Page 37 of March 5

"I have apple pie coming out of the oven in a few minutes." She smiled at Dio. "And vanilla ice cream. It's one of Skye's favorites. She always preferred to eat the pie warm with ice cream melting all over the plate."

That's what the aroma was. "Smells good."

Maverick handed him a beer bottle and took awater bottle for himself. "I'm going to fire up the grill. Can you grab the meat?"

"Yeah." Dio took a drink off the bottle and put the cap in the trash bin under the sink. Then, he picked up the plate of meat. He wanted to ask if Skye was coming but it was better if he sat back and waited to find out on his own.

His wait ended when he walked outside. Skye pulled up in her car and honked the horn. He set the meat on the side of the grill and noticed Maverick grinning—happy his daughter was here. Dio felt the same—but different.

Skye left him unsure of how he was supposed to feel. The comfortable companionship they'd always had was gone. In its place, tension filled the air—at least for him.

He wanted the ease of being around her back.

He missed her.

She got out of the car and waved over her head. "I'm starving."

Mariah, popped out of the passenger side. Dio hadn't even noticed Skye's best friend was with her.

Skye pulled out a sack from the back seat. "There's a crowd downtown. It took us ten minutes to leave the store's parking lot because the cars were backed up on the highway. Do you know what's going on?"

"Tourists." Maverick put the steaks on the hot grill. "Hopefully, they're all leaving from their weekend getaway."

Dio held his beer, taking in Skye. She had on a sundress that showed off her bare shoulders and the tops of her breasts. The flat flip-flops she had onslapped the bottom of her feet with each step.

Skye went straight to her dad and kissed his cheek. "Missed you."

"Missed you, too." Her dad kissed her forehead. "Proud of you."

Skye turned to Dio. "How's the back?"

"Better."

"Good." She hefted the sack in her arm. "I'm going to run this inside and put it in the freezer before it melts."

Skye and Mariah left the yard. In their absence, only thespitandcracklefrom the grill filled the void.

Dio sat down, feeling like he should do more.

Maverick closed the cover on the grill and sat in an empty lawn chair beside him, stretching out his legs and crossing his ankles.

"Have you heard the talk?" asked Maverick.

"About what?"

Maverick shrugged. "This might be the last vote-in. Jagger's thinking about topping off the chapter."

"What do we have, two hundred and twenty members in Seaglass Cove?" He hooked his hands behind his head. "I can see why he'd want to do that. I've heard talk around town that people are questioning what's going on at the clubhouse because of all the riders. It's also what the Mother Chapter did back in Beaverton."

"It's better if we keep our numbers down." Maverick met his gaze. "Of course, the club could split and go somewhere else, too. They'd follow Jagger's footsteps on what he did to get the chapter upand going."

"Who's thinking about doing that?" Dio frowned. "You?"

"Hell, no. I'm too old to start over." Maverick got up and checked the meat on the grill. "Besides, if a new chapter opened, they'd want someone who was always around. I spent too many years in prison. I missed a lot."

He hadn't even considered the club concentrating on moving forward and not growing. The thought of losing men who'd want to move on to a new area worried him. Any change always weakened a club and made them vulnerable.

"If someone left to start somewhere else, would you go?" asked Maverick.