Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
“I’ll try to stay out of your way,” Lyric told Bri as she tracked Ashton carrying two small, stacked boxes through the apartment door. Her eyes swung back to her club sister once he disappeared down the hallway. “I really appreciate you letting me take the extra bedroom.”
Bri bumped a shoulder against Lyric’s. “Not a problem. I wish I would’ve thought of it sooner. At night, when the pawn shop is closed, it can get too quiet and kind of lonely. It’ll be nice to have one of my sisters to watch trash TV with me.”
Bri was a reality show whore. She loved any shows that brought all the over-the-top drama, whether scripted or not.
With all the drama that Ash dealt with at Heaven’s Angels, Bri would probably appreciate working there more than Gabi. But because she did work at the pawn shop, she got the sweet deal of living in the apartment above it for free.
Now Lyric would benefit from that, too.
“Why is Rage helping our brothers?” The question was whispered. “It’s not like you have a ton of stuff.”
Along with Ash, Chaos and Nix were also carrying the boxes from the parking lot, up the steps, and into her new place.
The guys were making quick work of it since she didn’t have a lot to bring over from her parents’ house. Her new bedroom came furnished and the kitchen was already stocked. She was only moving clothes and personal items.
Ash really wasn’t needed, but he had insisted. Though, him helping probably wasn’t smart because she was damn sure Bri wasn’t going to let his presence slide.
Suddenly, all three bikers were crowding into the tight kitchen with them, sucking all the oxygen from the room.
“All right, sis, that’s the last of Lyric’s stuff. Headin’ back to The Iron Horse,” Chaos announced
“I’m out, too.” Nix flicked them a two-finger salute.
Both of them practically sprinted out the door. Most likely so they wouldn’t be asked to do anything else.
“Don’t you have somewhere to go, too?” Bri asked Ash with her eyebrows hiked high.
“In a minute,” was all he mumbled.
Those two had a staring contest for the longest, most uncomfortable minute.
Bri clearly lost when she announced, “Then I guess I’ll…uh…head back downstairs.” Her eyes, filled with curiosity, sliced between Lyric and Ash.
The second Bri was out of Ash’s direct line of sight, she bugged her eyes out at Lyric, who made sure not to react to give her gossip fodder.
As soon as the door shut behind Bri, Lyric’s breathing hitched.
Her and Ash were now alone.
In her new place.
Alone.
Where her room was just down the hallway.
Alone.
They should take advantage of that.
His deep voice made her fight a shudder. “Think it’s good that you or Bri won’t be livin’ alone.”
“I was hoping to have a little more privacy in my first place.” Hint. Hint.
“At least it ain’t a room at Church where everyone can hear your fuckin’ business.”
“What kind of business are you doing in your rooms?” Of course she knew he meant the actual business of fucking.
“You serious?”
Lyric finally let the smile grow across her face to show she was teasing.
He grunted. “Just bein’ a smart ass.”
“I’m sure I’ll have the same problem here. I’ll have to keep the noise down.”
Ash’s head twitched. “What d’ya mean? You mean the volume on your TV?”
“No, not my TV. You guys don’t care who can hear what you’re doing in your rooms, but I do.”
“What are you gonna be doin’ in your room? Besides watchin’ TV or readin’ one of those crazy books you like.”
“You serious?” she parroted.
His expression turned dark. “You plannin’ on bringin’ men up here?”
“You’re here, aren’t you?”
His jaw shifted sharply. “Ain’t talkin’ ‘bout me.”
Even though she’d been only joking around, she could see the tendons in his neck tighten and protrude.
But what started out as teasing was turning into something more serious. “No, we’re not.”
How he was acting made no sense. He didn’t think it was “smart” for them to have sex together, but when she hinted at doing it with someone else, he turned into a caveman.
“I’m just glad to be out of my parents’ house.”
“Tryin’ to change the subject.”
“No I’m not. The subject is me moving in here and my newfound freedom.”
“Freedom don’t mean fuckin’ randoms,” he was close to shouting.
“I never said they’d be randoms.”
“Woman,” he growled.
“What?” she asked with fake innocence.
He closed his eyes and twisted his head away. A few seconds later, he pulled in a deep breath and, once somewhat composed, faced her again, but with his nostrils flared and his brown eyes intense.
“Ash, I appreciate you being my first. But don’t think that gives you the right to tell me who I can sleep with now.”
“Sleep with?” exploded from him.
Lyric shrugged. “I was trying not to be crass.”
“You know what the fuck’s crass? You fuckin’ anyone else is goddamn crass,” he bit off.
Anyone else? “Do you hear yourself? You don’t want to have sex with me but you also don’t want me having sex with someone else. How does that make sense?”
“Makes perfect fuckin’ sense.”
Of course it would. For a man and a biker.
She blew out a breath. “Maybe in your head. But in reality, it doesn’t.”
They didn’t believe that women should be able to do the same as them. Unless they were a sweet butt. In that case, they didn’t care because sweet butts were convenient. For patched members, of course.
“Bullshit.”
“Well, then,” she huffed, “do you want to help me break in my new bed?” In her worry that he’d shoot her down, her temples pounded in sync with the pounding in her chest. Rejection was never fun.
“Ain’t new.”
“New to me.”
“Ain’t smart.”
“So you keep saying.”
“Reason for me to keep sayin’ it.”
“Not a good one.”
His Adam’s apple shot up and hung at the top of his throat for a second before it dropped like a rock back into place.
If she took a few more chips with the chisel, she might just get what she was aiming for.
What he wanted, too, but didn’t want to admit.
Damn stubborn biker.
Lyric sighed. “All right…well…thanks for your help today. I’m sure you’re needed back at Heaven’s Angels.”
Why did he suddenly seem to expand twice as big as normal? Was it because he didn’t like to be dismissed?
Huh.
“Anythin’ else you need before I go?” His tone was as tight as his shoulders.
Only what you’re unwilling to give: you. “No. Again, thank you.”
He still didn’t move any closer to the door. In fact, it looked as though he was fighting an internal battle.
Lyric easily ascertained what that battle was about. He was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t.
As well as she knew him, his decision might not be easy, but there’d be no way he’d be okay with another man in her bed.
She was simply using that knowledge to her advantage.
She began moving toward the door to see if he would follow. “Okay…well…I need to unpack my stuff so I can get ready for tonight. Avery and I are heading out to celebrate my move.”
“At The Iron Horse?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“The Pink Pearl.” Of course this scenario was all bullshit. She had no plans but to unpack her stuff, climb into bed, and maybe stuff her face with some peanut M&Ms.
His chin pinned against his corded neck. “The what?”
“The Pink Pearl. You know, the strip club near Uniontown. They’re having an all-male revue tonight. We’re going to that first, then we’ll stop somewhere on the way home for a few drinks.”
“An all-male revue,” he repeated slowly. “Then you’re stoppin’ in for drinks at The Iron Horse.”
Lyric swallowed her laugh. The DAMC men didn’t want the DAMC women drinking anywhere other than The Iron Horse. Or at worst, Dirty Dick’s, the bar owned by their ally, the Dark Knights.
“No, somewhere on the way home.”
“Dirty Dick’s.”
“That’s out of the way.”
“Those are your choices.”
Lyric made sure he saw her eyes roll. “Sure they are.”
“Guess your plans are changin’.”
“What do you mean?”
“Fuck The Pink Pearl. Fuck drinkin’ with some randoms. Fuck it all.”
“Ash, that—”
She squealed when, within four long strides, he had her flung up in the air and over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Fuck that shit.”
“What are you—”
He barreled down the narrow hallway with his arm hooked around her thighs and one big hand holding her ass. “Doin’ what you want me to do. Think I don’t fuckin’ know you’re not tryin’ to manipulate my ass?”
“I’m not—”
“Bullshit,” he growled. He shoved her bedroom door open wider.
“We—”
Using his boot, he slammed the door shut behind them and stopped in front of her bed. “Wanna break in your fuckin’ bed, gonna break in your fuckin’ bed.”
Then he flipped her forward so she landed with a bounce on her ass on the mattress.
At least that proved the bed frame wasn’t crap, given that it didn’t even creak from the impact. But then, she was pretty damn sure its durability had been tested many times over with how many DAMC brothers or sisters had lived in the apartment in the past.
Guaranteed, the bed in Bri’s room had seen more action once a mirror had been installed above that bed decades ago. Funny how not one occupant wanted to remove it.
That ceiling mirror had certainly seen some interesting things in its lifetime. Lyric would rather not know exactly what.
In fact, she was pretty sure Ash’s aunt and uncle had taken full advantage of that mirror when Jewel had lived in the apartment many moons ago. Long before Vi was born. Rumor had it she was conceived in that bed.
Lyric figured it was more like truth than rumor. She wondered if they had a similar mirror installed above their bed in their house in the DAMC compound.
But at their age, that view had surely changed. Since most of the OG women still called Diesel’s ass the Eighth Wonder of the World—including her own mother—Lyric had secretly checked it out when no one was looking. Of course, Diesel had been wearing jeans so her view wasn’t ideal.
Since Ash leaned more like his uncle than his own father, the ass she saw the morning he took her virginity looked perfect. But would his be considered good enough to be labeled one of the Wonders of the World? The jury was still out on that and she’d need to see it naked again to be the judge.