Page 43 of Mouse
He reached down and grabbed two beers, offering me one. With a shake of my head, I declined.
“Not drinking?” His voice sounded surprised and confused.
“No, I’m good. I haven’t since…”
Fuck! Since the night I touched Ingram. I knew my mistake that night and I was determined not to let it happen ever again. As much as I wanted to blame it on being a drunk asshole that night, I knew that I couldn’t have really been that dumb. At some point, I had to have known that I was really touching her and stupidly let myself jump further into Denial Land.
I shook my head trying to push away all images of that night.
At Ky’s raised brow, I hesitated but went on.
“Not since the night I kissed Ingram.” I cringed, big time. This was becoming painfully awkward. I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him what else I’d done to his sister.
“You were drunk when you kissed my sister?!”
“Yeah,” I said in a frustrated breath. I hated it too. “But I’m not using that as an excuse. I can’t lie anymore, man. I care for Ingram more than I probably should. And you know Chry is more than just club family to me.”
He seemed to take my words to heart. Or he was calculating ways he could kill me in my sleep. I wasn’t sure. But then he nodded slowly and looked me in the eyes, and I had a feeling it was more of the former.
“You better make sure you take care of them. And I swear, if you hurt them, I will hunt you down and murder your ass, brother or not.”
I blinked at him. I almost couldn’t believe that he’d just said that. But then again… my throbbing face was proof just how protective he was over his sister and his nephew.
“I got you.” A long moment of silence went by and then an odd chuckle bubbled up out of my throat as I thought how fucked up this all was. Ky looked at me like I was crazy and I rushed to explain the best way I could without having him get all Hulk on me again. “I don’t think it matters all that much now. I was kind of an asshole and tried to push her away. I lied to her and it killed me. But I was so convinced, still am, that I’m no good for her.”
“I think she could do worse,” he said and the tick of his lips let me know he was halfway joking. “Not something you can fix?”
“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. Before he decked me I thought that maybe there was a chance that I could work toward it. “She needs time to find trust in me again. But I think she’s willing to give me a chance. You would have been proud of her. I was.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I said with a smile and a nod. “She stood up to me. Called me on my bullshit right away and told me I wasn’t the man she knew. That I wasn’t someone that deserved her, pretty much.”
“Damn right on that.”
“Fuck off,” I said only half meaning it in anger. “She’s not the same person that left here.”
“I know,” he said and I could see that he’d noticed it too. I mean, who couldn’t?
“She’s really fucking special.” I hadn’t really meant to say that out loud but that didn’t make it any less true.
Ky nodded and it seemed like we both got lost in our heads for a while.
We sat there for a long time in silence. Ky drank his beer and I tried to relax a little. Eventually he got up and he walked by me without a word. His hand gave my shoulder one good squeeze and even if he couldn’t look at me right then, I took it as a good sign. An approval from him. Then he walked off.
I turned around and my eyes scanned the still crowded lot only to find that Ingram had left.
I was disappointed but I understood. She was probably pissed about what happened and didn’t want to be around either one of us right now. I couldn’t even blame her.
I only hoped that she was willing to really give me a second chance. I was determined to make things right between us, and once I did that, I was going to make her see that we belong together. I was convinced that I’d never get anything better than Ingram. I hoped to hell I could be that for her too.
