by KJ Dahlen
The man looked entirely serious as he nodded and headed to the Ten all entry.
Now, to get this Church shit over with.
Chapter Seven
TALON
The lieutenants all filed in.
Talon kept his eye out for Rogue. He was worried about the man. Taking that Russian woman to his room like that. So not like the man to...Talon paused. They called him Rogue for a reason as he’d reminded Eagle before. So, there was no telling what was in his head.
Just then, Rogue stalked in. He made his way to the long table and sat next to Talon.
Talon waited while others filed in. He knew this man well though. He wasn’t gonna spill until you cornered him. “So, what’s going on with you?”
Rogue looked over at him. “Nuthin’ man.”
Talon let out a breath. “Nothing huh?”
Rogue did a short lift of his shoulders.
“Come on, man! You went and carried off that Russian bitc—”
Rogue leaned closer and warned, “Watch what you say.”
Talon blinked at him. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
Rogue sighed and clasped his hands on the table. “Sorry man. I’m just all bent outta shape. I’ve been up for 40 hours. I haven’t had a fucking shower and...”
“... and you got a woman in your room,” Talon finished for him.
He nodded.
“So why is she in your room?”
“Shit. I don’t know!” Rogue looked confused for a moment. “She just kept getting hurt in the cell room. I had to do something it was fucking out of control.”
Talon studied his profile. He seemed more than preoccupied and Talon had never seen him so... unsure or something. He just couldn’t put his finger on it though. Something was up here, but he couldn’t figure out what. “So, is she better?” He wanted to know.
“Nah, man, last I saw her she was still out fucking cold.”
Talon leaned closer as he considered the worst. “She hit her head should she be sleep—”
“Hey, I called the doc and he said she didn’t have a concussion. That she has been traumatized.”
Talon snorted. “The fuck she has. She was working for Devin, man.”
Rogue shook his head. “I really don’t think so.”
Talon raised his brows. “And you know this how?”
Shrugging, Rogue looked out over the room. “My gut.”
“Well, we listened to that so called gut feeling once before, now didn’t we?” Eagle stated from behind them.
Talon and Rogue peered up at him.
The prez looked tired and annoyed. He gazed around then shouted, “Close off the hall, Crater!”
The double doors closed with a firm booming sound.
Eagle stepped up to his chair and looked around at his 10 Lieutenants. “We got a lot of shit going on. Meeting come to order, fuckers.”
The lieutenants all nodded and remained quiet.
“So, to update you all. We got three women under house arrest.”
Murmurs went around the table as some of them looked at each other then back over at the prez.
“Yeah, a first for the Princes. Women trouble of a different kind.” Eagle nodded.
The men all snickered or chuckled.
“Shut the fuck up! This ain’t no joke!” Eagle bellowed. “We got three traitorous bitches that have done some damage to this club.”
Rogue sat back and gave him a glare.
Talon felt tense again. This tension between his best friend and his prez was getting near to being dangerous.
“We have Cat and Beth in the cells.” Eagle again gazed at the men.
Most knew this so they remained silent.
“But that’s on a shelf now. Tribunal won’t happen until we clear this other shit up,” Eagle went on.
The men all sat forward and watched him with interest.
“When Rogue went...” he paused with emphasis... “Rogue. He went off on his own after Talon’s boy. And he brought a woman back with him that had the kid.”
“So it wasn’t that Brooks asshole that took the kid?” Hawk asked.
“Yeah it was. But he took off and left the kid with her.”
“So, what’s the issue?” Falcon asked.
“The issue is that she is someone...Well, fuck. She is Dmiti Grigori’s niece,” Eagle announced.
Gasps could be heard in the room.
“The fuck?” Tollman asked.
“Yeah, what the fuck?” Condor added.
Eagle nodded as he wore a disgusted expression. “She lied to us about who she was and we almost set her free till Bytes gave us the lowdown on her. That her name wasn’t Sevannah Gregory but Svetlannah Grigori.”
“So Dmitir is working with Devin?” Falcon asked.
“It seems so.” Eagle nodded.
“Don’t you think it’s dangerous to be keeping her here?” Tollman asked. “Like when he hears that we have her, he is gonna rain hell down on us.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about that.” Eagle finally sat in his seat.
Rogue sat forward with interest for the first time since Church started.
“We could trade her for the 3 mil owed to him.”
Rogue’s body stiffened up. “What?”
Eagle nodded. “He would easily pay that to get her back. Don’t ya think?”
Rogue drummed his fingers onto the table. “I think we need to find out if this uncle thing is true first.”
Eagle glared over at him. “Bytes is never wrong.”
“Yeah maybe, but maybe we need the whole story first. Did he give you all the info on him, yet?”
“What ya getting at, Rogue?” the prez asked, as he looked pissed off.
“I’m just saying that we need all the facts first. Like I really believe that she doesn’t ... didn’t even know he was her uncle.”
Eagle started to laugh. “Well fuck, what a piece of ass can do to a man’s mind.”
Rogue glared at him now as he clenched his fists beneath the table.
Talon knew he needed to divert this and quick. “Prez. We do need all the info we can get first. And Dmitri never struck me as sentimental for family or any such shit. He may not give 2 fuck’s about her anyway. Then we would be sitting in a bad spot.”
Eagle stood up, angry that both his top lieutenant and his VP were giving him grief. “We are fucking sitting in a bad spot now, Talon! I mean for fuck’s sake, we owe him another 100 G’s next week!”
“I know but he hasn’t made any new attacks and we need to dig a little deeper to find out more about this uncle-niece thing.”
Eagle looked enraged. “So you say we wait?”
Talon nodded. “Just at least another day. See what her story is. We already have Bytes on a detailed history search on the both of them.”
Eagle let out a disgusted breath. “Fine what the fuck ever.” He stared at Rogue. “Has she said anything?”
He shook his head. “She has been out cold since I took her to my room.”
Shocked murmurs and stunned gasps went around the room.
Rogue narrowed his eyes at many of the brothers.
“Ok, so yeah,” Falcon interjected. “I reacted the same way. I mean we all know Rogue’s rule.”
Rogue looked over at him. “What fucking rule?”
“You don’t fuck where you sleep?” Tollman answered this.
Rogue jerked his gaze over to him. “Well fuck, Tollman, that’s a real oxymoron, coming from you.”
The whole group broke into loud laughter.
“Yeah, you fuck anywhere, in anyway, anything!” Hawk added.
The men all howled with laughter.
“Yeah, yeah. You all are just jealous women,” Tollman muttered in a weak defense as he crossed his massive arms over his wide chest.
Eagle was even laughing at this then he slowed to a chuckle. “Ok then. Next order of business is when to set Cat and Beth’s tribunal.”
The laughter in the
room dropped like someone, meaning Eagle, had popped a huge balloon.
“Aww, Prez. Come on,” Tollman grumbled.
“Come on what?” Eagle glared at him.
“Well, they’re females... we can’t like... mete out MC Justice on women,” Hawk agreed.
Eagle looked around. “How many of you got kids?”
Five out of the 10 raised their hands.
“Ok, then let’s say these two bitches arranged it so some human trafficker could grab your kid and take off with them. How would you feel then?”
“But that ain’t what they did!” Tollman spoke up.
“The hell they didn’t.” Talon stood up. “They handed my kid, a four year old boy to Devon Brooks and his goons!”
“I hear he told them a realistic sob story?” Falcon asked.
Rogue stood up. “Look you dumbasses. It don’t matter what they believed. A. They believed someone else over the VP of this club. Believing Talon took this kid away from his real dad. Then B. they let unknown men into our compound!” He gazed around. “So it don’t matter what those bitches thought or believed. They broke those 2 bylaws right then! They need to pay for that even IF you do not charge them with aiding a kidnapping at all!” He shouted. Then he sucked in a breath and sat down.
Eagle looked impressed for at least a half a second. “Yeah. He’s right. All the fucking way. Never mind that they took Talon’s boy. They did sneak someone in here, they did betray a brother. But what if they let these men in and they had murdered our VP instead?” He gazed around. “Cause that could have easily been this Devin’s plan. Cat and Beth let them into a locked compound for reasons of their own. Jealousy is the way I see it and I damn well DID see it as that. It clouded their heads and they were led astray by an enemy... a known enemy of the Princes. No matter why... cause that don’t matter in the end. They put our club into jeopardy and they have to pay for it.”
Tollman lowered his head, as did a few others. They knew he had the right of it. Many of the men favored these two bunnies as they had been here for over a year.
“Ok, if there are no more gripes and whining, tribunal tomorrow then. Since we will be waiting on Byte’s investigation and some real questioning of this girl. Anyone have anything else to fucking say?”
No one said a word.
“Ok then, get the fuck out of my sight!” Eagle barked.
Talon stared over at him as the men all filed out.
Rogue nudged Talon’s arm. “I’m gonna go.”
Talon nodded. “Yeah, but we do gotta talk, like tomorrow.”
Rogue stared at him. “Ok man. Ok.” He turned and left.
Talon turned to look at Eagle with a raised brow.
Eagle lit a cigarette and sat back down, completely ignoring Talon’s expression or anything else in the room.
Talon waited a moment before he asked, “What the hell crawled up your ass and died?”
Eagle blew out his smoke and glared at him. “Watch it, VP.”
Talon let out a frustrated breath. “Look, I know we have trouble coming.”
Eagle laughed, though it wasn’t an amused laugh. “No shit! Hammer done drove the nails into this club like it was a god dammed coffin. We may go down this time.”
Talon stood up and pushed his chair back. “The fuck we are!”
Eagle took another drag as he didn’t take his eyes off him. “We can’t keep paying Dmitri. And that fucker is as mean as they make em. He would sell out his own...”
“... family,” Talon finished for him.
“Well so? You got any bright ideas there Sherlock? I mean I don’t hear any plan coming from you except for wait a fucking day!” Eagle stood up and stubbed his cigg out into an ashtray. “We only got so many days. Then when we don’t pay, he is gonna burn this MC to the fucking ground!” He stepped around Talon and stomped out.
Talon let out an uneasy breath. Eagle was right. But Talon never knew what quit meant. He also knew he had to stop Hammer from winning again. He’d gotten away with his betrayal to the club and his dad all those years back, then he’d been selling them all out for his own fucking vices ever since.
Talon stalked out of the meeting room. He was angry and the happiness he’d felt at getting Brett back had evaporated. Not that he wasn’t happy about that but he sure as fuck wasn’t happy about all this shit.
He paced in the hall for a few minutes. He didn’t want to go back to his room in a mean temper. His woman and his son looked so sweet and peaceful when he’d left them and they deserved some of that after the last two days of hell and chaos.
He decided to go have a beer. Heading to the main room, he fought to get his focus back. He’d had it before when he’d finished with avenging his dad then getting his son back. Talon knew he would get it back. He just needed a plan, like Eagle had said. The man was a straight up asshole but he was smart. That was why he ended up being voted in as prez in the first place.
The thing was... Eagle seemed to be coming apart at the seams and that didn’t bode well for the Princes of Hell. Maybe it was the same for Eagle as it was for Rogue. He just needed sleep and a shower.
He entered the bar room.
Eagle had a bunny on his lap and a drink in his hand while he laughed loudly attempting to hold both as if it were all fun ‘n games.
Talon didn’t slow his walk as he headed right past the bar room and to his own room. Some tiredness. He was having his own fucking party like he felt just fine.
Well that was how some of them let off steam. But he didn’t want a bunny or any drink. He just wanted his woman and his kid.
He halted in the hall right before he got to his door.
Well, fuck. I guess that is it. I’m a family man now.
He paused to wonder how that had happened. How much he had changed since Fiona came to him for protection.
He was a whole different man in some ways. Yeah, he still killed when it was needed. Like for his dad and for the club. But he no longer felt the need for all the things he’d had here in the club before.
No...everything he wanted and needed was right beyond this door.
He stepped forward.
Two Prospects stood guard and they looked alert, not sleeping on the job or fucking around. Lucky for them.
He nodded at them. “One of you, go ask Falcon for two men to take over for the night watch here. Then you two come back at eight am.”
“Yes VP,” one of them answered and hurried down the hall.
Talon quietly went into his room and softly closed the door behind him. Tiptoeing over to the bed, he looked down at his family and released a sigh. It was a relief to see them here and safe.
He sat down, tugged his boots off, then pulled his jeans and shirt off. In just his briefs, he lifted the covers and slid into bed.
Fiona stirred a little as he tucked his arms around her. “Mmm,” she mumbled. “Love you Tal...” Her sleepy voice faded away.
He smiled to himself. He knew she loved him but she had refused to say it. This told him, he could convince her to stay on her own.
Talon shut his eyes and knew he was where he was supposed to be.
Chapter Eight
ROGUE
He nodded at the Prospect. “Anything happen?”
The man shrugged. “I heard someone moving around in there but they never opened the door or anything. Besides that, nothing.”
“You can go now. Thanks.”
The Prospect nodded. “Anytime you need anything Rogue. Just call me.” He made his way down the hall.
Rogue took out his key and unlocked the door. She would’ve had to know how to pick locks to get out anyway. He swung the door open. But better safe than—
The bed was empty, the covers on the floor. He studied the room. The pill bottle was lying on the floor with the lid off. Shutting his door, he rushed over to pick it up. Fuck! It was empty! She took all those pills? He looked around and saw a trail of clothes, her blouse, her pencil skirt, a black lace trimmed bra...
>
“What the fuck?” he muttered as he headed along the clothes trail to the bathroom. He paused at the door and put his ear to the wood. He could hear his showering running. Ok, so she was in his shower. His body went rock hard, all over. Nude, in his shower. He stepped back and stared at the door. It didn’t have a lock on it, as there was no need, with only him being in this room.
How the fuck long had she been in there? He was gone for about an hour. How could he know? You open the dammed door and look, you dumbass.
Rogue paused.
Can you take what you might see? To see that woman in all her fucking glory? The curves that were under those clothes?
Fuck! Stop being a fucking pussy already!
He opened the door.
Peeking in, he could see that there was no steam. In fact, the room was ice cold. He could hear the shower running. He had a glass covered stall, so he peered at it as he stepped closer. He couldn’t see her outline. He furrowed his brows and looked around. There on the floor were her black lace panties.
“Hey!” he called out, hoping she would respond.
Nothing.
He stepped over to the glass door. “Sevie?” He felt odd saying her name...the name she claimed was hers anyways. It somehow felt right on his tongue though. Like he could say it and feel... He shook his head. “Hey, you in there?”
Nothing. No sound.
He took a deep breath and opened the stall.
Sitting there with the water hitting all that creamy skin, she was huddled into a corner. Asleep. He felt the water spray. Ice fucking cold. “What the hell?” He then took a closer look at her. Her body was in a shiver. In fact, she was trembling badly with it.
Shutting the shower off, he again called to her, “Sevie?”
She didn’t move except for the hard quaking of her body.
He let out a disgusted sigh. Stepping in, he scooped her up.
She didn’t stir really except that she tried to cuddle into him.
Dammit! What the fuck had happened? Did she take all those pills? Then high out of her mind, she tried to snap out of it by getting into a cold shower? He paused and wondered what to do. What did you do when someone overdosed? You put them in a cold shower. He rolled his eyes. No shit, dumbass. She had already been in there and done that. He rushed her to the bed and laid her wet form onto his sheets.