out his hand for me. I took his hand and he helped me to my feet. “Why don’t you go to the courtyard. Some of the old ladies are usually out there. Maybe you’ll meet some you don’t already know.”

“Are you coming?”

“Yeah, in a minute. I need to talk with Knuckles before he leaves.”

I gave him a hug. “Thank you, Dane. For everything.”

“You can thank me later.” He kissed my forehead before turning me toward the door. He grinned at me when I looked over my shoulder at him.

A woman caught me in the hallway before I’d gotten ten feet from Knight’s closed door. She had a cloud of blond ringlets and the kind of smile that instantly put me at ease. “Hey. I’m Lavender. Knight’s old lady.” She stuck out her hand and I shook it. “Come outside with me? It’s the last warm day we’re probably going to get for a while.”

“I was actually headed that way. Dane said I might run into some of you guys.” I shrugged. “I guess he was right.”

The courtyard was something I hadn’t let myself look at properly before. Now, stepping into the pale gold of the afternoon, I stopped walking for just a second. Children, a handful of them, laughing out loud cut across the grass, the littlest ones doing something with a pile of leaves in the far corner. An older girl with bright blue hair helped the children playing in the leaves make piles before they all jumped in them and threw leaves in the air, squealing and having the best time ever.

“That’s mine and Knight’s daughter, Brynn. She’s been out here all afternoon. Self-appointed babysitter.”

“She seems to enjoy her role.” I smiled as I watched them playing.

“Oh yeah. She and all the kids here have formed strong bonds. They help each other out with everything from chores to homework. And they stick together. If asked a question their motto is deflect and deny.”

That got a startled laugh from me. “I’ve got to remember that one.”

Hannah was at the end of a bench near the walkway, and she shifted to make room without being asked. Next to her was a woman I hadn’t met. She had a small, athletic frame and honey-colored hair, while the woman beside her with pale green eyes and strawberry blonde hair both smiled up at us, shielding their eyes from the sunlight filtering through the camo netting above us.

“I’m Nadine,” the honey-haired one said, giving me a nod and a warm smile. “And this is Tillie.”

“Xavier is my man,” Tillie offered with a smile. “Nadine is with Pain, the club doctor.” She gestured to the empty seat. “Sit. We’re in the middle of a medical crisis.”

I paused before sitting. “Should I be worried?”

“Only if you ate the chili here three weeks ago.” Nadine looked unimpressed by her own statement. “We’ve got a stomach bug that’s been tearing through the compound for two weeks and our doctor --” she paused like the title seemed to amused her “-- swabbed half the club and came up with nothing. Absolutely nothing. No norovirus, no rotavirus, not even a basic rhinovirus overlap. He sent samples to a lab at Vanderbilt. Still nothing.”

“That’s… medically fascinating,” I said, struggling to keep a straight face.

“That’s medically infuriating,” Nadine corrected in exasperation.

A woman I recognized from the kitchen appeared from around the corner and dropped onto the bench across from us. Eliza, I thought. She had the look of someone who had come outside to be with her friends specifically to complain, and I respected that enormously.

“Tell me someone else was up at four this morning,” Eliza said.

“Define up,” Nadine said.

“Like. Kneeling. On the bathroom floor. Reconsidering every choice I’ve ever made.” Eliza paused for effect. “For forty-five freaking minutes.”

“Oh my God,” I said. “Are you OK now? Don’t you need to, I don’t know, drink some fluids or something?”

“Right?” She pointed at me like I’d validated something important. “And then it just stopped. Like nothing happened. I went back to bed, slept four hours, and woke up starving. I had eggs.”

Nadine shook her head slowly. “You and everyone else.”

“I feel great,” Tillie announced. She hadn’t been asked. She looked serene and a little smug about it, like the sun was shining specifically on her. “Honestly, I feel wonderful.”