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Nix nodded, flicking his eyes around at all the people gathered, muttering, “Thanks, man.” He had a nose piercing, too. Two nose piercings on the same side of his nose, two tiny little silver hoops, a fraction of an inch apart in the same nostril, snugly sitting on his nose. Stubble, mousey brown hair, blue eyes with an amber central ring. Unusual. Captivating.
Ash stomped through the entrance now, and threw a hateful glare at Nix.
“Don’t bother welcoming him too much, he isn’t staying,” Ash spat.
“Hmm. Lovers’ tiff,” she heard someone mutter behind her. She turned. Lyle, the older, rugged guy who got it on with Penny in her shop.
Colt frowned at Ash. “What happened? I thought you wanted to pick him up and-”
April stepped forward then. “You’re welcome to stay for however long you want or need to, Nix. But equally there’s no obligation to stay. We helped you out because Ash is one of ours and we help our own. If you don’t want to join up, that’s okay, take your time, just… enjoy tonight, huh?”
Nix nodded, looking like a sullen teenager, not happy to admit it, but that was exactly what he needed.
“Yeah, I… just got out, you know?” he said a million terrible things with just that haunted look and those simple words.
“Yeah, I hear you,” Colt replied quietly. Both men exchanged a look, Colt had also done time, he would understand. A shadow passed over them both and time froze for a moment as they both stared into the horrors reflected in each other’s eyes. Then Colt shook himself. “Well, you’re welcome to any booze, any food you want.”
“I’m… thanks… I just-”
“I know, it’s probably a bit much. Maybe you want to stay, prospect with us, maybe you don’t, no skin off our backs. Take some time, relax, enjoy yourself.” Colt shrugged.
“You heard of MC life at all before?” Lyle said.
Nix tilted his head to one side. “My uncle was a member of one, when I was a kid… you do what you like, right?”
“Right,” Lyle replied after a pause in which he glared at Colt.
“We have certain rules, a charter to follow, basic respect for each other,” Colt glared back. “But yeah, we basically live how we like. The girls are ours, this place is ours… this is my ol’ lady April,” Colt reached for her hand and held it tenderly, kissing it. “So don’t fucking touch her, same for this one.” Colt nodded at Sophie, who raised her eyes.
Nix raised his eyebrows. “You’ve got two-”
“No, she’s Phantom’s,” April clarified quickly. “And you don’t get on the bad side of Phantom.”
“Hmm.” Phantom did the tiniest of chin lifts in a greeting to Nix. Nix gulped.
“We’ve got a room for you upstairs… we weren’t sure if you would be staying with Ash or not…” Jared shrugged.
Ash, who had been hanging back, pricked his eyes up and held his breath. Nix rolled his eyes. “Fuck no, it’s not like that, I mean-” his eyes darted around at the burly men wearing leather.
“It’s okay if it is,” Colt said stoically.
“No, I mean, Ash was just someone who shared my cell… we’re not like, together or anything, fuck that-”
Ash tutted, pulled himself up from the wall he’d been leaning against, turned his back and strode off. He’d clearly heard enough. Nix followed him with his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbed in his tattooed throat.
Rita interrupted. “Well whatever, we don’t really care who you’re fucking or not fucking. Come on, I’ll show you around-”
“And I’ll come, too.” Rafe stepped up, throwing his sister a warning glare.
She gritted her teeth, her plans to grab some alone time with Nix clearly thwarted for now.
Rafe threw an arm over Nix’s shoulder, the two of them being similarly matched in height and build. Rita grabbed Nix’s hand, much shorter than them both, looking like a little girl eager to show a friend her tree house. “Do you have any stuff?” she asked him, looking at his two empty hands.
“No,” Nix replied, clearly embarrassed.
Rafe shrugged. “It’s cool. I’ll get you some jeans, T-shirt, and stuff for the morning,” Rafe said. Sophie had a feeling they would come out of Rafe’s wardrobe and into Nix’s.
“Fucker.” Sophie heard a mutter next to her. Ash. He’d slipped back into the crowd obviously, and was watching Nix walk off with Rafe and Rita. Hurt was clear in his pinched face. She wanted to distract him, lift him up.
