Chapter 5
Dirty
“I swear to fuck, Ace, if you don’t shut up, I’m going to knock you out,” I threaten my brother as I walk into the clubhouse, tension building deep inside me, my blood brother pissing me the fuck off.
“I’d like to see you try, big brother. You’re the treasurer, not the enforcer.
Besides, Shotgun never taught you how to aim,” he goads back and I roll my eyes, ignoring the clubwhores eyeing us—well, eyeing him.
They know I don’t bother except with Dolly, and she only ever sucks me off whereas fucker here fucks anything that moves.
I hand my phone to Alan, the prospect, refusing to answer my brother.
Shotgun was the treasurer before I took over after I completed my business degree and learned all the shit I could with hacking, and the old fucker was amazing at shooting, hence his road name. Unbeknownst to Ace, the old man did teach me all he knew and he is very fucking close to finding out.
“Come on, brother, just meet the woman, I swear you will be fucking surprised because I can tell you now, I was,” he continues as he has for three days since the fucker picked up Caleb from school.
He apparently wanted to vet his teacher, whom I refuse to meet, and the idiot hasn’t left me alone since.
If I’m at the club, he’s in my ear. if I’m at the garage, he’s fucking there, and he is beginning to piss me off.
I really don’t understand why the brothers are trying to force this meeting. Caleb wants me to date his teacher, so meeting her will just give him the wrong ideas that I cannot deal right now, so they all need to back off.
I’m not settling down. I’ve been fucked around before, and I won’t go through that shit again. I may not have loved Cheryl as I thought, but it still fucking stung.
All I need is my son, the garage, the club, and Dolly's mouth.
“I said no, Luca,” I snap, using his given name fucking fed up, but he ignores me as we walk into church and he continues, “She’s a fucking sweetheart, Dirty, and not once did she eye me up with lust, she just wanted to ensure I was a Rebel before confirming my name was on the pick-up list. I honestly think Caleb is onto something here. You need to meet her.”
“Oh shit,” I hear Trigger mutter, and I lock my jaw as I round the massive table in church and take a seat, slamming my laptop on the table in the process, the brothers thankfully not saying anything.
“Let's get church started,” Doc announces before Ace can say anything else, and he takes a seat beside me and huffs, “Just think about it, Alex.”
I shake my head at him and look at Pres, who eyes me.
I’m fucking livid.
I thought he just wanted me to meet Ms. Robins to see she’s alright to be teaching his nephew, not once did he mention Caleb having the right fucking idea. He knows I don’t do relationships, especially not with my son's goddamn teacher!
Doc clears his throat when I don’t say anything, and he bangs the gavel and says, “Alright, we have a lot to go through today, so let's uh, get shit started. Dirty, how did we do with the fun run?”
I open my laptop and quickly log on, ignoring my blood brother's eyes on me.
We’ve just spent four days away doing a fun run ride to help raise money along with our affiliated MCs, The Devil’s, The Untamed and the Huntsmen.
The people love them, and cash always gets thrown our way.
“Alright,” I state as I look at the screen, “the run was successful—over one point five million has been spread between the ten hospitals each club picked. The next run, in five months, will raise money for underprivileged sports centers and help keep delinquents off the streets, and our club accounts are well in the green, so we can upgrade the diner.”
I scan my eyes over the results I did yesterday, ensuring I don’t miss anything while the brothers bang on the table in celebration.
Every five months or so, we do these runs, and every time we earn shit loads of doe for the charities we choose, while each club itself adds in a certain percentage.
We donated fifty thousand, and the other clubs followed suit.
The fun run was a good laugh, and I even had my son on the back of my bike while keeping an eye on Jasmine, Tank's woman, who is pregnant and was really fucking concerned about their daughter, Aisling.
Her mama tried taking her last week, and Jas, fuck, she ended up beating her to death, and it fucked her up a bit, but a ride out with her old man, who is slowly learning to forgive her for not trusting him with shit that happened then leaving, did them good.
“Tank,” Doc says as I continue to look through my notes, “You’re back at the hospital this weekend?”
He confirms, “Three nights in a row, five days off, then three-day shifts in a row. I’ll help Dirty during my five days off, but expect Jasmine to be with me on those days, Dad said he’ll watch Aisling until Jas is ready for her to go back to school and ballet class, which hopefully will be soon.”
I look up and nod to confirm I heard him, then bring up the schedules to arrange certain jobs around his schedule when we need two people.
“Have you two spoken yet?” Ace asks before Stone continues, “What are you afraid of, brother?” and even without looking up, I know Tank is shaking his head.
Since Jasmine came back into his life, they haven’t got down to the nitty-gritty shit of her running instead of speaking to him.
Tank huffs, “Oh, I don’t know, maybe her leaving me again, and not just taking my heart that she finally glued back together and my daughter, but also our unborn child?”
I look back up again and tilt my head at the man.
Surely he knows, deep down, that she won’t leave him, that she loves him.
“She wouldn’t, Tank,” Trigger states, speaking my thoughts, and he looks down with doubt, but Trigger continues, “She loves you. You can see it in her face, brother. Every time she enters the room, her eyes look for you. If you come out of church, she physically relaxes, she won’t leave you again.”
“He’s right,” Doc agrees. “She feels guilty, Lo, that is clear as day and don’t get me started on her trauma with her mother and what she had to do.
But where you are concerned, she’s struggling with the guilt of not trusting you, of not coming to you when the threats first took place,” I nod in agreement with everyone else as Doc continues, “She knows if she’d just spoken to you, then everything that had happened, from giving birth alone and struggling to make ends meet for herself and your daughter to your mama trying to harm her and hers succeeding in harming Aisling would never have happened.
She’s scared you’ll run away when you realize you’ll always resent her for not believing you could keep them both safe, for taking your home from you in her and not giving you a chance to be a dad for the first five years of your daughter’s life. ”
Tank looks down again, his hair longer than it has been since he was a kid, falling a little with his movement.
He mutters, “I don’t… I mean, yes, there is a little resentment.
But I don’t think I’ll always resent her.
Right now, it hurts, but I know there are still some firsts I’ll get with Aisling.
I also know I’ll be there every step of the way with this pregnancy, and with any after that.
I love her, and I want to marry her. I just need her to fight for me, for us… ”
“She is,” Anchor insists. “Her being here, bringing Aisling to meet your family, leaving your daughter with your father so she could ride with you—she’s proving she’s fighting for you. If you’d seen her content resting against your back, you’d know she isn’t leaving.”
He nods and chokes out, “Thank you, all of you, for never giving up on me when I gave up on the club.”
Doc snorts, “You didn’t give up on the club, you just needed a little R and R, though Thunder continuously trying to hurt himself was kind of hilarious.”
I chuckle because, yeah, it was kind of funny as Tank grins.
“The fucker is lucky he didn’t do any permanent damage to himself,” Tank reminds Doc, but he shrugs and says, “I say it’s payback for hitting my girl with a bat.”
Fuck’s sake, it isn’t like he meant to hit Brit, but to be fair, he did help her regain her memories, so maybe the fucker should just let it go.
I shake my head at the man with a grin while everyone else laughs just as the church door bangs open and Caleb rushes inside looking frantic, and I sit up straighter, my smile gone, while Vincent follows, looking pissed, holding his junk, and I frown.
What the fuck?
“He went between my legs, but because he isn’t short, his head hit my dick,” Vincent growls, seeing the confusion from the brothers.
What…?
My brows shoot high as Caleb winces and whispers, “Sorry, Vinny,” using Aisling’s nickname, and the man melts on the spot like he always does with the kids, but I don’t laugh like the brothers, instead, I sit forward, concerned.
He wouldn’t rush into church unless it was an emergency, and where in the fuck is Dad?
“Caleb, what’s going on?” I question instantly, and my son, with eyes like my own, looks at me with determination, and I fucking know he’s about to say something that will piss me off, and the reason Dad isn’t behind him is that he’s on his side.
This has something to do with his goddamn teacher, I just fucking know it.
“I invited Ms. Robins and Lyra for dinner. We need to go now so you can make your chili!” he blurts out, confirming my thoughts and anger fucking rages through me at the truth shining in his blue eyes.
Mother fucker!
The brothers all look away from me, fuck, even my own blood brother, who was just trying to convince me to meet the woman, winces at my seven-year-old's tactics that will fucking bite him in the ass.
“Come on, Dad!” Caleb whines, and I breathe heavily, glaring at my son, who clearly hasn’t fucking picked up on my anger.
“Brother?” Tank questions as I snap.
“Caleb Scott Lee!” I growl, my voice sharp and my son's eyes widen as he takes a step back, not used to my tone, “I have told you several times, it was a no for you to invite them over. What on earth were you thinking?!”
He’s fucking done for, he’s grounded, and Lyra will not be allowed around for fucking weeks, even if I care for the sweet girl.
Caleb has over fucking stepped!
Caleb, despite the tears in his eyes, lifts his chin and replies, “I was thinking I wanted my friend around for dinner with my teacher, who you haven’t even bothered to meet!
So get off that chair and come on! They will be here at five!
” before turning on his heels and storming out of church as my eyes go to the clock and I see it’s ten to five already, meaning he waited until I couldn’t say no.
Grounded, he is fucking grounded!
“Alex?” Ace says lowly, and I vibrate, my anger fucking consuming me.
“The gavel, Doc!” I demand, not one to disrespect my Pres, my friend, by storming out after my son and the brothers all wince.
Doc clears his throat and says, “Church tomorrow afternoon to finish going over the business finances, church dismissed,” and bangs the gavel.
I don’t wait around, I stand, not giving a shit if my chair falls and storm after my son.
Mama looks down as soon as I enter the common room, obviously knowing what my son planned, while Dad calls, “Son…” but I just shake my head at him.
“Alex, she was very reluctant, please don’t take your son's actions out on her,” he tries as I get to the door, and I growl, “She’s the fucking adult here, just like you!”
What kind of woman accepts a child’s fucking invitation? A patch chaser, that’s who.
Dad winces, and I storm out of the clubhouse just as a car drives through the gates, and I growl, knowing I’m too fucking late to get the prospect to tell the woman to turn around.
“She’s here, Dad, look!” Caleb cheers like he isn’t in deep shit, and I swear to fuck.
The shit box that was in my garage not long ago, that has another rattle that wasn’t there before pulls up and Lyra shouts, “Hi Mr. Dirty,” from the back seat and I give the cute girl a tight smile as she climbs out of the back seat with the help of my son while the driver’s side door opens but I don’t look that way, instead I keep my eyes focused on the kids celebrating.
Grounded, grounded, grounded, I chant in my head as Caleb says, “Ms. Robins!”
The teacher giggles, which goes straight to my fucking cock, making me tense, before her sweet, soft voice echoes, “Hi Caleb.”
“Are you ready for some of Dad's chili?” Caleb asks excitedly just as Lyra rushes over to me like she always does when she sees me and I kneel before her and she wraps her arms around my neck, making me soften for the first time since Caleb barged into the church.
I can feel eyes behind me, eyes that I know are my dad's, but I ignore him as the woman gasps, most likely confused by her daughters reaction to me. I ignore her until she clears her throat and says, “Actually, Caleb, I was just dropping Lyra off. I thought I could come pick her up in a few hours.”
I look at her sharply and with confusion as Caleb pouts before I lock eyes with icy blue ones just like Lyras and I…fuck no.
My heart skips a beat as a spark rushes between us, and Ms. Robins's mouth parts slightly as her eyes race between me, feeling this instant connection as well.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
My stomach tightens, and the feelings I have towards her daughter make complete sense.
She’s my fucking one.
No, no, nope!
Yep, the voice in my head laughs, mocking me, and I swallow hard.
Fuck.