AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, hon, you can start chopping the fruit in the fridge for the juice, so remove the pips and all that nasty stuff.”
I follow orders, whipping around the kitchen to find the utensils I need. I’m on to the bananas when June comes to stand beside me, heating up the skillet. “I was a chef before I met Kirb.” Her hand hovers over the plate, waiting for it to warm. “When he and I got married, he said I’d never work a day in my life. I didn’t take him seriously at first, but then I realized that he was for real. These aren’t the kind of bikers I was clearly used to, but I grew to love them. Love him, and the club. Anyway,” she starts pouring batter onto the hot plate, “that’s why I cook for everyone. I don’t do it because it’s a chore. I do it because I love to cook. I miss it.”
I drop the fruit pieces into the machine. “Why don’t you go back?”
She thinks on my words before turning to me. June has a motherly warmth to her. She has kind eyes that wrinkle around the edges and a little heart-shaped face. She is also beautiful. All three of them are. “Because I love him and he needs me more.” I think on her words as I start the juicer up. Could that be me? Leaving my family and being biker wife for Wicked? The thought alone sends a blanket of warmth over my body. I find myself smiling.
But I could never.
Blood in, blood out.
My smile falls.
“What about you?” Gracie asks from behind us, where she’s flipping the sausages in the oven and working on the eggs at the same time. “What do you do?”
I curl my lips behind my teeth. I should tell them, but I’m enjoying the authenticity of friendship more than I want to share. At least for right now.
“Long story.” I laugh nervously.
Diane’s eyes flick up to me, a small smirk on her mouth. “Please tell me you’re an OF creator like me so these bitches can stop riding my dick about it.”
“OF?” I ask, pulsing the machine until it’s turned to puree.
“Only Fans.”
“Oh!” I shake my head. “No. But that’s cool that you do that. I’ve thought about becoming a porn star more as an adult than ever.” They all laugh.
“Look, I respect Wicked, and I’m sure as we all get to know him even further we will love him, but he doesn’t give me Psyko vibes. I don’t think he’ll be into sharing.”
I tilt my head, ignoring the comment about Wicked. No one will ever know Wicked except Royce, Khaos, Wolf, and me. And Lion. And Papa. It was strange to me that as I chanted the list off in my head, the lonely boy who killed his father and came to my house traumatized had built such a beautiful family around him. He was healing from his trauma.
If only we could all do that.
“Psyko is another member of the club, and half of Diane’s situationship.”
“Ahh… I, too, am in a situationship,” I joke, pouring the juice into a larger pitcher.
“Not like this.” Gracie snorts beneath her breath.
“Just because we are different and more open doesn’t mean we won’t last!”
“Oh no, that I believe!” June giggles, scooping up the plates. “Let’s go serve.”
I carry the pitcher as Diane leads us through the back doors where the morning sun directly hits your face. There’s a large rectangle outdoor table that stretches along the entire length of the building. Chairs are tucked beneath, with people sitting on each one, and there had to be over twenty. Kids, old and young, leather patch members, and then there’s Wicked at the head of the table, Wolf on his lap, and the sun behind his head. Everyone is still in their pajamas mostly, so I don’t feel uncomfortable dressed how I am. And even if they weren’t, I don’t think it would bother me then either. I feel safe here. The kind of safe I always feel around Wicked.
I’m paralyzed and I can’t move. The whole time I’ve been here, I’ve felt like my old self. Free, loved, welcomed. It’s being around the club that has made me realize how cold my home truly was. Unease stirs in my belly at that realization, but I make my way down to the side of the table, lowering myself to the right of Wicked.
“Hey,” I take Wolf off him and watch as he runs toward an area to the far opposite side. There’s a wooden playground built with a sandpit, a water play area, and fresh green trees and herbs. I can’t take my eyes off Wolf as he laughs with another couple of kids as they play.
A hand comes to my thigh and my eyes flick up to Wicked’s. Everyone is lost in their own conversation, so I know they’re not paying attention to my face right now, but Wicked’s brows knot together when he sees my face. “What?”
I want to tell him that everything is too perfect here. That being here, with him, makes me feel like I’ve never felt pain in my life. That he takes it all away and he always has. That nomatter what messed-up shit he has done and does to me, that I won’t look past the dark to get to the light; I’ll exist in the dark with him. I want to tell him that I’m proud of the man he has grown to be, that he is the greatest father Wolf could have ever asked for and that I still trust him implacably. I want to tell him that I’d die for him, bleed for him, and not second-guess a single thing.
But I don’t. I just stare back at him and fight the tears that choke me. Because I can’t say any of those things to him.
Because I’m marrying someone else.
“Nothing.” I smile at him, giving the sweetest lie of all. “Nothing at all.”
