Page 62 of Make or Break

“Don’t sweat it,” I said, pushing my chair under the table and grabbing my plate, napkin, and coffee cup.

I put my breakfast dishes on her nightstand, and quickly but quietly closed the door behind me and stood to the side so my feet wouldn’t be seen in the crack between the floor and door.

“To what do I owe the honor,” I heard her say.

“There’s no need for the attitude, Mick,” one of her brothers said.

I could usually tell them apart if I saw them talking, but from their voices alone - that wasn’t something I could pull off.

The thought of voices made me yank my phone off my hip and set it to silent mode.

“You and Ivy say I need to let the age thing go, and I’m going to do my best to stop worrying about it,” Nickel said.

“To be fair, I get it. Lark’s choices had consequences last year, but most of the time that stuff doesn’t happen.”

“Yeah. Before we table this, what is the deal with you and Tundra?”

I wished I had a view of the room right now. Did she freeze just then? The three of them were incredibly close. I had to figure Nickel could read her like nobody else - besides Ricochet.

“There is no deal with me and Tundra.”

“Mick, get real. He tore out of the clubhouse like his life depended on it when you took Ivy out to that farmhouse, and he followed you to the truck stop when you dropped her off. He obviously cares about you.”

That was a fuckin’ understatement.

“Is that a problem? For him to care about me revisiting the scene of a crime, and maybe putting myself in danger, though I will point out all of you brothers overreacted on that one.”

“It wasn’t overreacting. If anyone had been there, and Tundra hadn’t caught up with you, who the hell knows what would have happened.”

“Nothing happened, other than him reaming me out, and I was pissed as fuck about it afterwards.”

“Yeah, now he’s single again, and you’ve been scarce around here. Ricochet told me about the call he had with you on New Year’s day. So, who are you seeing on the sly?”

“It’s not on the sly. It’s just new, and I’m not gonna have the two of you intimidating someone I’m seeing.”

“It’s not Tundra though, right?”

“I thought you were letting the age thing go.”

Fuck. She shouldn’t have said that.

“This isn’t about age. Okay, it’s about that, but also the fact you’re our sister. You should be off-limits.”

“Ha!” she belted out.

“Mick, I’m being serious.”

“Believe me, so am I. Don’t I get to determine when I’m off-limits? And don’t bother to answer that. So, if Volt’s son, or Brute’s son is suddenly interested in me, what then? Should they lose their patch? Kicked out of the brotherhood unceremoniously?”

Dammit, she was overdoing this.

“I don’t fuckin’ know, Mick. This is why I don’t like hypothetical questions. You aren’t involved with either of them, but Tundra forcing the issue of you knowing your own mind didn’t sit right last night either.”

“Yeah, well, that’s on you, Ryan. If I find a man who makes me happy, that should matter more to you than whether he’s two years older than me or thirty-two years older than me. That was the issue at hand last night.”

“I can see you’re upset.”

“Can you, now?”