Chapter 14
Nikki
“Stop looking at me like that. The baby needs food.”
Cora rolled her eyes and slipped the wrapper off her straw. “You really think he needs four eggs, sausage, bacon, a short stack of pancakes, and sourdough toast?”
Karmen took a sip of her coffee and winced. “I don’t even know why I drink this anymore. Decaf blows.”
I lifted my cup, inhaling the wonderful aroma of my fully caffeinated coffee and grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll drink your share of coffee for you.”
“Oh, you’re so noble,” she scoffed.
“Wooly fuck,” Cora gasped.
“Wooly? What the hell?” Karmen asked.
Cora nodded her head to behind Karmen and I. “Wooly fuck.”
We both turned around in the booth and saw Pipe taking a seat at the counter of the diner. “Why, that bastard,” I growled.
He nodded to us but didn’t come over.
“What do you think he’s doing here?” Karmen asked.
I turned back around and unwrapped my fork and spoon from the napkin. “Tormenting me.”
“Or ordering coffee.”
I rolled my eyes at Cora and glanced over my shoulder. “Fine, ordering coffee while he torments me.”
“You want me to put Ex-Lax in his coffee?” Alice topped off my coffee cup and set a carafe of syrup on the table.
“Yes,” Cora and I said in unison.
“What? No, you can’t do that,” Karmen insisted.
We all turned to stare at her. “Whose side are you on?” Alice asked.
“The side that makes Nikki happy, and that is not the way to make her happy.”
I looked up at Alice. “She’s wrong. That would make me extremely happy. Do it.”
“Oh shit.”
I turned to look at Pipe again and saw Bos setting a cup of coffee in front of him. “That is the first time I have ever seen that man serve anyone coffee.” Bos leaned against the counter and started talking to Pipe. “What in the hell?”
“You want me to go over there and put Ex-Lax in both of their coffee?”
“Does this mean no one is making my breakfast?” Karmen asked.
“That baby is making you his slave. That is exactly why I’ll never have kids. I can barely take care of myself, and I like to be the one making demands, not the other way around.” Cora held up her cup to Alice. “Plus, no one or no baby will ever make me stop drinking coffee.”
Karmen pushed the cup away from her and crossed her arms “The kid drives me crazy sometimes, but then I think about the fact it’s my and Nickel’s baby, and I’ll gladly give up coffee and eat like a rabid cow.”
“Rabid cow? Is that what Alice was dressed up like the other weekend?”
Alice jumped, coffee sloshing over the lips of the coffee pot, and she slapped her hand over her chest. “Jesus, make a little noise the next time you’re moving. How are we supposed to talk about you when you’re standing right here?” She flounced off and chased Bos back into the kitchen.
“Karmen, Cora. I didn’t know you guys were going to be here today.”
Cora pointed her spoon at him. “Kind of like we didn’t know you were going to be here. I think we’re even now.”
“Touché, darlin’.” His eyes fell on me, and I shifted uncomfortably in the booth. “Morning, sugar.”
Ugh. Damn the man for having a voice that sounded like honey dripping all over my body. “Pipe,” I scowled.
“I’m heading back to Weston for a bit. You ladies need anything?”
Cora set her spoon down. “A Starbucks.”
Pipe laughed, the sound rich and deep. “Not sure I can fit that on the back of my bike.”
Cora shrugged her shoulder. “It was worth a try. I’ll have to deal with this sludge for the weekend.”
“Weekend?” Pipe asked.
“Cora and I are staying with Nikki until Sunday,” Karmen explained.
“I see. Well, you guys have a good weekend. I’m sure I’ll see you around.” Pipe tipped his head and thankfully left the diner.
Cora fanned herself with her hand and pointed at me. “I’m not at all into that man, but can I just say you must have nerves of steel to ignore him the way you just did. I swear, if any guy would look at me the way he does you, my panties would burst into flames on the spot.”
“You’re not helping,” Karmen hissed.
Cora put her hand down and leaned forward. “I thought you said we were here to help her figure out what the hell she wanted. I say what she wants is another roll in the hay with that man.”
Karmen tossed her hands in the air. “You think you could be a little bit more subtle?”
Cora shook her head. “Subtly is not in my vocabulary. You want him, take him, Nikki.”
I cleared my throat and played with my fork and spoon. “I tried that. He was with another chick.”
Cora rolled her eyes. “Can I lay something out for you and you not get mad?”
I looked over at Karmen who shrugged her shoulders. ‘Sure, I guess.”
“That man that just walked out that door is your typical biker. Thinks he knows exactly what he wants but honestly doesn’t know a damn thing. Karmen gave me a brief rundown of what happened between you two, and I’m not surprised at all.”
“You’re not surprised about what?” I asked.
“I’m not surprised you two knocked boots, probably damn good by my indication, and he ran for the hills into the arms of the nearest whore because you scared the living hell out of him. He’s lived in a world where he calls the shots, and you’re making him feel something he doesn’t know how to deal with.”
“I get what you’re saying, but then why the hell did he move here?”
Cora sat back in the booth and smiled. “Because Pipe came to his senses. A lot quicker than I’ve ever seen before actually. My mom and dad did the dance you two are doing, except it took them almost ten years to get on the same page.”
“Your parents went through this for ten years? It’s only been two months since Pipe and I hooked up, and I’m ready to run away and become a nun.”
Cora shook her head. “You do that, and you’re stupid. Pipe wants you, Nikki. It’s plain as day.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, he wants to have sex with me again, that’s about it.”
“See, now this is where the ball is firmly in your court, and you get to be the one to call the shots.”
Karmen clapped her hands together and did a little shimmy in the booth. “I knew it. I thought he just ran because he was a dumbass, and I was right. This is so awesome.” Karmen high-fived Cora and looped her arm around my shoulders. “Now, how to make him grovel.”
I shrugged off her arm and shook my head. “No. You guys are wrong. I know these guys in the MC think they can do whatever they want, but they can’t. Not in the real world.”
Cora rolled her eyes. “They are in the real world, Nikki. Every guy thinks the same way they do. These bikers just take every liberty they can and run with it. I’ve lived in an MC all of my life, and trust me when I say I know what I’m talking about. Pipe is done doing the typical male shit. No man moves an hour away from his club for just a piece of pussy.”
I blinked slowly, taking in her words. “I need more coffee.” I had resigned myself to the idea that Pipe didn’t want me, and now here he was living next to me, and Cora was telling me that was a huge step.
A grin spread across Cora’s lips, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “You get it, but you don’t want to admit it. Just make that man grovel, Nikki, and you’ll get it soon enough.”
“What’d I miss?” Alice set down Karmen’s huge platter of food in front of her and put her hands on her hips. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she said looking down at me.
Karmen patted my shoulder and reached for the syrup. “She’ll be fine eventually. Cora just laid a load of information on her that she’s struggling to process.”
“Well, was it good information?”
Cora kicked me under the table, and I jumped a bit. “In time it will be.”
I sighed and watched Alice bustle back to the kitchen to get the rest of our breakfast.
That was good information?
More like it was information so confusing I had no idea what was what anymore, and all I wanted to do was crawl back into my bed and never surface.
“Chin up, buttercup,” Karmen smirked. “You have a badass motorcycle man who wants back in your bed. Make him work for it.”
Jesus. That was easier said than done.
Life was so much easier when I thought Pipe didn’t want me anymore.
*