Chapter 14
“ N ice to see ya back with us.” Raze smiles at me sarcastically as I take my seat.
“Apologies, Prez, just needed a few days out.” I look across the table to Wrath who's staring back at me curiously. He’ll be wondering why I avoided his calls for the past three days.
“We all need a break sometimes, luckily ya didn’t miss anything exciting.” Raze looks over to Finn and smirks before he takes his seat.
“I called ya all in because I got a call from Cam,” he announces.
“Is everything okay?” Vike asks. We don’t tend to hear much from our brothers over at the Arizona charter, despite them being pretty close. They’re a small charter, and Cam keeps everything running smoothly.
“Everything’s great, they just need us to take care of some stock for a while. Two of their members got arrested on a GBH and they’re taking precautions in case the investigations go any further. “Saint, Dev, Sasquatch, and Vike. I want you to take a cage and meet ‘em half way. They need to shift their shit quick,”
“And where we gonna store it? The bunkers are already pretty loaded.” Dev looks unsure.
“We’ll find room, Cam’s a good guy, and he don’t ever ask for much,” Raze points out, and not a single brother around the table disagrees. Cam is a hard worker, he keeps his town clean, and most importantly, he’s loyal. He prospected here way before I did, and volunteered to transfer to Arizona when their members started to dwindle. I always suspected it was because he had a dislike for Cliff and the way he ran things.
Cam made it to the top a few years ago and got voted in as president to his charter. The fact he’s in contact with us is evidence of the changes Raze has made, he would never have called in a favor while Cliff was in charge.
“We’re on it, Prez,” Dev assures him, while Sinner sits flicking his switch blade.
“You gotta problem with that, Sin?” Raze looks across at him.
“Yay, road trip.” He rolls his eyes like a delinquent child.
“You could always switch up, send Saint instead,” I suggest. I ain’t in the mood for Sinner’s shit today.
“I’d much rather stay here and be Miss Freya’s chauffeur.” He winks, and I can tell he knows he’s hit a nerve by the satisfied grin on his face.
“What the fuck you talkin’ about?” I snap far too quickly, letting the whole room see he’s got a rise outta me.
“Yeah, Sinner, what ya sayin’?” Wrath looks at him sternly.
“I’m just sayin’ I looked out for her today, someone’s gotta.” His eyes fix on me as if he can smell the rage in my veins, and I try and tamp it down but I can only feel it escalating.
“You stay the fuck away from my sister. That goes for every one of you,” Wrath warns, making sure he catches eyes with every brother in the room, except for me, and not because I’m an exception, it’s because he trusts me. Sinner raises his shoulders and smiles while the others nod respectfully.
“When Cam called, did you talk with him about our Reaper situation? I’m thinking that if we pull in the boys from Arizona to help us, we got ‘em outnumbered.” Wrath is still as desperate to go to war and get justice for Willow, as he was when I left, and I can’t blame him. If I knew who it was that killed my mom all those years ago, I would not be resting back and letting ‘em live.
“Wrath, we spoke about this.” I can tell that Raze is losing his patience. “Everyone here understands how bad you want it, we all want it too. But we need time, we need a plan.”
“Then let's make one, let's get things moving on this, Prez.” Wrath stands up and smacks his palm on the table.
“I agree with Raze, it’s too soon, they’ll be expecting retaliation, they’ll be ready for it,” Saul speaks up, and he’s still looking unnerved. I never did get round to having that talk with him.
“You’ll get your justice, Wrath, I swear,” Raze promises, and when Wrath sits back in his seat he don’t look happy, in fact he looks ready to blow.
“Those leaving, leave tomorrow morning. Those who ain’t can work on clearing up some space in the bunkers.” Raze slams the gavel and Wrath gets straight up, storming from the room. I think about following after him, but then I figure I got no words left to say.
I walk out with the others and when I look across the room to where the girls are and see Freya, I really like the way she smiles at me.
“Pretty little thing, ain’t she?” Sinner pats me hard on the back. “I’ll bet she takes a dick real fuckin’ good,” he whispers.
“Don’t talk about her like that.” I take my eyes off her so I can warn him.
“I’m only sayin’ what everyone else is thinkin’. I’ll bet all that time away with them circus folk turned her into a real freak in the sheets.”
Freya’s still looking across at me, despite the fact that Peyton is talking to her. She’s got a look in her eye like she’s needing something, and she’s making me feel as if I’m the only person in the room who can give her it.
“I’ma head over to her right now.” He sees an opportunity when Peyton moves over to join Raze at the bar.
“Whoa,” I grip his shoulder and drag him back. “Do that and Wrath will fuckin’ kill ya,” I warn him.
“Wrath, or you?” He turns his head and when I see that smug grin again, there's no denying that he knows how I feel.
Sinner’s always been intuitive, the way he senses shit is almost superhuman and right now I hate him for it.
“Back the fuck off, Sin.” I pass him, making my way toward her.
Now I’m all angry and frustrated and she looks so damn fuckin’ beautiful in the cute little dress she’s wearing.
It’s a lethal combination.
Her eyes start to widen when she sees that I’m moving toward her, and when we’re toe to toe, her breath hitches
“Lookin’ across the room at me like that is gonna get you fucked,” I lean closer, and whisper in her ear. I don’t know what the fuck has come over me, but it seems to have taken all my senses. I’m surprised to see that Freya’s smiling when I straighten up again.
“What if that’s exactly what I want?” She holds my stare daringly, and the tiny hint of a smile that’s on her mouth makes me want to kiss it, right here, right now, with everyone in the room watching.
“Go to your room and leave your door unlocked,” I tell her, already feeling my dick get hard. This is a bad idea. I’ve spent five long years trying to get over her the last time, tried really hard to regret it, and yet here I am setting myself up to do it again.
Freya tries to hide her smile as she checks the space around us. Me and her need to have a conversation, but before we get to that, I’m releasing this tension that’s between us.
She places down her drink and starts making her way toward the door, and I lean my shoulder against the pillar beside me and watch her all the way out.
“Ruck.” I tear my eyes away from her when I realize Finn is standing beside me. I still can’t get over the fact he’s here. Me and him got close after Wrath left, I get why everything had to be kept secret, but at the same time I’m feeling a little betrayed. Losing him wasn’t easy.
“I want your opinion.”
“Shoot.” I hope we can get this done quick because I got somewhere I need to be, and I don’t want my conscience getting a chance to kick in before I get there.
“You really believe that every man here is trustworthy.”
I scan the room and hold my eyes on Sinner.
“I believe him,” I confirm. “Things have changed. This ain’t the club you left, Finn, and it sure as hell ain’t the one that betrayed your father.”
“I wanna believe that.” He looks over to the table where Dev, Vike, and Saul are all sitting together.
“Like Raze told ya, every man who went on that run and left you behind is dead. The men here are loyal. I’d put my life on it,” I assure him.
“You do every day that you're here, you know that, right?” His words send a shiver up my spine. I’ve bonded with the brothers in this room, and the thought of any of them stabbing me in the back makes me sick to my stomach.
“You want my advice, brother?” I blank those kinda thoughts from my mind. Everyone here is loyal. We’ve been through too much together for them not to be. “Jimmer gave you a great opportunity, instead of looking back on the past, focus on the future.” I go to leave.
“Could I convince you to be a part of that future? I’m gonna need a strong, reliable VP.” His question stops me in my tracks. “Come on, Ruck, what's keepin’ ya here?” He stands in front of me, blocking me from the door.
It’s a question I asked myself a lot after Wrath left. I hated Cliff and the way he ran things. I never really understood why I couldn’t walk away, but now, suddenly, the answer seems so obvious.
Freya kept me here, even after she left too. I guess I was always waiting for her to come home.
“I appreciate that offer, but I belong here.” I tap his shoulder. “Don’t mean to say I won’t be stopping by to visit.”
“Well, it might be a while before we’re up for visitors, all I got so far is an old building, some outhouses and a dead man's dream.” He laughs at himself. “I don’t even have any members.”
“You’ll figure it out, Finn, these things take time. Build your charter on trust and loyalty, the same way Jimmer did his, learn from other people's mistakes. One man you can count on is better than twenty that you can’t.”
“How close is he to patching?” Finn tips his chin across the room toward his brother. I heard that Rocco didn’t take him turning up here back from the dead all too well.
“Pretty close, he’s shown he can be trusted, he works hard, you think you can convince him to transfer once he gets the cut?” I can tell from the way he’s looking at his brother that he wishes things were different. Dev is protective over Corey in the same way.
“He’s gonna forgive you, Finn. It’s just come as a shock to him. It came as a shock to all of us.”
“Well until he does, can you look out for him for me?” he asks.
“What do you think I was doing all that time you were dead?” I snigger, grabbing his hand and touching my shoulder to his, before I finally make my way out the door.
The air is thick and muggy as I march across the yard, and just like last time, I have plenty of opportunity to talk myself out of what I’m about to do. Only now I know how good it feels to be inside her. I know that her legs tremble when she comes, and I know that she has the potential to really fuckin’ hurt me.
Freya’s always been a fuckin’ tease, she knows how to play me. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is all another one of her games, some kinda revenge for me leaving with Trinity the other night. But, like a fool, I head to her door. I reach for the handle and stop when I think about Wrath, am I really going to betray him again? And if I do, what will it all be for? Another one night stand? A reason for her to leave this place a second time.
“You coming in or just standing there?” She knocks me outta my thoughts when she opens the door.
“I was just…”
“Thinking of backing out?” She hits me with those daring eyes again and I show her that I ain’t backing down from nothing when I force her back inside. Kicking the door shut behind me, I kiss those lips that I’ve been tasting on mine for days, her bottom one seems to have healed, but I still take it steady. I don’t want her to have any reminders of the man who hurt her.
“First we’re gonna relieve this fuckin’ tension. Then, we’re gonna talk.” I speak against her mouth, “No fuckin’ runnin’,” I warn, taking her hands and pinning them behind her back.
“Talk about what?” She teases my mouth with hers, pulling back when I go to kiss her again.
“About us,” I growl, taking her lip between my teeth and sliding my hand up her neck.
“I thought there wasn’t an us. Never was. Never would be.” She throws my own words back at me. “What changed your mind?” she asks as I kiss my way up her jaw.
“I didn’t change my mind. I lost it again,” I whisper as I wrap my fingers around her throat and feel how it pulses.
“No regrets this time, Princess.” I smile against her skin, knowing how much she hates it when I call her that. I take my lips off her when she doesn’t answer me and notice she looks sad as she nods back at me.
“No regrets,” she promises, before I sink my tongue back into her mouth and hear that contented little sigh.