this emergency church was being called, and why my granddad was involved, but it didn’t bode well. Life in an MC was fast and furious. It didn’t stop for anyone, and in the blink of an eye, a loved one could be in jail or in a coffin… or, could wind up like me.
I grabbed my drink and downed it before I took a seat. When I slipped into the booth, I looked them square in the eye and told them, “I claimed him.” I tipped my chin up at that, knowing what they’d think.
Sure, Ink had done most of the claiming to be fair, but they weren’t to know that, were they?
It didn’t stop them from scowling at me or cocking their brows my way. I scowled back, even cocked a brow too, until I almost laughed because I knew I had to look like that emoji, the one with the monocle.
Still, this wasn’t a laughing matter.
This was serious. This was the rest of my life on the line, and I wasn’t about to let things devolve just because they didn’t understand how things were.
“How did you claim him? Far as I know, a brother needs to do the claiming,” Saint replied with a sniff.
“Well, it didn’t work out like that for us.” Not a lie—I just didn’t mention that my grandfather had been the trigger. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. My relationship with Ink has nothing to do with you. Just as my relationship with each of you has nothing to do with any of you either.”
“That’s a mouthful,” Keys grunted, as he slurped on the remainder of his iced tea.
I frowned at him. “That’s all you have to say?” I heard the disappointment in my voice and was embarrassed by it.
“What do you want us to say?” Saint snapped, his hands balling into fists.
“That you want me as much as I want you, of course!” I snarled back at him, my hands slamming down on the table. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”
Keys wriggled on his seat. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Umm, I think I do.” I tapped my bottom lip. “Who’s the one who grew up with four dads, for God’s sake. If anyone would know, it’s me.” I covered the balled fist he’d rested on the table and murmured, “I want you all.”
“What if you can’t have us all?” Keys replied, his eyes dark as he stared up at me. “What if I don’t want this? What if Saint or Ink don’t either? We’re not all like your dads.”
The notion, genuinely, hadn’t come to me. I mean, why wouldn’t they want to be with me? We spent all our time together, were pretty much glued at the hip.
The agony from his words was like a knife to the throat, and trust me, I’d know that. Aaron had pressed a knife to my throat and had cut me there, pricked me just enough to make me comply, but the terror that he’d kill me? I remembered that, and that was how I felt now.
A tremor worked through me as I stared at him, unable to comprehend those questions.
He was right.
Categorically correct.
Just because I wanted something, didn’t mean he had to give it to me. Ink knew what I wanted, and maybe because he was older, had been through some stuff, knew what I’d gone through, maybe he was just willing to deal—
Maybe none of them wanted this way of life.
Not everyone was like my dads. I knew that some of the brothers were totally against the way four men as powerful as they only had one woman. A woman they were faithful and loyal to as well.
Some days, I thought that pissed them off even more.
The MC world could be a cruel and harsh one, especially where love was concerned.
I got to my feet and staggered away from them, unable to look them in the eye as my whole world came crashing down.
In my ignorance, hell, in my arrogance, I’d never really even given them a say in the matter. Even when I’d thought it would never happen, that was me being negative. In my heart of hearts, I’d always thought I’d turn them to the notion, but what if I couldn’t?
What if we were destined just to be friends?
What if I had to see other women take them as their old men? Have their babies? What if I had to watch their children, children who weren’t born of me, grow?