32 Grip
Grip
As Ivy went on about her piece of shit dad, I focused on what I knew was comin’.
What did I want to do?
That was the million fuckin’ dollar question.
All the shit runnin’ through my head I couldn’t ignore.
Strange as it was, so many things made sense now. All those gut feelings I’d had. The times when her mask slipped, and I’d started to wonder if she wasn’t two different people. The feelin’ that I was falling for only parts of her.
Fuck.
I didn’t know whether or not I hated seein’ the whole picture.
Yet, somehow, things felt more right now that I knew all of it.
That wasn’t to say that I wasn’t mad that she’d lied to us. Oh, I fuckin’ was. She played us. Which made me feel so fuckin’ stupid. I also blamed myself for bringing her into our lives.
Poor Vike…
Damn, I needed to check on him.
I knew this was fuckin’ him up. Knew it in ways I couldn’t talk about.
But I couldn’t leave Ivy.
I was fuckin’ torn. I’d never left Vike in all the years we’d known each other.
For every shitty moment and every little breakdown, we were there for one another.
Side by side, we took on this world and anything it would throw at us.
Yet, I felt the urge to protect her . Even as I replayed all the things she’d said over and over again.
I had no other choice but to lean on my brothers, truly lean on them, maybe for the first time ever.
They were in the room with him. They’d watch over him until I could get us all back together again.
And hey, it wasn’t like we weren’t in the same house.
I could get to him in seconds if I needed to.
Ivy was ours. I didn’t want to let her go. I was convinced we needed her as much as she needed us. When she said she loved Vike, I fuckin’ felt it. She wasn’t bullshittin’ then just to save her own skin. And it left me wonderin’ if she could love me one day too.
What was I prepared to do? Maybe that was the question I should have been answering.
Leave my club if they wouldn’t protect her?
Burn my colors off and say fuck you to the only thing that had felt like family in my entire life?
Seemed extreme, but Ivy was carrying my child.
Didn’t matter whose DNA the kid had, it was just as much mine as it was Viking’s.
Hell, just as equally Ivy’s too, but I figured that went without saying.
We could have a chance here. Give this kid the life Viking and I never had, but had always secretly wished for.
We could be better fathers than what Ivy had to deal with.
Hell, we could fuckin’ make the world better for the two of them.
Yeah, because Ivy deserved a good life after all the shit she’d been through.
We could be the ones to give her everything .
Fuck!
Thinkin’ about it like that made it all feel so easy. Like there was really no other choice.
So… would I? Would I cut off my patches and lay down my cut for her? To protect her and my child?
There was only one answer.
Beyond that, I think Rocky needed to pay for every single shitty thing he’d done. Not just to her, but for Muffle, for the shit he was about to get his club into. Did they even know?
I never fuckin’ liked that man. There was always somethin’ but I could never put my finger on it.
“Grip?” Ice said my name, a question there. But still he asked, “What is it you want to do?”
“Protect her,” I answered, not a hint of a question in my tone because I was fuckin’ sure. I tightened my arm around Ivy, holding her close, saying silently that she was mine. I’d never leave her on her own to fend for herself. “I’m sure Vike’s going to say the same.”
Would Ice and the club back me? Would we go to war with our own club to protect Ivy? Would we try to take the mother chapter down?
Shit was about to get real heavy. But I wasn’t gonna change my mind.
“I still need to ask him,” Ice said. He turned and walked back to the group.
Ivy turned her face up and met my eyes.
“I love you, Grip,” she whispered. “I need you to know that I’ve fallen for you too. I didn’t plan on it, but I love you both.”
Fuck. My heart felt like it expanded in my chest, and I was flyin’ high from her words.
Before I could tell her that I was pretty damn sure I’d fallen for her too, she turned and followed behind Ice and Bones.
It was then that I realized that the three of them had stopped just outside the kitchen line, stuck between the open dining area and the living room. I didn’t doubt my brothers had heard every single word. Not that I gave a fuck since I’d never hide anything from them. Especially not now.
I reached for Ivy’s hand as I took the lead and moved around Prez and VP.
My brothers were dead silent. Not that I gave a fuck since I’d never hide shit from them. Especially not now.
My gut clenched and my feet froze in place. When my eyes landed on the spot where I’d left Vike, I knew why the silence was so damn deafening.
“Where is Viking?” I asked, but I didn’t need to. My whole body went cold with fear.
“He took off right after Ice and Bones followed you into the kitchen,” Kneecap said. “He didn’t say anything, just left.”
My stomach bottomed out. I could feel Ivy’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t look at her.
“Fuck,” I said, running to the door, then dashing out of the house.
Vike’s bike was gone, and I wondered how I hadn’t even heard it. I’d been so wrapped up in my head and what was going on. I’d fuckin’ missed it.
I stood beside my bike. My hand actually trembled as I reached out and wrapped my fingers around the leather that was draped over my seat. The weight of the cell phone in the pocket felt like a million pounds as I lifted it.
The urge to hold my lifelong brother’s cut to my chest was so strong I nearly had to fight it.
I hadn’t protected Vike. I knew shit was fucked for him, and I wasn’t there. I thought I had time, but that was no damn excuse. For all the shit he’d done for me, I’d fuckin’ failed him when he needed me the most.
I looked down the long driveway. There was nothin’ there.
“Vike’s gone,” I said.
To be continued…