I gave her a look, telling her to reign it in. “Cade wouldn’t let us leave without babysitters.”
She opened her mouth to protest.
“No complaining, let’s just get out of here.” I nodded to the men and we walked out to my car. Luckily I was allowed my car, the guys were going to follow behind. As we got in, I caught a glimpse of Cade sitting on his bike. I felt his stare burning into me, I quickly got in the car avoiding his gaze.
“Uh-oh trouble in paradise?” Amy asked, catching the exchange.
I reversed, resisting the urge to hit his stupid motorbike, and sped off out the gate.
I glanced at Amy over my sunglasses. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours?”
She laughed. “Biker men are assholes, no way am I breathing Brock’s air if I can help it. There’s nothing to tell,” she lied, inspecting her manicure.
“Bullshit. There is definitely something going on. Does that mean you and Ian are over?” I was hoping to finally get something out of her.
She sighed, looking out the window. “We were never even properly together. I don’t know what to think. I finally start getting over him with someone that drives me crazy and is a polar opposite, then he comes back fucking my head up then dropping a bomb that he’s quitting the army. I can’t deal, it’s too much to handle. I told him we’d talk when he came home, if he really is leaving, but I don’t know if I can do it Gwennie.”
I gave her a look filled with sympathy, she really was in a prick of a situation. I loved my brother and didn’t want him getting hurt, but there was so much in play here, especially adding Brock in the mix, the waters were definitely muddy.
She gave me a sideways glance. “I feel weird talking to you about this, there’s nothing going on so can we just drop it?” she pleaded.
I didn’t believe her but I nodded. “I’m always here if you need me though Abrams.”
She smiled. “I know, now are you going to tell me what’s going on between you and your delicious man?”
“Not a chance in hell. Let’s just forget about men for the day okay?” I asked as if it was even possible.
“Best suggestion I’ve heard in ages,” Amy replied.
The day passed by quickly, there was no more creepy deliveries or car bombs or drive bys or anything dramatic. Although I was jumpy for most of the day, convinced a spider would crawl out of somewhere. We tried to keep the incident quiet, but this was a small town and the cat was out of the bag. Or the spider was out of the box. I thought it would keep people away, but it had the opposite effect. Everyone stopped by to see if I was okay and get their fill of the town’s latest gossip. I expected more anger at the club for bringing this kind of thing into town but everyone spoke reasonably highly of the club, talking about how they organized charity runs and helped fund the children’s center down the road.
Rosco and Skeet hadn’t left the store all day, they looked vigilant, always scanning the street. I bet it got boring, hanging out in a women’s clothing shop all day, so I made an effort to buy them lunch and coffees to get them through the day. I also gave them magazines but they had gone unopened; I guess there’s no time for leisurely reading when one is guarding against a possible gang attack.
I sighed, letting the last of the customers out before locking the door behind them. I had let Lily go early because she had a test to study for, and she had been about as jumpy as me, steeling worried glances at Rosco and Skeet all day.
I turned to Amy, who was counting the till, then glanced to Rosco and Skeet who were lounging on the couches.
“Who’s keen for pizza?” I rubbed my hands together at the thought of the carby goodness.
Amy screwed her face up. “Cheese, grease and about a thousand calories?” she replied, then a light sparked in her face. “Count me in, maybe if I gained 100 pounds I wouldn’t have to worry about the unwanted advances of some biker idiot. As long as we get ice cream too.”
I laughed. “Awesome.”
The men were smirking at Amy’s latest comment. “Are we allowed to stop by the pizza place and grocery store without you two getting raked over the coals?” I asked sarcastically.
Neither said a word, they just stood still grinning. I guess that was a yes.
“Holy crap, I feel like I’m about to explode,” Amy groaned as she tossed the empty ice cream carton into the direction of the trash can then flopped back down onto Cade’s bed.
I lay down beside her, unbuttoning my pants. “Yes, I feel like I may just slip into a food coma.”
We had just consumed a huge pizza and a carton of ice cream, which did nothing to quell the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach I had had since this morning. If ice cream doesn’t cure it you know shit is serious. After getting back to the club with our goodies, we had managed to slip through the women and children and escape to Cade’s room, but not before Steg had approached me. We were almost to the stairs when he and one of the older men had emerged from ‘church’. He spotted me and made a beeline.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.
Amy followed my gaze. “Uh-oh, biker prez, twelve o’clock.”
Steg had a surprisingly soft look on his harsh face when he approached. His hand cupped my chin and my eyes flared in surprise.
“Gwen, you okay?” he asked softly, and my stomach dropped. Had Cade said something to him about this morning? Surely not, they barely got along. At a loss of what to do, I nodded awkwardly.
“You’re strong,” he stated, his tone sounding like he almost respected me. “Yesterday, you held it together. Other bitches would’ve reacted, possibly causing even more shit. You did good, did right by the club.”