“Why don’t you give Dakota a hard time then? You sure as hell give me one.” Why are
Brick shook his head and leaned in close. “I love you like you were my own son, Nico, but I know how you were before you got with my daughter, hell, how a lot of guys are at that age.”
Yeah, Nico had slept around before he made it official with Alexis, and that wasn’t to say he wasn’t ashamed of the girls he had been with before he got with his girl. But that was two years ago, and even though he had loved Alexis for longer than he could even remember, that didn’t mean he thought it was best to pursue her, or that he had a chance. She was off-limits to the guys in the club, to the guys associated with the club, to the kids of the club—fuck, to the male population in general.
“She loves you with all of her heart, and you love her with a fierceness that even my bear recognizes.” Brick stared at Nico. “And that scares the shit out of me, Nico.”
“You, scared?” It was almost laughable, but the look Brick gave him told Nico to shut the fuck up.
“I just don’t want to see my little girl hurt. That’s all, and I know you’re the only person that could really do that.”
Damn, he had never seen this side of Brick before. “I’d never hurt her. I’d rather rip my own fucking heart out.”
Brick grunted and nodded. “Good.” He clapped him on the shoulder and turned to head back to the MC members. Dallas, Stinger, Court, Diesel, and even Nico’s dad were all in a semicircle sharing old “war” stories. Nico looked back at Alexis, saw that she was watching him with an almost worried expression on her face. He knew she had seen him talking to her dad. He shook his head and stood, about to show her how much he loved her in the most basic of ways.
****
The music was loud, the voices all around her boisterous, and the beer she was drinking made its way through her body. It had to be one in the morning, and all the parents had gone into the clubhouse to let them party. Maybe they knew they were drinking, but if they did they hadn’t come out and busted them. Then again it wasn’t like Alexis or the other kids that had stayed behind for the party were doing it out in the open, or going anywhere. Most of them were inside the massive garage right now. There were a few Harleys that were on blocks and partially torn apart, and a couple more that were in the process of being restored to their original condition. The members of The Grizzly MC didn’t just kick people’s asses if they crossed their paths, but they also did “normal” things like rebuild cars, trucks, and bikes, spend time with their families, and even something as mundane as having a picnic at the lake. While others looked at them as thugs, criminals, and violent bear shifters, Alexis and everyone who really knew them knew that they were good men that took care of their families.
The garage was packed with not only the kids of The Grizzlies, but also their friends from school, and even more were gradually trickling in. It looked like this party wasn’t dying down anytime soon. But the majority of the people that kept coming in this late were friends of Nico, Lucas, and Odin. Dakota and a few of the guys that could actually drink legally were off to the side looking at one of the bikes, and she could see the admiration in Dakota’s face as he told his friends the breakdown of each part.
“Here.” Tarren shoved a beer at her, and some of the amber liquid splashed over the rim.
“I think I am good on the alcohol department.”
“Are you drunk?” Tarren asked and then took a big sip from the red plastic cup she held. The keg that one of the legal drinking age guys had brought was being put to good use.
“No, but I got a good buzz going on.”
Tarren shook her head, and her dark bobbed hair moved around her face. “This is our graduation party. If you’re not drunk then you’re not having a good time.”
“I don’t want to get so wasted that when I crash for the night my parents can smell the booze on me and see the vomit in my hair.”
Tarren didn’t respond right away, just drank several more swallows from her cup. “Girl, if my dad knew how drunk I really was he’d take away my car and make sure I never left the house again.”
“Tarren, Dallas is like a puppy compared to what my dad would do if he knew about all the alcohol I’m drinking.”
“Alexis, do you honestly think our folks don’t know we have beer out here?”
No, of course she knew they had to know. Nothing got by The Grizzlies, but that didn’t mean they were okay with a little social drinking, and not some blow-out frat party that resulted in puking, stumbling around, and passing out in the lawn. All of which she knew might be a very good possibility tonight. “I’m sure they do, but—”