Breaker snorted. “If you don’t sort it you need to know Leo will do it for you. She’ll take only so much shit before she decides she’s had enough.”
Before Wolf could answer Lure’s phone rang and everyone looked at him.
“Yeah, okay. No problem, we’re leavin’ now. Meet you there.”
He stood and slid his phone into his pocket.
“They’re done and on their way out. Let’s go.”
Dive didn’t look happy when they met up with them at the parking garage. Neither did Leo. Wolf wasn’t the only one who thought that.
“What did they say? How soon can we take our brother home?” Breaker asked as he handed Dive his kutte.
“It’s not gonna be as easy as that. We need paperwork, paperwork that we don’t fuckin’ have. I have no fuckin’ idea who did Reid’s paperwork, all I do know is it’s fuckin’ useless because they used the wrong fuckin’ name. We need to get back to the clubhouse so we can sort this shit before the meetin’. Let’s ride.”
He threw a look at his sister Wolf didn’t get. “Get on your ol’ man’s bike, Leo. We’re not gonna talk about this now.”
His pretend old lady huffed as she snatched her helmet from his hands, shoved it on her head and got on behind him. She sat as far away from him as she possibly could and Wolf grinned behind his bandanna. Not about to allow that shit. Grabbing her by her thighs he dragged her forward, right up against him, settling her warm little body against his back. The little shit tried to move away the minute he let her go but a quick swat to her thigh had her hissing angrily but staying right where he had put her.
He ignored how good it felt, and concentrated on keeping his eyes on the road instead.
Riding into the compound with none of his brothers but with the Shadow Wraiths and the Devil’s Spawn at his back was a strange experience because he got no chin lifts in greeting, no quick waves or even a nod. Cold eyes watched them as they rode up to the clubhouse and parked.
What the fuck?
It was as he was walking through the common room towards the bar that he heard the whispers. Whispers from fucking pussy hangarounds and wanna be bikers. Who shouldn’t have been allowed through the gate in the first place.
“Fucking traitor.”
“Filthy little club whore.”
“Filthy whore.”
“Going to fuck that tight ass ‘till it bleeds.”
Every single bit of restraint flew out the non-existent windows in the room. Handing his woman off to Dive he dragged the bastard out of his little group of ass-lickers and proceeded to take him apart before moving on to his shocked little pussy friends. Blood flew, bones cracked and broke, he heard women screaming faintly in the background because all he could see, all he could hear were the bastards that had disrespected and threatened his old lady.
Hands grabbed him as he laid the fourth fucker out and started kicking the shit out of all of them. He fought against the hands but more hands came to drag him off the bastards on the floor. Only when he heard Beast’s voice did he calm a little bit.
“Calm, brother, you need to calm the fuck down before you kill them.”
Panting with rage he jerked himself out of the hands holding him and pointed at the four on the floor then at the rest of the shocked brothers and whores.
“I hear another fucking disrespecting word about my old lady and I will fucking end you. Don’t care who the fuck you are. You get me? You have anything to say you bring it to me, you don’t stand around and whisper like a pissy little bitch. And threatening to fucking violate a woman? Not in this fucking club, never in this fucking club! I have no fucking idea how you got hangaround status or got through the gate but be aware you are on fucking notice. I will fucking get rid of all of you sooner or later. Step out of line, go on, I fucking dare you. Test me, motherfuckers, I’m here, waiting.”
Deathly silence hung over the shocked men and women until Ice’s voice broke it.
“Wolf, brother, let’s get to the office.” Pointing at the men on the floor he issued further orders. “Beast, take Boots, Spook, Dizzy and Rider and lock these little bastards down. Prez wants them in front of the officers later today.” Looking around the common room he pointed at the women who had been with the assholes. “You bitches are done. Get your fucking asses out of my club and do not come back. Fuck off, now.”
Wolf breathed deep to try and calm the rage still roaring through him. A small hand slipping around his wrist succeeded where he didn’t. Taking a calming breath he looked down into glowing violet-blue eyes. Fuck, they really did look like they were glowing. She smirked up at him, patting his back with her free hand.
“Next time you start breaking heads, baby, please leave some for me.” She joked.
There were no second thoughts, he grabbed her, lifted her up and slammed his mouth down over hers. He felt her smile against his lips before she opened for him and his sank his tongue into her mouth and kissed the rage right out of his system.
The kiss served two purposes, number one it calmed him the fuck down, and number two it served as a notice to the watching men and sluts that she was his.
Dragging his head away from hers he smacked her ass hard then set her down, grabbed her hand and took her down to Hawk’s office. He ignored his racing heart and his hard as fuck dick.
It had been for show. All for show.
She wasn’t his. Would never be his.
There could never be more between them than what they had now. Pretence.
Blowing out a hard breath Wolf followed Ice into his president’s office. But he narrowed his eyes when he saw who was waiting for them. DC and Beryl sat in the chairs in front of his boss’s desk. Leading his woman to the couch against the wall Wolf sat down then pulled her into his lap.
“Morning, Prez, ladies.” That was as much as he could manage.
No answering greetings, at all.
“You caused a little bit of a ruckus out there, Wolf. Want to explain what the fuck happened?”
And immediately the rage he had banked down flamed back into existence.
“I thought we treated women like fucking human beings in this club. I thought we didn’t threaten to violate a woman and laugh about it as if it’s a joke in this club. I thought we didn’t disrespect a man’s old lady in this club.” Wolf pointed at the door. “That fucking shit out there just proved me wrong.”
It wasn’t his prez who reacted, but DC, her eyes wide and shocked.
“What? Are you sure?”
Wolf ignored her as he stared at his prez, waiting for his reaction. Hawk didn’t disappoint.
“You’re not going to answer my old lady, Wolf?”
Wolf didn’t look away from his president. He didn’t answer his question, instead he gave him the truth as he knew it.
“I learnt from your mistake, Prez. I’m not going to leave my old lady vulnerable to attack from fuckers inside my club, not now, not ever. You gave me this assignment. You knew I would protect her with my life. This is me protecting her as you ordered.”
Hawk didn’t get a chance to answer because Beryl jumped right into the conversation.
“How can you disrespect your president like that? She’s not worthy of your protection. We all saw that filthy kutte on her back. She’s the property of a club, not of one of its brothers. We all know what she is. You need to get her out of here and keep her away from the decent women in this club. Because of her influence Genna isn’t talking to me. It’s all her fault.”
He felt Leo’s muscles going solid under his hands and he put his hand over her mouth as she opened her mouth to reply making sure to cup his hand so those snapping teeth of hers didn’t get anywhere near his fingers.
“No, Leo, don’t say a word. This is mine.” He said softly. Looking over at Dive and the other men he lifted a brow and they all nodded. Rage clear on their faces.
“Prez, why didn’t you inform your family about my old lady and who she really is?” Wolf shook his head. “I k
now this is some kind of play, I know it but I don’t understand it.” Looking at Beryl he threw her a cold snarl.
“My old lady is no club whore, Beryl. She’s a valuable part of her MC’s mother chapter in Savannah where her father is the VP. You think her family would have her working on her back in their club? You think Army would have allowed that shit? Your attitude is disappointing as fuck and has opened my eyes to who you really are. Judging people without getting the facts is short sighted and leaves you looking like a fucking asshole.”
Beryl gave him wide shocked eyes, her face almost as white as the shirt she was wearing.
“Wolf.” Hawk growled. “You will respect my aunt or we’ll have problems.”
Wolf shook his head. “We already have problems, Hawk.”
“Jesus.” Dive snarled. “Can we get this shit done with so we can get to our business and get out of here? The air in this clubhouse stinks of prejudice.”
Hawk threw his head back against the back of his chair and sighed.
“I’m sorry, Wolf, Leo. I’ve been trying to get her to tell me what her problem with Leo was and she wouldn’t tell me. This was my fucked up play to get to the truth.” Hawk apologised.
His president’s yellow eyes zeroed in on his aunt. “Aunt Beryl, you need to stop your shit and apologise to Leo. Like I told you, over and over, she’s Army’s sister and if you had stayed at the party you would have realised how close they were when we had the speeches. Don’t know what the hell is going on with you but it stops right here, right now.”
They all watched in amazement as the woman’s anger deflated like a balloon and her shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry, Hawk. I saw her kutte and bad things from the past raised its ugly head and clouded my judgement. I’m sorry, Leo. I hope you can forgive me. I hope all of you can forgive my short sighted reaction. Wolf, I disrespected you and your old lady, I’m so sorry, please find it in your heart to forgive me. I know you find it hard to forgive, have seen it more than once over the years, but please, I need you to do it this time.”
Tightening his arms around Leo’s waist he slowly let go. Raking his fingers through his hair Wolf drew in a deep breath.
“Fine, Beryl. I forgive you but I can’t forget that your attitude and opinions sparked the shit my woman and I had to go through out there. I had to protect my woman in my own fucking clubhouse. Won’t be able to forget that.”
She nodded sadly. “I’m so sorry, Wolf. I caused all that out there. I promise I’ll fix it.”
Hawk looked at her with narrowed eyes. “If you had been open with me none of this shit would have happened, Aunt Beryl. Please, I love you, but you pull this shit again and I won’t be able to protect you from the consequences.”
She visibly cringed before nodding.
“I know, son. It won’t ever happen again, I promise.” She stood. “I have to get to the kitchen to make sure we’re on track for dinner. I hope all of you will join us. Please.” She aimed her request at Leo.
Leo tipped her head to the side and watched Beryl out of narrowed eyes then gave a decisive nod. “Thank you. We accept the invitation.”
He wasn’t taken in by the change in her attitude, not at all. Leo had weighed up the pros and cons and made her decision accordingly. He wouldn’t be surprised if she was using this as a fact finding mission. His woman was the perfect old lady.
“Right.” Hawk’s voice pulled his attention back to his president. “Now that we’ve got that shit sorted let’s get to the meeting.” He looked at his old lady. “Little bird, will you look after Leo while we’re busy, please?”
DC nodded with a grin. “Sure, I have a lot of questions and I’m sure so does she.”
Not very much later Wolf left his woman sitting at the bar with DC. He glared around the common room and several eyes avoided his but a few of the brothers gave him nods or chin lifts, assuring him they had his back.
That was as it should be.
Walking down to the chapel with Dive he shrugged when the man slapped his back and nodded, saying a lot without saying a word.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Leo
Sipping on the coffee Chris had poured for me the minute I sat down at the bar I scanned the packed common room behind me in the mirror behind the bar. It was easy to pick out where the problems were going to come from should we stay here longer than anticipated.
The club whores who hadn’t been kicked out by Ice. Sigh.
Why was it always the club whores who started shit that the brothers had to finish? Even back home it was the same shit. It was as if the bitches thought because they got the brothers’ dicks they could say and do as they pleased. And when they started a whisper campaign it caused endless problems between brothers, their old ladies and girlfriends.
What interested me was the obvious divide between the whores. One small group was very visible in their disdain for the rest of the whores. They stayed in a small group on the couches at the back of the room, not circulating like the other women. Interesting. Very interesting.
My parents never hid the way Reid and I had come into the world. We both knew we were the result of dad screwing club whores. Mama hated them, never said it out loud, but it was right there in her eyes and dad made sure she knew he wasn’t ever going there again. And he hasn’t, he’s been faithful to his old lady, whether at the clubhouse or on a run, he didn’t cheat. Instead they video chatted when he was on the road, every single night before going to sleep. Alone.
Or in Mama’s case, not so alone. When we were younger their big bed filled up with migrating kids throughout the night.
When I found the man I wanted to settle down with I wanted what they had. A love that was strong enough to withstand the worst and grow into the greatest love between two people. My parents were the ultimate example of an enduring love.
“What has you so deep in thought?” DC’s voice broke into my thoughts.
Glancing at her before looking down at my coffee. “I was thinking about my parents. About how much they’ve survived and how in love they still are. They are quite sickening sometimes but my brothers and I grew up knowing they loved each other and they loved us.”
“Your parents sound like they’re awesome.” Chris leant on the bar across from me and smiled. “Mine, not so much.”
“My dad is awesome but always busy so things slip through the cracks all the time. But he’s trying, so there’s that.” DC shrugged.
“We were lucky to have Viv and Grave as our parents, you won’t find any of us disagreeing with that.” But then I thought about Reid. “Except maybe Reid, he always wanted to know about his biological mother and why she wasn’t in his life. Me, I couldn’t give a shit about my biological, she’s dead, so there’s that. My Mama adopted me and loved me no matter how I came to be. I wouldn’t change it for anything. I think when Reid’s head got all screwed up he came here to find her, to see if there could be something between them. I would bet my best set of knives he was disappointed in what he found.”
“He never said a word about his family, always cut off conversations that got even close.” Chris said softly. “All the brothers talk when they get in a certain mood after drinking but not Army, not ever. He kept a part of himself to himself. Always.”
I nodded in agreement. That was Reid alright. Or that was the Reid that came home after the shit that went down on his last deployment.
DC swivelled in her chair until she faced my side and I turned to look at her. “Why don’t we address the elephant in the room while the men aren’t around to get involved? The shit that went down yesterday and earlier in Hawk’s office.”
I turned to face her and lifted an eyebrow. “If you think I’m about to spill my guts about my feelings you’d better think again. Not happening. She did what she did, you and your posse did what you did. She apologised. As far as the club’s concerned it’s done. As far as I’m concerned...it’s gonna take me a while to trust any of you.”
Glancing at Chris I smil
ed. “Not you though, you and Genna aren’t included in that statement.”
DC didn’t hesitate. “Good, trust is something a person has to earn. You can’t give it to someone because of who they’re affiliated to. Now that it’s out of the way, I have a question. What exactly do you do at your club?”
I was totally okay with the change of subject.
“I’m the general manager of the strip clubs and bars that the club owns.”
“Is that like managing but reporting to a brother who is actually in charge?”
Laughing I shook my head. “Nope, I’m in charge, totally. I have managers at each of the venues but they report to me and I report to Maniac, our prez. My main office is at one of the strip clubs but I have a home office as well.”
“You said strip clubs and bars, plural. How many?” Chris asked with wide eyes.
“Three strip clubs and two bars with another bar/restaurant we’re busy building right now. Jamie, my assistant, is running things while I’m here so I’m not worried about things going sideways while I’m not there.”
“Is this what you’ve always wanted to do?” DC asked curiosity all over her face.
Shaking my head I laughed. “No, I wanted to be a brother, but of course, no dick and all of that. So this was the next best thing.”
DC bounced in her seat and smiled wide.
“Oh God! Me too. I wanted to be part of the club too. I was pissed when my dad told me that it was for boys only. I was so pissed I decided that I would show them all. I would be the better than the best freaking brother at the club.” She winked. “Now the bastards are scared of me and I love it.”
I grinned. “If you can’t join ’em, beat them at their own game. That’s what you’re saying right?”
She grinned and nodded. We swivelled back to the bar and picked up our coffees and sipped almost at the same time. Chris shook her head and made big eyes at us.
Vengeance Of A Black Knight (Iron Dogz MC, #4) Page 18