29 Grip
Grip
A week somehow slipped by without me even realizing it. Vike and I fell into an unusual pattern where we went home every night. Ivy was in my bed some nights, and Vike’s bed the others. She was with us.
For the first time in my fuckin’ life, I felt like I could just breathe.
Things slotted together in a way that felt a little too effortless.
I couldn’t hate it. And as much as I tried to enjoy it, the way my life had gone, I couldn’t help waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Or the big bad around the corner. You know, life was always tryin’ to find ways to fuck with me.
I pushed it all to the back of my mind when I saw Vike walk in the back door of the clubhouse bar. I would have sworn there was an extra spring in his step, and it was hard not to smile at it. I knew just who had put it there, too.
Ivy fed his every need. She showed him what sex could be like with someone you trusted.
Someone you cared about. She showed him that he wasn’t a monster and that she could handle the sharper parts of him.
Hell, I was convinced she craved it. She talked to him like he was a fuckin’ person.
Like he mattered. She smiled at him like he was the fuckin’ sun.
Just seein’ it warmed my damn heart.
But I wasn’t only on the outside, and that was the thing that really got me in the damn chest. It struck me stupid sometimes.
Ivy reached into me the same way she did to Vike.
She plucked and pulled shit from the depths of the darkness in my soul.
She shattered me and then spilled light into the cracks.
That was the shit I needed to be focusing on. Not feeding the demons that had been beaten into me all my damn life.
“Was thinkin’ of pickin’ up some steaks to grill out tonight,” I said to Vike after he crossed the clubhouse bar and took the seat at my right.
I pushed over a turkey and cheese sub. One of the club girls had made a bunch and left them in the fridge for the lot of us.
That was about as much use as I was getting out of the club girls these days, and surprisingly, I was fuckin’ fine with it.
“Could do some loaded potatoes too. Just thinkin’ we could give Ivy the night off from cookin’. ”
He grunted and gave a couple of nods.
“And some ice cream,” he added. “She said something about wanting a chocolate milkshake last night, and we didn’t have any ice cream, or I would have tried to make one for her.”
I smiled, hiding it behind a bite of my sub. She was turning Vike sweet. I should have hated it, but I didn’t.
Ice stepped into the room. Just one look and I knew somethin’ was up. His body was tight. Eyes sharp as he took a sweep of the room. He wasn’t lookin’ for one of us, he was seein’ how many of us were here.
Shit.
That wasn’t good.
Before I could nudge Vike and get his attention, the rumble of a handful of bikes drew closer.
Who the fuck could that be?
Vike stood, but Ice subtly shook his head. Then he went and took a seat at the end of the bar, nodding to the Prospect to bring him over a drink.
Which confused me even more. He knew who was here. He was on edge about it, but he was playing it cool.
The room went quiet. The air went still.
Light flooded the room when the main door popped open.
Kneecap walked in first, followed by the Prospect who’d been hurt when the van flipped over. I figured he’d been on watch today.
Then the air left my lungs as a handful of other bikers filtered into the room. The group was led by Sly, the VP of the mother chapter.
It wasn’t unlike them to come out here, but we usually got a heads-up about it. As I slid my gaze back to Ice, I could tell we hadn’t gotten that courtesy. Clearly, he wasn’t prepared for them to be here.
Which meant somethin’ was about to go down.
But since the Florida chapter’s Prez wasn’t here, I couldn’t imagine that it was that bad.
They’d had problems with another club. The ones who had killed Muffle. They said they had it handled, but maybe he hadn’t quite squashed it.
Even as I thought this, my gut churned. It was hard to dismiss the connection Ivy had to Muff. As small as she made it seem, it was enough to make terrifying thoughts race through my head. She came here. She didn’t go to them. So…
Fuck! It was like there was something blinking on the outer rim of my thoughts. A warning just out of reach.
Ice stood. And that was when I noticed Bones was bringing up the rear of the Florida group, the door slamming shut behind him.
“Sly,” Ice greeted as he met the man right at the corner of the bar. “Wasn’t expecting you. Everything good?”
They greeted each other casually enough. Brief pleasantries were exchanged. Then Sly’s face lost the little ease it held.
“You know who this is?” Sly asked, sliding a photo across the bar top.
Ice studied the man for a second before dropping his eyes down to the picture. I also did. Vike tensed beside me before it registered who was in the picture.
“Am I supposed to know who that is?” Ice asked, the wording strange.
I would have sworn my heart was beating out of my chest.
Sly’s eyes were near slits as he watched Prez like he was the enemy.
“Nah. Suppose not,” Sly answered with a shrug, his posture relaxed a little. “You seen her around by chance?”
Ice took another look at the image and then shook his head.
“Sweet looking thing, but no, haven’t seen her,” Ice replied.
I calmly let out a breath.
Did Ice feel it too? There had always been this kick in my gut when it came to the Judgment.
They were the chapter that started it all and sometimes had the ruling authority over some shit, and though I couldn’t put my finger on it, I didn’t feel like they were the same as us.
I couldn’t explain it, and maybe Ice had the same problem.
Or maybe I was going crazy, and he just lied because of the Prayer of Protection in place. Maybe he wants to find out more before…
Fuck, I couldn’t think about that.
That had to be why he didn’t dive into askin’ why they were lookin’ for her. He had to make it seem like he didn’t give a damn about some random person. Hopefully, it would come later. But then again, I’d be alright with him not askin’ if it meant they didn’t get suspicious.
Yeah, there was no way Ice was gonna hand over a woman without knowin’ what was going on first. Not that it made me any less tense.
Ice snatched the picture up.
“Any of you seen her?” he asked, holding the image up for the room to see. It was clear in his tone that all of us should follow his lead.
“Oh, shit. She looks like—”
Except Target didn’t pick up on it.
My skin itched. Viking was perched on the edge of his stool as if he were about to jump up and fight.
Target paused, looking around.
“Go on,” Sly said, grabbing the picture out of Ice’s grasp and walking over to Target. He even went as far as to put it in Target’s hand.
From across the room, I could see Torch tense and give a good mental slap upside his brother’s head.
“The new girl at Shakers,” Target said easily enough, leaning to the side so he could look at Ice. “Her name has an X in it, I think.”
I was tryin’ to mentally go through the girls that were currently working at the club-owned strip club. For the life of me, I couldn’t picture who he was talking about. But it didn’t fuckin’ matter. He was causing a distraction, and I could have fuckin’ hugged him.
“Brixxana?” Lance-A-Lot said, skepticism in his voice as he walked up and looked down at the picture. He cocked his head. “Yeah, okay. If she changed her hair, it could be her.”
And just like that, my club closed ranks and showed Vike and me that they were on our side. At least for now.
“She’s working today,” Whiplash said, looking up from his phone. “She’s scheduled to be at the club in thirty.”
Ice slapped Sly on the shoulder and said, “Why don’t we head over there? First round’s on us.”
“Yeah, sounds good,” Sly replied.
“Come on, brothers,” Bones said. “Let’s show these Judgment assholes a good time.”
The tension was broken—well, falsely broken. The Florida chapter brothers wore matching wide smiles and looked ready to party.
It couldn’t have been that simple, right?
The picture floated to the bar right in front of me.
I stared down at it, cataloging the green eyes I knew and the smile I was so familiar with.
But I felt like I suddenly didn’t know her. Not like I thought, anyway.
“Let’s go,” Ice called out, making me flinch. His gaze drilled into me.
We’d have to play our parts, go along with all of this.
Wait for the right moment to slip away so we didn’t raise any suspicion.
Ice would want answers. He had his club to look out for.
I had no choice but to follow his lead, even if it killed me.
Even if my skin crawled for equal reasons to protect her and find out what the fuck is going on.
Vike and I rose, shared a look, then turned our attention back to the image at the same time.
An Ivy we didn’t know stared back at us.
And I didn’t know what the fuck to do.