Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
KODIAK
“Kodiak,” Peaches purrs my name as she drops down into my lap. After I left my house, I came back to the party. My plan was to down a few beers and look at the fire until I cooled my jets.
“Not now, Peaches,” I tell her as I use my free hand to unwind her arms from around my shoulders.
“Come on, let me help you relieve some of that stress. You don’t want that high-class bitch and you know it. She’s a new flavor, and you’ve had a taste. It’s time to let us make you feel better.”
“Us?” I ask, lost in thought of my woman. My crazy, full of shit woman. My pregnant woman.
“Us,” another voice whispers in my ear. I recognize the voice belonging to Kitty. These club bitches don’t know when to leave well enough alone at times.
Normally, they don’t bother me, but ever since Luna literally walked into my path, I haven’t been availing myself of their talents. Not that I plan to think about what that means any time soon.
“Not interested, ladies. Go help one of my brothers out,” I state.
“Oh, come on, Kodiak. You look tense, let us help you out with that,” Peaches murmurs as Kitty draws her finger across the nape of my neck, lowering her mouth to nibble on the lobe of my ear.
They tag team their attack against me and pick a side of my neck to nuzzle their noses into. The cloying body sprays they use have me fighting not to sneeze. Suddenly, I miss the crisp, clean scent of my Moon. “What the fuck are y’all trying to pull?”
Before I get my answer, I hear a sobbed gasp coming from behind me. I stand and Peaches falls to the ground, landing flat on her ass in the dirt. Twisting my torso, I see Luna standing there, tears trekking down her cheeks.
“Luna, it’s not what you think,” I defend.
“It never is, is it Kodiak?” she cries, shaking her head as if I’ve disappointed her. “That’s okay, you live your life and enjoy your evening.” When she cups her hand across her still toned belly as if she’s protecting our baby from watching his father cheating on her, I lose my shit.
“I’m already guilty in your eyes, huh? Don’t I get the chance to defend myself here, Luna, or is your mind already made up? I’m a cheater because your research says I am. Do I have that right?” I growl out, not caring that we’ve drawn an audience.
“Stop, Marcum. Just stop,” she pleads, her head turning as she takes in the witnesses watching our dramatic confrontation.
Over it and needing time away from her, I order, “Get out of here, Luna. Go talk shit about me behind my back with Demi. You two should have a great time eating some Ben and Jerry’s while smack talking about me and Xavier.”
“Newsflash, asshole. I don’t need a night with my girl while spooning some ice cream into my mouth to trash talk you. You’ve already proven all of my theories and research right. Enjoy the sluts, Marcum, because you’ll never have their hearts, you’ll only ever have their pussies. You think these skanks are loyal to you? Do you?”
“Yes!” I spit out.
“You’re a fool, Marcum. All they want is a patch on their back to lord over each other so they can climb the ranks. Patch chasers only care about one thing, but they’ll never be truly loyal to you. Wanna know how I know that?”
“Sure. Tell me, oh wise one,” I sarcastically demand. “How do you know considering you’ve never walked a mile in their shoes?” My brothers all look at me dumbfounded. They’ve seen my temper flare before, but it’s never, not once, been so demeaning and accusatory. Women are sacred to me, the men surrounding me know I won’t allow any disrespect tossed their way, and yet, here I am throwing shade at the one woman who makes me feel alive.
“Because I know women, Marcum. I’ve seen how catty they can be when they set their minds to something. Especially, when it’s something they want that’ll one up their opponent.”
“So what? They want to take a ride on my dick? That’s old news for me, Moon.”
“Been there, done that,” Peaches announces, sounding proud of herself. My eyes clamp closed because I know deep in my soul that her words just nailed the lid on my coffin.
“Many, many times,” Kitty adds her two cents.
“Fuck,” Risk whistles. “I think you’re fucked, pres.” I turn my head in his direction and stare him down. He imitates zipping his lips, but he knows as well as I do that the damage has already been done.
“I’ll let you know about that doctor’s appointment,” Luna inserts, using the hem of her shirt to wipe her face. “Until then, I think we should keep our distance.”
“What’s with all of the shouting?” Demi demands as she stomps into the yard. Xavier walks out behind her, and he gives me a perplexed glare. “Luna? Why the fuck are you crying?” She marches over to her friend and gets right in her face, examining Luna and when she turns my way and sees me surrounded by the club girls, she looks murderous. “Really?” Her foot is tapping ninety miles per hour as she takes in the scene. “I think our welcome here has been worn out. Let’s go, Luna, before I knock the shit out of everyone that made you shed tears.”
Despite the abject misery on Luna’s face right now, I can’t help the slight smirk that crosses my face seeing how fiercely Demi has come to her aid. She’s got a warrior in her corner, something I’m sure she realizes, but the fact that Demi is looking at all of us, unafraid of the fact that she’s highly outnumbered if push came to shove, is admirable.
And right now, with shit so fucking sideways, she’s gonna need her because I suspect she won’t give me the time of day any time soon. As she takes Luna’s arm in hers and turns toward the parking lot, I give Xavier a slight shake of my head when he pantomimes handing me a bottle of liquor.
Xavier and I stand side-by-side as we watch two angry women stride away from us with their heads held high. “What the hell happened, brother?” Xavier probes.
“I found out tonight that I’m going to be a dad,” I confess. “Things were going good until I let something she said get to me and things went to hell from there.”
“Well, shit. I’m going to be an uncle?” he asks.
“Yeah, brother.”
“When you say shit hit the fan, I’m assuming the blades were Kitty and Peaches?” He looks down at the girl sprawled on the ground and the other who’s slowly backing away from us.
“You got it in one guess,” I hiss, opening and closing my fist.
“We don’t hit girls, remember, brother,” Xavier reminds me even if he looks ready to nail them himself.
“I remember. Girls, you’re on latrine duty for the unforeseeable future for that stunt. You knew I was with someone and you set your mind to cause division. You are also banned from attending parties for a month. Your pussies will not be touched until I say so but your mouths are still open for business. Got me?”
“Yes,” Kitty spits out.
“Yeah, Kodiak,” Peaches murmurs, sounding pissed. Good, because so the fuck am I.
“You heard him, get gone,” Xavier edicts. “If the men need your mouths, they’ll hunt you down. Do not go looking for them yourselves.” Both of them nod their heads and scamper from the premises like parasites running from the poison held in my hand and head indoors.
“So, how do you plan on coming back from this?” Xavier questions.
“I have no earthly idea,” I admit. “I think I dug my grave.”
“Six feet under, my brother. You better pray Luna remembers where she left the shovel or you’re fucked.”
It’s been two damn days and Luna is only responding to my texts with one to two word responses.
Me: How are you doing?
Luna: Good.
I try again for the umpteenth time to get more than that from her.
Me: Have you made a doctor appointment yet?
Luna: Yes.
Me: ??? When is it?
Luna: In two days. Ten in the morning.
Well, I’m on a roll, that was more than two words.
Me: The address?
Does she answer me using actual words? Hell no. She sends me a pin drop with the building's coordinates.
Me: See you then. And Luna, we’re gonna talk afterward.
Luna: Maybe.
Me: No. Not maybe. We will be talking. We have a baby to think about.
Luna: ...
Then I watch as the bubbles disappear before she begins again.
Luna: If you say so.
This time, I’m the one with a short response.
Me: I do.