Chapter 44 Celia
CELIA
Originally, I had no intention of staying the night in Grimm’s Reach at a motorcycle club compound, but Cézar looked like shit and I wanted to wait until a real doctor looked at him.
Okay, maybe I was being an asshole about their club doctor, but the kid looked seriously young, and his hands were pretty damn shaky. Not a reassuring quality in someone who’s trying to keep criminals alive.
It was nearly eight at night, and despite the fact their president had been shot, and I’d just declared ownership of their little, whatever this was, it looked like a party was almost always on the agenda for the Diablos once the sun set.
She pulled into the compound in one of those bright blue electric car cabs with her typical oversized medical bag and her pristine white pencil skirt and blazer.
I literally ached to be that put together.
But I was kind of a hot mess at all times and as I looked down at my shredded black jeans and faded System of a Down t-shirt, I knew I’d outgrown my style a long time ago. Who had time to define personal fashion sense when you’d been either running for your life, or held captive by your asshole ex?
The same asshole who was looming over me now like a bad mood I couldn’t shake.
The added testosterone floating around the motorcycle club must have been getting to his head.
He was doling out death glares at anyone who so much as walked by me.
I could at least appreciate the fact that he let me hold my own when I walked in here.
It was nearly impossible to be taken seriously as a threat when you were a woman if there was a man constantly trying to fight your battles for you.
She knocked on the door and the prospect opened it up for her, she smiled at me as she entered the room, and I couldn’t help but return it.
Emory was too genuine for me to pretend like I wanted to hate her, and she was right.
I needed to make an effort to have at least one friend, clearly Santos wasn’t willing to fill that space anymore.
Women didn’t need to find enemies in each other. This world was already constantly pitting us against each other as it was.
“Have you fucked her?” I said under my breath just loud enough for the two men on my side to hear, not turning my head either way so that they’d know the question was directed to both of them.
It was weird to want to know that, but there was a part of me that wasn’t even sure if I’d be upset if either of them said yes. She was really attractive and honestly, I’d probably want to fuck her too if I was that brave.
I was maybe gay in the sense that I could look at any woman and appreciate her for her beauty, her body, and her personality. But put a vajayjay in my face and I definitely wouldn’t know what to do with it.
I for sure liked cock.
Mateo spat out his drink, choking and coughing while Ronan growled out, “No,” without skipping a beat. I turned my head a fraction of an inch towards Mateo and raised one eyebrow while I waited for him to finish getting his shit together.
“No!” He said between coughs like he was laughing at me, and I turned my head back to the room, all the attention on the beautiful redhead sauntering towards my brother.
“I assume the old dying man is who I’m here to check on?” She said in her snarky tone that I was kind of growing to love. She just didn’t give a fuck about being polite, she knew her worth, and she didn’t take any shit from anyone. The only person she really seemed to answer to was Ronan.
“Old man?” Cézar rasped out, wincing in pain. “Blanca I can promise I’d run circles around you if it wasn’t for the bullet through my leg.” He winked at her.
Emory granted my brother a nearly lethal side-eye, barely stopping to entertain his antics before opening her bag of tricks.
“Unless that’s your thing, then I’ll gladly let you call me Papi eh?”
Gross.
Watching Cézar flirt was tragic.
I turned and walked towards the bar, knowing at least now my brother was in good hands and would make it through the night.
I didn’t have to look back to know my guys were following behind me, I could feel their presence there.
Yeah, I liked knowing I could be powerful enough to handle any storm I was fronted with, but it also felt good to know there would always be someone holding my umbrella.
To have them watching my back like there was nothing else better they could want to be doing.
I never thought this was a loyalty I could have, without buying it of course.
My mind immediately went to Santos, as if I’d been programmed to think of him now when I thought about the other two. Kind of how I couldn’t think of Ronan without thinking of Mateo, or vice versa.
They’d all wormed their way under my skin, into my heart somehow, finding all the vulnerable pieces of me I’d laid bare and accepting them for what they were. They’d given me exactly what I needed from each of them so I could survive with what was left of me.
I took three or four shots of tequila with Ronan before Mateo cut me off, forcing me to drink water as well, but at this point, I couldn’t complain. It was probably my sixth shot of the day, and even though it had been stressful as hell, it was not going to be a good look if I threw up here.
Especially on the fancy wood.
What was with these oak floors? This place was creepily nice for a one percent stomping ground. Out of nowhere, Ronan grabbed my chin and stole a kiss from me, practically forcing my mouth open as he slipped his tongue through my lips and shoved it deep inside.
“I’ll be back,” he said heading toward the bathroom, and before he’d even disappeared from view Mateo was mimicking the same action, kissing me just as deeply in front of the entire MC like he didn’t care what they thought about any of this.
He pulled a joint out of his pocket and whispered in my ear.
“Want to join me outside?” He twirled it in his fingers, and though it sounded like a great idea considering how tense my world had been feeling lately, I’d had too much to drink, and that joint was a one-way ticket to the spins.
“Next time,” I said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek and he walked out of the front door. Through the farmhouse windows I could see him sitting down on the porch swing as he inhaled his joint and blew out the smoke.
“Will he make it then?” I asked Emory as she walked over to me and sat down on the barstool.
“He will indeed. I’m glad you called me, I had to open one of the stitches in his leg. There was still a good amount of bullet fragments in there but I was able to get them out,” she explained, grabbing one of the already poured shots of tequila and downing it without any expression.
Okay, Doc.
“Oops,” I said with a guilty expression painted on my face.
“You shot him?” She asked.
“He had it coming,” was all I said, and I appreciated her for not trying to pry any further.
“He’ll recover completely in a couple of weeks, just needs to take antibiotics and watch out for an infection now, the med student can take over from here,” she smirked at me.
“Well, thank you for coming out here, I know you did it for Ronan, but I appreciate it,” I said to her, and she smiled at me.
“Look at you, making an effort. That’s growth,” she let out a genuine laugh, the playful side of her so much different than her icy, professional demeanor.
“Listen, I know it’s not in my place to say but, Ronan was very clear about what you mean to him,” she said, her expression growing a bit more serious now.
“Meaning?” I asked, wanting her to cut the shit and get to the point.
“I saw you and Mateo.” She fumbled her words, delaying the next bit, “Promiscuity, it’s a really common trauma-based response-”
“You’re right,” I cut her off, “It’s not your place,” I cut her a glance.
Emory’s eyes grew with fear, her response a stuttering of sounds that made no words.
I didn’t like it, for once.
God damn it, I wanted her to be my friend, and though I had gone through life without any, I knew you weren’t supposed to scare your friends into telling you whatever you wanted to hear. “I’m not lying to either of them, I’m not hiding anything,” I clarified.
“Well then, you must be living out every girl's fantasy,” she joked with a laugh, “Or nightmare.”
I let my lip curl up in a smile before hustling a cigarette from a nearby biker and pushing my way through the doors to join Mateo outside. He eyed the Newport in between my fingers and lifted an eyebrow up as if he wasn’t expecting it.
I shrugged my shoulders, “Sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants.”
Six shots in, and it was nicotine.
“I’m seeing you in a whole new light today.” His husky voice threw my stomach into a swirling spiral.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I questioned him anxiously.
“I thrive in mayhem. Keeps me on my toes.” He brought the lighter to the cigarette in my mouth.
“I may end up being more than what you bargained for,” I exhaled the smoke through my lips before straddling him on the bench.
“I sure fucking hope so, Sunshine.” He said, flicking the end of his joint onto the ground before pulling me into him.
He buried his nose into my hair, taking a deep breath before whispering into my ear.
“I waited a long time to find you, it would be such a disappointment if your presence brought me anything less than pure havoc.”
The melt-my-panties smirk was gone, in its stead was a smile that was the most genuine I’d seen on his face since meeting him. I ran my fingers through his hair, as if to feel if he was actually real.
“I hope I don’t make you regret those words, crazy boy.” I shook my head at him before climbing off his lap and heading back inside before Ronan came hunting for me.
The party died down once the Doc declared the wounded were medically ordered to stop drinking or they’d bleed through their bandages, and Cézar genuinely seemed to not be listening on purpose to get her attention.
He was a smooth bastard and maybe it was part of his plan because she eventually had to go tuck him into bed to make sure he’d get some rest.
An Old Lady to one of the older members set us up in two different rooms and I told her to put the guys in the other together so I could have one to myself. I didn’t want to deal with Ronan fuming about me spending another night in bed with Mateo, so it was just easier this way.
When we got home, I had every intention of claiming the extra bedroom on the other side of the penthouse to myself, and I was hoping neither of them would have an issue with it. A girl needed her own space for all intents and purposes. A place away from all the sulking and testosterone sometimes.
Did that mean I was starting to become a permanent fixture in their space?
And was that the wisest thing?