“It’s my new favourite thing, handsome,” I whispered against his lips.
“We are going to make it, Honey. Everything is going to be okay,” Booth reassured me. The optimism in his words was nothing but believable. There was no other option—Booth was it for me.
“We will,” I agreed, and I meant it. Explanations were needed. A very long conversation was going to happen soon between my handsome soldier and me… but everything was going to be okay.
17
BOOTH
“Unca Vinnie, did you see all my effing great presents?” Shiloh shouted from across the main room that had pink shit—streamers and balloons—hanging everywhere. I swore to God I was going to find pink glitter and sequins all over the place for the next year. Her little friends had left with their parents, all happy, fed, and arms loaded with birthday goodies.
“Yes, baby girl, I did. You got spoiled this year, didn’t you?”
Shiloh gave me her ‘are you shitting me’ look.
“Oh, you are so silly, Rambo. I gets spoiled all the time. I am the Wounded Soul’s princess,” she replied matter-of-factly, her new nickname for me making me choke on my sprinkle-covered cupcake.
There was chuckling to my left, and I saw Darth give Shiloh a fist bump as she made her way past him to join her dogs. We gave up calling them Steel’s dogs long ago. Even he conceded they were hers.
“Seriously, brother, you gotta get your own kid, and stop corrupting this one.” I chuckled when Darth’s smirk fell from his face, replaced by panic.
“Fuck you, Booth,” he mumbled and took off in the direction of Vegas, who was his woman in every sense except Darth hadn’t claimed her. Why he wouldn’t was anyone’s guess. Stubborn big prick.
“Can you believe what these women have done to the compound?”
Looking up, I saw Steel sit down beside me at the picnic table with two plates of food. One was holding everything from hotdogs to potato chips and lollies, and the other had every kind of dessert Stella had made for the party.
“Got enough food, brother?” I asked deadpan. Steel’s appetite was legendary. Back in our military days, his mother would send the best food care packages. She kept the whole base in chocolate bars and sweets.
Steel grunted as he started to dig into the mountain of food. Fuck me! The man was a bottomless pit. Glancing around, I found myself searching for Stella. I was always watching her, and it had become quite the obsession. Now that I knew what had happened to her at the hands of her stepbrothers—yeah, I would be doubling up my stalker watching. I still couldn’t believe the pain she had been going through to protect my brothers and me. No one, except for the men at my back, had ever thought to protect me. My mum, though a great woman and I loved her, didn’t protect me from my father. Her love for him had blinded her. She never saw the shit he put me through. Once I was old enough, he started smacking me around a bit. She had to have seen it, noticed my torment, yet she chose him over me, her own son. But I still loved her—she was my mum—and she was lost without him now. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why she had wasted her life on that prick. Love wasn’t that fucking great.
But as the thought passed through my mind, I wanted to rip it straight from my mind because it felt wrong to think like that now. Because of Stella. My eyes followed her, Mia, and Rainn as they walked towards the car park connected to the compound. I’d heard Mia mention her new car earlier, so they must have been going to look at it. Before I could give the order, I saw Seb walking out behind them. He was at a discreet distance from them but close enough if he needed to reach one of them in a hurry.
Deck took Charlotte inside a while ago. Her morning sickness seemed to last all day. Although the doctor told Deck some women simply suffer from all-day sickness during pregnancy, he still obsessed with her. He made her lie down at least six times a day. His nervousness for her was not going to stop until their baby was born and Charlotte was safe.
“You get things all squared away with Stells?” Steel asked, breaking into my thoughts. I looked up and noticed Mannix had joined us.
“More or less. We are getting there.”
“She yours?” Mannix asked.
“Fucking oath she is. We’ve got a lot of stuff to talk about, but yeah, brother, that little Honey is all mine.” I waited for any kind of panic to take over my body, but there wasn’t any, just a sense of rightness. We sat and talked for a few more minutes. Our conversation changed to my new Night Rod Special, which was custom made with new drag bars and full new custom paint job—satin black with gloss electric blue accents. Which reminded me, I had to get a pillion seat put on so I could take Stella with me on rides. I wanted my woman at my back, her legs wrapped around me, and her arms holding me tight.
Oh, yes, that was a high priority.
This was my last thought before an explosion rocked the ground beneath my feet.
“Fuck.” Steel and Mannix shouted at the same time. The blood brothers got up and took off for the car park.
“Shiloh!” I yelled as I looked desperately around for the little girl. I spotted her fifty metres away from where we had been sitting. In seconds, I was up and running towards her. She was the club’s first priority. If anything happened to her? God, the thought was unbearable. I had to get her to safety, but my mind was with Stella. Where the fuck was she when the explosion happened? What kind of explosion was it?
“Vinnie,” Shiloh screamed as the two German shepherds put themselves in front of their charge. Running as fast as I could, I reached where she was and scooped her up in my arms, holding her to me for a second and just breathed. Her tiny body shook against me as I tried to soothe her and myself, but calm would only come for me when I had Stella safe in my arms. Please, be okay, Honey.
“Shiloh!” Deck’s panicked cry echoed from behind me. He couldn’t she was safely in my arms, so I turned and rushed to him. I could see Charlotte running behind Deck, her face etched with panic, no doubt the recent events that had her, Shiloh, and Stella in danger foremost in her mind.
“Get them inside. Have Ford stay in there with Vegas and Teach, then get your arse back out here,” I ordered. As I transferred Shiloh to him, I kissed her forehead, reassuring myself she was okay.
I didn’t wait for Deck to answer. I knew he would do exactly what I had asked, so I turned and sprinted to the car park and to Stella. I reached the outside of the compound’s grounds only to find fucking carnage in front of me. Three cars were blown up and on fire. Mia’s new car was a burning pile of mangled metal.
“Stella,” I yelled as loud as I could. I couldn’t fucking see her. Jesus Christ, where was she? “Stella!”
“Booth, baby, I’m over here,” the sweetest words were screamed at me.
Frantically, my eyes scanned the lot before I saw my honey with Seb beside her, his expression grim. He gave me a chin lift. He obviously had something I needed to know. Soon, brother, gotta check my woman first.
Sprinting to her, I took her in arms and crushed her to my chest.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck me,” I chanted over and over again. She wrapped her arms tightly around my waist, and her whole body shook from the adrenaline. So did mine. My concern for Shiloh and Stella had my heart beating out of my chest.
“I’m okay, baby, I’m okay,” she reassured me, whispering in my ear so no one else could hear.
My hands travelled over her back searching for any kind of injury.
“Jesus, Stella. Are you sure you aren’t hurt, Honey?” I asked, still not believing her words. So much had happened to her already.
Pulling back a little, Stella placed her lips gently on mine. “Breathe me, Booth,” she whispered against them, and I did exactly that. Damn, she knew what I needed.
“Did you call me baby?” I asked her, my mouth still against hers, breathing her in.
Her answering smile was full of spunk and cheek. “Maybe. Why, do you like that, military man?”
“Maybe,” I said back with a smile of my
own. I fucking loved it. “As long as it’s just you calling me that.”
“Can I call you Vinnie?” she said, sassing me. God, this beautiful woman would be my undoing.
“Not unless you have raven ringlets and have just turned four.” I patted her on her jean-clad bottom. She was okay. A little shaken but okay. Now I needed to see about the rest of my club.
“Can you go inside with Teach and Shiloh, please, Honey? I need to concentrate out here, and I will be able to do that better if I know you’re safe.”
Stella pressed her lips to mine, properly this time. Her kiss was sweet and soothing. We had yet to unleash too much passion on each other. Except for that one time in the laundry room, we hadn’t had much time together for that, and I was dying to be balls deep in her. There was an ache behind my zipper, an ache only Stella could ease.
“Be careful, handsome,” she said, then turned and walked to where Rainn waited with a stressed looking Mannix standing beside her.
“Mia?” I mouthed to the enforcer. He jerked his head to the left—a small move that no one else would have ever seen, as such was our training.
To my left, I saw Mia in Steel’s arms. Her legs were wrapped around his waist, and his arms were firmly around her, his head buried in her neck. I could tell from where I was standing that he was saying something to her. What, I didn’t know, but her head was bobbing up and down. I even heard a small giggle escape from her.
The girls were safe. All of them. Thank fuck for that. Now to find out what the hell caused this mess. I pulled out my mobile phone and put in a call to Creed. The man was part bloodhound and could find a lead. He had been at the party for half of it, but then he got a call and left straight after. That was a few hours ago.
“Yeah, brother,” he answered. He sounded strangely relaxed, which was not the usual MO for Creed. Well, I was certainly going to change that.
“Need you here, Creed. Some fuck just blew up three cars in the car park.
“What the fuck did you say?” If it were possible to growl a whole sentence, I would swear Creed had just managed it.
“You heard me. Mia’s new car and two of the shop’s trucks.”
“Mia?” he asked. Mia and Creed had a strong bond, and sometimes, I thought she would be better off with Creed instead of pining after Steel.
My attention was drawn to a commotion to my left as Mia’s sister, Callie, came out of the compound, crying for Steel. I watched in disbelief as he dropped Mia to the ground, but her feet weren’t quite righted, so she stumbled slightly. If it hadn’t been for Squid standing close by, she would have gone arse over heels. Steel ran off in Callie’s direction and took the wrong sister in his arms, then headed back for the building.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Steel,” I said, not liking what I had just seen from my VP. Goddamn stupid prick.
“Booth,” Creed shouted down the phone, taking my attention from the stupidity I’d just witnessed. Shit.
“Yeah, she’s fine. A little shook up by the looks of her.”
“Steel got her?”
I snorted out a laugh. “He did, but now he has just fucked up and is comforting the wrong sister. Fucking idiot just went off with Callie, who was inside at the time of the blast. Mia, Rainn, and Stella were out here when it went off. They’re lucky they weren’t killed,” I said with a growl. The thought that Stella could have been killed right in front of me had my heart taking off and beating rapidly again. Fuck.
“Fuck, he is a fucking dumb-arse prick. What the fuck does he see in that plastic crap when Mia is fucking perfect,” Creed said with a pissed-off tone. This was the first time Creed had really shown how deep his feelings went for Mia. A while back, when the girls had a party, he let it be known, but we really didn’t think he was serious. I guess he didn’t want me to know how he felt about the dark-haired beauty.
“Get back as quick as you can, brother. I will hold off the cops until you get here,” I told him, ignoring the comments about Mia.
“On my way,” he answered with a clipped tone and then hung up. Sliding my phone back into my pocket, I headed to Mia.
“Hey, pretty girl, you wanna go in and sit with Stella while we get this shit figured out?” I said softly. The hurt look in her eyes made me want to punch Steel in the face, then cut off his dick and feed it to Shiloh’s dogs.
“My car,” she cried, helplessly looking back at what had once been a brand new Jeep Wrangler.
“I know, sweetheart, but it’s just a car. You are safe and not blown to pieces along with it, yeah?”
“Yeah, Booth, you’re right. I’m sorry.” She shook her head and allowed me to lead her away from the danger zone. My need to get the women out of danger was high on my to-do list, which was growing bigger by the fucking second.
“No need to be sorry, Mia. I get you are upset, but there is a bigger picture, sweetheart. You, Stella, Rainn, and Shiloh are safe. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters. Now let’s get you inside. I need to focus out here, and I can’t if you aren’t where I know you are safe.” I gentled my voice as much as I could. She didn’t need rough right now. Holding her hand in mine, I led Mia to the compound’s main door. Inside was controlled chaos. The men were all over the place, making sure the women were safe and not scared. Respect was our main motto. We lived by it.
Mia pushed herself closer to me as we passed by Steel and Callie. Her head was buried in my chest, and I held her tight, then I let her hand go and wrapped an arm around her. The look from Steel was priceless, and if we weren’t in such a fucked-up place right now, I would have laughed. I was sure of one thing. Steel had to get his mind sorted out and pick either Callie or Mia. I was not the type of president to tell my men what to do in their private lives—in fact, I stayed well out of that shit—but Mia was different, special, and she was Stella’s friend. So that gave me the right to step in if and when the need arose. Steel was hurting her, plain and simple, and my situation with Stella had given me more perspective. Finally opening my eyes to what I had put my honey through helped, and I won’t stand back and allow another woman of this club to be hurt.
“Mia?” Steel questioned, but she ignored him, opting, instead, to kiss my cheek and take off for the bar to start work. It was what she did.
“Brother, she okay?” Steel asked, looking at Mia, not me.
“Do you even give a shit?” I grunted back at him, not even bothering to stop. I didn’t like Callie, never did. Steel brought her into the club a few years ago, and I’d never touched her or asked her for sex. She had a nasty streak a mile long. It was hard to believe that she and Mia were sisters. They were complete polar opposites of one another. I shook my head in disgust at him, and he at least had the decency to look contrite. So he fucking should.
“Steel, I need you with me. Callie, do something around here that helps the club. Wash some dishes or help with the food,” I said to her in a barely controlled tone. She was lazy and expected to be waited on.
“That’s not my job around here,” she replied snottily.
“Last time I checked, you don’t work here at all. Now, if you want to continue to be here as a guest, I suggest you make yourself useful.” I was not in the mood for her diva act, and if it weren’t for my VP, she would be out on her fake arse.
“Where’s Stella. It’s her job. She’s the maid here,” she spat.
She looked to Steel for help, but judging by the scowl on his face he wasn’t happy with his little plaything. He knew respect first, especially if you were the fucking president of the club.
“Brother,” I said, warning my VP with one single word, letting him know that I was not happy. My woman was off limits, and Callie should have known this. Stella was far from the maid of my club. She was its queen, and I wouldn’t have this bitch insulting her.
“On it, Pres,” he answered with a respectful nod thrown my way, and then he turned to the bitch. “Maybe you should go home.” I didn’t stick around to hear any more of their conversation. She
was totally the wrong person to have around here, and I wanted her gone. Steel would feel this as soon as I got this fuckery sorted out. And that was it. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent Stella a quick text.
Me: Please, stay inside the compound, Honey. I will be out for most of the night. When I am finished, I will come find you. X
That was the first time ever I had put an X in a text message. It felt good. My phone immediately pinged with a message alert.
My honey: Okay, baby, you focus. I got this. Xoxoxo
Fuck me. Yeah, I liked her calling me baby.
18
STELLA
I knew my role at the club was to clean, cook, and look after the place. After all, that was why they hired me, but my position as Booth’s … What was I, his girlfriend? I was there to help wherever I could to keep things away from Booth that could be handled by others. His focus was needed elsewhere now, and the best way to show him my support and that I was all in was to not break down, no matter how much I wanted to.
Though, surprisingly, I felt okay. I mean sure, I’d come close to being blown into tiny pieces only a few short minutes ago, but I was okay. I was more worried about the fact that Shiloh had been so close to the danger. What was going on here? Was this Rogue? Or was it my stepfamily? God, I hated calling them that. They were no family to me, except through marriage, a marriage that ended with Mum’s passing from cancer. They needed to leave and get out of my house. Mum left it to me, but Gary refused to see it that way.
Idiot, I thought to myself as I made my way out of Booth’s room and into the main room. His text message said he was going to be busy for a few hours. I needed to do something, but I wasn’t going to clean. There were far too many people around for me to make any difference to the mess, so it would be best to wait until the morning. Tonight, I thought that my flock and I needed Christian Grey to take our mind off explosions, abusive stepbrothers, and crazy ex-soldiers.
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