by Sophia Gray
“I’m here.” The low voice of their president was followed by his appearance. “What’s all the commotion?” Turning back to the room, he waved his hands. “Get back to your beer and your women,” he shouted, and for the most part, everyone did. Lucas caught a quick glance of Josephine sitting with Cherry, watching them with wide eyes. He smiled, gesturing with his hands that everything was fine, at least for the moment. She nodded back at him, but she didn’t look overly convinced. Smart girl, he wasn’t either.
“How many are with him?” Joe pulled his jeans up. He’d been losing more weight recently; even the belt around his waist didn’t help keep his pants from falling down anymore.
“Two prospects it looks like.”
“Fine. Walk his ass up here. I’ll see him in my office. Cutter, you and Lucas will stay in the hall with whoever the fuck he brought. Outside the office.”
“You sure, Joe?” Cutter stepped forward, only to be rewarded with a hard glare.
“I may have seen better days, but I am still the fucking president of this club.” Joe stifled a cough after his loud boast, and Cutter was smart enough to step back a bit and give him room. Joe jerked a finger at Bear, sending him scurrying back out, and headed toward his office.
Lucas signaled to Josephine to stay put and followed his president. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Cutter signal to Cherry, as well. “You two really a thing now?” he asked, only half curious.
Cutter shrugged and gave a nod. “You were right. She’s not a bad girl, just a little lost is all. Needs a firm hand.”
Lucas knew what he meant and almost felt sorry for Cherry. She was just a girl really, not much true life experience outside of the club. She’d come to them barely out of high school. Hell, Lucas wasn’t even sure what she did for work. Whenever he was at the club, she just seemed to be there.
“Yeah, I saw how you kept her in line when we walked in.”
“What? That blowjob? The girl is a freak for that shit. She loves when the guys see her doing it. That’s probably why she was always jumping your ass when the guys were around. The whole exhibitionist shit turns her on. That little blowjob was all her idea.” Cutter gave a confident grin. “She was a good girl today, so I let her have her fun. Got herself signed up for school.”
Lucas raised his eyebrows. “School?”
“Yeah. She signed up for some court-reporting program at the junior college in town. Twelve months of school then she takes a test.”
“You really do give a shit about her. Hell, last we talked you wanted to send her out back to the house.”
“Yeah.” Cutter rubbed the back of his neck. “That was stupid. When I talked to her, I realized I didn’t like that option too much. Then when you hooked up with Josephine, and Cherry finally got the clue that you were taken, she was different. Started talking to me, like with real conversations. I’m not sure where this is all going, but she’s calmed down. Not one word of being an old lady or hooking up with anyone else. Even when I told her she was mine, she didn’t argue or roll her eyes. She just smiled and said she’d like that.” Cutter laughed.
“She’d like that?”
“Yeah, like I’d asked her out to lunch or something. Anyway, it’s working so far.” He shrugged, then pointed down the hall were Bear showed up with Clay and two of his guys walking behind him.
“He in there?” Clay pointed to the door Cutter and Lucas were standing in front of.
“Yeah, he’s waiting for you. We’ll be waiting out here.” Cutter reached behind him and turned the doorknob, pushing the door open.
Clay nodded to both captains before walking into the office and greeting their president. Cutter shut the door once he got the okay from Joe and leaned against it. “Scamper off.” He waved at Bear, who did just that. A prospect would be stupid to open his mouth once given a direct order to leave.
“What do you think the prick wants?”
“We’ll find out as soon as they talk.” Lucas stuffed his hands into his jeans and leaned against the wall across from Cutter.
“So, you gonna marry that girl?” Cutter asked after several moments passed in silence.
“Marry? I could barely get her in here tonight. She needs more time. With her mom being so sick and the baby, she’s pressed too thin with stress. I’m not laying that on her. Yet.”
“So, you will, just not now. Good.” Cutter nodded, like he approved.
“What’s it matter? We don’t have to get married for her to be my old lady or for her to have my kid.”
“No, but it helps. Family is important. Making her your wife, making that kid legit—that’s the right move.”
“You saying my kid won’t be legitimate if I don’t marry her?” What the fuck did that mean? How many of their brothers didn’t have parents who were married? Some of them didn’t even know who the fuck their dads were.
“No, I mean, well, technically, yeah, but I mean, it won’t matter to any of us. He’s your son.”
“Or my daughter.” Lucas grinned. He hadn’t really considered having a daughter until that moment. “Shit.” His smile quickly dropped at the image of having a little girl.
Cutter laughed. “Don’t worry. If it’s a girl, she’ll have the whole club looking out for her.”
“That’s part of my worry,” Lucas admitted. Cherry was someone’s daughter, and look how he’d treated her—letting her blow him in the lounge or wherever the fuck she offered. He’d taken her to bed over and over again without any regard for her feelings. He told himself she knew what she was getting into with him. He’d been upfront that he wasn’t into relationships, but he couldn’t blame her for trying. Shit, Josephine wasn’t even interested in one either, and look what happened with them. “You take care of Cherry. Do you hear me?” Lucas stepped across the hall, getting closer into Cutter’s space than he normally would. But it was important. “You don’t treat her like a whore. No more public service.”
“Fuck, Lucas.” Cutter pushed off the door and straightened to his full height. “I told you that was her idea; she fucking loves it. I’ll take care of my girl how I see fit, and you do the same.”
“She’s not a whore.”
“I know that! What’s gotten into you?”
Lucas sighed and dragged his hand through his hair again, stepping back. “Fuck. I don’t know. I just…I treated her like shit. She doesn’t deserve it. She’s a good kid.”
“She’s not a kid either. Did you know she’s twenty-two? I kept thinking she was barely legal, and there she was, fully aged and ready.”
The door behind Cutter opened before Lucas could comment. Clay stepped out into the hall alone. Joe still sat at his desk, chin in hand, thinking. “Hey, rumor has it you’re gonna be a daddy.”
Clay cracked a smile as he maneuvered his way past Lucas and Cutter. “Let’s hope your president makes some good choices so your bastard won’t grow up without you.”
Lucas’s initial reaction would have been to throw his fist into the asshole’s face, but like it or not, doing so would have larger consequences than the club could handle, at least at that moment. The time would come when Iron Rebels would have to be dealt with in a more permanent manner.
“Get the fuck out, Clay.” Cutter stepped in front of Lucas and nodded down the hall. “Take your little pets with you.”
Clay stood still for a long moment, his hard stare burrowing into Lucas before he turned on his booted heal and stalked off down the hall. His little prospects trailed behind him.
“Get in here,” Joe barked once the Iron Rebels bastards no longer darkened the doorway.
Cutter and Lucas walked into the office, Lucas shutting the door behind him. “What did that prick want?”
“That prick wants to come to an agreement.” Joe pushed back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head, his expansive stomach stretching the limitations of his shirt. “He’s offering to take the medical marijuana business off our hands, running the shit along with everything els
e through our town. In return…” He gave a pointed look to both of his captains before they could start in with their complaints. And they had plenty to voice, once he was finished. “In return, we get two percent of the cut, across the board.”
Cutter let out a low whistle. “Two percent of everything?”
“Yeah.” Joe nodded. “Financially, it’s a sweet deal. That would almost double our earnings in that area alone. All we would have to do is let them have the routes, and we’d provide some protection here and there.”
“Protection, like do the runs for them? And only get two percent, along with all the fucking risk of running that hard shit? Those assholes peddle coke and H, Joe. Fury Riders…we aren’t drug peddlers,” Lucas interjected. The backbone of their club had always been to protect their community. Not letting that shit flow through their streets had always been something they took pride in. Most of their kids went to the schools in town. If the Iron Rebels took those routes and had free reign to peddle their shit, coke and heroine would be readily available at all the schools. Elementary through high school. No way would Lucas let that happen.
His old man never would have allowed that shit. But his old man wasn’t around. He’d been VP when he was alive and had taken the club mostly legit with the garage. That was his old man’s work—giving them steady paychecks and something they could show to the public. No way he’d ever vote to let hard drugs run through town.
“I didn’t say I’d decided on it, so keep your panties out of a twist.” Joe sat upright.
“You’d have to bring this one to the table, Joe,” Cutter voiced softly. “This isn’t just your call.”
“No shit,” Joe shot at him, then started to cough. He held his hand out to keep either man from helping him, and they waited until the coughing fit passed. “Let me think on it. I’ll bring it to Church on Tuesday if it’s something I think we should go forward with. I won’t bring it up if I’m not in support of it.”
Lucas wouldn’t argue that point. Even if the club members wanted to jump on the offer, the only deals the president was required to bring forward were the ones he felt were in the club’s best interest. If he felt the deal was bad for the club, he wouldn’t bring it to the table, and everyone had to respect that. Hell, there was probably a laundry list of shit Joe never brought to them but never would he accept a deal or start something new without the vote of the board.
Lucas wouldn’t ask for more than that. “They don’t want a war; they want the marijuana runs,” he noted instead.
“Yeah. He said the idiots who jumped you and Jeff last month were working on their own. They had no club backing for that. Apparently, the little shit who stabbed you was damn near blubbering when he told Clay who he’d stuck. Fucking prospects don’t know their heads from their asses.”
Lucas didn’t bother responding. The Iron Rebels were stirring up too much bad blood. They weren’t a violent club, but no way were they going to let their members be attacked or insulted. That shit didn’t fly.
“Your girl out there?” Joe changed the subject.
“Josephine. Yeah, she’s with Cherry.” Lucas jerked a thumb toward the door.
“Cherry? You sure that’s wise?” Joe laughed.
“It’s fine. Cherry is fine,” Cutter nearly growled. Whatever had started between Cherry and him wasn’t a little dalliance, and that suited Lucas fine. The girl was too innocent to be turned into a club whore, no matter if she was the one instigating the change. She needed a steady man, and Cutter was better than most.
“Let’s go have a beer and table this shit for later.” Joe pushed out of his chair and walked out of the office, leaving them to follow him.
Chapter 10
Josephine should have known something was wrong. It was written all over Cherry’s face when they witnessed the large hulk of a man walking through the front door with two smaller, yet still severe-looking, men. She only got a glimpse of him before he disappeared down the same hall Lucas and Cutter had followed an older man down.
Cherry explained somewhat what was going on while they waited for the guys to come back out. “Cutter and Lucas are captains. There’s another one, but I can’t remember his name. He doesn’t come around that often anymore. Joe, that’s the guy who went with them, is the president of the club. Old as fuck, and sick too. Same with the VP. He hasn’t been around in months; I’m not even sure if he’s alive.” Cherry bit her lip and shook her head. “Forget I said that. That wasn’t cool. Cutter would have my ass if he heard me say something like that.” Her cheeks blushed a bit, but there was no fear there.
“What about that guy?” Josephine pointed to the newcomer walking into the building.
“That is Clay. He’s the president of Iron Rebels. Another club a few towns over. I’ve been seeing their patches all over town, though. I think they are wanting to move closer.”
“Closer to what? We aren’t exactly a metropolis here.” Josephine took a sip of her soda, letting the carbonation fizzle in her throat.
Yelling and cursing erupted from the pool table behind where Josephine sat with Cherry at the bar. A pool stick was thrown down on the felt, and there was more yelling. Josephine swiveled on the barstool to see what was going on.
“Just ignore them. Fire can’t stand to lose, and his little brother just cleared the table.”
Josephine watched with fascination as the larger of the two men, Fire—named for his dark red hair, she assumed—started to rack up the balls again, cursing and accusing the other man of being a cheat the entire time. His brother just stood at the end of the table running the chalk over the tip of the pool stick with a grin on his face, shaking his head slowly.
Another shoving match broke out at another table, but harsh laughter followed. The men were playing. Everywhere she looked, the fierceness of their expressions completely countered how friendly they were behaving.
“Sort of like watching the apes at the zoo, huh?” Cherry laughed, then cleared her throat. “Dammit, I have to watch that.”
“Cutter won’t let you have opinions of your own? Is that what it’s like to be a girlfriend to him, to all of them?” Josephine knew her voice had turned sour, maybe a little contempt had leaked into her tone, but she needed to know what she was getting into…what she was bringing a baby into. That was the purpose of her being there; that’s what Lucas had told her. She needed to start being around his club, his brothers. He wanted her to be part of his world, and this was it.
“No, I think I’m giving you the wrong idea. Cutter isn’t bad. He’s a little warped when it comes to manners, though. Saying shit against the other members irritates him. Disrespectful, he says.”
“An offhanded comment like the one you just made?” Josephine turned her eyes on Cherry.
“Well, maybe not that one, ’cause well, he’d agree. Fire does look a bit like an ape when he starts pounding his chest.” She cracked a smile. “But he’s just big on respect.”
“For the club?” What about the women? Their families. There was more to life than just what she was looking at, right?
“For everyone: the club, their families,” she paused and looked away before continuing, “myself.”
Josephine remembered what she had witnessed when she walked into the lounge with Lucas. She’d seen Cherry on her knees in the corner, sucking off Cutter. The man who apparently held respect in such a high regard.
Cherry looked up, and her eyes flashed. “You saw.” Her cheeks blushed a hot red. “I noticed you and Lucas right after, I had hoped you didn’t see.”
“It’s none of my business.” Josephine returned her attention to her drink.
“It’s not what you think. Really,” Cherry rushed to say. “It’s…well…that wasn’t his idea. I mean, it was, but it’s my thing. The public display…it’s…well, I like it.”
“Really?” Josephine looked around the room, trying to see if anyone else was having as good of time as Cutter and Cherry had been when they arrived. “Is that usual
around here?”
“Sometimes. Usually later, when the guys have relaxed more, drunk a few beers, and are done catching up with each other. It’s not uncommon to see that going on.” Cherry tucked a short curl behind her ear.
“Did you ever…with Lucas?” Josephine found herself asking, unsure if she wanted the answer or what she would even do with the information.
Cherry blushed again but didn’t look her in the eye. It was answer enough. “Like I said, we weren’t serious. Not a thing at all.”
“He just used you like some common whore.” Josephine snapped her mouth shut, realizing what she’d just said and how she’d said it. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…shit. I’m so sorry, Cherry.” Her own cheeks heated with humiliation at being such a stuck-up bitch. Had it come from jealousy? Cherry had slept with Lucas, and the image of her kneeling in front of him, sucking his cock in front of the whole club, had her heart twisting and her mind racing.