CHAPTER 4
HAMMER
I’ve been away from my woman too long. I can feel it in my bones.
There’s a pull in the middle of my chest and it tugs at me and calls me back to Laiken.
It’s something I can’t ignore, the siren song getting louder every moment I’m away from her.
Knowing she has been alone in that huge house, the one which makes the hair on my arms stand on edge, hasn’t helped at all.
I need to get back to her because there’s no way I’ll be able concentrate or think straight until I see her again.
If I hadn’t seen my brothers fall hard and fast for their women, I would be more concerned about what I’m feeling about Laiken.
It took one look, from where I’d broken through the porch, and I knew she would become my everything.
But since they paved the way and proved to me it can be just that quick and feel just that reckless, I’m not running scared.
Fuck no. I’m more than ready to wrap her up in my arms and never let her go.
How the fuck I found the woman meant to be mine at a job site, one practically falling down around her, after she just arrived in New Orleans is a shock, even to me. But there she was. A fucking vision.
An angel.
My Mischief-maker.
Because there is not a single doubt in my mind that she is exactly that. She’s about to blow into my life and leave a wake of destruction, fun, and color in her wake. And beauty. So much fucking beauty.
Going on the tour of the house with her was interminable. Everything in me wanted to pull her closer and wrap her up in my arms, but I knew I couldn’t. Not yet. She was teetering on the edge of making a break for it and I had to tread carefully.
The house needs a lot of work; I won’t be able to sugarcoat it.
I’m more than a little worried about the cost of it all.
I might have enough in my account to cover everything needing to be done.
Something tells me my stubborn woman isn’t the type to accept me stepping in on her behalf and taking over.
No, she’d pout and throw a fucking tantrum if I even tried.
I try and shake off the jittery feeling in my chest as I haul my duffle bag over my shoulder and make sure my room at the clubhouse is locked up behind me.
I don’t make eye contact with anyone as I step through the common room.
The very last thing I want right now is to be stopped and questioned about what I’m doing and where I’m going.
I almost let out a groan of annoyance when someone steps in front of me. I look up to find Apostle looking at me curiously. I don’t rise to the bait and simply arch an eyebrow in question. If he has questions, he can ask them, but the last thing I’m going to do is encourage his bullshit.
“You’ve been gone a while, brother,” Apostle rumbles.
“You know I had that consultation,” I point out since I know he’s more than aware.
Even though Apostle outranks me in the club since he’s an enforcer, I’m above him at Devil’s Construction. It works for us because the business never suffers when he has club business to take care of.
“Yeah, how’d that go? Is it worth even doing the renovation work?”
I give him a hard look, but he’s not at all bothered by it and stares back at me while waiting for an answer.
“Most of the work will be restoration, but some things need to be reworked. It is,” I pause to look for the right word before sighing, “extensive.” When he only arches an eyebrow I shrug and admit, “I’m not sure it’ll be worth it in the end, but she seems determined to have the work done.
It’s possible she’ll feel differently after getting the estimate. ”
What he doesn’t need to know is that I’ll be taking quite a bit off the total for my woman. I’ll be doing most of the work myself, and after all the hours I’ve logged and money I’ve brought into the business, we can afford to take a hit on this job.
“She, huh?” There’s a knowing glint in his eye that makes me want to punch him. I hold off, but just barely.
“Don’t be an asshole,” I growl the words, the warning clear in my voice.
“Oh,” he holds out the word and wiggles his eyebrows, “is it like that?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I deflect.
It’s not as if I’m unwilling to tell everyone about Laiken, but part of me wants to keep it quiet for right now.
I want to enjoy it, this beginning part, and not have it be out amongst the brothers.
Those assholes can be huge gossips, even worse than the women.
I don’t need them talking about me and my woman too early.
It could ruin everything.
I need Laiken to get comfortable with me first and trust this connection between us. The rest of it will happen when it is supposed to happen. It’s not like I’ll keep my club and my woman apart, that shit won’t work, not in this life.
Apostle barks out a laugh and pulls my thoughts away from Laiken. I’ve never been closer to killing him than I am in this moment.
“I’m sure you don’t,” he taunts me. The way he’s looking at me makes me want to squirm, but I stand tall. When he tilts his head, he eyes the bag on my shoulder. He juts his chin toward it and asks, “What’s up with the bag?”
Damn it.
I shouldn’t have made it a rule that I wouldn’t lie to my brothers. It’s part of the whole loyalty thing we have going on. Right now, I wish I could blow sunshine up his ass and deflect, but that would be even more suspicious.
“I’m staying with Laiken.”
I don’t sugarcoat my words. I don’t offer an explanation. I just lay out the truth and leave it there.
When I go to walk away from him, he grips my shoulder and turns me toward him again. “What do you mean, you’re staying with Laiken? You really didn’t think you could say that shit and then walk away, did you?”
“Fuck, Apostle,” I grunt. “I need to get back to my woman. I know you understand that shit since you live with your head up Sioux’s ass. She’s in that big ass mansion all by herself, one which should probably be condemned, but there is she is using a damn air mattress like the house is habitable.”
I want to wipe the smirk off his face, but it only grows with every word I say. “I knew it,” he crows. He turns toward Sioux and points in her direction. “I told you he met his woman. It was written all over his face.”
“I swear on my patch, I will kill you right here where you stand if you cause me to be away from her longer than I need to be. That place is not safe, and she insists on living there. The only thing that is going to keep me sane is moving myself in,” I mutter the words low enough for him to hear the threat, but to not broadcast the issue to everyone in the common room, the same people who are now way too interested in what is going on with me.
Apostle holds his hands up and takes a step away from me. “I’ll let you go, but you better bring your woman around soon. You know the girls will want to meet her and bring her into the fold.”
Unable to keep the reaction from my face, I cringe slightly. “Once she’s accepted that there’s something between us, I’ll bring her around,” I promise.
The look Apostle shoots me is filled with understanding. The brothers of the DSMC might fall hard, fast, and without question, but our women take a little more time to get on board sometimes. Even though I’ve seen it frustrate the fuck out of a patched brother, it does them good too.
All of us have spent far too long having women fall at our feet.
It’s part of wearing the cut and having the status we do in our city.
All we’ve done to earn that kind of attention, other than get through our year of prospecting, is straddle a bike, and enjoy the open road.
But women love the patch, and some will do whatever they can to trap us because of what it means for them to wear our property patch.
Laiken isn’t like that. The blank look on her face when I told her about the DSMC was all the proof I needed. She had no idea about the club and there is not a single part of her angling for my patch because of what it could gain her.
It’s refreshing as fuck.
With a chin lift, I step away from Apostle. Noticing just how many people in the common room are watching me, I flip them off and stalk toward the door. The only people scowling are the few club angels we have who are in the room.
No fucking surprise there, considering those women are the ultimate patch chasers. Little do they know that the last woman we want to claim is one who has fucked all our brothers. Add in how possessive they can be when it comes to the brothers and it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Thankfully, I haven’t been with any of the angels in a while. If I needed to get laid, it wasn’t difficult to head out to the bar the club owns, The Sanctuary, and pick a woman up. It was good for me to work for it a little bit instead of having pussy fall into my lap, literally.
Instead of taking the truck this time, even though I probably should, I stride right to my bike and strap down my duffle bag.
I need a moment with just me, the wind, and the road to get my head on straight.
If I don’t, I’m liable to storm Laiken’s fucking house and have her pressed up against the nearest surface before either of us realize what is happening.
As hot as it would be, I don’t want to rush this. It’s not the way you build something that lasts. I should know about building something to stand the test of time and is strong enough to go up against the shit life tends to throw out there.
Riding my bike helps me to focus on the way to Laiken’s house. It clears my mind of everything that doesn’t really matter. The things that stick around is the job Laiken needs me to do and my woman. Not bad things to be consumed with if you ask me.
I’m sure Laiken will be able to hear the roar of my bike as I approach. She better not step out onto the rotted porch, or I might have to put her over my knee and turn her ass red.
Just as I park and turn off my bike, movement in a second story window catches my attention.
When I look up, I find a woman standing there with the light of the sunset casting her in an odd, glowing light.
She looks down at me with a curious expression on her face as if I don’t quite fit into her vision.
It’s as if I can’t look away.
There’s something off about the woman and it takes me a few minutes to put my finger on it.
Her clothing is off. It looks old, like beyond vintage old.
It’s almost as if I’m looking at someone who has taken a photo at one of those fair booths where you can dress up in Victorian era clothing and everything is sepia washed.
Her hair is pulled back in a severe style no one wears now.
The longer we stare at each other, the more out of place she looks and the harder my heart pounds in my chest.
Her gaze shifts over my head and then she glances back into the room before moving away from the window.
That’s when it feels as if I can move again. My feet carry me up the porch steps and into the mansion; I don’t even bother knocking or anything. Laiken appears from the solarium wielding a paint brush like a weapon and wide eyes filled with fear.
The moment she sees me, the fear disappears from her expression, and her shoulders drop along with the paintbrush she’s holding as if it’ll chop any intruder in half. If I weren’t freaking out about someone in the house who doesn’t belong, I would find the vision of Laiken on a rampage adorable.
But I can’t get lost in her cuteness right now.
“Someone is upstairs in one of the bedrooms,” I hiss the words.
Laiken freezes in place for a moment before her eyes narrow and she gasps, “What the fuck are you talking about? Why did you just barge into my home without knocking or anything?”
“There’s no time.”
It’s the only warning I give as I grip her hand with mine while pulling the gun from the holster underneath my cut with the other.
Laiken’s eyes widen slightly, but she doesn’t say anything as I pull her up the stairs behind me.
As much as I hate the idea of hauling her closer to danger, I need to have her with me right now.
The thought of not knowing where she is at all times has my gut pitching and rolling.
“Was there really someone upstairs?” The tremble in Laiken’s voice kills me.
I glance back at her and nod once. My voice is low as we move down the hallway and toward the room, I’m fairly sure the window I was looking into belongs to.
“Yes,” I reiterate, “I saw her from outside. She was looking out the window.” The moment I reach the door, I reluctantly let go of Laiken’s hand and grab the knob.
With a glance at my woman, I demand, “Stay behind me.”
Without giving her a chance to respond, I twist the knob and swing the door open. My eyes scan the room, but nothing is there. This is the room she was in; it has to be.
After making my way across the room and looking out the window, the view only confirms the fact that this was the same window where I saw the woman. But it makes no fucking sense because there’s nothing here.
Well, nothing except a tattered teddy bear and a lot of dust.
It’s clear this room hasn’t been used in an exceptionally long time. Even though I’ve already looked over every corner, I do it again. And once more just to make sure.
When I’m satisfied that nothing is to be found, I turn toward Laiken. I’m sure she can see the confusion and the frustration on my face.
Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she clears her throat as I tuck my gun back into its holster. “What the hell is going on, Tripp?”
I stalk closer to her and don’t even think twice about hooking my arm around her waist and pulling her flush against my chest. “I don’t know, little Mischief-maker, but I promise I saw a woman in the window over there.
She looked like she belonged in a different time, but she was there. I’m sure of it.”
“She’s not here now,” Laiken whispers.
“So, it would seem,” my voice is droll as fuck.
I give her a squeeze before kissing her forehead, unwilling and unable to stop myself. From the way her cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink, she doesn’t mind all that much.
“Come on,” I prompt her, “lets head back downstairs. I didn’t even grab my bag from the back of my bike.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” she grumbles.
I can’t help but smile. Even though I pulled a gun and then dragged her upstairs to investigate what turned out to be nothing, she’s still more than willing to give me shit.
The sooner my woman realizes she’s mine, the better. I’m not going to be able to hold back what I’m feeling forever.