Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
VIKING
Back at Lainey’s place, I’m not surprised to see that all of the women are here, along with the kids, and then the men, too. I don’t know if this many people have ever been in her place before, but she’s not engaging with anyone.
She’s sitting at her table, with a cup of tea or coffee, something in a mug in front of her, while Dakota, Millie, and Briana sit around her. They’re talking, their voices low. The other women are standing nearby, but I can really only see Lainey. She’s the only one I want to look at anyway.
She seems… despondent.
“You’re in charge of her until the wedding. Can you do that without losing her again?” Piggy asks in a growl.
Jerking my gaze away from her, I look at him. I don’t understand why the fuck he’s putting me in charge again when I clearly didn’t do the job he wanted me to do the first time. I start to tell him just that when I hear Bullet grunt behind us.
“He’s going to do it because she trusts him, and you have your own family to care for and protect. Plus a whole fucking full-time job. Viking works only for the club, and right now, this is his job.”
Bullet’s got that right. Sure, my job for the club is one where I’m needed, but it’s not like I’m going to get fired. I’ve just literally been reassigned. Piggy doesn’t respond immediately, but then he clears his throat and rocks back on his heels.
When he speaks, I’m not sure I actually heard him correctly. “The contract isn’t executed until she says her vows. She needs to be secure. I don’t want the Front Mob Family trying any fly shit between then and now.”
“Like?” I ask
“Like fucking her and trying to knock her up so she’s trapped and bound to them. At least if it were one of my brothers, it would be someone who would keep her close to home.”
Instead of reacting to that, I shift my attention back to Lainey, who is still at the table chatting to the other women. I don’t know if Piggy can tell how his words affected me, but they did—deeply.
I can’t help but be surprised by what he’s just said to me. I don’t think he’s telling me to knock her up by any means, but I don’t think he would kill me if I did. I shouldn’t. I should not do what I’m thinking about doing.
That would be bad.
She’s made her decision. She’s made her choice. Contracts have been drawn up, and they’re being signed tomorrow. I shouldn’t get in the middle of any of this. It would be betraying my club. It would be causing problems and drama.
It would be bad…
But it would feel so good.
As the party continues, pizzas are ordered and massacred. Thankfully, Lainey begins to smile, and I see a semblance of the girl before she was kidnapped. I still want to have a conversation with her about what happened last night. Because I have a feeling something went down. I can feel it.
Walking over to the fridge, I open it and look around to see if there’s something inside that I want. I’m not hungry. I had half a fucking pizza. I’m just looking for something to do to keep me from dragging her away and locking her up in that bedroom.
“You good?” a voice asks.
Straightening, I close the fridge and look over to see Zadie standing just a few feet away from me, her hip leaning against the counter. She’s been so busy, having twins and doing her own damn thing, I haven’t even talked to her in a while.
Got no reason to, really; she’s Maverick’s woman, and I like her, she’s a friend, but as much of a friend as any of the old ladies, nothing more.
“Absolutely not,” I snap.
She laughs softly, but it’s not because she thinks I’m being funny. It’s because she’s uncomfortable. I shouldn’t have used that tone, and honest to fuck, I probably shouldn’t have told her the truth.
“I don’t want her to go,” she whispers. “Not that I think anything bad is going to happen to her or anything, but Lainey is ours,” she says. “Lainey-Rose Bakery is ours. It’s where we all met. Where we hang out. It’s home.”
“Yeah,” I grunt.
That tracks.
Lainey, who hardly showed her face around the club five years ago, is now the center of the whole girl gang.
It’s nice. We’ve never had a tight-knit group of old ladies before now.
Most of the original charter women were either struggling with their own shit, didn’t want a damn thing to do with the club, or left early on.
I can’t remember many old ladies like these—good women who had children, wanted them, and loved their men and the life. Although, to be fair, I can’t remember many of the men being as good to their women as the ones now.
Now it’s like the club has the whole goddamn package, and I’m going to let mine walk away.
LAINEY
I don’t want them to leave. I can’t help but feel like this is a goodbye. I know that I made it clear in my contract that I was going to be able to see my people here whenever I wanted, and they could see me, but I also understand reality.
Millie and Axton are the last to leave, but Axton doesn’t really say much. I don’t think he’s happy with my choices, and I can understand why. I’m a bit on the fence as well, and I’m the one who pushed and facilitated it.
Millie wraps her arms around me in a hug, her lips against my ear as she whispers to me. “I just want you to know you can call me anytime, about anything.”
I know I can.
But it’s sweet that she’s reminding me that I can always go to her. She’s where I want to be anyway. She’s my sister, the one I never got to have. And, granted, that means she’s married to my brother and might spill my secrets to him, but it’s worth the chance.
She takes a step backward, then another, turning her back to me as she moves out of the kitchen and toward the door. Axton doesn’t leave yet, though. He stands in front of me, watching me, his eyes searching mine for a silent moment.
“I’m not going to say a fucking word about it,” he begins, clearly about to say a fucking word.
“I know you’re a grown woman. You can make your own decisions.
And you’ve told me why you’re making this one.
But I want you to know that you can change your mind.
Whatever that contract says, I don’t give a fuck. I will figure out a way out of it.”
Well, those words are okay.
“Thank you, Axton,” I whisper.
He winks, then takes a step backward before he turns around, and I watch as he and Millie leave my place. Viking is standing near the door. He tells them goodbye and closes the door behind them, flipping the dead bolt in place.
I haven’t spoken to him since I walked away and got into the back seat of Paul’s car. I don’t know how this is going to go. Does he want to rehash things? Does he want to tell me how stupid I’m being? I’m not sure. I am also tired, so I don’t know how much more I have in me tonight.
I start to open my mouth and say just that when he clears his throat while taking a step toward me. His eyes darken, something that I didn’t even know was possible. He doesn’t just close the distance between us; he doesn’t just walk toward me… he stalks me.
Sucking in a breath, I hold it for a moment, my eyes searching his as he approaches. When he stops in front of me, he’s so close that I can feel the heat from his body. Tilting my head back slightly, I drag my eyes up his throat, wondering what it would taste like.
Then, when my gaze finds his, I watch as his nostrils flare. He wraps his arm around my waist, and my entire body almost melts into a whole pile of goo. Lifting my hands, I place my palms against his chest in an effort to brace myself and to keep from melting into said pile of goo.
“Viking,” I whisper.
“Gunnar,” he states.
I hum, unsure why he made that noise. He’s so close that I can smell his soap, his shampoo, his sweat, and the leather and oil that, no doubt, comes from riding around on his bike and the leather cut.
It’s sexy.
“My name,” he says. “Gunnar Lund.”
Wow.
Hot.
Like, beyond hot.
I start to say something else, but I’m not sure what I could even say at this point. I am beyond mesmerized by this man. And the way he’s looking down at me… he seems… hungry.
“Gunnar,” I finally breathe when he doesn’t say anything else.
He grunts, then lets out a moan before he says one single word, and that sends a thrill down my spine.
“Fuck.”
Yes. Fuck indeed. Please.
One of his hands gently glides up the center of my back, his fingers tangling in the back of my curly hair. The moment that meeting was over and I got home, I changed and took my hair down.
Paul thought I would look better if my hair were slicked back, to show just how serious I was. I like my curly hair. I like my comfortable clothes. I mean, I have to admit I felt like a boss babe in those clothes with my hair pulled back tightly, but it wasn’t me.
And the moment I did what Paul wanted, I wondered if this was just the beginning, and I have a feeling that’s exactly what it was. Which scares me more than signing the contract itself. Because what happens when the deal is done and I’m alone with this man?
I mean, Paul was great for the few hours I was there. He also made me feel amazing, but that doesn’t mean a switch can’t flip, and he won’t show his true colors. I think I may have overestimated my power in this situation.
Meaning I have none.
Absolutely none.
I can’t help but wonder what is awaiting me in a month’s time and if I just made a huge-ass mistake. But when Viking clears his throat, bringing me back to reality, and I look up into his eyes, I realize I haven’t made a mistake.
Paul is offering me a semblance of a life. And Viking has offered me nothing… ever. Even being this close to him, I don’t think that anything is going to happen. He’s just panicking because of the way everything went down.
Then, as if I’ve thought it all into existence, he releases his grasp on me, his arms falling to his sides. I watch as he turns slightly and walks away from me, making his way into the living room to look out the window.
He doesn’t say anything. I watch him, waiting for him to speak, to say something, anything. But he doesn’t even move, and I’m almost afraid to breathe, wondering not just what he’s going to say, but what he’s thinking.
Then he turns around, and his eyes find mine. “I want you, Lainey. I’ve always wanted you.”
Not. Fair.
Not fair at all.