Page 19 of Clint & Ivy

Though Ivy had clearly been crying, she smiled nonstop over the next hour. Elle and I sat on the couch with Ivy in the middle, making lists, buying clothes, and sending prospects out for errands.

A male prospect was picking up a new phone for Ivy. A female prospect was shopping for properly fitting clothes and women's supplies. Sisters and Crimson Guard members Cher and Stevie were helping the second prospect while texting Elle.

“They’re at the shoe store,” Elle explained. “What color of Converse do you want?”

Ivy waited for me answer for her. I only smiled since I was looking to be her man, not her dad.

“These aren’t the last shoes you’ll ever own,” Elle said when Ivy gave up on getting the answer from me and looked to my sister for help. “Look at the pictures,” Elle explained and tapped my laptop resting on Ivy’s legs. “Which color suits you right now? You can get something else later.”

“Orange, please,” Ivy told Elle who instantly smirked.

“I would have been super bummed if you picked something boring like black.”

Ivy instantly glanced down at Elle’s black shoes, which led to our search for Converse in the first place.

“I have these in, like, five different colors,” Elle said before Ivy could rethink her choices. “Sabrina has a green pair. Nessa has purple ones. Don’t overthink it.”

Ivy looked back to me, so I explained, “Sabrina and Vanessa are two of our cousins. You’ll meet them tomorrow.”

Despite her nods, Ivy was clearly overwhelmed. Replacing the laptop with Hanzee on Ivy’s lap, I suggested, “While we wait for our sandwiches to arrive, we should look at family pictures. That way, you’ll know who everyone is tomorrow.”

Ivy’s eyes lit up as she cuddled the dog. Elle stopped texting the twins and pulled up a picture of her son.

“Do you read Sutter Cane?” Elle asked in a deep voice while staring ominously at Ivy.

Ivy took a long time to respond with the obvious. “No.”

Elle sighed dramatically and frowned at me. “No one ever says yes.”

“We’ve had this conversation too many times, Elle. You can’t pick a name from an obscure movie and then get upset when no one knows what the hell you’re talking about.”

“A movie?” Ivy asked Elle.

“It’s a horror movie apparently only seen by weirdos, dorks, and me.”

“Oh, well, I never watch horror movies. I tried that ‘Halloween’ one. I figured it wouldn’t be too bad since it was old, but I got paranoid about every dark corner.”

“I don’t like horror movies, either,” Elle said. “But this one particular one was special to me, so I bequeathed a name from it to my only child.”

Ivy glanced at me. “Do you like horror movies?”

“Sure. I like movies with lots of shooting and hand-to-hand combat, too.”

“He fell asleep during ‘Avatar’ when we watched it years ago,” Elle snitched. “He can’t handle too much plot.”

Chuckling at my sister’s bullshit, I received a message about the sandwich delivery waiting in the lobby. I left the women to talk about Sutter while I went to downstairs. I was on my way back up when my VP confronted me.

“You’re getting married?” Rock asked, crossing his thick arms and trying to intimidate me despite our long history and the small dog at his feet.

“Probably. Though I feel like I ought to know Ivy for longer than twenty-four hours before I propose.”

Rock Savo was a wall of a man, built hard with thick muscles. His tawny skin made his pale green eyes shine. When he leveled his gaze on a man, they saw nothing more than emptiness. Rock showed no one his next move, making him terrifying to our enemies.

My VP was the son of Oz Savo, president of the Rawlins Heretics Motorcycle Club and Ginger Jones, the leader of the all-female Everything Nice Crew. His powerful parents taught him to lead others, yet he still agreed to be second in command for our club.

Rock talked from time to time about moving to Little Rock and creating another chapter of the club. As much as he wanted to run his own crew, he loved life in Little Memphis.

“Who is this woman?” Rock asked, blocking my path to my condo.

---