I don’t see the people coming up, but I hear a little boy screaming. “Pie! Kissa!” I can’t help but smile at the little boy who’s wearing a little black vest, white shirt, and dark blue jeans with biker boots. He is definitely a little biker boss.
A lot of fucking women come out, give Krista a hug, and tease Pyro. I stand back and watch the way the club treats them. She knows how to make a place everywhere she goes.
Krista turns to me. “Well everyone, this is Bullet.”
Everyone eyes me curiously and doesn’t say anything. Some bikers give me chin lifts, but the women are looking back from Krista to me like they know something.
Fuck, for all I know Krista could have told them about me.
“Come on! There’s tons of food,” a woman says enthusiastically.
“You guys didn’t have to do all this,” Krista says once we enter the club.
Another woman snorts. “Like dad would pass up the opportunity to turn on the grill.”
“Yeah, that man lives for his BBQ,” an older woman says with a smile. I recognize her as the President of Vicious Snakes’ Old Lady. Gossip about her has spread far. She’s one woman that you wouldn’t want to mess with.
Everyone is pretty welcoming, and seeing Krista here just confirms that this is where she belongs.
I’m shown a guest room that is beside Pyro’s since I’m here to watch over Krista. If Pyro took her to his place, I would follow; even if he hated it.
I have some beers and get to know some of the Snakes. They are almost like the brothers in the Wicked Dragons. You can tell that they are fiercely loyal. They protect each other with everything they have. Almost without even noticing, I drift from inside to outside of the clubhouse.
“So, what’s your deal?” a woman asks walking up to me and sitting beside me. There are a bunch of picnic tables around the back and I just finished off a mountain of food.
I raise an eyebrow at her. “Excuse me?”
She shrugs not at all scared of me. “Well, I mean, you barely take your eyes off Krista. It doesn’t look like you want to kill Pyro or anything, but maybe you wish you were him standing on the other side of Krista. What’s stopping you?” She tilts her head curiously.
“I’m not sure that’s any of your business,” I say lightly, but I can’t help my shoulders from tensing.
She laughs. “Probably not, but I am the one who convinced Krista to call home. I feel closer to her than the other women here.”
I eye her. She doesn’t look like she’s trying to be threatening or anything. “I missed my chance,” I tell her flatly.
She shakes her head immediately. “No, I don’t think so. The opportunity is still there. You’ve just got to learn to share,” she says before walking away and joining a huge biker across the lawn.
Krista comes up to me at some point during the night. I expected her to be hanging off Pyro, but he seems to be talking with his brothers.
He only glances our way slightly before resuming his conversation with his group of brothers. I wonder why he’s not getting possessive or jealous because I sure as hell would be. If he only knew what I was thinking when I looked at her…
“Are you having fun? Did you have enough to eat? Can I get you another beer?” she asks each question right after the other.
I chuckle. Clearly she’s nervous.
“No babe. I ate lots of food, my beer is still full, and it’s nice to meet the people you have been hanging around with. They seem like good people.”
She snorts. “Yeah, they reminded me of everything we represented at home. I tried to stay away from clubs and live a life outside of them, but I couldn’t do it. It was lonely. I could never trust anyone the way I trust the members of the Vicious Snakes and Wicked Dragons. I was so fucking determined to make it on my own, but I found myself missing everything I had left behind.”
I watch her as she speaks. Her eyes are misting a little bit. She blinks away the tears that were threatening to fall.
“That’s good because we missed the fucking shit out of you,” I say, not once glancing away from her eyes. Her breath catches when she catches my meaning.
“Pyro wants to stay at his place in a couple days. He doesn’t like many people around there, so he wants to get everyone's visiting done here. I told him that there was no way you wouldn’t come with us, but he already knew that and said it was okay for you to come.”
“Well, whatever you guys want. I’m going to be like your fucking shadow, so both of you better get used to it,” I say gruffly.
Thankfully, she's not offended and just laughs.
“Are you mad?” she asks, and I tense.
“Why would I be mad, darling?” I ask suspiciously.
She shrugs her shoulders. “Well I used to think… maybe it was more hope… that you had feelings for me. Then I came home, and in those couple months I thought that maybe you would have made a move on me, but you didn’t. Since the moment that Pyro came to claim me, you have been angry and short with me.” She turns her head away so that I can’t look in her eyes while she talks.
I’m silent while I process everything she has said. “I’m not mad. Maybe I thought about claiming you, but I missed my shot. Pyro came after you. That takes guts to claim a woman in front of her club.”
“At least he was man enough to come after me,” she clips
