Chapter 15 Makenna #3
“So, are we just meant to stay here while they go off and fight each other?” I ask. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I need to know what exactly is about to happen.”
“Yeah.” Ivy draws her brows together. “This is the shitty part about being with a biker.”
Dayna rubs circles over her small bump and part of me wonders what their day-to-day life must be like if they feel safe enough to bring children into this world.
“When they win, do you think we will get to see the clubhouse?” Dayna asks. “I’m starting to think the mythical realm doesn’t exist.”
I freeze. “Wait.” I glance between them. “You’ve never been to the clubhouse?”
The three of them exchange glances, but it’s Toby who speaks through a mouthful of crisps. “We’re not allowed.”
Ivy smacks Toby’s arm. “Animal.” She turns to me. “We’ve been there, but not often. The guys don’t like us being around the club.”
“They keep us separate from that side of things as much as possible,” Maylie adds.
That hits me like a brick wall. All this time I thought I was unwanted, but we were all kept away, like chess pieces they were too scared to move across the board.
I built an entire narrative in my head about not being good enough for him, for the club, and even though he told me that wasn’t the case, now I have more evidence of that.
Suddenly the weight of it feels less heavy. Less lonely. And a lot more fucked up. This wasn’t rejection. It was policy. All the guys kept their families separate.
My jaw tightens as the truth settles in. “Since the beginning?”
“Pretty much,” Maylie confirms.
“Trusting those men almost got Dash killed.” Ivy glances at Dayna as she says it, her eyes softening in a way that says these girls have history.
I cross my arms protectively around me, a reflex I’ve never lost over the years. “I thought it was just me that was hidden away,” I admit.
“Nope, we all ended up on the do not admit list.” Dayna sighs.
“And judging from how things went down that was probably the best decision. Bad enough they hurt the guys, but with all the pregnancies and babies… Yeah, I can understand why they were cautious. But I do want to know about you, Little Miss Secret Bride. How long have you been married to Diesel? I need to know everything. This just became my new favourite mystery.”
“Leave the woman alone,” Maylie tells her before I can answer. “She doesn’t need an interrogation from you.”
“Oh, come on,” Dayna whines. “You’re telling me this isn’t the most interesting thing that’s happened in weeks, maybe months?”
“You getting knocked up was the most interesting thing that’s happened lately.”
“Exactly. I’ve been the headline for months.
I’m bored of me.” Dayna turns back to me, her eyes sparkling.
“There’s no judgment here. I met Rhys at a birthday party in a strip club, fucked him in a corridor with a room full of people next door, got pregnant, almost died in a shootout, and the rest is history. ”
I blink slowly. “You… what?”
She waves a dismissive hand. “Babe, we’ve all got stories. Ivy fell in love with her brother-in-law’s foster brother. They were having clandestine fuck sessions while her sister and his brother slept down the hallway.”
I cut my eyes to Ivy who has covered Seren’s little ears. Toby’s muttering under his breath as he shoves his earphones in and fiddles with his phone.
“That’s not what happened,” Ivy hisses at her. “You make it sound sordid.”
“No, I make it sound romantic.” She sighs dreamily. “You and Riot are the ultimate forbidden love. It’s beautiful.”
“Let me guess,” I say to Maylie. “Mace fell off his white horse coming to rescue you?”
She laughs, jiggling the baby. “Not exactly. His club took over the strip bar I was working at—not as a dancer,” she clarifies. “Though I wouldn’t mind considering the tips they make.”
Dayna snorts. “I want to be there if you ever do that, just to watch that big vein in his head pulse.”
I glance between them. Maybe I shouldn’t trust them.
I don’t know them, but for some reason, I find myself talking.
“Zane and I have known each other since we were young. I was seven years old the first time I met him.” I breathe in, once, twice, then keep talking.
“We were in the same foster home together for a year. We got moved around a lot after that, but we’re always managed to keep in touch.
” My throat tightens. “To protect each other. We got married a few years back and I thought he was ashamed of me. He’d never take me to the clubhouse or to meet his friends. ”
“He was protecting you,” Maylie says quietly.
“Yeah.” I fiddle with the sleeve of his hoodie. The one he put on me back at the house earlier. It feels like a lifetime ago. “I didn’t know that at the time. I spent years thinking I didn’t belong, that he didn’t want me in his world.”
I stare into my lap. I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore. It was one thing learning I was kept away for my safety, but it’s a whole other realising I wasn’t the only one.
“Let me guess, he never actually said that.” Dayna’s brow arches.
“Not until I left him.”
“Standard,” she says, deadpan.
“These men have the communication skills of a stone,” Ivy mutters. “Would it kill them to say what they actually mean once in a while?”
“Oh, it definitely would. The world would clearly end if they actually opened their mouths and talked like normal human beings.” Dayna shrugs. “Anyway, fuck them. We’ve got each other and tequila. You know, once I’m no longer pregnant and Maylie’s not breastfeeding.”
“What do we have until then?” Maylie asks.
“Sass, May. We have sass and sarcasm. And coffee—as long as it’s under one cup a day.” She smirks at me. “Welcome to the only club that matters, babe.”
I laugh and fuck, it feels good to let it out. “Do we get membership cards?”
“I’ll even laminate them.”