Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rage
“The county is locked down tight,” Cub says, right before tipping his beer to his mouth. “And there hasn’t been a Scorpion in sight.”
I patiently wait for him to take a drink and then another. “Quit stalling. Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“What do you know?”
“Not much.”
I cross my arms over my chest and lean back.
He sits forward. “Listen, man, it’s best to forget about her. We’ve had eyes on Savage and …”
He pauses, and there is a huge part of me that doesn’t want him to continue, but I need to know.
Have I been betrayed or not? Was my intuition wrong?
I still feel aligned with her, even though she’s not by my side.
It’s like a string has been tied between us for centuries, and I’ve somehow just noticed it’s there.
“She showed up at their clubhouse the very next day,” he continues, rubbing his hand over his chest.
Somehow it validates my pain. He’s truly empathetic about the news he’s delivering.
“Anyway, she went home with her brother after that. He’s got a place in the country outside of Greeley. His mother lives there too.”
My teeth ache as I bite down my frustration. Why would she go back to that? Why? She said she chased peace. She knows they’ll never change.
“I’m sorry, brother.”
I look over at him. “I have to get her out of there.”
He jerks his head back. “Did you not hear what I just said?”
He’s looking at me like I’m crazy. “I heard you.”
“Then why are you talking about getting her out of there? She’s one of them, Rage. I’m sorry, but I have to be honest with you here. You don’t think clearly when she’s involved. Serenity isn’t good for you.”
“She’s not one of them. She’s like me. Like you,” I tell him.
He shakes his head sadly. “No, she’s not. She chose to go back to them. She’s an adult, Rage.”
“You’re right,” I say, knowing that if I continue to argue, he’ll have me confined.
It’s something we do for our brothers. If you’re a threat to yourself or the club and have a heart worth saving, we’ll do whatever is necessary to protect you from blowing up your life.
Be it alcohol, drugs, gambling … or toxic women.
“Some of us make it out and some don’t.” He leans forward and cups his hands together. “Even if she is somehow innocent in all of this, at the very least she’s weak. You and Mila deserve better than that. If he deceived her, and she’s sleeping under his roof …” He shakes his head.
He knows it doesn’t make sense. The only logical conclusion is that she was and is loyal to her brother. That she’s one of them. But I somehow know she’s not.
His eyes bounce over mine. He’s worried about me. He thinks I’m blinded by my feelings for her.
Or is it that I know on a deep level my soul belongs with her. It vibrates at a different frequency when she is near. It is an addiction. I want more. I want to climb higher and higher.
“I just need to focus on Mila,” I repeat the phrase that has been told to me over and over since we discovered who Savage really is.
He nods, but I see his hesitation. He’s still not sure I’m thinking clearly.
If I were him, I would feel the same, but I saw something in Serenity that he didn’t.
He thinks I’m clouded by lust or that my head is in the sky all gooey on love, but that’s not where I’ve been.
I’ve been in the trenches with her. The night I spent with her in my bed, we stared at each other, not touching but communicating so much more.
I finally let someone see me, and I saw her.
She wouldn’t go back to that place … it terrifies her.
She wouldn’t go back.
I turn away from my friend to order another beer. Wolfe looks at me over the rim of his glasses. “Everything okay?” he asks.
“Just peachy,” I tell him.
The two of them chuckle, but I see the look that passes between them. Before night’s end, I know they’ll be calling a club meeting to discuss who’s going to tail me. I know they think it’s for my own good, but they’re wrong on this.
Mila is my focus, but she needs Serenity … and I need her too.
I glance around, searching for an ally. My eyes stop on the least likely person in the room.
Every few minutes I see one of the guys look at their phones. Fuck, Cub is already at it. I don’t need to glance at him to know his phone is in his hand.
Wolfe distracts me from him. “Do you need another drink, brother?”
“Sure, and I suppose I’d better go over there and apologize to Carver.”
He glances across the room and smiles. “That was the first time I ever saw that boy on the defense.”
It takes monumental effort not to tell him how much he deserved it. He shouldn’t have scared her, then I wouldn’t have had to scare him.
“Why don’t you pour me one of whatever he’s having?”
“Good idea. A peace offering is always wise,” he tells me.
Carver looks down at his phone. Fuck. Cub’s already messaged him.
“Here you go.” Wolfe slides the glass over to me.
As soon as I stand, Carver looks for me. When his eyes land on mine, he visibly cringes when I begin to approach him.
“Really? Me? You’re coming to me first out of everyone in this room?”
“Just hear me out,” I say, setting his drink in front of him. It’s an unspoken rule. If he takes a sip, he’s agreeing to let me continue.
He rolls his eyes and picks up the glass.
I don’t waste any time. “You saw the look on her face. You know.”
“Doesn’t matter. For Mila’s sake we had to cut her loose.”
“The look you saw. The fear in her eyes. The betrayal. It’s because Serenity is Mila.”
The way he looks away from me tells me I’m getting somewhere.
“I’m not crazy. I won’t do anything to risk Mila, but I need for Serenity to be okay too, even if that means she’s not with me.”
“You want me to pull her out of there?”
“For her own good.”
He runs his teeth against the bar in his tongue as he thinks about what I’ve said. “And you’ll stay away?”
“If that is what you think is best after talking to her, and I don’t mean scaring the shit out of her. Talk to her.”
“So, you’re hoping I’ll bring her back.”
“I am.” No use lying. “But with that said, Mila has to be my first thought, and I want it to be yours too.”
“What if she doesn’t want to come with me?”
“Will that be a problem?”
He stares at me. “I won’t know until I get to that point.”
His head falls, and I know he’s contemplating the moves he’s going to make already. He’s smart.
“Fine,” he agrees after a few minutes.
“They’re going to ask questions when you disappear.”
“No one said anything when Carson did the same.”
“That was expected. This won’t be.”
“That’s exactly why it has to be me.”
My shoulders fall because he understands. He knows there might be a chance I’m right. Serenity didn’t have a big brother who protected her. She’s the equivalent of Mila without me.
“If I go, I’m going dark.”
His eyes drop to my jaw, and he smirks. He knows it pisses me off when he goes rogue. I like to be in on every detail.
“Do we have a deal?”
I have no choice but to trust him. “Deal.”
He grabs his cut from the back of his chair and walks out of the Trough without another word.
I turn and shrug at Wolfe. When I get back to the bar, he already has another drink waiting for me.
“That didn’t look like it went too well,” he says.
“He at least heard me out.”
“Sometimes that’s all you can do. You apologized; the rest is up to him.”
I glance at my watch. It’s getting late.
“Shelly says Mila’s asleep. Go on, drink up. I’ll give you a ride home. Just relax, brother. Everything is okay.”
“One more and then I need to get home.”
Wolfe gives me that proud dad smile. It reminds me of my own father. Damn I miss him.
I wonder if that is how Mila is feeling right now. Is she lying in her little bed missing Serenity?
“On second thought, I think I better get for home.”
He waves Prospect over to us. “Take over for a bit. I’ll be right back.”
Prospect nods. “No worries, Wolfe. I got this.”
“I’ll get him home,” Cub interrupts, coming to stand by my side. “What the fuck did you say to Carver? He just messaged me that he’s going dark.”
“I apologized, and he said he didn’t know if he could stay in a club where he didn’t have confidence in his president.
” I shrug. I’m not really lying, because it’s the truth.
Carver will absolutely leave the day he stops trusting me.
We discussed it before he arrived in Cheyenne.
He’d been a nomad up until that day. Trust is a hard line for him, and I know he’s questioning me right now.
Rightfully so, but I really hope I can earn back his faith.
“He said he needed time to think about things.”
The two men look at each other somberly, but they don’t question it. Carver is known for going dark from time to time.