Page 36 of Devil's Vengeance

My mood soured even more. Now I had to filter myself around my friends because of him? This was getting ridiculous.

“If you’re so worried about it, why even bring me here? You could’ve just locked me in your room like a toddler,” I snapped.

In the last few weeks, if I would’ve argued with him, he always got irritated with me and lashed out with something cruel to say about how I didn’t belong. I prepared myself for something similar, especially after he’d been so cold all day, so it took me off guard when a smile tugged at his lips and he shook his head.

“I’m not that stupid. I’ve seen what happens to women when they’re locked in a small space. I’ll come back to a pissed off female ready to shred me to pieces. I’m not saying you can’t talk to her. Just leave out the part about Trick and his crew. I’m handling it. She doesn’t need to know. Think of it as club business, but between you and me. Please, Mariah. Just give me a chance to fix this.”

There it was again. The nice guy routine that had been stubbornly absent all day. It irritated me that he could flip like that so easily. I wanted to call him out on it, but his eyes kept flicking down the street, like he had somewhere better to be. Which, technically, he did. He had to work. Pursing my lips, I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Fine. I’ll do it. But we’re talking about this later. You’re giving me whiplash, Chase. I don’t know which version of you I’m going to be talking to at a moment’s notice. It’s getting exhausting.”

A flicker of a grimace flashed across his face, but he didn’t stick around long enough to explain himself. He just nodded and sped off, leaving me standing on the sidewalk staring after him like an idiot.

With a frustrated growl, I spun around and knocked directly into Sam, almost sending us both to the ground. She yelped, surprised, and we had to latch onto each other to stay upright.

“Holy crap, Sam. Way to sneak up on a person.”

She grimaced and huffed out a laugh. “Sorry. It looked like you two were arguing. Is he still being an ass to you?”

She’d seen how he acted around me before now, and she knew we didn’t get along. It was going to get hard to explain why we were suddenly hanging out all the time without bringing up Trick. Unless…

“Not technically. We hooked up, and now he’s getting all possessive and annoying.”

Not a complete lie. We did hook up, and he was annoying. Just the P word was wrong. Protective, not possessive. Though, the results were similar enough.

Her eyebrows flew up, and her mouth fell open. “How’d that happen?”

“Drunken mistake,” I answered blandly. “Can we order food? I’m hungry.”

She waved away my pout, leading me towards the house. “Don’t worry about that. Tyson always feeds me when he comes to visit. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

After introductions with her long-time friend, she led the way inside. I’d been here before, but we didn’t normally stick around. Most of the time, whenever I came over, we hung out at Lacey’s, since she had a baby to care for. And we usually didn’t stay long because no one wanted to be trapped in the house.

Tyson got to work on dinner and gave me the salad to prep when I offered to help. He shot Sam an amused look when she scowled at him, and when I raised an eyebrow, he chuckled.

“She’s a terror in the kitchen. I don’t trust her to help me. Clink makes all her meals.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Clink can cook?”

They both laughed. Of all the club members, Clink was the last person I expected to be able to cook. He was a goofball the few times I met him. Easily distracted. I kind of figured if he was let loose in a kitchen, he’d burn the place down.

“So tell me more about this drunken mistake. How’d it happen?”

Since the only thing Chase told me was not to bring up Trick and his crew, I figured I was okay to stick to the truth. I told her how Chase was on his high horse again, ranting at me about how I didn’t belong, and how we ended up pressed against each other during the argument. Which, now that I was sober, I knew was definitely where we went wrong. I couldn’t even remember half of what he said that night. I was too busy looking at his mouth to remember what came out of it.

“So you hooked up, woke up, and he decided to claim you?” she snickered, taking the plate from Tyson when he offered it.

“Sort of? He still tried to push me away for a while after. He thinks because I’m a librarian, I’m too soft to be around you guys.”

We moved to the table to eat, and Tyson handed out sodas. He was a recovering addict and sponsor for NA, so he didn’t touch alcohol. He didn't want to cloud his judgment and risk relapse. I didn’t mind skipping out on alcohol. I only ever drank when I went out with my friends. And maybe a glass of wine in the bathtub if I had a long week.

“He’s not wrong to be worried,” Tyson said smoothly. “They are dangerous. The only reason I interact with them at all is because of Sam. She refused to listen to reason and steer clear.”

She sighed, like this was a conversation she’d had before. “They’re loyal, Ty. Something my family never was. And they keep all the bad stuff away from me. We rarely even go to the clubhouse anymore, because Riley’s place is sweetbutt free while still being a fun place to hang out.”

That made me frown. If they were so loyal, why was Chase going so far out of his way to keep his crew out of his issues with Trick. Trick didn’t have a problem bringing his crew into it. Was it a pride thing? Was Chase too stubborn to admit he needed help? How far would he go before he finally caved? And why the hell did I care so much? We weren’t together. He was protecting me, but that didn’t make us an item. And as much as I’d liked that idea before I got to know him, his constantly shifting attitude was a heavy deterrent. I didn’t want that. Unless he stopped acting like a jerk, I was going to steer clear of him the minute this Trick issue was dealt with.

CHAPTER 23

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