Chaos
I entered the clubhouse after returning to the compound.
I had no recollection of the ride there.
It was midnight, but I couldn’t face going home to my empty house.
I hadn’t expected to see anyone in the clubhouse.
Nor did I want to. I wanted the alcohol stored there.
I wanted to drink until I passed the fuck out and forgot everything.
And to stay that way until Bianca forgave me and allowed me back in her life.
I headed for the bar. And was startled when Vicenzo, our third prospect, came out of the kitchen. He acted surprised to see me.
“I want whiskey. I don’t care which kind,” I told him gruffly as I sat at the bar.
Vicenzo took a bottle down from a shelf and then reached for a glass. I stopped him.
“I don’t need a glass. I’ll take the bottle.”
Surprise flickered across his face, then faded.
He didn’t argue, just handed it to me. I removed the cap and lifted it to my mouth.
I took a massive drink before setting it down.
The burn started at my mouth and flowed like lava down my throat and into my stomach.
At this rate, it wouldn’t take me long to get shitfaced.
Vicenzo said nothing and left me to my thoughts.
I took another huge drink of whiskey. The bottle barely touched the bar top before a body slid onto the barstool next to me.
I glanced over to find Shadow sitting there.
Then the stool on the other side of me scraped against the cement floor. I turned, and there was Storm.
“Shouldn’t you guys be home in bed, especially you, Shadow? You don’t want to leave your old lady alone. Cherish that you have her,” I said.
“I’ve been waiting for your ass to get back here so you can tell me what happened. I know you and Bianca returned to her place after making a detour. And then about an hour after you arrived at her apartment, you left and headed home,” Shadow stated.
“And the first thing you do isn’t go home but to come in here and ask for a bottle of whiskey, not a glass. What the hell happened?” Storm asked.
“I fucked shit up and most likely lost my woman. That’s what happened.
So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone while I get plastered.
I won’t be going to work tomorrow. Someone let Forge know that he’ll have to do without me.
I won’t be in any condition to call him in the morning.
Wait. Fuck it. I’ll send him a text,” I mutter, fishing out my cell phone.
Before I could find Forge’s name, Storm snatched away my phone.
“Hey, give that back,” I demanded, trying to take it away, but he held it out of my reach.
“Not until we talk. And for us to do that, you have to stop drinking. Explain. What did you do that lost you, Bianca?” VP asked.
“I had to tell her about the cameras we put in her apartment, and the tracking program on her laptop and a tracker on her car that we put there without her knowledge. That I used them tonight to discover that she lied about where she was and what she was doing. Of course, she’s smart, so she wanted to know how I knew she’d lied and where she’d gone. I told the truth. I refused to lie.”
“Ouch, I can see how it would upset her, and she’s angry, but I think saying it’s a deal breaker for your relationship is a bit much,” Shadow said.
“It is when we made her feel as if we stripped her privacy and rights away. She said it made her feel like what the rapist did to those women. Their right to decide was taken from them. She told me to leave. That she needs time to think and she can’t do it with me there.
She wants no contact from any of us until she says otherwise. ”
“Jesus Christ,” Storm muttered.
“Goddamn it, I’m sorry, Chaos. Did you tell her I placed them and it was my fault?” Shadow asked.
“She knows you did the camera placements and the trackers, but we as a club decided it. She’s not just upset with me or you.”
“Tell us what we can do to help. If she doesn’t want contact, we’ll have to find a different way to show her it wasn’t meant maliciously. We did it to protect her,” Storm declared.
“I told her that, but it wasn’t enough. And I can see her point, in a way.
If I were in her shoes, I wouldn’t like someone spying on me.
She asked me if the cameras were in her bedroom or bathroom.
I told her no. She asked me what if she had brought a man home and had sex in the living room.
And she wanted to know who had access to the camera feed monitoring.
I told her only you, Shadow, and maybe Cambria.
I assured her no one was sitting around watching her all the time like a creeper. ”
They both winced.
“Did you discover why she lied, went to the church, and then what the hell was up with stopping at a cemetery before returning to her place?” Shadow asked.
“Oh, yeah, I did, and after I did, I had to hold her while she bawled. That was before she asked how I knew. You won’t believe what she told me,” I said hoarsely.
“Did it have anything to do with those women who were assaulted?” Storm asked.
“Indirectly,” I said, and then I launched into a condensed version of the support group, Elodie’s grave, and what happened when they were twenty.
When I was done, they both sat there in silence.
Then Storm leaned over the bar, snagged three glasses, and poured whiskey into each.
Without saying anything, we each took one and drank the liquor straight.
For me, it was burning less, not a good sign.
It meant my taste buds were dying and/or I was getting blitzed.
Although for me, it would take more than what I ingested to put my ass down for the count.
“That’s fucked up. And no wonder Bianca is so determined to find who is behind those assaults and make sure it doesn’t happen again. And she’s still sure that the club takes care of shitbags, which we do,” Shadow observed.
“Yeah, I can’t say that I blame her. And I get why you’re upset, but getting loaded isn’t the answer.
The answer is to figure out who is doing this and take them out.
That’ll go a long way toward getting your woman’s forgiveness.
How can she stay mad at you or your club when we bring justice to those deserving it?
And I’d like to know what’s in the file on Elodie Ward’s case.
Bianca said no one was caught. Maybe we can find out who did it and make them pay, too.
We do all that, then see if Bianca can’t forgive,” Storm tossed out.
And just like that, his suggestion made my mind start to spin. I noticed the concentration on Shadow’s face. I knew he was in. It looked like I’d stay mostly sober so I could get to work tomorrow on winning back my woman and bringing justice, Pagan style, to those who earned it.