15 Grip #2
“Like years ago. Many, many of them. I was, like, ten maybe, and he was a couple of years older than me. Really, I should blame him since it was his idea. You would have thought I’d have gotten sick from eating so many burgers, but I never once wanted to stop.
Seriously, we ate them like five times a week.
Not very healthy, but what kid cares about that? ”
Viking snorted, and I found myself smiling. It wasn’t big or anything, no need to alert the press, but my lips were turned up and I felt a sense of warmth falling over me for a minute.
Was it fuckin’ weird that I was finding myself truly enjoying this moment?
It was like it felt like something I’d always longed for and a type of normal I never thought I’d get in one. Just the three of us sitting here eatin’ dinner and talking. No weight of the world to think about.
That was when it all came crashing back down.
I cleared my throat. I hated that I was about to bring the room down.
“Prez wanted me to let you know that he hasn’t forgotten about you. There’s some stuff goin’ on he needs to take care of, but, um, given that you’re still makin’ yourself useful to me and Vike, he’s gonna let you stay here until things calm down.”
“So as long as I keep letting you two sleep with me,” she said, tone a little curt. “As long as I keep you satisfied. Or keep someone else here satisfied, right? That’s what you mean.”
My brow furrowed at the thought of her with anyone else. She wasn’t Vike’s and mine, she wasn’t. I knew that. But maybe… we weren’t quite done with her yet. At least I didn’t think Vike was. Oh, hell, maybe I wasn’t as done with her as I wanted to be, so I supposed I had no room to fuckin’ talk.
“Vike’s gotta go out tonight,” I said, as if declaring that would sidetrack the shit going on. “All night.”
Vike and Ivy gave me equally strained looks. Maybe Ivy didn’t know me at all, but even she could tell I was being weird as fuck.
“All night?” she asked as she slid her focus to the big brute beside her. What the fuck did it matter? It wasn’t like he’d been around at night anyway.
And that was another thing in itself.
I’d slept with her, not just been inside her, but took up the bed the rest of the night beside her.
I wasn’t a share the bed with anyone kind of guy, not like that.
And as far as fuckin’ her? I’d done that without Viking there.
I hadn’t even thought of him as I did it.
That wasn’t how we worked. I hated myself.
Hated that I hadn’t told him about it either.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, he’d taken Ivy without me there.
I didn’t care, not really. I wasn’t gonna hold him to whatever unsaid shit we’d been doing for years.
Me bein’ there was more of a security thing.
He didn’t trust himself to be alone when he fucked someone, which was why he was choosy when he did do it.
Most of the time, he watched, and that worked for him.
Worked for me too, since I got to do the fuckin’ that he watched.
It was hard not to smirk at that.
But anyway. That wasn’t the point here.
Ivy was quickly fuckin’ up our world.
Or was I the one who was fuckin’ up everything? Maybe Ivy was supposed to be here. Maybe she’d been just the thing Vike had been waiting for… the thing I’d been hoping would come along for him, too, as weird as that fuckin’ sounded.
Vike let out a grunt and a short nod in response to Ivy, but his furrowed brow and weirded-out look were still aimed at me.
Was it hot in here? I also suddenly felt itchy, like I’d been rollin’ around in poison ivy for hours.
“Everything okay?” Ivy asked, her tone hesitant.
“Yeah,” Vike grunted. “Just gotta do some club stuff. Don’t worry.”
The smile she sent him was small and sweet, but there was something in her eyes that still held a hint of worry.
I damn near held my breath as I waited to see what was gonna come out of her mouth.
Some women pushed. They pushed and they asked and they got mean when they didn’t get to know about any of the club shit.
Some women just knew they wouldn’t ever know.
Ivy might not understand the club’s ways, but I really wanted to see what kind of woman we were dealing with, despite that.
“Okay.” She was lettin’ it go, but the fact that she cared on some level did somethin’ funny in my chest.
“Grip will stay with you,” Vike said, and now I was the one looking strained. Where the hell had that come from? What was he thinking?! When I met his gaze, he was tryin’ to cover up a damn smirk, but I could see that shit in the crinkle of his eyes. Damn fucker. I was gonna get him back for that.
“You don’t have to,” Ivy said, but damn me if I didn’t hear the disappointment in her tone.
“Yeah,” I said, reaching in my sad bag for some soggy fries.
I shoved a whole handful of them in my mouth in an attempt to stop the shit that wanted to come out.
Deep down, maybe I didn’t hate the idea of it so bad, but that left me confused, and I fuckin’ hated bein’ confused.
“I’ll hang out with you. Stay in here tonight. ”
Okay, so I had to admit that it sounded a lot better than crashing on some random couch in the clubhouse.
The air in the room got real thick for a few minutes, and I tried not to look at either of them.
Then she offered some of her fries to Vike, holding them out for him to bite, and the tension eased.
She made small talk, asking us questions about our bikes. Seemed like she’d learned a lot from readin’ that magazine.
When Vike left for his long overnight shift about twenty minutes later, he popped a kiss on her lips, so quick I would have missed it if I’d blinked.
And then Ivy and I were alone.