25 Grip
Grip
Church had been… well, it had been. Wasn’t no other way to describe it.
Half the table knew what was coming, and the other half was speechless and confused as hell.
Vike and I weren’t the claimin’ type. We weren’t the settling-down type.
Nothing about us screamed we wanted an ol’ lady. Yet, we’d taken one.
I didn’t have any regrets, at least not now. I hoped I wasn’t wrong about the feelings in my gut when it came to Ivy.
While I was sure of what we were doing, Vike looked almost like he wanted to retract his earlier statement the moment we crossed the threshold to the meeting room.
I gave him an out, but he didn’t take it.
So, she was ours. She was moving into our house soon, and none of the other brothers would be able to touch her and… and…
We’d just drastically changed our lives. Shit would never be the same.
It settled in for me later than it hit Vike. So when he stormed off after the meeting had been called over, I sat there stunned while he stomped off to… wherever the fuck.
Figuring I needed to give him a few, I went down to the bar and sat with my thoughts while I drank a beer in the corner.
Honestly, it didn’t really help me sort out any of the shit in my head and what this all meant for me.
I was too worried about Vike. Worried about Ivy and what she was thinking.
Worried about what we’d done and how shit was gonna change.
When it was clear I wasn’t going to get anywhere with myself, I headed in search of Vike.
I found him out back, sitting at one of the wooden picnic tables.
His back was slightly hunched, and though I couldn’t see his face, I knew he was in a mood.
It was in the way he had his back to the clubhouse.
The way he let the smoke roll out of him in a slow breath.
Hell, just the fact that he was smokin’ a joint by himself was enough to alert me.
His shoulders tensed when I came up beside him and plopped my ass right on the same side of the table, leaving about a foot of space between us.
He needed to know I was there, but I didn’t touch him.
This was as close as it got for us. I wasn’t a hugger by any stretch, but if the big asshole needed one, I sure as fuck would be hangin’ off of him all the damn time.
Didn’t give a fuck what it looked like to other people.
“You good?” I asked. Well, more grunted.
“We doin’ the right thing?” I was about to open my mouth and tell him this was on him, and it didn’t matter since it was done now.
I thought it was what he wanted. But he cut me off before I had the chance to say anything.
“I mean for her. Yeah, I want it, and I want her to be okay with it. But I don’t know if deep down it’s really what’s good for her, you know? ”
I wouldn’t have ever called Viking a softy. He didn’t have no squishy middle inside that big, scary exterior. If he cared about you, he’d give his life to protect you, but that didn’t make him mushy. I had no idea what the fuck was goin’ on here or what to do with it.
Who was to say if we made the right call for her? We hadn’t asked her, so maybe that was bad. But we’d done it to protect her, in a sense. Protect her from being turned into a club girl. From being passed around and treated like she wasn’t much more than a wet hole to use.
And yeah, I saw the irony in it. But the thing was, most of the club whores came to the clubhouse with one thing in mine, and they knew what they wanted.
Some stuck around knowin’ the rules and what was expected of them if they stayed there.
None of them had been thrown into it out of the blue.
While I knew Ivy understood the rules, I wasn’t sure she’d pick this life if she had her choice.
That right there was like a big hit upside the head. Was that what Viking had been trying to say?
Club whore or not, this life probably wasn’t what Ivy wanted. She could do a fuck of a lot better than some emotionally repressed, grunting, dirty bikers, who might take care of her, but they’d never really be able to give her the affection she probably needed.
Then again, who the fuck were we to say if this was the right thing for her? She was smart, so she could determine for herself if it was. On top of that, she had a mouth, and speak her piece if she didn’t want us.
“We keep her safe for now, then when this thing with her dad or whatever is over, we can let her go if that’s what she wants,” I said, making it sound more like I’d made a wise decision and less like it was a good suggestion.
Viking didn’t need suggestions when he was like this.
And though there had been very few times when he’d been unsure if he’d made the right call, I’d seen it enough times to know when I needed to step in and make it for him so he could move on.
He didn’t look thrilled, but he nodded in agreement.
“We can do our best tryin’ to make her happy,” I tossed out with a playful smile. “Keep her satisfied. Then maybe she won’t want to leave.”
Vike stared at me for a long minute. Just when I thought he’d turned into a statue, he shook his head at me.
“Let’s just treat her right,” he said, like it was that fuckin’ simple. Maybe it was, but I didn’t have the first damn clue how to treat someone right. Not like that. Not someone like her.
“Okay,” I agreed, but had no idea where to start.
“Go get her settled in at the house,” he suggested as if he’d read my mind.
Yeah, sure. That was a good place to start.
“You comin’?” I asked.
His head shook, and he looked deep in thought. After a minute, he said, “I’ll bring dinner in a bit.”
Good enough for me.
I jumped off the table and headed back inside.
I found Ivy sitting on the edge of the bed. She looked like she was playing it cool, but I could see the worry in her eyes. I wanted to take it away right then and there, and do everything in my power to keep it away.
For the rest of our lives.
And that was some strange shit to think.
I shook it off and plastered on my most cocky grin.
When she smiled softly, my heart kicked up a beat.
“Okay, you all packed?” I asked, reaching down to pick up her sad-looking duffel that had seen better days.
“Yep. Are you still sure…”
“You’re movin’ in with us. It’s a two-bedroom house, so we’ll have to figure out everything later. Right now, let’s just get you there.”
“Okay,” she said, sounding nervous and hopeful.
“It’s closer to town. I mean, the town isn’t big, but at least it’s not out here in the sticks.” I was rambling and I knew it.
I grabbed the backpack and the ratty duffel from the corner of the bed, only then realizing that she didn’t have a lot of stuff.
I kinda felt shitty that I hadn’t asked if she’d needed anything.
I could only assume that the three plastic bags she snatched up had been stuff one of the Prospects had gotten for her, but I had no clue.
Shit. After that talk with Vike, I felt this deep need to do better, but I didn’t have the first clue how.
With a shake of my head, I left the room and walked toward the back of the warehouse. She followed right behind me.
“We own a strip club like ten minutes away from the house,” I rattled on. “Well, not us, but the club owns it. And also, the diner Vike likes is close.”
“Are you nervous?” she asked as she reached out and touched my arm, making my legs stop takin’ me forward, and instead, turn to face her.
We were now standing in the back lot between the clubhouse and the club girl’s place. The sun was hot, baking my neck instantly. Or maybe the heat I felt was from some kind of embarrassment. Fuckin’ weird.
I was about to brush her off and tell her that would be stupid because my ass didn’t get nervous, but her green eyes sparkled at me like she needed me to be real with her, and I cracked.
“Yeah,” I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck like that would somehow help with the heat problem. “Anyway, let’s go.”
We couldn’t use her car because it was best to keep it hidden.
We’d checked it for any kind of tags and hadn’t found any, but still, we didn’t need to take the chance of it being seen.
There was too much stuff to take my bike, though the thought of her ridin’ behind me did make me chub up a little.
Damn, I wondered if she would be up for tryin’ out my bed when I got her to the house.
To her new home?
That sounded so weird.
Anyway, I wasn’t about to rule out a moving in bang, you know, just to help get her settled and all. I could give her the tour with my dick buried deep inside her. Really make her feel like the place was hers.
Not that it wouldn’t be. Vike and I kept our house private. No chick had ever been there, and the only time the brothers ever came by was in an emergency situation.
When I saw Lush coming out of the club girls’ warehouse, I instantly had a solution to the car thing.
“Hey, Lush,” I called out, making her stop and head in my direction. The sway in her hip got a little swayier when she saw Ivy standing with me. “Give me the keys to the red one.” Since she drove it most of the time, she probably had them on her, and if not, she knew where to get them.
“Oh, you got yourself a house mouse. Nice.” She cut a nasty look at Ivy, which made my blood boil. “She wouldn’t have cut it here, anyway. The boys would have gotten bored with her pretty quick, I imagine.”
I was in front of Lush in two seconds, blocking her view of Ivy. No one was gonna talk to Ivy like that, not as long as Vike and I were around.
“No, we ain’t got ourselves a house mouse,” I said to Lush in a tone that was near deadly. I didn’t even bother explaining we meant Vike and me. Everyone fuckin’ got it. “We got ourselves an ol’ lady. Now show some fuckin’ respect.”
Her eyes went wide, but even the surprise didn’t cover up the anger that flared underneath.
“This is a club-owned vehicle. You’re lucky you get to use it. Now give me the keys and I’ll return it to you when I’m done, or stand there pissin’ me off some more and see where it gets you.”
“We’ll see how long that lasts,” she spat out as she begrudgingly handed over the keys.
“We’ll see how much longer you last if you can’t remember your place. You will respect our ol’ lady or I’ll go to Jo.” I paused before adding, “Or maybe I’ll just take it right up with Prez.”
“You wouldn’t.” She narrowed her eyes at me.
“I would,” I promised her with a hard look. When I turned to Ivy, there was a smug expression on her face I hadn’t been expecting to see. She bit her lip as she shifted her eyes to mine, and suddenly she was lookin’ at me like I was some kind of hero.
It was gross.
And I kinda didn’t hate it.
Fuck me.
Maybe she could handle bein’ an ol’ lady. Maybe Ivy would surprise us all and be more than I was even thinkin’ at this point. I wished Vike were here to see this. It might have made him feel better about everything.
“Come on,” I told her with a smile as I grabbed her hand and walked her over to the car.
The bag I was carrying got in the way, making it a bit awkward, but I didn’t stop.
I tossed the shit into the back seat, then dropped down behind the wheel, hitting my knees because of course the seat was all the way up.
Lush had the shortest legs of anyone I’d ever met.
Ivy laughed beside me. I started to glare at her as I reached to move the seat back, but the openness on her face stunned me dumb.
“Think that’s funny, huh?” I teased, playing grumpy as I slammed the door closed.
“Maybe,” she said, sly little smile playing on her lips.
I wanted to kiss that smile right off.
So I did. And I sure as hell couldn’t ignore the way she melted into me as she kissed me back.
There it was again, that feelin’ that had been rockin’ me the last few days. Hell, it could have been longer, but I’d been tryin’ to ignore it.
Panic flooded my veins, and for the second time in the span of a couple of minutes, I wished Vike was here.
I needed to get Ivy to the house.
I hoped the pressure in my chest would ease, but I had a huge fuckin’ feeling takin’ her home was only gonna make it worse.
At least I wouldn’t have the worry of my brothers lining up to get their hands on her hangin’ over me anymore, which only made it slightly better.
I said what I said for a reason, and I was sure of it.
I… we claimed her because it felt right.
So why did I feel like my whole body had broken out in hives and I was about to have a heart attack?
Life was about to change. I didn’t know what that meant or how, but I wasn’t dumb enough to think moving her to the house would make things at the club go back to normal.