Page 24 of Keys

When Keys still hadn’t answered my texts or calls five hours later, well past the time we were supposed to have left for our date, I knew I had fucked up royally. My only recourse was to call the one woman I had hoped not to get involved in my shit.

Angel Girl had been by earlier to see our club president, Sweet. I just hoped she was till around. I knocked on his door and heard a bit of rustling around before Sweet’s voice boomed out. “This shit better be important!”

I opened the door because the dumbass never thought to lock it when he had his woman in there with him. Angel Girl grinned up at me as she pulled the sheet over herself a little tighter. She probably shouldn’t have done that, because it only highlighted her pert nipples, and I really wished I hadn’t seen them. Despite genetics saying otherwise, Jamie really was my sister. “What’s up Wallace?”

“Well, Jamie,” I started by returning the use of her real name rather than her newer road name. “I think I fucked up.”

Her back immediately went ramrod straight, and then she glared at me, not saying a word. She just waited for me to finish telling her how I managed to fuck up. So, I told her about the stupid conversation I had with the guys and how I thought maybe Keys had overheard everything. When Jamie hung her head, I knew it was going to be so much worse than I imagined.

“You need to get out.” It was an order, and oddly had been directed at me. “I wish I had known earlier.” Angel Girl turned to Sweet then. “I need to go babe!” She leaned over, kissed Sweet – who was now glaring at me – and reached over to the nightstand to get her shirt.

“Well, she’s not answering my texts and calls,” I started to say while rocking my weight back and forth from foot to foot.

“You don’t say?” Sarcasm dripped from her words. “I wonder why she would ignore your calls, when in her eyes, you basically just said you’re only keeping her around because she’s better-quality pussy than your club’s whores?”

“Fuck! I didn’t mean it like that. I just… the guys were… I didn’t fucking mean it!” I was yelling by the time I finished stammering over my own excuses.

“You better watch who you’re raising your voice to, Quick. I will lay you the fuck out,” Sweet warned me.

I scrubbed my hands down my face in frustration. “Please, just tell me what to do.”

“Stop being a fucking idiot so that the next time you meet a really good woman you don’t shit all over her like you just did to one of my best friends.” Angel Girl snapped at me.

“Jamie, please, can you just tell her…” She stopped me with her hand to my face. Not a slap, thankfully, just a big ol’ “stop” motion.

“I warned you before that if you dated anyone from my club I would not be dragged into the middle of any drama. You are my family, but so are they. I will not play favorites, and I know for a fact that what you said will have a much bigger impact on Keys because of her history. So, even if I was inclined to intercede any other time, I absolutely will not on this one. Now, I need to go to my friend, and you need to get out so I can dress.”

I slinked out of Sweet’s room with my proverbial tail between my legs at that point. How the hell had I gotten myself into this mess? Pride. My fucking pride struck again. That’s how.

Chapter 7

I could kick your ass. I could jack your jaw…

Justin Moore sang to me from the stereo I had cranked up just a little too loudly in my room.

“Sing it, Justin!”

All I could picture was someone punching Wallace McIntyre in the jaw for me. I couldn’t do it myself, no matter how much I wanted to. Damn shame too, because I had some serious aggression to work through and now sex wasn’t even a viable option to get that release.

“Interesting choice of music,” Angel Girl shouted before striding over and turning my stereo down. “Want to talk about it?”

“Not with you,” I told her honestly.

She nodded her head. “I expected as much, so I brought reinforcements.” She turned to go as Tash and Legs moved to come in my room. “Keys, I know you think that I won’t have your back because of who Quickshot is to me, but like I told him earlier, you’re my family too. If you need me, I’m here.”

There wasn’t really anything I could say to that. Angel Girl didn’t hang around waiting on a response from me either. She left, closing the door behind her as she went.

“Want to talk about it with us? If not, we could find JoJo for you.”

I shook my head at Tash, knowing JoJo had enough of her own shit on her plate then. The business she inherited from her father was dangerously close to being lost to her brother. Legs was here, but she didn’t really seem to be present, if that made sense. The woman had been lost for a long time, and every time a new piece of news came in about her daughter, it was as if another part of her was stripped away. That left Tash who waited to see what I wanted.

She wasn’t stupid and noticed the dubious look I gave her before holding her hands up in surrender. “Spike and I have fucked a few times. That’s it. I’m not invested in anything permanent, and neither is he. My loyalty is to you only.”

I told them about my earlier conversation with Quickshot, how I had finally decided it was time to come out to everyone, only to then overhear what he said to his men.

“Damn,” Legs said. “I’m going to give you a little hard truth here.” It shocked me that she was the one to engage, since she seemed so preoccupied with something else when after making her way into my room.

“Shoot.”

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