31 Ivy
Ivy
Well, there it was.
Yep, my father was the President of the mother chapter. I was a fucking club princess. I was seeking protection from their own club.
I was relieved it was finally out there.
But also, I was scared shitless about what would happen next.
My eyes met Grip’s. His body was on edge and vibrating. As the realization really sank in, all the color drained from his face.
His gaze jerked to where Vike was sitting. My big man was staring at his lap and looking as if he was lost in his head.
“We’re dead men,” Grip said, and it was the first time I’d ever heard a sense of panic in his voice.
I jumped up with the intention of comforting him. I ran to his side, my hand going to his arm. He angrily ripped his body away from me.
I couldn’t blame him. I was poison.
He wasn’t wrong with his statement.
This club ran on rules and bylaws. Rules these men followed and swore by with their lives.
“You knew,” Grip stated with venom in his tone. “You knew when you came here. You knew when you picked me to fuck you. Picked us. You put our heads on the chopping block without a fucking care!”
“Grip, calm the fuck down,” Ice said, but I wasn’t stupid enough to think he’d said it for me.
“She—”
“Shut the fuck up and let her finish. I need to know the whole story.” Ice’s eyes were now on me.
I turned my attention to Vike and nearly cried.
He looked as if he’d given up and was ready to hand himself over to his fate. He wasn’t mad. He wasn’t sad. He was just… blank.
“Vike,” I whispered, rushing to him and dropping to my knees before him.
“I betrayed my club,” he said. “I’ve betrayed everything I believe in.”
And it was all my fault.
He didn’t say it, but the thought was there.
“I thought you liked me,” he said, finally dragging his gaze to meet mine. He sounded so small, like a teenage boy being dumped for the first time. My heart broke along with his, and nothing else mattered but fixing it.
“I love you,” I rushed to tell him.
It wasn’t hard to say because it was the truth.
His head shook the slightest bit.
“No, you don’t do that to someone you love,” he said to me.
He was right, so there really wasn’t anything for me to say. What if I could give him some light in the middle of this dark storm?
I jumped up and ran to the bathroom. I heard footsteps behind me. I just knew it was the Prospect.
“Cool it, Prospect,” Ice said, voice smooth and calm. “She ain’t going nowhere.” There was a pause. “Yeah, don’t fuckin’ give me that look. I know you said somethin.”
I whipped around and glared at the Prospect. He looked smug, but also a little concerned. Fucking hell. I couldn’t hate him for that, but damn, I wished I’d known he’d gone to Ice.
I whipped back around and reached for the thing I needed, shoving it into my back pocket. I raised my hands, indicating I wasn’t a threat as I walked back into the den of lions.
“What do the laws say?” I asked.
“That any man who should lie with another brother’s daughter will face punishment. That punishment will be death should it be the daughter of a leader,” Grip stated flatly.
“And what else does it say?” I asked, knowing these men probably forgot the little loophole that was stated there.
The room was silent for a few beats, and I was about to tell them to pull out their Bibles when Vike raised his head and looked at me. Hope flashed in his eyes for a split second before he pushed it away.
“That if a union of families should result, the death sentence will be wavered,” Vike said, not an ounce of life in his words. “Are you…”
“Yes,” I told him as I pulled out the pregnancy test from my back pocket and lightly placed it on the coffee table for everyone to see. “I’m having your baby.”
I looked between my two men, hoping this would fix everything. I also knew it wouldn’t.
“How?” Grip asked, looking genuinely confused.
“I’m not on birth control. And neither of you used condoms,” I said. My face gave away how I felt about stating the obvious.
“You aren’t on birth control?!” Grip’s eyes went wide. “Fuck, I didn’t even think about it. Shit!”
“You think my dad would let me be on birth control? He wouldn’t want that! And what, have his daughter be a slut and turn all his men against him with her evil tempting pussy?” My tone was clear that those were in no way my thoughts or ideas about the situation.
Some of the men had the decency to cringe, Grip being one of them. I took it as a good sign, though maybe good wasn’t the best word to use at the time.
“He said shit like that to you?” Bones asked. “His daughter?”
“Yes,” I said flatly. My dad was not a good man. Not at all. They knew him. I stood there wondering why they hadn’t seen it.
“I’ll kill him,” Grip muttered under his breath, nearly bringing tears to my eyes as I met his gaze.
He was closer to me now. I was desperate to reach out and grab his hand, but I held back.
His eyes were dark, a storm brewing behind them.
I’d seen that look before in Muff. I knew it like an old friend.
That look said he would do anything to protect me.
This was what I’d wanted, but I felt sick about it.
Grip shook his head and took a step back, as if he suddenly remembered the shit I’d thrown them into.
“But if you really are,” Grip’s tone was skeptical, “then that only saves one of us.”
My head was shaking before I could get the words out.
“Brothers that share are considered one,” I stated.
“It’s the whole reason I had to give myself over to both of you that first night.
The rule doesn’t state any exclusions and it doesn’t specifically say it stands on its own.
If the two-rule goes for everything else, then why wouldn’t it apply to this situation too? ”
I was a little proud of myself for putting all the pieces in place.
That was only after I freaked out for a good hour this morning, because I most certainly wasn’t expecting this.
I knew the club’s Bible like the back of my hand.
So, it was only a matter of finding the rules that worked for this situation and playing all the cards together.
That said, it was only a way to keep my men alive. Not save me from what my father was trying to do.
When I came here, I was clinging to a hope that if I could get one member to fall in love with me, then they would be half-willing to fight for me.
I never said it wasn’t a shitty and manipulative plan.
I guessed I deserved all the ways it backfired.
Though it was a little hard to stomach thinking of my love for these men and the baby I was carrying as something negative.
Now that it was out there, I was able to let it sink in. Let myself feel the joy of what all this means.
I was having a baby. Our baby. I loved both of them more than I could imagine I could love, and I could see this beautiful future ahead of us. This would only be the start.
I hoped that vision would get the chance to come true. I knew I was teetering on the edge of losing them. Both of them. And this little life I’d just barely started to make here.
“Pretty damn smart,” Ice chimed in. “But it still doesn’t tell me what the hell you expect us to do. Should I even believe you? What if your story is bullshit? What if that test is bullshit?”
“I had Mama Marge get me the test,” I told him. “I’ll take another if you want me to. I wouldn’t lie about something like that.” That would be beyond fucked up to do. I had been horrible and a little manipulative, but I wasn’t a monster.
Bones started typing on his phone. Ice watched me with expressionless eyes. Vike looked like he was a statue sitting on the couch, blank stare and all. Grip’s focus was on the plastic pee test in the middle of the table.
The rest of the room kept sharing looks that held what the fuck vibes.
“Mammoth says his woman did get some stuff for Ivy this morning, but,” Bones paused and shook his head, the ghost of a smile playing at the corner of his lips, “and he quotes ‘ain’t none of nobody’s business exactly what I got her.’ Not that I would expect anything less from Mama Marge.”
“Prospect, get Target,” Ice said. The Prospect poked his head out the door.
A second later, in walked a younger-looking guy.
I glanced at his patches, noticing the Tail Gunner one right away—the same position as Grip.
I wondered how he’d gotten a spot at the table when he looked barely wet behind the ears.
I recognized that face. He was the one who held me at gunpoint when I first got here.
“Run up to the store and get a few pregnancy tests.”
“What? Why you need me to get oopsie tests?” Target asked.
I held back a snort.
Target looked around the room, confusion knitting his brow. Then his gaze landed on the table, where the pregnancy test I’d already taken sat. His eyes went wide as saucers before he turned his attention on me.
“Well, shit,” he said. “Yep. brB, Prez.”
He spun on his heels and headed out.
“Take the damn Prospect with you!” Ice called out, narrowed eyes on said Prospect. “I’m tired of looking at your smug, I told you so face.”
The Prospect looked down, then headed out the door without a word.
“We’re going to be fathers,” Vike said, eyes distant. There was a long pause. The entire room seemed to be holding in a collective breath. “I-I can’t.” He looked at Grip with panic in his eyes. “You know I can’t.”
There was something I was missing. I wished more than anything we could sit down, unpack whatever mess was going on in his head, and get him to understand that he would make a great father. However, it would have to be put on the back burner. There was too much going on already.
If we made it out of this, we’d have like eight months to do that, right?
“This is a shit show,” Bones mumbled under his breath.
He wasn’t wrong.
“Vike,” I said as I started for him, only to be stopped with a hand on my shoulder. I looked at Grip, confused, but he just shook his head.