Page 17 of JoJo

“No, in fact, we’ve had minutes. I’m sure the bikes are still hot if you want to check. I took a ride, alone, earlier to clear my head. You monopolized all of our time on the way back from Vegas so we never got to exchange numbers and I had no way of contacting him. You have kept us from working out any details, and now you think it's okay to come to my home and tell me what to do? Well, I’ll tell you the same thing I just told my piece of shit brother. You have five minutes to clear out before I call for a police escort to move you out with trespassing charges attached.”

“You wouldn’t do that, would you?” Keys asked wearily, hurt evident in her voice.

“Get your man off my property or we’re all gonna find out just what I’m capable of. When we get all our personal shit handled, then we’ll fill you in on what you need to know, and nothing more.”

“Can’t we talk about this, JoJo?” Keys begged.

I openly stared at her a moment, tuning the guys out completely. Once again my wishes didn’t count. What I needed in the moment didn’t count. I knew it had always been that way with Angel, but I was still taken aback by the fact that Keys would be the one interrupting by ability to figure things out with my new husband in an effort to support her boyfriend. She heard what I had to say earlier, and apparently it meant nothing. “We already had a discussion earlier about your shift in loyalty. Keys, I won’t have it again. If the two of you don’t get off my property and leave me the hell alone for the next twenty-four hours I will no longer be a member of S.H.E.” Keys visibly flinched back.

“You don’t mean that,” she all but whispered, truly not believing me.

“I told you earlier how messed up it was that I couldn’t hash things out with Steel. No matter what, it’s already done. We got married. Nothing either of you have to say now changes that. You continually sabotaging that marriage and our ability to even have a conversation about where we go from here though, that’s the damn problem. And no, I don’t give a shit what your intentions are.”

“Fine,” Quickshot spat out when he glanced up from his phone. “You have your 24 hours, and then he’ll be heading back to the Dakotas.”

“I certainly hope that’s your idea of a funny joke, Quick.” Steel bellowed out. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

Before Quickshot had a chance to answer I threw my last hat in the ring. I tipped my chin to his phone. “I assume you’re taking directive from Sweet - who is too busy with his own bullshit to do the dirty work. I’ll remind you what happened when people meddled in his love life. It cost all of you seven years with Angel Girl. It cost Angel Girl her violent first time that might as well be considered rape, her losing a baby, and being cheated on - or at least that was what appearances told her happened. You were too busy with the clubwhores and trying to impress the older guys to care about your best friend then. Seven years, your apathy and following someone else’s directives cost you your best friend. Do you really want to do this on their behalf right now?”

Keys had gone white as a ghost and Quickshot wasn’t far behind that. He turned to her and took in her panic-laced, pleading eyes and then huffed out a sigh. “I’m just trying to do what my Pres asked me to do in his absence.”

“Did it ever occur to you that he might be wrong?” I asked snidely. “It wouldn’t be the first time, after all. Where is he now?” I asked the question knowing full well I was one of the few who actually knew exactly where they were. I had received a text from Leanne earlier warning me about the situation going on there so that the girls could be prepared when Angel Girl got back.

Quickshot stepped back and then glared at me. “You know?”

“Yeah, I know. He’s dealing with baby mamma drama and has you here trying to start shit between our clubs. I’m pretty sure Angel Girl is already going to feel betrayed when she gets back, do you really want to add fucking up the peace between our clubs to her list of shit right now?” We all turned and watched as Tash joined everyone, riding to the forefront of our confrontation before cutting her engine and glancing around nervously.

Quick’s shoulders slumped. “I’m fucking damned if I do and if I don’t right now,” he managed to spill out.

“Maybe, you should just do what you think is right and fill your president in on the fact that his head possibly wasn’t in the right place to be making those decisions, considering the pile of shit he landed himself in while keeping a baby secret from his new wife. Doesn’t sound like he’s making the best judgment calls right now.”

He was fast to jump to his buddy’s defense. “You don’t know what was happening.”

I shook my head. “Nope. I don’t need to know either. You know why?” He just glared at me then. “Because it isn’t my fuckin’ business!” I nearly shouted at him. I watched as the anger dissipated from him and a grin spread across his face.

He glanced at Steel then. “Yeah, I’m going to leave you to that. Just remember you chose it.” He turned and winked at me then. “Jesus, I always thought Angel Girl was the fiercest of you, but I’m pretty sure I underestimated the pint sized biker bitch.”

Steel laughed and Keys appeared to be slightly relieved. Tash just gave me a quizzical look and then came to stand beside me, obviously sensing I needed someone at my back. She laid her hand on my lower back and held it there, which I appreciated. It was a sweet gesture. She was letting me know that she did indeed have my back.

“What’s going on here?”

“We were just straightening out a little disagreement is all,” Quickshot informed before anyone else spoke up. “We’ll be on our way now.” He turned and tugged Keys along behind them until they got to their bikes.

Keys threw her leg over her bike and straddled the thing into an upright position before glancing back over at me. “JoJo?” My name was a question on her lips. I knew she was basically asking if we were still okay, but I honestly couldn’t answer her then.

I shook my head. “We’ll talk another time,” I informed her. I definitely wasn’t ready to face my best friend after that. I needed time and space. As if she could read my mind suddenly Tash spoke up.

“You coming by tomorrow?” Tash asked.

“No.” When Tash didn’t look away I explained. “Tash, keep the club away from me for a while. I’ll come around when I’m ready, but right now I’m pissed. I feel for what Angel’s going through right now, but I have my own shit to sort too. I’m assuming she chose to stand behind Sweet’s lying ass.” Tash nodded her head confirming that. “That’s on her. I just can’t deal with that shit right now on top of all this. Not to mention Keys rolling up here with Quickshot to give us the third degree and not having my back in all that bullshit. He’s the only one who did, and he kind of had to because it was about him too.” I indicated Steel who was still at my side, fingertips lightly brushing against my hip. Oddly enough, it seemed the person I knew the least was my biggest support system at the moment.

“I get it,” Tash said.

“If anything comes up with Legs, I’ll be there. Otherwise…”

“Yeah, I get it. Keys has Legs covered for now. You take care of your shit. I just wanted to come see if Leanne dropped the bomb on you too. For what it's worth, I’m happy to see this,” she stated pointing between Steel and myself. “We haven’t done enough to alleviate the stress your situation has caused.” She turned to Steel then. “Just don’t fuck her over or we’ll all be coming for you. We may not appear to have our shit together at the moment, but fuck with one of ours and that’s all she wrote.”

Steel tipped his chin up at her. “I respect that,” he answered.

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