CHAPTER TWO
Mouse
“Hey, man, got a minute?” Ky asked, catching me as I was about to head out.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Ingram’s coming home,” he said and I could hear a little hint of excitement in his voice.
I wasn’t sure what to think.
Life sort of paused for a second the moment those words filtered into my ears, but I couldn’t explain why.
Ingram and I hadn’t exactly kept in touch. Not really. Or that was what I liked to tell myself.
She’d sent me letters. And I had been a shitty person and rarely sent any back. I tried to keep them to myself and I was pretty sure the only person that had an idea about the letters was Iron. He’d caught the first few and passed them along to me with a look that made me uneasy. Let’s just say, I quickly started making sure I was the one grabbing the mail right after it was dropped off.
Truth was, it took me a long time to even open the first few that came in. I stuffed them in my top dresser drawer and let them pile up until one day I found myself desperate for something good. Something sweet. Something that was away from the chaos that surrounded the club.
And I may have started a letter to her more times than I could count. It always ended up in the trash. I spilled everything that was in my head in those letters and deep down I knew I’d never send them. They had a little too much in them, if you get what I was saying. The club shit, yeah, it wore me down and sometimes I needed someone to talk to that wasn’t knee deep in it. It turned out, I was really just talking to myself— well, writing. So yeah, there was no way that I’d send them. One, it was club business and that shit didn’t get shared. And two, Ingram didn’t need to be tainted by such things.
But I did end up writing a few that I could send to her. I felt like most of them were short and basically a penned version of a fake smile.
And I hated it.
Because she deserved better than that.
I didn’t like being fake with her. We may not have known each other all that long, but there was something about her that made me feel at ease. I was able to open up around her. I really liked the times I was able to spend with her and I considered her a good friend. And for some strange reason, I felt the need to protect Ingram and Chry with every piece of my soul. I told myself it was because she was Ky’s little sister, so it made her family. I’d do the same for any of the people I considered family.
“Oh, awesome,” I said as I snapped myself out of the weird vortex I’d slipped into. “I know you and Chris will be happy to have her and Chry home.”
“Yeah. Which is what I want to talk to you about. She wants to surprise Chris. So I have to plan a party and shit. All the while trying to keep it a secret.”
I let out a laugh.
“What you’re saying is that you desperately need help, huh?” I joked.
“I have no clue how to do this,” he said looking a little lost. “I want it to be big but still personal. I, um. Well, it’s going to be a big night.”
There was something he wasn’t telling me.
I looked at him with a raised brow but I could tell he wasn’t going to let it slip.
There were so many questions floating around in my head but I held back for some unknown reason.
Ingram was coming back— coming home. And it was shitty that I didn’t know how I felt about it. I shouldn’t have really been feeling anything at all. She was Ky’s sister and I should have been excited for him. And while I was, there was this little nagging feeling eating me up inside.
“Well,” I said and let out a deep breath. “Tell me what you need.”
So then he launched into some ideas that he had. I suggested that he have Chris cook dinner and a bunch of us come over like it’s a normal night at their house. He seemed to like that idea then asked what the hell should he tell Chris to cook.
“Her favorites,” I said like it should have been that simple to figure out.
I knew Ingram liked Chris’ cooking. She’d mentioned to me once and in one of her letters she told me she missed his tacos.
“So, it’s set. You’ll be there? Tuesday?” he asked, sounding more excited than I was used to.
“Me?” I asked and the shock was clear in my tone.
