Thirty-One
I could see this was going to escalate again, and I really didn’t want Elise getting hurt if she was caught in the middle of things. If Stitch lashed out again, and I was pretty sure he would, I wanted her safe, because she was now my priority. Always.
“Babe, can you go and get some clothes on, please? I don’t think we’re going back to bed.”
“Fucking right, you’re not! You’re getting the fuck out of her room, and I’ll kill you if you come back.”
Reacher groaned, and shoved Stitch back as he came at me again. Elise let out a huffy sigh, and marched right up to him.
“That’s ENOUGH! I love you, Seth, and you’re an amazing brother, but this is my business. I’m in love with Has-Been, and I want to be with him, and if you love me, you’ll accept that. It’s happening whether you like it or not!”
She finished her tirade with a sassy jab to his chest with her fingers, and it was so fucking hot that I let out a soft groan before I could help myself.
“Has, get to your room and get dressed. I need all hands on deck for this.” I opened my mouth to argue with Reacher, and his frown became a glare.
“Don’t push your luck right now, son, you know as well as I do that this is a fucked up situation, and I do NOT need my club imploding right now.” He glanced at the closed door, and lowered his voice a little.
“You met Tesio when you were at Rossi’s, yeah?”
I nodded, exchanging a confused glance with Ice, at least I was confused, because he seemed to know exactly what was going on.
“Well, he’s loaning him to us, but he’s coming in undercover. We’re passing him off as a nomad you crossed paths with, during your time without a permanent club.” The way he said that was like I was about to be just that again. Adrift. Homeless . I brought this on myself, didn’t I?
“Pres-”
“I need you to greet him like a long lost fucking brother, and go along with whatever back story he comes up with. Someone is getting into our feeds, sneaking cameras up, shutting others down, and generally proving that they’re completely up in our business. It has to be a member of this fucking club, and I want to know who and I want to know now.”
I got up really close to my Club President, so he could see how much I meant the next words to come from my mouth.
“When we find this fucker, he’s mine . He touched my woman, and I get to kill him for it.”
Stitch let out a string of curses, and I heard Ice yell at him as he caught him mid-lunge at me again.
“I’ll take that under advisement, son. No promises.”
“I mean it, Reacher. I’ll make him pay for every fucking moment he spent too close to her, for every fucking touch. He’ll bleed out before he fucking dies.”
Reacher rolled his eyes, and shoved me at the door.
“Get. Fucking. Dressed. Meet us downstairs, and be prepared to act your fucking heart out.” Acting. Yeah, the thing that led to every moment of suffering I’d experienced.
Elise
I dressed in the bathroom, and when I came out, only Seth was still in my room. My heart sank. Of everyone who might be there, I was sorry it was him, and I wasn’t used to feeling that way. Even during his most overprotective times, he was still my brother and I loved him. Right now, though, I was so angry with him that love felt too far away, lost behind all the hurt and anger.
“Hey, sweets.” He pointed to a steaming mug sitting on the kitchen counter, and I gravitated towards it with a sigh. Coffee. The one thing I needed every morning, and it wasn’t even light yet.
“Have you been awake all night?”
Seth nodded as he dropped heavily onto the sofa with his own mug.
“I don’t know how the hell we’re supposed to work out who in this club is a monster. I mean, nobody here is without their demons, you know?”
He looked exhausted, younger, even defeated, and it softened my anger a little.
“You’ll figure it out, Seth. You and Reacher have some great people here. The ones you know you can trust right now. They’ll help you weed out whoever shouldn’t be here.”
He opened his mouth, and I had to break the momentary peace between us.
“Don’t say Has-Been. The only thing he did was fall in love, Seth. Should he really be punished for that?”
Seth groaned, rolling his head back on the sofa.
“Jesus, sweets, this is the last thing I wanted for you. A man like me. A waster. Someone with no fucking hope, no future. You’re gonna be a lawyer. You’re gonna be something, and he… he’s just gonna drag you down.”
I sat beside him, bumping my shoulder against his.
“Tell me something.”
“Go on.”
“You liked him before now, right? He was a brother, a trusted family member, someone you could rely on. Someone you knew, without a doubt, was a definite good guy?”
Seth cursed. “I know where you’re going with this, Elise.”
I nudged his shoulder again.
“So you don’t want someone for me who you love and trust, who you relied on for years? Someone you know is good? Someone who has protected me, and put himself between me and any threat he perceived? Someone who treats me with love and respect? Someone who shows me a gentle side beyond what we can see? Someone who I can trust completely with my safety? And my body?”
Seth slammed his drink down and rubbed at his eyes, leaving his palms over them.
“Please, for god’s sake, don’t tell me about you two in bed. I’m on the verge of losing my mind as it is.”
“Seth, look at me.”
He let out a huffy sigh, and rubbed his eyes again.
“I… I’m not sure that’s a good idea right now, sweets. I’m so fucking angry, and bitter, and I know I shouldn’t blame you, because he’s Has, and he’s fairly good looking, and kinda good with women. He’s been with a lot of fucking women, and he’s as deviant as the others here.”
“I’ve seen, Seth. You know, I used to look him up specifically on the porn sites? Once I knew he was on there.”
“Ugh, for fuck’s sake, don’t talk to me about this.” It might have been funny if not for the fact that so much was hanging in the balance right now.
“You can’t make me feel differently about him, Seth. I love him. I’ve loved him for a while now, and I won’t let you keep us apart. He’s still the same man you’ve known for years. Don’t see him as a monster just because he loves me.”
Seth looked a little sad as he stared back at me, like I was his na?ve baby sister, and about to have my heart broken.
“The one thing you can be sure about, sweets, is that men will say anything to get a girl into bed. He’s not the monogamous type, it’s not really the biker way.”