Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Jigsaw
Leaving Margot when I know her slimy ex is slithering around the house sends my heart into freefall—like it’s trying to exit my body and get back to Margot.
That dread follows me to the upstate clubhouse.
She’ll be fine. People will be in and out of the house all day for the service. Her dad’s there. Her cousin. Other people who work for Cedarwood.
Except, no one else knows how shitty he treated her. Hell, I don’t even know . I’m only guessing based on stuff Margot said. Based on the ways she reacted when we first started our “lessons.”
She won’t be alone with him.
No matter what excuse my brain throws at me, my heart smacks it away.
I should be with her. Protecting her.
As I back my bike into a spot along the fence, Z and Rock step out from the path leading into the woods. Z lifts a hand in greeting and both of them stop a few feet away from me.
Great, just what I need, both presidents in my face. Where the fuck is Rooster when I need him?
I take my sweet-ass time, shutting off the bike, taking off my helmet, placing it just so on my seat, adjusting my cut—anything I can think of to stall. But they stay where they are.
“Prez.” I greet Z first, then force a smirk onto my face. “Prez.” I nod at Rock.
Z narrows his eyes and stares at me. Rock tilts his head ever so slightly.
“Everything okay?” Rock asks.
“Yeah, why?” I frown and jam my hands in my pockets.
“You look all pinched and squinty,” Z says, still staring at me like a target at the end of a rifle scope. “And not in your normal, healthy serial killer way.”
“I don’t even know what to say to that, Prez.”
The buzz of an ATV interrupts our bizarre conversation. Has to be Teller arriving. He’s the only one who uses an ATV to ride through the woods connecting his property to the club’s. I inch toward the front door of the clubhouse, but Rock’s hand shoots out to stop me.
“Stay put,” Z orders.
What’d I do now?
Teller parks next to my bike and joins us. “We meetin’ outside now?”
“No, knucklehead,” Rock grumbles.
Teller punches my shoulder lightly. “What’s up, brother?”
“Nothing.” I lift my chin toward Z. “Prez says I’m not looking serial killer enough today.”
Teller snorts and shakes his head, shooting Z a what the fuck face.
“How’s Margot?” Teller asks.
Fucking hell. He’s going to forever think his business deal with Margot’s dad means he gets to stick his nose in my relationship.
I jam my hands farther in my pockets and glare at Teller. “We’re fine.”
“She working today?” Z asks.
“Yeah.”
“That’s too bad,” Teller says. “I was hoping she’d come up again soon.”
“Why?”
He frowns and shrugs at me. “Because she’s your girlfriend,” he answers slowly, like he’s speaking to someone a few fries short of a Happy Meal. “She’s funny. Everyone liked having her here.”
I blow out a breath and relax. “She wanted to come today, but they have a service going on.”
Rock’s still staring at me with that intense expression that makes me feel like he can unscrew the top of my head and see the thoughts bouncing around inside my skull. “You sure everything’s all right?”
“Don’t you have enough kids to papa-bear?” I elbow Teller’s side while meeting Rock’s less than amused stare. “I’m fine.”
Brothers do not let ol’ ladies interfere with club business. I can’t tell either president I want to skip church because I have a bad feeling that some guy might be mean to my girlfriend. They’d probably strip my patch.
Rock finally nods and starts toward the clubhouse.
Z moves closer to me. “You sure you’re good?”
When I don’t answer right away, Teller smacks my shoulder and walks around behind me to catch up with Rock.
From the corner of my eye, I note they’re still standing outside.
Fuck it. I blow out a breath and answer Z’s question. “I’m fine.” I keep my voice low. “It’s just…Margot’s ex showed up for the funeral today and I didn’t like leaving her with him around.”
Instead of cracking a joke about my caveman need to mark my territory, Z scowls. “He hurt her or something?”
I take a long, slow breath, considering my answer. Unfortunately, Rock and Teller take the pause as an opportunity to walk the few feet and rejoin our conversation. “Not physically, no. At least, I don’t think so. But I think he was emotionally or mentally abusive based on shit she’s said and some of the ways she reacts to stuff.” I shrug. “I didn’t care for the way he spoke to her when I was standing right there with one hand on my hunting knife.”
“So, he’s a dumb motherfucker too,” Z says.
I expel a huff of agreement.
“Her dad there today?” Teller asks with a note of concern.
“Yeah. And her cousin. It’ll be a full house for the funeral. That’s the only reason I was able to leave her,” I admit.
Z glances at the clubhouse, then Teller, and finally Rock. “Church will be quick,” Z says. “Winter’s coming. We’re not going on any major runs right now.”
“Keeping things copacetic at Cedarwood’s is kinda club business.” Teller shrugs.
I open my mouth to protest that my relationship is absolutely the fuck not club business.
Teller’s trying to help me out here.
I snap my mouth shut.
Z opens his mouth, but he’s drowned out by the rumble of Rooster’s bike rounding the corner of the clubhouse. He nods at the four of us and slowly backs his bike into a space a few feet away from mine.
“Nice of you to join us, motherclucker,” Z calls out.
“Go easy on him. He’s lost without his little songbird,” I joke.
Z snorts. “So are we. Chance keeps asking when Aunty Shelby’s gettin’ back from Tennessee.” He glances at Rooster, then me. “Gettin’ real worried you’re both gonna jump charters and take over Deadbranch eventually.”
The thought has occurred to me more than once. Shelby spends so much time there, it’d make sense. And I always thought I’d go where Rooster goes. But Margot’s family business is here . I doubt she’ll want to move to Bumbfuck, Tennessee just because Rooster wants to stay attached to his girlfriend as much as possible.
Wife. Shelby’s going to be his wife.
“Yeah, over Squiggy’s dead body,” I quip. “I don’t think he’d be eager to have Steer’s downstate brothers invade his little Deadbranch kingdom. He’d feel outnumbered.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Z mutters. “It might not be up to him anyway.”
Well, fuck. For whatever reasons, Rock and Z command a lot of our national president’s respect and unfortunately, his attention. Of course, Z would know how pleased—or pissed—Priest is with Squiggy as the new president of the Deadbranch charter. Fuck, for all I know, our last SAA Steer—Deadbranch’s new SAA—is feeding information back to Z on the regular.
“You talkin’ shit about me?” Rooster’s boots scrape over the blacktop as he approaches us.
Z runs his hand over his chin, attempting to seem serious. Too bad his grin and accompanying dimples kind of undercut the stern president thing he’s going for. “Now, why would you assume that?”
Rooster hooks his arm around my neck and yanks me to him, dropping a loud, sloppy kiss on my cheek. “Miss you, fucker. Had no one barging into my kitchen draining my coffeepot all week.”
Laughing, I shove him away. “You wouldn’t even notice my absence if Shelby were home.”
“Not true. She’d be asking why there was so much leftover coffee.”
Z’s mouth pushes into a sad puppy pout. “Bro, if you’re lonely, you can stay at our place.” He pats Rooster’s cheek a few times. “We could use a manny.”
I snort, then cough-laugh into my fist. “How is our little songbird, anyway?”
“Good.” Rooster rubs his hands together fast enough to light a fire. “Picking her up tomorrow.”
I could crack a joke about all the noise they’ll be making tomorrow night, but I’m not in a joking mood.
Z glances at me, frowns, then steps forward and taps Rooster’s chest. “Church is going to be short. I want you to ride out to Cedarwood’s with Jigsaw.”
“Prez, he doesn’t have to,” I say, annoyed he’s asking Rooster to do something I’d ask him to do myself, if I thought it was necessary.
The humor washes off of Rooster’s face. “What’s wrong? Is Margot okay?”
“She’s fine.” I aim a scowl at Z.
“Fill Rooster in later.” Z slaps my shoulder, then Rooster’s. “Let’s sit down at the table.”