28. Bones
BONES
I’m lying on my stomach on the floor, and Ghost is sitting on my back, pinning my arms behind me.
You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation, but it all started when Blade, that traitorous fuck, wouldn’t tell me where my fucking old lady is. I punched him, and now all my brothers are trying to talk me down.
“Skull is there with her! She’s fine, and you need to calm down, Bones. It’s not Blade’s fault you fucked things up with your old lady,” Prez growls. He’s sitting on the couch with his feet spread, elbows on his thighs, staring down at me with judgment.
“I should be there with her, not my fucking brother!” I growl, but Prez smirks.
“She doesn’t want you there, and you’re going to give her what she wants for right now. Space isn’t a bad thing. You can think over what you’ve done wrong. Besides, she’s in Alexei’s territory, so we don’t need to make any waves.”
I don’t want to make any waves. I want my woman back. Skull being there with her does make me feel better, and I know he’ll try to butter her up a little more, but it should be me.
She’s mine, and I’m the one who fucked up. I want to fix things, make up with her, and I’m not going to be able to relax until I get the chance.
Pyro steps into the room, staring daggers at me. “You’re a fucking asshole. I stepped away because you claimed her, but if I had known you were going to treat her like this and upset her enough she had to fucking leave, I would have gone after her anyway.”
“Pyro,” Prez growls, while War steps closer to him and claps his hand down on his shoulder.
“Fuck you, Pyro! She’s in love with me, not you. You need to back off and find your own woman,” I bark, and Ghost puts more weight on me to hold me down.
“Yeah, and look what that got her,” Pyro replies, before turning around and storming off.
Goddamn fucking asshole. Way to kick a man when he’s literally down.
“Skull said she booked three nights at the hotel, so he’s going to stay with her until then,” Prez says, stretching his thick neck from side to side. “Are you going to last that long? Or do we need to lock you up outside in the shed?”
“Don’t make me wait two more nights.” I groan, close my eyes, and stop fighting against Ghost.
“You going to leave Blade alone?” Prez asks, and I nod.
“Yeah, fine. I need a bottle of whiskey,” I murmur, and Ghost gets off me, offering me his hand to help me up.
I take it and then walk toward the bar without another word.
She wants space.
What she really wants is for me to suffer just like she is, so fine, I’ll give that to her.
Misery loves company, right?
An hour later, and I’m on my way to being drunk. Rune and Curse tried to get me to go to the strip club with them to cheer me up, but I said no. I don’t need to do anything else to further anger Doc, and seeing some other tits right now doesn’t seem right.
“Why didn’t you just tell her that you fucked your brother’s old lady?” Rune asks, trying to piece it all together.
“Because we needed them to be friends. We’re all raising our kids together,” I try to explain, but Rune just looks more confused.
“You know what we should do?” he suddenly says, perking up.
“What?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
“We should tattoo her name on you. Bitches love that.” He grins, raking his hand through his hair. “They love labeling shit that’s theirs.”
Rune and his brother, Curse, are our tattoo artists now, but they weren’t the ones who did my back, so they don’t know how fucking scared of needles I am.
“I can’t get a tattoo without Skull. He has to get the same one then,” I think out loud.
Rune looks at me like I’ve grown a second head. “You both have to have the same ink too? This is some weird shit, brother. So is Skull fucking Doc right now to make it even? Is that what’s happening in that hotel room?”
“No,” I snap, swallowing the amber liquid in my glass. “He’s not touching her. You think Isla is going to want her man fucking another woman?”
“No, Isla does not want that,” the woman in question sighs as she sits at the bar. “Skull is the person who is stepping in to be there for Meredith right now, but not in a sexual way.”
Rune studies her for a second and then shrugs. “I still think we should do the tattoo.”
“What tattoo?” she asks.
Rune explains it to her, and she tilts her head to the side and raises her brows. “I don’t hate the idea. Skull can do his when he gets back. You can put it in the same place.”
I stare at her for a few long seconds, but she doesn’t say anything further, and I don’t know if she knows about my aversion to needles or not.
All I know is that I keep drinking.
All my brothers show up to have at least one with me. They are good like that. Blade even makes an appearance, and I apologize for punching him. I know he was listening to his prez and VP.
Still, I wonder if I could break into his room and find her location on his computer.
The idea has merit.
But I don’t even make it to his door before I’m dragged away. Apparently, I didn’t play it as cool as I thought I did.
And when I wake up in the morning, I’m alone in my bed, missing my woman.
There’s a new tattoo of her name right above my heart.