CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ingram
I kissed Chry goodbye and thanked Chris for watching him for a few hours. Then I was out the door. It was one of my days off and I was going shopping with the girls. Poor Laurel said that she desperately needed new clothes because her belly was growing so fast. I could only imagine how big her baby must be, B-ry wasn’t exactly a small man.
I was excited. I’d never really had friends before, let alone girlfriends I could go shopping with. I knew going in that I wasn’t going to go crazy, but I was hoping that I might find a few new dresses.
Most of us met up at the compound and because B-ry was so overprotective, he had— not one, but two— prospects go with us. I didn’t really know these guys but I figured it was alright. Besides, everyone else didn’t seem fazed by it.
To be honest, there were a lot of new faces since I’d come back. Some people that had been prospects before, now had new patches on their cuts. I didn’t even know what a prospect was. I mean, given the name, I could only guess that it was like someone that was a potential member.
I didn’t think it mattered all that much though.
We were getting driven around in one of the club SUVs and it was kind of cool. Almost like we had a chauffeur or something. One that wore faded jeans and a leather vest.
I almost giggled out loud at the thought.
“There is this cute boutique I want to show you,” Laurel said once we were all seated in the SUV and on our way. “They have all these cool accessories. All handmade by local metalsmiths, too.”
To that, my eyes lit up with excitement.
I didn’t have many accessories. My ears weren’t even pierced. But I sometimes wished that I had a few delicate necklaces and bracelets to break up things.
“And there is this new baby store that just opened up a few blocks from that too,” she went on.
They continued to chat but my mind started to drift off.
It had been a couple of months now since Mouse and I started this whole friend thing over again.
Things were actually really good. He was sweet and there for me. He listened when I had a bad day. Chry was with him at least three days a week but Mouse never seemed to mind at all. I could see the love he had for Chry. It was practically bursting out of him.
On nights when I got off early, we would hang out and the three of us would eat dinner at the compound with everyone else. It was great because there was never a lack of conversation.
I was slowly getting to know all the members, or brothers as they called each other. I loved it. I was also taking the time to get to know how everything worked within the club. I mean, not in great detail, of course, but I was catching onto most of the ins and outs. I also quickly learned the dos and don’ts. There was much to learn but I figured the more I was around it, the more it would become like second nature.
As the days slipped by, I realized that things were just the way they should have been.
I was happy. Like really, truly happy.
The vehicle stopped, jolting me out of my head and I instantly looked around. This was what they called the downtown area of the city with all the cute restaurants and shops.
As we got out, so did the prospects. They followed us from shop to shop but didn’t hover over us, which was nice.
“Oh, this would look so good on you,” Bridget said as she held up a flowy dress that looked like it would stop right above my knee. There were little buttons all the way down the front.
“I like that,” I said as I lifted the hanger out of her hand. I held it up to me in front of the huge mirror in the corner.
“That color looks good with your skin tone. And really makes your eyes pop,” Cami said as she stepped up beside me.
It was true. The light teal was a beautiful contrast against my darker skin tone and deep brown hair.
They all excitedly urged me to try it on.
Only I learned that it was a trap because once I got into the dressing room, Abigail and Laurel went crazy with bringing me things to try on. They were also doing it to Claire and Cami. Which made me feel a little less like they were trying to tell me that my clothes were awful.
“Yes!” Laurel blurted out enthusiastically when I popped out of the tiny room wearing one of the dresses she’d tossed at me. “That looks really good.”
“Yeah, you need to get that,” Gwen said with a big nod. She had met up with us not long after we arrived here.
