by Kiki Leach
"You never said anything on the other end."
"I couldn't," he snapped. "What the fuck was I supposed to say, 'congratulations'?" He looked away from me and grinded his teeth. "You say that I didn't give a shit about you and the club to put you in all this, but you didn't give a shit about me in turning around and wifing up Colette behind my back."
I dropped back and made a face at him. Son of a bitch had lost his entire damn mind. "You're gonna stand there and play the role of a wounded brother now, asshole? When all you've ever done is treat her as if she never fuckin' mattered to you? You didn't deserve who she was -- you don't deserve who the hell she is now--"
"Neither do you," he replied. "You're under this deep impression that you two are going to work out?" He shook his head and sniffed. He adjusted his pants around his waist and looked aside. "She'll leave you for this, for the club and how deeply involved you are in everything. The one thing she ever told me consistently was that a life as the wife of a brother was never one she wanted to live for herself. No matter what the hell she felt or feels about you, she knows deep down inside herself that you can't do much of anything for her in the same way somebody outside of the club can. You can't give her what she needs--"
"I give her plenty of everything she needs and then some, brother," I shot back with a smirk. "Plenty of everything she'll ever need. More than you could ever give her, and that's something she enjoys the hell out of." I stepped forward and bent my head. "Only a limp dick motherfucker would think that she'd go from you to me be left unsatisfied."
He hurled toward me screaming his damn head off but was thrown back and flipped over the edge in damn near a flash before he could come near me. His feet went flying up and over his head as his neck snapped back and his arms jutted out beside him. A cloud of screams and honking horns from passing cars erupted in the darkness from down below as he flew like a goddamn bird and finally landed down on the pavement, cracking the remaining bones inside his body.
I looked over in shock; my heart racing like a motherfucker as I saw Colette lower her arms back down to her sides after having shoved her hands into his chest to send him over. She was staring out into the darkness and breathing so hard that her entire body was shaking from it.
"Babe," I called out to her in a calm voice. But she didn't move an inch. Gradually, I moved over to her and rested my hand at the small of her back. She jumped in fear and screamed out, then spun around on the heels of her feet and fell straight down into my arms. We collapsed together on the ground as she burst into a fit of tears and sobbed into my cut. I brushed my hand over the top of her hair and held her as close to me as I could as her entire body rattled against mine. Her heart was beating so fast that it slammed into me like the head of a hammer. She latched onto the lapel of my cut and tried dragging me even closer to her. We could never seem to be close enough. "It's alright, babe," I told her. "You're good now. You're good."
She raised her other hand and wrapped her arm around my neck, then lifted her mouth to my ear and muttered, "I'm so sorry, Roman. He shot his gun near my face, and I fell straight to the ground; the fear of it knocked me out... And then when I woke up and saw you two just now... saw him coming at you like that... Something inside me just snapped."
I shook my head at her and glowered. "Darlin', he was already dead long before you ever came near him, alright?" I told her. "The only thing you did was throw his body right down to where the rest of him had always been." Her grip tightened around me and with ease, I moved my arm beneath her legs and lifted her from the ground. "Come on. Let's get you back inside." I started for the door, but fell back when Atom came rushing through it, damn near tripping all over himself when he saw us standing there.
"Jesus Christ," he breathed, his wide eyes looking between us. Then he blinked a few times and turned his attention to the edge of the roof.
I followed his direction and peered. "Did you see?" I asked him.
He nodded. "Yeah. The brothers are on their way down here, along with Lorenzo and the Falucchi's."
"What about the people down there?" I asked him. "They'll be calling the cops and shit if they haven't already. And I don't know if anybody saw Colette, but the girl at the front desk is aware of me being up here."
"Brother, I've got that shit covered, alright? We're good there, with all of it. You don't need to worry about nothing else right now except for getting your girl back inside."
I nodded and moved past him, then headed back in as he said.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Roman
Once I got Colette covered up in my jacket and settled on a couch in the lobby with her third shot of gin, I made my way over to Reefer, Smack, Chute and Limb as they stood near the doors and watched men dressed as EMT's zip my brother up inside a black leather bag and haul him inside an ambulance. Across from them stood, Tracker, Atom, Riggs and Lorenzo, along with the Falucchi's, discussing with the police their version of what happened with him on the roof. If not for the fact that Lorenzo had these assholes in his back pocket, there was a chance of us all serving time for what happened tonight, regardless of what they said. Though I would've made damn sure that Colette wouldn't have had a part in serving any of it with us.
"Yo, brother." Axel stepped forward and jerked his chin toward Colette. "How's she doing with all this shit?" he asked me.
I looked over at her and sighed. "She's shaken up and shit, but I think in due time, she'll be alright," I told him. "At least better than she's been tonight." I stopped and shook my head. "Shit like that is not something she should've ever had to put up with, but--"
"It was necessary," said Tracker, making his way back inside, followed up by Atom. He glimpsed at me from the corner of his eye as he moved past me but kept his attention focused down on the floor. "Your brother was a continued liability for this club and had to go."
I turned to look him in the face and crinkled my brows. "Him needing to be put to ground was never a factor," I said. "I knew it was coming to that no matter what the outcome of all this shit would be. I just don't think that Colette should've ever been the one to have to take on that burden."
"He would've killed you otherwise, brother," said Poker, heading over to us from the hotel bar. "I figure it was either you going over that roof or him. I think in this case, the right decision was made; your girl is gonna realize that soon enough too."
"She will," said Atom. "She's freaked out now and that's understandable. But give her a bit and she'll be able to see that what happened tonight was more about saving your life and less about Jeremiah losing his. Son of a bitch had been driving down a highway straight to hell for years. It was only a matter of time before that road just finally gave out with him hanging right off the edge of the cliff."
I bobbed my head and he clamped his hand down on my shoulder. I wrapped my hand around him and gave him a hard pat on the back.
After Lorenzo and Riggs finished with the cops, they moved off to the side to speak with the Falucchi's in private for a few seconds, then headed inside and made their way over to us.
We all stood straight, preparing for what would come next. Except for Tracker who folded his arms over his chest, assuming the shit coming from them alone wouldn't be good.
"Alright, here's the deal," said Riggs. "The shit with the cops has been taken care of. What happened with Jeremiah is gonna be ruled an accident. And any tapes that might've caught something otherwise are on their way to being destroyed as we speak." He sighed. "The Falucchi's have agreed to keep shit kosher between us for the time being."
"Time being?" asked Patch. "What the fuck does that mean?"
"It means for the time being just as long as neither party fucks up between us and/or crosses red lines," he replied.
"What about this asshole?" asked Tracker, tossing his hand out toward Lorenzo.
Riggs glanced over at Lorenzo for less than a second before dragging his eyes back to us. "We're still on the hook for paying back what Jeremiah stole from hi
m, sans the fifteen grand he still managed somehow hold onto."
"Fuck," Limb groaned.
Tracker dropped his head back to stare up at the ceiling and groaned. "Jesus fuckin' CHRIST!"
"So we still owe this bastard 485k?" asked Chute. Riggs nodded.
Lorenzo snickered. "485 of what you should be able to pay back in no time."
"You're a fuckin' idiot if you think that's the case," said Tracker. "I guarantee you, Prez, that he's just trying to sponge us 'til we're dry and desperate as shit. 'Til we won't need anybody else but him and his 'help'!"
"The shit's business," said Lorenzo. "This club was never going to be let off the hook for paying me back my money once it became clear that Jeremiah never had any intention in doing so himself. I have to fill that gap somehow and you're the only assholes around I know that could--"
"What about the D&C?" I chimed in. "You still own a portion of that along with the rest of us, yeah?" He bobbed his head. "The same amount as before?"
"Why would there be any changes to it?" he asked. "Just because your brother's now dead?"
"Why wouldn't there be any changes to it? And not because of my brother." I rested my hands in front of myself and straightened my back while staring into his face. "You haven't done shit to help us since taking it on and I think it's because Tracker's right, you want us to fail hard enough to need nobody but you in the end."
"I was more interested in getting my money back--"
"That shit hasn't changed," I said. "'Cause you still don't have it."
He narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth. "I'll be getting it back sooner before later," he replied. "Your club and Prez are going to make sure of that." He fixed his jacket and turned from me, then headed for the doors.
I stepped forward before he could make his way through them. "You know Cherry's a regular dancer at the D&C, yeah?" I called out. He stopped walking and turned halfway. "Wonder just how the hell she would feel in knowing that her old man was screwing us over to get paid, all while allowing her to continue selling herself on a stage for a few hundred bucks a night."
Riggs' head snapped in my direction. He grimaced. "What the fuck did you just say?" he questioned.
"Holy shit," said Patch, wrapping his hands around both sides of his head.
"Jesus." Smack looked to me and dipped his head. He furrowed his brows and deeply exhaled. "Is this legit?"
Before I could answer, Tracker stepped up next to me and threw the back of his hand into my arm. I turned to look him in the face. He pointed straight ahead at Lorenzo and asked, "What the fuck is this shit?" His tone was curious as hell and doubtful. "You're saying that Cherry is his daughter?" I nodded.
"How the hell did you learn about this?" asked Riggs.
Lorenzo turned to face us again just as Atom stepped forward.
"I called up River after you decided that you wanted to start working with this prick, Prez," he told him. "I wanted to see if we could find something on him that we could use for leverage, and--"
"You found out from him about Cherry?" Tracker interjected.
Atom bobbed his head. "We found out a lot of shit, including some racketeering. But Cherry being his kid is liable to fuck him up more than any jail cell probably ever would, if only 'cause she's got no clue about him being her old man. Not yet, anyway."
Lorenzo looked between all of us and anxiously wiped his hand back and forth across his mouth. Then he swallowed hard and stepped back over to us, jerking his shoulders and breathing in so hard that I could see his chest puff out. "Listen, asshole, I was young and dumb when I knocked up her mother--"
"Save the bullshit," I told him. "You knocked up her mother when you were both eighteen, fine. That shit isn't my concern."
"Then what is?" he asked.
I moved forward. "My concern is to continue making money for this club. At this rate, the D&C is the only other way that's going to happen 'sooner before later'. Or at least it would if the percentage in how much you owned dropped to damn near zero. 'Cause the thing is that we need your money and expertise. But we're not willing to continue selling our souls all so that you can continue screwing us over in the process." I paused. "You take five percent of the place and sign the ninety-five back over to the club. We agree to pay you back what we owe over time and keep quiet about Cherry."
"We also agree not to fuck her any more than what we have already," said Tracker with a smirk. "Unless you screw us over then we go back to screwing her, while the only 'daddy' she'll ever be calling out for will be me."
"Alright." Riggs stepped in front of Tracker and wagged his head. Then he looked Lorenzo in the face. "You are in fact Cherry's old man?" he asked him. "This isn't just some shit they pulled outta their asses?"
He gulped and rolled his eyes before answering. "I didn't know about her involvement in the club until a few years ago when I first made my way out here for a visit. Her mother told her I was dead and I've never seen any purpose for bringing up the truth to her otherwise."
"Anybody else would see a purpose in it," said Atom. "If not for you, for your other kid. But you're too much of a greedy motherfucker to see past all the green you'd be forced into giving up just by telling it to her."
Everyone fell silent. If there was one thing Atom couldn't stand more than Lorenzo himself, it was the fact that he had remained a deadbeat by choice.
I turned back to look at Colette; she had fallen asleep on the couch. I bobbed my head toward Riggs and muttered, "I need to get her outta here already."
He nodded. "Yeah, go take care of your girl, make sure she’s good. We'll handle all this shit here and have new contracts drawn up for the D&C."
"Contracts that we'll all be making damn sure to witness and sign this time," replied Tracker. He threw the back of his hand into my arm again and pointed behind him. "Go and take care of your girl."
I gave Lorenzo one last look of pure disgust before turning to Atom and jerking my chin.
As I headed back into the lounge for Colette, he followed beside me and shrugged his shoulders. "What's up, brother?"
I stopped walking and crossed my arms over my chest. "I'm thinking it's best if we stay out here tonight -- not at this hotel, but in Vegas," I said. "I don't wanna have to put her on the back of a bike or in one of our trucks like this."
"Yeah, brother. We'll probably all stick around tonight, have the contracts drawn up in the morning and sign them before heading back out."
"Alright."
He glimpsed over at Colette, then brought his eyes back over to me and asked, "Where are you wanting to take her?"
"Back to where we started," I told him. "Except this time when she wakes up, there won't be any confusion as to how the hell we got there, or why she's mine."
He snickered and knocked me on the back of the arm as I made my way over to her and bent down to brush the hair from her face. Then I slipped an arm behind her back while snaking the other beneath her legs again and gently lifted her from the couch. As I cradled her close to me, she automatically draped her arms around my neck and pushed her body into mine.
"Yo," Atom hollered out as I moved past him. I stopped and turned halfway. "You plan on carrying her all the way just like that?"
I stared down at her, watching as she slept, and grinned. "I've got no problem with it if it means I get to keep holding her like this."
He chuckled and shook his head as I made my way back through the lobby, past my brothers and out the front doors.
Epilogue
Colette
I woke up in what felt like a haze inside an all too familiar room with Roman's arm tightly gripped around my stomach. Were we still in Vegas after everything that happened? I guess we had to be because I sure as hell had no memory of riding on the back of his bike last night. Though, I did remember him holding me tight inside his arms, and a few times at that. I also remembered him pulling me so close to him at one point as we slept together in bed that I was practically on top of him despite us both being
on our sides. I squirmed against him a little to not only loosen his grip but to allow myself some room to breathe.
That's when I heard him grunt and he pulled me even closer to his hard body.
"Roman." I turned my head against the pillow and lifted my eyes to the ceiling. I peeked at him from the corner and noticed that his eyes were still closed, though his mouth remained open and pressed against my shoulder. "Roman," I called out to him again.
He grunted for the second time and shifted the lower half of his body against mine. As soon as I felt his dick rising to attention, I rolled the crack of my ass against it and moaned. He brought his hand up from my stomach and brushed his thumb across my bare breast. I shivered and flipped to the other side to face him completely. His eyes opened then, and even in a state of semi wonder and light confusion, he still looked so unbelievably handsome in the morning.
I raised my hand and brushed the back of it along the stubble surrounding his jawline. His delicious full lips curved into a smile that met his beautiful grey eyes. I let out a breath I hadn't even realized I was holding onto and dragged my fingers alongside his throat, then lightly flipped them over and moved them down the front of his chest, slowly, making sure that he felt all I had to offer him in that very moment.
"Hi," I said to him.
"Hey, darlin'." His voice was thick, gruff, making me shiver again. He brought his hand up to my face and caressed my cheek.
"How did you sleep?"
"Damn good in knowing that you were still here with me," he replied. "You?"
"The same. But..." I shook my head against the pillow.
He frowned. "But what?"
"I feel like we need to talk about what happened last night," I said. "What I did?"
"You saved my life, babe," he told me. "And your own."
"I know that, but..." I lifted my eyes to his and knit my brows. "Jeremiah." I paused and gulped. "This wasn't just some random person off the street that we didn't know; this was your brother."
"He was my brother in name only. What he did to you, the shit he pulled with the club..." He rattled his head. "No brother who ever gave a damn about me would do some shit like that. And a motherfucker who ever gave a damn about you wouldn't have put you through all of this like he did, and with no remorse for it."