Shit, she was adorable when she thought she was being clever. “Could’ve sworn you told me that you and Joelle were going to be busy baking cookies today.”
“Amazing multitaskers that we are, we can do both—bake cookies and put together a snack for your friends. They are your friends, right?”
So she hadn’t known for sure. Yet here she was, diving headfirst into the mix. What a woman. “More or less.”
“I need to have a serious talk with Marvin.” Gus scowled toward the house where Joelle’s raised voice could still be heard. “I told him to keep the pair of you bottled up.”
“Please don’t blame Marvin, Gus,” Alice said quickly. “My being out here isn’t his fault.”
“Yeah, Stems, we know whose fault it is.” Loki’s chin rubbed the top of her head, and some of the tension drained out of him when her arms slid around his middle. “You just had to come out here and plant yourself in the thick of things, didn’t you? Strolled right up like you fucking owned the joint, and to hell with the three scary-ass bikers who just rolled up.”
“Careful who you call scary-ass.” Again Tyr’s attention slid Alice’s way, and it was all Loki could do to not tear his brother’s head off. “So. You’re Alice.”
“And you’re the one and only Tyr, Norse god of war. You’ve got the Colgrave look,” Alice went on when Tyr’s brows shot up. Then she tilted her head so she could give Loki a smile that put the sun to shame. “Though your eyes are much more tiger-like. I’ll never forget the first time I looked into them. All I could think was tiger.”
Wild heat surged through him to pool heavily in his dick. If she didn’t watch it, he was going to drag her gorgeous ass off to the nearest private corner of the world and bang her so hard it’d be globally recorded as seismic activity. “Yet still you kept coming my way. Someday that recklessness is going to land you in a world of trouble.”
“Hopefully today isn’t that day.” Then she slid a glance toward Tyr and his two lieutenants, Ajax and Slash. “Is it?”
“You’ve got nothing to fear from the Gravediggers MC, pretty lady.” To Loki’s surprise, Tyr came to his feet, his chopper still between his legs. Then he fucking flabbergasted him when his brother extended a hand in an almost courtly manner to Alice to solemnly shake hers. “At least from my faction of the MC. You’ve got my word on that.”
She lifted a brow. “Your faction?”
“Remember I told you that my uncle Hades took the club over, only to run it straight into the damn ground?” Loki muttered, glancing down at her. When she nodded, he lifted an irritated shoulder. “That sonofabitch thinks that to rule the MC is to use its members like servants and act like a fucking despot. Naturally, membership has plummeted, they’ve lost a shit-ton of street cred, and the Gravediggers have become almost like a goddamn parody of what a real MC should be. Tyr’s been doing what he can to pull it out of the fire. He’s got big plans for the MC—eventually it’s going to be built back up to being something people can be proud of joining, instead of the shit-show it is now. So far things seem to be headed Tyr’s way, because he’s making the right decisions for the club, and not just for himself.”
“Which would mean a helluva lot, coming from you,” Tyr put in with his best I’m-a-hard-ass voice. “Shit would get done a lot faster if you were actually with me on this.”
“I am with you, asshole, but there’s no way in hell I’m giving up my spot at the House.” Loki scowled at his brother, because he was tired of having this same damn conversation. “I got a talent for slinging ink and I get paid like a fucking rock star because of it. You need me, I’m there. Once a Gravedigger, always a Gravedigger. But I’ve built me a life on the outside, a life I’ve put together brick by brick and can point to with pride as solely my own invention. I’m not about to fuck that up.”
“Then why the hell am I here?”
“Because no one rolls up on my woman or her family. Or do you think it’s okay for shit like that happen?”
Tyr took his time polishing his sunglasses. “If anyone fucks with a Gravedigger woman, that’s like fucking with a Gravedigger. I can’t have that weak shit happen, especially to a Colgrave, and especially now.”
Loki nodded, pleased his brother understood that now was not the time to look like a weak-ass pussy. “That’s why you’re here. I thought it’d be a good idea for Gus to get a look-see at a Gravedigger’s brand of protection.” Loki chin-lifted toward Joelle’s man, who was still taking in the trio of Gravediggers with dangerously narrowed eyes. “Gus is good people. He grew up hard and fought like a sonofabitch to get everything he’s got, so naturally he’s hardcore-protective about what’s his. I didn’t want him to freak the hell out if he caught sight of any of our brothers hanging around whenever Alice is over here visiting his old lady. He’s got enough stress in his life already, so he needed to know who’s on the team.”
“Wait.” Alice stirred against him, and her glance brushed his face like a caress. “What do I have to do with anything?”
He nailed her with a quelling look that dared her to make a fuss. “Don’t tell me you weren’t listening.”
The oh, so slow lift of her brow probably should’ve scared him. “My ears work great, but my question stands. Why would Gravediggers be hanging around here when I’m here?”
“Until we’ve got this whole Felix fuckface situation resolved, everyone connected to him is going to have to put up with shit they normally wouldn’t have to put up with. Gus hired bodyguards for Joelle. You’ve got Gravediggers.”
“Loki—”
“The only way this protection for you and Joelle is going to work is if you don’t fucking fight it. That means not screwing around with poor Marvin like you just did on the porch, and it means accepting that you’ve now got eyes on you whenever you’re not under the same roof as me. You’re not going to give me any shit about this, Alice,” he added harshly when she opened her mouth to no doubt do just that. “It sucks, but that’s the situation. Everyone’s going to adapt to that situation, including you. End of story.”
He waited, because this was Alice, and volcanoes were more predictable than her. But after a moment of chewing on the law he’d just laid down, she nodded and dropped her arms from around him to clutch her hands in front of her in that almost prayerful position she had a habit of going into. “Okay.”
“Holy fuck.” Gus abandoned his Gravedigger stare-down to gape at her. “Did you just give in gracefully, like it was no big deal? Are you sure you’re Alice?”
The look she sent his way should have melted the skin off his skeleton, while the knuckles on her tightly gripped fingers turned white. “Want me to prove who I am?”
“I’ve known you for two solid years, and no one—I repeat, no one—has ever told you what to do. I know. I’ve tried.”
Her fingernails were starting to dig into her skin. “Felix has landed Joelle in a world of shit. For all I know, I’m right there with her. Now’s not the time to get into a pissing contest to see who has absolute autonomy over my life. For the record, I do, because I have made the decision for everyone’s sanity to not be a point of concern, also known as a distraction. I’m doing this for Joelle, not me. Now,” she added, stepping out from under Loki’s arm while keeping her hands in that all-out death grip. “How about that offer of coffee and sandwiches? Might as well start off this new and potentially death-defying arrangement on a good note, don’t you think?” With a smile that never reached her eyes, Alice turned and led the way toward the house.