28. REX
THE SECOND NYX walked into the clubhouse with Giulia’s name tattooed on his throat, there wasn’t much more of a declaration required.
I had no doubt that her brand would be somewhere only he could see, because he was a possessive bastard, and the way his arm was around her shoulders reminded me of shit Jocks pulled with their girlfriends as they walked down the hall in school.
My lips curved because Nyx had worn no letters at school, none other than F.U.C.K O.F.F, and I couldn’t see Giulia wearing a Letterman jacket.
Not in this eternity, at any rate.
For all that I could have rolled my eyes at my brother’s antics, I had to admit I was happy. Happy for him, happy for her, happy for the club. It was about time shit changed around here.
The council were all in their mid-thirties, with only Storm having an Old Lady, until he’d fucked shit up with Keira a couple of months back.
The place didn’t have any of the vibe it’d had when I was a kid, and was more porn movie studio than what the Satan’s Sinners should be—a community. We were family, and, one of the perks was to have pussy on hand, but fuck, in my dad’s day, the two hadn’t been mutually exclusive.
But to get that, we’d need an Old Lady with brass balls.
Somehow, I thought we had that in Giulia.
She wouldn’t have a problem in telling the clubwhores what to do, and I’d let her reign over the women until I picked a woman for myself.
Well, that was a lie.
I’d already picked the woman, but convincing her was going to be a long project. I had time, so did Rachel, and because of this messed up situation with Lancaster, we’d be working together more than ever.
Rachel was normally disapproving of our methods, but she knew about that cunt’s phone, knew what we’d found on there, and knew—more so than any of us—how the police investigation was skewed in the Lancasters’ favor. To the point where if those detectives on the family’s payroll started saying Giulia had raped Lancaster, I wouldn’t be fucking surprised.
Link cheered at the sight of Giulia and Nyx together, which triggered a wave of cheers because, to be frank, no one knew how to respond to most of the shit Nyx did. It didn’t surprise me that Link was the one who’d guided him in the right direction. I knew it would either have been him or Steel.
Digging my elbows into my knees as I sank back into the sofa that everyone knew not to fuck on because it was mine, I tipped my chin so I couldn’t see them. They’d wander over here eventually, after Nyx had shown off his tat, and for the moment, I needed to think.
I’d already sent off JoJo and Tink, and I knew Jingles would be on her way to see if I was okay.
The clubwhores weren’t all bitches. Not like Giulia evidently believed, but we had a lot, and they did need corralling. I had neither the time nor the desire to do that, but I figured my ‘honeymoon’ present to Giulia would be the gift of kicking them into line. And fuck, she’d need something to occupy her while this investigation was underway.
A part of me didn’t doubt she’d be exonerated. But another part was on edge.
The Lancasters were new around here, but they were rich enough to have some clout with the mayor, which told me they’d funded his re-election campaign.
That clout meant the sheriff, who was in our pocket, wasn’t leading the investigation, and the detectives on the case had a slant for everything that had gone down. They were gearing up to accuse Giulia of all kinds of charges—I had a feeling in my fucking bones they were going to say she hit him up, and then attacked him with the intent to steal his gear.
It didn’t help that his iPhone hadn’t been found—wouldn’t be, not when it was hooked up to our computers as Mav used it in our hunt for more of Lancaster’s victims—but what was on her side was that his wallet had been untouched and he’d had just over six hundred dollars in there. Dipshit.
What the police were tossing around was the level of bruising and injuries on Lancaster’s corpse, and as for the hit itself, I could understand their skepticism because Giulia, whether she’d handled a knife before or not, would never have attacked like that.
Not when she was a short ass.
Which meant she was telling lies about how Lancaster’s death had gone down.
Which put holes in her story.
I wasn’t sure who she was protecting, or why, but the sneaky cameras we’d had installed in the bar itself were no fucking use.
I’d had Mav scan them, and he’d pulled up nothing but blank tape for the minutes of the attack. Any brother had access to the camera equipment, anyone could have switched them off, but the question was why?
Why switch off equipment that the police didn’t know existed?
It showed a level of premeditation that I didn’t understand.
There was no hiding from the fact that Giulia had been raped. The state of her? The bruising? The sexual assault? It was all real. And her fear of the bar was such that I knew we’d lost our bar manager for a good long while. So, that was real.
But the lie had to be who’d helped her.
Why hadn’t they told me?
“Prez?”
Nyx sounded a little nervous, a lot exhilarated. Enough that I had no choice but to stare him in the eye and grin at him.
I bounced onto my feet and hauled him into a hug that showed how tight we were as friends. More than just brothers in an MC, brothers IRL.
I slapped him harder on the back. “Glad you fucking listened for once.”
His laugh in my ear was something I’d never forget, because I’d heard it so rarely in my life.
Nyx?
Happy?
My mom would be probably doing the tango in her grave.
“I always listen when you make smart suggestions.”
Giulia eyed us both, then, unsurprisingly—because the attack had shaken her but not zipped up her mouth—demanded, “What did you suggest, Rex?”
“That I don’t fuck this up.” Nyx hauled her into his side once more. When his hand went to a high part on her waist and she flinched? I knew that was where her brand was. Just underneath her tit.
Nyx was predictable as fuck sometimes.
I smiled, genuine in my happiness for my brother, as he pressed his mouth to hers, and I took a seat, knowing they’d be sitting with me for a while.
When they huddled together on the sofa opposite, their hands clinging, their bodies touching, the yearning between them real, I knew I wanted what they had. Knew I was ready to feel something more than just the drudgery of life.
And even if she didn’t realize it, regardless of the lies she was telling, I’d keep Giulia and the brother she was protecting safe—it had to be one of the twins, didn’t it?—just to preserve this.
A smiling Nyx.
A lighter Nyx.
A happy Nyx.
So long as he looked as though his demons were at rest, she’d have my back.
No matter the consequences.