My Husband's Name in Her Mouth

Dessa Marlowe pours whiskey for her husband every Friday night at the Rusty Tank. She has been at that bar since before she could legally drink—her father founded the club that made Kade who he is. Then she hears Kade's name on the back porch phone, whispered by a woman with a lawyer's voice, and assumes the oldest story there is. She is almost right. Kade has spent six months negotiating a federal plea that would trade his brothers for a lighter sentence. When the club president finds out, he orders a hit on Kade's brother, and the choice between the patch and the family he actually has becomes a body on the bar floor unless someone acts. Dessa does not wait to be chosen. She wears a wire under her apron, testifies in open court, and makes Kade hand in his patch in front of the men who raised him. They buy the bar. They rename it for her father. They marry a second time—no colors, no brothers, no vows written by anyone else.