Chapter 67
CHAPTER
SIXTY-SEVEN
DARE
Her blue eyes are imprinted into my fucking brain.
I close my eyes and see them. Maybe that’s how I know there couldn’t be another woman for me, or maybe it’s just that I’ve finally found someone who fits into all the nooks and crannies of my fucked-up heart.
I’m not sure, and I don’t think I give enough of a fuck to try and figure it out.
Chassis is who I choose and who I will continue to choose until my dying breath. She is mine to love, honor, and protect. Pulling into the clubhouse parking lot, I look at the bikes that surround the place and know that there is going to be a conversation, a lively one, I’m sure.
There is also going to be a lot of emotion, not just from Chassis, but from her brothers and father, too.
I imagine there will be confrontations with some of my men as well.
When I left here to go and get her, I explained the new deal with the Bratva, but I didn’t allow much of a discussion about it.
I imagine that is going to take place now, which is fine.
I can handle anything because I’ve got her here with me and she’s safe.
That’s all that fucking matters. The rest we can figure out as we go.
Opening the car door, I unfold before I stretch, standing tall. It’s been a few hours in the car, and my muscles ache from staying in the same position. The door to the clubhouse flies open, and there stands Piston. I’m surprised. I was expecting to see Cake as the first one out.
I start to walk around the front of the car to open the door for Chassis when he marches straight for the passenger side of the car. He wrenches the car door open, bends down, and hauls her out of the car.
Before I get pissed, I stop to really take in what’s happening. When Piston wraps his sister in a hug, my muscles relax. He was worried. Which I don’t blame him for, because I was too.
Really fucking worried.
He lifts his head, his eyes find mine, and he dips his chin almost as if to thank me. I do the same, tilting my head slightly to the side. When he breaks the hug, he takes a step backward, his eyes on his sister.
“Next time you decide to do some crazy fucking shit, call me before you make a single fucking move, yeah?”
I snort because there is no way she’ll do that.
She probably won’t call anyone, just like she did this time.
I might not know my wife well, but what I do know is that she’s a try-it-first-and-ask-question-later kind of woman.
I should have known this when I walked in on her surrounded by a million and five fucking crib pieces when she was trying to put that shit together alone.
I don’t hear her response because the sound of talking in the distance distracts me. Flicking my gaze to the doorway, I see Cake, Speed, Hound, and Wrath walk out of the door, with Clutch close behind.
They make their way toward us and surround us. I open my mouth to ask them why the fuck they’re out here in the goddamn heat, but I don’t get a word out. Instead, to my surprise, I watch as they all, one by one, greet Chassis and tell her they’re happy she’s back.
Then Juliette, Alex, and Elodie bring up the rear. I didn’t expect to see them. My lips curve up into a smile at the sight of them with my woman. She has a little posse, and I am so fucking good with it.
“We’re taking her out of the heat,” Alex announces, but his focus meets mine and stays on me.
“Let’s all go inside,” I call out.
Alex dips his chin in a single nod, then slides his arm around Chassis’s shoulders and guides her into the clubhouse. Everyone else follows, but I have a feeling the relieved meet-and-greet part of the arrival is now over.
When I walk into the clubhouse, the clubwhores aren’t anywhere to be seen, no doubt told to make themselves scarce. There isn’t any music playing, and to my absolute fucking shock, nobody has a drink in their hand.
I can’t help but wonder if this is going to be a coup, because clearly, something is going down. I expect Cake to speak, but he doesn’t. Instead, it’s Two-Pump, which I don’t expect. He stands on a chair so he’s taller than everyone in the room.
“The past few months, our president has been trying to keep us from waging a war with the Russians, while at the same time navigating life with a new wife and a baby on the way. What he’s done is get us further involved with the Russians, but in a way where it’s still on our fucking terms. I’d just like to make it known that I’m proud to have both Dare and Cake as presidents of the Iron Flame MC. ”
Two-Pump is not usually one to make a scene about much of anything, so the fact that he’s saying all this is because he means it. Every fucking word of it. Before I can even respond, I feel an arm wrap around my waist, and I pull her closer to my side before I even look down.
I know it’s her.
I can sense her now, as if my body knows who it belongs beside.
Chassis tilts her head back, her eyes on mine as I look down at her. I watch as her lips curve up into a smile. We stare at one another in silence, and then she rises to her toes and touches her mouth to mine in a chaste kiss.
The room erupts in applause, and I don’t quite get why I’m getting all this attention or recognition. I got us in bed with the Russians, and we were on the brink of war, one I was happily ready to start.
When the noise dies down, I flick my gaze around the room. “I don’t deserve an ounce of appreciation. I was ready to march into war with the Perov Bratva, and I would have done it happily for my own selfish reasons,” I begin.
Though I don’t tell them those reasons. Some of the guys know, but I never announced that Chassis was pregnant with someone else’s baby. If they all know, it’s because they’re a bunch of fucking gossips, which they probably do, because that is what they are.
“I’m proud to be the president of the Iron Flame. Financially, I wish we didn’t need to get in bed with the Russians. I wish I could tell them all to go straight to hell,” I say. The men chuckle throughout the space. “Hopefully this is temporary, or hell, if it works out, then who gives a fuck.”
The room erupts again, and then the music is turned up. The men make their way over to the bar, and I turn to face my woman. I cup her cheeks. I can’t believe that this is real, that she’s here with me.
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
“Thank you?” she asks.
“Yeah.”
I don’t elaborate, though I probably should. Maybe I will later. She’s everything to me. Everything I never thought possible—a wife, a lover, a friend, and soon-to-be the mother of our child. Chassis is a hell of a lot to me and deserves thanks, but maybe I’ll show her rather than tell her… later.