CHAPTER TWELVE
LIP
One Week Later
“Lip, you coming to the get-together?” Dani asks, stacking trays of food. The club decided to have a big BBQ, trying to lift everyone’s spirits after Tom’s death, but I just can’t wrap my head around it. Growing up, my mother was Catholic, and my father wasn’t so much. When someone passed who was close to us, my mother made us mourn religiously, while my father went to the club and got his dick sucked to grieve.
“You need to go, been moping around here for a fucking week,” Bull scorns. “I get it, brother. We all loved Tom Cat, but he gave his life so you fucking had one. Now get out there and fucking live it,” Bull demands, his tone angry.
“Live it, as in go and find Cherry?”
Bull nods. “Please, I can’t take this shit anymore. You always looking at your phone, hiding in your room—I’m about to buy you a box of tampons, son.” Bull smirks, and I scoff.
Cherry staying at her brother’s has nearly killed me. Seeing where she used to lay in our bed and where she used to throw her hair shit all over our bathroom counter, I feel like a piece of me is gone. I stay here at the club mostly so I don’t have to notice her absence, or smell her scent around the house. All a reminder of how I fucked up, how I fuck everything up.
I want her in my life, and I want Piper in my life—that much has become clear to me. But how do I reassure her I want her daughter in my life? How do I say, ‘hey, you fucked up, and I fucked up. Let’s move forward’?
“Where is it?” I ask, knowing Bull is right. I need to get out of this fucking place for a while.
“The beach.” Dani shrugs. “Should be fun, the kids love it there,” she continues.
“I don’t know,” I mutter, grabbing another beer. I glance at my phone again then shake my head at myself and sigh. Here I am acting like a fucking chick checking my phone, hoping she calls me first. Knowing Cherry, she’s waiting on me to come to her.
“Cherry will be there,” Dani sing-songs. “You can stop checking that phone and just go to her, ya know.”
My ears perk at Cherry’s name. Just hearing another person say it drives the nail of loneliness in my heart. I saw a redheaded girl sitting at the club bar the other day, and my heart stopped, thinking it was Cherry. It wasn’t her of course, and I looked like a damn fool for swinging the strange chick around by her arm like a crazy asshole.
“I don’t know how to make things right,” I answer honestly. Dani sighs heavily, flopping her purse on the counter.
“You guys just need to start over, forget everything that went wrong. She misses you, ya know. She wants to be with you. But she doesn’t think you want to be with her because of her daughter.” Dani’s eyes furrow inward with an accusing glare.
“But I do,” I flick my eyes to Dani’s and she smiles sympathetically. “I wasn’t sure at first, but I—” I lower my head and exhale a frustrated breath. “I’m miserable without them,” I confess. “When I met Piper and saw how fragile she was, all I wanted to do was protect her. She reminds me of Cherry so much, and there’s this piece of me that just wants to be their protector, their main source of security.”
“Then fucking tell her that,” Dani huffs. “You both fucked up, you both told some shitty lies. Nobody is worse than the other in this, but Cherry being my partner in crime, I’m just going to say that you are the fucking asshole in this. You need to go to her and stop with the pride bullshit.” Dani lays it out there, no beating around the bush. As much as her flippant mouth angers me, she’s fucking right.
“Thanks for the advice,” I grumble sarcastically and stand from the counter. As much as Dani’s words make sense, but why would Cherry believe anything I said after all the lies I’ve spoken? Why should she?
I saunter into my room in the back of the club and slam the door. I never thought I wanted kids, never thought I’d love someone, but now I don’t know how I could live without Cherry and Piper. The way she’s on my mind day and night, the thought that another guy is looking at what’s mine, I know without a doubt I’ve fallen for her. Me running to her and spewing a bunch of apologies, though? That ain’t Cherry’s style. Hell, that ain’t my style.
I spot Cherry’s property patch lying on the floor. Stepping forward, I grab it, the smell of her making my dick swell. Bull gave me Cherry, and I fell in love with her. She taught me how to balance my dark and light. Without her, I’ll dissolve into my own shadow. I can’t help the man I am, but for fuck’s sake, I’m not going to be the man who lets the one girl he’s ever loved slip away.
Fisting the cut, I turn to the door, taking long strides out of the room.
Cherry is mine, whether she wants to be or not. I won’t let her walk away that easily.
“Dani, wait up!” I holler.
I follow Dani and some of the guys to the beach, the whole time my heart slamming against my chest. What if she tells me she can’t right now, that she needs to focus on Piper? I shake my head. Fuck that; I won’t let her push me away with that bullshit.
I pull up to the beach and prop my bike on its kickstand.
“Good luck, brother.” Bobby smirks, patting me on the back as he walks past. Asshole.
Red hair catches my attention, and my heart sinks. There she is. Fuck, she’s beautiful. She’s wearing a two-piece mint green bikini, her red hair vibrant as ever with the sun shining through it. She still has that patch on her stomach, though, where she was shot. She and I will have matching scars now, ones that prove our devotion to one another. How many couples can say I took a bullet for my significant other?
I stomp forward, sand filling my boots, Cherry’s cut in my hand. A guy with long, blond hair and flowery trunks walks up to Cherry, and my jaw clenches. He’s fucking flirting with my girl, and that isn’t happening.
Striding up beside Cherry, I sneer at the punk.
“Sup?” He juts his chin out, but I don’t respond. I convey all I need to say in my death stare. The guy stammers, looking around awkwardly like he just realized there are a bunch of Devil’s Dust bikers around, and walks away like a fucking coward.
Cherry turns, and I swear to God the words I was going to speak lodge in my throat. Fuck, she’s breathtaking.
“Really, Lip?” she huffs. “We were just talking.” She shakes her head.
I wanted to come off half-decent when I approached Cherry, but after seeing that punk flirt with her, I can’t think of anything but claiming her ass in front of everyone. Using one of my hands, I fist her hair and pull her head toward mine.
“You’re mine, Cherry. I won’t let you walk away, and I sure as hell won’t let some punk try and take my place,” I scorn. Her lips part, and her eyes grow heavy with lust. “I want you in my life, and I want Piper in my life,” I mutter, easing my grip, my fingers flowing through her red hair. “I fucked up. I fucked up bad, babe.” My eyes narrow as regret stings my chest.
“I’m not going anywhere, Lip, and we want to be a part of your life, too,” she breathes heavily. “But we are a package. It’s me and my daughter or nothing.”
My eyes go wide, and my jaw tenses. “Cherry, I wouldn’t want it any other way. What kind of a man do you think I am?” I grimace.
Cherry tries to fight a smile, turning her head. “I don’t know. The kind I can’t seem to escape, I guess.” Pulling her gaze back to mine, those gray eyes drive right into me.
“Damn right. You and I are something our worlds didn’t expect, baby, but I’d be damn if my world didn’t have you in it.” I grab the sides of her face, pulling her lips close to mine.
That gorgeous smile breaks through, and I can’t help but smirk in response.
“I’ve missed you, Lip,” she whispers.
“God, I’ve missed you,” I groan. Closing my eyes, I breathe her in, the scent of her comforting.
I smash my lips to hers, pushing my tongue through her sweet lips, the taste of fruit filling my mouth as I devour her in front of fucking everyone. My mouth begs yet demands, her mouth accepting yet teasing. Pulling away from her, I kiss her bottom lip tenderly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come back, Lip. I wanted to, but I needed to know you really wanted to be with me and Piper.” She frowns and brushes her hair from her face, scowling.
“Don’t you ever fucking leave me again, Cherry,” I snarl angrily. “You’re mine.” I hold up the cut, and her eyes look it over.
“Be my ol’ lady,” I demand rather than ask. She glances at it again then eyes me. “I’m about to place it on you in about three fucking seconds,” I threaten. Her eyes flick to mine, and I smirk.
She giggles, but it soon fades. “If you hurt me, Lip…” She pauses, her lips parting that sexy way they do. “I’ll kill you this time.”
“Won’t happen,” I whisper against her lips. “I love you, Cherry. If I’ve learned anything in this, it’s you have the power to destroy me.” Her cheeks flush with my confession, and her fingers mess with my cut.
“I’ll tell my brother that Piper and I are moving back then,” she says, smiling.
“I already told some guys to go pick your shit up already.” I smirk, and her mouth pops open with shock. A speaker set up on a table plays “Never Going To Be Alone” by Nickelback. Glancing back at Cherry as she pulls the cut on her, I can’t help myself.
“Show me your Devil horns?” I ask in the sexiest draw I can muster. A smile curls her lips and she sticks her tongue out, her hands pulling up two Devil horns.
“Leather, Devil horns, and some tongue action… Fucking sexy.” I wink and tug her close. She laughs, slapping me in the shoulder.
“LIP!” Piper hollers, running toward me, Zane right on her tail. I scowl at the little fucker and pick Piper up.
“I love your swimsuit,” I admire, poking at the penguin-sequined suit. I took her shopping for some clothes, and I swear to God I’ll never shop with a girl again. It took Piper two hours to pick out four outfits, and she then had to try every one of them on. I thought I was going to die sitting in that fucking store.
“Thanks. My mom got it for me.” She smiles, glancing at Cherry.
My phone rings, and I set Piper down.
“I’m going to take her to get some food before it’s all gone,” Cherry states, grabbing Piper’s hand.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a sec, babe.”
Not recognizing the call, I accept it out of curiosity.
“Hello?”
“Brother,” Zeek rasps into the phone, and my eyes widen, my fingers curling around the phone in a death grip.
“You’re supposed to be dead,” I snarl. After the helicopter took off, the Sin City Outlaws were gone. The only thing left was a pool of blood where Zeek was laying. I thought for sure I had killed him.
“An outlaw doesn’t die so easily, I’m afraid.” He chuckles. “This isn’t over… brother,” he snarls before the line goes dead.
My nostrils flare with rage, and my hand nearly crushes the phone.
I’ll kill that son of a bitch if it’s the last thing I do.