Chapter 13 Alice
ALICE
I’m not sure what to expect, but I know the Exiled Guardians, and whoever is waiting downstairs for me are good people.
They wouldn’t let them in here if they weren’t.
My mind is working overtime as I try to figure out who it is.
I’m all excited about the possibilities, but Greyson is going down the steps like he’s walking to a firing squad or something.
“You okay?”
He forces a smile. “I’m good.”
I look at him skeptically. He’s anything but good. I’ve worked with Greyson for months now, and I know his moods. He’s definitely not good right now. He’s tense and on edge.
We get to the bottom of the stairs, and it’s only a few steps to the door that opens up to the main room. “You sure?”
He nods. “Yep.”
He’s looking at the door in front of us like he wants to fight it or something. He takes a deep breath, clenches my hand a little tighter, and we go to the door. As soon as we walk through it, I’m face to face with the crew from my father’s old club.
I say each of their names, unable to believe that they’re here in Whiskey Run. “Cobra, Scar, Tiny, and Butch! What are you doing here?”
I barely get the sentence out and I’m hauled into Scar’s arms. They pass me around, each of the guys hugging me.
They’re all talking at once.
“Happy belated birthday.”
“We heard you had some trouble.”
“It’s time to come home, honey.”
It’s not until my feet are back on the ground that I look at an enraged Greyson. He’s practically vibrating with it. I walk over to him and put a hand on his chest and then turn to the guys. “What are you doing here?”
Butch is the most talkative one of the bunch, but he looks at my hand on Greyson before answering my question. “We heard you were attacked last night. We drove straight here as soon as we found out.”
Scar takes a step toward us. “What’s the deal? We let you come here because we thought you’d have the protection of the club, but obviously that’s not the case. You need to come home.”
Greyson growls behind me. His hands go to my waist, and I know he’s about to set me to the side.
The Whiskey Run Guardians are now on high alert.
There’s no way they’re going to let anyone come in here and talk about their club, and I don’t blame them.
I start to go to Scar and try to calm him, but Greyson holds on to me.
I turn and look up to him. “Let me go, Greyson.”
His eyes are dancing with anger, and I wait for him to refuse, but he releases me. I go straight to Scar. “This is not the club’s fault. It wasn’t my fault. The guy found me on the way to the bathroom at a bar in town.”
Tiny crosses his arms over his chest and looks at Greyson and the guys that are now standing beside him. “Did you take care of it?”
Greyson nods and matches his stance. “We did. He’ll never bother another woman again.”
Tiny nods and then turns to me. “Alice… what do you want?”
I’m about to tell everyone that I want to stay here with Greyson and be done with it, but I also know that Greyson is a biker.
He’s not going to have sex with someone and then just commit to me right afterward, and I refuse to be some clinging cherry or anything.
“Right now, I want to party with my new and my old family and friends.”
Butch is about to argue, but I hold my hand up to stop him. “Butch, we will talk about all this in the morning. For now, can we please just have a good time.”
I look over and give Lexi and Emily a pleading look. Lexi whispers something to Boss, and he waves his hands. “All right, let’s have some fun. Alice had a shitty birthday last night, and we don’t want to ruin tonight. Tomorrow, we talk. Tonight, we have a good time.”
Butch, Scar, Tiny, and Cobra all look at each other, and finally, Butch nods his head. “I’ll take a beer. Thirteen hours on a motorcycle, I’d like to unwind.”
I grab Greyson’s hand and pull him with me over to where the bar is. I sit around a huge round table with the guys, and I would have liked for Greyson to join us, but once I sit down, he puts his hands on my shoulders, squeezes them, and then moves over to the bar and sits on a stool.
My old friends are talking, and we get lost in reminiscing. The whole time, I can feel Greyson’s eyes on me, but when I look at him, I can’t make out what he’s thinking. Whatever it is, it isn’t good. He seems like he’s deep in thought.
Boss keeps the drinks flowing, and luckily the guys are happy drunks because soon they’re dancing, and they drag me out to the dance floor. We’re laughing trying to do line dances, and I get lost in the music and the moves.
Before long, the cherries circle my friends, and they begin to pair off. When a slow song comes on, almost instantly, Greyson is walking up to me, pulling me into his arms.
He’s stiff, swaying against me, not saying a word. “Grey—” I start.
He won’t look at me.
I slide my hands up his chest. “Greyson, talk to me.”
His voice is thick as he bends down to talk to me so I can hear him. “Are you leaving me?”
I lean my forehead against his chest, and he stops swaying.
“Princess… tell me… are you leaving me?”
His voice is almost strangled, and I shake my head side to side.
He leans back to look at me. “Alice, you’re not leaving me. I won’t let you.”
I stare at him, open-mouthed. “Let me?” I ask.
I don’t know why, but him telling me he won’t let me leave makes me hot. I’m supposed to be outraged. I’m supposed to explain to him that I’m a woman that can do anything I want, but I just ask him again, “Did you just say you won’t let me?”
He growls. “Fine. I’ll reword it. I don’t want you to leave, but if you’re determined, then I’m going with you. How’s that? Better?”
My silence has him shuttering, and he pauses before muttering, “Unless you don’t want to be with me.”
I look around the room that is pure chaos now, and I shake my head. “We don’t need to talk about this now, Grey.”
He puts his hand on my chin and brings my head up so he can look into my eyes. “We’re going to talk about this now, princess.”
I bite my lip. What am I supposed to say? Am I supposed to tell him that I love him? We had sex tonight, and I want him to commit to me? Hell, I don’t want to push him away or freak him out.
He holds my hand and pulls me through the room and out the front doors.
There’s a few people milling around, smoking, and he walks past them around the side of the building where it’s mostly quiet except for the sound of the bass from inside.
He sets me so that my back is against the wall and gestures to me with his hands. “Now let’s talk.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “You’re awful fuckin’ bossy.”
He leans into me. “You’ve known that about me since you met me.”
Helpless, I shrug. “I don’t know what you want, Grey.”
He puts his hands on the wall next to my head, caging me in. “You know exactly what I want.”
I press my back and my palms to the wall. “How am I supposed to know what you want? What? Sex? I gave you that.”
He looks incredulous. “You think I just want sex from you?”
I shrug. I had hoped it was more, but right now, I don’t know.
He leans against me, positioning his knee between my thighs. Like a lush, I tilt my hips to him. He leans down until we’re almost nose to nose. “Listen to me. I’m going to tell you what I want, and I need you to pay attention so you don’t have any doubts.”
I hold my breath, waiting for him to continue.
“I want you.”
I tilt my head to the side. “For tonight, for this week, or what?”
He holds my chin in his hand. “I want you to be my wife. I’m obsessed with you, and I want you to be mine… forever.”
He searches my face. “What do you want? And please don’t tell me you want to go back to Texas.”
I shake my head. “No, I don’t want to go back to Texas.”
He gestures with his head inside. “Then why didn’t you tell them that?”
I roll my eyes. “Grey, we just had sex for the first time. I thought if I tried to claim you in front of the club, well, I thought you might freak out about it. I didn’t know if you were serious.”
He chokes on the words. “You didn’t know if I was serious?”
I just shake my head, and he seems stunned. He wraps our hands together and then pulls me around the building and inside the front doors.
The party is still going strong, but Grey doesn’t care. He puts his fingers in his mouth and whistles loudly. The music and all the noise stops, and all eyes are trained on us. My face heats as I look up at Grey.
He pulls me in to his side. “Hey, everyone. Listen up. First, Alice is mine. She’s my ol’ lady. And second, she’s not going anywhere. She’s staying right here in Whiskey Run… with me.”
There’s some hoots and hollers in the crowd, but it’s Butch that comes toward us. He doesn’t look at Grey; he looks at me. “You all right with this, Alice? Is this what you want?”
He was my dad’s right-hand man. He’s looked out for me for a long time, and I know he’s just making sure I’m okay.
I lean into Grey. “Yeah, this is what I want. I love him.”
Grey grunts next to me and pulls me against him. “You love me?”
“Yes. Yes of course I love you.”
I don’t expect him to say it back. Grey’s always been a man of few words and more grunts and growls than anything, so he surprises me when he says it back. “I love you too, princess.”
He leans down and kisses me, and when he pulls away, he whispers, “I need to be inside you now.”
“I want that,” I whisper.
He grabs my hand and pulls me toward the stairs. The club choruses happy birthday, and I have to say, it’s the best birthday I’ve ever had, and it’s about to get even better.