Sometimes Bitch Slaps Are Warranted
LEXI
“Are you sure you’re okay with me going. Because I know we’re not actually together, and I’m sure you want to go hang with the guys, and hook up with someone because you’re obviously not getting that from me. But Harlow invited me, and I just didn’t want to say yes, if you were…”
Pierce’s rough hand lands across my mouth, shutting off my rambling.
“Come. I want you there.”
I nod behind his warm fingers, and the urge to lick them hits strong, but I keep the immature move to myself.
“And just for the record, I wasn’t planning on hooking up with anyone tonight. I haven’t since… Well, since you attacked me that morning.”
My eyes bug out at that little tidbit of information he casually drops in my lap.
I’m not his keeper. I don’t ask him about what he’s doing or where he’s going when he disappears at night.
I just assumed. But this is shocking. However, I can’t deny that my chest lights up with happiness at the revelation.
His full lips quirk into a knowing grin, like he can read everything I’m feeling inside right from my face, and he probably can. My guard’s been slowly lowering over the last couple of months. It’s too easy to have him here in my space all the time, like it was always meant to be this way.
His hand drops from my lips and falls to the swell of my ever-growing stomach, before he says, “Go get dressed, we can head over together when you’re ready. Can even take the bike.”
“Are you crazy! I’m not getting on the back of that thing six months pregnant. What if you crash?”
“Calm down, Princess. I was just joking. We’ll take your car.”
Rolling my eyes, I shake my head and turn to head for my room to try and find something for the club that’ll still fit.
After trying on half my closet, I end up in a pair of boyfriend jeans and one of Pierce’s shirts, which I’ve taken to sleeping in. It’s got the club’s patch on the back, and I quickly wonder if I’m allowed to wear it since we’re not technically together.
But when I step out into the living room and his eyes clock the shirt tied up to reveal a little of my belly, his eyes grow dark and hungry.
His footsteps are slow and calculated as they eat up the space from the front door to where I stand rooted in place at the hallway’s entry.
“You know what people are going to think if you wear that tonight, right?” His fingers reach forward, pushing a loose curl behind my ear.
“Let them think what they want, then.” I shrug.
That soft touch in my hair moves to the back of my neck in a firm grasp. “Another man touches you tonight, Lex, and we’re going to have problems. Got it?”
“And does that go both ways?”
“Princess, you’re the only woman I want touching me. I’m only going because Si and I have some business to discuss. I’d much rather stay home and work on the nursery with you.”
“I think I’ve tamed you.”
“Oh, baby, you have no idea.”
His lips drop to the top of my head, and I inhale his scent that’s already wrapped around my skin from his shirt, but straight from the tap, it’s like a hit of the purest drug.
Shifting uncomfortably beside the car, I run my fingers through the ends of my straight hair—playing with the length has always been a nervous habit. It’s why I keep it so long.
“Are you coming?” Pierce calls from the trunk.
What am I worried about? I’m here because Harlow invited me. It doesn’t matter that we’re showing up together. Our situation isn’t a secret anymore. The whole club knows. But something about that conversation before we left the house felt like we were on the precipice of something more between us.
The stirring unease in my gut makes me wonder if, when I wake up in the morning, the world might look a little different.
“I’m coming, I’m coming. Pregnant ladies take a little longer to get around.”
“Do I need to carry you inside?” he asks as I make it to his side.
“Don’t be stupid. You walk in there carrying me, and they’re going to think I’ve gone into labor or something stupid.”
His heavy arm slides around my shoulder, pulling me close and tucking me safely into his side before we walk through the open garage doors.
It’s loud in here as always, the music bounces off the wooden beams, and raucous laughter peels from a shadowed corner. Members are spread out around the open room, enjoying the night. I clock the table I need to be at the second someone comes up to us, man handshaking with Pierce.
“I see Harlow.” I nod in her direction and make to break free, but Pierce solidifies his hold on my side.
“Come find me whenever you’re ready to leave.” He leans down closer, his lips tracing the shell of my ear, before he says, “And remember what I said. In this room, in my shirt, with my kid on the way, you’re mine, Princess. Don’t forget it.”
I shouldn’t like the way his words claim me. I’ve been down that road before, and it didn’t end well. But that’s not Pierce. He’d chop off his own hand before harming me in any way. Under all that rough exterior, I know his hurt. I know his heart, and it’s as pure as they come.
His rough smack to my ass clears my brain, and my feet move toward the table of women staring at me with knowing smiles on each and every one of their faces.
“Don’t.” I hold up my finger as my ass slides into the booth next to Harlow.
“Don’t… bring up the fact that you just let that man lay claim to you in the middle of the clubhouse. Not to mention… Is that a new shirt?” Harlow teases, and Josephine chuckles from across the table.
“No comment.”
The girls burst into a laughing fit, but the noise fades into the surrounding madness.
It’s only eight—when I’d typically be curling up with Steve, my body pillow, with my favorite mom and daughter duo on the TV—but this place is already packed full.
Usually, their get-togethers and parties last into the early mornings.
I know the last one I came to did, and look where that got me.
We chat, and the girls drink while I sip on my mocktail that one of the prospects brought over at Pierce’s request. Josephine lets me ask a million and one questions about motherhood since she and Vik have a daughter about to turn one, and I’m clueless about all this.
The hours tick on, and my eyes start to feel heavy when a foot hits my shin under the table. I startle, probably because I was actually micro-napping, and look at her wide eyes.
“Girl, I think you need to go check on your man.” Josephine nods to the bar where Pierce is cutting up with Silas and her husband.
“I’m not worried about it. He’s not interested in her.”
“Oh, honey.” She laughs, and Harlow shakes her head. “That’s not how things work around here. I trust Vik to the ends of the earth. That man is never going to stray from me, but you best believe I let these little girls know he’s mine when they step over the line.”
“I mean, he’s free to do what he wants. It’s not like we’re really together.”
“Lexi.” Harlow’s disapproving tone rings clear to the whole table. “That man has been yours since we were kids. Now, go claim him before she sinks her claws in too deep.”
“But…”
“Baby girl, are you carrying his child?” Josephine asks.
“Obviously.” I roll my eyes at the question she already knows the answer to.
“Then he’s yours, girl. And I don’t believe for a second you’re the type of woman who’s okay with others playing with her things. Now scoot.” She shoos me away with her hands and picks up her beer.
This is a terrible idea. I’m going to make a fool of myself, trying to play the possessive, pseudo girlfriend. Then I remember the way he held me last night and the look he gave me when I walked out ready for tonight.
His whispered words from earlier bleed into my memory, and I throw my shoulders back, stalking up to them the best I can with my pregnancy waddle.
“Hey, I’m getting tired. Are you ready to head out soon?” I ask Pierce, ignoring the girl who doesn’t lean away when I sidle up to his side.
Her boobs are out on full display, covered by the tiniest scrap of see-through fabric. No judgment, she’s got a nice pair of tits, but the girls’ words are in my head, and seeing it up close when his arm snakes around my back builds up the possessive monster inside me.
“Excuse you, we were talking.”
Her bitchy irritation works to pull an amused laugh from my throat.
“Congrats, now you’re not.” That catty girl, every woman has deep down inside her, when the right situation shows itself, emerges.
“Who the fuck do you think you are. He’s mine…”
“Listen, hun. I’m just gonna stop you right there.” I lean in closer to Pierce, my hand possessively falling to his firm thigh to steady myself. “If you can’t tell,” I let my free hand drop to my stomach, “he’s obviously not interested. Now, you run along and find someone else to bother.”
She scoffs and pulls back like I’ve slapped her, looking down at my stomach for the first time. But there’s something nasty sparking in her eyes, and I know this isn’t over.
She turns her gaze back to Pierce, and I follow, but his eyes are on me.
“Pierce, baby, when you get tired of little Miss Priss here, you know where to find me to have a good time,” she spouts like that’s something to be proud to offer.
I don’t know what comes over me. Maybe I’m channeling my best friend, who is no doubt standing in the wings, waiting to see how this plays out. My hand flies across her cheek, sending her face snapping to the side.
“You bitch!” she shrieks and moves toward me.
All at once, the club seems too quiet, and I’m hauled back by Pierce, his stool clattering to the floor in the chaos of bodies moving in.
“You’re lucky you’re fucking pregnant, you stupid cunt.” She tries to get toward me, but Silas has a firm grip around her arm, keeping her from moving more than an inch.
Shaking Pierce’s protective hold from my jittering body, I step into her face, leaning in and dropping my voice.
“Girl, you’re the one lucky I’m pregnant.
That man behind me, whom you think you have a single chance with, has been in love with me since I was fifteen.
And the man who’s holding you back from getting your ass beat, he’s loved me since the day I was born.
So try it and see how that works out for you. ”
“I think it’s time for you to go,” Silas adds when I finish, pulling her toward the door as she keeps running her mouth.
Harlow turns on a dime, hearing something I must not be able to with the ringing in my ears from the adrenaline dancing through my veins.
“Well, I’m not pregnant,” Harlow spits loud and clear. Her fist flies through the air, and Silas moves out of the way just in time. The girl, whose name no one has mentioned, hits the concrete floor like a sack of potatoes.
“Really, wildcat?” Silas sighs as he shakes his head at my uncontrollable best friend.
“Did you hear what she said?”
“Yeah, but she was already on her way out. Now I have an unconscious body to deal with.”
“Like that’s anything new.” She laughs and bends down to help him.
Their banter continues, but the strong, warm arms wrapping around my waist from behind steal my attention.
“Are you proud of yourself, baby? Almost starting a full-on brawl tonight. Who knew you had it in you?”
Turning in his hold, I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him down until we’re eye to eye.
“You said no one touches me. I thought I’d make it clear I feel the same way.”
“Those are dangerous words, Princess. It almost makes it sound like you want me to be yours again.”
“And if I do?”
The second that question falls between us, his lips are on mine in a bruising kiss. It matches the intensity of the night and stokes the dull fire in my core. This isn’t simply about a release. This is more.
“Take me home,” I whisper when we finally break apart.
“I thought you’d never ask.”