Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
RYAN
NOW
I ’d been watching Lexi all day and keeping an eye on her to make sure she was okay. I hadn’t spoken to her yet and I didn‘t know if I would. I was waiting for her to make the first move. I know she was going through her dad’s passing and his funeral and I just wanted to keep my distance, let her lead the way and if that meant she didn’t want to talk to me then that was fine. But if she did, then I’d be here ready for her.
The funeral went by exactly how I had planned it to. I wished I could have seen her face when the Vipers drove past her in the car, but seeing the look on her face when she walked up the grass hill and saw all of the Vipers and their families there ready to say goodbye with her was more than I could have asked for. I made sure Haz looked out for her during the funeral and every time he rested his hand on her shoulder, made me stop myself from walking over there and doing it myself.
We had planned a wake at the clubhouse after the funeral, Haz offered to give Lexi a ride there and when she declined, I thought there was no chance she would show up. But an hour later she walked through the clubhouse doors in a different outfit. The five-year difference in her face and body was subtle. Her hair was slightly shorter and she looked just as beautiful as I remember.
During the wake I looked around the clubhouse for her and noticed she was speaking to my dad by the meeting room. I kept an eye on them and got a strange feeling as though they were talking about me. When they both turned and looked in my direction, I knew I was right. I continued to stand with the group, pretending to listen to their conversation, but my full attention was on Lexi. My eyes drifted back up to where she was standing and I was surprised to see her smiling at me from across the room. If someone told me a week ago that I would be standing here smiling at Lexi Davis from across the room, I would have called them insane, yet here we stood with our eyes locked onto each other and waiting for someone to make the first move.
“Lexi,” Haz slurred loudly, letting everyone know he had already had too much to drink as he put his arm around Lexi as she approached the group and all the guys smiled at her. Most of them knew her as Alexis Davis, Scotty Davis’ daughter; not Lexi, not like I knew her.
“Can I talk to you for a second?” Lexi said softly, looking up at me with her blue eyes. Those eyes are the only eyes that used to and still would convince me to do just about anything.
“Yeah, of course.” I nodded at her and led the way down the hallway and into the room I claimed as mine when I first joined the Vipers. It felt weird bringing her back here. She had been in this room multiple times and I didn’t think how different it would feel having her in here after everything that had happened. She must have felt the same cause I could see her take a deep breath before looking around the room.
“Didn’t think about redecorating in the last five years?” she asked me, with a slight laugh. She was right though, it was the exact same, down to the decor and the picture on the bedside table of her and I at her twenty-first birthday party. I leant against the desk to the side of the room, watching her scan for a place to sit before deciding on the end of the bed across from me.
“I wanted to talk to your dad about today and the Viper contribution, but he told me to talk to you instead,” she said to me as she played with her fingers. Something she had always done when she was anxious. I hated that I was the reason she was anxious right now.
“I’m sorry if I overstepped in any way. I just thought Scotty would have liked a Viper sendoff. I should have checked with you first.”
“No, Ryan, you’re right. My dad would have loved it and I’m really thankful you did that for him. But you don’t need to pay for the funeral costs. I’ll pay you back for that.” She stood from the bed and took a step closer to me, which made me also stand straighter off the desk behind me.
“Lexi, I don’t want your money. I just wanted to try and make today easier for you,” I said back. For a split second, I froze when she looked up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist, hugging me tightly. Once I recomposed myself, my hands went around her, and as I held her in place, I realized I had forgotten how perfectly she fit into my chest.
“I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” she said when she pulled away quickly. She sat back on the bed, almost like I was on fire and was going to burn her if she stayed too close.
“It’s okay, you don’t need to apologize, Lex.” I sat next to her on the end of the bed but still kept my distance as I could see she was uncomfortable.
She put her face in her hands and began sobbing. It broke my heart to see her like this. I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her back into me. This time she didn’t pull away and I just let her cry into my chest.
She had kept it together all day, but I knew Lexi; I knew she was trying to be brave and not let her emotions show. She was going to break at some point, and this was that point.
You could still hear the party going on outside the room, but it mustn’t have been too loud as when I heard her stop crying, I looked down and noticed her eyes were closed and her crying had been replaced with soft breaths. I moved carefully and tried not to wake her as I laid her head on the pillow and pulled the blanket over her. I took off my black leather cut and went over to lock the door so no drunk Vipers stumbled in. I sat on the wooden chair in the corner of the room and watched Lexi as she slept. My own eyes began getting heavier as I watched her chest slowly rise and fall, and eventually, I fell asleep too.
* * *
I woke up to a sharp pain in the side of my neck. It took me a second to realize it was because I slept in the chair and not in my bed. I looked over at the bed and noticed Lexi still tucked under my blanket, fast asleep. Her blonde hair was spread out over the pillow as she lay on her side with her hand under the pillow. Outside the room was quiet as the other Vipers had either left or had passed out somewhere in the clubhouse after the party.
Mine and my dad’s room here at the clubhouse were the only two with their own bathrooms. The other members all shared a bathroom, and considering the number of men that lived here — it was filthy. I checked the door was still locked and went into the bathroom to take a shower, letting the warm water ease the tension in my neck.
After a few minutes I turned the water off and dried myself with my towel, I pulled my jeans back on and ran my fingers through my wet hair before making my way back into the bedroom. While I was in the shower, Lexi had woken up and I saw her now sitting up on the bed, holding the photo of us that sat on my bedside table. She had tied her hair up in a messy bun, using the hair tie she always kept on her wrist.
“Good morning,” I said as I walked in front of her towards my drawers to get a clean shirt. I kept limited stuff at the clubhouse as I didn’t stay here often anymore. I had my own apartment only a few streets away and I would go home most nights, unlike when I was younger and would crash at the clubhouse every night so there was no point in having my own place.
Lexi mustn’t have heard me turn the shower off because my voice startled her and she quickly put the photo back in its spot.
“Um, hey,” she said awkwardly. I turned to look at her and caught her eyes on my shirtless chest. I had gotten a few new tattoos since she had last seen me without a shirt on and the one I felt her eyes drift down to was the one I got five years ago on top of my heart. I put a shirt on and I saw her quickly look away, hoping I didn’t catch her checking me out.
“I should really get going. I’m sorry for falling asleep here.” She stood up and made her way towards the door, but I reached down and grabbed her wrist, turning her back towards me.
“Lexi, stop apologizing. Let me make you a coffee before you go?” She nodded and we both left the room and made our way out to the bar and kitchen area. There were people passed out everywhere around the clubhouse; some didn’t even leave the bar and were asleep in their stools, while some at least moved to the couches.
I passed her cup of coffee before we made our way outside to a table in the sun and we sat in comfortable silence for a moment.
“What’s your plan now? Are you staying in Haven Cove?” I asked, something I’d been dying to know since I first saw her again.
“I really don’t even know where to start. I suppose I need to pack up the house and put it up for sale, and after that I guess I’ll go back home.” She looked down to her coffee and avoided eye contact with me.
“You are home, Lexi.”
She looked up at me and I gave her a small smile.