Chapter 3
Chapter Three
River
“ G et off of me!” My jaw snapped closed so fucking fast at the sound of Adelaide’s scream, I was surprised my teeth didn’t crack. People in the bar went silent, everyone trying to figure out who had screamed.
Troy stopped talking, but I was already on my feet, jumping out of the booth. I rushed down the hall while Sam, Troy, and Kyle worked on getting out of the booth. Slinging open Henry’s office door, I found him straddling my fucking woman, his hand around her neck. She was bleeding from her mouth, and her face was swelling.
Rage pulsed through me as I gripped the mother fucker by the back of his shirt, slinging him off of her. He crashed against his desk, and Sam gripped my shoulder before I could go over and pummel my fists into his face. I clenched my fists, my breaths coming in short, quick bursts as I tried to control my rage.
No one put their fucking hands on my woman and got the fuck away with it. In fact, the last person that did that ended up in fucking pieces . I’d goddamn made sure of it. Had hunted him down as soon as I dropped her off at the hospital.
“I’ve got him. I’ll take him to the clubhouse. Deal with Adelaide. She needs you, brother,” Sam said, his voice breaking through my rage.
Nodding once, I rushed over to Adelaide, clenching my jaw at the bruising and swelling already popping up on her porcelain-like skin. “She’s out cold,” Troy informed me, removing his fingers from her neck. “But she’s got a strong pulse.”
I just grunted in acknowledgment as I lifted her limp form into my arms, striding out of the office with her cradled against my chest. “Drake is right down the road with the truck,” Sam called out from behind me as I was striding out of the office.
“She going to be alright?” Troy asked as he walked down the hallway with me. I knew he gave Adelaide a lot of shit, but it was clear he still cared about what happened to her. At one point, she’d been like a sister to all of them.
But times changed, and she changed with them. We all did—some in better ways than others.
I nodded at Troy. “She’ll wake up with a massive headache, but she’ll be fine,” I assured him. “I’ll have Sam set up another day and time for us to meet.”
He nodded, taking his cue to leave as Drake rolled up with the truck. “Damn, Prez, what the fuck happened?” he asked as I gently set Adelaide in the passenger seat, leaning her seat back and strapping her in her seatbelt. Her face rolled to the side, still out cold.
“Fucking Henry,” I snarled in answer. I ran my fingers over her cheek, using her to keep me grounded. I needed to be with her right now. Not out murdering Henry like I fucking wanted to. His time would come just as soon as she was conscious again. “I need you to manage the bar until I find a replacement,” I told him as I strode around to the driver’s side of the truck.
“Got it, Prez.”
I threw the truck in gear and took off for Adelaide’s apartment, silently thinking of the pain that I planned to inflict on Henry when I finally got my hands on him.