Chapter Twenty-Five
Cash
“Everyone, calm down,” King ordered. “Sypher, if you didn’t trust Nav, you wouldn’t have given him the keys to the fucking kingdom. So, if you are going to question his honor, the least you can do is consider that it could have been a Nyght Nymph.”
“King, with all due respect, I have worked with these women for eight fucking years and never has anything like this happened. Each one of the Nyght Nymphs has their own story. They would never betray a woman we saved.”
“Well, someone did,” I pointed out.
When Sypher cut his eyes to Nav, the man let out a growl to rival Blade.
“Nav, give Sypher everything you have on Chasm. And then I want you to investigate every member of the Nyght Nymphs.”
“No!” Sypher shouted, jumping from his seat.
“Yes, goddammit. What did you just say about being more objective?”
Sypher fell back in his chair, and I spoke up, “Skip Valhalla and Kytten.”
“Why?” King asked.
“Valhalla wouldn’t tell them. She’s Amber’s mother, for Christ’s sake. She walked away from her daughter to keep her safe. No way would she put someone else’s child in jeopardy.”
“And Kytten?” Jack asked, that smug grin of his plastered on his face.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “I was going to wait until Friday. I met Kytten a few weeks ago.”
“You’re already moving on?” Blade asked, his voice tight. “It’s been three fucking months.”
“Shit, I should have talked to you, too.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Look, I don’t have answers. I wasn’t looking for someone. She just fucking appeared. I know you’re pissed, Blade. But I spoke to Ryder—”
“Hold the fucking phone, Cash,” King interrupted. “You talked to Ryder?” When I nodded, he asked, “When?”
“I went to see him a few days ago. Then Rose and I had dinner with him and Ellie and the girls two nights ago.”
The room was quiet until Sypher asked, his eyebrows lost in his hairline, “She gave you her real name?”
When I nodded, my eyes were still on Blade.
“Does Val know?”
“I don’t know what she has told Val.”
“Did she tell you about—”
I cut Sypher off with an icy stare. I didn’t want him talking about her past. “I know enough. Which is why I don’t want Nav digging into her. She wouldn’t sell out Aspen.”
Blade stood from his seat across the table and left without a word.
“Well, you fucked that up, brother,” Jack said.
“What did Ryder say?” King asked. He wouldn’t ask about Rose in front of the others. He would wait until we were alone and then give me the third degree.
“He wasn’t happy at first. But he likes Rose. He, Ellie, and the girls will be here for the party Friday night.”
Everyone stared at me like I had grown a second head.
“Can we not make a big deal out of this?”
“Yea, that ship sailed, brother,” Jack snarked.
“Until Nav can get information on the Nyght Nymphs, there isn’t much we can do but watch the Death Dogs. We need someone in that motel.”
“She’s not going back,” I snarled.
“We still don’t know why they’re here,” Colt reasoned. “Nobody moves a whole fucking club for a patched brother’s old lady. Even if she was married to an officer, it wouldn’t make sense.”
“I think this might be about more than a battered wife,” Sypher confessed.
“What do you mean?” King asked.
“Colt is right. When has a club pulled up stakes to go after an old lady?” Sypher asked.
“She’s a president’s sister. A former president’s daughter,” Jingles pointed out. “That can be pretty motivating.”
“No, Sypher’s right. We’ve been asking this same fucking question since we found out they moved to Wyoming,” I offered.
“Sypher, how much information do you have on the Death Dogs?” King asked.
Sypher looked at Nav. “There’s an extensive file. But nothing worse than any other one percent club,” Nav said.
“We need to talk to Aspen,” Ghost announced.
King sighed. “We’ll give her a day or two. After everything she’s been through, we have to use kid gloves. I want Haizley here when we talk to her.”
Gunner nodded, then asked, “What about Zeus? When do we call him in?”
“You can’t call him in; not unless Irene gives you the ok. She doesn’t want her family knowing where she is.”
King glared at Sypher. “There are rules, kid.”
“I know, but—”
“No fucking buts. Does Reaper know you do this shit?”
“Sort of,” he admitted, but the look on his face betrayed him.
“Fucking bullshit,” King sneered. “Everyone but Cash, get the fuck out.” King slammed the gavel on the table then said, “Oh and, Sypher.” He waited for the kid to look his way. “Don’t ever fucking storm into my clubhouse again. Show some fucking respect, or I’ll call Reaper myself.”
Sypher’s face paled at the threat, but he nodded.
When everyone had left, King turned to me. He didn’t say a word, just watched me. Studying me for any hint of apprehension so he could strike.
“I’m not ready to talk about it.”
“Cash—”
“Tell you what, King,” I began as I stood. “When you’re ready to talk about Grace, we’ll sit down with a bottle of whiskey and share like fucking girl scouts at a camp out.”
“Asshole.”
I laughed and made my way to my bike. I had a Kytten I needed to declaw.
I pulled up on the mountain and there she was. Sitting on my bike, I watched her pace as she scratched at her leg. I knew she heard me ride up. You couldn’t miss the sound of the bike with how quiet it was up here.
I didn’t move. She was muttering to herself as she twirled a knife in her other hand. When she finally stopped and turned to look at me, her shoulders relaxed. I could physically see the tension leave her body.
That got me moving. I swung my leg over my bike and, in a few long strides, was standing in front of her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing now.” She shook her head and leaned into me. “I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?” The tip of my index finger lifted her chin so I could look at her.
“I haven’t told Val anything about you. I couldn’t ask her if I could tell you because she doesn’t know we’re...”
“We’re what? What are we, Rosie?”
“Ugh!” she groaned. She walked away from me shouting, “I don’t fucking know. I’ve never met anyone like you. Everything is quiet when you’re around.” She stopped pacing and looked at me. “I’m scared.”
“Of what?”
“Of you, asshole!”
I chuckled at her. Every time she called me an asshole, it made my dick twitch.
“Come here, baby.” I grabbed her hands and pulled her to me.
“You fucking terrify me,” I whispered. “I want you so fucking bad. And that makes me feel guilty. It’s only been three months since my old lady passed away, but from that first day when you called me a fucking boomer, I’ve wanted you. ”
“I should go. I should call Val and have her send someone else.”
“I’m not letting you go,” I argued. “I want to share something with you. Only two other people know this besides me and I don’t plan on broadcasting it, but I want you to know.
Rachel left me a letter before she died.
She said some things that hit me hard. She said she knew I didn’t love her as much as she loved me. ”
Her inhale was so loud it bordered on a gasp.
“I fucking loved her. I wouldn’t have asked her to be my old lady if I didn’t.
But she’s right. She talked about how I was her forever but she wasn’t mine.
I was so fucking pissed when I read it. I’ve been angry for months.
At Rachel, at Ryder, at my own goddamn self.
And then you rode into my life and turned it upside fucking down. ”
Rosie put her arms around her waist, hugging herself. Her frown broke my heart. I didn’t want her seeing herself that way, but I could read her thoughts as loudly as if she was screaming them at me.
“I didn’t mean to,” she whispered, and it was so damn soft.
“Baby, don’t apologize. In less than a month, you turned my world around in the best fucking way possible. That first time I kissed you, I felt like I could breathe again.”
She blinked at me slowly. “You didn’t look happy after you kissed me.”
“I wasn’t. I felt guilty as hell.”
She turned away, and I pulled her back against me.
“I felt guilty because a single kiss has never affected me the way it did when I kissed you. I felt guilty because it meant Rachel was right. Maybe I didn’t love her the way she loved me. But she said something else in that letter.”
I turned Rose in my arms so she could see the honesty in my eyes.
“She told me to grieve how I needed to, but that my forever was out there. And when I found you, whether it was a year later or a day, she wanted me to love you the way I couldn’t love her.”
Her eyes danced between mine. I saw the question in hers before she asked, “What are you saying?”
“I’m not sure. I’m not ready to ask you to be my old lady, but I want you here. I want you in my life.”
She bit her lip, and it was so fucking adorable, I had forgotten I planned to redden her ass when I got here.
“I don’t know what kind of fucking magic you have, but when I rode up here my plan was to spank your ass red. I was so damn pissed when Sypher told me you were at the motel. What happened this morning?”
She rolled her teeth between her lips and looked up at me through her lashes. She was trying to play innocent, and I knew she was anything but.
“Kytten,” I warned.
“Why do you call me that?” She pouted. “I like the sound of my name on your lips.”
“I love the sound of your name on my lips.” I leaned down and kissed her softly. “Rosie is the sweet pixie I want to kiss and protect and worship. Kytten is the sexy ballbuster I want to fuck. The one who tries my patience and makes my blood boil.”
I pulled her against me so she could feel my cock straining against my jeans.
“Make no mistake. They both make me fucking hard.” I slammed my lips against hers with a force that told her just what I wanted.
I lifted her in my arms and walked her to the edge, before I laid her down on the grass and climbed over her.
“I want you, baby. I want you in my life. I want you in my bed.” I punctuated each sentence with a hard kiss.
I ground myself against her as I continued, “I want you to meet my brothers. All of them. I want you to have brunch with the girls every fucking Sunday while I grumble about you leaving my bed to spend time with someone else.”
“That sounds an awful lot like an old lady.”
“It sure fucking does.” I rolled off her and rested on my elbow as I gazed down at her. My other hand trailed up and down her arm. “Come to the clubhouse.”
“Friday, Cash.” She looked at me, something warring inside her. “I need a few days to wrap my head around this. I need to talk to Val. I have a life in Vegas. I owe her so much, I don’t think I can just walk away.”
“You don’t have to. Sypher is here. He and Pippen are settling here in Diamond Creek. You could too.”
“Maybe...”