Page 84 of Riot

As I fix the towel around her little body, I realise it’s one I bought for her.Was that a conscious choice on Ivy’s part?

“You wanna eat while I hold her?”

“The flowers?” she repeats, not allowing me to change the topic.

“I told you they were pissin’ me off.”

“They’re just flowers. It wasn’t a marriage proposal, Riot.” She drops her voice low. “It was you I kissed last night, not Jackson.”

His name on her lips makes my jaw flex. “Keep talkin’ about him and I’ll shove those flowers down his throat.”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m not interested in him. You know that, right?”

If she was, he’d be picking teeth off the ground.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I shift to pull it out without jostling Seren.

The message is from Nic. He needs me at the clubhouse.

“Shit. I gotta run.” I hand Seren back to her, kissing the top of the baby’s head before I duck down to lock my mouth to Ivy’s. Anyone could walk in, but I don’t care, and clearly, neither does she. She melts against my mouth as I deepen the kiss, needing it seared on my lips so I can remember every second of this moment while I’m gone.

“You need me, I’m at the end of the phone,” I tell her.

“Are you coming back later?” The little hopeful note in her voice has me smiling.

“Yeah, babe.” I press a kiss to Seren’s head. “Nowhere I’d rather be.”

The whole time I’m on my bike, all I can think about is Ivy and this thing growing between us. As the clubhouse looms ahead of me, my mood sours. I don’t fucking wanna be here.

A ball of dread sits in my stomach as I park the bike and head inside.

The bar is dead, and I find Nic sitting outside in his usual spot. The cooler air raises the hair on my nape as I head over to him.

He glances up from the smoke he’s got between his lips and gives me a nod of greeting.

“You okay?” I ask, sinking onto the bench across from him.

“Wanna fill me in on what happened last night?”

For the briefest of moments, I think he’s talking about me and Ivy kissing.

Why the hell would he care about that, dumb fuck?

I tell him everything, including Blade’s familiarity with the buyer and his bullshit story about cheating with the guy’s wife. I also tell him about Dash and the conversation we had about him wanting to patch over to another chapter.

Nicky listens, not saying a word until I’m done.

“You think there’s something goin’ on there with Blade?” He keeps his voice low, even though there’s no one around to overhear us. I do the same when I reply.

“I don’t like the guy, and that skews my judgement.”

“If he’s playin’ games, I don’t know what his angle is.” He rubs his temple, as if he’s getting a headache.

Me neither. “You spoke to Ravage?”

He nods. “He and Howler are talkin’ to the other presidents, feelin’ them out. When the time comes to make a move, we should have support across the board.”

That unease that seems to live in my stomach continually is like a boulder.

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