Page 46 of Unveiled Wounds

The prospect saw the look on Sabre’s face and immediately scrambled. Sabre stood behind Grace, but she didn’t pay him any attention. Grace wasn’t concerned. She’d protected me, and if she’d shown any sign of discomfort, I would have stepped in to defend her.

“Mama,” he said to her, his tone not hiding his irritation. “They’re prospects. They don’t have names until they earn their patch, and I don’t want you to get attached.” He gripped the edge of the table, bracketing Grace between his arms.

“I don’t want to fight with you, but I refuse to dehumanize them like that.” Grace ducked underneath his arm and headed towards the kitchen. I squeezed Grizz’s hand before chasing after her. Sabre wouldn’t start a fight in front of me, even though I understood his aggravation. Everyone had to earn a place in the club, including me, but the prospects had it worse because of Pulse.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked, surprising her. I hadn’t helped the entire time I’d been living in the clubhouse. At first, I couldn’t get out of bed long enough, and when I did, the snippets of conversation floating around were a highlight reel of my worst moments. I wasn’t Grace, and they had openly mocked me for it. I hadn’t felt the need to serve people who had continually looked down on me. Things were getting better, but this wasn’t about them. This was completely about being with my sister.

“It’s just pizza, so if you could grab the stack of paper plates and napkins, that’d be great. They’re in the pantry on the left-hand side.”

“This is kind of like a dinner party,” I sing-songed across the kitchen.

“I’m never making tacos again. Once was enough.” Grace shuddered.

I stopped right before I opened the pantry doors. “For my next birthday, I want you to make a taco bar. It’s not the tacos’ fault we ended up here.” Grabbing what I needed, I threw some trash bags into the mix and walked back out into the kitchen.

“You’re walking funny.”

“No, I’m not.” Grace and I had never discussed sex, and I wasn’t planning on starting now. It was bad enough Grizz and I had wet hair. I didn’t need to have an in-depth conversation about how he’d slammed into me against the shower wall, pounding so hard my vagina was on fire.

Emily looked up from the cooler she’d been filling with waters and sodas. “Yes, you are. The only cure for fire crotch is a eucalyptus bath bomb.”

My eyes widened as I stared at her. She was unassuming, and then she said something that made you do a double take. I leaned against the counter, breathing a sigh of relief. Walking hurt and waddling would give it away. “I’m fine,” I blurted, wanting the conversation to end.

Grace and Emily looked at each other and cackled like old gossiping women.

“I wish Bear was here to see this. She’d never let you live it down.” Grace was still smiling as the laughter died down. She stood in front of the open refrigerator, pulling out cheese and wing sauces.

“I’m fine. Nothing to see here,” I grumbled. They would have to torture me before I ever admitted to anything.

“Walking isn’t the problem. It’s when you stand for a second or try to sit. Bend your knees and lean back. It helps.” Emily dumped ice in the cooler.

“How the fuck do you know? I swear, it’s always the quiet ones that are freaks.” I repositioned myself against the counter. With my legs bent, it felt a little better.

“Tyler has a piercing, and sometimes it rubs me raw.” Emily shrugged, like it was no big deal.

“What the fuck!” How walked into the kitchen, made an about face. “Zook! Outside.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “If he torments Tyler, I’m sending his ass back to jail.”

“If you could take those out to the table, that would be great, and on your way back, grab the two closest brothers to carry the cooler into the main room,” Grace said to me.

“Why don’t they have soda in the bar guns?” It came flying out of my mouth before I even knew what I had said.

Grace laughed at the horrified expression on my face. “They would need to run a few extra lines, and Grizz is always busy with the club businesses. In a few years, only the single brothers will still be in the clubhouse, and it won’t matter then.”

“What do you mean?” I was confused.

“The club’s working on building a neighborhood out back, so eventually, I’ll have neighbors. They have to approve the community, and then, when it’s ready to develop, they’ll vote on who gets what, but Sabre said it was all a formality.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her we’d never have a home out there, and this time, it really was my fault. I’d put in the effort to change my image, but at some point, they were going to accept me, or I’d have to walk. Tonight wasn’t the time to fight for an unresolvable issue.

I walked into the main room to drop my supplies off, and I made sure two of the brothers went to grab the cooler. As soon as they brought it in here, we’d be ready to feed the herd.

Dinner was a loud affair. Everyone wanted to talk over everyone else, but where it would have bothered me before, Ididn’t mind the white noise. I had said little, preferring to watch the animated conversations as I sat as close to Grizz as I could humanly get. He laid his arm across my chair, playing with the wispy strands of hair at the back of my neck.

“My life flashed before my eyes. I’m way too pretty for jail, and I had visions of being separated from the rest of the club. Some big dude would make me his bitch and call me Bubba. I could never survive that.” Pretty’s lips were quivering, and I wasn’t sure if the moisture in his eyes was real.

“You could have gotten some pointers.” Op picked up his slice of pizza, not paying attention to the murderous look on Wreck’s face.

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