Page 30 of Ky
“Hey,” he said softly and then his hand landed on my shoulder in a way that was meant to be comforting. “It’s okay. This is a lot for both of you and you can’t know all the answers, Ky, no matter how much you want to.”
His words dug a hole in me and for some reason, I wondered if he was talking about things beyond the Ingram situation.
“Thanks, Chris. I honestly have no idea how I would have handled all of this if it wasn’t for you. I’m kind of a crappy brother, huh?”
“No,” he said and I could have sworn I saw his lips twitch. “Okay, yeah, maybe.”
“Gee thanks, asshole,” I said jokingly as I shoved him in the shoulder.
“I’m kidding. I’m kidding,” he said and his laughter was refreshing. I couldn’t help but smile as a huffed laugh pushed its way out of my throat. “I missed your smile.”
All of the air rushed out of my lungs as they seized and refused to take in any more. Then like he hadn’t just said that, he turned and headed toward the kitchen.
“What can I help with?” he asked Ingram as he walked into the kitchen, leaving me there stunned into shock.
And that was just the beginning. I had no fucking clue what was going on with Chris or if I was just being overly sensitive, but something had changed just slightly. I caught little things over the next few days. He’d look at me a beat longer than necessary. Or worse, he’d pin me with his eyes over the simplest of things. Like when he handed me my plate after he’d piled it up with food.
Those eyes, man, they got me every time. Little by little I felt myself crack and begin to relax around him. The tumultuous thoughts that tore my head apart suddenly became more okay. Or it could have been that I was so distracted by him that I wasn’t obsessing over things. Whatever it was, I did my best not to fight it.
“Excuse me,” he said as he reached over my shoulder and opened the cabinet that held the cups.
His front pressed into my back and his heat radiated through me.
“Sorry,” he said and his breath fanned my neck as he stretched a little more to put a clean glass up in its rightful place.
I bit back a curse as his hip brushed over my ass and fuck, there was no way I could hide the reaction that my body was having to his closeness. I gripped the edge of the counter as he repeated the movement with a new glass, the sandwich I’d been making suddenly forgotten about.
He knew what the hell he was doing and I almost said something. I would have said that he’d taken it too far but that would have been a fucking lie. I liked it. Way too fucking much.
He was getting to me. Truth was, he had been getting to me for a long time now. But I just wasn’t ready yet, so I let myself clam up and close down and yes, turned the asshole dial back up to a hundred.
“Dude,” I said as I side-stepped. “I gotta go. I need to make sure the parts I ordered are coming in today.”
I didn’t look at him as I made my way out of the house. Fuck, I was a dick. I mean, what I had said was partially true. I did need to check on that, but it wasn’t really that big of a deal.
“Hey, brother,” Lake greeted me as he walked in to open up the garage an hour later. At this point, I was already hot, sweaty, and covered in grease. Just the way I liked it. “Iron’s sending two of the new prospects up here to help out today. He wants us to keep an eye on them.”
“Yeah? Who?” I asked.
“He didn’t tell me,” he said with a chuckle. “Also, Mason said he’d come by and help out since we’re a bit behind.”
I nodded.
I knew everyone was watching Mason like a hawk. He was at some weird in-between thing. Moon Hill had sent him this way as a potential vice prez. I liked the guy. He was quiet but nice. He was a bit scary at first glance but once you got to know him he had a little softness to him. Everyone was essentially treating him like a prospect until they took the big vote. I had no idea when that would be but I figured it was about damn time that we got someone in that seat. I mean, I wasn’t about to agree to throwing some random Joe in there, but Mason had been here long enough to show his loyalty and love for the club. Sure, he stayed in the background most of the time, but I think that was because he still felt a bit like an outsider. I couldn’t have imagined that it was an easy thing to come into such an established group and try to fit in.
Also, there were times like this, when he’d pitch in and lend a hand without even having to be told or asked to.
The day went by fast. The prospects were pretty useless and I had a feeling they wouldn’t be around long. When I stopped to think about it there was only really one good prospect we had right now, and that happened to be the one I thought wouldn’t last long. Fucking Blade had somehow managed to tuck his asshole attitude away when he was at the club. From what I’d heard from Brand, he still had it at the shop, though. To me, that said something. When Brand first mentioned him wanting to prospect I thought it was the funniest fucking thing I’d ever heard. That guy was one of those people that stood their ground a little too hard. He’d pushed himself into a job at Branded In Ink and every time I’d been around him, he had an intensity that almost made me want to back away. I was surprised that he was still around, but it was a good kind of surprise. I actually liked the guy and if he was on the club’s side of things, then all the better.
“Mase and I are gonna go grab a beer next door. You should come,” Lake said as he closed the last bay door then made sure everything was locked up tight.
Since there wasn’t a question, I felt like I really had no choice. Then I got to thinking about it and I realized with a flinch, that I hadn’t been around much lately. That sucked and I hoped it didn’t make anyone question my loyalty. This club meant everything to me—these guys were my damn family. I felt shitty that I didn’t know what was going on with my brothers as much as I use to.
I realized I had an excuse but I’d never been one to use them. I owned up to shit and tried my hardest to be the man that everyone saw me as. I was a brother and right now I had sort of been a crappy one all around.
I sighed thinking about Ingram. It seemed like I just managed to fuck up every time I turned around.
I followed closely behind Lake and Mason, doing my best to join in on their conversation. Then I decided that I needed a fucking night off. I kinda felt that I deserved a little bit of time away from everything and I definitely needed a moment or two to relax and have fun with my brothers.
