Thank fuck. “That means I get to...”
“Nothing is stopping you from them now, Sig. I mean, now that I’m home. Not right this second, of course.”
Home.
That’s what he needed to talk to her about.
“I just... don’t...” He’d never been with a woman who’d actually been nursing. He wasn’t sure...
“It won’t bother me if it doesn’t bother you.”
Well, damn. “You want me to?”
“Don’t you?”
“Fuck yeah,” he whispered.
“We can’t do everything right now, but we can still be intimate in other ways.”
“Fuck yeah,” he repeated in another whisper, her words giving him some hope.
Her lips twitched.
“Red...”
“What’s wrong?”
Just as he was getting ready to sit, they heard a knock on the door.
“Fuck,” he muttered. He was trying to gather the courage to have a serious conversation with her and then, fucking figures, someone fucks it all up.
With a sigh, he headed toward the door, checked the peephole and then warned her, “Trip,” in case she wanted to cover up. He unlocked the door and yanked it open to see his brother standing with his hands on his hips and a serious expression on his face.
And he smelled like he’d just smoked a fatty.
Fuck.
That meant he had geared up to have a discussion of his own with Sig, who knew it would be coming sooner than later.
And now that Red was home...
“Brother,” he greeted, his face grim. He looked past Sig and gave Red a chin lift and a, “Hey, Autumn, you good?”
“Yes. Not bad, all things considering. Everything okay?”
Trip was staring and didn’t answer, so Sig twisted his head to see Red hadn’t covered up. He moved to block Trip’s view. “Brother,” he growled.
Trip’s dark gaze moved to his and he seemed to shake himself loose. “Yeah. Need to have that discussion.”
Fuck. “Now?”
“Got somethin’ else pressin’?” Trip asked sharply with a raised brow.
Sig’s lips flattened and his jaw tightened as he considered his brother. The brother who’d done nothing but give to Sig and Sig took whatever Trip had given.
Sig realized he hadn’t thanked his brother once. Not fucking once. And the man had even let Red stay when he didn’t have to.
He also went up that mountain with the rest of their brothers when he didn’t have to. When he was at risk to end up behind bars again for taking part in that whole thing. A place Trip had sworn he’d never go again. But he went up there anyway.
Trip went to the hospital to check on him and Red, too, when he didn’t have to.
Sig was an ungrateful bastard. He needed to be better than that.
He dug his key out of his front pocket and tossed over his shoulder, “Trip and I gotta talk, baby. Lockin’ the door, ‘kay?”
“Okay. You two aren’t going to fight, right?”
Trip dropped his head, stared at his boots and shook it. When he lifted it, he was grinning. “No.”
“Promise?”
“Promise,” Trip answered her.
“Sig.”
“Promise me and Trip ain’t gonna fight,” Sig assured her, hoping that was true.
“Okay. I’ll be done here in about ten.”
Sig gave his brother a look, then said, “You got ten.”
Trip, fighting a smile, nodded and turned to head down the stairs.
Sig locked the door and followed. “Where we headed?”
“Somewhere we ain’t gonna be interrupted.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
They ended up in the executive meeting room and sitting at the table. Trip took the prez’s normal spot and Sig sat a couple chairs away, staring at the carved Fury insignia in the center of the wood table.
“We talkin’ as Prez to VP or as brothers?” Sig asked.
“Both.”
Sig’s attention caught on the old gavel that laid near Trip’s hand. The one Buck used to wield with the power of a goddamn dictator.
So far, he hadn’t seen any of that in Trip.
Sig lifted his eyes to his brother’s. Same color eyes, same color hair, same temper. All from the same father neither knew they shared until too late. “Jealous of those fuckin’ pumps, brother.”
“I bet. Long wait to get back in there.”
“Yeah.” The doc said maybe six weeks. It depended on how soon Red healed up. If she stuck around that long.
“That where you’re headed?”
“Thinkin’ so,” Sig murmured.
“She on the same page?”
“Hopin’ so. Me and her need to have that conversation. Was bracin’ for it when you came up.”
“Shit. Sorry. Didn’t know.”
“She didn’t, either. Figured when she’s stuck in place with those things stuck to her tits, it’s a good time to have her complete attention.”
“She dealin’ with givin’ up the baby okay?”
“Think so. Haven’t seen otherwise. They gave her plenty of chances to back out.”
“You okay with it?”
“Wasn’t my decision. If it was my kid, then no. Wasn’t my kid, so had no say.”
“Sure if you had stepped up, she mighta considered keepin’ him.”
Sig frowned. “Should I have stepped up?”
“Truth? No. Think she did the best thing for that kid. She went through a lot of shit. She’s handlin’ it well but woulda been reminded of it every fuckin’ day with that baby.”