21. Bear
21
BEAR
T he clubhouse was packed tonight, everyone having made the trip for my wedding. We hosted three chapters, damn near two hundred and fifty men, and half of them were here to party. It was the calm before the storm.
I made the rounds like my father usually did. I checked in with the other presidents to ensure they were settled.
“We’re ready to tear some Caputi heads apart,” Titan said, laughing with a few of his other New England SRMC brothers.
Lizard, the president from North Carolina, clapped me on the shoulder and thanked me for the invitation. “The boys are always thirsty for enemy blood.”
I caught up with as many of the visiting brothers as I could before going around to my own chapter, forgoing the tightness in my chest to make sure they all knew I still had their backs.
After killing the traitors so viciously, something had shifted in the atmosphere. The undercurrent of tension that had been there for months had dissipated. But just because it was over didn’t mean we were in the clear. Switch was still looking for the ones that had escaped. They could come back any time and hit us harder than before. I wouldn’t be able to truly rest until they were all gone.
“We’re gonna take her down, brother,” I said to Hollister. When Gabriella had attacked us five months ago, she’d tried to shoot Hollister in the head. Her hand jerked at the last second, skimming the top of his skull rather than going through it. He’d been in the ICU for weeks afterward, but now that he was back, he had the taste of Caputi blood on his tongue.
“We better,” he said. “This has gone on too long.”
“No fucking shit.” I joked with him and his brother, Wheels, for a few minutes before moving to KC, Hollywood, Thor, and Saint. They sat on the couches at the back of the room, clearly deep in conversation while they pretended to play poker on the coffee table.
“Hey, there he is,” KC said, clapping my hand when I got close enough.
“Heard you already chased your old lady away,” Saint said.
“That didn’t take long,” Thor added with a teasing laugh.
“We’re…uh…taking a breather.” I cleared my throat and raised an eyebrow.
“It didn’t look like a breather,” Hollywood said.
I grimaced and took a sip of beer, trying to ignore the ache in the center of my chest at the mention of her. It had been there the entire time she’d avoided me, and the more we were separated, the more my skin shrunk around my bones. Her absence chafed, and that only reconfirmed what I’d told her. I’d never felt this way about anyone before, much less a romantic relationship. I missed her shitty cooking and her biting insults. I missed the way her eyes blinked open in the morning and that adorable pout on her lips. I missed her strong presence and the air of invincibility she carried with her no matter where she went.
“Enough,” I snapped. “My relationship with my wife is none of your fucking concern.”
Hollywood smirked, and Thor raised his eyebrows, seemingly surprised by the roughness in my tone.
“Is everything in place for the ceremony?” I asked.
“Uh-huh,” KC said, inhaling his cigarette. “All the fun and games have been unloaded.”
He meant the guns and heavy artillery. Gabriella wouldn’t go down without a fight, and if she brought as many of her goons as we thought she would, we needed the extra weapons.
“What about Aris and Crow?” I said, glancing at Thor. He’d been the one in correspondence with their lawyers. As Sarge, it was his duty to get our guys out of the pen, if he could. “How are things going?”
Thor sighed and ran his hands back through his long, dark blond hair, tying it in a thick pink scrunchie. “Not good. The evidence is overwhelming. Jordan says she spoke to you? What’d she say?”
“She wants Crow to snitch on the Caputis in exchange for a deal,” I said. “But my old man isn’t the type to yap. That’s what I told her.”
KC nodded. “She’s gonna get him killed.”
“I told her to look closer to home. Someone in the pigpen is working with them. How did they know we’d be distracted when they came to raid us?” I suspected her partner, Detective Dickface or whatever his name was.
“She might have mentioned that,” Thor said. “Said she wanted you to spill the beans instead.”
I rolled my eyes and scoffed. “Hell would freeze over first.”
Thor snorted and KC laughed.
“I told her that, too,” I said.
“Hey, shithead!” Verona said from behind the bar. I glanced over at her, surprised when she was looking at me. “Yeah, you!”
Hollywood whistled a low, threatening noise. “You’ve done it now. Good luck, brother.”
Sighing and rubbing at the back of my neck, I headed over to her.
“What the fuck did you do to your wife?” V said, shoving at my shoulder with that stereotypical little sister glare in her violet eyes. “Do I have to cut off your balls?”
Goddamn, would I get my ass chapped by everyone in this fucking club?
Despite my annoyance, my sister demanded an explanation, her hands on her hips, stamping her foot like I was an unruly youth.
“V, lay off him,” our brother, Pollux, said, coming up next to me to throw an arm over my shoulders. “He’s got enough on his plate without your harassment.”
“He sent his submissive running from my club,” she said. “If it weren’t for Hollywood defending you, I would ban you from coming back AND THEN I would cut off your balls.”
“I didn’t hurt her,” I said. “Not like that.”
Truthfully, I didn’t know what I’d done to upset her. I’d told her I loved her, that I was happy we would have to spend the rest of our lives together. The look of panic in her eyes was definitely not the reaction I’d been expecting. Not that I thought she would swoon and confess her undying loyalty, but I didn’t mean to terrify the poor woman.
“Then. What. Did. You. Do?” V growled the words through her teeth, maybe preparing to lunge at my throat and tear it from my head.
“I overstepped a boundary I didn’t know she had,” I said, glancing sidelong at Pollux, and finally Castor, as he came to the other side. “She called her safeword, and she left.”
My sister narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “I’m going to talk to her, and if she tells me something different, rest assured, you will be dealt with.”
“Bear,” Castor said, flipping open his computer. “We’ve got a problem.”
I took a deep breath and sighed as he explained the situation.
“Even though the Kings of Carnage said they wanted nothing to do with us, they’re on Caputi property,” he explained. “I can’t get a good read on how many people total. But if she called in the cavalry, we could be outnumbered.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried not to panic. Letting my fear run wild would help no one, especially not the Roses. We only had four days until the wedding. What the fuck we were going to do?
We had our closest chapters here, but they weren’t the only Roses in the country or the only ones that could make it here in time.
“Call Lore,” I said. “Find out where he is. If he’s still out west, tell him to stop in Indiana. We’re gonna call her bluff.”
Castor nodded and glanced at Pollux and V before raising an eyebrow back at me. “Are you okay?”
“Besides our sister’s perpetual harassment, I’m fine.”
“His wife is avoiding him,” V said. “He needs to go crawling back with his tail between his legs, but his pride won’t let him.”
I snarled and glared at my sister.
“Is the alliance in jeopardy?” Castor said. “Do you need me to tap her phone or something?”
“No,” I roared, slamming my hands down on the bar top, startling the twins but making V double down. She put her hands out on the granite and tilted her head at me. “All of you, drop it. This is hard enough without your fucking pestering.”
V sneered and walked away, finding Hollywood on the other side of the clubhouse. Castor grabbed my shoulder and looked at Pollux before heading off himself. It was the younger twin that stuck around.
“Relationships are a pain in the dick, huh?” He laughed and clinked his beer against mine. Earlier this year, he’d been in the hospital after an explosion at the Beacon. He’d become infatuated with one of the nurses, a young redhead named Phoebe. After his relentless flirting, she finally agreed to go out with him, but I wasn’t sure how much about our family he’d told her.
“No kidding,” I said.
“It’s too close to the wedding for things to fall apart now,” Pollux said.
“We’re already married,” I said, resigned. “And part of our contract said we couldn’t get divorced. We have to live happily never after, even if she hates me.”
Pollux winced. “Listen, it’s not my place to say anything, and maybe I should keep my fucking mouth shut, but brother…she’s been good for you.”
I furrowed my brows, my stomach clenching harder.
“All my life, you’ve been holding us together,” he said. “Especially after Mom died and Dad fell apart. It was you signing off on my homework and permission slips. It was you giving me lunch money.”
I shifted uncomfortably, not sure where this was going.
“I’ve never seen you happy, truly happy,” he said. “I thought it was impossible for someone with the weight of all this on their shoulders.” He gestured around to the club and the brothers and all of the bullshit that came with it. “But then she came along.”
“Brother,” I started, the hole in my chest gaping, splitting open even more.
“Just let me say it,” Pollux continued, his bright brown eyes imploring me to shut the fuck up. So I did, deciding to hear him out. Of the twins, Pollux had always been the quieter one, the less ostentatious. I figured if he had something to get off his chest, I might as well hear him out. “At first, I could tell it was awkward between you. She sat out here on her phone and you pretended she didn’t exist. But then something changed, and you both decided to be partners.”
I gulped and blinked back the burning in my eyes.
It was pretend. All of it—fake, a farce, a charade. Pretend.
It wasn’t supposed to be real.
“I’d never seen you look at anyone how you looked at her. Like the world had been in black-and-white until you found her, and now, vivid neon.” Pollux whistled and shook his head. “And she looks at you the same way.”
“She doesn’t look at anyone like that,” I said.
“Pfft, of course she doesn’t want you to see it,” he said. “She seems like the type of person to keep her heart guarded. But she softens around you, like she can trust you, like you are the only one she can trust.”
Pollux kept talking, but something clicked, some kind of knowing I hadn’t put together before. Julia had confessed to losing everybody she’d ever loved, everybody she’d let get close. She’d agreed to all of this in the first place because she wanted peace; she wanted that bloodshed to stop. What was the name of the man Gabriella had taken out? Hugo? And before that, her boyfriend in high school.
Did she think I was just another man she’d ultimately lose? If she let me in, truly allowed herself to open up to me, was she afraid she’d lose me? Christ, I was planning a massacre at our wedding.
I’d been such a fucking idiot.
“You need to fix it with her,” Pollux said, drawing me back to the present. “Whatever it is, tell her you’re sorry. You’ll never get another opportunity like this.”
“You know what, brother?” I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into half a hug. “You’re fucking right.”
“What? Really?” Pollux blinked.
“Yep.” I stood from the barstool and walked over to Alba and Ru, a plan forming. They’d been with Roses for a long time. If anyone could talk sense into her, it would be them. I figured Julia could use the support, and lord knew she didn’t have much of that these days.
After that, I texted my brother-in-law.
Me: Is she okay? Is she safe?
Leo: Yes, she’s safe. But she is more stubborn than I am.
Me: Is she coming tonight?
Leo: We are almost there.
I cracked my neck and prepared myself to see her. It had only been two days, but that seemed like an eternity compared to how used I’d gotten to having her around.
And when the doors opened to reveal the Caputi alliance, I took a deep inhale and braced myself for her ire.