“That was fuck?” I giggled. Boy, Maniac sure did have a way with words.
“You got me speechless, darlin’.”
I rolled on my side, pressed a kiss to his lips, and dropped my head onto his shoulder.
“You okay?” he asked, his tone concerned.
I titled my head back. “Never been fucking better.”
His body shook under me as he threw his head back and laughed.
There had never been a better moment than the one we were in to use Maniac’s favorite word.
“Dammit. I can barely breathe right now after that workout you just put me through. Try to hold off on being funny for ten minutes.” He reached down and grabbed the covers. He pulled them over us, and I relaxed into him.
I didn’t even make it ten minutes before I was fast asleep.
I didn’t dream because why did I need to?
Maniac was the man of my dreams, and he was sleeping right next to me.
*
Chapter 19
Maniac
“Yo.”
“Freak got back to me.”
This was the phone call I had been fucking waiting for. A week had passed since we had decided to go after the Hell Captains, and this was the first I had heard from Pipe. “And?”
“He said they meet every Wednesday. Parking lot fills up with bikes by six, and then they start leaving around eight.”
That would give us plenty of time to get in there, burn the fucker down, and then be gone before the fire department showed up. “That only give us two days to get ready.”
Pipe laughed. “We are ready, brother. While you’ve been playing house, the guys and I have gotten everything we'll need to blow the fucker up. Brinks had an old military friend that was able to hook us up with a couple of pounds of C-4.”
I whistled low. “Holy fuck, brother. We wanna level the clubhouse, not the whole fucking block.”
“Freak said there isn’t much around the clubhouse. An abandoned factory on one side and an empty parking lot on the other. We should be good with what we have and not have to worry about pedestrians.”
“What about a detonator?”
“Ye of little faith,” he chuckled. “We got that too. Brinks said we can be four blocks away to set it off. When that shit blows up, no one will be able to put us at the scene.”
Pipe had thought of everything. This is why I loved the Fallen Lords. No matter what was going on, we all had each other backs. “Who’s all wanting to come Wednesday?”
“Nickel can’t come because Karmen is about to pop any fucking day. Clash and Slayer are already there. So, myself, Brinks, and Boink will ride with you. Wrecker has shit going on with The Ultra and won’t be back ‘til Sunday.”
“You think the six of us are going to be enough?” I asked. I trusted everyone with my life, but the more people we had with us, the better.
“I can make a call to Snapper and Warrior and see if they can head to the clubhouse to go with us.” Snapper and Warrior were nomads who couldn’t seem to stay in one place for long, but they belonged to the Fallen Lords. Normally, they checked in with Wrecker.
“Hopefully, they’re not too far away.”
“I’ll call right now. That gives them two days to get their asses here. If need be, I’ll have Wrecker call them. You know everyone comes running for Wrecker.”
That was because Wrecker was one of the biggest assholes out there, but he was also a guy you didn’t want to be on the wrong side of. “Sounds good. Wren and I will head to the clubhouse Wednesday morning. I’m hoping I won’t have to tell her what's going on, but you know how these chicks can be.”
“Tell me about it, brother. Thankfully, Nikki is distracted by fixing up the house, but once she gets word most of the club is heading out, she’s going to know something is up.”
I ran my fingers through my hair and looked out the back door. Wren was sitting in one of the rocking chairs reading a book. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Call me if anything else comes up, otherwise we’ll see you Wednesday around noon.”
I disconnected the call and leaned against the counter. Things were finally starting to fall into place to get rid of the pieces of shit.
Things between Wren and me were fucking fantastic. My nights of sleeping on the couch, or praying she wouldn’t kick me out of the bed, were done and over. Hell, the past few days, we had barely left the bed. And if we weren’t in bed, we were on the couch watching TV, which always led us back to the bed.
She looked up from the book she was reading and waved to me.
How the hell I had been so lucky to get this woman in my life was beyond me. It was a bumpy road to finally get her over all the fucked up shit the Captains had done to her, but I thought we finally made it far enough down the road that things were taking a good turn.
I grabbed a beer then one of her froufrou drinks and pulled open the sliding glass. “You lonely without me out here, darlin’?” I drawled.
She eyed the bottle in my hand and reached out for it. “No. You just read my mind that I needed a drink.”
I held the bottle to my chest and shook my head. “I think I’ll just keep this one for myself.”
She rolled her eyes. “You think you could put the alpha away for a little bit?”
“You and that alpha shit,” I muttered. “Sounds like you’re calling me a wolf or something.”
“I’ll stop saying it if you hand me my drink.”
I sat down in the chair next to her but held the drink away from her. “How do you feel about moving back to Weston?”
Her jaw dropped. “What?”
“Things are going to be wrapping up with the Hell Captains soon, and after that happens, we won’t have to hide out here anymore.”
She looked around the backyard and sighed. “Is it weird to say I’m going to miss this place? I know it’s tiny, but it’s really become my home.”
“Not weird. This place is special to me too. I forgot how much I missed coming here.”
“This is where you grew up?”
I nodded and handed the drink to her. “On the weekends. During the week, we lived over Mom’s flower shop.”
“That is why you have a rose on your shoulder.”
I nodded. “It was my mom’s favorite flower. She always had vases of them around the house.”
“That’s beautiful, Maniac.” She giggled. “Although, I feel like I should call you Dalton when we are talking about your parents.”
“Before I told you my name, I hadn’t heard it in over ten years. Before I joined the Lords.”
She closed her book and set it on the grass. “What do you think your parents would think of you being a part of the Fallen Lords?”
“Honestly?” I have never thought of what they would think. “My mom and dad were some of the nicest people around, but I really don’t know what they would have thought.”
She leaned her head back in the chair. “What does them being nice have to do with the fact of you being in an MC?”
“They liked everyone. Didn’t matter who you were or where you were from.”
“Then I think they would have been okay with it, right?”
I looked out into the woods. “I guess you’re right, darlin’.”
She cleared her throat. “Do you think they would have liked me?”
I looked at her and smiled. “Pretty sure my mom would have loved you, and my dad would have told me I was one lucky son of a bitch to land you.”
“Land me?” she giggled. “I think I really would have liked your mom and dad.”
“They were good people.”
She sighed heavily. “My mom was an alcoholic, and I never knew who my dad was. She always told me it was between these two guys, but both of them had overdosed before I was able to figure out which one it was. When she had a job, I never saw her, and when she would get fired, which was always inevitable, I still didn’t see her. Booze was always more important than I was. I always wished for
a mom and dad who wanted me.”
I reached out and threaded my fingers through hers. “I’m sure she wanted you, darlin’.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Sure, she wanted me to keep the apartment clean and to cook.”
Dammit, Wren had a shit life before she had met me. “You had Jezebel, and then you had Cora though, right?”
A smile crossed her lips. “Those two were the only good things I had in my life for a long time. Jezebel always let me stay at her house when my mom would disappear. Her mom and dad never asked questions. Just pulled out the air mattress, fed me for about a week, and then I would go back home.”
“I’m sure they knew something was going on, Wren.”
She rolled her head to the side and looked at me. “They did. The whole school knew about my mom. Who she was and what she would do for her next drink.”
Pretty sure if Wren’s mom were still alive, I would have swung by her house and stuck a little C-4 in her basement. “How old were you when she died?”
“Nineteen. I was working three jobs to pay the rent and her bar tab. Once I hit that golden age of eighteen, she saw me as nothing more than a paycheck. Quit her job and told me it was time for me to start paying the bills since she had done it the past eighteen years.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered.
“He didn’t help me,” she laughed. “Nobody helped me besides Cora when I moved to River Valley.”
“But you got me now, plus everyone back at the clubhouse.” She would always have me, and as long as I was a Lord, they would always have her back.
“I know. I was just having a pity party for some reason. You having amazing parents made me take a trip down memory lane that I normally don’t take.”
I tugged on her hand. “Stand up.”
“What? Why?” she asked.
“Because you’re too far sitting all the way over there.”
She stood up, walked the three steps to my chair, and fell into my arms. “Is this better, Dalton?” She pursed her lips, and I think she tried to look sexy but instead looked like she needed to take a trip to the bathroom.
“Three things.” I held up one finger. “Don't make that face again. I can’t decide if you need to take a shit, or if you’re trying to look like a dying fish.”
She slapped me on the shoulder and laughed. “I’m not sure I want to hear what the other two things are you want to tell me if that was the first one.”
I added another finger. “Two. Whenever you’re not in my arms, you’re too far away.”
“That was way better than the first one,” she sighed.
I added one last finger. “And three. With all that shit that happened to you in the past with the shitty parents and the Hell Captains, I can promise you nothing like that will ever touch you again. Before you, the club was my life, but since you fell into my life, everything has changed.”
“Maniac, the club is still your life.”
I pressed a finger to her lips. “It is, but now, so are you. I just want you to know nothing will ever be more important to me than you.”
“Not even your bike?” she snickered.
“The bike is a close second, but if it came down to it,” I cringed and thought hard about what I was going to say. “You come before the bike.”
She threw her hands up in the air and hooted. “That is huge! I know how much you bikers love your bikes.”
I grabbed her arms and wrapped them around my neck. “Yeah, but I love you more than my bike.”
“Dammit, Maniac. I had gone four days without crying. Why did you have to go and mess it up?” She wiped her face with the back of her hand. “I’m leaking. Don’t look. I vowed you wouldn’t have to watch me cry ever again.”
“I hate to break it to you, darlin’, but you’re a crier.”
“No, I’m not,” she sobbed. “You just can’t out of nowhere tell a girl you love her more than your bike. That is huge.”
“You know what would be even huger?”
“That’s not a word,” she mumbled.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, it is because I just said it. You know what would be even huger?” I repeated.
“What would be even bigger, Maniac.”
“If you would actually say out loud you love me too.”
“I’ve said it,” she insisted.
I shook my head. “Bullshit, Wren. Those words have never come out of your mouth.”
“Yes, they did. Just this morning I said them.”
Now she had me thinking maybe I was missing it. “Uh, when was that?”
“When I woke up.”
I blinked once. “Darlin’, you were awake and in the kitchen making coffee before I even opened my eyes.”
“I know.” She reached around and rubbed her back. “That mattress is kind of worn, Maniac. I think you should replace it if you want to spend any more time here.”
“Stop avoiding what we are talking about, Wren.”
“I’m not. We’re talk about mattresses.”
Jesus Christ. When Wren didn’t want to talk about something, she really didn’t want to talk about it. “Fine. Whatever you want. You don’t want to say it out loud, then that’s fine.”
She twirled her hair around her finger and smiled. “Can we go mattress shopping before we leave for Weston?”
Lord help me, this woman was going to drive me crazy, but man, did I love her.
*
Chapter 20
Wren
“This morning?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Maniac rolled his eyes. “We’re headed back to the clubhouse, Wren.”
“But we’re coming back though, right?”
“To pack up the rest of our shit, yes. To live? No.”
I looked around the small cabin that had become my home. “But where am I going to live?”
He looked up from the bag he was packing full with his clothes. “With me.”
“With you where?”
“At the clubhouse for now, and if you want to get our own place, we can do that. I really don’t care what we do as long we’re in Weston.”
Weston. A town I had only lived in for a week, and now it was going to become my home. “I don’t want to stay in your room.”
“Why the hell not?” he demanded. He was getting mad at me. I didn’t like it. This morning, he had sprung on me we were going to Weston, and I was just expected to nod my head and smile.
“Because I tried to kill myself in the bathroom, asshole.” My words came out harsher than I had wanted.
He brushed my words off. “Then we’ll stay in one of the other rooms, or if we have to, we’ll get a hotel for a bit ‘til we can find somewhere else to live.”
I didn’t understand the urgency he had to get back to Weston. Just yesterday, we had lounged around the cabin, went to dinner in town, and spent the night making love. What had changed from the time we had fallen asleep to now?
“I left you some room in the bag. Just pack what you need for a couple of days, and we can come back for the rest.”
Something was different with him. He was distracted and wasn’t able to focus on anything. “Tell me what’s going on.”
He laid the backpack on the bed. “Nothing is going on. I just have to get back to Weston to take care of some club business.”
“The club business seemed to be taking care of itself the past couple of months. Why do you suddenly have to take care of it?”
He shook his head. “You know I can’t talk about this with you, Wren. You’re not part of the club.”
“What happened to you saying you loved me more than the club?”
“This has nothing to do with love.”
My heart dropped at his words. “Then what does it have to do with?”
“It has to do with things you don’t need to know. Why can’t you just accept that?”
“Because I guess I’m not good with being bossed around like a sheep.”
&nbs
p; “You’re not a sheep, Wren.” He moved into the kitchen area. “Make sure you wear a jacket. We’re taking the bike because I need it tonight.”
“What’s tonight?” I asked. I looked down at the space left in the backpack. I was going to maybe be able to fit one set of clothes if I was lucky.
“Club business.”
I turned from the bed and watched him pull his gun from his waistband. “Club business that involves a gun?” I wasn’t okay with what was going on. Whatever he had to do tonight was dangerous if he needed his gun.
“You know I always have my gun on me if we go anywhere.”
“Yeah, to protect me. Something tells me I won’t be going with you for this club business.”
He shook his head. “You’re staying with Nickel and the other girls.”
“How come Nickel gets to stay back, and you have to go.”
He slammed his hand down on the counter. “Dammit, Wren. Why the hell can’t you accept anything I’m saying?”
I jumped back and held my hand to my chest. He’s never hit me, but my heart raced in my chest and my breath caught.
“Shit,” he muttered.
Yeah, shit was right. The man who I had fallen in love with and thought would never hurt me had just scared the living shit out of me.
He moved toward me, but I put my hand up. He stopped in his tracks.
I didn’t know what to do. My heart told me Maniac would never hurt me, but my head yelled at me I had thought the same thing about Rack.
“Wren, I’m sorry. I didn't—”
I shook my head. I didn’t want excuses. I didn’t want any of this. “I was just asking simple questions.”
He dropped his arms to his sides. “Wren, they may be simple questions, but the answers to them are far from simple.”
“Is this what being with you is going to be like when we get back to the club? Have the past two months been a façade? It’s all been fake, hasn’t it?” A sob worked its way up my throat, but I held it in. I wasn't going to cry. Not again.
“Nothing has been fake, Wren.”
“Then what in the hell was that?”
Fallen Lords MC: Books 1-3 Page 51