CHAPTER FOUR
Chris
I had to be honest, I loved running the club bar. Maybe it was just that I was meant to do something like this. Hell, who was I to argue? It wasn’t necessarily an easy job, but I wasn’t looking for easy. The thing that I loved the most was that I got to hang out with guys that were my friends every single fucking time I worked. And even I had to admit that most of them weren’t hard to look at. Yes, maybe I did have a few that I thought of when I wasn’t working. More like, when I was hard and in my shower. But a boy never tells, so don’t even think of asking.
Sure there were times like right now, when things proved to be difficult. But I just rolled with it and handled it the best that I could.
“What is this?” I asked the delivery guy as he looked like he was packing up and pulling out the slip for me to sign.
“Um, that’s it. See right here. Twelve cases,” he said pointing with his pen to the individualized invoice.
I looked over it, brows furrowed and a frown tugging at my lips. This was not the order. I knew that because I was the one that had put it in. But it was clear right there in black and white that I was only getting what was in front of me.
“I need to check the order, because there should be about triple this,” I said not making a move to grab the pen and sign off on the thing.
I motioned for him to follow me. Once we were in the office, I pulled up the order and showed him that what I had received was indeed wrong.
“Sorry, man. This is what my paper says and that’s all I’ve got for you. If there’s a problem, you need to call.” He didn’t sound at all sympathetic or sorry.
As much as this put a crick in my day, I couldn’t take it out on the guy, it wasn’t his fault. But there was no way I was going to sign the okay on that invoice and I told him so.
“Look, can you just sign it and make a note at the bottom that it was wrong from your order? I just need proof that you received these cases.”
“Fucking hell,” I mumbled under my breath and grabbed the pen from him and scribbled something that was halfway legible.
“Thanks, man,” he said then headed out the back.
Forty-five minutes later, I was finally hanging up the phone and had it all taken care of. It’d be another two days before I got the rest of the shipment but I figured that we had enough to get through until then. If we didn’t, I knew the clubhouse was always stocked. I was sure that Iron would let me borrow from there if I needed. I figured now was a good time as any to let him know what was going on. He left me alone to run the place for the most part but out of respect to him and the club, I always let him know when there was something going on.
Noting the time, I figured I’d find him at the garage, so I headed over there first. Since my shift was minutes from being over and there was someone out handling the bar, I didn’t worry about taking off a few minutes early. I mean, technically I was still dealing with work stuff.
“Hey, Ky,” I said as I ducked under the half-open bay door at the far end. The one that was pretty much Ky’s for his restorations.
“Oh, fuck, man. You scared me,” he said barely making eye contact with me.
My eyes narrowed at him. I studied him for a long moment trying to figure out what the hell was going on with him.
Something was definitely still up, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure it out. It had been over two weeks since the strip and I hadn’t seen much of him. He seemed to have been hiding away, or at least not coming out when I was around. I was sure it was me that he was keeping his distance from. Whatever was going on with him had something to do with me because though I hadn’t seen much of him, he’d been around enough for me to notice that he didn’t clam up around anyone else.
But whatever, I didn’t have time to deal with it right then. So I had no choice but to shrug it off and focus on why I’d come over here.
“Iron around?” I asked, pinning him with a hard stare. Yeah, clearly the whole thing bugged the fuck out of me. I wanted to fix whatever it was but I didn’t even know where to begin.
“He just headed to the clubhouse. He’s probably up in his office.” He didn’t stop working as he spoke. I knew I could go back there, so I didn’t really need to say anything else.
“Thanks,” I mumbled and made my way back out of the garage and through the line of trees to the clubhouse.
I made it up to Iron’s office on the top floor with hesitant, but heavy steps. If there was club stuff going on up there then I didn’t want to be part of it, so I figured it was best to be cautious and loud.
“Iron,” I called out as a way of announcing my presence and not have it be awkward.
“In the office, Chris,” he yelled back.
“Hey,” I said stepping into the room. He sat there, papers spread out in front of him, a pen tucked behind his ear and his hair a little messed up around the rolled up bandanna he had tied around his head. “Just wanted to give you a heads up that the delivery was short today. I called and took care of it, but it’s going to take a few days to get the rest of the order here.”
“Shit,” he said as his hand came up to tuck his long hair behind his ear. “Alright. There should be enough downstairs to cover if you need it. If it looks like you’re getting low, let me know. I’ll figure something out.”
“Thanks, Iron.”
“Everything else good?”
“Yeah. The new people are all trained and I think we all work well together. Things are running pretty smoothly, knock on wood.” And because I couldn’t help but do it when I said that, I knocked on the wooden door frame. Iron let out a short chuckle.
“Good. You’ve done real good keeping that place going. Thanks, man. It takes a lot off of my shoulders.”
I was a little shocked. After all, Iron was the president and just the title alone set him apart and above everyone else. So, the fact that he was taking the time to thank me meant a lot to me.
“No problem,” I said with a huge smile. “Thanks for giving me a job and putting up with my ass hanging out here all the time.”
“You’re always welcome here, Chris,” he replied with a half-smile, which meant something, the man was hard and I think I’d only ever seen his lips tip up a handful of times. “You ever need anything, you let me know, yeah? You’re one of us, whether you like it or not.”
I chuckled nervously. I always felt like these guys were part of me but never expected it to be the other way around. His words warmed my heart a little and I couldn’t deny that it felt nice to be apart of something bigger than myself.
“Thanks. I’ll just go take a quick inventory of what’s downstairs before I go. That way I won’t be running back and forth when things get crazy at the bar. If I have an issue, I’ll find you.”
“I’ll be here,” he said patting his desk and we both let out a huffed laugh.
I made my way back down the stairs. The place was actually pretty quiet as I headed to the room that housed the clubs stock of alcohol.
“Yo, Ky,” I heard Sketch call out just as I was finishing up. I was halfway out of the “booze closet,” as the guys liked to call it, and I froze at the mention of his name.
I guessed at some point Ky had finished up what he was doing in the garage and was now hanging out in the lounge. I shouldn’t have stopped and watched, but I did. And it wasn’t Sketch that caught my attention. No, it was the very pregnant woman—maybe girl…it was hard to tell—walking behind him. Why had Sketch called for Ky?
The thought that this could have been one of his hook-ups hit me like a hammer to the gut for some reason. If this was Ky’s kid, well, I had no idea what to even think about that.
“The fuck?!” I heard Ky roar. I flinched because it was so unlike him. “Ingram?”
It was clear that he knew the person. Maybe I didn’t know the guy as well as I thought. I mean, it seemed that he’d been going down some sort of path lately. He’d been separating himself from me for some reason. I only wished I knew what that reason was. And it wasn’t like I hadn’t seen him with women before. He didn’t seem like the relationship type, but at the same time, he wasn’t all about sticking his dick in everything like some people I knew. And no, I’m not naming names.
Not that I was judging him. I was a fan of the occasional hook-up as well. Though, it had been a while. And sadly, I hadn’t had any since I’d moved into town. Sure, I’d been on a few, or so, dates but they all had left me feeling less than enthusiastic about taking them back to my place.
There were words spoken, but I was too far away to hear. For some reason, I ducked back into the closet as some sort of shock made its way through me.
“Everyone out,” Iron called out, having come down and noticed all the tension hanging around. “Knight and Mouse, you stay.”
The guys got up and scurried like there was no tomorrow. I should have left as well, but my feet were currently firmly stuck in cement.
“Ky, you good?” Iron asked and I knew the man well enough to know he wasn’t going anywhere whatever the answer was.
To me, Iron was a bit larger than life. He was gruff and intense, but every move he made was well thought out and done with the best intentions for the men of his club. He was a strong leader and a powerful man.
“Yeah,” Ky grunted and I wished more than anything I could see his expression right now.
I still had no clue what was going on and I felt like shit that I was hidden, eavesdropping on what felt like such a private moment.
“Ky?” Iron prompted.
“This is my…sister.” It was almost as if he choked on the word.
Wait, what? Ky had a sister?
Granted, he wasn’t one to talk about his past or his family. I’d picked up on that from day one. Maybe that was why this was so hard to swallow. I had no fucking clue that he had a sister, and I would guess that she was significantly younger than him based on the brief flash that I’d seen of her.
“I am sorry to come here like this, Kynaston, but I was not sure where else to go.” The voice that spoke was soft and timid, it was clear that she was scared.
And Kynaston? I felt myself actually pause at that. For some reason, I thought that Ky was short for Kyle, but clearly, I was wrong. My mind went off the rails thinking that such a unique name seemed fitting for the guy. The one that couldn’t tell whether he wanted to love life or hate it.
I shook off the thoughts and listened back in. I wasn’t sure how much I’d missed, but it was clear a good amount of conversation had gone by.
“The hell am I supposed to do?” Ky asked. “I don’t have a place other than my room here and…no offense, she’s seventeen and she can’t stay here. I just…don’t feel comfortable with that.”
“I understand that,” Iron said, not a hint of aggravation in his voice.
Even I could admit that I wouldn’t feel one hundred percent safe with my sister staying here if she were that age. I trusted these guys, probably almost as much as Ky did, but there was just something that didn’t sit right about someone so young being around this kind of environment. Especially one that was pregnant and clearly looked shell-shocked at what was around her.
“She can stay here until you figure something out,” Iron said as a sort of suggestion and compromise.
Even from my tucked away position, I heard Ky blow out a harsh breath.
Before I knew what the hell I was doing, my feet were carrying me forward and my mouth was opening.
“I, um, have a spare bedroom,” I said and then cringed because I had just revealed that I had been listening in. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to…anyway. I have an extra bedroom, actually two, so you could stay with me too.” I looked at Ky and did my best to focus on him and maybe try to get him to calm down a bit. The pain and shock were written all over his face and I hated that I couldn’t do more.
“What?” Ky asked as his eyes jerked to look into mine.
“You and…”
“Ingram,” he said letting me know that I’d heard right.
“Ingram can move into my house. I mean, you don’t have to, but I have the room and it’s more, uh, quiet than this place.” I was trying my best to be respectful but at the same time get him to understand what I was saying.
“No,” Ky said and he actually recoiled like he’d been slapped.
“Ky,” Mouse said, his eyes dancing between the two of us. “It’s Chris. You know him and most of us would trust the guy with our darkest secret.” His eyes shot over to mine and I swore I saw a tinge of red hit his cheeks like maybe he hadn’t meant to say that much.
My eyes shifted back to Ky. He looked tormented and torn all at the same time.
“Yeah,” he said with much hesitation in his voice. “I guess I don’t have much of a choice.”
“Gee, thanks,” I mumbled and moved further into the room. I didn’t even try to hide the fact that his words had hurt me.
“I’m sorry—” he tried to say as I passed him.
“Don’t,” I said maybe a bit too dramatically. Whatever was going on with him or between us, this wasn’t the time. His sister needed a safe place while she and Ky figured out whatever the hell they needed to. “Just let me know. I’ll be at home all night.”
I made my way to the front door, giving Iron an apologetic nod as I passed. I shouldn’t have stepped in and more importantly, I shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Iron’s eyes softened and he gave a nod back. Thank fuck he wasn’t mad at me. That was the last thing I needed right now.
The anxiety hit me quick the moment the front door closed behind me. What the hell had I done? Ky clearly had something against me and now I’d invited him to live with me. An invite that seemed like he had felt forced to take.
This was going to be fun.
And by that, I meant not.