Beth felt him before she even saw him. It was like he was burning holes into her back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Devin, Derek, and Zander walk into the kitchen. Zander made his way over to Amber, but Devin and Derek walked over to the same table they sat at this morning.
As Devin sat down, one of the club girls that she saw earlier at the pool walked over and put plates in front of him and Derek. Beth went rigid. She watched as the club whore bent down to talk to Derek. Whatever she said made him look to his father and smile. Instantly, Beth was pissed.
“You’ll notice the club girls making plates for the single guys. They try to buy their way into their beds with food. Fucking pathetic,” Amber told her. Beth couldn’t help her eyes narrowing at the scene she was witnessing.
“I think I’ve lost my appetite. I’m just going to head up to my room. Will you bring Derek up when he is finished eating please?” There was no way she could sit here watching some skank try to win her way into Devin’s pants - with food! Seriously, who did that? Pathetic didn’t even begin to describe what she thought of the idea.
“Hey, don’t let those girls run you off,” Viper told her. “Come sit with me.”
“No, that’s -” she started, but Amber interrupted her.
“Actually, that’s a great idea. Go eat with Viper. If you leave, Candy will think you're weak and try even harder to get to Devin. Plus, it will probably bug the shit out of my brother.”
Zander overheard the conversation, but said nothing. He chuckled to himself and with his plate in his hand, walked over to the table with Devin and Derek.
Viper grabbed both of their plates in one hand and with the other, guided her over to a seat next to his. “Act like it doesn’t even bother you. Like you couldn’t care less.” So that is exactly what Beth did.
She spent the next hour laughing harder than she had in forever. Today was full of new events for her. Viper, or Cedric as he told her, was hilarious. While she had no romantic feelings for him, she could definitely use another friend, and he agreed.
After he was finished eating, Derek made his way over to her. She couldn’t help but smile at how dirty he was. Mechanics 101 was messy. Beth tried to excuse herself from the group, but Viper insisted on walking her and Derek to their room. As they were leaving the kitchen, she couldn’t help the feeling of satisfaction when she saw the look on Devin’s face.
Chapter Nine
Sledge
Sledge watched as Beth and his son walked out of the kitchen - with Viper. He was pissed. Livid. What the fuck was that asshole doing with his family? No. Damn it! Beth wasn’t his, he had to remind himself. Shit! His head was so fucked up.
“Seriously Devin! What the hell were you thinking?” Amber demanding, drawing his attention.
“What?” he asked.
“You have your son sitting next to...” she started, but Zander interrupted her.
“Peaches, it’s not your place,” he told her. Amber turned her gaze to Reaper and Sledge felt sorry for the man. Holding his hands up in surrender, “Okay, I’ll shut up.”
“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted...” she looked at Reaper, then continued, “You had your son sitting next to you, his mother in the same room, and you allow Candy to paw all over you! Have you lost your fucking mind?” Sledge couldn’t remember ever seeing his sister this pissed off, at least not at him.
“Candy brought me a plate of food. There was no pawing. And what difference does it make? She had Viper all over her!” he demanded, his own temper rising.
“You’re a fucking idiot!” He watched as Amber stormed out of the kitchen. What the hell just happened? Looking to Zander, he watched as his VP, best friend, and brother-in-law, shrugged his shoulders.
“Want to hit the gym?” Reaper knew just what he needed. Nodding his head, they both cleaned their table of the trash and left.
The guys walked into the gym, changed into gym clothes, and got to work. Machine after machine. Sledge was a man on a mission. He had to get Beth out of his head, but did he really want to? Damn it! Why was this so fucking complicated, he shook his head. He was royally fucked!
“Talk to me, Devin,” Reaper said.
Sledge didn’t even know where to begin. His head and heart were in a constant battle. With a heavy sigh, he started at the beginning. Good a place as any, right?
“Eight years ago, Beth and I dated. It was serious, man. I had the ring in my pocket and everything. I loved that woman with everything I was. And one day, one night, she ripped my world apart.”
“What happened?” Reaper asked. Sledge could tell he truly wanted to know.
“The night before our last mission, I went to her parent’s anniversary party. I could tell something was wrong. She acted different. Cold. Distant. And then she called it quits. No explanation. No nothing. Ran away from me, never returned my calls, never replied to a text message. Just nothing.” Sledge felt the ache in his chest, like he was reliving the event all over again. It hurt to breathe.
“Has she told you why since she’s been here?” Reaper asked.
“She said that her father demanded she break off the relationship with me. He threatened my career and my life. Said something about how easily accidents happen during times of war or some shit like that.” He relayed, “But what could he have possibly done to me, Z?”
It was in that moment that something clicked in Sledge’s mind. He looked at Reaper, and knew he was thinking the same thing.
“No... You think?” he was shocked to the core. Could her father have been the person who specifically requested his team to go to Afghanistan? Could her father have been the government leak who told the Afghan forces when and where his team would be landing?
“Call Jackson. Now!” Sledge ordered. “I want a fucking name. Tell that fucker, he either finds the information or we are done doing government cleanups.” Sledge was on the verge of losing his shit. If her father was responsible for the ambush that got two of his men shot, he would kill the bastard with his bare hands!
Reaper put in the phone call and relayed the message. “Jackson will get back to us in twenty,” he said as he hung up the phone.
Sledge needed to talk to Beth. “I’ll be upstairs. I need to speak to Beth.” He didn’t even wait for a reply; Reaper would find him when Jackson called him back.
Walking to her door, Sledge knocked lightly. He didn’t want to chance waking up Derek. When she didn’t answer the door, he slowly opened it and walked inside. He could hear the water running in the bathroom and knew Beth was in the shower. Sledge walked over to the bed, and looked at the sleeping form of his son. In one day, he became the life force that pumped through Devin. He couldn’t imagine his life without him.
Sledge heard the water turn off and knew Beth would be out soon. He braced himself against what he might see when she walked out of the bathroom. As the door opened, it was like an angel walking through the doorframe. The fog from the steam haloed around her. She was stunning! As always, she took his breath away.
“Oh my God! Devin, you scared the shit out of me!” she gasped, “What’s wrong?”
“What makes you think something is wrong?”
“One, you’re in my room in the middle of the night. Two, I can tell by the look on your face.” She was always good at reading his moods. Apparently, that had not changed, he thought.
“We need to talk, but not here. Will you come over to my room?” he asked. Seeing her hesitation, he explained, “It’s about your father and I would rather not have Derek wake up and hear this.”
Beth started walking towards the door; so Sledge followed. Walking into the hall, she quietly shut the door. Sledge stepped across the hall. As he opened the door, Candy called his name.
“What do you need?” he asked her. “I am a little busy.” He couldn’t hide the irritation if he wanted to.
Candy looked between Beth and Sledge. “I was wondering if you wanted company for the night?”
Sledg
e didn’t miss the change in Beth’s demeanor. But he really was not interested in Candy. “No thanks. Not interested.”
“Are you sure? We could have some fun,” she purred. But it did nothing for him.
“Listen Candy, I am not, and never will be interested in having sex with a club girl. Not to mention, the mother of my child is standing right here,” he pointed to Beth. “How about showing her a little respect. Have a little bit of class.” He opened the door wider for Beth to pass through, placing his hand on her lower back. He walked into the room behind her, and closed the door.
“You didn’t have to do that. Not for my benefit.”
“Not for your... Woman are you crazy? I wouldn’t touch a club girl with Diesel’s dick!” Sledge told her. “Anyway, I told you, I needed to talk to you.”
“About my father... What is it? Does he know Derek and I are here?” he could hear the panic in her voice. Crossing to her, he wrapped his arms around her.
“No honey, he doesn’t know. But I was talking to Reaper after dinner and something clicked in my head. When you broke off our relationship...” but she interrupted him.
“I told you, I was sorry about that. My father...” now it was Sledge’s turn to interrupt.
“Beth, please just listen.” When she indicated she would, he continued, “When you broke off our relationship, you said it was because your father threatened my life, right?” He watched her nod her head. “Well, that next morning, I received a call from the Admiral. My team was requested for a mission. Specifically, MY team,” he emphasized. “We were to infiltrate an Afghan compound that was holding four high ranking US officials hostage. But when we landed, we were ambushed. Two of my men were shot. Zander was almost killed because the bullet nicked the artery in his leg. It was later determined that a government official leaked our mission, but an investigation couldn’t conclude who the person was.” He stopped talking, giving her time to process what he was saying.
Sledge knew the moment Beth realized what he was saying. Her face turned white. Sledge reached for her, afraid she was going to faint.
“It was my father wasn’t it?” The question came out as a bare whisper, but Sledge still heard it.
“Zander and I believe so. I had him put in a call to the Admiral to find out who requested us. We should have an answer any minute now,” he told her as he helped her sit on the side of his bed.
“He went after you after I already did what he wanted... Why?” he watched as tears slid down her face.
This time, Sledge reached for her cheeks, and wiped them away, only to have more take their place.
“I lost everything, for nothing...” he knew she meant for that to be said in her head, not out loud; so he didn’t reply.
A knock on his door took his attention away from Beth. Crossing the room, he opened it to find Reaper. “Come in.”
Reaper looked at Beth, then back to Sledge, but Sledge said nothing. What could he tell him? She was as shocked as they were. He could tell her reaction was real.
“What did you find out?” but Reaper didn’t answer, he looked back to Beth. “Talk Zander! What did you find out?” he put authority in his tone. He didn’t have the time for this. Beth would find out sooner or later, so might as well get it over with. Ripping the bandage off, or whatever that saying was.
“Jackson called back,” he said. “The request was made by Texas senator Jonathan Andrews.”
Sledge heard Beth’s gasp and the same time he lost control of his temper. One minutes he was standing in front of Reaper, the next his fist was punching a hole through the wall. “Fuck!” he roared.
Quickly, Sledge found himself pinned against the wall by Reaper’s weight. “What the fuck, Devin!” he demanded. “Calm the hell down! Look at her!” he pointed to Beth who had moved to the other side of the room, huddled in the corner.
Seeing her scared, of him, had the same effect of someone dropping a bucket of ice water over his head. Immediately, his temper died.
“Shit!” he muttered under his breath. He pushed away from Reaper and slowly he moved towards her. “I’m sorry, Beth. Come here honey,” he held his arms out to her. Cautiously, she stepped into his arms.
Chapter Ten
Beth
Beth had never seen Devin so angry. The moment he punched the wall, she jumped off the bed and moved to the other side of the room. He had every right to be mad. Her father tried to kill him. But her self-protection instincts kicked in and she used the bed to shield her in case that anger turned towards her. She knew Devin would never hurt her physically, but emotionally, that was a different story.
Luckily Zander was in the room and quickly defused Devin’s temper. One minute, Sledge looked like he could commit murder; the next, he turned his eyes towards her and she saw all of the anger drain from his face, only to be replaced by worry.
He stepped around the bed and reached his arms out for her. Willing or not, her feet moved on their own and she found herself wrapped in his embrace.
“Are you okay now?” Zander asked Devin.
“Yeah,” but his voice sound strangled.
“Good because I also heard back from Banjo.” Beth could tell by his tone, that whatever Zander was about to say, was not going to be good. “The shipment Beth’s father was talking about, was the truck we intercepted at the border last week.” At that moment, Beth remembered something.
“Wait!” she said, pulling out of Devin’s embrace. “The night of the dinner party, someone had mentioned the Devil’s Henchmen. They said that your group had stopped the Mexican Cartel from importing millions in unregistered guns and drugs into the US. My father quickly changed the subject. It was right after that, that he went outside...” she trailed off.
“That’s not all he found,” Zander said. Watching Zander looking between her and Devin, she knew what came next would be even worse.
“Oh my God... what Zander?” She didn’t know if she could handle anymore, but what choice did she have?
“Banjo was able to hack into Senator Andrews’ files. He found some emails between him and the Georgia senator, Michael Franz.” Beth could tell he was extremely uncomfortable, but he took a deep breath and continued. “The email was dated a little over eight years ago.”
Beth felt her stomach drop to her feet. This was going to be bad. “Damn it Zander! Spit it out!” she demanded.
“One of the emails was basically an agreement. Andrews agree to let Franz marry Beth in exchange for his vote on a Senate bill. Basically, he sold Beth to Senator Franz for his vote.” Zander looked like he was going to be sick and Beth felt like she would. Running to the bathroom, she emptied her stomach, over and over.
He sold her? Her own father sold her for a fucking vote?
Beth sat in front of the toilet until there was nothing left. She felt a cold rag pressed against her forehead and looked up to see Zander next to her. Sledge was nowhere to be found. She felt her heart break. But what did she really expect? She needed to stop getting her hopes up. As soon as this mess was cleared up, Beth had to move on.
“Thank you,” she told Zander, standing up.
“No problem B. I am so sorry you had to find out about that,” he looked genuinely devastated to have had to tell her.
Placing a reassuring hand on his arm, “It’s okay. I would rather know, than not,” she told him. “I better get back to Derek.” She felt completely dead inside as she made her way back to her room. She noticed on the way that Devin was nowhere to be found.
Catching her look, Zander pointed to another hole in the wall. “He didn’t take it well either.” Beth watched Zander walk away, probably to go find Devin.
Entering her room, she went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. When she was finished, she turned off the light and climbed into bed. Pulling Derek close to her, she closed her eyes and drifted into an intermittent slumber.
At some point during the night, she felt the bed dip down behind her. She startled for a moment, until his voice r
egistered in her head. “It’s just me baby girl. I’m sorry I disappeared. I didn’t want to scare you again and if I would have stayed, that is exactly what would have happened. Now, I just need to be near you, please,” he whispered.
“If Derek wakes up...” she said turning over.
“We can go to my room, if you prefer. I just want to hold you Beth.” The vulnerability in his voice broke her already damaged heart.
“I don’t want him to wake up alone and scared.” She would love to sleep in Devin’s arms again, but Derek would freak out if he woke up and she was gone with no idea where she went.
She felt Devin loosen his grip on her and climb out of her bed. “I’m sorry,” he told her as he walked out of the door, softly closing it behind him.
That was not what she expected. She didn’t want him to leave, but she couldn’t just abandon Derek in the middle of the night.
“Mom,” she heard her son's sleepy voice.
“What are you doing awake buddy?” She didn’t know how much he had heard.
“Is my dad okay?” he asked after a big yawn.
She didn’t know how to answer him, so she told him the truth, “I don’t know big guy.”
“Will you go find out? I don’t want my dad to be sad.” Derek yawn again.
“Sure sweetie,” she kissed the top of his head as she climbed out of the bed. “Go back to sleep, if you need me I will be across the hall honey.”
“Yes ma’am,” and he was back asleep before the final syllable left his lips.
Beth quietly left her room and walked across the hall. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door. Please don’t let this be a mistake, she prayed silently as the door opened and Devin stood in front of her, shirtless. His pajama bottoms hanging low on his hips.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Derek woke up after you left. He wanted me to come over and check on you,” she answered him honestly. If he didn’t want her in his room, this would be the perfect time for him to say he was fine and send her on her way. However, Devin reached out for her hand and pulled her into the room. Once the door was closed and the lock in place, Devin wrapped his arms around Beth and pulled her against him.
The President: Devil's Henchmen MC, Book Two Page 5