Page 24 of Bishop

“Have you seen Pipe?” I asked, pouring a splash of milk into my coffee.

“Yeah, he’s in the rec room,” German informed me before pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge and upending the entire contents into his mouth.

I could feel Cici watching me as German walked out of the kitchen and she slowly lowered her denim skirt back into place. When I didn’t acknowledge her, I heard the irritated tapping of her high-heeled shoe on the tile floor.

“Well?” she demanded, clearly wanting to talk about it.

Already tired of the discussion before it had even begun, I turned toward her and took a sip of my coffee. “Well, what?”

She waved her arm toward the door. “Don’t you want to talk about what just happened?”

I shrugged. “Nope. Nothing to talk about.”

“Fuck you, Bishop!” Cici spat venomously. “I can’t believe you don’t have anything to say about what you just saw.”

I took another slow sip of my hot beverage. “It’s an MC, Cici. I see my Brothers fucking every day of the week. I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s not exactly scandalous behavior around here.”

This time, she angrily stomped her spiked heel. “That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it!”

Scrubbing a hand down my face, I frowned. “Why don’t you tell me what you want to say, Cici.”

Striding over to me, the busty blonde poked her manicured finger into my chest. “You’re okay with me fucking German?”

I knew what she wanted to hear, but, Evie or not, I wasn’t going to say it. Cici was never going to be my Old Lady. She was a good time and all, but our connection just didn’t go beyond that.

“You’re a grown woman. You don’t need my permission to do anything,” I returned matter-of-factly.

This calm comment only served to enrage her further. “Who is she?”

I was thrown by the question. “What are you talking about?”

“The woman you care so much about that you’d throw me away without a second thought,” she demanded.

I wasn’t doing this with her. Not now. Not ever. “This isn’t about anyone else.”

“I don’t believe you!” she hissed like a scalded cat.

“Believe what you want,” I returned blandly. “It is what it is.”

Sensing she was failing, Cici tried another direction then. “I’ve done everything for you that a man could want, Bishop. Everything! Why can’t you give me the one thing I want? Is it so bad for me to be your Old Lady?”

I snorted my disgust. “After I just walked in on you banging my Brother? Gimme a break, Cici. If you’re honest with yourself, I think you’d admit that you don’t want to be with me any more than I want to be with you. You just want to ride on the back of someone’s bike. Which one doesn’t seem to matter to you all that much.” It was harsh, but it was the truth.

“So only your precious sister is allowed to be someone’s Old Lady?” She snorted with contempt. “From what I hear, she wasn’t exactly Mother Teresa before she hooked up with Hawk,” she disparaged hatefully.

I could take the insults. But I wasn’t about to ignore them when it came to my sister. “If you want to stay friends with this Club, Cici, don’t ever talk about my sister or VP again. You hear me?”

The hostile blonde got right up in my face. “I deserve that title, Bishop! I waited for you while you were in prison. But you didn’t even touch me when you got out. I know you’re not the type to go lonely. So, who are you fucking now? It’s not any of the other Club girls. I checked into it. You haven’t touched them either. Unless prison turned you into a faggot, I don’t believe for one second you’re going without!”

I’d underestimated the woman’s intelligence and ambition. I wouldn’t be so foolish again. “What the fuck does it matter to you? You’ve clearly moved on. I just watched my Brother ream you over our kitchen table. Stop acting like a victim, Cici. It’s not your best look.”

Tears of anger and frustration welled up in her eyes. “At least I know where I stand with German! He doesn’t fall off the face of the earth for six months and then ignore me when he gets home.”

“Then go ride on his bike,” I suggested with disgust. She had no idea how tough doing time was. How much it ate away at your soul. But I did. She could suck a thousand dicks for all I cared. It meant nothing to me because she meant nothing to me.

“I don’t want to ride his bike,” she practically whined back at me. “I want to be with you!”

I sighed out of pure exhaustion then. “You could have called or written when I went to Cantiville, Cici, but you didn’t. And I didn’t expect you to. We don’t have that kind of relationship. We both know it. We’re done now. Accept it like an adult and move on.”

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