Chapter Twenty-Three
By that night I was still fucking stewing over Grease and his little gag.
Did he think it was that funny? Did he think that it would upset V?
Was he picking on her or me? I didn’t care if it was about me, but that thing was in the ‘queen’ seat.
It was where she’d fucking sit if there was actually a seat there.
You have a beef with me, and tamper with my ride, which you do at your own fucking peril, tamper with my fucking seat.
“Where is he?” I demanded as I stepped into the lounge, seeing Stag and Henley racking up a game of pool. Otherwise the place was fucking dead. That was something else I hated about this fucking club. How the hell could we be a brotherhood when most of the time we weren’t even hanging together?
“What’s up, brother?” Henley nodded at Stag, passing his pool cue to him, as he headed over to me. He looked like he should be wearing a fucking cut, but they were still negotiating a prospect term for him or something, while he hung with us and partied with us like he was already fucking family.
“Hey. Looking for Grease.” Henley grimaced, darting a look over his shoulder at Stag, who just shrugged.
“Haven’t seen him, man, but… are you sure you-”
“Fucker needs to swallow his fucking teeth, man. I’m done fucking about. This ends today.”
Henley groaned, turning to frown at Stag, and that fucker just grinned.
“I’m here for that, man.”
“Dammit. Look, I like you, and I like this club. I really don’t want to see shit go down that could hurt either of you.”
I placed a hand firmly in the centre of Henley’s chest, and pushed him back half a pace.
“I like you. I think you could be a great addition to this club, but you get in the way of me fucking him up, and we’re gonna have a problem.”
Henley sighed, dragging a hand through that long fucking hair of his.
“Jesus. Sure you don’t wanna sit down and have a drink with me? Think shit through?”
I saw him glancing at the office doors, and that told me what I needed to know.
“GREASE! Get your pathetic ass out here!”
Henley groaned, following my eyeline, and watching as two doors opened, and Grease appeared from his office, a shit-eating grin already in place, and Micro followed from his office, an exhausted look on his face. For a new father, he was spending a shit ton of time here. Way more than I’d expected.
“Brothers, this isn’t the-”
“Rocket finally wants me to hand him his ass, Pres. Been looking forward to this.”
I advanced on the fucker, shoving Henley aside as he tried, yet again, to get me to make better decisions. The thing is, this was the only decision I had right now. Make him pay for picking on my woman. Fuck me, my woman.
That moment of hesitation cost me dearly, as Grease’s fist hit my face, and I fell back a few paces, my arms swinging to try and regain my balance.
“A sucker punch? Oh come on,” Micro grumbled from behind him.
“Fucker wants to call me out, then decides to edge me for this showdown? Fuck no. This has been a long time coming. I’m so ready to break parts of him that he thinks he needs.”
“Brother, that doesn’t even make sense,” Stag called out, but Grease’s eyes were firmly on me, refusing to make the same mistake I did.
“Your beef is with me, fuckhead. You leave V the hell alone!”
Stag groaned theatrically. “This is about pussy? Come on, guys. More fish in the sea and all that.”
We both glared at the fucker, because Grease admittedly had an old lady, and I had a woman I was starting to think of as mine.
That meant nobody referred to them as pussy.
For fuck’s sake. Sometimes Stag really revealed how toxic he was.
His views on women were borderline fucking disgusting sometimes.
“Call Jay ‘pussy’ again, and I’ll break all your fucking teeth and shove them up your ass.”
“Kinky,” Stag replied, lifting a pool cue in front of him, like he was preparing to fight Grease off.
Micro stepped between us then, and heaved a huge sigh.
“This isn’t going away, is it? You’re just gonna keep beefing at each other, until one of you fucking does something even dumber than a strap-on on a ride, or sucker punching.”
“Both of those were him,” I pointed out, and Grease half-smiled, looking almost proud of his actions.
“Enough. You both defer to me as your President, right?” Fuck. We glared at each other a little more, and Micro practically growled in response.
“RIGHT?”
“Fuck. Yeah,” I murmured as Grease agreed too, and Micro nodded.
“Fine. So this goes down two hours from now, in the yard. No weapons, no breaking bones. Fists only, and it ends when I fucking say it does. Once this is done, you both suck it up and draw a line under this. We’re a fucking family here.
We’re trying to build something, and you’re both pissing all over it. ”
We went back to glaring at each other, while I’m sure we were both biting back childish retorts blaming each other.
“Got it? This continues after the showdown, and one of you is out. Maybe both.” He shoved past both of us, and headed for his office. Our phones both buzzed a second later, and we dug them out, staring at our screens.
CallToArms: Brother v Brother showdown – club yard – two hours from now.
Fuck me.
“Huh,” I said quietly, and I heard that fucker chuckle.
“That’s hot. I need to let Jay know so she can come cheer me on. She loves watching me hand tossers like you their asses.”
He turned and walked away, absolutely no tension in his posture, no outward sign that he feared having his back to me. The smug fucker needed to be taken down a peg or two, and it looked like I’d get to be the man to do it.
“Fucking hell. Is this a regular thing?” Henley was back, leaning over my shoulder to see the message on my phone screen.
“Uh… no. This is… this is unexpected.”
His eyes met mine as he backed up again.
“You got this?”
Fuck yeah, I’ve got this. I closed the message and opened my chat with V.
Me: Be at the club in two hours. I’m handing Grease his ass. Thought you’d like to see it happen.
Her response?
V: What the fuck!
Yeah exactly. What. The. Fuck. Suddenly I really couldn’t wait.
V
Iwas at Auntie Pam’s with her and Caroline when Rocket’s message came through, and I immediately showed her my phone. She gasped, grabbing hers and checking it, her fingers trembling a little.
“Oh. Thank god for that. Harley’s not involved at all. He’s messaged to say not to panic, and that he’s just there to watch.” I loved how he did his best to protect her and keep her informed, so she didn’t panic.
Auntie Pam frowned at us. “Something with your men?” Our men?
Did I have a man? Was that what Rocket was now?
My man? I mean, we were literally trying to make a baby, but for who?
For us? Or just for me? I had no idea what his expectations were, because surprise surprise, we didn’t go there, did we?
“Sounds like two of them are planning to beat each other up!” Caroline gasped, looking adorably scandalised, but also leaving it to me to say what was actually happening.
“Rocket and Grease. It’s been brewing for a while, I heard.”
Auntie Pam tilted her head at me. “Isn’t that your one? Rocket? Who names these people?”
Caroline giggled, but I was still puzzling over whether Rocket was my man.
“I’m going to the club. I can’t not know what’s happening. He might need help.”
Caroline stood up, tucking her phone in her pocket.
“I’m coming too.”
I exchanged a concerned look with Auntie Pam.
“C, it’s going to be loud, and there will be violence. You don’t need to be there.”
She lifted her chin at me, classic stubborn Caroline behaviour. Dammit. Tough love time?
“Don’t come crying to me if you want to leave. I’m going to be there for Rocket. I might even stay if he needs me.”
“What about the pup?” Auntie Pam asked, gesturing to the sweet baby I was looking after for Rocket. My god, did that mean he really was my man? Or were we just co-parenting Nixie somehow?
I lifted her and passed her to Caroline, because with someone to look after, I had a feeling she’d cope better.
“Let’s go, cuz. I don’t want to miss seeing the smug grin wiped off that dick Grease’s face.”
She gasped as she followed me, stopping to hug her mother, while I grabbed my keys.
“He’s not a… he’s actually not bad.”
I rolled my eyes, stepping outside and gesturing at her to hurry.
“Trust me, with Rocket, he’s a real fucker.”
“Victoria!”
I waved to Auntie Pam, and we headed toward the club, with me maybe leaning on the accelerator a little too much.
We couldn’t miss this, and not because we wanted to watch them fight, or at least mostly not.
If Rocket was injured after, whether I was his woman or not, I wanted to look after him.
He’d do it for me. I knew that without even having to think about it.
At the gates, we both said hi to the prospect, who was apparently called Joey, and who recognised Caroline instantly. He pulled the gate open and gestured to the opposite side of the gate from normal.
“Expecting more rides coming in, so best leave that thing over there.”
“That thing is a car, dammit.”
“Fuckin’ cage, more like.”
There did seem to be a lot of motorbikes, or ‘rides’ parked up already, and I recognised some of the men gathering around the firepit area. I’d seen them that awful night with the pervs, and although that wasn’t a night any of us wanted to remember, I nodded at a few who clearly remembered me.
Has-Been was over beside Rocket, talking quietly to him, while he was wearing just a t-shirt, jeans, and boots, cracking his knuckles as he prepared to fight. Oh my god. What if something happened to him?
Caroline was getting quieter by the second, as the noise levels started to rise around us, so I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled for Harley.
“HARLEY! I’ve got your little lady here!”
“V!”
I grinned at her, and faked taking a bow as most of the bikers turned to look at me, and Harley stepped out from among them.
“No, oh hell no. You’re not watching this!
” He wrapped an arm around Caroline’s shoulders and led her in the direction of the lounge, while I paused and watched the men amassing.
There was a guy there with Reacher that I hadn’t seen before.
He looked similarly older, and had a large rucksack at his feet.
I caught sight of a familiar symbol on it, stepping forward.
First aid. Ah. He was here to patch them up afterward.
“V! Babe, get over here!”
I bristled a little at being called over like a fucking pet, but I wanted to see him, so I headed in Rocket’s direction, pausing to flip Grease off.
He laughed, leaning down to say something to that little redhead he was with, and she grinned at me.
At least they were in good spirits. Like Rocket, he’d shed his cut, and was stretching his neck and rolling his shoulders.
Around me, the spectators held beers, and various other drinks, and two were off to one side, taking money from others as they stopped by.
“Wanna place a bet, love?”
I frowned at the man, the one with the tattooed head. I remembered seeing him at the perv massacre too, but I’d never spoken to him before.
“Bet?”
He grinned. “Who goes down first, or taps out. No sense in missing out on a little fun.”
I reached into my sleeve pocket, which was zipped up, and always held an emergency twenty. I handed it to him, and pointed at my apparent man.
“On him to win.”
He and the guy with him started to laugh, but he took the money, and the other shook his head slowly.
“Grease has special training, love. Rocket will be lucky to walk away from this. Sure you wanna throw your money away?”
“Get fucked,” I hissed at him, because movie star handsome or not, he was also a dick.
“I like her.”
I made my way to Rocket, checking him over as he grinned at me. He looked like he was about to have his best fucking day, and that was insane, right? He also looked like he was already sporting the beginnings of a small bruise on his jaw.
“Are you out of your mind? They say he has special training or something!”
Has-Been laughed, slapping Rocket’s shoulder.
“My boy here isn’t a weakling. Mafia guy or not, Grease isn’t unstoppable.” Mafia? What the fuck did he just say? His face dropped, and he glanced over my shoulder, grimacing at whoever he stared at.
“Shit. I didn’t say that. Fuck me. I’m going to grab a beer. Listen, man,” he turned back to Rocket, “you stay mobile, don’t take your eyes off him, and mess up that dumb fucking hair of his, yeah?”