Chapter Six #2
Romeo came out of the boardroom with Dozer and Blade. He headed over to his mom. Blade spoke to Rogue.
Dozer stopped at the table and sat on the stool next to me.
“I shouldn’t have said anything earlier.
Not everyone is going out tonight. Jazzy and Gabi aren’t going.
Torch and Rogue aren’t into the scene at Liquid Chrome.
Brenna and Pike are celebrating. They got a place over at the Shady Valley trailer park. ”
“Brenna can get the tweakers to cut her grass with a pair of scissors.”
Dozer laughed. “They’re moving out at the end of the month.”
“Shady Valley, huh?” Just the name of the trailer park conjured memories I wish I could forget.
Not only had Blue pulled Kiss out of a drug house in Shady Valley, but I could list my transgressive behaviors like a buffet menu.
Shady Valley tempted all my vices. I intentionally deceived McKelle about where I was and who I was with.
I neglected her when I wasn’t taking her for granted.
Basically, I’d been a fucking asshole of a boyfriend.
“McKelle’s going. She’s over at Levi’s.”
I nodded. “Romeo and Levi. You and Pip. Blade and Hana. It’s not hard to guess who she’s going with. She’s going with Ryatt. Are they together now?”
“Bruh, I don’t know. I know they’re friends. Romeo hasn’t said anything. But he wouldn’t. Same reason I don’t. He’s close to Ryatt. But he’s always going to have your back. Don’t question his loyalty. Trust me. I know Romeo better than anyone in the MC. He wouldn’t fuck you over.”
“She hasn’t been back here all week.” She had to be spending her time with someone.
“I know you.” Dozer smiled, but it was tainted with concern. “I know you’re going to show up tonight.” Dozer glanced at Romeo, and then to Blade. “Don’t fuck this up.” He tugged on my cut. “If you show up and start something, it’s going to look bad. Hellers fight, but not with each other.”
“No problem.”
Dozer huffed. “I’ll take you to the basement if you start shit with Ryatt.”
I was definitely making my intentions known, not with Ryatt, but with McKelle. I was going to do what we did best. Fight and make up.
Dozer worried about me starting shit? Maybe Romeo should worry about Ryatt once he realized McKelle and I were never going to be over.
McKelle
“The last time you drank this toxic snow cone mix you threw up in the bushes.” Pippa wrapped an arm around Levi.
“But this time I’m drinking shots, not guzzling from a red cup.” Levi lifted her shot glass and tossed back the super sweet, cherry syrup vodka shot. “I’ve pumped extra breast milk all week for tonight. Romeo will have to feed Rosie tomorrow because she won’t take a bottle from me.”
“Are Kiss and Blue coming?” Hana asked.
“No,” I said. “I talked to Kiss earlier. They’re going to hang out at the MC tonight. She’s taking baby steps. One day at a time.”
Kiss confessed temptation still prickled at the back of her mind. Which was why Blue was so good for her. They were interdependent on each other. Blue kept her clean, and she kept Blue from giving into his dark thoughts.
I’d confessed my situationship with Ryatt to Kiss. Eventually, Cruz was going to find out. I wasn’t sure what scared me more, that he’d find out and tell me we were over, or if I really was ready to say goodbye.
I didn’t want Ryatt to feel like I did, that something—or someone—else would come before him.
But I missed Cruz, too. I didn’t want to hurt either one of them. I’d been honest with Ryatt. Tomorrow, I’d be honest with Cruz. I wasn’t sleeping with either one of them, not yet. I still didn’t trust myself with Cruz, and it was getting hard not to do more than make out with Ryatt.
I was so confused. Love sucked.
“You’ll be the only single one tonight,” Pippa said.
“She won’t be for long,” Hana said. “Chrome will be packed. No bro code with the guys tonight. Cruz won’t be there, and she looks way too good tonight not to have fun.”
“It won’t matter if Cruz is there.” I took another shot of cherry-flavored courage. “I’m not exactly single.”
“Did you and Cruz make up?”
I smiled at Pippa. “No. Listen, it’s nothing serious.” Yet. “I have a date with Ryatt tonight.”
Hana’s lips formed an O. “Girl, you’re going to need backup if Cruz finds out.”
“He’s going to find out,” I said. “I’m not keeping Ryatt a secret.” I already knew how that felt. “I don’t know what will happen with Cruz. We’re complicated, and being with Ryatt is easy. I like him.”
“Talk to Pip,” Hana said. “She has experience juggling two Hellers.”
“Boundaries,” Levi said, but without any angst in her tone, but a giggle bubbling out of her.
“Agreed.” Pippa knocked her glass into Levi’s and they both downed another shot. “And Ryatt isn’t a Heller.”
“Not yet,” Levi clarified.
A bike pulled into the driveway, not the rumble of a Harley, but the high-pitch whistle of a street bike.
“Are you sure this looks good?” I asked Levi. I wore her halter top. The black fabric clung to my breasts and showed off my abdomen above the jeans riding low on my hips. I’d added a touch of my own style with high-top canvas kicks.
A knock sounded at the front door.
“I’ll get it,” I said with butterflies tumbling in my belly. Cruz’s friends had become my friends, but I wouldn’t have scripted this scenario. Romeo had loyalty to Cruz because he was a Heller. But his connection to Ryatt was just as deep.
Cruz struggled with his insecurities. I didn’t want Hellers picking sides.
I didn’t know where this was going with Ryatt, but I wasn’t going to pretend we were just friends.
We’d become more. We went on rides, hung out here with Levi and Romeo, and we snuggled on the couch in the loft of the garage while binge-watching Netflix. And we kissed. A lot.
I’d asked him not to say anything about us if he went to the MC. I wasn’t being fair to him, but I was honest. And so was he. Ryatt wanted to prospect whereas I couldn’t be back at the MC and not ache for what I’d lost with Cruz.
Just because I’d caught feelings for Ryatt didn’t mean I’d fallen out of love with Cruz.
Anticipation zinged through me as I opened the door. Ryatt paused in his step into the house, and his gaze took a slow trek down my body setting off tiny explosions of heat.
He looked past me toward the voices coming from the kitchen. “Can I kiss you?” he whispered.
I stepped into him, wrapped my arm around his neck, and pulled his mouth to mine. “You can.”
A riot of emotions did a dance inside me. My heart pounded, sending hard pulses through my limbs. His lips were soft, but his intent was all fire. Threading his fingers into my hair, he positioned my head. My lips parted and our tongues touched.
His other hand slid along the bare skin of my waist. His low growl vibrated into me. “You taste like cherries.”
“Do you like cherries?”
He bent and kissed me again, sweeping his tongue into my mouth and crushing my body to his. “I fucking love cherries.”
“Did you get a pass on curfew?” I asked against his lips.
He released his hold of me. “I did, but I had to sign an agreement with Treena. She knows I’m working extra to save enough money to get my own place. As long as I’m still checking in with my PO, she’s being cool.”
Laughter erupted in the kitchen. “Are you ready for this?” I asked.
“I am. Are you?”
“I only know Levi and Romeo well. I’m friends with everyone here, but only because of Cruz. I don’t want this to be awkward for us.”
“I can handle it.” He linked his fingers with mine.
The warmth of his palm calmed my chaotic nerves. There was confidence in his quiet strength. He wasn’t rough around the edges, didn’t hit my bloodstream like hitting the red line on my bike’s tach.
The way he looked at me, like I was all he could see, made me feel beautiful. He kissed me like he needed my oxygen to breathe, and in the dark secret corners of my mind, I wanted to feel him inside of me. But I could hear Cruz in my thoughts reminding me I was his.
Harleys rumbled into the drive. Ryatt twisted to glance over his shoulder. “Do we face off with the girls or gather reinforcements with the guys?”
“I think you might be facing off with the guys. The girls are the reinforcements.”
Romeo leapt onto the porch and fist bumped with Ryatt. Dozer and Blade followed him into the house. I wouldn’t say Dozer looked happy to see me standing next to Ryatt.
“Can I talk to you?” he asked me.
We stepped outside and Ryatt went toward the kitchen with Blade and Romeo.
Dozer sat on the porch and lit a cigarette. “This is none of my business, except that Cruz is more than a Heller. You know that.”
I did. Cruz and Dozer had history. He was the reason Cruz had been desperate for the patch. But once he’d signed on to prospect, he recognized Dozer was already tight with his Heller brothers. He and Blue grew close. Just like me and Kiss. Staying away from the MC sucked because I missed her, too.
“I’m not saying you don’t have a reason to be pissed.” Smoke curled around Dozer’s thick, tatted fingers as he took a long drag off his cigarette. “You know this situation is fucked.”
“I know.” I squinted into the night.
Dozer glanced over his shoulder into the house. “How do you see this playing out? Cruz is possessive as fuck over you.”
“That’s his problem, not mine.”
Dozer groaned and rolled his shoulders. “He knows.”
A flare of fear slipped through me. “You’ll need to be specific.”
“He knows you’re hooking up with Ryatt.”
I huffed a breath. “He can’t know that since we’re not hooking up.” I couldn’t keep the smile from my lips. “Not yet.”
“He’s going to be at Chrome tonight. I fucked up. Or maybe it was Jazzy. Anyway, Cruz was at the table. He knows you’re going, and he’s assuming you’ll be there with Ryatt.”
I released an exasperated sigh. This wasn’t how I wanted Cruz to find out. Maybe I didn’t want him to know at all.