Spike’s Perdition (Saints Purgatory MC #7)

10. Spike

CHAPTER 10

SPIKE

“C’mon, you can do better than that.”

I bounce on the balls of my feet and watch Grim’s hands carefully. Sparring with him is always fun because we don’t use boxing gloves or anything so we can freely sign. Sure, his face typically gives away the important stuff, but I’m not taking any chances.

“Don’t want to hurt you,” I counter with a smirk.

His brows shoot up. “You really think you could hurt me? Bro, I’m like twice your size and twice as mean.”

“They don’t call you the Grim Reaper for nothing.”

He throws a right hook, and I dodge it easily.

“C’mon, you can do better than that,” I mock, shifting from side to side.

His cheeks redden with anger, but I’m fairly certain the emotion is directed at himself. It’s not like him to miss.

“What’re you so pissed off about, anyway?” he asks.

Oh, I don’t know. How about the fact that I haven’t been laid in over a month, and the one chick I want has ghosted me.

“I’m not pissed,” I lie.

“You know we’re gonna get that Carter guy, right?” he signs, referring to the child abuser who’s still in a jail cell instead of six feet under.

“I know Carmella’s doing everything she can,” I reply. Abyss’s old lady is an amazing attorney, but the justice system isn’t always as cooperative as we need it to be. “But she’s not God. She might not be able to work her legal magic.”

Grim scowls before lunging at me. This time, he lands a punch, and I’m knocked to the floor. He stares at me for a moment, then thrusts his hand out to help me to my feet.

“We’ll get him,” he insists. “But I don’t think it’s Carter who’s got you all in knots.”

Damn him and his ability to read people.

“Don’t know what you mean.”

It’s my turn to throw a punch, and even as strong as I am, the blow barely moves him. I growl with rage and start to deliver punch after punch to Grim’s torso. And the fucking idiot simply stands there and takes it.

When I’m finished, and my breathing is erratic, he turns to walk to the bench and sit.

“Now that you got that outta the way,” he signs. “What the fuck is really going on?”

I stare at him for a few minutes, trying to gather my thoughts. Rather than give him an explanation, I storm out of the gym. I make my way to the common room, but before I can reach the bar, Skye steps in front of me.

“Where ya goin’?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

I’m tapped on the shoulder, so I glance back and see Grim glaring at me. “Did you really think that walking away from me would stop me from giving a damn?”

Throwing my hands up, I step to the side so I can face them both. “Grim, I don’t want to fucking talk about it. Skye, I’m going to the bar.”

Grim just shakes his head and stalks away toward the members’ wing. Skye, on the other hand, continues to block my path.

“Ivory came looking for you tonight,” she spits out.

My muscles tense to an almost painful degree. “Good for her,” I snap.

I push past Skye, but her words stop me in my tracks. “Phew, thank fuck. I thought you were gonna be mad at me for not giving her your number.”

Slowly turning back around, I narrow my eyes. “What?”

She shrugs. “She wanted your number, but I figured you wouldn’t want me to give it to her.”

“You saw her?” I ask, my voice betraying me and revealing my relief.

“Yeah.” She smirks. “But you don’t care about that.”

“Skye,” I growl. “What did she want?”

“I told you, your number.”

“And you didn’t give it to her?”

“I didn’t.” Her lips tilt into a grin. “But I got her’s for you.”

My shoulders slump. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” Skye pulls her cell out of her back pocket and taps on the screen. “Just shared her contact info.”

Turning on my heel, I break out into a run toward my room. Skye’s laughter follows me all the way down the hall, but I don’t give a damn. All I can focus on at the moment is getting a hold of Ivory and figuring out what the fuck I did to make her ghost me.

And all that’s going to accomplish, idiot, is her thinking you’re desperate.

When I reach my room and the door slides closed behind me, I take several deep breaths to calm myself. I grab my phone off my dresser and stare at the text from Skye before opening it and tapping on Ivory’s number. Three rings seem more like a million.

“Hello.”

Ivory’s voice wraps around me like the steam from a sauna, easing all my aches and pains.

“You ran out on me,” I blurt. Not exactly how I wanted to start this call, but here we are.

“Spike?”

I chuckle roughly and with zero humor. “So, you run out on so many guys that you can’t keep them all straight.”

“It’s…” A rustling sound comes through the line. “Dammit, it’s almost three in the morning.”

“Your point?”

“It’s late, Spike,” she says with a sigh. “Did you need something?”

“You’re the one who came looking for me.”

“Right. But maybe you could call back at a decent hour.”

I could, but I’m not caving that easily. Besides, she answered. If she didn’t want to talk, she should’ve ignored the call.

“I’m good now.”

“Okay, fine. I wanted to talk to you beca?—”

“Why’d you take off that morning?” I demand. “You ashamed to have fucked a biker?”

“What? No!”

“Coulda fooled me,” I gripe. “Ya know, I knew I was only a dare to you, but I wasn’t expecting you to be an uptight bitch.”

Without warning, the call is disconnected.

Yeah. I went too far.