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Tripp
“Better claim that before someone else does,” Sparkles said to me when he was headed out the next day. I looked around, wondering what he was talking about, my brain still too muddled from the night before to put it all together. “Talkin’ about that beautiful woman carrying your baby, asshole.”
He rode off before I could even respond. Not that I knew what to say anyway. There were moments when I wanted nothing more than to be able to be with Kim. Our history made it hard to do, though. Part of my heart still belonged to another woman, even if I was pissed off at her. And shit, that was the hardest damn thing because I had no right to be pissed with June. Yeah, she told me to ditch the fucking club, but only after I’d cheated on her and got someone else pregnant.
And that was why I couldn’t claim Kim. We were damn near strangers, and June was still on my mind far too often, to make things work out by diving in headfirst. It wouldn’t be fair to her to start something when I was thinking of someone else. And I wanted to punch myself in the face because that was exactly why we were in the fucking position we were.
When Kim pulled into the clubhouse, I looked down at the watch on my wrist. “What are you doing here?” I asked as she got out of her car.
“Ratchet called me in. Asked if I could come put breakfast together for everyone.” She pointed over her shoulder toward the gate. “Was that Sparkles leaving?” I nodded my head wondering how the fuck she knew the club’s nomad by name. “Ah, that sucks. I was hoping to say goodbye before he took off.”
“Didn’t realize you two were besties,” I griped.
Her answering grin pissed me off. “He’s a good guy.”
“No, the fuck he ain’t,” I argued. I knew why the man was a nomad. He’d killed his old lady. Might have been a mistake, but it drove the bastard crazy and he refused to settle down anywhere after that.
Kim bounced her shoulders up and down as she walked by me. “He was a sweetheart to me, and that’s all I’m gonna judge him by.”
“What the fuck?” I growled as she entered the clubhouse and someone off to my left busted out laughing.
“Damn kid, you got a patch just in time for everyone to steal your kid’s mom right out from under your nose.” I turned to see Grady sitting there on the ground in front of his bike looking like a miserable fuck.
“Something wrong with your ride?”
He shook his head. “Nah, but something’s wrong with your head if you don’t lock that girl down before someone else does.”
“She’s pregnant with my kid,” I stated as if that meant anything in our world.
“So, Sparkles wasn’t the only one to make her an offer last night. Fucking Wicked was all over her until Ratchet made him back off. She’s been given her pink slip once the baby is born though. Either someone claims her, or she’s gone. Might want to keep that in mind, since you seem to think you have all the time in the world to fuck around and figure life out without making the decision a man should make. Either she’s yours or you let her go to someone else. Your kid don’t factor in that.”
I knew Grady wasn’t wrong about that, but it shocked me that some of my club brothers had been sniffing around. When I saw that Kim wasn’t behind the bar, I made my way back to the kitchen and sat down at one of the tables to watch her work.
“You gonna stare all day or get up and help?” She finally asked after I watched her chop a bunch of bell peppers.
“Not so sure I would be of any help. Need your car fixed, I’m your man. Need an omelet cooked, I’m probably handing your ass scrambled eggs with chunks of shit in it and toast to make you feel better about the ugly mess I just served up.”
Kim laughed as she chopped and it made me nervous she might slip and catch a finger, especially with how quickly she did it. “Don’t worry, I’ve been cooking for me and Mack since I was thirteen. I’ve learned a thing or two in five years.”
“What the hell was your mother doing?”
“Some days, she was there helping me and showing me how to do things. Other times, she was checked out and wishing she never had to see my face since it was a reminder of why she was trapped in a life she didn’t want.”
“Fuck man, no parent should ever make their kid feel that way,” I mumbled, thinking of my own mother who checked out after her oldest boy – the golden child – and my father went to jail.
“Remember that, and make sure you never do it to our kid, no matter what’s going on between us or whatever other adults are in the picture down the road.”
“Heard you had a few proposals last night.” Don’t know why the hell I felt the need to bring that shit up.
“Saw that you did as well,” she threw back at me.
“Fair enough, but what you saw when you were here was the end of that shit.”
She laughed again, but that time it sounded more like a half-laugh, half-scoff noise, as though she didn’t believe me. “You can’t tell me those girls didn’t try it again the minute I left the clubhouse.”
“Eventually, they did. I didn’t see you around then, so there was no need to yell at them, but they got turned down just the same.”
“You’re a free man, Tripp. You can do what you want.”
