Chapter Two
Chef
“No. Hell no. In fact, fuck no,” Sage says emphatically, jabbing a finger at Dex’s phone on the table. “Try again, Mom.”
“It’s the easiest way to draw him out, baby. The Computas can put it out on their platforms that you’re getting married. Just enough that he sees it. I know that little fucker and he won’t take that shit lying down.”
“It makes so much sense,” Chewy says, butting in. “Think about it. We already divided and conquered Petrov. We can do the same again. McDonald Mercy or whatever the hell his name is, he can get his ass killed at the Keep then it leaves just Thompson and I’m sure we can take care of his ass here.”
I mean, it does make sense, but the thought of using Sage as bait doesn't sit right with me. “We are not using Sage as fucking bait, Chewy.”
She blows a raspberry over the phone the same time Sage angrily flips the bird at me.
“I’m not marrying him or anyone else,” Sage says, sitting back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest.
“It won't be a real marriage,” Chewy says and I’m sure she’s rolling her eyes. “It’ll be a fake marriage. You could fake marry Chef,” she offers helpfully.
“Yes!” I yell at the same time Sage yells, “Fuck no!” Her mouth has gotten real dirty since we broke up.
“Nope. No way. Anyone but Chef. I’ll marry Damian,” she says quickly, making me flinch at her use of my road name.
“Oh well hey now, baby, I kinda like being alive and all.” He gestures to me and beams. “I can see why you’d choose me, but I have Barbara.”
“Who’s Barbara?” She asks, confused.
“That’s my girl. Best there is.”
Sage stares at him for a moment before her wild gaze moves to TumTum.
“No!” I jab a finger at his open mouth and he snaps it shut so fast his teeth clack.
Sage’s nostrils flare as she glares at me, her small fists balled on the top of the table and I don’t give a shit.
If there has to be a marriage, it’ll be to me.
Do I deserve it? Fuck no I don’t. But marrying her might be the only way I can win her back.
I mean, I’m sure this is some shit Tank and Mira have spoken about before.
If we’re married she’ll have to share a place with me and that means more time together for me to make it all up to her.
Sage takes a steadying breath before setting her gaze on Dex.
“Right. So, Damian and TumTum have pussied out of the running. I can’t marry Justice because I love Joe too much and I know that she has feelings for him.
” Justice’s brows hit his hairline before his face softens and he gives her a small nod. “Obviously my uncles are out, ugh.”
Damian hoots, “You know, you could marry one of ‘em, cher. Isn’t that kind of yo’ family tradition?”
Sage turns her head scarily slow to look at Damian who has the good sense to shrink back a little. “Flack is too old - no offense.”
“None taken,” Flack snorts.
“Sniper has his eyes on someone else, so that leaves Theo, Jay or you, Prez.” Sage nods as if they are the logical options even though Dex is around 15 years older than she is.
Sure the twins are closer in age to Sage, but if they have any good sense about them, they’ll keep their mouths shut.
“Well, I could be persuaded,” Theo shrugs, Jay nodding along with him.
“No, baby, I think for this to work it has to be Chef. You have history, you know each other. It’s more believable,” Blanche’s disembodied voice says. Filling the room with logic. Good fucking logic if you ask me.
“It’ll never work. You can’t convince people we’re in love if the bride hates the groom.” She gives me a tight smile. Smart ass.
“There’s a thin line between love and hate, Sagey Girl,” Tav says on a chuckle.
“Oh, and you know what?” I can tell Mira’s excitable staccato from anywhere and I know whatever she says is going to be a doozy.
“This could be perfect! Second chance enemies to lovers with a grovel?
You could make his life a living hell, Sage.
All while luring in a bad guy to the place where your mom massacred a whole weird cult.
Ugh, this stuff really does write itself.
" Mira's voice drifts off near the end of her sentence and we all know she’s gone off to brainstorm a new book.
“Hate to break it to ya, Sage, but they’re right.
The best way for you to draw this Nathaniel guy in is to pretend to marry someone else.
I know it’s not fucking ideal, marrying you to someone else to dodge a marriage you were sold into, but this way we can keep everyone safe and do this shit on our terms. You’re not alone, Sage. ”
“You never were,” I add quietly, trying to catch a glimpse of her deep, dark eyes.
She swallows and I know it’s a bitter fucking pill. I know I was her first love; shit, she’s mine, and it was my own bullshit that put a wedge between us. None of this is her fault, and yet here she is, keeping her head up and trying to make the best of the shit sandwich she’s been handed.
“Fine. I’ll do it. Only so we can get rid of Nathaniel. It has nothing to do with Chef and my history. This is purely for the DRMC and to set me free.”
Dex looks round the table, nodding. “You sure?”
Sage huffs, “I don’t have any other option, do I? You’re the Prez. Organize it and we’ll get it done.”
“You’ve made the right choice, Sagey Girl,” Vex says, reaching over and gripping Sage’s hand.
“Wasn’t much of a choice.” She sniffs then lifts her head, smiling tightly. “Mom?”
“Yeah, baby?” Blanche replies, sounding almost hesitant.
“Better organize a wedding. Damian can cook.” Sage shoots a cheeky grin at Damian who lays his large hand over his chest.
“I am truly honored, cher. You’ll have the finest wedding the BBQ Shack has ever seen.”
Sage laughs that tinkling sound that I thought I’d never hear again. “Right. Let’s do this.”
Her gaze meets mine and this time I don’t see pity or hurt. I see anger and a little bit of fear. Winning her back is going to take a lot fucking more than I thought, but it’ll be worth it. She is worth it.
Sage
I sit in Church long after all the men have left.
All the adrenaline of driving here and begging for an audience with Dex has left my body and now all I’m left with is…
shock. Like seriously, what the fuck just happened?
All I wanted was a place to lay my head until I could lure Nathaniel here.
Next thing I know I have a giant Cajun talking about what hors d'oeuvres TumTum is going to be making at my wedding to Chef. That giant douche canoe. Ugh. I should be over the anger. The hurt. I even thought I was until the stupid idiot was shot and then all these feelings of unrequited love came rushing back. The thought of there being a world without Chef in it somehow got all up in my feels and now I’m all confused over a man who threw me away.
Well, fuck him. I’m here for a reason and that isn’t to play house with him.
I will be as polite as I need to be to live in peace until I kill that pasty piece of dog turd who is still up on the screen behind me.
Then I’ll hot foot my ass back to Rose Grove.
Easy. Oh, and probably get a divorce from my fake marriage.
Taking a breath I slap my hands down on the table and get to my feet as if I’m 60 years old.
I feel it after driving here and going through that Church session.
Moving, I push my chair in before I leave, then tidy up all the other chairs on my way out, making sure they’re all pushed in nicely before I head out to the common room.
“Sage? Are you OK?” Loyal asks, concern written all over her face. “Justice told me who Richard McDonald really is. I can’t believe it. Well, no, actually I can believe it, but not really. He always was an absolute dickhole.”
Her words take me aback and I can’t help the snort that flies out of me. “Loyal,” I gasp, clutching my non-existent pearls, “a good Keep woman doesn't talk like that!”
She throws her head back and laughs before pointing at Joe who makes a dramatic bow. “Thank you, thank you very much.”
I like these women. I met them when we were all holed up at Switch’s family ranch. I even met Nell, who Sniper seems to have eyes for, but I’m not sure about her. She’s off. Broken in a way I’m not sure can be fixed. Although if anyone can do it, I’m sure it’s Sniper.
“So, to answer your question, I’m doing OK. Not thrilled that I have to marry Chef just to lure Nathaniel in, but, well, I just want this over with.”
“And in the meantime, we get to have fun,” Joe grins, the cute gap between her teeth on display.
“Not too much fun,” Justice grumbles from beside her. She smiles up at him and a blind man could see the love hearts in her eyes.
In fact, a blind man could see the hearts in Justice’s eyes for her.
I stifle a snort when I notice that somehow both Justice and Joe are even blinder than a blind man because neither of them has a clue what the other feels.
None at all. Darting my gaze to Loyal my snort accidentally slips out when she rolls her eyes at me, before she leans in.
“They’re so in love and yet neither of them know the other feels the same way. So we all sit here watching them moon over each other.”
“It’s almost painful, them two blind as hell,” Damian says as he looms over us.
“What are we talking ‘bout?” TumTum butts in, “oh, those two? Yeah, the only ones who haven't figured it out yet.” He watches a moment longer. “Who wants meatballs for dinner?”
The change of topic gives me whiplash and yet it helps settle me. It reminds me of home. The ribbing, the gossip, the endless food. All that’s missing is the mother figure that Mama Debs brings.
We all raise our hands which also makes me want to snort. A group of adults all holding our hands up to vote on a meatball dinner made by a biker who looks as if he’s fifteen years old.
“How old is TumTum?” I muse, as I watch him walk into the kitchen.
“Eh, somewhere around twenty-four, or thirty-four probably.” Damian says, shrugging then letting out a loud as hell whistle.
A caramel coloured dog with a smooshed in face, tongue lolling out and a bow on her head comes bounding over, stopping just short of me. Damian scoops it up into his arms and then coos in its face.
“Ma petite Barbara, what I ever do before you, huh mon cher?” he coos at the giant dog in his arms while it makes goo goo eyes back at him.
“He really does love that dog,” Joe drawls as she pets her little, black fluffy thing, Mosely. This one is wearing some kind of dog dungarees but at least Joe treats him like a normal dog. Kinda.
“Sagey Girl, wanna come pick out a cabin?” Vex calls, Omen and Saint stopping either side of him.
My brows pull in. What does he mean by cabin?
“Only the single brothers live at the clubhouse. Loyal and I live in Mercy’s old place, Joe lives next door. Nell, her little girl and River live in one just down the road, and Jason and his girl Izzy live near them. You can choose where you want to live.”
“TumTum and the prospects did them up real nice. You’ll like them,” Saint adds.
“Oh, um, are there any near you?” I ask Vex. If I have to live out here alone, I’d rather be close to someone who makes me feel safe.
“Yeah, the place next to ours is free,” Loyal smiles, moving to stand with my uncle, linking hands with him. They smile at each other and it’s plain for everyone to see how well they fit together.
“Chef, you good with that?” Vex calls over his shoulder and my brows pull low.
“Wait, why are you asking him?”
“You’ll be living together from now on.”
“What? But we’re not even married yet! Or at all!
Do we have to? Can’t we just say we live together and he stays here?
” Panic starts to rise in my chest and I’m not sure if it's because I’m worried I’ll start softening toward him, or be so angry I’ll bludgeon him to death. At this point it could go either way.
“We gotta make this look legit to anyone watching, that includes our guests.” Omen says, his eyes darting to some of the Keep rescues who are relaxing across the room by the games table.
“Come on, let's at least go have a look, yeah?” Loyal says gently, linking her arm through mine.
“I’ll come too. Moral support and all,” Joe says, linking her arm through my free one.
I blow out a breath, ignoring Chef as he comes to stand beside us. Let’s do this.