by Lila Rose
With my woman on the back of my bike, and Muff following Manda as she drove her car back, we arrived at Poppy’s. After I parked, I climbed off my ride after Poppy.
She removed the helmet, glanced at the house, then back to me. “I thought you had to get going?”
Smirking, I shook my head and watched as Manda parked in the drive, while Muff pulled up behind me. “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t let Charlie know what’s goin’ down?”
“Don’t you dare!” she snapped low. “He’s going through enough. He doesn’t need to know this.”
“Know what?” Charlie asked from behind his daughter, causing her to jump.
I’d seen him come from the house just as Muff turned off his ride. Poppy had been too pissed to notice.
Poppy spun, smiled, and then moved forward to turn her father around, trying to usher him inside. “Nothing, Dad. Everything’s fine. Hey, Manda has decided to stay the night. How about we play some cards?”
“Yeah, Mr Torian, that sounds like a good idea.” Manda took Charlie’s arm, and like the good friend she was, she tried to help Poppy get him inside. They managed a couple of steps.
“Girls,” Charlie bit out.
They stopped. Manda dropped her hands, and Poppy threw hers up. “Fine. Find out what’s going on, but don’t blame me if the stress gets to you, and then you eat through it, turning into a beach ball.”
Charlie snorted. He faced his girl and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. He’d read the fear from his daughter and reassured her with, “Honey, I’ll be fine. Promise I’m not going anywhere, no matter how much comes our way. I’m a strong sucker. Stronger than I look or my age shows.” After Poppy nodded, he took her hand in his and looked to me. “What’s going on?”
“Python,” I said, and the fucker’s name had Charlie tensing, his face becoming guarded. “He was at the bar tonight. Freaked Poppy out. Threatened my life.”
“Jesus,” Charlie muttered.
“I’m heading to see Blackie, see if he’s holding anything back.”
“He won’t be.”
“I gotta make sure, Charlie. Need to protect what’s mine.”
Charlie asked a question that had me grinning. “So,” he drew out, “you two together now?”
“Dad!” Poppy cried, her face heating at her father’s question. “Seriously? All you’re worried about is if Jerimiah and I are together?”
He shrugged and glanced back to me. Chuckling, I nodded. “She’s mine, always has been.”
Poppy huffed. “I don’t get you two. Are you not worried about Python?”
Charlie shook his head. “Fang has it covered. Things’ll be fine.”
“That’s it? Jerimiah has it covered and you don’t need to worry?”
He grinned. “Well, yeah. He’s protected you for years back in the day. I never had to worry then, so I know I don’t need to now.”
She moved her eyes from her dad to me, to her dad, and then they returned to me. “I should have known once Jerimiah was on the case, Dad could handle anything.”
“Yep.” I grinned, and she glared back.
“Fine. Go off and be a superhero. But if you come back with so much as a scratch, I’ll hurt you myself.”
My grin grew. “Look forward to it.”
“Dad,” Poppy said quietly, while she watched me.
“Yes, honey?”
“I’m going to say bye to Jerimiah. You might want to go inside for this next part,” she replied, and then made her way over to me.
“Shit” was all Charlie said, before I heard his footsteps heading towards the house.
I didn’t take my eyes away from Poppy… until I heard, “Do I get a kiss goodbye too?” My eyes sliced to Muff. Whatever he saw from my expression had his hands coming up in front of him. “I didn’t mean from your woman.”
Poppy’s hand on the side of my face turned my head back towards her. Then everything was forgotten, but the feel of her lips on mine.
We’d traded our rides at the compound for Muff’s four-wheel drive, and picked Gamer up.
On the ride to Venom’s compound, I made a call to Parker and explained what I needed.
“Yeah, brother. I’ll do the search and find him,” he reassured, after I told him what I learned.
“Appreciate it,” I said. “When or if you get the information, you let me know first. No one else.”
“Fang, you sure that’s wise?”
“I won’t be stupid. I’ll have my brothers with me when I get to him.”
“I’ll be coming too.”
“Parker—”
“Fuck no, Fang. I’m coming. Someone in the law needs to have you covered.”
Christ. Parker and Lan, even though they were with the law, being detectives, it was a bonus to have them around the club. Not only that, they’d proved themselves to us and were brothers in every goddamn way. If Parker wanted to have my back when I hunted my motherfuckin’ father and made sure he no longer breathed, then he could.
“Brother” was all I said. What he said meant something to me.
“Talk soon,” he replied, his tone light, so I knew he understood that his offer meant something.
“Yeah,” I said, hanging up.
“Parker won’t be the only one who comes with you,” Gamer commented from the back of the car. Muff grunted in agreement. “You’ll need to inform Dodge,” Gamer added.
“I will.” I nodded.
“How you think your woman will handle it?” Muff asked.
“Didn’t know you had a woman until that phone call, brother,” Gamer mentioned.
“Her name’s Poppy. A woman from my past, but she’s now my future.”
He hummed. “Sweet, when do I get to meet her?”
“Soon. And to answer your question, Muff, she’ll understand.” He snorted. I laughed in response. “Okay, eventually. We need to find Python first though.”
“Fuck yes,” Muff agreed.
“You know none of us will hold you back, even though he’s your dad,” Gamer said, just as we pulled up out front of the Venom clubhouse.
“Good. Thanks, brothers.”
Blackie had installed new gates out front and a control panel to talk into it. Didn’t mean we didn’t ignore the members strolling along the fence guarding it. One spotted us and before we could say a word, the gates opened. Could be worried we’d slam through them in our vehicle like Stoke and Vicious had the last time they paid Blackie a visit. I’d been on the other side of the fence then, a patched-in Venom, but I was feeding all the information I could to the Hawks. Not that Hawks had asked me to, they hadn’t, and even told me it was a stupid move since Parker—not that I knew at the time—was undercover on the inside of Venom too.
Shit, it seemed like decades ago that happened, but it’d only been about two years and now I had Hawks blood running through me. All the way through me, to the core. I respected the club and all we stood for. Venom’s creed had been sketchy from the start.
“Fang,” Rattle, a member I knew when I was Venom, greeted. I waited for the look of disdain, only surprisingly, it never came. Most of the members hated me after snitching on them to Hawks. Rattle had been one of them. “What the fuck you doin’ here, traitor?” His voice was low, harsh, but didn’t match the neutral look on his face. Rattle stopped right in front of me, causing my brothers to crowd my back. He glanced at them quickly, a cocky smirk landing on his lips. “You boys think you can take me?”
“There’s no thinkin’ involved,” Muff said.
Rattle was a few years older than Muff, who was thirty-two. He was a big bastard and would try his best at taking us on, but he’d lose.
“Just here to talk to Blackie, Rattle.”
More Venom members came outta the cracks to see what was goin’ on. Takin’ their brother’s back. “You ain’t
walkin’ through that door until you tell me what you want.”
Jaw clenched, I snarled, “You suddenly get patched into a higher rank? I don’t need to say shit to you. Get Blackie.”
“We don’t take orders from scum like you.”
“Fuckin’ hell, these wankers serious?” Muff said.
“You need to shut up.”
Muff stepped up, got in Rattle’s face. “No. You need to shut the fuck up and get who we want to deal with. And if any of you motherfuckers mouth off to a brother of Hawks again, you’ll be askin’ for it. Shit, your own prez was smart enough to give over the men in your club because they were in cahoots with Baxter. Now we got yet another situation, and it involves one of yours. He took blood from Hawks. No one fucks with Hawks. So you need to get over Fang helpin’ us out since he did it for the right reasons. To save lives. No one was crossed by him in your club who shouldn’t have been, and you know it.”
When silence was the answer to Muff’s speech, which I kinda got a heart-swell from since he was taking my back in that way, Gamer announced loudly, “Enough of this standin’ around trying to measure whose dick is bigger.” That brought a few chuckles around.
“Rattle, step back,” Blackie called from the compound doorway.
“Oh, it’s my sweet, sweet boy” was cried from behind Blackie, and then Roda, Blackie’s woman, who he glared and shook his head at, pushed past him and ran our way.
“What the fuck?” Muff muttered.
“Huh, guess all clubs have some crazy women,” Gamer commented, just as Roda collided with me. Her arms circled around my waist. Only she didn’t stop there. She pulled back, grinned up at me, planted both her hands on my cheeks and brought me in for a quick kiss. She pushed me back, glared, and then slapped my face. The force of it stung. But I should have been expecting it. When Poppy left town, Blackie and Roda’s place became like a second home to me. I used to hang there all the time. Their girls were all younger than Poppy and me and had become like sisters to me. I hadn’t seen them recently.
“Roda.” I groaned in frustration.
“What, you think you’re too good to see your second momma? My boy forgets about us and we don’t see him for months, Fang. Months. You had better have a good explanation, young man.”
“Woman, get your arse in here,” Blackie called.
Roda spun. “Don’t you woman me. You know, you’ve listened to me every night complain about our boy not having time for us.”
“Fuck me,” Blackie cursed, thumping his forehead with his palm. Some of the Venom members dissipated, chuckling, used to the drama Roda brought. Everyone loved her though; she was a momma to all of us, no matter the age. That was even before Blackie became president. “Fang, get in here, and maybe she’ll calm the hell down.”
Starting for the door, Muff and Gamer followed, but Roda turned her attention to Rattle. I glanced to see her get close to him and start hissing. His head dropped back, eyes to the stars, and he sighed heavily.
“And I thought Low was bad. She ain’t nothin’ compared to that,” Muff whispered.
Gamer laughed. “Maybe they should meet….” He trailed off when we both glared at him. “Yeah, okay, that would not be wise.”
“Ya think?” Muff shook his head.
“Son, what’ya doin’ here?” Blackie asked, shifting aside for us to enter.
“Need a word in private, Blackie.”
“Shit,” he bit out. “I’ve already told Dodge everything about Python.”
“Want a word, Blackie.”
He sighed. “Back room.”
As we made our way through the common area, we got a few stares. I took them all in, meeting all their cold gazes and returned them with my own before Blackie led us down a short hall to the door at the end.
He entered. We followed, Gamer closing the door behind us. Blackie went around the desk and sat, then gestured to the seats opposite, but I shook my head.
“We won’t be here long,” I stated.
His brows raised. “What’s goin’ on?”
“Python came into our business. I didn’t see him or catch him, but Poppy was there. She saw it all, freaked her out big time.”
He tensed. “Fuck. She okay?”
I shook my head. I was gonna play dirty. “I thought she was a mess the night I got to her after the shooting, but tonight, the amount of fear I saw in her was worse than the night I held her crying in my arms. She’s losing her ma, Blackie. You know this, and then to top it off, she has this shit to deal with from that motherfucker. When he threatened me, she lost it.”
Worry washed over his face before he sighed and ran a hand over the back of his neck. Blackie leaned forward, arms going to the desk. “I gave Dodge everything, Fang.” His jaw clenched. “But…” I froze from that one word. “I didn’t want it to come to this. Thought you’d have your hands on him by now. Didn’t know he’d be this slippery. I have his momma’s address.”
Jesus Christ.
“He see her a lot?” Gamer asked.
“As far as I know, yeah.” He eyed us all slowly. “Want our Poppy safe, so I’d do anything to make sure it happens.” He pulled open his drawer, put his hand in, then up, and slapped something to his desk. “You need to take a few of my men. Poppy’s Venom—”
“Poppy’s Hawks business now, Blackie. She’s mine. So no one but Hawks on this trip.”
His eyes widened right before he threw back his head and laughed. Bending forward, a hand planted on his desk. “Ah, shit. Goddamn.” He shook his head, grinning. “About bloody time. You two’ve been hot for each other for far too long. Well, until she went away—”
Leaning in, I touched my fisted knuckles to his desk. “Yeah, that’s something we’ll talk about soon.”
His jaw clenched. “You know?”
“Found out tonight.”
“You know you’ve been like a son to me, so you have to understand why I suggested for her to go.”
Christ. I did.
“Doesn’t mean we couldn’t have taken him out together.”
Blackie shook his head. “It wasn’t the right time. It would have been you, me, and Charlie against the rest. They didn’t see him for who he was until later. You know that.”
I snarled, “I lost her for four fuckin’ years because of him. So she could protect me.”
“You were both young, and shit, look at it now. It’s worked out.”
“You’re lucky it has.”
He tipped his chair back. “You’d better get your arse, and Poppy’s, to our house soon for dinner or Roda is gonna skin you both alive. Though, when she finds out you two are together, you might get some forgiveness. She’s gonna be fuckin’ thrilled. Means my night could end happy.”
Shaking my head, I straightened. “Jesus, Blackie. Too much information.”
“Boy, I may be old, but I still know how to use my big black dick.”
Muff laughed outright, Gamer chuckled, and I goddamn groaned. Holding out my hand, I clicked my fingers. “Just give me the fuckin’ address.”
He picked it up and offered it to me. Before I could take it, he snatched it back. “Dinner?”
“Right.” I nodded.
“I’m gonna tell Roda you’re with Poppy.”
“Don’t care who you tell. In fact, tell every goddamn person you know she’s off limits.” I glared, then snatched the paper outta his hand.
Blackie chuckled. Only it died when I met his gaze. “What?” he asked.
“You should know I’m goin’ after him and takin’ him out.”
“Switch?” he snarled.
“Yeah. Soon as I get the information on where he’s at.”
“Want in on that, Fang.”
“Again, it’s Hawks business.”
He shook his head. “And Venom’s. You won’t let me help
with Poppy’s shit, but you gotta let me in on this, brother. Got a lot of regret on how things were handled. The biggest was that I never slit that motherfucker’s throat. Want at your back when it’s goin’ down.”
Fuck. I stared at the man who’d always managed to draw a laugh from me when I’d been down after Poppy left, the man who’d sat there and listened to my shit whenever I needed him to. The man who had me, and sometimes my ma, in his house and at his table on so many times I’d lost count. Yeah, we’d both fucked up: him not telling me about Poppy and what he knew, and me not having his back when he needed it the most as he took over as president.
Shit. Blackie was family even if a different club ran through our veins.
Giving him a chin lift, I said, “I’ll get in touch.”
The relief was noticeable when his shoulders dropped. “Appreciate it, brother.”
Behind us, we heard a sniffle.
Turning, I rolled my eyes at Roda standing quietly in the doorway. Not sure how long she’d been there. She whimpered, “You and Poppy?” She threw herself at me again, wrapping her arms around my neck, and burying her face against me. “I’m so happy,” she cried. She pulled back and glared up at me. “But you make sure you bring our girl to dinner soon, and your momma.”
“Will do, Roda.” I patted her back and eased her away when Blackie came around and claimed her around her neck, pulling her into him.
“Talk soon,” he said.
“Very soon,” Roda added.
“Will do.” I nodded, and left with Muff and Gamer.
On the way out, Gamer laughed. “Not sure I ever want a woman. Bitches be crazy, at least the ones I’ve met.”
“Not all,” Muff said. “I want one, and I have my eye—” I shot him a glance. “Ah, never mind.”
“You screw Manda over we’ll have problems.”
“And if she screws me over? You gonna be all protective for your brother?”
Shit. Was I?
“Suppose.”
“You love me,” he cooed. I smacked him up the back of the head.
“Get your head back in the game.”
“Always is when we need to deliver some pain to make a point for Hawks,” he said before climbing into the car.