Page 40 of Keys

“At least you didn’t grow up with her.”

“The last way I wanted to meet my little sister was seeing her bent over, doggy style while our club’s nomad nailed her from behind. His fist was wrapped around her hair and the other hand was smacking her ass.” He shivered as he recounted what he’d seen. I laughed even harder then.

“You’re right, that shit is funny when it’s not happening to you.”

My phone buzzed. When I glanced down, it was to see a message from Aubrey.

Aubrey: Hope you made it back okay.

Though I had been skittish about being with her before, the two weeks away did offer me a little clarity. Either I had to really give shit with her a try, drop her and move on to someone else, or decide to become a monk for the short term. Keys stopped being an option, especially after what Ghost had to say when he reported back. Keys was pissed. Refused to even speak to him when he came to their clubhouse to talk to Angel Girl.

All things considered, that left me with little hope that things would turn around for me where Keys was concerned. Aubrey had been both attentive and understanding of my time away while I was gone, and that meant something in my world.

Quickshot: Got in just a bit ago. Want to come to the clubhouse later?

Aubrey: I don’t care where we go as long as I get to finally see you again.

Quickshot: I’ll pick you up tonight. Be prepared to ride.

Aubrey: Seriously? OMG!

I didn’t bother to respond when I noticed Steel was reading my texts over my shoulder. “You sure that’s what you want?” He asked.

“I can’t have what I want. It’s time to move on.”

“If you’re sure.” Steel started to walk away and then turned back. “From one brother to another, I lost my woman because I wasn’t doing enough. Everyone thinks she just wasn’t worth it, but I had to ask myself how much responsibility I had in what went down.

“She might have spread her legs for someone else, but I wasn’t there for her. Didn’t do enough. She should have talked to me instead of doing what she did, but we both had a hand in shit not working. I know what happened here before your woman. I’m just wondering if you did everything you could.” It kicked me in the gut to hear Steel call Keys my woman still.

“I did everything she would allow me to do. Takes two to fuck a situation up sometimes, but if the other person is never willing to bend and understand…” The words felt bitter in my mouth so I just let them drift away. I knew why Keys reacted the way she did. I couldn’t even fault her for it, but that didn’t mean I didn’t resent the fact that she wasn’t willing to try.

“Okay then. Maybe this new girl will be the one and you just needed to pull your head out of your ass to get there.”

“Yeah, maybe.” The words rang false on my tongue as I spoke, but it didn’t matter. If I didn’t give it a real try, then I’d never know.

Chapter 12

I planned to pick Aubrey up on my bike for the first time, but at the last minute, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I grabbed my truck, and thank fuck it had finally been fixed. There was a light rain falling by the time I made it to her apartment, which gave me the perfect excuse.

The minute she made it out to see that I was in a truck, her lips puckered into that pout she thought was cute but was becoming an annoyance to me. It was obvious she was upset. “I thought we would be on the bike.”

I glanced up toward the sky that was still spitting light rain down. “This is not the weather you want for your first ride.”

“I guess so,” she admitted as I helped her into the truck. “Next time though?”

“Absolutely.”

“Do you think everyone will like me?”

“Why does that matter?”

“I don’t know. It just does.” She sat quietly when I said no more on the topic. “They’re your brothers. I’m sure their opinion matters.”

I rolled my shoulders to relieve some tension as I drove. “Honestly, I don’t give a shit what they think. If you don’t disrespect one of the brothers, there won’t be any issues.”

“What about the club whores?”

“What about them?”

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