"I'd do anything for you. I told you that last night. If I'm making you mine, then that's it." I ease myself back down to the bed and kiss him, loving being in his arms and realizing that I'll get to have this every day.
"I love you, Jaxon Peters."
I never said it to him last night even after I accepted his proposal. It feels so good to say it even though it’s scary at the same time.
"Loved you for years and at this point, I'm never gonna stop."
Chapter Nineteen
Wrench
Carly still isn't up for being on my bike with her ribs, so I have her follow me in the car. I had her pack a bag too in case everything goes as I hope. We are all still supposed to be on lockdown, so if the club accepts her, we'll be staying here tonight.
Pulling up, Mikey is at the gate, and I give him a wave and point to the car behind me. I wanted to kick his ass for turning her away last night, but I know damn well that if he as a prospect went against Pres, he'd be out on his ass. I wouldn't have chanced that for anyone when it was me.
Torch is outside, and I see his eyes going to her car. He walks up to me as I climb off my bike. "Got somethin' to tell me?"
“I’ll say it in front of everyone.” I walk over to Carly, letting her lean on me as she walks knowing how uncomfortable she still is.
I wrapped her ribs for her today to try and ease the pain some. After I sort this shit out with the club, I'm gonna find that asshole Tony and kill him. I told him not to touch her again, and he wasn't smart enough to listen.
As we walk into the clubhouse, I feel her tense. "Just calm down." I look around seeing Izzy at the bar and steer Carly there.
Izzy looks up seemingly surprised, but she smiles at us. "Well, look what the cat dragged in."
“Hey.” Carly gives her a smile as she sits down on the bar stool.
"Well, I am going to leave you girls here and head into church." I walk down the hallway hoping this plays out the way I want it to. After the Pres is done talking about whatever he has, he always asks for new business. I'm going to stand up and call for a vote to get the rule overturned. If he shoots it down or the vote is a no, I'm going to tell them I want a transfer.
I love my club and my brothers. I never thought that anything or anyone would make me question that. However, I can't picture my life without Carly in it at this point, and if she can't be a part of it here, I'll go somewhere where she can.
Checking my email, I see my contact got back to me, and he successfully transferred the balance of that account to us. Whoever is coming after us is now broke.
I walk into church getting Torch’s attention because he is closest to the door. He walks over giving me a questioning look. “What’s up?”
"Let Pres know the transfer went through and we have everything," I whisper to him not wanting everyone to hear.
"Fuck yes." Torch claps me on the back and walks over to Pres. He whispers to him, and Pres looks at me giving me a nod. I'm hoping this will give me enough credit for them to consider voting on the rule.
Pres bangs on the table, and the whole room goes quiet. "So, no update yet as to who the assholes are but" —he points at me— "Wrench just fucked them up big time. We took every cent they had to their name and put it in our account."
The room erupts in cheers and brothers are patting me on the back and shoving me.
"This is a small step in the whole process. That being said I'm sure they will be pissed so lockdown is still in effect and it's strict. I'm taking prospects off the gate. I want no one outside of the clubhouse. Do not make yourself an easy target." He looks around, and everyone's faces harden as the gravity of what our victory could mean. "No one rides unless you have permission from me."
Pres goes over a few other things before looking around the table. "I'm sure you have all heard of what has been going on in reference to one of the rules we have had since this club was formed." He looks over at me, every set of eyes are on me.
What the hell is about to happen?
"This is going to be put as a decision we make as a whole. I am not willing to do away with this rule completely. It's there for a reason, and I think without it, all the club girls we get would be patch chasers." He looks back at me. "If there is a brother who wants to make one of the club girls an old lady there will be two votes."
Two votes? What the hell does that mean?
"The brothers will vote first. If it passes unanimously, then the old ladies will vote. Bringing a club girl in as one of them can throw off their dynamic which will affect all of us, so they get a say." Everyone around seems to nod in understanding. I have to say I'm more than surprised. I know Nikki and Izzy said they were working on him, but I never thought they would get anywhere.
"So right now, Wrench is looking to make Carly his old lady. We will vote, and then Nikki will lead the girls in a vote. Take a minute and let me tell the girls to get together in one room.”
Pres walks out of the room and conversations break out between everyone. I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn around to see Brick standing there. I can't stand him right now, but I know I need to keep my cool, especially if I want this vote to go my way.
“Listen, I know what you assumed happened, but you’re way off.” He sits down in the vacant chair next to me. “I brought Carly in because I wanted to talk to her. I feel the same way about Jess like you do for her. I couldn’t tell you though because of how you were going up against Pres with it. I didn’t want to get dragged into it.”
I look at him in disbelief. “So you’re telling me you let me go fucking crazy and get to the point that I wanted to beat the shit out of you, and all you did was talk to my girl?”
“Yeah, I was just trying to get my head on straight, and I wanted to talk to her to see if she thought Jess would even want me.”
“Jesus Christ.” I shake my head.
“We good?” He nudges me.
“Always, brother.”
Pres walks back in. “Let’s get this shit done.”
Brick stands up. “Can I get a vote too?”
Everyone's eyes go to him, confusion prominent.
“A vote for what?” Pres asks as he takes his seat at the head.
"To make Jess my old lady." He sits back down as he waits for an answer.
"Come again? When did this shit happen? I thought it was only Wrench. You two assholes really do everything together, huh?"
Everyone laughs. Brick and I have basically been together since day one in the club.
"Been going on for me a while, but I knew about the rule, so I didn't say shit." Brick looks over at me with a smirk.
“Fine. Looks like we’re taking two votes, brothers.” Pres looks around. “Shit is unanimous, one nay and it’s done. I don’t want to hear you giving shit to a brother who says no either.” He eyes us and we both nod in understanding.
"First vote is Wrench making Carly his old lady. We go around the table. Yay," Pres looks to Torch who echoes his approval I listen one by one as each of my brothers supports me. Whip is the last one and when he says ‘yay,’ I release a sigh of relief.
Pres gives me a nod. “Carly’s vote is passed to the girls. Now let’s vote on Brick claiming Jess. Yay.”
I see relief pass over Brick's face. If Pres supports it most of the brothers will probably follow suit. Brick's vote goes as smoothly as mine did. Pres stands up and looks around. "Anyone else have any new business?" Everyone is quiet. "Thank God, I'll go have the girls vote. Wrench and Brick you stay here."
Waiting for Pres to come back is so goddamn nerve-racking. I know Nikki and Izzy are definitely on my side and I hope they have enough pull to rally the votes from the other girls. The old ladies are really not fans of the club girls, and mostly for good reasons. There have been multiple times they have come to blows with each other, and I don't want that to cloud their judgment of Carly and Jess because they are nothing like those girls.
When Pres comes back in, I try to read his face for what happ
ened, but I can't tell. "Wrench go tell your girl she's stuck with us. Brick get yours here because we're on lockdown."
“Hell yes,” Brick says from beside me.
I get up shaking Pres’s hand. “Thank you.”
He gives me a nod, and I head out of the room to find my girl. She's still sitting at the bar, Izzy and Nikki are both there, and I'm hoping they didn't tell her the news yet.
I wrap my arms around her shoulders and bend my head, kissing the spot on her neck that I know sends chills all over her body. She laughs, relaxing against my chest. “You ready to party tonight, babe?”
She looks back at me. “What are you talking about?”
“Anytime a brother gets an old lady there’s a big ass party.” I smile at her as her eyes go wide.
"They said yes?" I nod, and she kisses me.
"Love you, babe."
I have finally met my other half, and now there's nothing stopping us from being together.
Chapter Twenty
Carly
I can’t believe that Wrench’s plan worked and we can finally be together in his club. I look at Nikki and Izzy. “Guess I’m one of you now.”
“You’re welcome.” Nikki smiles while winking at me.
“Wait, what?” I look back at Wrench confused.
“We” —Nikki waves a hand between her and Izzy— “took care of the whole thing. We’ve been working T since everything started to snowball.”
“You guys did that for me?”
Izzy shrugs. “Yeah, just call me a romantic.”
“Don’t call me a damn romantic. I just didn’t want to hear the constant whining.” Nikki laughs.
“Well, thank you guys, I really appreciate you going to bat for me.” I give them both a hug and then I notice the door opening and Jess walking in. “Hey, I thought they weren’t allowing the girls here?”
"Turns out Brick called for a vote too, she's his old lady now," Wrench says in my ear.
“Really? That’s awesome!” I look back at him wondering if Brick has come clean to him yet.
"He told me, babe. Sorry, I ever thought anything different." He kisses me.
Pres waves to us and Wrench grabs my hand pulling me with him to the front of the room. “Tonight we celebrate amongst all of the craziness! We have two new old ladies with us, Carly and Jess.” The room erupts in cheers.
I turn, and Wrench is holding up a jacket with the club logo on the back of it. "Been wanting to put this on you since the first night you walked in here." I smile as he holds it up and I slip my arms into the sleeves. "Never seen a more beautiful sight."
He leans down, kissing me, and I wrap my arms around his neck not even paying attention to the ache in my side but really just enjoying the moment.
"I love you, Jaxon Peters."
He looks down at me, the love in his eyes warming my entire body. "I love you, babe, more than I ever thought could be possible."
“Welcome to the family.” Pres steps in front of me and I hug him.
“Thank you.”
He looks behind me at Wrench. “Need to talk to you.”
"Got it, I'll be back in a little bit, babe." He places a kiss on my lips, and then they disappear down the hallway.
I walk over to Jess. “Congratulations!”
She spins around to face me. "Ah! I can't believe this. Congratulations to you too lady!" She hugs me, and I look over at Brick.
“Congrats to you too, thanks for letting Wrench in on what happened too.”
"Of course." He wraps one arm around me. "Now we both got what we wanted."
“It just feels like everything is finally falling into place. Like I can take a breath.” I see the other girls over by the bar and decide to go introduce myself. I don’t know most of them aside from their names.
“Hey, ladies.” I smile and wave my hand awkwardly.
“Hey girl, let me officially intro—“
Nikki’s sentence is cut off by what sounds like fireworks at first.
"Everyone get down!" someone screams, and it's at that time it clicks to me that they aren't fireworks, they're gunshots.
Holy. Shit.
I drop to the ground my hands covering my head. The screams echo off the walls of the room while the gunshots seem never-ending. Feeling a hand on mine, I open my eyes and see Izzy lying next to me. She's bleeding from her chest.
Fuck.
“Car…ly” Her voice is strained and weak.
I scoot over to her, making sure not to get up. Placing my hand on her chest, I push down trying to stop the blood, but I can feel it leaking through my fingers.
Nikki crawls over to us and is lying on the other side of Izzy. "Don't worry babe, we got you-you'll be fine." She looks over at me, and I know she's thinking the same thing I am.
Everything is not going to be okay. The bullet hole seems to be really close to her heart and Izzy can barely keep her eyes open.
“The…baby,” she whispers and tears start to fall from her eyes.
“Just breathe, Izzy,” I plead with her. “We will get Doc here, he’s going to fix you up.”
The shots are still ringing out and bouncing off the walls. I lift my head up to try and look for Wrench, but I quickly duck down again, afraid of what might happen.
I don't see him anywhere, and I pray that he's okay.
Nikki taps me on the arm. When I look over, she shakes her head and looks back down at Izzy.
Her eyes are closed now, and I lift my hand to her neck trying to feel for a pulse, nothing.
"No," I say in disbelief. "She can't be…"
Nikki starts to cry, her sobs louder than the gunfire. It sounds like it’s stopping, the pops fewer and farther between.
When they stop, no one dares to move. The front door slams open and we all jump. “What the fuck!”
Pres’s voice booms through the large room.
“T!” Nikki stands up and screams. She looks down at Izzy’s body. My hand is still putting pressure on her chest even though I know she’s gone.
His eyes go wide as he looks down. “No!” Within seconds, he’s next to her feeling for a pulse and starting CPR.
I back away just as Lady kneels next to her. “Baby, you need to open your eyes. We will take care of you, I’m here. Open your damn eyes!” Tears fall from his face as the two men try to revive her. “You can’t leave me, not now!”
I start to cry, disbelief still clouding everything inside of me.
A hand grabs my arm pulling me up, and Wrench pulls me to his chest. I bury my head against him, my tears soaking his shirt within a couple minutes.
“We need to help her, we need to do something!” Lady shouts at anyone and everyone.
“We…can’t.” Pres’s voice is barely audible. “She’s gone.”
I suddenly feel sick, and everything goes black.
Chapter Twenty-One
Wrench
I follow Pres back to his office. Once the door shuts, he turns to me. "We need to be on full alert. Whoever has been coming for us is going to retaliate after we've taken everything they have."
“Exactly what I was thinking.” We don’t know who these people are or who they could have in their pocket at this point. “What do you think we should do?”
"Honestly? I want to send all the girls and the kids to the charter clubs. Scares me having everyone in the building. I feel like we're easy targets." His hand rubs his head, and I can see the toll all of this is taking on him.
Before I can respond to him, a familiar sound fills my ears. "Fuck, those are bullets." I race to the door, but Pres grabs my arm.
"No, we can't go toward that room. We need to head out the back, and maybe we can take out whoever the hell it is by surprise."
I nod knowing he’s right but all I think of is whether Carly is okay.
Before we get to the back door, Pres holds his hand up. "Two fuckers are about to walk in. Get back and let's take one out, keep the other one to question.” I nod, letting him kno
w I'll follow his lead.
The door opens and Pres steps into their view quickly shooting one in the head and the other in the hand holding his gun. He shoots him again in the kneecap and then plants a swing to his face knocking him out.
“Let’s get out front, but be careful.”
I stay behind him watching his back as we walk around the warehouse. There are multiple pickup trucks with men holding automatic rifles and firing into the warehouse.
“We need to try to take some of these assholes out,” Pres says, trying to talk over the sound of bullets flying.
We kneel down and start taking aim at the guys in the trucks. The problem is that we're so far away and all we have are our handguns. Accuracy from this far away is really shitty.
We clip one of them, watching them all looking around confused as to what happened. They must have confused the sound of our guns with theirs, not realizing we were returning fire.
The engines sound as the trucks start to pull out of our lot, we continue firing, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.
"Let's get in there and pray we made it out of this without losing anyone." He starts to run toward the front door, and I follow him.
We walk in and see everyone lying on the floor, my eyes scan the room looking for Carly. I hear Nikki’s voice scream for Pres and look over to see her and Carly crouched beside Izzy.
Fuck.
Pres runs over, and I follow him, Lady is there within seconds, and the two of them are trying to revive her. Her white shirt is almost entirely red, and the blood seems to be pouring from her chest.
I grab Carly’s arm, pulling her to me, not wanting her to see any more of this. She buries her head in my chest her tears soaking through the cotton of my shirt.
Pres looks up. “She’s gone.”
It's all I hear, but the entire room goes silent. After a few minutes, people break down, sobs fill the space where just a few minutes ago I'm sure the gunshots deafened everyone.
Reckless (Deathstalkers MC Book 9) Page 8