Sketch: A Steel Paragons MC Novel (The Coast: Book 12) Read online

We finally got Beau settled on his little play area on the floor. By his droopy lids, I didn’t think the kid would be up much longer. Then Claire and I dug into the food and had ourselves a good ole time.

  It felt right and I promised myself that I wouldn’t let so much time go between hanging out with her.

  Tonight had been what I needed even though I hadn’t come here for some kind of answer or clarity or some shit.

  Maybe Claire was right, that I wasn’t as bad as I let myself think I was. That I had some redeeming qualities and maybe was even good enough to have something more in life.

  That maybe despite all the shit I’d been through, I could be the man that Melissa deserved.

  And fuck yeah, that felt good.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Sketch

  “Hey, yo, Tripp,” I called out trying to stop him when I saw him hop on his bike. “Wait up!”

  He swung his leg back over and waited for me to jog closer.

  “What’s up?” he asked, brow raised as if he had an idea of what might be coming.

  I wasn’t sure how to do this shit.

  But I’d managed to find my balls, give them a good tug, and man the fuck up.

  Because there was something I wanted but I wasn’t going to put my club out to get it. I had to believe that there was a way for this all to work out, I just had to make it happen.

  “I wanna date your moms,” I said as I looked him dead in the eye.

  I didn’t think it was possible, but that brow raised even higher.

  “Pretty sure it’s a little late for this conversation,” he said flatly. What he wasn’t saying was that since I’d slept with her I’d already crossed the line. There was no going back, so the only thing I could think to do was earn some of his respect for this situation.

  “Look,” I said, hands up like I was surrendering. “I know I’m a fuck up and I’m a joke. But I really like Melissa and I think we got something good. I don’t want her to feel like she’s gotta choose between us, because that just ain’t right. Besides, we both know who’d she’d choose and I wouldn’t try to stop her.”

  That was the damn truth.

  I knew if it came down to it, I’d come out the loser. Everything she’d ever done— whether she realized it or not— was for Tripp. Was to make sure he had the love and affection he needed. She might not have shot him out her coochie, but she saw him as her own. That was something I admired and damn well respected. No way in fuck would I shit on that.

  So that only left one thing, to make sure she didn’t have to choose.

  He seemed to soften a touch at my words. His stance relaxed and as his chin dropped to his chest, he shook his head.

  I could tell he didn’t really know what to say.

  “I care about her,” I blurted out. I might have sounded a little desperate right now but I wanted him to fully understand what I was getting at here. That was as close as I’d get to sayin’ how I really felt. I couldn’t think about it too much without all the fear and shit slipping in too. “I do. I really fuckin’ care about her. I didn’t think it was possible for me to feel this way. And I never woulda thought someone could want me, especially not someone like her, all warm and sweet and caring. But she wants me. Like even the real ugly parts, and she never made me feel like I was a piece of shit.”

  “You’re not—”

  “Nah, don’t. I know I’m not the most badass here. I know I got shit I need to work on. Hell, I won’t even deny that I’m fucked up in the head. But the thing is, she makes me feel okay that I’m not perfect. More than that, I want to give her everything. I want to be the man that she’s happy to come home to at night.”

  “Fuck,” he breathed out.

  “I know it’s weird—” I started only to be cut off by him.

  “You got that right.”

  “But I just want to put it out there and make sure we’re good.”

  “If I say we’re good, will you stop talking before you say something I really don’t need to hear?”

  “Like what? How sweet your mom’s—” I started and was waiting for that moment for him to cut me off.

  “I swear to God, Sketch, I will cut your tongue out,” he growled. Yeah, he was not happy.

  “Pancakes are,” I finished like I was ignoring him. “Man, she sure can cook. You’re one lucky fucker to grow up with that.”

  “I fucking hate you,” he said, but he was smiling… a little. I was gonna count that tiny twitch of his lips as a smile.

  He punched me in the shoulder and I laughed hard.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” he told me, his face all serious-like. “She’s an adult, and despite how you come off, so are you. I don’t want to hear about it. And I sure as hell am not calling you daddy.”

  “That’s some fuckin’ weird shit, bro. Nah, I’m good on that one.”

  “Keep her happy and we won’t have a problem.”

  “I can do that.” I flashed him a wide smile.

  He shook his head and blew out a long breath as his chin dropped to his chest again.

  “Fuckin’ weird,” he muttered, then turned and mounted his bike again. With a chin jerk, he brought his baby to life and rode away.

  All sorts of things started to flow into my mind like crazy.

  This shit was on.

  I was going to start treatin’ her right and showing her the life.

  What the fuck the life was, well, I didn’t have the first damn clue.

  What had I learned from my brothers?

  Yeah, that was a good place to start.

  Rule one, put the bitch on the back of your bike and claim her.

  That meant you owned her ass.

  Though, if you looked around, you’d soon tell that it wasn’t the brothers that did the owning. Nah, every single one of them had their nuts held by the one they were in love with. Lookin’ at it, it didn’t seem like such a bad thing. If I had to hand my nuts over to Melissa to have her for life, then it was a small price to pay. I’d even tie a little ribbon around them so she could dangle them from her purse.

  Then what?

  I didn’t think that could be all that there was to it.

  I was seriously missing a bunch of stuff.

  Eh, fuck it.

  I rode my ass out to the beach, hoping I’d figure it out before I got to her place.

  “Sketch?” She looked all cute and confused when she opened the door to see I was standing there.

  “Yeah. Sup, my little PP,” I said. I tossed it out there going for casual but it was a little weird. Most of the brothers had cute pet names for their women, so I figured I’d try it. Kind of a last-minute thing there and I can see where I’d gone wrong.

  “PP?” she asked almost sounding like she was scared to know.

  “Yeah, like Peach Pie. ‘Cause that’s what your pussy tastes like to me. And I love peach pie. Didn’t want to give you something generic. I guess PP could stand for Peach Pussy too.”

  “Um, maybe try again,” she told me looking all unhappy-like. Damn, she didn’t like it.

  “Anything I come up with probably ain’t gonna be something you like.”

  Her head nodded slowly and her lips were set in a line like she’d already figured that would be the case.

  “I’ll work on it,” I told her with a shrug. I was diggin’ Peach Pussy now that I’d said it out loud, but I had a good feeling that was more on the offensive side of things.

  Classy, remember. She needed something better.

  “Come on,” I said and grabbed her wrist, letting the pet name thing go for now. Besides, there was something more important that had to be taken care of.

  “Wait!” she screeched and dug her heels in.

  “What?” I asked and now I was the one that sounded confused.

  “First off, I need to get my keys and lock up.” Oh, that was a good point. “I also need to get dressed. Where are we going?”

  Guess I got ahead of myself there.

  �
��I don’t know,” I said with a jerky shrug. “Just gotta get you on my bike.”

  “What? Sketch, what is going on?” The way she was staring at me made me wonder if I’d lost my mind. It certainly seemed that she thought I had.

  “Bike, woman. What’s not to get about it?”

  “Okay.” Her hands went up like she was giving in. “Give me a minute to get ready.”

  So, I did. I paced right inside the door as I waited. Didn’t take her long but it felt like it to me. I had to make this shit happen now.

  She came out wearing jeans that looked hot as fuck on her.

  Damn. Maybe we should stay here instead of taking a ride.

  No.

  I had to do this.

  I waited while she pulled some shit out of her purse and shoved whatever it was into her pockets.

  Then I was practically dragging her out of the house and down the stairs.

  “Sketch, I’m a little worried. Where’s the fire?”

  “No fire. Not that I know of anyway. I just gotta get you on here.” I tossed my leg over and dropped down. “Just climb on behind me.”

  She stood there blinking at me.

  What was she waiting for? Most bitches I’d known were beggin’ to ride bitch, but here she was, making me feel like I was the weird one in this situation.

  “Helmet?” she asked sounding a bit unhappy.

  “Oh, right.” I snatched my brain bucket up and plopped it on her head, then tightened it so it was snug. Well, snug-ish. “Gotta protect that pretty head.”

  I smiled and she seemed to relax a little.

  Then she climbed on. It was a little rocky, but eventually, she settled behind me.

  “Ha ha!” I called out in victory. “You’re my bitch now!”

  “What the hell, Sketch?!” I didn’t get why she sounded a little pissed.

  “I mean… You’re on my bike and it’s like a thing. Special and shit. Ain’t no one ever gonna be there but you.”

  I craned my neck so I could look at her over my shoulder.

  I couldn’t read much from her face.

  Then she leaned in and kissed me!

  I guess that meant I did something right.

  It was a real sweet kiss and I was starting to think I liked those the best, even though there wasn’t any tongue.

  Maybe I just liked kissing her, period.

  Yeah, that was it.

  “You could have just said you want me,” she said quietly, her eyes staring deeply into mine.

  “Yeah, but that sounds too easy and boring. You sure that’s all I gotta do?”

  “Yeah,” she whispered with a small smile. “I like you enough to be your bitch.”

  My jaw fell open and sat there in shock for a few long seconds.

  Damn, this woman.

  The look she was giving was playful and that little glint in her eyes told me she was full of sass right now. Hot sass. Like I was about to jump off this bike and take her right here.

  Once what she’d said really settled in, I let out a laugh. It seemed to go on for a long fucking time and I couldn’t honestly remember a time that I’d felt like this. Light. Carefree. And the world or my past didn’t weigh me down for a good long minute. Yeah sure, I joked. I messed around. I kept shit light and funny ‘cause I didn’t want people to see what was really going on inside of me. But this was different.

  “I don’t know what to do,” she told me after my laughter quieted.

  “Wrap them sexy arms around me and hold on,” I directed her.

  It didn’t matter where we were going. Hell, I didn’t think I wanted to have a destination in mind. I liked having her behind me. Liked knowing that she trusted me enough.

  So for now, I was just gonna ride and enjoy every fuckin’ minute of it.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Sketch

  “Doin’ alright, C-money?” I asked Cami as I flopped down on the couch between the booths. We were the only two souls in the shop right now.

  She was curled up on the other side looking as if she was ready for a nap.

  “Yes,” she replied with a sweet, but tired, smile. “I’m kind of glad it’s quiet today, though.”

  That made one of us. I hated sitting around. Hated not having something to focus on. But I guess the break was good too. I really shouldn’t have been complaining. It wasn’t like we got days like this that often around here. With Brand and Blade gone dealing with club shit for a couple of days, I should have been thanking my lucky stars that we didn’t have people lining up to get ink.

  Cami let out a big yawn and tried her hardest to blink herself awake.

  “Why don’t you go on upstairs and take a nap,” I suggested. “I can watch the shop.”

  Cami and Brand lived above the shop. I’d been up there a couple of times but tried to keep out for the most part. It was their space and the last thing they needed was me intruding on their private, quiet time.

  “No,” she said with another yawn. “You know as soon as I head up there, it will get busy.”

  That was when the damn bells on the front door gave a little jingle letting us know that someone had come in.

  She shot me a look as if to say I told you so as I jumped to my feet.

  It didn’t take me two steps to realize who’d walked through the door, though she looked nothing like the person I’d once known. I hadn’t seen a lot of her since I left the streets, but I’d seen enough to know that she wasn’t the same. It killed me and I blamed myself for a lot of it.

  “Vass?” I asked as I tentatively took a step in her direction.

  She hung back, standing just a foot inside the doorway, makin’ me question if it was even her I was seeing.

  Her hair hung in stringy clumps in her face. Dirt clung to her skin and clothes. Those were expected, those were the type of things I was too familiar with. But the way her arms were wrapped around her body in a protective way and the fact that she wouldn’t look up to meet my eyes, yeah, that shit wasn’t right.

  She used to be so vibrant. She wouldn’t let anything get her down and she spread that all around. She would make the best of what little we had. She made everyone around her look on the bright side.

  She always had a smile on her face.

  But that smile wasn’t there now.

  It hadn’t been the last couple of times I’d seen her either.

  She’d lost that little part of her. That part I’d tried so hard to protect.

  And I knew enough to catch on to the fact that she’d taken up with Monty after I’d left. Only it didn’t look like he was takin’ care of her so well.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked flatly.

  Her face tilted up and that was when I saw the puffy lip that was still split and bleeding.

  Cami sucked in a quick breath behind me. I heard her get to her feet and rush in Vass’ direction. She was that kind of person, always there for the ones she loved. Never hesitated to step up and protect us. And it was clear that I knew Vass, so in Cami’s mind, that meant Vass was like family.

  But she wasn’t.

  Because I didn’t know her anymore.

  And that thought killed me.

  My arm shot out, stopping Cami from walking in front of me. Don’t ask me why, but I wasn’t taking the chance on something happening to Cami. Not until I knew more. Like why the fuck she was here.

  “Monty’s gone crazy,” Vass said. She started to shake and I saw the tears in her eyes. “He… he’s outta his mind. I didn’t know where else to go.”

  “Fuck,” I spat out. “Come on.” I motioned for her to sit on the couch in the front corner of the shop. “Let me look.”

  “Do you have something to eat?” she asked as she sat.

  “Cami, can you see what we got in the back?”

  “Why don’t you go get her something from across the street,” Cami suggested.

  Nah, I couldn’t. I wasn’t supposed to leave Cami in the shop by herself. Couldn’t let anything ever ha
ppen to her.

  “Sketch, I’ll be fine. You should get her some muffins.”

  She was probably right, muffins would have been better than the shit we had in the back. Woulda bet there was nothing but candy back there anyway.

  See, I was onto Cami. She was sending me out because she could feel the tension locking up my body all tight-like. Cami wanted a moment alone with Vass to see if she could get her cleaned up or whatever.

  “Yeah, alright,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”

  So I ran out of the shop and across the street to the little bakery on the other side.

  Sugar Titties.

  Ha!

  I knew it wasn’t called that, and Didi was a sweet girl. I didn’t mean no disrespect. But it kind of got stuck in my head after the first time I’d called it that and well, that was what it was now.

  “Hey, Sketch!” Didi said all perky-like. Damn, that woman was always on. Cute and a little ditzy, but I liked her. Liked her sweets even more. I would have said I was addicted. No shame. “Need an afternoon pick-me-up?”

  “Hell, yeah, baby. Get me some muffins and three of those blueberry turnovers.”

  “Okay, I have cinnamon muffins. A few blueberry ones. Or…” She looked like she was making sure she saw them all. “Banana nut. But I only have one of those left.”

  “Give me that and two cinnamon ones.”

  “You got it,” she said with a smile as she started packing shit up.

  I turned my attention out the windows that lined the front of the bakery. I couldn’t see inside my shop with the glare, but I didn’t stop trying.

  “Here you go,” Didi said, nearly causing me to jump as she shoved the box at my face, but in a sweet way.

  “Thanks,” I muttered as I reached into my pocket.

  “No,” she said stopping me. I looked up at her with a confused expression. “You always overpay me. Just take it, please.”

  “Uh, yeah, okay.” I shrugged. I always just slapped down money and left. Never thought about it. I liked her shit and I sure as hell didn’t want to see her closing up shop. “Thanks. See you tomorrow.”

  I rushed out the door and back to the shop.