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“How's hunting down Chop goin’?” I ask, trying to tame down my curiosity.
“More empty leads, nothing solid,” Skid sounds irritated. And I’m equally as pissed, knowing he’s still out there breathing.
“We’ll find him.” I tap Skid on the shoulder and lead him over to the bar. He gets a good response from the other brothers. He’s been missed around here since he decided to take some time out. Prez is convinced it’s part of his grief and that he’ll be back at the Charter where he belongs, soon as he’s ready.
“So what brings ya back here?” I ask when his welcome mob has calmed down.
“Just passin’ through, thought I’d check in on Tommy and Rogue,” he explains. “And I thought I’d offer my congratulations at the same time. I hear you're gonna be road captain.”
“Only until you’re ready to be back, brother.” I clink my bottle against his and although his lips stretch, they don’t quite manage a smile.
“Take care of these for me,” Gracie interrupts us, giggling as she presses her stilettos into my chest. The little boy whose hand she’s holding drags her back on the dance floor and she throws herself back into the song, knees together and twisting her body.
“Who’s the girl?” Skid asks, pointing his bottle at Gracie.
“It don’t matter, she ain’t sticking around,” I tell him, really not wanting to get into it.
Skid huffs a laugh at me. “Bitch got you holding her damn shoes. You really expect me to believe that?” He looks back at me unconvinced.
“It’s complicated.” I place the heels on the bar and turn my back to the room so I don’t have to watch her.
“Yeah, but is it worth it?” he asks, and without waiting for my reply, he grabs his drink and heads over to join Jessie and Troj.
I give into temptation and watch Gracie a little more, she seems so carefree and when she comes over to me a little while later, it’s obvious she’s drunk.
“You okay, darlin’?” I check.
“I’m not talking to you,” she informs me, looking at me over her shoulder while she waits to get the attention of the person serving.
“And why might that be?” I humor her.
“Because I’m mad at you and if I talk to you, we’ll end up fucking,” she says brashly, turning her back to me again.
I slide behind her and press her body into the bar, my lips almost touching her ear. “You’re being a brat,” I whisper.
Nothing with her is ever thought out, always natural and instinctive. I couldn’t even keep my hands off her for that stupid club photo. “You know what that does to me.” I nip at her flesh and feel her shudder.
When she spins her body around, the look on her face has me wondering if she’s gonna kiss me or slap me.
“And yet you still haven’t figured out what to do with me,” she says wickedly, the bitch got me on that one.
Troj comes and stands at the bar beside us, and I notice how her eyes flit over him the way every other bitch does. Like he’s some kind of mother fuckin’ messiah. It pisses me off.
“Gracie,” I raise my voice over the music, pulling her attention back onto me.
“Sorry, got distracted.” Her smile is sarcastic as she ducks under my arm and makes her way back to the dance floor, leaving me with a knot of frustration building up inside me.
I watch her for the rest of the night from my same spot at the bar. Tac and Squealer both eventually get drunk enough to join the girls on the dance floor, the rest of the brothers lining up beside me and jeering them on. And I remain silent, just waiting for one of them to touch Gracie up in the wrong way.
Squealer spins both Ella and Maddy in his arms and then trades Maddy for Gracie. She giggles as he spins her round and his uncoordinated feet step to the music. Nyx has his phone out recording him so he can use it to embarrass him tomorrow.
Eventually, a breathless Gracie heads back toward the bar and perches on the first stool she gets to, her hand rubbing her bare feet. No wonder they hurt, she’s been dancing all night.
One of the brothers from the Utah Charter makes his way over and starts trying to make conversation with her. I can’t hear from over here what he’s saying but I see how she’s laughing back at him, and I’ve taken about as much as I can when his hand touches at her arm and she does nothing to shrug him off.
Gracie doesn’t see me coming, and she looks shocked when I grip the guy’s arm and wrench it away from hers.
“Woah.” Jessie steps in out of nowhere and puts himself in between me and the guy they call Skinner.
