Sufferance (The Chicago Defiance MC Series Book 4)

by KE Osborn

  Fuckers are hazing me.

  I let out an exhale as I relax into the seat.

  “Fuck.”

  Torque slaps my back as I look down to the patch on the cut, it has the Defiance logo on it and a name plaque. My head shoots up to look at Torque as I realize what’s going on.

  “Tremor, I know it’s taken a little… too long for this day to come. That’s on me. But once I realized you were willing to go the extra mile for Neala and the club, I knew you were finally ready to wear this patch.”

  Pride fills my chest as I glance over at Neala whose tears are freely falling down her face now.

  “Stand up,” Torque demands. I do it without hesitation. “Tremor, you’ll now be known as Pyro.” I raise my brow wondering how the hell they came up with that name. He seems to sense my inner question. “Since the day you met Neala, you’ve been looking out for her, shielding her. When this happened with Renegade, you wanted to protect her with all you have in you. Even when everything seems bitter, you still burn for Neala. You would light the world in flames to protect her. Everything you do is for her. So we named you after an X-Man. You’re not as good looking as Cyclops, not as stocky as Wolverine…” I let out a laugh. “Pyro! You manipulate flames to suit the situation around you. And you did that with Neala. We know what your lighter means to you, we know it’s a link to Chloe and to us, now it’s a link to Lala as well.” I glance over at Neala. “Welcome to the club, Pyro.”

  He puts out his hand for me to shake, then he pulls me forward into a back-slapping man hug. Cheers echo through the clubhouse as I let Torque go, looking down at my new cut. It has the club emblem on it and my name ‘Pyro.’

  There’s no more badge reading prospect.

  It’s fucking epic.

  My brothers start swarming around me. My back is slapped more times than I can count as I chuckle, laughing along with my brothers, but my eyes don’t leave Lala’s the entire time. She’s watching me too as we make eyes across the room.

  Finally, I get a spare moment to break free from the madness. I start walking toward her as she chats with the old ladies. I rush the last few steps picking her up, twirling her around in a circle. She giggles against me as I put her back to the floor. I lean in pressing my lips to her softly as she kisses me back, my cock throbs in my jeans, and as much as I want to celebrate tonight with her, she still has a concussion, and I have to remember that.

  “Congratulations, Pyro. And before you ask, I had no idea. This was all a shock to me, too,” she tells me.

  I chuckle. “No, I could tell. Fuckers had me worried there for a moment.”

  Sparx and Foxy giggle. “You deserve it. Welcome to the brotherhood… officially, Pyro,” Foxy chimes.

  “Damn, that feels good.”

  Neala wraps her arm around my waist as she tilts her head toward Zane, who’s at the bar drinking alone, looking completely miserable. “Shit! Yeah, thanks, Lala.”

  She pats my arm with a wink. “I’ll be here when you’re done.”

  Tapping her ass as I walk off, it makes her chuckle. Stepping over, I slide onto the stool next to Zane. He glances up at me with a genuine smile. “Guess we’ll be spending less time together now.”

  “What the fuck, man. I’m still here, still your brother.”

  “Yeah, but you’re not a prospect with me. We won’t do the shit jobs together anymore.”

  I let out a small laugh. “You saying you’re gonna miss me?”

  He takes a drink of his beer, then swipes the back of his mouth with his arm. “Yeah, so fucking sue me.”

  I stop laughing. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be shooting cans out the back with you.” Ruby slides a stein of beer my way with a wink. “Thanks, Rubes… look, I know it’s going to be hard being the only prospect, but they’re gonna have to bring in a newbie. Who do you think they’re gonna look up to? Who do you think is going to be able to boss them the fuck around?”

  His lips slowly creep up his face. “Well, yeah… I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “See, silver lining, dipshit. I bossed you around all the time, now you get that job.”

  He chuckles. “I’m happy for you, bro. You deserve it.”

  I pick up my stein, he clinks his with mine making beer froth and spill from both our glasses. “Thanks, man.”

  “You got the patch and the girl... damn lucky son of a bitch.”

  I chuckle shaking my head. “Fucking hell.”

  Zane chuckles taking a long drink of his beer. I follow suit, the amber liquid going down smooth as silk. The bitter beer tasting like the nectar of gods after the last few days.

  “Excuse me, gentlemen, but can I interrupt?” Neala asks formally as she moves in next to me, her eyes hooded, sultry, alluring as she slides her hand up under my new cut.

  My cock presses against the seam of my jeans as I look at her, even with her forehead sporting a bandage and a bruise, I still find her the most attractive woman on the face of the earth.

  Zane mumbles something unintelligible as I turn to him with a glare making him laugh. “Go, I’m good. Spend the night with your lady.”

  “Thank you, Zane,” Lala replies.

  “Catch you later, man.”

  He shrugs taking another sip of his beer as I stand taking Lala in my arms as we try to casually walk from the clubroom. But we’re stopped just before we hit the hallway by Trax and Torque both blocking our way.

  “I got a call from Kline just before you both arrived,” Torque murmurs.

  I raise my brow.

  “Yeah, she said no kinky sexcapades for Neala tonight,” Trax reminds me.

  “Or ever,” Torque mumbles under his breath making Trax chuckle as Neala groans.

  “Oh, geez, guys, you’re so much worse than what Dad would have been,” Lala chides as they both scowl.

  “We’re looking out for your health, Lala,” Torque defends.

  “You’re being overprotective. I’m twenty-two. You can’t stop me from having sex forever, and just for your information, I’m not a virgin, haven’t been for a really long time, so you haven’t succeeded in keeping my virtue intact.”

  Trax rubs the back of his neck as Torque shudders. I hold her tighter letting her know I’m proud of her. “Don’t worry, I heard Kline’s instructions. I won’t jeopardize her health. You have my word.”

  Torque puffs out his chest like he’s glad he’s won this little battle with his sister. “Good, lad, glad someone’s being sensible in this.”

  “He said he’d let me rest tonight. But tomorrow night, all bets are off… so will be my clothes, right Trem?”

  Torque and Trax both stiffen with their eyes wide open. I have no idea how to play this. Do I back my girl or my brothers on this one?

  “Don’t answer that, or I’ll be having images flashing through my mind. Fucked if I need that,” Trax blurts out making me laugh.

  Good save!

  I have to remember to thank him later.

  “Can we go now? I’m tired. Kinda had a big day,” Lala grunts.

  Torque finally softens as he looks from me to his sister. “I’m glad you two sorted your shit out. All we want, all I want, is for you to be happy, Lala.”

  “Thanks. Can we go relax now?”

  They both chuckle while parting to let us walk between them. I feel like I finally have both of their blessing to be with their sister. Though, I know if anything ever went wrong, I’d be in a world of fucking hurt. I lead Lala through the honor guard as we head down the hall toward my room. I don’t turn back to see if they’re watching. I don’t want to look weak in front of them. So, I simply take her straight to my room, open the door to walk us in, and close the door behind us. Once we’re in, I grab her and spin her to face me. My hand moves up to her face, but I’m gentle with her.

  Normally I’d be a little rougher, show her some dominance, but she’s injured, so I take it easy this time. My hand slides into her hair as I pull her lips to mine kissing her. I’m not so gen
tle with the kiss. My other hand’s on her hip, and I hold her to me letting her feel everything as our lips lock. That energy, that magnetism, shoots straight through me right to my cock. As I open my mouth, my tongue collides with hers while her arms loop around my neck. She lets out a small whimper into my mouth as I edge her backward toward the bed. She moves without hesitation. We kiss with insatiable hunger, with need, with desire. We know this can’t go much further tonight, but it won’t stop me from kissing her like I fucking mean it.

  The backs of her knees hit the edge of my bed, she falls on the mattress. I follow her down, my hand falling from her hip to catch myself, so I don’t squash her as I land on top of her. All the while, we continue to kiss frantically. My cock’s so hard right now I almost hate the fact I can’t finally have her tonight. I’ve wanted her for so long it feels like a form of fucking torture we have to wait one more night, but I care about her and her health, so I ease the kiss slightly pulling back, looking into her lust-filled green eyes.

  She’s panting just as hard as I am. “Wow! We sure know how to kiss, imagine what tomorrow night’s going to be like.”

  I chuckle as I try to gather myself. “I’m not sure taking you here is going to be the right choice. Everyone here is going to know what’s happening, it might put me off my game.”

  She chuckles. “Kind of like couples on their wedding night. Everyone knows what they’re going to be doing, so sometimes they get stage fright.”

  I chuckle. “I don’t think I’ll get stage fright. I’m fucking you tomorrow that’s a given, I just don’t want to have to hold back. I feel like if it’s here, then I’ll want to contain myself.”

  “So, tomorrow night we’ll stay at my place.”

  I relax with a sigh. “Perfect. Then maybe tomorrow morning I can take you to meet Chloe?”

  Her eyes light up as her eyes glisten. “Really? You’ll take me to meet her?”

  “Yeah, the two-most-important-women-in-my-life meeting. This shit needs to happen.”

  She leans in pressing her lips to mine, making my lips turn up against hers as she giggles. Pulling back, she looks in my eyes. “Thanks, it means a lot to me.”

  Rolling off her, I slide us up the bed pulling her to my side. “It means a hell of a lot to me, too.”

  It really does, I just hope like fucking hell Chloe and Neala get along because if they don’t, this could be a whole other world of pain I’m not ready to endure.

  NEALA

  Spending the night cuddled up with Tremor was so relaxing after the day I had. Knowing he was here for me made it all worth it. After everything we had come through to get to this point, it all appeared trivial now. It seemed like we were fighting against each other when it was all wasted energy.

  This past year and a bit, we could have been together, we could have been in a state of bliss, but because of Torque’s stupid actions, we’ve missed out on so much. Sighing, as my fingers smooth up and down his bare chest, he peers down at me. “That was a big sigh for this early in the morning.”

  “I know, I just keep thinking of what could have been if we weren’t being kept apart all this time.”

  His hand comes up cupping my chin forcing me to look at him. “Yeah. Don’t think like that, it’ll eat you up.”

  I lean up pressing my lips to his. “I wanna have breakfast in bed. I’m gonna go get us some cereal—”

  “I’ll get it—”

  “Stop! I want to. Lay back, relax. Let me do this for you. Please. You saved me yesterday, let me do something nice for you.”

  He sinks back into the bed. “How the hell did I get so damn lucky?”

  I waggle my brows. “Wait till tonight,” I tease as I quickly jump out of bed. Bending over, I pick up and pull on one of his long shirts and a pair of his track pants rolling over the hem so they will sit right.

  “You look fucking amazing wearing my clothes.”

  I purse my lips in a cocky fashion. “I’d look even better wearing your property patch,” I chime, then quickly rush out the door leaving him to mull over that fact on his own. I’ve known since I was young I’d be an Old Lady. I’ve known for the last couple of years I would be Tremor’s Old Lady. I don’t care how long it takes for him to claim me. I’ll wait. Because I know he’s worth it.

  As I walk down the hall, it’s only just starting to lighten. The shards of the morning sun are barely cracking through the windows of the clubroom, so I know no one will be up at the crack of dawn to see me walking around in Tremor’s clothing. I make my way down the hall into the clubroom, then turn to head to the kitchen. I walk in absentmindedly playing with my hair, but as I walk in I see two people by the bench making out—the woman sitting on the bench with her legs wrapped around the man as they lock lips frantically. It takes me a second to register before it finally clicks into place.

  Holy shit!

  “Mom?” I call out making them break apart panting for breath as Surge faces me, his erection clear in his boxer briefs. I’m a little in awe of his six-pack, while Mom wears only a very tiny silk night dress.

  “Fuck,” Surge calls out picking up a nearby frypan and placing it in front of his crotch.

  Mom’s eyes bug out of her head as she jumps down from the bench rushing toward me. “Neala, baby, it’s not what ya think.”

  I glance at Surge who looks kind of broken at the moment. His eyes are red and puffy like he hasn’t slept. He’s also quite pale. Clearing my throat, I take a breath trying to keep a clear head in this. My father died over seven years ago.

  This is totally okay.

  “Surge… are you okay?” I ask. They both tilt their heads like they are confused that’s what I decided to ask in this moment.

  Mom grabs my hand with a sigh. “Lala, I don’t expect you to understand, girlie, but Renegade and Surge, they were in this club together for a hell of a long time. Surge loves ya like his own, so the betrayal to Surge weighs heavily on him.”

  I glance at Surge, at the man who stepped in, at the man who took over when my father, Guinness, died. He was a surrogate father to my brothers and me. I looked to him every time I needed help. He’s the light of this club, so when she says she doesn’t expect me to understand, she’s underestimating me. “I totally understand. You and Renegade were here together from the start, Surge. Losing him is like losing a piece of your actual family. I’m so sorry.”

  He steps forward, frying pan still in front of him. “Thank you, Neala. I wasn’t watching him, I needed to watch him closer. I feel like I’m to blame in this.”

  I duck past Mom reaching out to grab his free hand. “Surge, no. This is on Renegade, definitely not you. He’s the only one who’s responsible for his actions. The only actions you have to answer for is… kissing my mother?” I ask looking from him back to Mom with a raised brow.

  He tenses as Mom walks over to us letting out a heavy sigh. “I guess I should just be honest with ya.”

  “Umm… yeah, that’d be good.”

  She reaches out grabbing Surge’s hand. “How would you feel if I said Surge and I were seein’ each other as in romantic-like?”

  “I’d ask how long this has been going on for behind our backs.”

  They both cringe as I let out a small laugh. “Oh my God! How long?”

  Mom winces. “About a year… give or take.”

  I let out a loud laugh. “Oh my Lord, Torque’s gonna kick your ass, Surge,” I tease.

  He tenses. “I know. That’s why we’ve been trying to keep it a secret.”

  “Just a hint then… don’t make out in public places.”

  Mom’s angelic giggle filters through the room. “It’s dawn, no one’s ever up at dawn.”

  I tilt my head. “There’s always an exception… but I’m happy for you guys. Surge, you’re like my surrogate father anyway, so why not take on the role I say. Welcome to the family,” I slap his shoulder as I walk past them to move to the pantry to grab the cereal.

  “Are you going to tell Torque?�
� Mom asks.

  I let out a loud laugh as I dig through the pantry. “Nope, you are.”

  Mom exhales as I find the box, then move to the overhead cupboard pulling out two bowls, then walk over to the fridge to grab a jug of milk.

  “I won’t force you, though. You tell him when you’re ready,” I call out as I grab two spoons, then walk for the door.

  “Thank you, girlie. I love ya.”

  “Love you, too, Mom,” I call out walking down the hall with my hands full of cereal and milk.

  Tremor and I are on our way for me to meet Chloe. To say I am nervous is an understatement. Tremor puff’s away on a cigarette as his arm hangs over the wheel of Trax’s truck. He brought the truck again as he didn’t want me riding on the back of his bike just yet because I’m only one day out of a concussion. Stupid protective asshole. I really wanted to ride on the back of his bike, to hold on tight, feeling the wind flicking on my face. Oh well, guess I’ll have to settle for an open window and holding his hand on the gearstick instead.

  I turn to face him. “You know, Sass’s father just died.”

  He turns to look at me puffing out a large amount of smoke. “Mmm, yeah, I was at the funeral with you. You feeling okay? Your head hurting?” he asks actually concerned for me.

  I continue to look at him. “You know he died of emphysema?”

  He grunts taking another long drag of his cigarette, then throws the butt out the window with a small chuckle as I inwardly throw a dance party. “You know I only threw the smoke out the window ‘cause I was finished, right?”

  I chuckle. “Mm-hmm,” I reply knowing he’d only just lit up.

  He glances at me, a more serious look on his face. “Do you want me to quit?”

  I pull my lips in by my teeth. “I think it’s not healthy for you, and I kinda want to keep you around.”

  “You want me to quit,” he reiterates.

  “I don’t think I could ever tell you what to do.”

  He chuckles. “True… I’ll cut down and chew gum instead.”