Chapter 3
Doc – Four Months Earlier
“What the fuck do I do, Doc?!” Trigger snaps as he paces my office. I watch him with a sigh before checking my watch for the fifth time, while Stone crosses his arms over his chest and leans back on my couch against the wall.
I’m stressed, feel like I’m fucking failing my club, my brothers, Shadow and now I have to deal with Trigger’s stupidity.
It isn’t even four in the afternoon and I’ve had enough.
“Well, for starters, maybe having a year-long affair with a woman you portrayed as a clubwhore to your wife would have been a good place not to start,” Stone snaps, his patience running thin, and Trigger glares at him but Stone doesn’t back down.
We’ve been in here for two hours, and Stone is struggling with Rose being in New York.
Though he isn’t aware that is where she is, that I have been ordered to keep it secret yesterday when I had found out.
Trigger is on a downward fucking spiral after his wife left him without looking back, packing their kid up, not that I fucking blame her.
We all warned him, we all argued with him about fucking around with Virginia, but he didn’t listen. Adamant Ashley was fucking someone else instead of confronting her and now he has to live with the consequences of his choices.
He has to watch Ashley potentially move on.
I sigh. I’d rather be in bed with my girl right now but instead I’m dealing with this shit.
Not to mention, also having my dad suddenly on my back more about a marriage I want no fucking part of.
A marriage he brought up a few times over the years but I never took him seriously and in hindsight I should have because now the fucker has decided to push it further, demanding I do this for the club.
Bringing more fucking stress I don’t need right now.
Dad said if I don’t marry Cynthia fucking Smith, he’ll cast a vote to have me removed, actually threatening to bring my fucking job into it like a prick.
I look at Stone and unhelpfully add, “Actually asking her why she stopped fucking him from the beginning would have been the best place to start instead of jumping at the chance of fucking someone else. All because he hadn’t got his fuck boy ways like every other brother,” and Trigger shoots daggers my way not liking the truth.
If he had his gun, he probably would have shot me by now.
The fucker has been with his wife since they were ten years old.
She lost her friends, her family, her home for this man and gave him everything.
Including ditching college just so he could go and get his degree to be the best fucking tattoo artist this side of Wincher has seen.
All while she stayed at home with their son, Cole, who was born just before graduation and worked part-time at the grocery store knowing he was only just starting out as a brother and didn’t earn much, and how does he repay her?
By fucking Virginia, who has now been banned from club property.
With the vote starting by Stone after this fucker decided to ignore several of his wife’s calls when their son was borderline being hospitalized with a severe ear infection, a call I also missed because of my guilt in knowing what Trigger is doing behind her back.
She’s family just as much as Trigger is but because of his cut, he gets more backing, even though he’s wrong, from the club.
“I fucking hate you two,” he snaps, but I shake my head.
“Nah, brother, you’re pissed that someone told Ashley what you’ve been doing, outing your affair and that she packed your son up and left,” I remind him gently.
He growls, “Someone also told her I never wanted Cole!”
“You didn’t,” Stone jumps in, “You didn’t want to marry her that soon. You didn’t want a child, you wanted her to have an abortion. You wanted to live a little before settling down with a family. And we both know, you most likely would have played the field before marrying her without her knowing.”
Trigger links his fingers behind his head with frustration and blows out a breath knowing Stone is right.
We could placate him, but that isn’t the way with him. He needs to see the facts and the facts, make him look like a prick.
He believed she was fucking someone else, that her stopping sleeping with him over a year ago was all the proof he needed. Instead of confronting her, he gave in to temptation, something he’s wanted to do for years.
Fuck, he had a wandering eye in high school, but he never crossed that boundary, and now that he has, I don’t know if Ash will ever forgive him.
He loves Ashley, it’s just the right girl, the wrong time scenario, something I know all too well.
“What do I do?” he croaks, “She won’t answer my calls, fuck, she’s even got my mama and dad to do swap over with Cole and they never even got along. What do I do?”
“You live day by day and hope and fucking pray she gives you a second chance,” Stone mutters, but Trigger shakes his head and scoffs, “She cheated too…”
“Did she, though?” I ask calmly as my door opens and Dad walks in, raising a brow at the tension in the room but I ignore him, keeping my focus on Trigger as I question, “Did she cheat Trigger? Do you have proof? Has someone said something to you? Has someone shown you footage? Did Dirty find anything? Did you even ask him to take a look? Do her clothes smell like another man? Is she dressing any different? Is she wearing more makeup?” he flinches knowing every question he has no answer to.
That he never looked into it and chose to believe she was fucking someone else all because she stopped sleeping with him.
When they did sleep together on the off chance, she struggled, which according to Trigger was rarely.
Huffing, I finish, “Or is this something you’ve thought up in your head because she stopped sleeping with you and you saw it as a green light to fuck around? Living the life you never got to have?”
“I don’t know,” he whispers looking completely lost and broken, his face full of guilt and heartache. Shaking his head he mumbles, “I’ve got to go for a ride…” and walks out without a backward glance and I sigh with disappointment at his lack of motivation to air shit out with his wife.
The problem, he knows if she denies fucking someone else, if she tells him exactly what her problem is, he won’t be able to survive with his guilt of having an affair. I don’t believe he even actually enjoyed having the affair.
I think it was more the principle of wanting to fuck someone else like every other brother.
Stone scoffs, “More like dip his dick in the bitch’s hole,” as my office door slams shut.
I sigh and ask, “What can I do for you, Dad? And if it’s about the senator’s daughter, then you can turn around and leave.”
“You can’t kick me out of my own office, son,” he says out of instinct, and I raise a brow and remind him, “It hasn’t been your office in seven years.”
He clears his throat, “Right, yeah, sorry, just a habit. Look, I spoke to Jacob and we’ve come to an understanding.
We both think a marriage alliance between you and Cynthia would be the best route to go for them and the club.
He’ll get the towns backing which he is slowly losing and we get to have him in our pockets.
No brother will ever face problems with the police again, all club runs safe, the same runs he keeps trying to squash. ”
Anger fills me at his blatant disrespect, going behind my back this way.
“You are not pres anymore, Dad!” I snap, “Stop trying to make fucking deals where I am concerned about my club!”
“It’s for the best of the club, son,” he tries, and I scoff, “You mean for your revenge, right?”
“He tried to have brothers arrested, son, tried to bring the club down,” he reminds me, and I shake my head as I stand and grab my shit, done with the day.
Tomorrow night I have a week of nights to begin. Today, I was supposed to attend meetings, review paperwork for the club, and arrange the next run with Anchor, who is late for the first time ever but I can’t sit here and listen to this anymore.
I’ve had enough of his pushing.
Fuck, he lost my respect when he threatened my president’s patch to force my hand despite everything I have done for him, for the club.
I want to go and see my girl, to hold her in my arms. She centers me, and while I can’t give her all of me because of Shadow and the promises that were made, I can give her little bits and take what she’s giving me.
At least until I have to make the right choice for my club, for Shadow because as always, the club has to come first, not my fucking happiness.
“Son,” Dad tries, but I ignore him and look at Stone, who raises a brow, and I ask, “When Anchor finally gets here, can you go through the next run with him? I need to ride.”
He nods without question, and I curl my lip at my dad before barging past him, shoulder checking him on my way before I hit the fucker.
I storm out of my office and towards the front door, ignoring everyone, including my mama's concerned eyes. Rushing out of the clubhouse with only one destination in mind.
Wincher Grove vets.
I pull up outside the back door of Wincher Grove Vets, parking next to Brit’s Ford Ranger, twenty minutes later, and I sigh as I crack my neck from side to side, tension building.
My phone has vibrated several times, all from my dad, but I’ve ignored everyone.
I always thought he was joking when he mentioned marriage, even before I took over the club. However, the older I got, the more insistent he became and the more real the situation seemed.
He wants revenge for what the senator put him through when he was in charge of the club, and be damned if anyone who got in his way.
Including me.
Fuck, I don’t even think he’d give a shit if I told him I’ve been seeing someone for eight months, actually no, he would if he knew who and instantly he would force my hand. Claiming I wasn’t a good enough pres by sleeping with a brother’s daughter when an oath was taken.