Page 26 of Ky
CHAPTER TEN
Chris
“Hey, beautiful,” I said as I approached the counter inside of Royally Brewed.
Laurel looked up and gave me a huge smile.
“Hey.” She ran around and gave me a big hug.
Laurel was taking the whole being-cut-off-by-her-wealthy-parents thing pretty hard. It was written all over her. From the too-long-to-be-trendy amount of roots she had showing, to the dark circles under her eyes. I’d never tell her such things of course, and I knew she was doing the best with what she now had.
And that wasn’t much. A part-time job at a local coffee shop and an apartment where her neighbors were either prostitutes or drug addicts. I hated it for her, but her pride kept her from taking any help. So, I tried to be there as much as I could as a friend.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as she rounded the counter and took her spot behind the register again.
“Well, I came here to see what your plans were tonight?”
“Nothing. Why?” The quickness with which she answered made me pause. It was almost as if she was trying to hide something. I chose not to say anything right then, but I wasn’t going to forget it.
“I was thinking of having a movie night. You up for it?”
“Does this have anything to do with Ky’s sister that’s staying with you?”
“Maybe,” I answered truthfully. “I also feel like I haven’t seen a lot of you and was hoping we could all have a fun night. I don’t know about you, but I could use one.”
“Sure,” she said laughing and shaking her head at me. “What time? And what can I bring?”
“Sevenish and just yourself. I’ll handle the goodies.”
“You are a doll, Chris. Thank you.”
“Don’t tell anyone, wouldn’t want to ruin my reputation,” I said with a wink. “Now, make me an iced coffee with some coconut, please.”
I chatted with her for a while. The coffee shop wasn’t all that busy and so I didn’t think it would be an issue.
Next, I stopped at the tattoo shop to talk to Cami and Brand.
I wasn’t sure which one of them I liked more. I mean, Brand was my bro, but Cami was sweet and funny. She was like a little sister to me and I was over the damn moon that those two were together. I wanted nothing more than to see Brand happy. He’d been through a lot in the years I’d known him. I’d seen him grow and change. I’d been around to see how the things he did for the club had affected him. I wasn’t saying it was a bad thing, it was just how it was. He was older and maybe just a bit less light than he’d been when I first met him. I attributed it to what he’d seen. Like the whole thing that happened to Reagan. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but I would guess that the guy that hurt her didn’t live long after they got their hands on him. I, for one, was glad about that. I also had a good idea that Brand got his moment with the man. And who could forget the war with The Devil’s Kings? I knew Brand had killed. I also couldn’t imagine that was something that one just brushed off. He did his best not to let it change him, but it was something that I imagined you couldn’t help but let taint your soul a little.
None of it changed how I felt about the guy—or the club. Killing was wrong, sure, but was it really so bad when you killed people that had hurt others? That went out of their way to kill and harm? I couldn’t help but think of all the lives that they had saved in the future by taking some of the evil out of this world.
That was all I was going to say on the matter. Brand and I didn’t talk about club stuff, it was an unsaid rule and one that I didn’t mind following.
Cami was excited about movie night. I looked over at Brand and suddenly felt bad that I wasn’t going to hang out with him and on top of that, I was taking his girl away. So, being the guy that hated to leave anyone out, I invited him too. Who knew, maybe we could go off and sit on the beach and leave the girls to have their fun.
By the time seven rolled around, it seemed like half the club was taking up residence in my living room. Okay, not really, but somehow Mouse, Lake, Knight, Gwen, and Dade got wind of what was going on and showed up. I just hoped it wouldn’t be too overwhelming for Ingram. But as I looked over at her talking to Gwen, Mouse, and Cami and saw that her shoulders were relaxed and the smile was wide on her face, I knew it would be alright.
Ky was nowhere to be found. I didn’t even bother letting him know about tonight because I thought he might be here. However, it looked like I was wrong and as they tossed around movie ideas, I wondered if I should send him a text giving him the heads up.
“Teeth?” Ingram asked making my attention snap to the TV.
“Oh, I don’t know about that one.” I had no idea why they were looking at horror movies. “Maybe something lighter.”
“No, this sounds amazing. Did you read what it is about? Yes, I vote this one,” Ingram said with almost too much excitement. I had a feeling that Ky wouldnotbe happy if I let her watch it, but it seemed that I had been outvoted and before I knew it, the movie was starting.
I had two couches and a chair. I was stuck in the middle of Ingram and Laurel, and Mouse was sitting on the far side of Ingram, making me feel like we were a bunch of sardines.
This wasn’t one of those silent movie watching experiences. We all ended up talking and yelling out our discomfort through the movie, but no one tried to shush anyone else, so I guessed it was alright.
