Wrecker sighed and grabbed the bottle from me. “Fine. I want you to head back to Kales Corners and keep an eye on Cora. I’ll try to work with the guys without calling them fucking idiots.”
I leveled my gaze on Wrecker and busted out laughing. “We both know that’s bullshit.” Wrecker was known for calling anyone and everyone a fucking idiot at one point or another.
“Yeah, yeah. Get the fuck out of here and keep an eye on the girls.” Wrecker filled his glass and tossed back another shot. “Call me Monday, and I’ll let you know if we need you back here. I know you got shit going on with your woman, so I’ll try to rely more on Nickel ‘til you get your shit straight.”
“Thanks, brother, but you know I’m here whenever you need me.”
He waved me off and lumbered back toward church where all of the guys were still waiting.
I inhaled deep on my cigarette and closed my eyes. The nicotine coursed through me, and I sighed deeply. This was shit, but we at least had a plan now.
Were we going to make any headway? Who the hell knew?
I had planned to spend the day in Weston, but now that someone had to be on Cora, and I was volunteered for that duty for the next three days, I needed to get back to Kales Corners.
The one good thing about keeping an eye on Cora was I was going to be close to Nikki, whether she liked it or not.
*
Chapter 16
Nikki
“Oh, I brought a game!”
Cora rolled her eyes and kicked her feet up on the couch. “Are we in first grade?”
Karmen ignored her and raced to the bedroom.
“I’m gonna order a pizza, but someone has to go pick it up.” I grabbed my phone and scrolled to the number for The Shack.
“They don’t even have pizza delivery in this town. How in the hell do you live here?” Cora complained.
“The pizza place is two blocks away. I can walk to get it.” I put the phone to my ear and waited for Pete or John to answer the phone. Yes, I was on first name basis with the pizza place.
Karmen came bounding out of the bedroom when Pete answered the phone. “Nikki,” he called. “The usual?”
Lordy. I had only been in town over a month, and I already had a usual order at the pizza place. “Um, yes, but double it.” If I could polish off a small extra cheese pizza by myself, I knew I was going to need more to feed us. “Actually, triple it.” It had been a few hours since the last time Karmen ate, and I knew she had to be close to starving.
“Ready in twenty minutes.”
I hung the phone up, checking the time. “I gotta leave in fifteen minutes. Who’s going to walk with me?”
“Not it,” Karmen and Cora called at the same time.
I rolled my eyes and set my phone on the counter. “You’re both fair weather bitches. I’ll go get the pizza by myself.”
“It’s only five minutes away,” Cora snickered. “Just take your car, and it’ll only take you two.”
Karmen held up a box and did a little shuffle. “Stop talking and look at me,” she hollered.
“What in the devil is that?” Cora squinted at the box and leaned forward. “Is that a box full of dicks?”
“Yup, sure is,” Karmen sang out as she lowered the box and took the cover off.
“You know, it’s always the pregnant ones that are freaks. Coming out here with a box of dicks,” Cora mumbled. She sat back on the couch and watched Karmen sit on the floor and pull some cards out of the box.
“It’s like the memory game where you have a bunch of cards in front of you, and you flip over two at a time trying to match them,” she explained.
“Um, yeah. But isn’t that with like fruit or something?” I asked.
“Yes, if you’re playing the kid version. This is the adult version.” She tossed the cover at me, and I caught it midair.
“Dick Match,” I read out loud. “Jesus, they will make a game out of anything, won’t they?”
Karmen tossed me a few cards, and I busted out laughing.
“What?” Cora demanded. “What the hell is so funny about a bunch of cards with dicks on them?”
I tossed her a card and watched her cheeks flush. “The fact they hilariously named them. Nothing like holding the Sergeant Penis in your hand, huh?”
Cora tossed it back at Karmen and slid off the couch to check out the rest of the cards. “This is hilariously gross,” she mumbled, inspecting another card. “Why do you think this one is called Steve?”
“Oh wait,” Karmen replied. “This one is Steve’s friend.”
“Yup, this isn’t strange at all, you guys.” I shook my head and headed into the kitchen. “I think this game calls for wine and snacks.” I grabbed one of the four bottles of wine we had bought at the store today and the extra-large tub of licorice Karmen had insisted we needed.
“Don’t forget my wine,” Karmen called.
I grabbed her bottle of non-alcoholic cranberry grape wine and three glasses. “I just don’t know why you didn’t buy grape juice?” I asked as I dropped down on the carpet next to them.
“Because this is fizzy, and juice isn’t. It mimics wine in a half-assed way.”
A knock sounded at the door, and we all looked at each other. “I thought you said they don’t deliver?”
“They don’t,” I mumbled as I stood up. “Did you call Nickel and tell him to come up here?”
“What? Hell no. This is a girls’ weekend. I told him I would see him Sunday afternoon,” Karmen insisted.
“Then who the hell is at the door,” I mumbled as I twisted the lock and unhooked the chain. I wasn’t afraid of Richard anymore, but I decided it never hurt to be safe.
I opened the door a crack and peeped out.
“Sugar.”
Oh hell. I really shouldn’t be surprised he was knocking on my door, but I was. I had figured that he was still in Weston, and had hoped he would stay there all weekend.
“Go away.”
A smirk spread across the hot idiot’s lips, and my icy demeanor melted a smidge. “I can’t. I’m here on club business.”
“What in the hell do I have to do with club business?” I swung the door wide open and propped my hand on my hip.
“Not you, her.” He nodded over my shoulder, and I looked at Karmen and Cora who were sprawled out on the floor with fifty dick cards surrounding them.
“Her who?” I asked. “Is something wrong with Nickel?”
“Nickel?” Karmen chirped. “I just texted him five minutes ago. Nothing is wrong with him.”
“Cora.”
“Oh man, what the hell now? Don’t tell me that overbearing bearded behemoth says I need to come back to that shit hole club,” Cora whined.
Pipe shook his head. “You don’t need to come back, but I do need to keep an eye on you while you’re here.”
I rolled my eyes and tried shutting the door. Pipe’s foot shot out and blocked the door. “You can keep an eye on her from your side of the duplex. We have no plans of leaving tonight,” I informed him.
“Well, Cora and I don’t plan on leaving. Nikki needs to go pick up our pizza.”
“Pizza?” Pipe tilted his head to the side. “I haven’t had dinner yet.”
“Oh really? Then I guess you better go fire up the microwave and eat whatever TV dinner you had planned for tonight.” I kicked at his foot, hoping to throw him off balance, but the man was like a damn rock.
“Still sassy as ever,” he mumbled low.
“Why don’t we make Pipe go get the food?” Karmen suggested.
“Because I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on Cora, not your pizza.”
“Details, details,” Cora muttered. “How about you go get your pizza, and then you can hang out with us tonight.”
“What?” I squawked. “He is not hanging out with us.”
“Then you have to change out of those bright ass leggings and haul your cookies to the pizza place in about thirty seconds,” Karmen laughed.
; “What’s wrong with my leggings? Leggings are pants.” I looked down at my legs and stepped back from the door.
Pipe pushed open the door and slammed it shut behind him. “You look hot, but you can’t wear those out of the house.”
“And why the hell not?”
“Because you may technically be covered from head to toe, but with those pants or whatever you called them, I can see every inch of your long, toned legs.” He leaned close and whispered in my ear. “I like ‘em though, sugar.”
“Whoa Lord. I felt that all the way over here.” Cora fanned herself with her hand. “My dry spell is catching up to me.”
Karmen cackled and looked down at the cards in front of them. “I’m sure looking at all of these dicks isn’t helping.” She held up a card. “I’m sure the Steve is all kinds of turning you on right now.”
Cora wrinkled her nose. “Lord help me, I hope I never meet another Steve in my life because all I’m going to picture is that card.”
“Can we focus for like two seconds? I’m not changing my pants, and since all three of you say I can’t leave the house in my leggings, then who is going to get the pizza?”
“Not it,” Cora and Karmen said in unison again. They were getting damn good at that.
“Jesus. Fine. I’ll go get the pizza, but I’m going to need your phone number.” Pipe looked down at me.
“What? Mine? Why me? You’re keeping an eye on Cora, not me.”
“I don’t have a cell phone,” Cora replied.
I’m pretty sure my eyes bugged out of my head, and my jaw dropped. “You don’t have a phone? How do you keep in contact with, well, anyone?” Was that even possible in this day and age?
“No phone, so you’re going to have to give him your number.” Cora shrugged her shoulders. “Sorry, chica.”
Pipe pulled out his phone and looked at me expectantly. I rambled off the number, and he punched it into his phone. “Where’s the pizza place?” he asked as he shoved his phone back in his pocket. “And, I need a car.”
“What, why? You can walk,” I insisted.
Karmen stood up, pulled her keys out of her pocket, and handed them to Pipe. “You can take mine.” Karmen looked at me and smiled. “It may only be two blocks away, but I wouldn’t want to walk that with a pile of pizzas in my arms either.”
She had a point, but Pipe was strong enough to walk with a few boxes in his arms. “Whatever,” I scoffed.”
“You need me to get anything else while I’m out?” He eyed the full bottle of wine on the floor. “I see you guys already started the party, so I’m your only chance to get something you forgot.”
I waved my hand at him and sat down next to Karmen. “We’re good. All we need is pizza.”
Pipe nodded and pocketed Karmen’s keys. “Try not to get into any trouble while I’m gone.”
“We managed all day without you,” Cora called. “I’m sure we’ll survive another ten minutes.”
Pipe shook his head and slipped out the door.
Karmen slugged me in the shoulder. “Good God, woman. You sure do know how to flip your bitch switch. I get you want the man to grovel, but you keep up the charade you want him gone, he might actually disappear.”
Cora grabbed the bottle of wine and the corkscrew. “She’s right. I know I told you to make the man grovel, but you have to remember, he’s a biker who thinks he calls the shots.”
I shook my head. “You were the one who said it was my turn to call the shots.”
Cora pulled the cork out and grabbed a glass. “I did say that, and you need to, but you need to do it in a way he thinks he is still calling the shots.” Cora filled a glass and handed it to me. “You’re gonna have to be smart about this, girl. You want that man no matter what bullshit you spew about hating him.”
I took a sip of my wine and swirled it around in the glass. “Okay, I don’t hate him, but come on, Cora, I caught him with another chick.”
She filled her glass and grabbed Karmen’s bottle of fake wine. “Lord, I gotta lay another truth on you.” She filled a glass for Karmen and handed it to her.
“Oh Lord, I think I know what you’re about to say, and now I feel like I need a real drink.” Karmen downed the glass in three swallows and held it to Cora for a refill. “Lay it on us.”
Cora rolled her eyes and filled Karmen’s glass again. “I feel like a damn bartender,” she muttered as she set the bottle down. “So, you weren’t dating him, Nikki. You guys were nothing. Sure, to you it was more, and it was more to Pipe, but he was too much of an idiot to see that. You had one night together, and a fuck of a lot of sexual tension, but you weren’t attached to him in any way.”
I ducked my head. “I know. Well, at least my head knows that. My heart hates him, and my body wants him.”
Karmen wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me to her side. “So, we just need to get your head, heart, and body on the same page. Easy peasy.”
I leaned my head on her shoulder. “I’m such an idiot. Why did I have to sleep with Pipe? If I had just ignored the damn man, none of this would have happened.”
“You don’t ignore a man like that,” Cora pointed out.
“You did.”
She shook her head. “I’m immune to all of these assholes because of my brother. I will never ever screw or date a guy who is part of an MC.”
“Hey, Nickel is pretty fantastic,” Karmen added.
“I’m not saying he isn’t. I’m just saying I don’t want a guy in an MC. Pipe is a pretty cool guy too, but again, just not the type of guy I want.”
“Maybe I’m the same. I’m not destined to be with a guy who is in an MC.”
Cora shook her head. “If that were the case, you never would have fallen into bed with him.”
I took a sip and looked to the side. “I didn’t fall into bed with him.”
“Oh really?” Karmen scoffed. “Just what exactly would you call it then?”
“Um, it was more like a push…up against the wall.” My cheeks heated, and I knew they were a lovely shade of pink.
“You dirty whore,” Cora cackled. “It’s always the quiet ones.”
“Pfft, Nikki is hardly a quiet one.” Karmen rolled her eyes and pushed me away.
“Hey,” I objected. “I’m not sure if I should be offended by that or not.”
Another knock sounded at the door. “Open up. This shit is hot,” Pipe called.
“Wow, that was quick.” Karmen popped up from the floor and opened the door.
“Jesus, you see how fast she got up when there was food at stake?” Cora laughed.
Karmen flipped us off and moved back to let Pipe in the door. “Y’all don’t even know what you’re talking about. I’m not kidding when I say this kid has complete control over me.”
“That’ll last for at least eighteen years,” Pipe mumbled. He dropped the pizza on the counter. “Holy fuck, that shit is molten. What the hell did you order?”
“Three cheese pizzas with extra cheese, and breadsticks.” I opened the box on top, and my stomach growled. “Lots of breadsticks with extra garlic.”
Pipe waved his hand in front of his face. “We won’t have to worry about vampires for the next ten years,” he mumbled.
“Oh my God, that smells heavenly.” Karmen slammed the door and floated over to the pizza. “I need a plate in my hand, or I’m going to just take a whole box for myself.”
“Well, that was the plan until you guys invited Pipe over, so now we need plates.”
Karmen grabbed a box from the bottom, flipped it open, grabbed four breadsticks, throwing them on top of the pizza, and sat down. “You mean you guys are going to need plates. I don’t.”
“Oh hell,” Cora mumbled. “I like the way you think.” Cora shot up from the floor, grabbed a box just like Karmen did, and tossed some breadsticks on top. “Looks like you two are going to have to share.” She tossed a wink at me over her shoulder and plopped down on the couch next to Karmen.
And th
at is when I realized my friends were traitors.
“Oh, my God, my brain is screaming feed me, and my body is like hell yes.” Karmen lifted a breadstick to her lips and winked. “Thank God they are on the same page.”
Such a bitch. “I need to find new friends.”
Pipe smiled at me, and I had to fight my body from moving into him. “I’ll get a plate, and you can have the box. Or vice versa. Whatever works for you, sugar.”
What worked for me was Pipe grabbing a few slices of pizza and heading back to his place to eat them. “I’ll get a plate. I’m not that hungry.” I had been starving half an hour ago, but now my appetite had vanished, and my stomach was in knots.
Everything Cora had said about Pipe rattled around in my head as I grabbed a plate and then nabbed two pieces of pizza.
“You sure that’s all you want?” he asked as he eyed my plate. “From the smell coming off this pizza, I know as soon as I get a bite in my mouth, I’m not going to be able to stop.”
I gulped and nodded. “I’m good.” I was far from being good, but Pipe didn’t need to know I was thinking about all the things I’d like him to do with his mouth and never stop.
“What the hell kind of game were you guys playing?” Pipe kicked at the cards on the floor and stretched out next to them. He set down the box of pizza and picked up one of the cards. “What the fuck?” he flipped it around and held it up. “What the fuck is a Steve penis?”
Karmen busted out laughing, and I couldn’t help but smile. “That’s Cora’s next boyfriend.” I sat down in the recliner and balanced my plate in my lap. “Although, I think she liked the Duke of Wellington.”
Cora snickered. “Would that make me a duchess then?”
Karmen choked on her pizza, and Cora even got a chuckle out of Pipe.
Pipe tossed the card on the floor and shook his head. “So this is what a girls’ night looks like, huh? I’ll have to let the boys know there aren’t naked pillow fights.”
Pipe (Fallen Lords MC Book 2) Page 9