“Finally! You’ve got some fucking explaining to do, asshole!” Micro stormed over to us, snatching the clothes and tossing them into the car.
“Move faster. I need this place empty for final checks before we trash it.”
I stared at him, feeling a little out of place, since I’d walked out and all. What was the protocol for facing my former Pres in this situation? Did I just get to come back, or did I have to jump through some hoops first.
“I uh…”
“Yeah, yeah. A conversation for later. You two are staying at Harley’s flat until we get the temporary stuff in.”
What?
“What about him?”
Micro rolled his eyes. “Obviously he’s staying with Caroline. He practically lives with her now. We kept his place open for when you came back.”
Holy fuck. I was away from here, imagining they’d all just forgotten me the instant I left, and here they were proving just the opposite.
“I’m sorry.”
Micro nodded. “So am I. Shit happened, and a lot of people got hurt. Here’s the thing, you can’t be here right now. You’re not wearing your cut. Club rules.”
I glanced back at my room, realising I hadn’t seen it. Had she packed it?
“I can… where is it? I’ll put it back on.”
Micro shook his head. “Nope. Not gonna be that easy. You’ll earn it back, but for now, go. Get out so we can do all the final checks and stuff. The demo party has to happen this time, we’re already losing money on the hired fucking equipment.”
He pushed me toward the car, as V loaded another batch of stuff, and closed the boot.
“But… what about my cut?”
He shoved me again. “Go. We’ll discuss that later. You’ll get it back, but it’s not just a matter of ‘oh I’m back, gimme my cut’. You walked out on your club, man.”
Fuck. What if they found some reason not to let me back?
“Here are Harley’s keys. The place is furnished, but he’s still got some of his stuff there. He said to work around it, but use it as long as you want,” he frowned, “I’m sure there was somecomment about not fucking on his kitchen counters, but yeah… whatever.”
I caught V’s giggle as she slid into the driving seat.
“Pres?”
Micro lifted his eyebrows, waiting for I don’t know what. What was I about to say? I’m sorry? I fucked up? I want to come home? I sighed.
“Thanks.”
He nodded. “You can come back for the demo party, and we’ll talk then.”
Harley’s place was okay.A bit sparse, and too dimly lit for my liking, but maybe that’s because my work routinely strained my eyes so I needed more light to do things. V stood in the middle of the living space, her arms wrapped around her, and she looked so fucking lost. I had a feeling she was still processing my return, or all the things she wanted to scream at me.
I couldn’t fucking handle it. I walked over and wrapped my arms around her from behind, holding her against my front while she stared at god knows what, finally relaxing in my hold. I should have turned her to face me, but I just wanted to hold her however she’d let me.
“V, I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you, I just… guess I don’t really expect to matter to anyone, but it still hurts when it’s actually happening.”
She spun in my hold, her eyes on mine, but there was no ferocity or anger, nor was there that fragility that I’d put there.
“It wasn’t though. If… if this is going to work with us, you need to wait, and listen, and talk things through. Storming off withoutgiving me a chance to speak is like throwing me away. I won’t let you do it twice. I’ve been hurt too, okay? This isn’t just about the failed relationship you had, it’s about mine as well. Ted destroyed me, and it wasn’t until I lost you that I realised how much you’d been doing to stitch together my broken parts, and… at the same time, you broke each of them into smaller pieces when you left me.”
Jesus. “I know. I’m sorry. I broke us both when I ran. I won’t do it again, babe, I’m never fucking running from you again.”
