“Fuck, when you put it like that, it sounds like a goddamn conspiracy theory,” Martin snarled, grabbing the bottle of JD and a tumbler from the tray at the center of the table and pouring himself a five-fingered shot.
As he sank it back, Lucie shook her head. “No. It doesn’t. Can’t ever trust a sweetbutt, even if they come from good stock.”
When she sniffed, Wolfe ground out, “I told you, I never fucking touched her.”
“Well, you did something if she thinks she can say it’s your goddamn baby,” Lucie snarled, and in a flash, she was on her feet, her hands slamming into the table. “I promise you this, Wolfe, if that bastard is your baby, I’ll filet your cock and get a kick out of feeding it to the fucking pigs.”
Everyone released a hiss at the imagery, but Wolfe didn’t pale. Didn’t blanch. His eyes turned stormy, the blue darkening with his rage as he slowly got to his feet, leaned over the table, and ground out, “You really want to do this here? In front of your daddy? In front of Ink and Wheels?”
“They’re going to find out soon enough, aren’t they?” she snarled. “Especially if baby Wolfe number two is on its way.”
“Woman, I’m telling you now, you’d better fucking listen because I ain’t pulling this BS again.
“In the thirteen years we’ve been together, I ain’t touched another goddamn pussy. Ain’t licked one, ain’t fucked one. Ain’t fucked an ass or let anyone near my goddamn cock. Which part of that ain’t you hearing?”
Lucie, her eyes fixed firmly on her old man, grated out, “Then why did she think she could get away with this?”
“Go big or go home?” Flame tossed out, and I shot him a look, saw there was little expression in his face but his eyes were burning.
When I cut all of Lucie’s men a look, I saw they were all a mixture of pained and outraged. There was no guilt or shame written on their faces, and I was relieved. I had a vested interest in these guys’ lives now. The second I wifed Ama, because I was taking it all the fucking way, since I was too damn old to fuck around, these bastards would be my fathers-in-law—which either made me the bravest man in the world or the stupidest.
As brothers, as MC family, they mattered to me, always had and always would, but I was about to take this to another level.
“What do you mean?” Lucie rasped, turning to him with the question. It was the first time I’d ever seen her look vulnerable, but I knew whoever had been fucking with her mind wasn’t going to be hanging out around the MC much longer—she’d see to that, and if she didn’t, then her men would.
“I mean, she’s counting on us not being faithful. It’s like a big bluff. And you know as well as I do that very few brothers are faithful.” He cut me a look, his face still blank, but in his eyes, he promised me a fucker of a death if I dared cheat on Ama.
Well, that was some semblance of approval, right?
As I dipped my chin at him in understanding and agreement with his silently uttered terms, Axe rasped, “Baby girl, you’ve had our dicks in a vise for a long time. Wolfe… he ain’t a cheater. You know that.”
Dagger repeated, “You know that, Lucie.”
She sucked in a shaky breath. “I do.” Her face crumpled. “But she was so fucking believable. Goddamn, I hate those motherfucking sweetbutts. Why the fuck can’t we toss them out?”
“Because the men would go nuts? After the loyalty and the thrill of the life, having sweetbutts to fuck is one of the best parts of running in an MC,” her father replied, but his voice was low, apologetic. He cut Wolfe a look. “Fix this.”
My Prez snarled, “I’m trying to.” He stepped out from his seat, headed to her, hauled her into his arms, and returned to the head of the table with her. Sitting down with her in his lap, he held her to him tightly and bit off, “I’ll make her pay for this shit, okay?”
Lucie turned her face into his throat, and Wheels and I shot each other panicked looks at the sound of Lucifer Steeler actually crying.
Fucking crying.
I swear to fuck, I didn’t even know the woman had tear ducts!
Martin’s jaw was like granite. “Who’s pregnant?”
“One of the clubwhores,” Axe rasped. “Goes by Bubbles.”
The Knights’ Prez gritted out, “These fucking cunts. More trouble than they’re worth, I swear, but it ain’t no lie that the men would revolt without them.” His eyes were pained as he looked at his daughter, sobbing—in front of people—into her old man’s cut.
Unsure of what to do or say, church turned awkward as we waited on Lucie to compose herself.
I knew most MCs wouldn’t allow a woman anywhere near this table, probably for this exact reason, but Lucie Steeler was a woman like no other, and I could say that because my own balls were in a vise for her daughter who was cut from the same cloth.
Back when Lucifer had rolled in after six years away, she’d returned with a business proposal. That business proposal was now over two-thirds of our business—ghost guns.
I didn’t have to like what we did to do it. The situation in the U.S. with guns was a mess, but our shit wasn’t sold to fucked up kids or stupid cunts who wanted to send a message by hurting innocents. We sold to people just like us—MCs, the mafia, the Bratva, even some cartels.
We didn’t create long-range rifles, only revolvers, and each one cost a tidy piece, but to the folks who were armoring their ranks, that money meant nothing.
If it weren’t for Lucie, that three hundred grand we’d just lost in the raid that had knocked some of Martin’s men off the grid for an eight-year spell inside, would have crippled us. Fuck, it probably would have decimated us.
And that was why Lucie sat here in church. Sure, it was irregular, but she wasn’t a regular woman.
She’d bred an irregular daughter too.
Her eyes were wet, her face ravaged with tears that still stunned me as she turned away from Wolfe and grated out, “I’m sorry for bringing our personal lives to church.”
Dagger leaned forward in his seat, making it creak as he ground out, “If she wasn’t pregnant, I’d have slit her throat for making you fucking cry.”
“I might still slit her throat anyway,” Wolfe snapped. “Bitch, thinking she can wreck something solid this way. I tell you what, we’re tossing her ass out. Don’t give a fuck she’s pregnant, if no brother is willing to claim the kid as theirs then she’s dead to us.”
“Hard but fair,” Martin agreed. “If she can pull this shit once, she can pull it again.”
Lucie shook her head. “That’s not fair on the kid.”
“She should have thought about that,” Flame retorted.
“No. She can stay until she has the baby. Then, if she wants it, she can go, but if she doesn’t want it, and let’s face it, she won’t because these fuckers don’t mind littering kids around the place like they’re trash, I’ll raise it.”
Wolfe reared back. “What?”
Her mouth tightened. “You know I want more.”
“Have more then,” Martin replied, bewildered. “Why take on a bastard?”
“Because it ain’t the kid’s fault, plus, I can’t have anymore. Not after Matty. He did—” She pulled a face. “His birth wasn’t easy, let’s just leave it at that.” She cut me and Wheels a look. “I’m really sorry about that conversation.”
“I’m family now,” I told her calmly, so calmly that she cocked a brow at me. When, after a good minute’s study, she just stared at me, I had to admit to fidgeting—I was not a man who was built for fidgeting, but Lucie Steeler, whether she was bright pink from crying or not, had that kind of effect on a person.
“You finally did it?”
Flame growled, “Lucie! ‘It?’ Jesus, that ain’t something a man wants to think about where his baby girl is concerned.”
“Grow up,” she grumbled. “And I meant claimed her.” Her eyes narrowed. “You’d better be wifing her.”
Her men shot glowers at me, but I raised my hands. “Will do.”
; “Bet Saint or Keys have something to say about that,” Wheels replied with a laugh.
My jaw flexed. “Yeah, we ain’t had that conversation yet.”
Flame rubbed at his eyes. “Can we let this discussion get back on track, please? Before I grow a pussy?”
Lucie sniffed. “A real man can talk about his feelings.”
“We ain’t talking about feelings, though, are we? We’re talking about three guys boning my baby girl,” he snapped, and that had to be the first time I’d ever heard Flame raise his voice at Lucie.
She sniffed again. “I’m just fucking thankful that she ain’t too weird for all of them to handle.”
I scowled at that. “Now, wait a goddamn minute—”
She raised a hand. “Not many men would be willing to put up with all her idiosyncrasies, Ink. And she has many.”
“I know.”
Lucie shook her head. “You think you do, but you don’t.” She blew out a breath. “Just be patient, yeah?”
“Of course.” I felt affronted by her words, but it wasn’t like I could say shit.
“Let’s get things back on track,” Wolfe said, his tone calmer than it had been the whole meeting. And I knew that was because whatever had gone down with Bubbles had been fucking with his head as much as Lucie’s.
I cleared my throat and noted, “You obviously don’t think Kenzie is pregnant, Martin.”
The Knights’ Prez shook his head. “Know it sounds crazy, but I don’t. If she is, it ain’t no skin off my nose, but I think it’s a ruse. She’s tried to get a way in. She wanted to be an old lady because she knows they get protection—”
“Yeah, if their old man goes to jail. It doesn’t protect them from having their throats slit if they betray the club,” Axe inserted drily.
“Well, you don’t know how these cunts think.” Martin shrugged. “Either way, she made a calculated risk. Maybe my leaving the clubhouse wasn’t something she anticipated, and maybe it was just dumb luck for them—”
“Dumb luck for you, you old fool,” Lucie retorted. “We all know you’d have had a goddamn standoff before you’d let any pigs onto the compound, and I’d be seeing you in a coffin.”
Martin smirked. “Sounds like you’d miss me.”
She sniffed. “Maybe.”
His eyes softened as he looked at her. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t think me going anywhere was something that was planned, but it had to have helped the situation.”
“You guys do realize she’s Rodeo’s kid, don’t you?” Wheels threw in.
I shrugged. “Bad egg?”
“He ain’t going to be happy. You know how Luisa dying messed with his head.”
Wolfe winced. “It ain’t our fault his daughter betrayed us. Shit, he has to know that we’re not doling out punishments for fun—”
“We don’t know if she’s involved yet,” Lucie barked. “I think we’re jumping to conclusions. Let me investigate, yeah?”
Martin shook his head. “I think you need to do more than that. I think…” He grimaced. “A raid could be coming your way. Funny how she’s here now, yeah? I think you should move your stock and fast.”
Wolfe sat up which, because Lucie was on his knee, had her jostling in his lap. “You think the threat is imminent?”
“Gut feeling. Just like my gut is telling me she’s involved.”
“She always was a bitch,” I threw out. “Mean as fuck to Ama.”
That had everyone, Wheels included, grunting under their breaths. It was very hard to be mean to Ama, mostly because she was so amicable. Of course, they hadn’t seen the real her. I didn’t even think her parents had seen that side of her though. But I had. And not just last night, either.
Last night, she’d burned me with her fire, but that inferno was there all the time. Except it only raged around certain people. She didn’t have to be Flame’s biologically to have inherited the low-key fire that burned deep in her soul.
“Let me deal with her,” Lucie ground out, “and you guys deal with getting anything vaguely contraband off the premises.” She cut me a look. “Take Ama to your place in Jonsson.”
My nose wrinkled at the thought—I hadn’t been back there in years. Not since I knew Ama needed me.
“Okay.”
“Keep the boys there too,” she stated. “If anything happens to any of you, Ama won’t—” She broke off, blew out a breath. “You can’t be involved in anything that happens tonight. I’ll drop off Seamus and Matty as well once I’ve handled Kenzie.”
“Fuck that,” I growled. “You need all hands on deck.”
“Ama will lose her shit if anything happens to the three of you,” Flame agreed.
“And what about you? Her goddamn family? Think she’ll cope without any of you?”
Lucie’s eyes were soft as they danced over each of her men. “She’s got her own support system now. She isn’t a baby. Ama’s needed you and those boys more than she’s needed us for a long while.” Her gaze cut to me, and when she pierced me with that look? I had a feeling she knew exactly how long Ama had been sneaking into my room in the clubhouse.
That she’d allowed it at all was incredible. That she hadn’t threatened me was a miracle.
“You’re looking after all our kids, Ink,” Flame rasped. “That’s the most important job there is.”
I wanted to agree, but it just didn’t feel like it was enough. Martin, sensing my dilemma, rumbled, “Just go with the flow, Ink. I’ll pick up any slack, okay?”
Because that went some way to making me feel better, I dipped my chin, and the conversation turned onto evacuating our ‘contraband,’ as Lucie had called it. Like a million dollars’ worth of hardware was small fry.
Had to love her ability to understate shit.
❖
Ama
“What the fuck was that about?”
I’d known exactly what I was doing when I’d kissed Ink farewell. Not only because I wanted to stir a reaction in Saint and Keys, but also because sometimes, and it killed me to think it, but sometimes brothers went off and didn’t come back.
Emergency church?
That meant shit. In our world, when that happened, it was the shit hitting the fan, and I wasn’t about to let my man go without kissing him goodbye.
I twisted on my heel after I watched Ink’s bike roar off into the distance, and when I turned back, sighed at just how pretty my men were.
I either had to be the luckiest woman in the world or the most doomed. I’d seen how my mother had fought, and fought hard, to make sure my fathers didn’t stray. I’d watched her get nastier with the womenfolk at the clubhouse, watched her turn into more of a bitch around the sweetbutts.
Knowing I had all that to come and more, I embraced it. It was worth it to have these two in my life on more than just a friendly basis. Being their friend was important to me, sure, but I needed more from them, and I was old enough for my wants to be realized.
It was time they knew it too.
Arrogant of me? Perhaps. But Keys had been with me pretty much since the day I’d arrived in Rutherford as a little girl. He’d been my companion throughout everything. Until this last run and barring the kidnapping, I didn’t think there’d been a day that passed where I hadn’t seen him. That was how close we were.
He’d been my shield at high school, my rock at home.
And Saint? Well, he’d been with me too, apart from the fact he’d been on more runs. Saint was my sounding board. The one I went to with my problems. Who would sit with me in silence when I just needed to draw. He’d even let me do that without bitching, unlike Keys, the shit, who rarely let me sketch him.
Being without any of them just wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t know why this emergency church was being called, and why my granddad was involved, but it didn’t bode well. Life in an MC was fast and furious. It didn’t stop for anyone, and in the blink of an eye, a loved one could be in jail or in a coffin… or, could wind up like me.
I grab
bed my drink and downed it before I took a seat. When I slipped into the booth, I looked them square in the eye and told them, “I claimed him.” I tipped my chin up at that, knowing what they’d think.
Sure, Ink had done most of the claiming to be fair, but they weren’t to know that, were they?
It didn’t stop them from scowling at me or cocking their brows my way. I scowled back, even cocked a brow too, until I almost laughed because I knew I had to look like that emoji, the one with the monocle.
Still, this wasn’t a laughing matter.
This was serious. This was the rest of my life on the line, and I wasn’t about to let things devolve just because they didn’t understand how things were.
“How did you claim him? Far as I know, a brother needs to do the claiming,” Saint replied with a sniff.
“Well, it didn’t work out like that for us.” Not a lie—I just didn’t mention that my grandfather had been the trigger. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. My relationship with Ink has nothing to do with you. Just as my relationship with each of you has nothing to do with any of you either.”
“That’s a mouthful,” Keys grunted, as he slurped on the remainder of his iced tea.
I frowned at him. “That’s all you have to say?” I heard the disappointment in my voice and was embarrassed by it.
“What do you want us to say?” Saint snapped, his hands balling into fists.
“That you want me as much as I want you, of course!” I snarled back at him, my hands slamming down on the table. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”
Keys wriggled on his seat. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Umm, I think I do.” I tapped my bottom lip. “Who’s the one who grew up with four dads, for God’s sake. If anyone would know, it’s me.” I covered the balled fist he’d rested on the table and murmured, “I want you all.”
“What if you can’t have us all?” Keys replied, his eyes dark as he stared up at me. “What if I don’t want this? What if Saint or Ink don’t either? We’re not all like your dads.”
All Sinner No Saint Page 34