“She did,” I said without adding how impressed I was. How her skills and her calm under pressure had left me in awe.
“You gonna let her walk away?”
My chest tightened at yet another reminder that letting Viv walk away was a bad fucking idea. But they didn’t have the whole picture. “You all seem to think I got some kind of control over what Viv does. Newsflash, I don’t.”
He shrugged off my words. “You could try,” he said as if it was that fucking simple. “The boy needs a mother.”
I frowned. “There are plenty of women around here.” It seemed like every few months another woman came around. And stayed.
Hades snorted. “Yeah, true, but most of ‘em already have kids. Unless you plan to just work one of the shops like Dagger.” One of the few single dads in the MC, Dagger had spent most of his days at the tattoo shop until he fell for an elementary school teacher.
“Fuck that,” I grumbled and shook my head. I didn’t mind sliding under a car, fixing it, or customizing it, same with a bike, but punching a clock every fucking day for the rest of my life? No thank you.
“Then, I don’t know, maybe see what you can do to keep her around.” He stared at me, waiting for a response I didn’thave to give. “I remember how you were when she was around. You weren’t the same manwhore, you were, I dunno all googly eyed and shit.”
I laughed. “I have never been googly eyed.”
Hades shrugged. “I said what I said.”
“Asshole,” I grumbled.
“Look, I know this shit is fucked right now but you’ve got us. If you want her to stick around, fight to make it happen. Rather heal from rejection than regret being a pussy.” With those words of wisdom, he ruffled TJ’s hair and walked away.
“Everybody has advice for me today, little man.” was All of it unsolicited, and I had no fucking clue to do with any of it.
In response, TJ curled into my chest, wrapping his arms around my neck as if he knew I needed comfort.
The tiny weight of him instantly soothed the ache inside of me. I wasn’t sure yet what to do about Viv, but Raven was right, I couldn’t let him grow up thinking she’d abandoned him.
I don’t know how long we’d been sitting like that, just me and him, when a shadow appeared over us and I looked up to find Viv standing there looking casual in jeans and a t-shirt that showed off her curves. She was thinner than when I’d last seen her but still a fucking knockout. Her expression was carefully blank, shoulders set in a determined square and lips pursed as if this was a business meeting. “I’ll take him now,” she said robotically as she reached for him.
My grip tightened on my son. “I can handle him. I have to get used to this, don’t I, if you’re just gonna fuck off again?”
Her eyes flickered and she winced, taking a step back as if my words were a physical blow. I almost apologized but the truth was the truth, no matter how much it hurt. She quickly smoothed her expression until she found her calm and cool place once again. “You have a club meeting soon.”
I opened my mouth to ask her how in the hell she knew my business, but T-Bone appeared first, his expression wary as it bounced between us. “Meeting. Now.”
To her credit, Viv’s expression didn’t change. She didn’t say ‘I told you so’, or even smirk knowingly at me. She simply waited with her arms extended until I placed TJ in them.
Our eyes clashed for a long moment and even though no words were spoken, I knew without a fucking doubt, the chemistry, the connection, thefirewas still there.
Still burning.
Whether either of us wanted it or not.
Chapter Eight
Vivian
Day four in Steel City with the Steel Demons MC felt more like day twenty-eight.
Each hour that passed felt like the walls were closing in on me. I laid on the bed and stared up at the freshly painted ceiling that was so out of place with the worn décor and furnishings that I started wondering what happened to prompt a new paint job. It was another thought to distract me from everything else that was going on in my life. Four days since I stepped back into the state where my life had fallen apart and then changed forever with one little white stick.
Four days under the watchful and suspicious eyes of Falcon’s brothers, friends, and family. Four days of cold stares, overheard whispers, and conversations that stopped when I entered a room. The walls that were meant to be my refuge slowly started to feel like a prison, or maybe a cage was a better word. I wasn’t locked up but I was trapped.
They were grateful that I’d helped out after the bombing. But I knew that underneath that gratitude they held me responsible, and while I was living here, I was making the clubhouse a target.
I wished I could at least get out. Helping after the explosion made me realize just how much I’d missed being able to practice medicine. But it wasn’t as if I could sign on with an agency and get work. The Russians would find me immediately, which was bad enough, but this was James’ stomping groundand if he learned I was back, my trouble would only increase. So I pretended I was okay with the boredom, that the whispers didn’t bother me. I’d repeated those words so many times in the last four days that it was starting to sound like a mantra.
