“Is everyone going to be there?” I slide on my jacket and tickle Pepper behind the ears before grabbing the slab of spotted dick. Ha…this is going to cause some fun in the clubhouse. And that thought is not something I ever imagined I’d be happy about, but since my best friend shacked up with, married, and had a kid with the Sons of Khaos Enforcer, this is now my life outside of work.
With Gryffin’s car seat hooked over her forearm, Mac pops the sucker from her mouth and raises both of her brows. She’s been spending too much time with her husband.
“What are you looking at me like that for?”
“Does it matter if everyone isn’t there?” The smirk getting wider on her lips makes my skin prickle with heat from embarrassment.
“No.” I’m not lying. It doesn’t matter…
“So if I said that Grinder won’t be there, you wouldn’t be disappointed?” The smirking continues on her Judgey McJudgingstein face.
“No.” Okay, now I’m lying. While nothing will ever happen between me and the sex-mad biker, he’s still pretty to look at. “Anyway, let’s go before Gryffin stinks my car up again.”
Laughing, Mac shakes her head, hitting me with a knowing stare before she heads toward my front door.
“I don’t know why you’re laughing.” I slip on my sneakers and grab my keys on the way out to my driveway.
“Yes you do.” She doesn’t even look at me as she straps Gryffin’s car seat into the back of the car.
“I’m ignoring you.”
More laughing.
I secure the cake in the back seat beside Gryffin and climb into my Honda, waiting for Mac to get in the passenger side before starting the engine.
“How much longer do you plan on denying it for?” Knowing we have similar tastes in music, I have no problem with letting Mac choose the music for the short twenty minute trip. The compound is on the outskirts of town, whereas I live central, only five minutes from the fire station.
“Denying what?” The road straightens out once we get away from my street and onto the main road toward the edge of town and I’m pretending it’s really interesting.
“That you want to bang Grinder.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot. I’m ignoring you.” Everyone wants to bang Grinder, he’s hot and funny, but he’s not the settling down type. I won’t be someone’s fling.
She answers without saying a word, holding it up to her ear. The giant grin on her face tells me it’s her husband, but the grin slowly shrinks, turning into a frown.
“What the actual fudge, Aleko? How did you lose him?” She throws her spare hand into the air in exasperation.
Sounds like whatever is going on will make for a fun story time when she’s done. Maybe get us off of this Grinder conversation.
Since my boyfriend died and betrayed me just over a year ago, I haven’t found the time to date—or get laid—so this Grinder thing is just an infatuation. Mac has convinced herself that my being horny means I’m pining for him. She thinks I’ve found myself a bad boy biker, just like her. The difference is that my bad boy biker has eyes for anything with genitals, whereas hers wouldn’t dream of looking at another woman like that.
The compound comes into view and I drive down the winding road leading up to the gates of the old psychiatric hospital that the Sons of Khaos now call their base. Once inside the gates, we pass the working mechanics and detailing garages before pulling up to the side of the giant building. In the distance is the small house where Mac’s mom lives with two of the older women here. It’s a million miles better than the real psych ward she was in for years, thanks to Mac’s crazy and now very dead not-brother.
I turn the engine off and that’s when it hits me. My nephew has done it again.
“I love him, but he stinks.” I roll my eyes at Mac and she shrugs, climbing out of the car and grabbing Gryffin from the back seat.
“It’s his way of saying he loves you too.” She chuckles.
“What? By shitting in my car?” Kid’s lucky he’s a baby and wearing a diaper. Who am I kidding? He melts me and Mac knows it.
“Yup. I’m going to my room to change him. I feel like we have a poonami situation going on with how bad this smells.” She holds up the car seat as if to prove her point by wafting his smell closer. “I’ll send someone out to help with the party supplies.
I watch her leave, hoping Gryffin’s scent hasn’t attached itself to the dessert we prepared after our morning of shopping.
The club helped me when I was mourning the loss of a life I thought I could have had. They fed me, got me very,verydrunk, and now they feel like family. It’s amazing how trauma can bond people like that, and I’m grateful for it. However, this means I’m now invited to every function, and because my best friend takes it upon herself to be involved in everything, I also have the privilege of being involved. Case in point: Sledge’s surprise birthday party.
Opening the trunk, I hook a bag of party supplies over each wrist before slamming it shut, then I head to the open back door and carefully slide the dessert tray out. With everything I can carry firmly in my hands, I make my way inside the huge building.