Chapter 42 Chill Out
Chill Out
Havoc
“How long are you going to keep hitting that bag?” Rogue sits along the gym wall watching me.
“Until I stop wanting it to be Bram’s face.
And I’m not even mad at him. How can I be?
He fell for her little act just as much as I did.
What is it about me that makes me such an easy mark?
I was all in on this woman. All in. I was working my way into being totally obsessed by her. What is wrong with me?”
“There’s nothing wrong with you. That’s all her.”
Is it though? “I knew Bram was dating someone new to town. How many hot single women move to Silent Valley in a month? Almost none. What kind of coincidence was it that two of them happened to move in at the same time? That never happens.” I smash my fist into the bag.
“Cordelia moved here, and Dylan did, sort of.”
“Rogue.”
“I know visiting a friend isn’t exactly the same thing. But they are two fine women.”
“What about Creed? Didn’t she think about how much this was going to affect him?
He’s devastated. Do you know he was already planning on Greer and me having kids so he could get a sibling?
She trashed what little trust he might have in women.
I hate her even more for that. How am I going to live next to her?
See her every day, knowing that she played both of us? ”
“Maybe she’ll move when she realizes the game is up?” Rogue points out.
“She’s too selfish for that. She might try to pick up another brother out of spite.” I hate Greer. Seeing her in Bram’s arms tore me in two. Knowing Creed was standing next to me seeing the same thing was even worse.
“None of the brothers is stupid enough to fall for her wiles after this. They’ll see right through her. Wait. She’s friends with The Cake Lady. Does that mean we won’t have any chance of getting cake? Because I’m pretty sure Bear was counting on getting cake.”
Cheating women don’t usually have close friends like that, do they? “How is your woman going to handle her friend acting like that?” Greer just messed up literally everything for everyone.
Why?
Why not just date Bram if she likes him?
Why kiss me at the same time?
She was dating him since well before we were even friendly.
None of this makes any sense.
“Dad.” Creed comes rushing into the gym.
“What’s up?”
“Greer’s friends are back.”
I raise an eyebrow at Rogue, who’s holding my phone, probably watching the exact same feed but sparing me the blow-by-blow like a good wingman. “People have friends over.”
“Yeah, but she said hers turn up when she’s in trouble. Do you think she knows you know?”
“Don’t care. I’m not playing games with her or giving her the opportunity to play games with me.” Or my son.
“Understood. But there’s a van there too.”
And why do I care about that?
“There’s rack after rack of clothing rolling out of it.”
Do I really need to know this? I yank my gloves off and reach for the water flask at the edge of the mats. “And?”
“Why would she need clothes?”
“Because she’s a woman.” A rich one that doesn’t mind flaunting her wealth.
“Yeah, but it’s the middle of winter. That doesn’t make sense.”
Like anything about that woman makes sense. “Women don’t often make sense.”
“Maybe I should check on her.”
“Creed. This isn’t your battle.”
“But how could she do that? How, Dad? I know she loves you. I saw it. Her friends saw it. They teased her about it. They didn’t say a single word about Bram.
But you…they talked about you and her the whole time.
Greer’s friend said she was going to…well…
date you if Greer didn’t. They were serious.
They didn’t seem to be playing games. Why would she do this to us, Dad? ”
I walk over and take my son into my arms. He doesn’t often—ever—allow me to hug him. The last time was when I told him his friend had died.
Greer hurt him as much as a death.
But what she did was worse. She killed some of his trust in humanity. “I don’t know.”
“I want to yell at her. I want to go over there and demand answers. I want her to tell me that all of this was a misunderstanding, and that everything is fine. That she really loves you.”
“I know.” I want the same thing more than I want to breathe, which is why I’m so mad…at myself…at her…
“I can’t believe I tried to get her a job with the club. Could you imagine what she could have done to the event?”
“Get her a job?”
“Yeah, she was the friend I was asking about a job for.”
A job…Bram’s girlfriend…The winter festival. I need to talk to Bram without punching him in the face. “Rogue?”
“Yeah. I’ll stay close.”
“Dad?”
“Don’t worry about it. Why don’t you go find Rykka or Journey? I think they’re at the clubhouse today. I’ve got to go take care of something.”
“Okay.” Creed steps back.
“I don’t want you to worry about me. I’m fine. Got that?”
“You aren’t. But we will be.”
That boy sees too much. “Gotta go. Call me if you need to talk.”
Creed nods. He doesn’t even joke that Bishop is around. Maybe I should take him on a vacation or to visit Willow Street. All those teenage girls should distract him…
Like going from the frying pan into the fire is a good idea.
“Should we invite Bishop to come with us? Or are you going to be able to control yourself?” Rogue jogs beside me.
“Bram didn’t do anything.”
“That doesn’t stop the guttural response to seeing him hugging your woman. The woman your heart claimed.”
The image of Greer hugging Bram in the Ivy Café is permanently etched into my brain, replaying over and over again. “She’s not mine.”
“Your heart hasn’t figured that out.”
“It will.”
Volt comes running towards us. “There’s a situation.”
Not another one. “What?”
“The storm that was going to pass by us to the north turned. We’re getting hit by a blizzard tonight.”
I vaguely remember seeing something about that on the news. It was supposed to be a complete whiteout. “How many feet?”
“Two to four in twelve hours.”
“That’s going to end up knocking out our power grid.”
Volt nods.
“Send out a message to the brotherhood. Make sure everyone is safe and accounted for. We’re going to need to drop off meals and some supplies for the elderly in town. Let’s get to work.”
***
“Dad, do you think we should go check on Greer?” Creed asks when we finally pull into our driveway.
It’s already started snowing.
“No. She lost that privilege, but you can send her a message. The storm is all over the news, and Warden sent out a message to everyone on the emergency system a few hours ago.” Greer lost boyfriend rights the moment she hugged Bram.
Though it’s possible he still doesn’t know she’s cheating on him.
I didn’t get a chance to tell him. It was an all-hands kind of thing to get the town prepared with this short notice.
Creed nods and climbs out of the truck.
“Make sure we have enough wood for the fireplaces. I’m going to go check the generator.” It’s had all its yearly maintenance done, so a quick check is all it needs.
“Will do, Dad. Can we pull out the snowmobiles after the storm and do some boarding?”
“Sounds good to me. We can do that right after we check to make sure the club and town don’t need our help.”
Creed nods.
***
“It’s coming down really hard out there.” Creed walks to the window. “It’s dropped to minus thirty. That’s way colder than they forecasted.”
It is. I had to turn the generator on a few hours ago when the power went out. It’s helping the fireplace keep our house nice and comfortable. The fireplaces alone would be enough to keep us from freezing, but it wouldn’t be comfortable anywhere but right in front of them. “Want some cocoa?”
“Sure. Greer’s lights are out.”
“The power is out.”
“Yeah, but if her generator was running like ours, wouldn’t they be on? She always keeps a few lights on, even at night.”
I walk over to where he’s standing. There isn’t any light coming out of her house. “She might not have as big a one as we do. It might only be enough to run her heat.”
“But didn’t the neighbor come and ask you what we have so he could buy the same?”
“Yes.” He did. We spent like three hours going over it then he showed me the one he got installed. “That’s odd.”
“There isn’t any smoke coming out of her fireplace.”
Does Greer even know how to start a fire? Did she have wood? I close my eyes and picture her living room. There was wood next to the fireplace.
Not a lot, though. “Maybe she left with her friends.”
“No, she said she was going to hunker down, and that she had everything she needed.”
A bad feeling spreads through the pit of my stomach. “Go get your winter gear on. We’ll go check on her.”