5. Kane
FIVE
KANE
Daylight poured in through the drapes of my bedroom window, and my eyes blinked open as I was pulled from sleep.
I was face down, spread eagle, in my underwear with my head buried in a pillow. Cock still raging since there’d been no way to rid myself of the need that’d stalked me through the night.
Mind and body trapped by the memory of her. By the taste she’d left on my tongue and the chaos she’d elicited in my spirit.
Had taken my all not to go after her.
Not to chase her out that door.
Hunt her.
At least fuckin’ make sure she’d made it to wherever she was going safely.
But there was something about her last request that had left my feet rooted to the spot. Needing to give her anything and everything she was asking for.
Didn’t mean it wasn’t painful.
How the fuck could a stranger affect me this way?
Felt like a hurricane had come through, annihilating everything in its wake. Leaving me shattered, and I didn’t have a fucking clue why.
I didn’t know what it was about her that had me so spun up. Heart slanting a different direction than I ever let it because I didn’t do entanglements.
Refused to invite in those types of complexities.
But there I’d been, wanting to peel her apart. Unravel all her layers. Or maybe what I really wanted to do was get knitted up in the threads that made up her fabric.
So fucked up.
Groaning, I flopped over and rammed the heels of my hands into my eyes then forced myself out of bed. I grabbed my phone where it was charging on the nightstand and thumbed into the screen.
A grin hooked the edge of my mouth when I saw the slew of messages waiting from the group chat with my crew.
Now these…these were the people who mattered. The only ones I could ever trust. Ones who’d been there at my lowest. Ones who knew me inside and out. All the way down to the rage and the darkness and the greed.
Each of us were willing to lay it all down for the other.
Not one of them were blood, but we were family, through and through.
Our friendship forged in a fire when we’d been nothing but messed up kids running the streets of LA.
A fire that made us stone.
Unbreakable.
I scanned through the thread of the conversation that had started at the ass crack of dawn this morning. Not the one we used for Sovereign business, but the one used basically for giving each other shit.
River
Nolan wants to know when his lazy as fuck uncles are going to take him camping.
Nolan was River and Charleigh’s little boy. Kid was cute as fuck. Almost six and the ultimate fucking joy that was our crew. A symbol of our society. Of what we stood for and why we did it.
It didn’t matter how many depraved monsters we had to put in the ground. The blood that was shed or the crimes that were committed .
He represented our purpose, and we all loved him with everything we had.
Theo
Tell me those were his actual words?
Otto
His dad is River, sooooo…
River
Me? All your seedy asses are the bad influences, but no. He wouldn’t go and break his mom’s heart like that. Kid’s gold. Now when are you cockwads going to take him camping like you promised? Otherwise, it’s gonna be my kid getting his heart broken, and you know I’m not about to stand for that.
Like that was going to happen. Nolan had us all wrapped around every single one of his little fingers.
Otto
Sorry, just having a bit of a hard time working myself up to not having Raven wrapped around me, even if it’s just for one night.
He capped it off with a bunch of winky faces. I could almost hear River’s growl from across town, and a slow chuckle rolled out of me.
Otto was one brazen motherfucker. He loved to taunt River that he’d gotten with his little sister, constantly poking at that burly bear.
If you asked me, dude was lucky River hadn’t chopped off his dick and crammed it down his throat for hooking up with her, but hell, every single one of us knew Raven had been obsessed with Otto for years and Otto had basically worshipped the ground she walked on.
That shit was bound to happen.
It had taken River a minute to come to terms with it, but he finally realized there wasn’t anyone in the world who would love and protect Raven the way Otto would. He’d even gotten down on one knee and put a ring on her finger to prove it.
Didn’t mean River didn’t gag whenever he thought of the two of them getting naked.
River
Don’t make me hop on my bike and ride across town to kick your ass.
Otto
Oh, come now, brother. Know you love me, but not quite the way your sister does.
Another slew of winky faces, though this one with blowing kisses.
I laughed outright. Asshole was really asking for it.
Cash
Don’t think about showing up at my door crying when River comes for you.
I was surprised Cash even chimed in. Dude was such a recluse we rarely heard from him other than when we had society business or an actual family celebration going down.
Don’t get me wrong. He was every bit as dedicated as the rest of us. He was just…different. Locked in his past. Chained in his trauma. Refusing to trust a soul other than us.
Otto
The elusive Cash. How are you, brother?
Cash
Fine.
I could almost hear him grunt it.
Otto
You coming camping?
Cash
Since it’s unlikely any of you assholes know how to pitch a tent, then it’s probably a good idea.
Otto
Oh, I pitch plenty of tents. All thanks to Raven.
River
Otto
So stabby. Think you’d better bring your girl to keep you calm. Actually, sounds like a damned good plan. Think I’ll bring mine, too. Nolan will love it. Both his mommy, his auntie, and all his uncles on a camping trip.
Otto issued it like he was going to have to twist River’s arm, which considering both of them started sniveling whenever they were away from their women for more than five seconds, was a foregone conclusion.
River
Good call.
Exactly my point.
Otto
How about three weekends from now? You’ve got that thing weekend after next…
Could almost hear the shift of Otto’s tone as he touched on Sanctum business. That same unsettledness I’d been riddled with last night rolled through me. That nagging sense that things were going to have to change within my crew.
Guessed it had been coming for a long, long time.
I couldn’t stand aside and let River keep running these jobs. Not when it put him at even greater risk.
It wasn’t like I wasn’t constantly in those types of situations. Running my own gig. No doubt, I should have stood up and intervened a long damned time ago.
Maybe I’d worried it’d put a spotlight on me.
But now that he was with Charleigh and Otto was with Raven?
I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
The last text had been sent more than two hours ago, and I hesitated before I let my fingers fly across the screen.
Me
Works for me, but I think we need to talk about the other situation.
Immediately, the dots popped up before a text blipped through.
Otto
Ah, he lives. Was wondering when you were going to drag your lazy ass out of bed. It’s almost noon, man.
Me
I own a club and three bars, dickwad. These are my normal hours.
Theo
Doesn’t have anything to do with that stunner you went all white knight over last night?
Otto
Ohhhh a stunner. And white knight? Details please.
Theo
One look, and our boy here looked like he was going to come out of his skin. Levitate from his seat.
He had no idea.
River
When is Kane not salivating over some sweet thing?
Theo
Not like this, man. This wasn’t the hunt. Dude had fucking hearts in his eyes and venom in his blood when some prick decided he was gonna get up on his territory.
Otto
Now this I would have paid to have seen.
Theo
Don’t worry, I recorded it. It was a moment that required documentation.
That jagoff better not have.
And what the hell?
Heart eyes?
Me
None of you would have sat idle if you saw what was going down. So you fuck off. And you fuck off. And you fuck off. Cash, you and I are good, man.
I couldn’t help but grin as I sent it, knowing Theo, River, and Otto would get the message.
River
Think you’re right, Theo. Something is up. Kane is the first to brag about his endless conquests, and here he is, getting defensive.
Me
No defense here. Just don’t know why Theo is talking out his ass. Some prick got a little too friendly with a woman who didn’t want the attention at one of my fine establishments. You know that shit doesn’t fly .
After I sent it, I roamed into the en suite bathroom attached to my bedroom.
My place was cool as shit, thanks to Raven who had a knack for design. She’d helped a ton when I’d purchased the old church that I’d converted into Kane’s, the club that I owned.
This old house sat on the far back of the property, and I’d fully renovated it to call it my own.
Everything about it was masculine, including the rambling bathroom.
Black wainscoting covered the bottom half of the walls, and the upper portion was a textured mesh of black and bronze.
The floors were a white and black checked pattern, and the mirrors and light fixtures were the same bronze as the walls.
An oversized claw-foot bathtub sat beneath a giant picture window. It overlooked the forest at the back of the property where a stream ran through on its way to the lake that was about a mile away.
Yeah, my nights might be filled with disorder but during the day I just wanted a little peace.
I took a piss, washed my hands, then glanced down at my phone where it sat on the veined granite countertop of the vanity as I pulled a tube of toothpaste from the drawer and grabbed my toothbrush.
River
So, what’s this we need to talk about?
Me
Meeting tonight.
I didn’t need to say where or when. We all knew.
It took a second for another text to come through, and I could hear the worry in Otto’s tone.
Otto
All good, brother?
I had my toothbrush stuffed inside my mouth as I tapped out a reply.
Me
Yeah. Just have something we need to discuss.
Otto
Okay. And don’t forget Raven is hosting family get together tomorrow .