Page 106 of Twice the Rivalry

Simba cocked his head at her. “That’s not the way bikers work, babe. When they find the woman they want, they go after them, no holds barred. If Code is asking you to be his Old Lady, then that means you’re his. He wants you forever and he’s not planning on leaving, and if he has any stones, he won’t let you go without a damn good fight. So while you think I’m being premature, I’m not.” He looked at Razor. “If I asked you the same question, and Karissa said she was done here, wanted nothing to do with your club anymore and was coming back with us, what would be your answer?”

“She will always come first,” Razor said simply. “But I’d damn well tie her to the bed and convince her to stay here with me.”

“When did you know she was the one you wanted?” Tiger asked.

“Not long after the whole thing with Esme and her family,” Razor answered immediately. “And I was after her ever since, even if she did try to push me away.” Karissa gave him a sly smile, which had him rolling his eyes at her.

“See what I’m getting at here?” Simba asked Glitch wryly. “The point is that you and Code might be new, but he’s said he wants you, and now it’s put up or shut up time. He put up. You say you want him too, so are you willing to do the same? Xena didn’t come back with us when we left last time, choosing to stay here. You have the same option, though it would be under slightly different circumstances. Are you willing to give up your life with us to stay here, being on call for when we need you? Not seeing us every day?”

Glitch let his question hang in the air, looking away toward the wall, lost in thought. Code tried not to let worry settle in. Glitch was a thinker, and while she could be impulsive and make rash decisions, she didn’t dive head first into anything important without thinking it through. Still, it smarted a little that she was taking her sweet time deciding. And from the amused looks shared by some of her team members, they knew it was eating at him. Assholes.

Finally, after what seemed like eons, Glitch turned back to Simba. “I love you guys, and you’re my family,” she finally told him. “But the one thing I realized, being with this club, is that while I’m happy with my life, I was lonely. You go off on missions together, and I’m back at the clubhouse by myself with no one to really talk to outside of you and my business team. Here, there are always people around, always something going on, and I miss that. Code’s offering me that, even if he doesn’t really realize it. But at the same time, I never want to leave you guys, because that’s not what family does. I’m not leaving this team, so I need to find a solution where I’m happy, Code is happy, and you’re happy with my decision. I just don’t know what that is yet. Because while I like it here, I also want to be with you, and be a team. Spending time sparring and doing stuff that I love to do. I don’t want to give that up either.”

Code relaxed at her words, but he knew they were hard. He could see the confusion and pain in her eyes. In some ways, they were talking about giving up her identity. Her place with her team was important to her. The work they did, equally so. But she was alone when they were gone, and he didn’t want her lonely when she could be with him.

“There is a simple solution,” Taz suddenly said, looking around. Everyone looked at him expectantly. “We could just move closer,” he said with a shrug. “I mean, I don’t know about two clubs coexisting in the same town, but we could go a couple towns over or something. I mean, it’s not like we’re at our clubhouse a crazy amount, and Glitch could move her shit over. There’s nothing tying us to New Mexico. We can move around anywhere.”

No one said anything for a moment as they all gaped at him. Glitch broke the silence. “Huh. Who knew that such a tiny brain could come up with such a brilliant idea?” she joked.

Taz scowled at her and flipped her off. “I take it back, woman,” he huffed. “Here I was offering you a way to be around all this goodness all the time, and you’re making jokes.”

Code looked at Taz thoughtfully. “It’s rare for you to say something so, you know, smart,” Simba agreed, smirking when Taz glared at him. “But you make a good point. We’re not tied to the place we are now, and those bastards already destroyed most of our shit. Could take this opportunity to start fresh.”

“I’m good with it,” Copper offered, smiling. “We’ve never been ones to sit around in one spot anyway, and this way we’d be close to the Dragons and have allies nearby if we need them.”

“And when Glitch eventually stabs Taz for being a dick, she has somewhere to go,” Karissa snickered.

“Shut it, Xena,” Taz growled at her. “No one is fucking stabbing me. I thought we already went over all the reasons I’m better than everyone else.”

“Your cock is not a reason, Taz,” Karissa tossed back. “That thing is fucking tiny.”

Taz gave her a hurt look. “We both know you’re lying, woman,” he blustered. “My cock is a thing of beauty. Not my problem you picked a man lacking the proper equipment to keep you satisfied.”

“Enough,” Simba growled at them before Karissa could retort, eyes fiery and angry.

Code shook his head. “Is it always like this?” he asked Glitch quietly.

She turned her head and looked at him with an amused smile. “Pretty much. You sure you can handle it?”

He smiled at her, leaning forward to kiss her quick but gentle, considering her lip had a small cut and was swollen. “As long as I have you, I can handle anything, kitten.”

“We need to work on your cheesiness, caveman,” Glitch chuckled. He rolled his eyes.

“Alright, let’s put it to a vote,” Simba announced, pulling their attention back. “All in favor of packing up our shit, finding a new place to land, and moving closer to our allies, the Dragons?” No surprise, the vote was unanimous. “Looks like you guys are about to have some new neighbors,” Simba announced, a smile spreading across his face.

Code felt an echoing grin spread across his face, and he glanced down at a now beaming Glitch. But of course, it was never as simple as her being able to be with him. Instead she said, “As amazing as that is, please let me be the one to tell Savage.”

Code and Razor burst out laughing. Oh yeah, that was going to be a fun conversation. He’d be recording it for sure.

“You’re going to be such trouble, kitten,” he told her, nuzzling the side of her head.

“Probably,” she agreed. “But that also means I’ll be keeping you on your toes, caveman. Are you ready for that?”

“You still have a few things you need to answer for,” he teased, nipping at her earlobe. “We’ll see how things are once I’m able to fuck you good and proper.”

Her eyes were heated as she looked at him. “Bring it on, caveman.”

CHAPTERFORTY-EIGHT

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