Honey Whiskey (A Bastards MC Novel) by Carina Adams

to be shocked.
"What? He was married. How does that make him an option?" The look
she gave me made me immediately want to eat my words. Of course she
would know that I'd slept with Matty while I was still married.
"Yeah." I held a hand to my chest. "Kettle, meet Pot.”
    She laughed again, grinning.
Becky, Matty's ex-wife, was amazing, and I prayed Jessie wasn't
going to tell me that he'd cheated. As hypocritical as it would be,
I didn't know how I'd feel about him if he’d done that to sweet
Bex. "The Bastards don't typically do it, but it isn't unheard of
for a man to have a wife outside the club as well as an ol' lady
inside the club. He had no interest. A few years later, when the
ring disappeared, the girls got excited thinking the old Mateo was
back and they'd have a shot." She carried the pot to the sink,
draining it.
    "What none of us realized was that it was
never his wife that had stolen him away. It was you." Adding pasta
sauce and the meat to the pot, she mixed it all in. "You may not
realize you're his ol' lady. Hell, he might not have even said the
words out loud yet. But, I can promise you, there isn't a single
man in this club that doesn't know. Soon, the women will,
too."
    Opening one of the cupboards, she
pulled out two pasta bowls and came back to the stove to fill them.
"You're not competition, Jo. Even if I wanted Matty, which I don't,
I couldn't begin to compare to you in his eyes." Grabbing forks,
she came around the island and sat with me. "You're one lucky
bitch. I'd kill for someone to love me that much.”
    After a few bites she continued.
“You're always going to have problems, whether you're with Mateo or
someone that lives in your world. None of us know what's coming
tomorrow. He loves you. Enjoy it."
    The chop suey was delicious. We
made small talk while we ate, and I told her about my kids. I was
surprised when she told me she was thirty-three. She seemed so much
older than I was, but looked so much younger. She'd said she'd
known Matty for eighteen years, which meant that she'd known him
since she was a young teenager. I couldn't help but wonder how long
she'd known Cris. They were the same age—had they been
friends?
    After we finished our dinner, we
sat on the couch and talked more, not touching on any serious
topic. Jessie was funny and sweet, and as much as I felt like I was
betraying Cris, I could totally see she and Rocker together.
Talking to her was like catching up with an old friend. I was a
little sad when she told me she had to go, but she offered me a hug
and promised that she'd check on me later in the week.
    I called my kids, listening to
them on speakerphone tell me how much fun they'd had with their
grandparents. After we said goodnight, I cleaned up what I could,
leaving on the lights in case Rob came home tonight, and took the
stairs down to Matty's room. I hoped he would call me soon, because
I needed to tell him that Jessie was right. I was ready to start
over.

Chapter 11
    Jo
    Two days. Forty-eight hours.
Well, forty-seven hours and thirty-nine minutes I’d been waiting
for it. But, the call never came. I had gotten a text message from
an unknown number that said, I’m so
sorry! I assumed it was from Matty,
that his phone had died sometime over the last few days and he’d
borrowed one to send a text to me. But, maybe that was wishful
thinking and it was actually a wrong
number. Maybe someone out there was wondering why their loved one
never apologized. Or there was a groveling husband wondering why
his beloved wife never responded after he apologized. Maybe by not
writing back, I’d broken up a nice, innocent
couple.
    Or, maybe my imagination was
running wild because I’d been alone for two days. Cris and Jessie
had taken turns visiting me, trying to keep me entertained. Neither
of them had heard anything either, but apparently that was nothing
new. The Bastards, Jessie explained, were known to take off for
days at a time at a moment’s notice. I honestly