Page 30 of Bishop

“You’ve done it again,” Angel announced. “I love how the angles accentuate Evie’s heart-shaped face. It makes her look like a living doll.”

I had to agree. Not about the doll part, but about Amelia’s skill with scissors. “Can I take you home with me,” I joked, wanting to look like this every day.

Amelia beamed at our collective praise. “Would you like to come over before the bonfire tomorrow and we can all get ready together? It’s a tradition Angel and I started after she met Reaper.”

I felt so honored to be included that I smiled big and accepted with absolute sincerity. “I’d love to!”

Chapter 10

Buse, Nevada

Evie

I was in the kitchen setting up the trays of food when Angel came and found me.

“What are you doing in here? I thought everything was already set up for tonight and you were going to get dressed with us?” the bubbly woman lightly scolded.

“I just had to finish one thing,” I told her, arranging a tray of last-minute cookies. I was worried we wouldn’t have enough variety, so I made a few extra batches of cranberry white chocolate chunks with pecans at the last minute.

Following Angel upstairs to the room where she and Reaper stayed when they overnighted at the Clubhouse, I found Amelia already inside setting up her beauty supplies. Curling irons, makeup kits, and hordes of clothes were stacked on the bed like we were all about to prepare for war. The kind that took no prisoners and showed no mercy. In other words, the war of the sexes.

“Are you ready to get ready?” the beautiful blonde queried like an announcer at a boxing match.

I giggled at her playfulness and handed her a tray of still-warm cookies straight out of the oven. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

* * *

Bishop

I glanced in the corner of the room where an ancient Grandfather clock told me it was already past six. The women must be setting up the food while we were all busy with Church. That would mean Evie was here. Just the thought of my girl made my pulse race and my dick get hard.

Try as she might to say this wasn’t happening, I knew otherwise. Our relationship started tonight. And it wasn’t just going to be a hit-and-run, either. I wanted to make Evie my Old Lady. I’d never been so sure of anything in my entire life. Now all I had to do was convince her of that.

Ox, our Club Enforcer, had started the pig roasting hours ago. When I’d been outside earlier, my mouth had watered at the rich aroma of the meat slow-cooking over an open flame. But even more exciting than the food was that my girl would be here to enjoy it with me. My body hungered for her even more than it did the epic feast we were all getting ready to dig into.

“Are we in agreement then?” Reaper, our Club President, checked.

My head snapped up and back to the present. The fantasy of undressing my girl in front of a crackling fire occupied my thoughts so much that I’d lost track of what my Club president was even saying.

“Remember,” Reaper added, “This vote decides whether or not we allow the Vipers into the Clubhouse for future parties. We might have buried the hatchet between their MC and ours, but I know some of us still have good reason to want to keep them out permanently.”

I didn’t care either way. I had no issues with the Vipers, but I knew why some of the Riders would cast a no vote. A few years back, before I’d even patched into the Club, one of their boys had gotten drunk and disrespected two of our members’ Old Ladies. That shit didn’t stand with the Devils. If my Brothers didn’t want the Vipers to cross over the threshold of our MC, I’d one hundred percent back them up on that decision.

“Before we vote,” Ox spoke up then, “can I recommend an amendment to the proposition?”

“Sure thing, Brother,” Reaper allowed.

“In respect to those members whose women were insulted,” Ox said, “I suggest that King be banned for life. He’s the man who started this shit. He’s the one who should have to pay for it.”

“That’s a good point,” Reaper acknowledged. “New vote. If you want to invite the Vipers to our next Club party, minus King, who would be banned for life, raise your hand.”

Since that sounded reasonable, and the majority of my Brothers agreed, I voted to allow the Vipers to reenter the fold. Life was too short to hold unnecessary grudges. King, however, could fuck all the way off. He didn’t deserve to come back to this Clubhouse after his epic disrespect.

“All those opposed?” Reaper asked.

Only a few Brothers raised their hands. I was surprised to see German as one of them. Bomb, not so much. My Brother Bomb had never met a grudge he didn’t want to adopt or avenge. The man was straight-up feral and loved a good fight. Most of us did, but Bomb went looking for them every day of the week.

Reaper nodded. “It’s settled then. The Vipers are welcome back to the Club. I’ll personally reach out to their President tomorrow and let him know what we’ve decided. Does anyone else have any business they’d like to address?”

---