Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
HAMMER
Anger seeps in not at Avery but for the fact she’s a target in all of this.
I’ve kept her within my sights from the moment we got back to the clubhouse.
Avery hadn’t wanted to leave her coffee shop, having felt guilty for having her meltdown while leaving the work to Quinn and Willow, the two women who work with her.
Instead of arguing with her right then and there about it after having my mind blown by the way her pussy gripped my cock, I simply dragged her out of there and out to my bike.
Again when I got on the bike, I’d had her ride straddling me rather than pressed against my back.
From my spot at a table across the room, I can see her moving around behind the bar. Avery declared since I brought her home early, she was going to straighten up behind the bar because it needed to be cleaned up.
Whatever. Long as my woman is within my sights, I’m good.
Her words about her family still ring in my ear. I messaged Gunner tellin’ his ass to get here along with Cy. I need more information, and I don’t want to press Avery for it. She doesn’t deserve to be put in the middle of shit. No woman does. I get why my brother cherished his wife so much now.
“What’s goin’ on, Prez?” Malice asks taking a seat next to me. Normally I’d do this in church or in my office; however, I can’t keep my eyes on Avery then. I refuse to allow anything to happen to her. I’ve seen my brothers go through hell for women, and I’m not about to go through the same shit.
Hades, my nephew, he and his ol’ lady went through trauma where even today, she still has nightmares. Hades has told me about them and how that fucker who’d hurt her still haunts her dreams. Not as much, but all the same, it still guts my nephew every time.
“Need Bunny and Cheeks taken to the cellar,” I mutter; the thought of the image sent to Avery fills my head, and I ball my fist.
Avery must sense my eyes on her or the tension or whatever it is because she lifts her head, her gaze comes to mine, and she gives me a look of concern. Lifting a hand, I motion for her to come here. Her brows crease, but she does as I want her to.
“Why?” Malice grunts.
“Tell you in a minute,” I say, not wanting to repeat myself. Malice nods and pulls out his phone to issue the job to one or two of our brothers.
I push back from the table soon as Avery gets close and reach out to snag her around the waist. “You okay?” I ask, wanting to make sure after everything.
“Yes,” she utters ever so softly and fuck if it doesn’t go to my cock.
The damn thing twitches at the thought of taking her to my room and fuckin’ her the rest of the evening away. But that all will have to wait.
“Okay. Do me a favor; while you’re fuckin’ around behind the bar, can you look over the menu to somewhere and place an order. I’ll get a prospect to go get it when it’s ready.”
“I could easily cook something in the kitchen,” she offers.
“No, Sunshine, I want you to stay in here so I can see you. Pick out what you want and get enough for the rest of the club,” I state firmly and give her leg a squeeze when she opens her mouth to protest. “Baby, you’ve had a fucked-up day, and I need you to stay where I can see you. Do that for me, and don’t argue.”
“Fine,” she huffs, and I kiss her gently.
When it comes to her, for some reason, I can’t be the hard, ruthless bastard I’m known to be. I don’t even think I could even if I wanted to. It’s like I told her she’s light in the dark, and I’m not gonna lose it. Doesn’t mean I won’t fuck up ‘cause I know I fuckin’ will.
Tapping Avery on the ass, I watch her walk back toward the bar.
“You’re a fuckin’ goner for that woman, Prez,” Malice says with a smirk in place.
“Can you blame me?” I ask, grinning. The woman has even gotten to Malice, who’s just as much of a bastard as I am. It’s one of the reasons he’s my VP. He’s got no problem taking care of business and has the same views as me.
“Nope, you deserve to have someone like her. Same as her, we can all see the purity of that woman, and she needs someone to look out for her,” Malice mutters, the grin slipping from his gaze as a commotion comes from the hallway.
“Please, Axe. Please, I need it. It’s too painful.
I can’t . . .” Simone cries, pleading while she tries to fight Axe’s hold on her arm, keeping her at bay as he also works on getting her through the main room and out to his truck.
Axe had sent me a text saying he’d been able to get her into Resting Hands straight away and he was gonna head that way this evening to get her set up.
Glancing from Simone to Avery, I don’t miss the concerned look on her face. She’d seen the woman, but I hadn’t told her about Simone. Simone needs fuckin’ expert help, and the sooner, the better.
“Darlin’, you can’t have anything. Sorry, the doctors don’t want you sedated upon arrival. When we get there, I’ll make sure they give you something to ease the pain,” Axe grumbles, frustrated by this all.
“No. I can’t wait. It’s too painful. I can feel their hands on me. Inside me. My body craves it to the point it hurts. Please just end it all,” Simone begs.
Through this, I keep my gaze locked on my woman as she stares at Simone.
Her words setting into Avery’s head, and I don’t miss the tears welling in her eyes.
But she shocks the shit out of me by rounding the bar and heading for Axe and Simone.
I tense, wanting to get up and snag her away.
None of us know how Simone will react to Avery. We’ve kept her at a distance.
For good reason.
Simone had clawed her nails into one of the clubwhores faces when she’d gotten close to her.
“Simone,” Avery calls the woman’s name, gaining her attention as the room goes completely silent.
Simone whirls around, and I’m about to stand up to go over there when she curls her lip in anger.
This doesn’t stop Avery from doing her thing.
“I get it. I understand what you’re feeling.
Maybe not to the extent of it all physically, but mentally I know. ”
Expression wavering, Simone blinks a couple times and shakes her head. “You don’t understand. You could never understand. You’re too pretty to get it. There’s not a speck of darkness blurring that aura surrounding you,” Simone snaps, pissing me off in the process.
“Come, Simone, let’s get you out to the truck,” Axe urges her, seeing the anger in my gaze.
“You’re not looking deep enough if you think that’s the case.
Darkness has surrounded me my entire life.
If you think you are the only one to suffer traumas and not able to overcome them, that’s because you don’t want to.
Each time you’re sedated keeps you from actually healing.
It’s time to move forward and heal the right way.
Axe is only doing what the doctors said, and they know what’s best for you right now,” Avery says and turns on her heel and goes back behind the bar.
Her words resound around the room, and none of my brothers miss her words about darkness surrounding her.
Simone goes quiet, silently crying after Avery in a kind way put her in her place to get her to stop the tantrum.
I’ve never seen a woman her age act the way she just did.
Dagger follows Axe and Simone outside. As the medic, I know he’ll go with them to help Axe with the woman.
Soon as the door closes behind the three of them, I shake my head as Gunner and Cy both take a seat at the table. Rogue, Savage, and Bruiser all join as well.
“Here you go, Prez. Figured this is what you were wantin’,” Gunner says, sliding a folder across the table in my direction.
“Thanks,” I grumble and open it up. I glance briefly at the pages and close it while lookin’ between all my brothers. “Gang in town that’s trying to fuck with us is also after Avery,” I announce.
My brothers’ reactions are just as I expected them to be.
“What the fuck?” Malice sneers quietly. “Why are they after her?”
“Because one of them is her brother,” I inform him and then hold the folder up. Gunner had already looked into her somewhat when she’d moved in across the street from him.”
“Creeper,” Savage mutters jokingly.
“Can’t be too careful. But evidently, Cy and I didn’t look close enough,” Gunner utters, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. He’s right about not looking close enough.
He’d gotten information on her, and from what little I saw, it confirms her brother’s name is Adam.
It also showed she’s worked hard to get to where she is today.
I inform my brothers about the text message Avery received; tension is nearly vibrating throughout the entire room now.
“You think they were the ones who were ratting to those motherfuckers?” Rogue asks.
“No doubt about it. Malice, did the prospects tell you if they’ve put them in the cellar?
” I’d love nothing more than to go down there and fuckin’ deal with the issue now, but we’re not ones for killin’ women.
Unlike with my nephew’s charter or even the national charter, we don’t have a woman around here to handle that problem for us.
“They’re down there and not happy about it. Evidently, Bunny’s screaming at Cheeks about her dumb plan to get Avery to leave,” Malice states, holding his phone out for me to read what Tap sent him.
“Well, we can confirm that at least,” I mutter, lifting my gaze to find my woman still standing at the bar looking at something on her phone; damn thing didn’t shatter as I hoped it would.
Her face seems to go pale. “Avery,” I call out her name as I stand to my feet.
She lifts her head and gives me a small smile.
Rounding the table, I make my way toward her feeling my brothers at my back.
“What’s wrong?” I demand when I’m close enough not to yell.
Instead of answering or even speaking, she gives me a look I’ll always cherish ‘cause it tells me she’s trusting me to protect her.
Taking her phone, I peer down at the screen that miraculously survived to see yet again another image—this one of a little girl.
Scanning down, I read the text attached to it.
‘Stop fuckin’ around like the whore you are and come back where you belong, or she takes your place. ’
“The little girl is Quinn’s daughter,” Avery murmurs quietly.
Motherfucker.
I’ll make these assholes pay. Not just for fuckin’ with my woman but for going after a little girl as innocent as Quinn’s daughter. No child should ever be brought into that. I’m not even that malicious.
Turning to my brothers, I toss the phone at Gunner first since he’s the closest. “This means war,” I declare with a curl of my lip, meaning every last word. These fuckers were wanting a war, and now they have one.