Creed’s Honor by Simone Nicholls

“You get that prep work done?” Kobra asked me from across the table. I had to say that dinner felt somewhat normal as I sat next to Creed with my family. Conversation flowed, and Dad didn’t glare at Creed nonstop. Kobra was making an effort, which made me wonder what he was up to.

“No, not yet,” I answered him. “Sort of getting nervous the more I read.” I was surprised Kobra had even listened to me that night. I had been watching television in the lounge room when he stumbled in drunk.

He’d sat down next to me and had a full conversation. It felt like old times. But I hadn’t expected him to remember it.

“You’ll do all right, Holly. I know it,” Kobra said, and it was one of the nicest things he’d said to me in a long time.

I frowned, just as the oven chimed, telling Mum the pie was done. Mum’s apple pie was always amazing. I had no idea why Dad got up when she was more than capable of getting it herself. However, as soon as Mum and Dad both went inside, my eyes narrowed on Kobra.

“What do you want?” I got straight to the point, even though Creed’s hand was on my thigh under the table and having Kobra’s attention on me right now wasn’t the brightest idea I had.

“Nothing,” Kobra lied poorly while taking a sip of his beer.

I arched my eyebrows.

He groaned. “I fucked up and need you to cover for me.”

I smirked. “Well, well, if it isn’t the man that never does anything wrong.”

Creed was keeping his smirk contained, but I knew he would be getting amusement out of hearing the sergeant at arms had fucked up—which also made me wonder why Kobra would mention it in front of Creed.

“I left the fucking safe unlocked,”

“Which one?” I was sort of surprised to hear that. Kobra was a lot like Dad when it came to safes.

“The club one.” Kobra leant forward. “Dad’s gonna fucking lose it. You have an excuse to go there. I know you left your other lot of textbooks there last night.”

“Dad’s gonna lose it more if someone finds it unlocked before him!” I hissed at Kobra. “Go lock it!”

“Can’t.” He clenched his jaw. “Dad has banned me from the club till the next sit down. Tells me I’m irresponsible there.”

I gave him a pointed look. “Well, this doesn’t prove Dad’s point at all.”

“I don’t need judgement!”

“And I don’t want to be pulled into your fuck-ups!”

He scoffed.

“I’ll go,” Creed injected, and Kobra and I both looked at him. “I’ve crashed your family dinner long enough. Need to get that part into the Chevy by morning anyway.” Creed threw back the last of his beer. He looked went to Kobra. “I owed you, so this is me settling it.”

Kobra slowly nodded his head, accepting the deal. Because Creed didn’t do anyone favours.

I opened my mouth to protest, but I knew there was no way to talk Creed out of doing something. So I sighed and pushed myself away from the table.

“I’ll walk you out,” I said, shooting Kobra a glare while getting up.

Creed stuffed his hands in his jean pockets, and I wondered if it was because he didn’t want to touch me. It was the sound of the oven beeping that made me look over into the kitchen where I saw my mum on the kitchen island between Dad’s legs, and I burst out laughing. Did my parents really ditch the family dinner to make out?

Even Creed couldn’t stop the smirk. I grabbed Creed’s arm and snickered as I power-walked away from them.

I let go of his arm as we walked up the hall, and just as I did, his hands were on my hips, and he swung me around. His lips crashed on mine, and I moaned. God, please don’t let him pull back. Just as I thought this, he did.

As he leaned his forehead against mine, I saw questions in his eyes. But he didn’t voice any of them. Instead, he planted one kiss on my forehead before he pulled back fully.

Turned out to be perfect timing because Dad walked up the hallway.

“Creed, I’ll see ya out,” Dad said, and Creed smiled at me before Dad opened the front door, walking out with Creed.

I was trying to get control over my racing heart when the smoke detector went off. By the sound of it, Dad had distracted Mum fully from the apple pie. Well, there went dessert. But just as I thought it, my gaze went to the window, and I saw Creed outside, talking to Dad. It turned out apple pie wasn’t the dessert I wanted anyway.

* * *

I sat, trying to come up with a solid reason to message Creed. Since he’d left, I hadn’t been able to take my mind off what had happened. We had sex. Those three words were on repeat in my head and were followed by a question that I kept asking myself—had we fucked up our friendship for good with what we had done? Had we crossed a line? I felt my anxiety creeping up. All this, while thinking I had ruined the friendship Creed and I had.

But what was worse? I honestly thought, How can I go back to how things were? I’d had a taste of him, just a small taste, but I wanted more. I didn’t feel lust for him. I loved him. So how the fuck could I go back to just being his friend?

I heard the front door open and a pair of high heels clicking on the floor. Ivy was home. Knowing my sister, she would have a stack of paperwork under one arm and her headphones in and talking on the phone.

Glancing over my shoulder, I was surprised to see her without her case files, and she wasn’t on the phone, either.

Ivy was a cutthroat lawyer, and our family was proud of her. She always took on cases that most lawyers wouldn’t want. And yes, most of her criminals were fully guilty. She said once that the system failed people living our culture—and she tried to stop other families from being destroyed by having to say goodbye to their love ones for stints in prison.

“You okay?” came off my lips right away as I looked her up and down. I think the whole family assumed she had just been “busy” tonight, which was why she missed dinner.

Her eyes flashed to me, and she forced a smile. Her blonde hair was normally always down, but right now, it was up in a messy bun. Her makeup wasn’t flawless but the most obvious sign that something was wrong, and that she hadn’t been working tonight, was her outfit.

She wasn’t in a corporate dress. Walking into the room, she sat down beside me.

“I fucked up, Holly,” she said, holding back tears.

Placing my hand on her knee, I tried to get her attention.

“With?” I prompted her to continue.

“Taron was in town.” She blew out a deep breath and shook her head quickly—angry tears rushing down her cheeks. “And I went and saw him.”

Taron was and would always be my sister’s toxic drug. I smiled dimly. Once again, the lure of Taron had pulled her in, and once again, he had clearly hurt her.

I kept my words to myself, knowing she didn’t need nor want judgement right now.

She turned her head to the side, tears of pure pain and heartache running down her face.

“That was five weeks ago, and I just found out… I’m pregnant.”

And just like that, Ivy’s life was going to change forever. As I sat next to her quietly, I didn’t say anything—because what could I say? I knew, and so did she, that she had already made her decision. She was keeping the baby because if she weren’t planning to keep the baby, she wouldn’t have told me.