Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Tucker sucks his straight white teeth as he stares after Gabe, the tension damn near crackling around him. Finally, he lets out a deep breath and focuses back on me. “I texted you earlier.”
He pulls me closer with both hands on my waist, and his grip tightens. The group of guys across the room shouts loud enough to draw attention as Gabe joins them, but I force myself to pay attention to Tucker.
“Yeah.” Rubbing the back of my neck, I add, “I’ve just been swamped today. Sorry.”
I planned to look at it later, but after last night, I just wasn’t sure what he was going to say.
Then, I forgot about it.
“It’s fine, but I wanted to ask you something.”
Thump. Thump. Thump. My heart picks up, pounding against my sternum, and my palms start to sweat.
Swallowing, I say, “Okay…”
“I was gonna see if you had plans next weekend.”
My brows pinch, but my pulse doesn’t slow. “Uh, I don’t think so. Why?”
“My brother’s having a thing at his place. My whole family’s gonna be there.”
Fuck. Please don’t finish that thought.
He laces our fingers together. “I thought… maybe you could come meet them.”
My heart sinks and nausea rolls through me.
“Tucker, I—” Sighing, I take a step back from him and run my damp palms down my dress. “I don’t know if I’m really ready for that.”
“No, it’s fine!” A bright grin spreads across his face, and he trails his fingers up my arms. “They’re really chill. It’s not a big deal. You don’t have to be nervous.”
Closing my eyes, I let out a long exhale. I’m not nervous about meeting his family, I’m nervous because I think he may have just put the final nail in our coffin if he hadn’t already.
“I’m not—”
Nik grabs my arm. “Come on, before someone steals our table!”
My gaze flicks to Tucker, but he doesn’t say anything like he’s waiting for me to decide. The problem is, I don’t think I know what the right thing is to do in this situation.
I assume he’ll want to sit with his friends from his own chapter on the other side of the room.
The different chapters don’t really mingle that much.
Honestly, I’m not entirely sure why they all get together at these things in the first place.
Their club has its own bar, they could’ve just hung out there tonight.
Should I be sitting with him? I don’t want to. This is my place. My friends. We’ve been hanging out at the pool table in the corner since we all graduated high school. That’s where I want to be.
“You can sit with us if you want,” I say, almost praying he says no but trying to hide it from my voice. I don’t think I’m doing a very good job of it.
His mouth turns down, and his shoulders sink just a hair. “It’s fine. I owe one of my guys a beer.” He clears his throat, standing up a little taller. “I’ll find you later.”
Hesitating for only a moment, I chew the inside of my lip before nodding and kissing his cheek. As I rush off with Nik my lungs seem to expand a little easier with each step, and I finally catch my breath by the time we make it to our table.
I really am an asshole.
Hurting him has never been my intention, but that feels almost inevitable at this point. It feels like shit, quite frankly.
Determined to put it aside for the time being and enjoy the party, I pull a pool stick from the rack and beam, lifting a brow at the boys.
“Shane…?” I draw his name out, wiggling my shoulders.
From a nearby couch, he throws his hands up. “Fuck that! I’ve had my ass kicked enough.”
Nik chuckles, flopping down on his lap and tossing her arms around his neck.
“J?” I turn toward JT, who’s leaning on a high-top table.
“Alright.” He raps his knuckles on the surface before standing to his full height and lifting his baseball cap to sweep his chestnut hair back.
He puts the hat back on backward.
JT’s a big bastard—tall and built like a brick shithouse. His caramel eyes light, and he plucks the toothpick he was chewing on out of his mouth and tosses it on the table as his girlfriend approaches.
“No! Absolutely not!” Katie scolds, storming up to him. “The two of you do this every time.”
A mischievous grin appears on his face. “What?”
She hands him a beer, glaring like she isn’t a foot and a half shorter. “You and Lily! You’re too competitive, and you ruin everything for the rest of us. We don’t want to listen to it!”
I laugh, thinking about how our simple game of pool turned into a yelling match just last weekend, but that wasn’t my fault. He always accuses me of cheating, which just isn’t true. The big dipshit just can’t stand to lose.
JT places a hand on his chest indignantly. “I have no clue what you’re talking about. I’m not competitive.”
She rolls her eyes, and he tucks a strand of her shoulder-length dark hair behind her ear before she smacks his hand away.
The two of them have been together since high school. They seem good now but give it an hour or two and they’ll be the ones shouting. They’re like oil and water—if oil and water also fucked like rabbits and forgot how to use condoms.
They only have two kids, but both pregnancies happened while they were broken up.
Whoops.
I put up three fingers. “Best behavior, I promise.”
“Liar,” Gabe barks, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
I shoot him a look.
“Her boyfriend’s here, hands off,” Shane mutters.
Scoffing, he drops his arm. “I put my arm around her, I didn’t grab her ass. Settle down, officer buzzkill.”
Shane rolls his eyes. “No, but the last thing we need is you fighting some new kid in their chapter. That will ruin everyone’s night.”
“He’s a possessive shit, isn’t he?” Gabe turns back to me and perches on the arm of the couch, dangling a beer bottle between his legs as he leans his forearms on his thighs.
I shrug. “He just doesn’t like hanging out with guys I’ve had sex with.”
Gabe busts out laughing. “He came to the wrong place then, didn’t he?”
I narrow my eyes.
Every weekend this place fills with dozens of twenty-something, hot-as-sin bikers. What’s a girl supposed to do?
I never actually intended on sleeping with the others. It was just Gabe, but then he got weird after he met Shane’s sister, and I was tired of going home alone every night. JT and I both had too much to drink one night while him and Katie were broken up, and so on and so forth.
I cross my arms over my chest. “He likes Shane just fine.”
“He doesn’t count. No one would touch him with a ten-foot pole with Nik’s mean ass around.” JT chuckles.
Nik glares and flips him off.
Shane’s actually the only one of the bunch that’s never tried to sleep with me. He wouldn’t go there even when he’s fucked things up with her, which he does quite often.
Shane’s a good guy at heart, but he can’t seem to keep his head on straight.
He loves Nik, but he needs coke. It’s a sad situation.
“Thank God. He could probably injure someone with that thing. I don’t know how Nik walks straight,” I say.
“How the hell do you know how big his dick is?” Gabe asks.
I smirk. “Because I caught them in the ladies’ room a few months ago.”
And let me tell you, it was quite the show. Not that I’m surprised. I bet Nik gives him a run for his money. From the looks of it, she gives head like a pro at the very least.
“Jesus!” JT says, gesturing between Gabe and Shane, “What is it with you two and the fucking ladies’ room.”
Shane doesn’t react at all—not even a hint of pride in his deep brown eyes that I just told everyone he has a massive cock.
He just stretches out a too-thin arm across the back of the couch and leans his head back.
“Also, that doesn’t mean he’s any good at using it.” JT hits a ball into the corner pocket.
“Yeah, and who says you are, jackass?” Gabe jokes.
“I don’t know. Let’s see if your mom’ll be the judge?”
Gabe’s jaw ticks, and Katie shakes her head.
“Or Lily could tell us, she got such a close comparison after all,” Katie says.
Throwing my hands up, I shake my head. “Uh-uh. I’m not getting in the middle of your little pissing contest.”
I had a very fun, very singular night with Gabe and JT years ago. I’d slept with them both separately by that point. So, when they’d both asked me to go home with them, the only solution I could come up with in the moment was to ask them both to come home with me instead.
While I don’t regret it, it’s also not something I want to talk about. Katie and I are good now, and we weren’t friends when I slept with JT, but she still makes her digs at me about it when she can.
She can be a really good friend when she wants to be, but she’s got a real mean-girl thing about her too.
Strong sun-kissed arms wrap around my waist from behind.
“Actually, I changed my mind. The winner’s Theo, hands down.” I giggle, turning around to wrap my arms around him. Theo’s a year older than the other boys, but they all grew up together because their dads were in the club when they were kids.
“What’d I win?” he asks.
JT and Gabe groan in unison, rolling their eyes.
“They were arguing who was best in bed.”
He beams.
I brush a stray piece of his mousy hair off his forehead as his beautiful blue eyes meet mine. Theo’s one of my very favorite people; he’s quiet and kind.
When I need distraction and noise, I go to Gabe to take me away from it all. But when I need peace, I go to Theo.
He lost his brother a while back, and he’s just been a little different than the other boys since then.
I think he lost a piece of himself. And I don’t have to worry about him wanting anything serious because he’s been hung up on JT’s older sister since they were kids.
He hasn’t dated anyone since she moved away, but if he did, he’d make some woman very happy.
He wraps his inked arms around my shoulders. “You’re a lying sack of shit, Darlin’, but I love you anyway.”
His chest rumbles against my cheek as he chuckles.
I rub my hand up and down his back. “You’re the least annoying of the bunch, too.”
“Now, that I believe.” He lets me go, letting me get back to my game.
As I lean over to break, Lil Wayne blares from the speakers and Gabe groans, shooting off the couch. “Who the fuck let my mom pick the song?”