“She is,” Roz said, smiling because Tara was awesome. She’d never had a better friend and likely wouldn’t. Tara took a bit of getting used to at first but once you got past her surface layers she was more loyal than anyone Roz had ever met.
“All right then, see you two later. Reaper, stop that,” Sarah said, smacking his back, making him growl and pull away.
“Damn, you’re right. I need to get to work but I’d rather take you to bed.”
“Geez, I didn’t need to know that,” Sammy cried, looking disgusted and shaking her head as she rose to her feet and began walking to the door. “I’m leaving before you two decide to tell me any more.”
“Hey, at least we have normal sex and not that kinky shit you and Animal do!” Sarah called after her retreating form.
Sammy waved over her shoulder and exited the door and a prospect who’d been chatting with the three others outside moved to go after her. Roz chuckled at their antics and waved goodbye to them headed back to the rec center. She climbed into the car and waited on Colt and Rogue to get on their bikes before heading out.
Three hours later Roz was sitting near the clubhouse with Reaper waiting on Iron to show. She had expected Iron over half an hour ago and he still wasn’t here. She was starting to worry despite Reaper’s assurance that he would be here.
“I wanted to thank you for protecting Laci,” Roz said, looking over at him and smiling slightly.
“It’s what I do for family,” Reaper replied after a long assessing look.
“Yes, but Laci isn’t really family, so thank you.”
“How’s that?” Reaper asked, his brow raised and a frown on his face.
“How’s what” Roz asked, confused for a moment what he was asking her about. She watched him tilt his head to the right giving her a quizzical stare.
“How is she not family?”
“Oh, well, I realize she isn’t part of your MC so I just wanted to thank you for treating her like she is,” Roz said, finally understanding what he was asking her.
“She is family, Roz. The minute she decided to stay here with you she became family just as you and the other women did and we protect family. It’s the way it works,” Reaper said matter-of-factly as if it was something she should have known.
Roz was surprised that was how he viewed it. She hadn’t realized that the club would just pull in the women as if they belonged and accept the responsibility of them without much thought or fanfare. Roz was touched by his words because when she’d been down on her luck and running for her life things had been hard.
Roz almost wished she had run into a man like Reaper back then. When she was on her own she’d almost starved on more than one occasion because no one had helped her and yet here he was willing to clothe, feed and care for six women that he barely even knew. It was funny how life turned out. What had happened to her when she was eighteen had shaped the woman she became. It had made her stronger but she wouldn’t wish it on anyone because it hadn’t been easy.
His kindness was something she couldn’t wrap her head around with his ruthless reputation. What Sarah had said this morning about his reputation wasn’t a lie and she was shocked that in person he wasn’t the man they said he was.
He wasn’t cruel or heartless. Reaper just didn’t put up with any bullshit and if you betrayed the club that was it. He dispensed justice with a violent hand to protect the people who belonged to him. It made her glad things had turned out the way they did.
Roz snorted at that thought because she never thought she’d be grateful that Jumper and his cronies had kidnapped her and shoved her into a semi truck. But somehow she was. If it hadn’t happened she never would have met these people, she never would have found Iron again and that thought alone was heartbreaking. She loved him just as fiercely now as she had when she was eighteen.
“Thank you, all the same,” Roz finally said, tears stinging her eyes as emotions hit her all at once.
“Roz, there isn’t a reason to thank me. Family is just that, family, and any man here will die to protect you or any of the others. Individually they’re an unruly group and that’s why I didn’t want the kid here but for the most part they’re good men. I don’t condone violence to women or children but as long as the woman isn’t saying no, pretty much whatever the men want they get and as long as they don’t betray us it’s their business.” Reaper looked at her for a long moment.
Roz squirmed a little under the scrutiny. She turned away from his assessing look staring out at the rowdy crew of men and women around the fire who were dancing or relaxing. Most of the ones around the fire weren’t doing too much but the ones in the shadows were actually doing some things she didn’t want to know about so she avoided looking, having seen one man’s bare ass earlier as he screwed the woman he was with.
“You changed him, you know,” Reaper said, drawing her attention back to him. Roz turned to gaze at him wondering if that was an issue for Reaper.
“Did I?”
“Yes, we were losing him again.” Reaper looked haunted for a second and Roz wondered what that look was all about.
“He seemed fine when I arrived,” Roz replied, wondering what Reaper meant by they were losing him again.
“He wasn’t. He has been drifting since he was twenty. I never understood why that year changed things for him but when he lost you, he didn’t want to go on. I wouldn’t have understood that then but because of Sarah and Josh I get it now. So I’m just saying that he needs you even if he never tells you that.” Reaper seemed to think that should make perfect sense to her despite it being such a cryptic reply and in a way it did, but in another she was more confused than she had been when he first spoke.
Roz did understand that he was telling her that Iron loved her but she’d already known that because he had told her. But the part about losing Iron didn’t make sense to her. Roz gazed back at the fire watching the tower of flames as she mulled over those words.
“Ah, here he is,” Reaper said, making her look away from the fire to see Iron walking up to them where they sat on the clubhouse steps. Iron smiled at her as he neared and reached out, lifting her into his arms for a hard hug and kissing her lightly on the lips.
“Hey, babe,” Iron whispered.
“Hey yourself,” Roz said, hugging him back.
“Sorry I’m late, got tied up with business.”
“Reaper informed me you were taking care of something for the club and he kept me company so it’s okay,” Roz told him, allowing him to hold her tightly against his chest, his hand running over her back while he held her around the waist.
“Good, I was worried. Where’s Sarah?” he asked, looking at Reaper.
“With Josh. He’s still teething and was being a bear. We thought it best that she stay with him because it wasn’t fair to ask someone to babysit with his fussiness. Besides he wanted Sarah. If this wasn’t for both patched over clubs being here, I likely wouldn’t have made more than a quick appearance. I also didn’t want to leave your girl alone. Besides I needed to keep an eye out for trouble.” Reaper was leaning back against the stairs behind him casually grinning at Iron.
“Wuss, you’re becoming a whiney bitch since you met Sarah,” Iron teased.
“Shut the fuck up or next time I’ll leave your woman out here by herself.”
“Like hell,” Iron grunted, glaring at Reaper who now wore a smug look.
Roz shook her head at their ribbing. It was one thing she had noticed about the club, the men liked to mess with each other’s heads way too much. Iron leaned forward kissing her forehead before saying, “Rozzy, baby, can you go hang with Animal and Sammy for a few minutes? I need to update Reaper on some stuff that went down today.” He released her, stepping back a little, still looking down at her.
“Sure, but there’s no need to bug them. I’ll just wait over by the fire,” Roz said, glancing at Animal and Sammy who were sitting a few feet away.
Animal was seated in a large chair with Sammy cro
ssways on his lap and he was kissing her neck. Roz didn’t want to bother them by hanging out with them when they seemed busy.
“No,” Iron growled, his voice harsh, making her glance at him in surprise. “I don’t want you anywhere near that fire without my patch. Now, go wait with Animal and Sammy, please.”
Roz narrowed her eyes at him because that please had been tacked onto the command he had placed before it just to avoid her anger. She would have argued with him if she hadn’t already seen for herself the reasons he wanted her to wait with Animal and Sammy in the rowdy and somewhat raunchy behavior of the crowd.
“Fine, but next time don’t take that tone with me, mister, or you might get more than you bargained for,” Roz snapped, then stormed over to where Sammy and Animal were, plopping down next to them without a backward glance.
“Um, what’s crawled up your butt?” Sammy asked when she finally managed to notice that Roz was sitting next to them in a huff.
“Iron,” she growled and Sammy nodded laughing.
“Yeah, men will do that to you,” Sammy said
“Hey, I’m still sitting here, you know,” Animal grumbled, looking annoyed by her assessment.
“Oh, of course you are, darling, but it’s still true. You and every other man were put on this planet to annoy us.” Sammy patted his cheek and laughed. Roz smiled because it was true, men were a pain in the ass sometimes.
Chapter 18
Iron watched Roz’s retreating form with a frown. He hadn’t meant to piss her off tonight but he couldn’t have her over by the fire without a patch. Any man who put his hands on her would have ended up eating a bullet and that wouldn’t have gone over well because she wasn’t wearing his patch yet.
“The faster you tell me what happened today, the faster you get to make it up to her,” Reaper joked, making him tear his eyes off Roz, who was now chatting with Sammy, to look at him. Iron nodded, his arms crossed over his chest, leaning back on the railing of the stairs.
“I waited out in the open for more than two hours and nothing. We must have been wrong. It’s not about them wanting one of the club’s upper members. I know they saw me and I’m damned sure they didn’t catch that Animal and Pansy were waiting in the brush watching for them to try to nab me. I just don’t know what the fuck they’re up to,” Iron growled, his frustration with both Roz being pissed at him and not knowing what the hell the Headhunters were up to was evident in his voice.
“Damn, I was really hoping that we’d figured it out. I figured when Animal showed up with Sammy that things hadn’t happened like we’d hoped.” Reaper sat up, his hands running through his hair and down his face in exasperation.
They were all getting frustrated trying to figure out what the hell the damned Headhunters were up to. After discussing the attempt to grab Iron the other night, they’d figured that they wanted to grab one of the top members of the club to try and get information from them. Today he waited for three hours on the outskirts of the territory alone in the open and nothing had happened, so they were back to square one trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
“Yeah, it was a bust. I know that three of them were lurking around the area this morning so they saw me but didn’t seem to care. There must be something we’re missing. Some piece of the puzzle we don’t have yet,” Iron grumbled.
“Damn, I really hate that those bastards are up to something.”
“Me too. You let Roz keep her gun?” Iron asked, seeing the holster on her hip.
“Yeah, never know with the patched over clubs. She might need it. Sammy has hers too and if Sarah were here she would as well. I want them all to have their guns till the Headhunters aren’t lurking around anymore,” Reaper replied.
Iron nodded when his eyes met Reaper’s, grateful that Reaper had broken his own rule because it reassured him that she was carrying. He turned back to watch Roz, who sat on the ground next to Animal with her back to him laughing as she talked to Sammy. His heart rate picked up as she turned, tilting her head up to look at Sammy sitting in Animal’s lap. Her smile was bright and the firelight hit her face, highlighting her hair.
She was so damned beautiful.
“She’s changed you, you know that, right?” Reaper asked, suddenly changing the subject. Iron pulled his gaze back to his friend.
“She always did. It’s something I knew when I was twelve years old and it hasn’t changed. She’s my heart.” Iron didn’t bother to deny the fact that Roz meant the world to him. She deserved that acknowledgement from him after all she’d been through and he refused to give her less than she deserved.
“Don’t take this the wrong way but do I need to worry about those changes?” Reaper asked, his face harboring a deep frown.
Iron felt anger slip through him and his hands clenched into fists. He didn’t answer right away and instead assessed what Reaper had just asked him despite the anger it instilled in him. Did the man think he would betray the family because he was in love with Roz? What the fuck did he mean, did he have to worry about those changes? When Iron didn’t speak right away, Reaper sighed.
“I only ask because I know what losing her the first time did to you, Iron. You almost died twice that year because you didn’t care anymore about living. I know how it would destroy me to lose Sarah or Josh and I can’t imagine what losing her again would do to you. Once almost got you killed and quite frankly you were never the same until she fell out of that truck into your arms again. Don’t get me wrong, Iron. You’ve been an invaluable part of this club since you made prospect and I appreciate all you do for the club and me but we both know it will be much worse the second time because you got her back and you never thought you would.” Reaper’s words were quiet and Iron listened to them, even though fury was eating him up because he couldn’t tell Reaper he was wrong.
Iron chewed those words up, churning them around in his mind and trying to figure out a way to express what he felt. Reaper wasn’t wrong about how he reacted to Roz’s supposed death. He could remember some of the crazy shit he had pulled because he didn’t care if he lived or died. He was shot three times that year and twice he had nearly died from those wounds. If it hadn’t been for Lance’s excellent skills as a doctor, he likely would have. Pansy and Animal had saved his ass on more than one occasion back then.
“I can’t say I won’t be worse this time around, Reaper. As long as she’s safe it won’t be a problem but if something happens to her––” he let his voice trail off. He didn’t need to say more, Reaper knew what he was saying to him. If Roz died this time for real, then there would be no stopping him from following her. He had lived without her once and he wasn’t going to do it again, it was just that simple.
“That’s what I was afraid of. Iron, we need you here with us, man. You’re an important link in the chain and if you go it will weaken us,” Reaper’s voice was low and held a note of sorrow at the thought of him dying.
“You can’t ask me to do it again, Reaper. I can’t. The best way to assure that it’s not an issue is to be sure nothing happens to her and that’s what I intend to do. I want her to have a long and happy life with me and that’s the best I can promise you.” Iron watched Roz run a hand through her hair and turn to look at him.
She stuck her tongue out at him before turning back, making him smile at the childish behavior which reminded him of the time when she was ten and pissed that he had been talking to Maryann in the hallway at school. He was only telling her to leave Roz alone but Roz hadn’t wanted to talk to him to let him explain why he was talking to her. He had arrived at her house and her mother had let him in as she always did because they’d been friends for so long. Roz had screamed at him to get out and then stuck her tongue out at him, he remembered with a slight smile curling his lips.
Damn, he really did love her so much it made his heart ache.
“We both know none of our women are safe. Hell, even our brothers aren’t safe and they won’t be until we end this war with the Headhunters o
nce and for all. We can do our best and make sure that they have the best protection we can offer them but nobody is safe as long as we’re at war, my friend.” Reaper sounded tired and more worried than he had ever heard him.
Iron knew that until they cut the head off the snake so to speak none of them were going to be able to find peace. They weren’t having any luck with shutting down the Headhunters so far and it wasn’t likely to be fixed any time soon. Iron nodded, his eyes still trained on Roz’s back.
“Why were you late tonight? Animal got here over an hour ago,” Reaper asked, drawing his attention back to him.
Iron smiled. “I had to take care of something for Rozzy.”
Reaper raised a questioning brow and Iron felt uncomfortable for a minute because it was embarrassing in a way. Iron shifted against the stair railing straightening up.
“I had to go get Roz’s cut from over in Cartersville,” he finally said, looking away to watch Roz again.
“Why did you have it made over there? Weaver does them here for the whole club.” Reaper looked confused when Iron glanced at him.
Iron felt his face heat because the reason he had gone to Cartersville to get the cut was because it was still at her grave there. Every few years since Roz’s fake death he’d had the cut re-made and put it on the cross that marked what he thought was her resting place. He could have just had another made for her but it meant something to him to be able to put that patch on her instead. He didn’t want to sound like a pussy anymore than he already did so he just began walking away.
“I just did,” Iron replied as he went to get his woman. He wanted to dance around the fire with her before it got too rowdy and that wasn’t going to happen unless he got back in her good graces.
Roz allowed Iron to spin her around and draw her back with a light laugh. After he finished his talk with Reaper, he apologized to her before dragging her out here to dance with him. She loved dancing so she didn’t argue, content to just be with him. Iron was acting strange tonight, like he was waiting for something to happen, and she didn’t know what it was but he seemed nervous about whatever it was.
Melted Iron (Blue Bandits MC Book 3) Page 18