Chapter Twenty-One #2
Twenty minutes later, she parked at the clubhouse and pulled out her phone to text Saint.
Beth: At the clubhouse. U here?
Saint: 10 minutes out. Missed you today.
She grinned. They hadn’t had much time to text throughout the day.
Hearing that he’d thought about her made her giddy.
She bounced in her driver’s seat with a happy squeal.
If only she could grab him and kiss the hell out of him when he arrived.
Hopefully, they could sneak away for a few minutes alone in one of the bunk rooms.
But first, she had to tell him about Melody.
As she walked into the clubhouse, she glanced around.
It was still early, so the place wasn’t overly crowded.
Rizz chatted up a woman Beth didn’t recognize at the bar.
Jigsaw and Rocket played a game of pool while their ol’ ladies sat nearby, laughing and drinking margaritas.
Others played darts, some danced, and one of the newer guys, Beth didn’t know well, practically ate the face off some woman in a teeny-tiny minidress.
Just a typical chaotic night at the clubhouse, and she loved it.
She spotted Gator coming out of the kitchen and headed his way.
As she reached him, she noticed her dad sitting in his usual spot at a table in the back of the room.
What stopped Beth dead in her tracks was the sight of Melody sitting at the table with him.
She wore a fake-fucking-expression of extreme sorrow, like someone who had terrible news to unload but knew it must be shared.
“Hey, p-cess,” Gator said. He smacked a kiss on her cheek. “How’s it hang… whoa, Beth, you okay? You just got really fucking pale.”
“H-how long has Melody been here?” If she hopped right in her car and came to the clubhouse, she had about a twenty-minute headstart on Beth.
“ ’Bout ten minutes. She got here same time I did. Why, what’s up?”
An icy wave of dread washed over her. “I saw her earlier. She was making out with Demo.”
“The fuck…”
Beth faced him. “Demo saw me. Looked straight at me and winked while his damn tongue was halfway down her throat.”
He gripped his hair where it spilled out over his red bandana. “Fuck, this is not good.”
“No, it’s not. I was worried he knew she had a connection to the club, so when they went their separate ways, I ran after her to warn her.”
Gator raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“And she accused me of trying to steal him. Said if I came near her again, she’d tell Copper I was sleeping with Saint.” She lowered her voice. “How does she know?” Beth whispered.
Gator ran a hand over his face. “Jesus Christ.”
“What do I do?” Beth grabbed his arm. “Is that why she’s here? Is she telling him? Should I go over there?”
“Give me a second to fucking think, Beth,” he snapped.
She winced. “Sorry.”
“No. No.” He pulled her into a one-armed hug. “I shouldn’ta barked at you. We gotta warn Saint. She could be running her big mouth right now. Oh, fuck.”
“What?” She whipped around, spotting her father across the room. He wore a stony mask of fury so intense that even Melody looked apprehensive. Beth’s heart sank to the floor. “She told him,” she whispered.
“Beth, maybe you should go,” Gator said in a tone more serious than she’d ever heard from the man. “You don’t want to get into this here.”
Copper rose, appearing to grow ten times his usual size. Fury radiated from the tense set of his shoulders to his narrowed eyes to his curled fists. Around him, people began to notice the angry giant whose presence grew by the second.
He scanned the room until his laser gaze found her.
Beth swallowed. “Too late,” she whispered.
Copper only stomped three steps toward her, but his long stride ate up too much distance between them.
Anxiety popped and fizzled across her skin, making her tremble.
Not with fear. Copper wouldn’t hurt her in a billion years, but worry for Saint had her heart pumping triple time.
In no universe would this conversation end well, and Saint would take the brunt no matter what she said to her father now.
In his mind, Saint had committed a grave sin.
Hell, her dad probably saw her as a victim.
She’d do everything in her power to prove that wasn’t true.
“Wish me luck,” she muttered as she took a step toward Copper, who stopped dead in his tracks, eyes fixed toward the door.
A sick feeling washed over her.
Gator grabbed her arm and yanked her back. “Fuck,” he said. “Shit’s about to get messy.”
“Wha…” She followed Gator and her dad’s gaze to the door where Saint stood, scanning the room.
Looking for her.
“No,” she whispered. Her knees buckled, and if it weren’t for Gator’s hold on her, she’d have collapsed to the floor. “Not like this.”
Gator stared down at her. “Oh, shit. This is real, isn’t it, p-cess? You and him? It ain’t just fuckin’.”
“It’s real.”
After that, things seemed to happen in slow motion and hyper speed simultaneously. Copper’s heavy boots hit the wooden floor with a shotgun crack, then he charged toward Saint.
Beth gently shoved Gator toward the kitchen. “Find my mom,” she shouted before racing away.
Saint stood still, gaping at Copper, horror on his face.
His gaze flicked to her, and something passed between them—understanding, acceptance, an unspoken vow that whatever happened, they were in this together.
I’ve got you, his eyes said. I’m not going anywhere.
Somehow, even with her world crashing down, she believed him.
He relaxed his posture. He wasn’t going to run or fight back.
He’d take whatever came his way from his president.
A ghost of a smile crossed his lips, gone so fast she could have imagined it.
But she didn’t. It was his way of reassuring her when it seemed hope was lost.
In her mind’s eye, all she saw was Copper’s fist slamming into Saint’s face, and she nearly threw up. Pulse pounding in her ears, she skidded to a stop in the space between Copper and Saint. She threw her arms wide. “Stop!” she screamed.
Copper immediately halted.
So did everyone else.
Someone killed the music, and all chatter disappeared at once. Every eye in the place turned to the spectacle. Then the murmurs started. Whispered questions of “what the fuck” and “what’s wrong with Copper?” came from all around.
“Everybody get the fuck out.” Copper’s booming command left no room for argument as it shook the clubhouse walls.
The entire place sprang into action, weaving around them to reach the exit as quickly as possible. Beth didn’t see Melody anywhere. The bitch must have slipped out after dropping her bomb in Copper’s lap.
Shell burst through the kitchen door, eyes wild, and Gator hot on her heels. Within thirty seconds, the clubhouse had cleared out, leaving only five of them remaining.
“Gator!” Copper roared.
“Yep, on my way out, Prez.” He hustled toward the door. Beth could hear him patting Saint on the shoulder as he left.
“Shell,” Copper said in a quieter yet no less serious tone.
“Don’t even think about it, big guy,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. She didn’t go to her husband but leaned against the bar, watching.
Any other time, Beth would have laughed. No one, no one told Copper what to do. Except for Shell. She had that man wrapped around her pinky finger for so long that he wouldn’t know how to breathe without her. But tonight was no time for laughter.
“Beth, you need to move out of the way,” Copper said. “This is club business.”
She snorted. “The fuck it is.”
Shell snickered as Copper’s eyes widened. But Beth wasn’t done.
“Baby, it’s okay,” Saint said. “I—”
“The fuck did you just call her?” Copper thundered.
For fuck’s sake.
“Dad!” she snapped, bringing Copper’s attention back to her. “I will drop my arms and move, but only if you promise you will not hurt him.”
He narrowed his eyes. “He doesn’t need your protection, Beth. He’s a goddamn enforcer.”
Two could play the narrowed eye game. “I’m aware of that. But I know him, and he won’t fight back. He’ll let you beat the shit out of him because of some misplaced sense of guilt. So until you promise me, your daughter, that you will not hurt him, I will not move.”
Copper rolled his shoulders. He blew out a breath, shaking his head as he seemed to think. Beth risked a glance at her mom, who gave her a sad smile. She had to be as shocked as Copper, but she’d always had a more reasonable head on her shoulders.
“Fine,” Copper said. “I won’t fucking touch him.”
A massive amount of pressure eased from her chest. “Thank you.” She dropped her arms, then turned and walked to Saint.
Copper growled like a damn lion ready to pounce.
Beth took Saint’s hand. Maybe the move was akin to throwing gasoline on a fire, but she had to make her father understand how important Saint was to her.
Saint stood steady. Only the tight grip on her hand betrayed his confidence.
“I trusted you,” Copper said, jabbing a finger at Saint. “I sent you across the country to bring my daughter home because I trusted she’d be safe with you.”
She opened her mouth to blast her father, but Saint gave her hand a quick squeeze. It was important to him to have this conversation with Copper.
“You did, Prez. And I kept her safe. She’s always safe with me.”
“But not from you.”
She clenched her teeth to keep from shouting.
“I sent you to help her, and you took advantage of her. I trusted you to help her, and you fucked her.”
“Dad! Jesus.”
“Copper!” Shell snapped.
Beth’s face heated to a million degrees.
“That isn’t what happened,” Saint said. How he managed to keep his cool while Copper spewed such hatred at him, Beth would never know. But she appreciated it more than she could say. Saint losing his mind right now and attacking back would make everything worse.
“There is one rule regarding Beth.”
Okay, enough was enough. “Um… I’m right here, and I’m a fucking adult who can make her own choices. I don’t need you to give your club rules about me like I’m some unstable person who can’t be trusted to make a good decision for myself.”
Copper stared at her hard, probably thinking of the horrible choice she made in choosing Jason, but thankfully didn’t say it.
“I’ve never done anything to harm this club, Copper,” Saint said, solemn as could be. “And I never would. I do not believe my relationship with Beth causes any problem for the club.”
Copper laughed, but it sounded ugly and mocking. “Relationship.”
“Yes. I am deadly serious about Beth. About us. I won’t walk away from her.”
Beth stared up at him in awe as realization crashed over her like a wave she never saw coming.
She loved him. She loved him. Not just wanted him, not just needed him, but loved this man who’d risk his entire life to be with her.
Who’d stand in front of her father, knowing Copper held so much power over him, and say he wasn’t leaving as if it were the simplest truth in the world.
Her throat tightened, and she blinked back tears.
Copper scoffed. “You’re what? Fucking twelve or thirteen years older than she is?”
Shell coughed.
Beth gawked at her father. “Seriously?” The man had sixteen years on his wife, whom he worshiped to this day. Who the hell was he to judge?
“You fucked your position in this club, Saint. No matter what happens right now, you’ve destroyed the trust of every fucking brother.”
“No, he didn’t,” Beth said, exasperated beyond belief. “That’s insane.”
“It ends now. Maybe you can salvage something if you cut it off now.”
“Dad!”
“I’m sorry, Copper. I can’t do that. I won’t do that.”
Relief made her knees wobble.
“Then get the fuck out of my clubhouse. The club will vote because that’s how we do it, but you’re done. You fucking betrayed me.”
And there it was.
She wanted to scream. To beg her father to change his mind, but the stern set of his jaw and the flat look in his eyes told her it’d be a waste of breath. Copper had made up his mind.
“I’ll go too,” Beth whispered. “If you make him leave, I’m going with him.”
An expression of pain she’d never seen before crossed Copper’s face. “I wish you wouldn’t,” he whispered in a resigned voice because he knew.
She’d made up her mind.
Beth looked to her mother, who also had tears rolling down her cheeks. Shell nodded and mouthed, I love you. At least they had the support of one of her parents.
Still holding her hand, Saint turned, and together they walked out of the clubhouse. The pain was excruciating. It felt like a death. She’d have to grieve the part of her life she’d just gotten back and realized how much she loved.
As soon as the door slammed shut behind them, closing them off to their entire world, Beth’s knees crumbled. If Saint hadn’t caught her, pulling her against his chest, she’d have collapsed on the concrete.
“We’ll be okay, Beth,” he whispered as she buried her face against his chest and wept. “I fucking promise we’ll find a way to make it okay.”