Chapter Seventeen
Banshee
Something had changed after dinner with Grayson and his family. Aspen was subdued, withdrawn. She’d tried to hide it. Whenever I brought it up, she would lean into me, tell me she was fine and then kiss me.
When the woman kissed me, all thoughts of anything but her lips, her body, and her gorgeous pussy flew right out the fucking window. She knew it too, and she used it to her advantage.
In the two weeks since we’d had dinner at the house, I’d had more sex than I’d had in years. I wasn’t complaining exactly, but I needed this woman to talk to me.
“Baby girl, we need to talk.”
She looked up from the couch, a smile on her lips. Closing her book, she laid it on her lap and gave me her full attention. Patting the seat next to her, she said, “Come sit down and we’ll talk.”
“Nuh-uh. I’ll sit over here,” I told her, planting my ass in the chair. “Where are you?”
She scrunched her eyebrows, and she was so damn cute. “I’m in a cabin, on Grayson’s ranch. With you.”
I wouldn’t let her play me. I loved her sass, but I needed her to be serious. I wanted her to open up to me. Let me be there for her. Not just in bed.
“You’ve been moping around this cabin for weeks.”
“I have not.”
“You fucking have. Every time I try to talk to you, you distract me with sex.”
“You don’t want to have sex with me?” she asked, her face blank, her eyes blinking.
I moved to the couch beside her. “You know I love fucking you. But I want more than a physical relationship. I want you to come to me when you’re upset or sad. I want you to lean on me for more than orgasms.”
“I mean, you’re pretty good with the orgasms.” She smiled, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re not so bad yourself.” I pulled her over and kissed her, letting myself enjoy the feel of her lips for a few minutes before pulling back. “Talk to me.”
She inhaled deeply before letting it out slowly.
“Watching Winchester and his family just reminded me that I will probably never see mine again.”
“You will see them again. We will figure out a way out of this shit.”
Aspen stood and walked to the kitchen. She started to make some coffee as she explained, “There is no way out. Not without starting a war. If I try to divorce him, my family will find out what happened. And if you kill him, Skinner will declare war on the Silver Shadows.”
“Baby girl, your family already knows what happened. They know he beat the shit out of you.”
She spun around so quickly, she almost toppled over. “What?” she gasped.
“Zeus called King and told him you were missing. Months ago.”
“I don’t understand.”
I’d been keeping information from her, and I shouldn’t have. I should have told her everything.
“Zeus called back in February.”
“This is April.” She was angry, and she had every right to be.
“He told King you were missing. They’ve known ever since you disappeared from the hospital.”
Her eyes dropped to the floor. “He really doesn’t love me,” she whispered. “When Diana disappeared, he wanted to declare war on the Soulless Sinners with no proof they even knew who she was. But me...” She shook her head. “He knew I was gone; he knew who was responsible, and he did nothing.”
“Baby girl, no. He loves you.” I pulled her into my arms as she cried.
“He doesn’t. He wanted my mother to have an abortion. She wasn’t supposed to have any more after Diana and Zeus. He never wanted me.”
“He wasn’t the president anymore. He didn’t have the right to declare war.”
She backed out of my arms. “You think that matters? He’s fucking Kronos!
The only son of a bitch to go up against Kalden Baudelaire.
The only man in the whole goddamn biker world to sign a treaty with the president of the Brotherhood of Bastards, but he couldn’t be bothered to fight for his daughter. The only fucking daughter he had left!”
Diesel whined at Aspen’s feet. He knew she was upset, and he wanted to comfort her, but unless she sat down, there was nothing he could do. I felt as useless as he did. I watched her pace the small room, tears streaming down her face.
“Aspen,” I said gently. She stopped and stared at me.
Shaking her head, she cried, “He never loved me, Banshee. It was always Diana. I was no one. All this time, I stayed quiet. I never said a word because I didn’t want my family to know. I believed he would fight for me. I believed he loved me.”
I gathered her in my arms. “I love you, Aspen. I will fucking fight for you. I’ll burn the goddamn world down for you.”
Her sobs broke something inside of me. They tore at my heart, and I vowed that if I ever stood in the same room as Lucas Cooper again, I would beat the ever-loving shit out of him.
I picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. I helped her undress, and I quickly removed all but my boxers. Tucking her in, I climbed under the covers with her, patting the bed on the other side, allowing the dog to join us.
She buried her face in my chest, and I held her until she fell asleep.
Aspen’s mood hadn’t improved. She was sad and depressed. Haizley had been out multiple times, but nothing seemed to help. We still made love every night. She smiled and laughed. But there was a cloud that hung over her.
My phone beeped and when I looked at it, I sighed heavily, causing Aspen to ask, “What is it?”
“King wants us in church.”
“Did he say why?” Her eyes were wide with panic. I didn’t want to tell her, but after last night, she needed to know everything.
“He thinks the Death Dogs might have been in town. He wants to ask you some questions.” She nodded, but I knew she was struggling. I wanted to wrap her up in cotton and protect her from the world. Only there was no way to protect someone from their own feelings.
As soon as I opened the clubhouse door, Diesel dashed inside. Tucker, his brother, met us at the door.
Kytten walked over to greet Aspen, and Diesel growled at her. He was feeding off Aspen’s tension; it had nothing to do with Kytten, but seeing her wariness, she didn’t know that. Tucker nipped at him and he settled down, though his fur stayed up as he watched the tiny woman.
“Hi, Kytten.”
“Aspen. How are you?”
She shrugged. I stepped up behind her and whispered in her ear, “I’ve got your back, and I love you.”
She smiled and nodded, while the officers filed in a few minutes later, and King and Cash appeared from the hallway. They headed into church, Haizley following them. Aspen and I were right behind them, with Diesel at her feet.
Cash walked in with Kytten and motioned for her to sit by Aspen. She reached over and held Aspen’s hand. “You’ve got this,” she said, and I felt Aspen relax a little.
“Aspen, we know you’ve been through a lot the last few months, but we need to talk about the Death Dogs,” King began.
“I understand,” she said, her voice filled with bravado I knew she wasn’t feeling.
“You gave a brief rundown before. But now we need to know everything,” King said.
“After I graduated college, my father told me he had chosen someone for me to marry. You all know that someone was Banshee. When that didn’t work out, I thought he’d let it go. And he did for a while. Until Skinner told him he had information about my sister.”
“Diana?” King asked, and Aspen nodded.
“He wanted a solid alliance with the Gods of Mayhem, and everyone knew my father was open to it. So, I married Pepper. It wasn’t until after I had moved to Arizona that my father found out Skinner had lied. He didn’t have anything concrete to offer my father.”
“Why didn’t he take you back?” Cash asked.
I waited for her to speak. I wasn’t sure what she would tell them, but something told me she would continue to protect her father’s reputation.
“He tried. But I told him I was staying. I told him I was happy and he should be happy for me. Then as time went on, I slowly distanced myself from my family.”
“Tell them why,” Haizley pressed.
“Pepper had threatened them. The Death Dogs were a much larger club, and Pepper said if I told them anything about the abuse or how unhappy I was, Skinner would attack and wipe out my family and the club.”
“What happened the day you were hospitalized?”
“Pepper came home angry. I didn’t know what set him off; I never did.” She was holding something back, but I wouldn’t ask her about it here.
“Kytten,” King called. “What can you tell us?”
“We got the call within minutes of Aspen being brought into the hospital. It wasn’t the first time she had been there, and the contact we have knew that if we didn’t get her out, next time she would be in a body bag.”
“How did you get her out? Without raising the alarm?”
We waited for Kytten to answer. The answer she gave wasn’t what we expected.
“Club business,” she replied, her expression blank. King sent Cash a look, and Kytten continued, “Without permission from my president, I can’t give you that information. I’m sure you understand.”
“Sypher?” King asked, his eyes locked on Cash’s old lady.
Sypher let out a long breath. “Every member of the Nyght Nymphs has medical training. Valhalla goes in as a doctor and orders tests. The patient is then transferred, if they are stable enough, for the tests and wheeled out into an ambulance that takes them to an undisclosed location.”
“Jesus Christ,” Cash muttered. “Enough with the pissing contest. King, don’t be a dick to my woman.”
We were used to the way Cash spoke to King. He didn’t hold anything back, and it was why he was the VP. The two of them worked well together and called each other on their shit. Kytten, however, didn’t understand their dynamic.
“What the fuck did you just say to your president?”
“Rose—”
“Nuh-uh. In this room, I am Kytten. Don’t use our relationship to be disrespectful.”
None of us held our snickers in. Cash had his hands full with her. She wasn’t anything like Rachel. Rachel was a ballbuster, but she knew her place. She never questioned Cash in front of the club.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Cash told her.
“Let’s get back on track,” King said, slapping his hand on the table. “Aspen, do you have any ideas about how the Death Dogs may have found you, or why they would move the whole club as opposed to sending a few men with Pepper to come after you?”
“I don’t. Pepper made it clear I was nothing to him. He didn’t want to marry me any more than I wanted to marry him, but his president ordered him to.”
“What is the possibility this is a coincidence?” I asked.
“If they aren’t looking for Aspen, why move the club?” Blade asked.
“Why move the club at all?” Kytten asked.
“Take Aspen out of the picture for a minute. What are the reasons you would move a club? The Death Dogs are not a small club, so why not start a new chapter, like you guys did? If you want to move into an area, why give up the area you already have to get it?”
“She’s got a point, Prez,” Gunner said.
“Sypher, Nav. Dig into Flagstaff; find out if there is a reason they left. We have to have someone down there we can contact.” He slammed the gavel on the table, signaling he was done.
Kytten was talking to Aspen when Cash slipped his arms around her waist and lifted her from the floor.
“Excuse me, Aspen, I need a word with my old lady.”
“Cash—”
“Let’s go, Kytten.”
Aspen smiled as Cash carried Kytten out. “Can we go home now?”
“Yeah, baby girl, we can go home now.”