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 would not be 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.
“The fuck are you watching?”
I jumped at Ky’s barked question.
“Teeth,” Ingram answered as I turned my head to look at him.
“Is that a scary movie?” he asked, his eyes glued on me. “You let her watch this?”
“Ummm…” Yeah, I had nothing. I saw how it might have been a bad choice in movie selection, but really, if I’d tried to veto I would have probably been sent away.
“No, I really like it, Ky. It is about a girl that has teeth in her vagina and she can hurt the people that try to hurt her.” She didn’t take her eyes off of the screen as she talked.
Ky and I both looked back at each other with a strange look. It was almost like we’d picked up on the same thing. I didn’t know what to do with that but it was something that was going to have to be handled at a different time.
“Fine, but I’m watching it with you,” he said and nodded at Mouse indicating in their silent man-talk to move. Mouse got up without any protest and settled on the floor as Ky took the vacated space beside Ingram. “But it goes off if I think it’s too much.”
“Fine,” Ingram grumbled and if I wasn’t mistaken her cheeks heated with embarrassment. I didn’t think he even realized that he was treating her like a kid in front of everyone.
Then suddenly the movie became awkward for me to watch. I had to be honest, the subject matter hadn’t really bothered me around everyone else, but now that Ky was here, it suddenly made me feel itchy. Maybe it was the fact that I sort of found the guy attractive. Okay, it was more than that. I tried hard not to admit it, but ever since the beach and I saw a new side of him, I couldn’t deny that the guy was wiggling his way into my heart. Dumb? Yes. Always is when you like a guy that will never like you back. Even if he might have been feeling some weird thing for me, I had a good idea that he wasn’t going to just jump in feet first and all.
“Oh, fuck. No. That’s just wrong. Chris!” Ky’s bark snapped me out of my thoughts.
He got to his feet at some point during his outburst. My eyes landed on the screen and I actually winced.
“Off, now. Shut it down,” Ky said trying to block Ingram’s view of the screen.
“Ky, no,” Ingram said and her eyes immediately went to the pillow in her lap.
“There was a…I can’t even say it. This is just disturbing on so many levels.”
“Ky,” I said as calmly as possible. I was trying my best to control my laughter and I knew that wouldn’t help him realize how he was making Ingram feel at all. “She’s fine. She understands that it’s a movie.”
I didn’t point out that he was the only one freaking out at the moment. I could see how he was a little bit right but at the same time, if we didn’t let her figure out somethings for herself then she’d never be able to grow. She wouldn’t be able to truly be free. Ingram had been held down and back her whole life, the last thing she needed was to finally get out and receive the same treatment from us.
Everyone else seemed to be frozen in shock and unsure of what to do as Ky and I stared each other down, the movie still rolling in the background.
“Ky,” Mouse said as he got to his feet. The guy was a few inches shorter than Ky but he didn’t look like he was going to back down as he stepped in the middle of us. “It’s my fault, I’m sorry. I thought that Ingram was smart and mature enough to handle it.”
Oh, shit!
It was like Mouse had just verbally slapped Ky and I almost wanted to close my eyes because I knew there was a blow-up coming.
But then Ky’s eyes softened as he looked over Mouse’s shoulder at Ingram.
“You’re right. Shit. I’m sorry. I’m not good at this…” He looked around as if he just realized there was a room full of people. “Alright. Finish watching it. I’ll just…be elsewhere.”
He swallowed hard as he walked in the direction of his room. I resisted the urge to go after him. If anything, he needed time to cool down and put himself back together. I understood where he was coming from and I couldn’t blame him. Maybe it was the wrong choice to watch it but I wanted Ingram to feel like her input counted. Like she could say things and actually have them matter.
“You okay?” I heard Mouse ask softly as he sat down beside Ingram once again. She gave a timid nod but didn’t lift her head. “You want to finish the movie or find something else?”
“I would like to watch it, please.”
Her eyes sought out mine and I gave her a little nod letting her know that it was fine.
The rest of the night went on without any more blow-ups. The weird tension of earlier still hung thick in the air and everyone decided to make their exit shortly after the credits rolled. I hated that this night kind of ended up a bust. I’d wanted to give everyone a chill, fun night but I’d somehow made things worse.
Ingram ducked off to bed and I stayed behind to clean up everything. The house was oddly silent and it reminded me of how it was before Ingram and Ky moved in. For some reason, it felt so strange and I actually realized that I hated the quiet now.
I made a mental note to call Laurel in the morning as I took my suddenly tired ass upstairs. I hadn’t spent that much time with her tonight and I didn’t want her to think that I was brushing her off. Then I wondered if this whole thing maybe wasn’t the best of ideas. I honestly had no idea tonight would go down the way that it had, but there was nothing I could have done about it now.
My phone dinged right as I slid into my cool sheets. I was half-tempted to say whatever and ignore it, but I couldn’t.
Brand: That was weird right?
Me: No.
Brand: I just asked Cami. She said that was weird.
Me: I hate you both.
Brand: You mean you love us. That’s how I read that.
I huffed out a laugh and suddenly felt self-conscious about it.
Brand: I’ll get it out of you.
Me: Nothing to get.
Brand: Riiiiight. I know you too well to believe your lies.
Me: Goodnight!
Brand: Cami says goodnight and kisses. WTF.
Me: She could just text me that herself, ya know.
Brand: Nah, we’re like one so there’s no point. Call me tomorrow. Night, bro!
I chuckled. I knew I’d be able to avoid him for a day at most. Then he’d more than likely hunt me down. He’d been there to see the strangled air that had been around Ky and me for a while now. I’d even talked to him about it a time or two. He had tried to brush it off but now I bet he saw the odd things that I’d seen.
Turning my brain off long enough so I could fall asleep was proving difficult. I actually gave into the idea that Ky might have a thing for me, but I wondered how it had even happened. When had he realized it? When had he started to think about me as more than a friend? I mean, I didn’t have proof but it was the only explanation I could come up with. Why? That was the big beginning of every question that floated through my brain. Why had things changed? Why was he pushing me away? Why was he trying so hard to fight it? Why had he agreed to move in if he wanted to hate me? Why couldn’t he just fucking open up and talk to me?
I could answer that last one, no problem. Ky wasn’t a talker. But I couldn’t say that he hadn’t been trying a bit. That night on the beach meant more to me than I think he’d ever realize.
I knew it was stupid to try and figure everything out right now but it seemed like I couldn’t help it.
Finally, what felt like hours later, I passed out.