I shrugged. “I’m here as long as Jet says I am. If you think I came back willingly, think again. I don’t want to be here.” My reply was honest and I didn’t regret it until I saw the look on Raven’s face. She looked hurt and that had guilt churning in my gut, but it also set flame to my anger.
What did she expect? What did any of them expect? It had felt like no one—not one damn one of them—had cared if I was around or not. I wasn’t the kind of female to beg for attention from anyone. I’d left because I’d needed to for my own sanity and wellbeing.
From the couch, Bash pushed to his feet and stepped toward me. His electric blue eyes were full of understanding. I lowered my eyes to Toby who sat contentedly at my feet. “It’s late. It’s been a long day for everyone. No one’s temper is stable when you’re tired. Get some rest and we’ll welcome Flick home in the morning like we should.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.” I nodded and glanced at Colt. “Do you mind driving me to my mother’s house?”
“You’re not going to Marcie’s,” Jet said, quick to stop me. “You’re home, as in this house is home.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “You have got to be kidding me.” Seriously, he had to be. There was no way I was sleeping under the same roof with him. “That’s not happening. I came back with you, be thankful for that much. There is no way I’m sharing a roof with you. I can barely stand to share the same air with you, let alone a house.”
His eyes narrowed and he took a step closer to me. Feeling my sudden tension, Toby stood and growled at the big man. Jet ignored the dog. “You will be staying here, Flick. In this house. In my room. In my bed. There will be no negotiation, no compromise. This is where you belong and it’s where you’re going to fucking stay. Don’t like it, too damn bad.”
“You can’t make me stay here,” I shot at him, practically shaking with the anger making my blood boil. “I’m not some prisoner, Jet. You told me I had to come back with you. Not once did you mention that I had to live with you.”
“If I had would that have changed your mind? Knowing you would have to share the same house with me, the same bed, would you have walked away and risked me telling the world what I’ve done for you?” He had the gall to grin when I remained quiet. He knew fucking good and well that it wouldn’t have changed anything. I wouldn’t have risked Emmie. If he’d said he wanted me to join the circus as a freaking trapeze artist, I would have complied.
“Didn’t think so,” he said with a smirk.
“I hate you.”
The smirk disappeared and his jaw tightened. “That’s okay. I hate me too.”
It looked like I was stuck there. I clenched my hands into fists and glared at him with all the hate that was burning through my chest. “Fine. I’ll sleep in your bed. You can take the couch. No negotiation. No compromise.” I pushed past him. “If you step foot in that room, I’ll scream this place down. Pretty sure you don’t want me waking up the kids.” I started up the stairs.
“Flick…” I paused on the second step at Raven’s voice and glanced back at her. She looked as if she were at a loss for words for a moment and then she blew out a long breath through her nose. “I’m glad you’re home. I really have missed you.”
“I missed you too, Rave.”
Chapter Five
Jet
Max’s squalling woke me the next morning. I grunted and turned onto my stomach, pulling the pillow I’d gotten out of the linen closet over my head. I’d had to sleep on the couch the night before. Flick hadn’t been kidding about putting me there. When I’d tried to go into my bedroom, the door had been locked.
I could have broken the door down but didn’t want to chance waking Lexa and Max. Raven would have done a lot more damage to me than Flick would have and it was for that reason alone that I’d camped out in the living room rather than try my luck with my own bed.
My nephew was really letting the world know just how strong his lungs were this morning. My pillow was doing nothing to block out his screams. Grumbling, I threw my pillow across the room in my frustration and tossed back the covers. Scrubbing a hand over the day-old scruff on my face, I groggily entered the kitchen where Raven was already making breakfast while her eight-month-old son screamed the house down, as always wanting nothing more than his mother’s attention.
I glared at the kid as I dropped down into the chair next to his highchair. “I don’t know who you get that temper from, boy, but I’m gonna beat it out of you if you ever patch into the Club.”
“How’re you planning on doing that when you claim you’re out of the Club?” Raven sassed at me from the stove where she was flipping pancakes.
I grimaced. She was right. I hadn’t returned to the Club after I’d gotten out of prison. So far, I’d kept my promise to Flick and stayed out of the MC’s business, knowing that if I had to choose, I would pick her over anything this time around. Didn’t mean I didn’t miss it, though. The Club had been a part of me for my entire life. I’d patched in at eighteen after prospecting for more than a year. It had been my entire life, the only thing I knew. But it was the Club that had gotten between Flick and me and I wasn’t going to let that shit happen again.
“Shut up, Rave.” The thing about being so close to my baby sister was that she saw way too much. Things I didn’t want her to see. Like how hard it was to continue keeping my promise when things had been so difficult for the Club over the last year. I knew she didn’t want me to stay out of the Club, but getting Flick back was more important to me than anything. Including my MC.
Senator Samson might have backed off—for the most part—but I still felt a little uneasy about how quiet things had been from the senator’s corner. I’d seen the look in that fucker’s eyes before he’d agreed to back off. He wasn’t convinced that the Angel’s Halo MC hadn’t killed his son. Kevin Samson had gotten off easy if you asked me. He’d stupidly set fire to my family’s bar and in the process had caught himself afire too. He’d died from the burns but, if he hadn’t, I could have promised him a death ten times more painful than the one he’d met with.
Bash had done an exceptional job as the Club’s president during all of the senator’s bullshit. His calm had been one of the reasons I’d wanted him to step into my shoes while I was in prison. That still hadn’t made seeing what was going on in the Club easy to watch from the outside. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, the Club was part of my soul and I was struggling to stay away.
Raven set a plate of pancakes, bacon, and eggs in front of me. Dropping the warmed maple syrup beside my plate, she gave me a soft kiss on the cheek before returning to the stove. “So…what exactly did you use against Flick to get her to come back with you?”
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I paused with my fork halfway to my mouth. I could have told Raven what I’d done and knew that she wouldn’t have told a soul, not even Bash if I asked her not to, but I didn’t want my sister dragged into the drama that was Flick’s and mine alone. Well, I guess Hawk’s too, but it wasn’t like the Club’s new VP was going to say shit about it. I was pretty sure that Gracie didn’t even know what Hawk had come to tell me when I’d still been in prison.
“It’s nothing,” I muttered before shoving the forkful of eggs and pancakes into my mouth.