14. SIN
Link was antsy to get home, and I couldn’t blame him.
He was fiddling with that fucking rosary of his like the damn thing wouldn’t break, and if he jiggled his goddamn foot much more? I was going to kick it out from under him.
Still, for all that he was annoying me, I got it.
Fuck, I did. I wanted to get back home as much as he did.
“I know you want to get back,” Rex was saying patiently, “but we still have things to tidy up here.”
“The fire department looked the other way,” I grumbled. “I don’t see what the holdup is either.”
Rex narrowed his eyes at me, but I scowled right back.
“I haven’t seen my woman in a fuckuva long time. You bet your ass I want to be on her the second I’m home.”
At my words, everyone in the office stilled, then Nyx turned to me with a raised brow, and muttered, “Shit. You’re going to brand her, aren’t you?”
“What about my statement made you think that?” I rumbled, my brow puckering as I stared at him with irritation.
“The fact that you just admitted you haven’t boned anyone since you got here.”
“I never said that,” I countered.
“You pretty much did,” Steel muttered, eying me up like I was a fucking alien or something.
Because I wasn’t thinking straight, I ground out, “Just because I’m not stupid enough to let my woman get away from me for free pussy?—”
Steel’s eyes flashed. “Fuck you.”
“No, thanks, don’t know where the fuck you’ve been.”
“Children!” Rex grated out. “I don’t need this right now, do you hear me?”
I shrugged, but folded my arms across my waist. “It’s not that fucking crazy that I might have found someone I actually like, is it?”
“She’s pregnant, you want to brand her, and apparently haven’t cheated on her since you got here months ago. That means the brother who’d fuck the bunnies at least three times a day has turned into someone completely different.”
Nyx’s words had me shrugging.
“You didn’t touch a drop last night either,” Link pointed out.
“So it’s a crime for me to be a better man, is it?” I snapped.
“No,” Rex murmured, his tone soothing, “but you have to deal with the fact that these guys are learning about all this in a very short space of time. They’ve gone from thinking you were a shithouse for leaving Giulia stranded to go and watch one of the strippers get naked, to suddenly becoming pope material.”
I snorted at that. “Nothing about me is a pope. I’m still all sin.”
Link pshawed. “Yeah, yeah.”
That had me grinning, because even though I was a twisted fuck, I was among my own kind here. Sinners? There was a reason we’d made a family among our brothers. It was easy to do that when you were with people who were like you.
“We’re traveling down tomorrow,” Rex stated, steering the topic back to the one at hand. “We can’t change that. Not when we have to clear up the mess we made last night.”
“Not much of a mess considering the department is in our pocket.”
“We left the chapter short a warehouse.”
“The fucking thing didn’t burn down,” Nyx muttered.
“No, it just gutted it.” Rex rolled his eyes. “We’re here, and that’s final. Anyway, I want to see if Butch needs ousting.”
“He does,” I confirmed. “He’s lazy, doesn’t get shit done, and I’m pretty sure Peggy has a hold on him that none of our council would appreciate.”
Rex groaned at that. “What do you mean?”
“If Butch is too busy fucking, she’ll order the guys around and they listen.”
“That’s not a crime,” Steel reasoned. “Giulia does the same thing.”
“When it comes to cleaning the fucking kitchen,” I retorted. “I’m talking about runs. She knows about shipments and shit. What’s in them, where they’re going. Details we keep among the brothers. Hell, some of the council probably don’t know as much as she does.”
“You think she’s acting in his stead?”
“Wouldn’t be surprised. He’s more interested in the sex and booze. Pretty sure he’s got a coke habit.”
“Fuck,” Rex spat, and I knew why. Sinners weren’t allowed to sample the wares.
It was the number one rule.
Fuck who you wanted, drink how much you needed, but drugs? Nope. Back the fuck away, or take off your cut and get another job.
Link groaned. “Fuck, we’ll be staying longer if we need to find another Prez.”
“What about Storm?” Nyx suggested softly.
I blinked at that, surprised by the proposal. “Storm’s our VP.”
“Shit job he’s doing of that when he’s soaking himself in drink and pussy like he’s waiting on his funeral.”
“He’s been like that since Keira left,” Link agreed. “But I don’t know if it would be wise to bring him down here.”
“Might be good to give him the option. Rex, your hold on the Sinners is absolute. His job is pretty much unnecessary unless you’re on a run, and you don’t do that anymore. Not much anyway. This is a one off, let’s face it.”
Rex rubbed a hand over his chin. “Fuck, this is a big deal, Nyx. I mean, shit, he’d be leaving his woman and baby girl behind.”
“Like he isn’t doing that already?” Nyx shrugged. “I’m just saying it’s an option. He’s a good man when he isn’t being a fuckwit.”
“Does anyone know what happened between him and Keira?” I asked.
“By the sounds of it, one of the bunnies told her that she gave Storm a BJ while she was pregnant,” Nyx muttered.
Rex grunted. “Fucking dumbass.”
Yeah.
Dumbass was the word.
That was the trouble when the women weren’t in the life. They didn’t get how it worked sometimes. I mean, it didn’t work like that for everyone. Giulia would have Nyx’s dick on a platter before she shared it, and he was a possessive fuck anyway. He’d kept things to one bitch at a time for as long as I’d known him.
Link?
I mean, I’d assume he’d be loyal to Lily, especially as he was antsy as fuck to get back to her now. Like, I’d never seen him be that way with anyone else, so I figured it must be love.
And for me?
Well, I hadn’t fucked anything, not even my fucking fist unless Tiff had talked me off over the phone since I’d come over here.
Maybe I was made like Nyx.
I’d been loyal to my ex. She’d been the one who cheated on my ass, something I only found out when I got back from deployment. And since then, I’d never been committed to anyone. But they were right. I might not have said the words, but I’d be branding Tiff.
Whether she liked the idea or not.
Rex scratched his jaw where stubble had gathered, then muttered, “Wonder if I could get them all to come down here together. Fresh start?”
“Could set things in motion. Might pull his head out of his ass actually having to work, you know?” Nyx mused, and I knew why too. Nyx was the only one who could talk Rex into shit. Not even Storm could do that.
The two were tight.
But more than that, they trusted each other and had the other’s back. I’d noticed it before, but because I was, essentially, in a council meeting where I’d never had that before, I hadn’t seen it.
Church was different.
That was the council telling the brothers what was going down. Sure, we had some say in shit, could vote on certain matters, but most things were pre-decided by the council for the good of the club.
“I don’t think that’s fair,” Steel muttered. “Storm does a lot at the chop shop and for the strip joint.”
“Getting drunk and watching pussy strip ain’t good for our business. Still,” Nyx mused, “ain’t saying he’s a shit VP. If anything, he’s the opposite. He’s too good to waste as Rex’s VP, especially when there’s a position opening up here.”
“There’s time,” I pointed out. “Butch and Peggy aren’t running the place into the ground.”
“Not yet. If he’s high as a fucking kite, though, then things will change soon. There’s always a fine line between a hobby and addiction.”
“He’s functioning, is all I’m saying. If you want to put things in motion, then the option’s there.”
Rex eyed me, staring at me like I had shit on my face or something.
“What is it?”
“If Storm takes the job, there’d be a position on the council.”
“No shit,” I replied drolly.
“Before this fuck up with Giulia, I’d have thought you’d be a good fit for it. Especially since you had stopped drinking so much.”
“Shit-faced ass,” Steel muttered, and I flipped him the bird.
“Fuck you,” I retorted, but there wasn’t much heat to the words. He was right. I’d been soaking my liver in tequila. Still, I cut Nyx a look, and he wasn’t glaring at Rex for the suggestion, neither was there death in his eyes when he looked at me.
“You’d have a problem with that?”
“No.”
One word.
Never let it be said that Nyx was prone to rambling.
I looked at Rex. “If you think I could?—”
Rex pursed his lips. “Nyx would be promoted to VP. He’s pretty much that anyway. You worked with him on security. Would make sense for you to take his place as Enforcer.”
Despite myself, my throat choked at that. “You being serious?” I’d never have expected to come out of this with a promotion, but fuck, this was insane.
“Yeah, I’m being serious, but only if Storm agrees to be Prez down here.” Rex tapped his fingers against the shitty desk chair. “I can’t see it myself. He’s too fucking lazy to move, but we’ll see.”
“It would be a solution. Needs to be someone from our club to keep things in control here.”
“You want the role?” Rex asked Nyx, his tone serious.
He shook his head. “I’m no Prez.”
Rex pulled a face. “No. You’re too fucking headstrong with this war you’re fighting.” He sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Steel, what about you?”
He arched a brow. “Me?”
“Yeah, only one fucker called Steel.”
“If Storm doesn’t want the job, I’ll think about it, but I think he’ll take it. The fucker isn’t happy, and he’s being a dick right now, but he’s a good brother. Maybe this is the kick in the ass the bastard needs.”
Everyone nodded, because he wasn’t blowing smoke up our asses. He meant it.
And it was the truth.
Storm had been a good brother before he’d fucked up his life.
Sometimes, in our world, it was easier to think you could have the cake and eat it too.
He had a wife at home, a kid, then he thought he could fuck whoever he wanted without there being any repercussions?
He’d learned otherwise, but the shitty thing was, he’d messed it up for his kid as well.
More than anything, that pissed me off.
I knew what it felt like to come from a broken home. It sucked, and when it was unnecessary? It sucked even more.
“Okay, at least I know what I’m doing. Once I’ve smoothed shit over with Butch and helped him figure out how to patch things up at the warehouse, we’ll ride tomorrow. Be ready. It might be in the early hours. Fucking hate this place and those goddamn bunkbeds.”
Nyx snorted. “You should have tossed Butch out of his room.”
“What, and wake up with Peggy’s mouth around my dick?” Rex shuddered. “No thanks.”
I laughed. “She’s been sniffing around you something fierce.”
“Shame I’ve never wanted to fuck a barracuda.”
Link chuckled at that. “We all know that’s bullshit.”
Rex frowned. “Huh?”
“Rachel.” He arched a brow. “She’s a barracuda.”
Rex huffed, but his eyes turned thoughtful. “You’re right. Never thought of her that way though.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a day for firsts,” Nyx said dryly, and fuck if he wasn’t wrong.