Chapter 23
“I could have taken her if she didn’t wait till my back was turned.”
“Yeah, you would,” Cassie said, raising her beer. “Always hated that slut.”
“I’d like to get my hands on her and give her a piece of my mind,” Lily added.
“She should have been kicked out weeks ago. When she attacked Gia, if Warren had listened to me…” Rosa trailed off.
She knew she shouldn’t be speaking about the VP like that.
Then she huffed. “Nope, she was trouble just waiting to happen. Maybe next time they’ll stop looking at those crazies as easy pussy and know when they’re gonna go psycho. ”
I smiled at Rosa. Two days ago, when she got back to the compound with the other old ladies and heard what happened, she’d been livid. She was pissed she had missed giving her a piece of her mind, but Tanya had been bundled into a car and driven off to God knew where.
I hadn’t been left alone since, people checking on me per Medic’s instructions.
I was left to sleep through the night, but electronics were a no go, as well as reading or prolonged exposure to sunlight.
All the fun stuff. Declan had texted me again.
I didn’t think there was anything more to say to him and, given the shit going on here, he was the least of my concerns.
Hudson was suspiciously quiet and spent a lot of time doing club work, but he always showed up in my room at night, crawling into the bed with me. He never tried anything. Medic’s warning had sunk in, but he was doing everything he could to take care of me.
“Hey Rosa,” I spoke up, interrupting the conversation that had been going on around me.
“Yeah hun?”
“Tanya definitely left?”
“You bet your hiney she did,” Lily said. “Damien told me they took her to the train station, gave her a wedge of cash, and told her to leave town. Good riddance too. One down, the rest of those hussies to go.”
“Right on, sister,” Cassie grinned.
“They tracked her right into some town in Wisconsin. God help anyone she sinks her claws into,” Rosa said, before focusing on me. “How are you feeling?”
I was sick of the question, but it was asked because they cared. And also because Medic told them I needed careful watching for at least forty-eight hours, so I just gave the usual response. “Fine, still got a dull ache now and then, but I’m good now. Sleeping through is helping.”
“I bet the warm body next to you helps too,” she said with a sly grin.
“I’m not talking about that,” I said.
“No need to. The rest of the girls in the house tell me enough. Oh, and every time I run into him wherever he is, he demands to know how you are.” She laughed at my expression. “It’s a good thing, hun,” she squeezed my hand. “You and that boy are destined.”
“Oh God, mother, you’ve been reading your sappy romance books again, haven’t you?”
“There is nothing wrong with romance novels,” Rosa huffed. “And I know love when I see it.”
“Whoa, let’s not get carried away,” I scooched up on the couch so my back was against the armrest. “I just got out of a long-term relationship.”
“He was a placeholder.”
I didn’t agree with that. Declan hadn’t felt that way.
I couldn’t help but think if I hadn’t left, we’d still be together, for how long I didn’t know.
If he had strayed the first time we were apart, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have done it further down the line, especially now the band was making a name for themselves. He would travel with them a lot.
I wasn’t an idiot, that was how it was with bands, especially rock bands full of hot single guys. Declan would be surrounded by that. I’d seen well enough here how stupid men got when women threw themselves at them.
I’d thought Declan was different. And although I often thought of Hudson, it had never entered my mind that I would see him again, let alone be around him all the time, to the point where we were now involved in… something.
“How is my brain trauma twin?”
I glanced up and smiled at Connor as he came into the sitting room. He looked around and smiled at the others. He dropped onto the couch beside me and tugged me into him.
“You remember me?”
“Amusing.”
“They kept asking me that when I woke up, seems like the thing to do when you take a knock to the head,” he grinned at me. “But seriously, you good?”
“I’m fine,” I told him.
“Excellent, because I have news that might get you a little too excited.”
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” Rosa told him.
“You got cable here, Rosa?” she nodded. Put on the news channel.”
“Wave isn’t supposed to watch TV yet.”
He waved a hand dismissively.
“It won’t hurt her to watch for a few minutes, and she is gonna wanna see this.”
He rubbed his hands together in excitement. Rosa shrugged and Cassie picked up the remote to turn on the TV. She found a news channel, but Connor told her to switch to a local one. He was disappointed and impatient that they weren’t showing what he wanted us to see, fidgeting beside me.
“You could just tell us, you know,” I nudged him.
“That wouldn’t be as much fun. Although the guys said I could be the one to tell you,” he worried his lower lip with his teeth. I frowned at him, but then Cassie spoke.
“Oh my God.”
I turned to the TV and watched as a video clip of Andrew came up on the screen, being escorted out of his house by the police.
“What the fuck?” I asked, sitting forward.
“War’s contact came through. She’s been working non-stop on getting evidence against him. She even got two girls from school to come forward.”
I blinked at him. I couldn’t believe it. It was all happening so fast. After his visit to the compound a few days back. Andrew had realized his entire workforce had in fact up and quit on him and he could not complete the job, despite promising to find more workers.
King hadn’t given him longer than twenty-four hours before he got Cassie to void the contract. The club ceased payments and was in the process of starting legal proceedings to get back what we had already paid.
Cassie told us that was a long shot and would take a while, because what we paid for was the work that had been done already, but it wasn’t stopping her from trying.
The workers were now employed by the Devil’s Chaos’ newest venture, Curtis Construction, and the workers were back after one day off the site.
Andrew’s office had also mysteriously been broken into, his safe stolen and everything trashed.
Top end Mac computers had coincidentally appeared in a warehouse the MC owned wiped by Kansas and given as gifts to the leaving brothers from the other chapters.
All the camera feeds had stopped recording, and there was no evidence of who had been involved.
The reporter was talking about allegations of sexual assault.
Cassie told us the older assaults wouldn’t stick because they were beyond the statute of limitations and also hadn’t been reported at the time, but the photographs and evidence that Andrew was there were being touted as damning towards his reputation.
A sick pervert like Andrew Reinhart wouldn’t be able to change his ways just because he got older and married. Given how he spoke to me at the party, I was sure if the police or that reporter dug deeper, they were going to find he hadn’t stopped his sickening attacks.
“The girls who came forward can’t go after him criminally, but they have been convinced to pursue civil claims against him.” Connor was grinning from ear to ear. “With his business in the toilet, and being sued by us and these girls, he’ll be fucking bankrupt before you know it.”
I looked back at the screen to see Andrew’s wife and daughter in the background. I didn’t like to see the little girl clinging to her mother, tears on her cheeks and the concern on his wife’s face, but I had to remember he was a monster. Both of them deserved better than that.
“What about prison time?” I looked at Cassie.
I’d wanted him ruined, everyone he loved abandoning him, to lose his money and his happiness, but King wanted him behind bars because that was where he could punish him for what he had done to me.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew what that meant.
It wasn’t so bad that he was still a free man.
As much as I hated him and wanted to see him fall, I wasn’t sure I wanted him dead because of me.
“At the moment, it’s not likely. But this is just the start.”
“She’s right,” Connor told me. “It won’t be long before more recent assaults become known.
He’s that kind of asshole,” he said, echoing my earlier thoughts.
“This is a good thing, right?” Connor asked, his eyes filled with worry.
He didn’t want to feel like he was letting me down.
I could see that. This was the good news he had been desperate to tell me. I took his hand and squeezed it.
“It’s great. Thank you for telling me.” I gave his cheek a kiss, and he beamed at me.
I glanced around at the others. Rosa and Cassie were laughing and talking excitedly about Andrew getting what was coming to him, both of them eating the Cheetos from the bowl on the table. They were so alike, yet so different. It was an odd dynamic.
Lily was looking at me when my eyes caught hers. She looked a little troubled as her eyes flicked to Connor, then back to me, but gave me an encouraging smile.
I wasn’t sure how well she knew Connor, but she was pretty protective of the club and very perceptive. I wanted to let her know I was grateful that she was here.
“So, this is where the party is?”
We all turned to see my brother walk in.
His eyes lingered on Connor, and I saw the question pass through his eyes, the one that was always there when they laid eyes on each other, the “You good?” Connor just rolled his eyes, as always, then got up and jumped over the back of the sofa causing Lily to screech about watching the fabric.
He just laughed and threw his arm around Warren.
It looked like a bro hug to the rest of them, but I knew what it really was.