By the time we went back downstairs, whatever bug had crawled up Legend’s ass was gone. He was sitting at a table surrounded by women. Piper was with Phoenix, Grit, Hannah, and Declan, ignoring the man, intentionally putting her back to him. She knew what was going on if the tightness of her face and the stiffness of her shoulders said anything.
“What’s his deal?” I asked Titan, quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“Legend. What’s with him being like that to Piper?”
“It’s not so different than our situation, McKenzie. He wants her, she wants him, and they are both fighting it like hell. She’s fighting it more than he is, but he’s not making it any easier lashing out in frustration and anger.” He was right. It was just like us, but there was more to it on his part. I could see by the way he kept stealing glances at her. “Leave it alone, McKenzie. You wouldn’t have listened to anybody who told you to stop fighting our attraction.”
“No, I’d have fought it harder,” I admitted.
It was a great dinner. Anita and Gavel never showed up, which was probably for the best. I looked well-fucked, and I'm not sure I could have looked her in the eye when it was her son that did the fucking.
It was after eight when Piper stood up, carrying a sleeping Declan. She stopped, said goodnight and headed for the door, stopping to talk to Roper who was sitting with Chink at the bar and watching a football game. Roper nodded and stood up, then followed her out of the restaurant. They no sooner walked outside the door and Legend took off after them.
“Ten bucks says Roper comes back in with a black eye,” Titan said to Grit.
“Nah. Twenty says he’s coming back with a fat lip.”
“You’re on.”
I watched the door, waiting to see if Legend really would send Roper back in injured. It didn’t take long for Roper to come back in, without so much as a scratch. A few minutes later, Legend came back in and went right to Roper. His fist flew fast, nailing the other man right in the jaw. Roper’s head spun, but somehow he remained standing firmly. When he looked back at Legend, he was grinning widely while rubbing his jaw.
“Your hands never touch her again,” he growled at Roper. With that, he walked out, slamming the door behind him.
“Why is he smiling? He’s not pissed that Legend just hit him?”
Grit and Titan laughed. I looked at the two men who were both grinning as big as Roper was.
“Because Legend just got set up, and he took it, hook, line, and sinker. Plus, if he really wanted to hurt Roper, Roper would no longer be standing and wouldn’t have gotten away with just one hit. Legend has a hell of a right hook.” Grit rubbed his jaw, apparently having been on the receiving end of that right hook a time or two.
“He wanted to do cage fighting after we got out of the service,” Titan chimed in. “He’d have been good at it too, because he’s so damn quick.”
“Why doesn’t he?”
Grit and Titan shared a look, confirming there was more than I knew going on with Legend, more than any of us outside the brothers knew.
“It just wasn’t in the cards for him.” Titan’s phone rang pulling him away from the conversation, conveniently pulling us away from the subject of Legend.
“What? Where?” Titan stood abruptly as he listened into the phone. If I hadn't been paying attention, he'd have spilled me out of his lap, onto the floor. I followed him, along with Grit and everybody else, as he walked to the bar. He grabbed a remote, quickly switching the channel to CNN. The news cameras were reporting from in front of a New York hospital.
Breaking news, Senator Nathaniel Richards II was pronounced dead on arrival after collapsing at a campaign gala. His son, Nathaniel Richards III, will be holding a press conference tomorrow morning at 8 am.
Titan switched the TV off, and the bar was cast into silence. I felt Phoenix come beside me and wrap her arm around my shoulder. “He’s gone,” she whispered so only I could hear.
“One down, one to go,” I said, pulling away and pouring Phoenix and myself a shot. I ignored everybody else and the fact that all eyes were on me. “A toast. I hope the evil mother fucker feels the flames of hell.” I downed the amber liquid, feeling the burn as it made its way down. I reached to pour another shot, but the bottle was taken away.
I looked up into those striking blue eyes that just a little while ago held passion and desire, now they held anger and compassion. I expected him to stop me from getting trashed, but he didn’t. Instead, he poured me another shot.
I carried McKenzie to bed, then headed back to the main room where my brothers were all waiting for me.
“That bastard got off easy, the son won’t be so lucky. I didn’t get to kill the father, but I’m going to make that son of a bitch scream.” I looked to Legend. “Get Hack on the phone. I need to know everything about the adoptive parents.”
Legend dialed and put the phone on speaker for everyone to hear. It rang three times before Hack picked up. “You’ve got to fucking be kidding me. Do you have any idea what time it is here?”
“Yeah, an hour later than it is here,” Legend smarted off.
“Fuck you,” Hack grumbled. We could hear movement, and more grumbling before Hack came back on the phone. “All I know so far is that they are Mark and Natalie Grayson, both in their late 30s. She has a medical issue that prevented her from getting pregnant. She had an unsuccessful surgery to try and have kids about ten years ago. They adopted McKenzie’s baby two years later, Liliana Grayson. She’s an only kid.”
“What do the parents do?”
“Mark works in advertising, and it says Natalie is an accountant at Worthington International, your boy Philip’s company.”
“That works in our favor. I’ll call Philip, get you a temporary position. Get close to the wife.”
“You’ve got to fucking be kidding me. How the fuck am I supposed to do that?”
“I don’t know Hack, seduce her if you have to.” I hung up before Hack started raging at me. The guys were all laughing and the jokes started flying at Hack’s expense.
Everyone in the club gives as good as they get, Hack is no exception. If there was a way to get in with the mom, or the parents in general, Hack is the one person that would find it, no doubt about it.
Nightmares woke me up. It had been awhile since I had the damn things, not since Titan started sleeping with me. It seemed he had the ability to chase the monsters away. Even before I rolled over and felt the sheets, I knew he'd been gone for a while. The sun came through the blinds, and caused me to squint in pain. I turned my head away from the offending light, and my stomach rolled with the movement.
I barely made it to the bathroom before I expelled the contents of my stomach. “I'm never drinking again,” I whispered to myself, looking at the train wreck in front of me. My hair was a mess, my eyes and lips were puffy and red, and my complexion was pea green. I climbed into the shower after brushing my teeth, hoping the hot water would revive me some.
The shower was hot and felt wonderful, the pulsing water beat down on my stiff, aching muscles. As much as I wanted to linger and let the water continue to massage my body, I wanted to find out where Titan was more.
I looked through his closet and came across a worn Van Halen shirt. It was soft from years of wear and wash. The graphic on the front was fading. I pulled it on over my bra from the day before. My panties were long gone, but – thankfully the old shirt hung to my thighs and the neck was too wide, exposing a lot of my shoulder. It was the best that I was going to get given our size differences.
Finding a pair of pants to wear proved to be much more difficult. I finally found a pair of sweatpants with a drawstring in his dresser. On top sat a few pictures, and I couldn't help the small pang of envy that reverberated through my heart. There was a picture of Titan as a boy, sitting on his dad’s lap on a bike, two front teeth missing from his huge grin. Another picture showed him in his Navy fatigues, the blue camo b
rought his eyes out even more. He was standing with a younger Grit, Legend, and a haunted looking Ink. The last picture was of him standing by a casket. I clutched the front of the tee that I put on. The same tee was in the photo, laying over the flag-draped casket, along with a leather jacket, the familiar skeleton motorcycle insignia on the back. Anita was beside him, her arm looped through his, both of them had expressions of loss and sorrow on their faces. The picture was beautiful, yet heartbreaking.
“It was his favorite shirt.” I jumped at Anita’s voice. She continued. “He wanted to bury his dad in it, but I wouldn't let him. He had placed it on the casket to bury him with it, but I took it and gave it back to him months later as a Christmas gift. I wanted him to have a last good memory of his dad that wasn’t of him being sick.”
“What’s so special about this shirt?”
She smiled. “My husband loved Van Halen. He used to blast the music while working on the car or doing projects around the house. Most of the time, he didn’t have a clue what he was doing. He and Jason would work for hours in the garage and the car would most of the time be worse off than when they started. Luckily, the Demons had a mechanic to fix whatever mess he made of it.” Her eyes were misted with tears as she picked up the picture of Titan and his dad. Lightly, she ran her fingers over her husband’s face and a tear rolled down her cheek.
“After he got sick, the treatments took their toll on his body. For his birthday, Jason got him that shirt and a pair of front row tickets to a concert in Chicago. As much as he loved the band, he'd never seen them in concert. So, they went on a road trip together, not their first, but it would be the last.” She paused and swallowed hard before continuing, she looked at the photo like it held all the answers to the world. “They had a blast, and even got to meet the band after the concert. It seemed to breathe new life into him. He seemed to get better for a while and we were hopeful for a remission. The treatments looked to be attacking the cancer more than they had been before. Then, overnight, it seemed to come back with a vengeance and spread quickly. He died about three and a half months later. Jason was overseas when it happened. He was able to take a leave of absence for the funeral. All the boys were, except Legend. He was on a mission in South America and couldn’t make it back. He almost didn’t come back at all.”
“What happened?”
“To Legend?”
“Yeah.”
“Not my place to tell, but even if it was, I couldn’t tell you. All I know is that he was going into some dangerous areas down there. It was something to do with the cartels, and he got hurt.
“Anyway, it was after his dad’s death, and Legend’s almost not making it, that Jason decided to get out. The boys had made a pact before they went in, that they were going in together, and they were coming out together to join the Demons. They all agreed it was time, since Legend was getting medically discharged. Even then they were a club in and of their own. They were born into this life. They have seen it through its worst and been there at its best. You asked me if the club bothered me, knowing what it is and what they do. My answer is: not anymore. When the club went legit, my only worry for my son went away.”
“I'm sorry for your loss.” I looked at the picture in her hands. Jason looked just like him. The same smile, the same blue eyes, and the same confident demeanor.
She laughed. “Acts like him too. That boy is cocky and overbearing as hell.”
“Yeah, he is, but I like that about him.”
“I'm glad he found you, Ember.” She got up from the bed and hugged me tight before putting the picture back on the chest of drawers. “He's wanted what his father and I had for a long time, but I wanted more for him. As much as I loved his father, I wanted him to find you.” She released me and walked toward the door, placing the photo back on the shelf. “Finish getting dressed. We’ll get you some of your own clothes and see if Chink will take us to Beauford. Maybe we can go see a movie or something.”
“I'd love to, Anita, but I've neglected the restaurant long enough.”
“True, but you aren't supposed to go there today. Phoenix said that today you get pampered.”
“Where’s Titan? Did he go to the house?”
“No. He and the guys are in a conference with Stone.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“That man hurt you repeatedly, do you really think that Titan is going to let it go?”
“No, I know he won’t. What does that have to do with Stone?”
“The club doesn’t retaliate without proof, honey. It has to be taken to all the leaders of the club, including the original chapter’s officers. They came in last night.”
I slipped into the large sweatpants and drew the string as tight as it would go. I rolled the pants up as much as I could, but it didn’t help. I felt as ridiculous as it looked. When I walked out to the club kitchen, Chink busted out laughing. Becky didn’t bother to try and hold her laughter either, nobody could, and I couldn’t blame them.
“God, that’s funny.” Chink snapped a picture, and I tried to take his phone away. He held it way over my head, so I tried to jump to retrieve it. Jumping caused my boobs to bounce beneath the shirt and made the baggy pants start to fall and everybody laughed harder as I caught them just in time.
“Jerk,” I muttered, pulling the pants back up and walking away from Chink.
“Come on, Ember, I’ll let you borrow some pants,” Becky said, laughing, and walking out of the dining room. I followed her back to her room.
“You can borrow whatever you want.” I looked between her Barbie-like figure and my own curves. Finding something that would fit in her closet was going to be like finding something in Titan’s closet.
“Becky, I don’t know if you have anything that will fit me.”
“Shirt wise, maybe not, pant wise...” She looked at my ample breast compared to her smaller, firmer curves and walked to her closet and pulled out a pair of black leggings. “These should work.”
I caught them mid-air. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I changed into the stretchy pants that were tighter on me than they would ever be on her. I left Titan’s shirt on, feeling more comfortable in the loose fabric since I didn’t have a bra on and, because it was so big on me, it covered my butt from view in the tight pants. “Do you love him?”
“Yes.” I searched the other woman’s face for any clue as to her feelings about Titan. “Do you?”
“No, I love the idea of him.” Becky looked defeated, resigned to her situation. “What you and Phoenix have found with the guys, it’s what I want, but I don’t feel that way about any of the guys here. I may fuck them, but I don’t feel anything but friendship and respect for them.”
“Why’d you come to Belle?” I asked on a hunch.
“The other girls asked to come here. I didn’t want to, but I wasn’t given a choice. It was come here or get out of the club, and I had nowhere else to go.”
“Why?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m here now.” She forced a smile and led the way back to the kitchen. Whoever she left behind came here with her.
The meeting went like I expected. I printed off still photos of McKenzie’s rape rather than letting them see the video. It was unanimous, I had the club’s support and resources to kill the last motherfucker. The other matter on the table was Demon Cattle. Roper and I talked with the guys at length about our plans. We answered questions about the whole operation. In the end, we still had a few brothers not convinced, but we took the majority by a handful of votes.
“Anything else you want to bring to the table while we’re here?” Stone asked, lighting a cigar.
“The Belle chapter is small, we could use some more brothers whether it be prospects or patches.” I looked around the room at the brotherhood my father and his friends built and bled for. The Demons wouldn’t be what they are today without the changes they made along the way. “Any volunteers to transfer chapters
?” There was silence as we all looked around at each other, waiting on volunteers.
“I’ll transfer,” Legend spoke up to the shock of Stone and the rest of the Arlington boys, but it came as no surprise to those of us from Belle and it passed, voted for unanimously, with lots of grins and slaps on the back.
“Anybody else?” Stone asked the room at large.
“I never thought I’d see the day that Legend moved out of the original Demons. Are you sharing her, brother?” Gig smirked in Legend’s direction. It was well known in the club that the two men were always in competition with one another. Gig’s Italian heritage made him a regular Casanova to women. It didn’t hurt that the man also spoke Italian fluently. The women seemed to melt at his feet. Legend had his own way of going about things, and his “Legendary” cock led the way. They chased, shared, and walked away from women together. They had each other’s backs since Legend saved Gig’s life on a mission. Gig was determined to repay him in some way. Joining the Demons gave him the chance to do that and the brotherhood that came with it.
“Belle is a college town, Gig. Lots of tight college pussy to be had, brother. Why stick to just one?”
“That would mean no.” Gig grinned at Legend. “I’ll transfer.” Legend clenched his teeth hard, the longstanding competition was going to heat up between the brothers. The whole room knew it.
“All for Gig transferring to Belle?” I wasn’t surprised when the ayes started.
When it came to Legend, he spoke. “Know this before you’re officially in Belle. I will not back down. I will not share. I will not walk away. I will fight for her. She’s mine, brother.”
“You’re claiming her then?”
“No. I’m not claiming her. I claimed her,” Legend said, sitting back in his chair and leveling an even stare at Gig.
Besides Legend and Gig, Su and Hunter said they would move to Belle temporarily. They were newer patches, young, conceited, head strong, and loyal. All the qualities that fit well in the life.
Ember's Burn: A Steel Demons MC Novel Page 17