Free Resonance (Marauders #4) by Lina Andersson Page A

the side window doing a piss-poor job at hiding her smile.
    “Kiddo, you’re gonna hear a lot worse words when we’re at the dinner.”
    Felix just stared at him with big eyes. “Do you use those words often?”
    “Your mom doesn’t?”
    As he remembered it, Billie had an impressively imaginative vocabulary when it came to cussing. She could put together words that didn’t even sound filthy until she paired them up. It was basically her superpower to curse and insult people.
    “Never!” Felix emphasized. “My mommy is not a potty-mouth.”
    “Sorry to tell you, but your dad is.” He fucking loved hearing himself say that— your dad . “Get used to it.”
    It dawned on him that he was bringing Billie into a pretty shitty situation. She wasn’t popular among the members. Partly because he’d told them he didn’t like her, and partly because they thought what she’d done was as cunty as he himself thought. He was wondering if he should warn her, and if he would get the chance to do it without Felix overhearing.
    When they parked the truck in front of Brick’s place, he got out first, and Billie helped Felix before putting the backpack with his food over his shoulders.
    “You can wait for us by the door, kiddo, I’m just gonna have a quick talk with your mom.”
    “Okay,” he said and went over to stand on the stairs before pointing at them and yelling, “I’m standing here.”
    “That’s good, honey,” Billie said before turning to him. “So?”
    “They might not be chummy with you.”
    “I didn’t think they would.”
    “Just wanted to give you heads up.”
    “Thanks for that,” she said and started towards Felix. When he didn’t follow her, she turned around. “I understand. Don’t worry about it. I’m used to dealing with hostile men.”
    He wondered what the fuck that meant, but then he shrugged and walked past her to get to Felix first. Wasn’t really his problem.
    And he’d been right. They were very impressed with Felix, since he shook hands with all of them and introduced himself as ‘Felix Jensen’ and insisted on calling everyone ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am,’ but they weren’t friendly with Billie. They weren’t exactly hostile, but he knew it would’ve been different if she’d been there with him, as his woman. She didn’t seem to mind much. She helped in the kitchen and prepared Felix’s food, then she sat next to Felix, who was seated between them. She had Anna on her other side, but spent most of the time helping Felix. Tommy quickly realized it was lucky she was there, because Felix kept asking what he could taste and how much, and he wouldn’t have been able to answer. He should probably learn that pretty fucking quickly, though.
    Tommy looked around the table, and it dawned on him how many club kids there were now. Dawg and Edie’s two boys, Travis and Jacob; Mac and Vi’s boy, and they were expecting a second; Mitch and Anna’s girl, who was the only girl but too young to give a damn about it; and Bucket’s kid, Adam, who was about the same age as Felix. And those were just the really young ones. He noticed that despite being almost the same age as Adam, Felix was much smaller. He hadn’t really realized just how small he was for his age.
    Once dinner was over, Travis came over to their side of the table and asked if Felix would come and play with them. Felix looked at Billie.
    “Can you come with us?”
    “Sure,” she said and left the table with the two kids.
    “How did she get him to call everyone sir or ma’am?” Edie asked with a laugh. “That was very impressive. I can’t even get my kid to blow his nose.”
    “Think it might be his granddad who’s behind that. Billie and Zach were the same when they were kids. It’s a military thing.”
    “Did she serve?” Brick asked.
    “Yeah, in the Navy.”
    “Can’t be that many women there,” Mel said.
    “Think it’s about the same as the rest of the military—around fifteen percent. Only in the