Chapter Eleven
Chasm
I walked into the Rosewood Lodge with the intent of going directly to my room and taking a shower. I needed to regroup before I tried to talk to Morgan again. What I didn’t need was another altercation with a pint-sized pain in the ass.
“What are you doing here?”
I turned at the disgruntled voice and found Cameron Montclair standing behind me with his friend Jasper.
“I don’t have the time or the patience for you, kid.”
I continued toward the elevator, and when the doors opened, I stepped inside and hit the button for the fourth floor.
The doors closed, and I let out a frustrated sigh.
I’d had enough shit dealing with Morgan last night and again this morning and was glad I didn’t see Cameron outside the elevator as the doors closed, which meant he must have gotten the hint.
“Why are you still here?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin and spun around to glare at the tiny terrorist. His friend Jasper smiled and waved.
“What the hell?!” I snapped. “Are you following me now?”
“My grandpa owns the lodge,” Jasper chimed. “I live here.”
“Well, so do I while I’m in town,” I told him.
“And how long will that be?” Cameron asked, folding his arms over his chest.
“As long as it takes,” I muttered.
“To do what?”
My chin hit my chest. This kid was relentless.
“What’s it to you?” I asked, turning to face the nosey Napoleon.
“I don’t know you.”
“And you know everyone in this town?” I scoffed.
“Yeah, I do.”
The elevator bell rang, and the doors opened onto the fourth floor. I walked off toward my room, hoping Dennis the Menace wouldn’t follow, but no such luck.
I unlocked the door with my key card and stepped into my room. When I turned to close the door, the kids were gone. I shook my head and swiped the internal lock against the door for added security.
“Are you gonna tell me what I want to know?”
“Jesus fucking Christ!” I shouted, my hand covering my chest.
The hostile Houdini had done it again. I swear, the kid rivaled Jingles with his invisibility.
“Why the fuck are you in my room?”
“Cam, if Mom finds out, she’ll kill us both,” Jasper whispered, his eyes searching the room as if there were cameras around to catch them in the act.
“I wanna know who you are and why you’re here.” Cameron stood in the middle of the room with his fists planted on his hips. I was tired from sleeping on Morgan’s couch. Frustrated with her refusal to let me explain, and now this kid’s desire to be up my ass.
Scribe knew who I was, and Morgan knew I was alive, so I guess there was no need to keep the information to myself. And maybe, just maybe, he would fuck off and leave me the hell alone.
“I am here for my wife.”
Cameron narrowed his eyes as if he wasn’t sure he could believe me. “Who’s your wife?”
“Morgan Delany,” I answered with a heavy breath. I walked over and sat on the end of the bed. “Satisfied? Will you leave me alone now?”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not lying.”
“Yes, you are,” he insisted.
“No, I’m not.” I stood up and moved toward him, a failed attempt at intimidation. He didn’t even blink.
“Morgan isn’t married.”
I smiled. “I guess you don’t know as much as you think you do. I married Morgan seven years ago in Arkansas, right after she graduated from college.”
“Then why does she live here? Alone?” he asked, then he smiled. “And why was she dating my uncle five years ago?”
“What uncle?” I growled.
“Gunner.”
Fuck the shower, and the nap. I grabbed my keys and stormed back out into the hall, leaving the kids inside my room. I didn’t care; Callous Capone could find his own way out.
I didn’t wait for the elevator; I slammed open the door to the stairs and jogged down two and three at a time. I climbed into my truck and put it in gear. I knew where the clubhouse was and exactly how long it took to get there.
By the time I pulled up in front of the building, my rage had built to something I’d never felt before. I didn’t knock; I shoved the door open and came face-to-face with the president of the Sons of Hell.
“Chasm?”
“Where the fuck is your brother?”
Before he could answer, the dead man walked into the room, talking and laughing with Priest.
Before I knew better, I marched over and clocked him on the side of the head. He was a big motherfucker, but I caught him off guard and his body swayed with the impact. He stumbled backward a few steps but caught himself before he hit the ground.
Arms wrapped around my chest like a vise, but I wasn’t deterred. Gunner pinned me with a look meant to scare me shitless, but I was too fucking furious to back down.
“DID YOU FUCK MY WIFE?” I shouted loud enough the whole town might have heard me.
A gasp to my left had me turning my head to catch the eyes of Sarah, Gunner’s wife. I knew every fucking member of this club and who their old ladies were.
Only, I’d never looked into their sex life. That was a mistake I wouldn’t make again.
Sarah pinned me with a glare that did put the fear of God into me, as she marched forward and got in my face.
“And just who the hell is your wife?” she asked, her hands planted on her hips.
“Sarah, baby, I swear it wasn’t me,” Gunner promised, his face pale and sweaty.
“Shut it, Cord.”
“Jude?” I turned my head and found Skylar watching me with her brows furrowed. King still had me locked in his arms to where I couldn’t move, no matter how much I struggled.
“You know this man, Sky?” King asked.
“Not exactly. He was at the coffee shop yesterday, getting harassed by Cameron.”
Everyone in the room groaned, and King said, “If I let you go and you go after my brother again, I’ll put a bullet in your head. We clear?”
My nostrils flared as my breaths came out in pants. I was a bull waiting to charge, but I nodded my head. King dropped his arms and stepped back. Sarah stepped to the side, just as a fist came flying at my nose.
“Son of a bitch!” I yelled, stumbling back. I held my hand over my face. “I just set the fucking thing.”
“I will ask you again. Who is your wife?”
“Sarah, I swear I didn’t fuck anyone,” Gunner pleaded, shaking out his hand.
I looked at his wife. “Morgan Delany.”
“Shit,” Priest said behind Gunner.
Sarah turned around and looked at her husband. “Did you sleep with Morgan?”
“Um, well, you see...” Gunner stuttered over his words, and I knew he’d fucked my wife.
Sarah shook her head and asked, “How long ago?” She crossed her arms over her chest and waited.
“Baby, you don’t understand. We’d never even met. Hell, your parents didn’t even live here then. It was five years ago. We only went out a couple of times.”
I took a step toward the motherfucker, and Sarah stepped in my path.
“Hold on there, Othello. Morgan wasn’t married five years ago. We don’t get to beat the shit out of people because they have a past.”
“Morgan and I got married seven years ago, right after she graduated from college,” I said through clenched teeth, barely able to control the rage running through me.
“What?” Henley Never, Malpas now, had walked in just as I’d admitted the truth. “No. Morgan would have told us if she was married.”
“Haven’t you been dead for the last seven years?” Scribe asked, standing next to his wife.
“That’s beside the fucking point.”
“Seems we have an issue to resolve,” King said.
The clubhouse doors opened, and in walked the master of manipulation who started this whole fucking thing.
Cameron froze as he looked around, his eyes landing on his father.
“What did you do?” King asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I didn’t do anything,” he argued.
“Bullshit. This has your name written all fucking over it.”
Cameron sighed and slumped his shoulders. “He wouldn’t tell me what I wanted to know, then when he did, he lied and said Morgan was his wife.”
“So you told him she went out with Gunner?” Sarah asked, one eyebrow cocked in Cameron’s direction.
“How did you even know that? You weren’t even in Rosewood then,” King asked.
Cameron shrugged. “I hear things.”
“Cameron, upstairs, now. I’ll deal with you later.” King turned his piercing gaze on me. “Chasm, church. Now.” The last word came out in a growl. Well, maybe not a growl, more like a snarl.
With one more sneer at Gunner, I followed King into church. He sat at the head of the table, and I stood at the other end.
“Have a seat.”
I didn’t want to sit; I wanted to beat the shit out of Gunner. But this wasn’t my clubhouse. So I pulled out a chair and sat.
“Seems we have an issue to resolve. You can’t just walk into my clubhouse and punch my VP.”
I opened my mouth to argue, and he held up his hand. The patch on his cut meant he deserved respect.
“There have been plenty of times Gunner has fucked up and deserved to have his ass handed to him, but this isn’t one of them. None of us knew Morgan was married. But we all knew you had been declared dead. Which means your marriage was dissolved.”
My jaw clenched with the force it took to keep my mouth shut.
“I assume with your recent resurrection, you are still a member of the Silver Shadows?”
“I took over as president of Little Rock,” I answered, knowing that was the only thing that would save my ass. Technically, I outranked Gunner, though not by much.
King studied me before asking his next question. “And the reason you didn’t notify me you were in my town?”
“I’m not wearing my cut.”
King leaned forward on the table. “You know as well as I do that doesn’t mean shit.”
“I hadn’t planned on staying. I was only checking on Morgan to make sure she was safe.”
“Why wouldn’t she be safe?” he asked.
I explained to King what I had found when I took over in Little Rock. The mess the office was in, and the empty files with the names of women. Morgan being one of them.
King pulled out his phone and set it on the table. He pushed a few buttons and then turned the speaker on. When the call connected, I heard my president growl, “He fucked up, didn’t he?”
“He certainly did.” King smiled and leaned back in his chair.
“Is he there?” my president asked.
“I’m here,” I answered, my eyes locked on the president of the Sons of Hell.
“What the fuck did you do?”
My hands clenched into fists, and my jaw ticked. I knew he’d give me shit when he heard how badly I’d fucked up. And when Morgan found out, it’d be even worse.
“Chasm!”
“I punched the Sons of Hell VP,” I ground out.
“Tell him why,” King said, his grin widening. The bastard was enjoying this a little too much.
I stared the man down. He had the power to ruin my life if he wanted to. What I’d done wasn’t just stupid, it was disrespectful to the patch I’d been trusted to wear. It was disrespectful to my president, and to the Sons of Hell.
“Why the fuck would you punch the VP of an allied club?”
“Because he fucked my wife.”