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“You took off in the middle of your own party,” Dad starts, but Mom stops him with a hand on her forearm.
“Apricot, we just want to make sure where your head’s at. Find out where you are and what it is you want to do. You’ve been somewhat distant with us all in the past couple of weeks, and it worries us.”
“I’m perfectly fine. I’ve just been busy. I just haven’t wanted to talk about it much until I had everything in order.”
“Everything in order?” Hydra interrupts me by asking.
“Yeah, I’m opening a flower shop in town,” I inform them.
“You’re what?” This comes from Rock.
“That’s awesome,” Fawn says at the same time.
“Everything goes great, I’ll have the keys, and all will be set to start preparing for business at the end of the week,” I say, glancing around the table. “Oh, and I have a date tomorrow evening.” I threw that last part in there for the women at the table.
“Who the fuck with?”
“Come again?”
“Who?”
“Excuse me?”
Question after question is hurled at me, all of them sounding pissed and put out at the idea of me dating. I don’t know why though, and I hate that they’d seem this way. I figured they’d all be happy for me.
“That’s great, do we know who?” Fawn asks as Peyton and Mom smile.
“Um, well, he’s . . . well, he’s Sutherland’s partner, Tripp Sanchez.”
“Hold the hell on. You’re going on a date with Tripp?” Viking demands, seeming shocked by this.
“Yeah.” I nod.
“How the hell did you meet Tripp?”
Sighing, I quickly tell them about having coffee with Kasey and that we ran into Tripp and Sutherland and we ended up talking for a bit. “I liked talking to him, so I agreed when he asked me.”
“What about Gr—”A loud thud from under the table follows Viking grunting, and I can only assume Fawn kicked him.
Sighing, I ignore the would-be question and go about eating. I don’t want to think about what he was going to ask me. And honestly, it’s none of their business. It’s time to move on and that’s what I’m doing. No matter how much I wish it were with Grimm. He’s made it pretty clear where he stands about me, and I’m not going to be subjugated to him.
CHAPTERFOUR
GRIMM
I pull into the club’s parking lot, finally back from spending nearly a month up in Indiana helping out Rampage. Not that he needed help. Rampage is a born leader and is getting that club back in shape in ways I didn’t realize he had in him. From the last time I was there to this time, I could see a huge difference.
But I couldn’t stay there any longer. Well, I could have if I really wanted to. Viking all but ordered me back home. I didn’t mind coming home though, to be honest. While in Indiana, I did a lot of thinking. A fucking lot of it. Trying to get my head straight. The more I tried to push Apricot out of my head, the harder it was to think of anything else. Rampage called me out on it during one of the first nights and told me I just needed to man the fuck up and claim her ass. Since then, I’ve thought long and hard about it. I can have her. Make her mine while keeping the past locked tight.
I shake my head, park my bike in the line of other bikes, and kick the stand down. As I remove my helmet, I swing a leg over and climb off. I hang the helmet from the handlebars and reach in one side of the saddlebags for my bag as I scan the rest of the lot to get a feel of who all is here. Seeing the usual vehicles, I make my way into the clubhouse.
Viking didn’t tell me what the hell was going on when he called two days ago demanding I get my ass back to Alabama. Just that I needed to do so, I figured it had to do something with Peyton’s now-dead sister. That bitch caused a lot of bullshit headaches for us. We still don’t know who killed her ass.
It shocked the hell out of us all when Sutherland called to inform Viking and the rest of the club that Veronica’s body was at the morgue. None of us gave a damn about her, Veronica was an enemy and wanted to cause nothing but trouble. Fuck, the bitch sold her own damn sister to a sick fucker and then wanted to try again when she found that she wasn’t with the piece of shit. The kicker of it all is what Sutherland reported to us. She had a note in her hand saying, ‘The Devil’s a busy bishop in his own diocese.’
Regardless, in my opinion, it’s a damn good thing she’s dead. The bitch deserves to rot in hell for the bullshit she’s done to those she should have cared about more.
Making it to the door, I yank it open and step inside. I blink to allow my eyes to adjust to the change in lighting from the outside. I glance around and jerk my chin up in acknowledgment to a few of my brothers as they look in my direction. I spot Viking sitting with Ice, War, Pirate, Hydra, Sabotage, and Scorpion.
