King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC #6)(31)

“Let me know when you’re ready to go,” I said. “I’ll be around the clubhouse all afternoon.”

“Thank you,” she said, like I’d given her the world.

I shook my head. “Don’t thank me, Nik. I put you and the kids in this position, and I fucking hate that I had to.”

Her smile lingered. “You really need to stop giving yourself a hard time over stuff. It’s not like you intentionally cause bad things to happen.”

“No, but I’ve made my choices in life and now I have to live with them. And unfortunately, they affect you guys.”

She placed her hand on my arm. “We might bitch and grumble at you, but deep down we don’t mean it. You have always been there for us, and the shit you’ve done to help won’t ever be forgotten. That’s family, right? We get each other through the crap, regardless of any bad decisions we might make along the way. God knows you’ve stood by me through all the bad choices I’ve ever made. I love you, big brother.”

I took all that, letting it sit in me. She was right—that was what family did.

Reaching for her, I curved my hand around the back of her head and pulled her to me so I could press a kiss to her forehead. Letting her go, I said, “Yeah, Nik, that’s family.”

She shooed me away after that and I headed towards Skylar’s room to give her the good news. After that was Kree, but I knew I was in for an argument there, so I chose to visit her last.

Right before I made it to Skylar, another text hit my phone.



Lily: You didn’t let me know about the beer.

Me: There’s plenty still there. You don’t need to get more

She took a moment to reply.



Lily: Oh ok. I just thought I’d keep the fridge stocked for you, but that’s fine if you don’t want more.



In my experience, women only used the word fine when they were shitty about something.



Me: Are you pissed at me?

Lily: I’m fine.



Something was off here, so I called. Fucking texts did my head in.

“Hi,” she said, short with me.

“Have we got a problem?”

Silence for a beat. “No.”

“Lily, don’t fuck me around. What’s wrong?”

“I’m not fucking you around,” she said sharply. “There’s nothing wrong.”

I scrubbed my hand over my face. This was the shit I didn’t deal well with when it came to women. The not fucking understanding them or the bullshit that came out of their mouths. “You asked me if I wanted more beer. I didn’t. And then fuck me, you’re shitty about something. What gives?”

“I got the wrong impression, that’s all. Can we just drop this?”

“What fucking impression did you get that was wrong?”

She huffed out a breath. “God, King, why are you being so difficult? Just let it go. It doesn’t matter.”

“Something you need to learn about me right now is that I don’t ever let shit go. Start fucking talking so we can fix this.”

Silence again, and then she finally started talking. “Fine. I thought that you coming over last night and again tonight meant you’d be around more. That made me think you might like some beer in the fridge. And I know there are a few bottles still in there, but I wanted to stock up for you so you don’t run out.”

“Jesus, woman, I’m not seeing the fucking problem here.”

“Well clearly you don’t plan on coming over as often as I thought if you think there’s enough beer in the fridge, so now I feel like an idiot for even mentioning it, okay?”

Fucking hell, this woman.

“First, let’s get something very clear between us—I do plan on coming over a fucking lot. Do not read between lines or twist shit I say in your head or do any of that overthinking bullshit women do. I plan on being at your dinner table and on your couch and in your bed as often as possible. Second, I’ll bring my own fucking beer. I appreciate the fuck out of the shit you do for me, but I take care of you. You don’t take care of me. We clear?” When all I got was the sound of her breathing, I growled, “Lily, are we clear?”

“Yes, we’re clear, but just so you know, if I wanna buy you some beer, I’m gonna buy you some fucking beer.”

Jesus fuck.

“I’ll be over at six.”

“Okay.” This came out a lot fucking softer than everything else she’d said, and it hit me in the gut. Lily’s brand of sweet was everything I’d never had, but exactly what I fucking wanted.





14





Lily





It was funny how, in the blink of an eye, life changed, and then in another blink of an eye, it changed again, and although some bad stuff had happened in there, I was running around with a huge smile on my face. Even while ranting at my kids on a crazy Saturday morning. Only one week had passed since Brynn was shot, and yet, so much had happened.

“Why can’t you just let me make my own choices for once?” Zara yelled at me as we stood in my bedroom arguing over her spending the day with her boyfriend.

I was half-naked, wearing only my bra and panties since she’d barged in while I dressed. Story of my life. “Zara, you are fourteen and lately you haven’t been showing me you’re capable of making good decisions. On top of that, how do you expect me to handle the messages I read on your phone from Sam when you refuse to enter into a conversation with me about them? They don’t encourage me to allow you anywhere near him.”