Wrath
“Why do we always meet here?”
“What?”
“We’ve been talking or whatever it is we’re doing for a couple of weeks now, and you always come here. We’ve never gone out to your place.”
She was right. We hadn’t been out to my place. It wasn’t something I’d done purposefully. But then again, none of this had been done purposefully.
Just the opposite.
Every time I left her, I’d tell myself that was it—that I was done with the bullshit and I wasn’t going to see her again, but then a few days would pass and I’d suddenly find myself standing on her doorstep.
I wanted to believe that it was just about the sex, but deep down, I knew it was more than that. She was starting to get to me.
While I tried to fight it, there was just something about her. She set me at ease in a way that I never dreamed possible. I was more myself. Even the nightmares had subsided, and I couldn’t walk away.
I was walking a dangerous line—one that could cost me everything.
But every moment I spent with her, I found myself wanting more.
And if more meant having her out to my place, then I’d have her out to my place. “What about tonight?”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah... you can meet me there around six.” I could hear the words I was saying, but I couldn’t believe they were coming out of my mouth as I told her, “I’ll grill us a steak or something.”
“You don’t have to go to any trouble.” I thought for a moment that she was going to pass, but then she surprised me by saying, “But I have to admit... a steak does sound pretty good.”
“Steak it is.” I pulled on my boots as I asked, “You going in to work today?”
“I don’t know... I really don’t see the point. Garrett’s still gone, and I can’t schedule any bookings until I know when he’s going to be back.”
“Where exactly did he go?”
“The Caribbean.” I could hear a twinge of jealousy in her voice as she went on to explain, “A resort hired him to take pictures for their website and travel brochure. I thought it was only going to take a few days, but his last email said it would be at least another week. If I had to guess I’d say he’s taking advantage of his luxury accommodations. ”
“I wouldn’t necessarily blame him.”
“Me either.”
“I better get going.”
I put on my cut and stared at her for a moment, soaking her in while I had the chance. “I’ll see you at the house at six.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
She gave me one of those looks—the ones she gave when she was hoping I’d kiss her, but like all the times before, I resisted the temptation and walked out of the room.
I headed down to my bike and then on to the clubhouse.
When I walked in, I found Stitch and Bones talking in the bar with Clutch, and from the expression on Stitch’s face, they weren’t just shooting the shit.
As I started over to them, I overhead Bones say, “We’ve gone over it and over it. I’m telling ya... we’re as prepared as we can get.”
“There’s no such thing.”
“Well, we’re damn close.” Bones sounded frustrated as he told him, “The waiting sucks, but for the time being, we’ve done what we can.”
I didn’t bother sounding off.
They all knew how I felt about things. I’d made it abundantly clear the day before when we were going over the blueprints of the Demarco warehouse and each of the brothers’ homes. I, along with Stitch and Savage, wanted eyes on each of the locations.
We all knew Big and Bones were keeping track of all flights coming into Seattle from Mexico, including private charters, and while it was a start, I didn’t believe it was enough.
It was crucial that we knew the second they returned, and I had no doubt they’d return.
They had to. Their family business was on the line, and I wanted us to be sitting on go the second they slithered back into town.
When Bones saw that I’d walked up, he gave me a funny look. “There you are.”
“You looking for me?”
“Yeah, I went to your room, but you weren’t there.”
“No, I wasn’t. Was there something you needed?”
He studied me for a second, then shook off whatever he was thinking. “Just gonna let you know that we got access to the security feed at Miguel’s place, so we now have eyes on all locations.”
“And? Have you seen anything?”
“Afraid not. Seems all three locations are mostly deserted—just a few men keeping an eye on the place, but we’re monitoring things. We’ll know the second someone shows up.”
“Good... What about the journal? You get anywhere with that?”
“Afraid not. The damn thing turned out to be a dead-end.” Bones sounded disappointed as he announced, “We checked each of the locations listed, but they were all abandoned.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, I was hoping it would give us some answers.”
“So nothing?”
“Just that it looks like there’s about a three-week turnaround.”
“I’m not following.”
“The list of names and dates are in groupings. The list comes in, and a week later, the list goes out. Three weeks after, the new list starts.”
“So maybe there’s a connection between those three weeks and the disappearance of the Demarco brothers.”
“That’s definitely a possibility.” Stitch cocked his brow. “Might explain why they’d been gone for as long as they have, but only time will tell.”
“Which means more of the whole ‘wait and see’ bullshit.”
“Maybe.” Stitch glanced over at Bones as he said, “I have a feeling it won’t be much longer.”
“We can hope.” I looked over to Clutch as I asked, “So, with all that’s going on, are you and Liv still planning to go to Willow’s birthday party next weekend?”
“We’re gonna try. You?”
“As long as the Demarco brothers don’t fuck it up.”
“Ah, Hadley would give us both all kinds of hell if that happened. Liv, too.”
“You’re telling me.”
Clutch stepped closer and leaned towards me as he asked, “So, you’re good?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” I didn’t understand his concern, so I asked, “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. Can’t really explain it.” He shrugged. “You just seem different or something. I just wanted to make sure you’re good with everything.”
“I’m good, brother. You don’t gotta worry about me.”
“I didn’t figure so, but it never hurts to ask.” Clutch turned to Stitch as he said, “Heard we got the bid on the hotel remodels.”
“It’s still in the works, but yeah, it looks like we’re gonna get it. Guardrail should get the final word by the end of the day.”
“Sounds good.”
Stitch glanced down at his watch, then turned his attention to me. “You ready?”
“Whenever you are.”
“Let’s do this.”
We both said our goodbyes to Clutch and Bones, then made our way to the playroom.
With everything that had been going on with Bruton and the Demarco brothers, we hadn’t had much time for training—not that I needed a great deal of training.
I didn’t. I’d spent the better part of my life watching Stitch deal with the club’s adversaries in and out of the playroom.
I’d seen him plan out wars, break men that I never dreamed could be broken, and put his life on the line for the club time and time again.
He’d been a hell of an enforcer, so I made sure to listen to every piece of advice he had to give.
When we got to the playroom, he walked over to the wall of tools and opened several of the cabinets.
“You’ll need to go through all this and see what you wanna keep and what you wanna get rid of. ”
“Why would I get rid of stuff?”
“Because this is about to be your playroom. Not mine... It should be set up the way you want it.”
“It’s not officially mine yet.”
“Actually, it is.”
“What?”
“We made the vote last night.” I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me when he said, “It was a last-minute thing. We would’ve called you in, but it was late and you’d already gone. Besides, I wanted to be the one to tell ya.”
“So, it’s official?” Even though Stitch had already made it clear that I was next in line, I needed to hear him say it. “I’m Satan’s Fury’s new enforcer?”
“You are.”
“I’ll be damned.” I let his words sink in, and a sense of pride washed over me as it hit me that I’d actually done it.
I wasn’t just an officer. I was the protector of the club, and now, I’d finally have my chance at true redemption.
I took a quick glance around the playroom, then told him, “I still don’t think I’ll be ditchin’ anything. ”
“Do. Don’t. Makes no difference to me.” He started to the far corner of the room as he announced, “I have one more thing to show ya.”
He opened a long, skinny cabinet, and inside were various medical supplies, including badges and IVs. “What the hell is all this?”
“There are times when you can get too close to the edge, and when you do, these will help give you a little more time when you need it.”
I motioned my hand over to the small pink teddy bear on the bottom shelf. “What’s with that?”
“That was my reminder that I’m human and not a complete monster.” He reached down and took the bear in his hand. “It was Mia’s when she was little.”
“I see.”
“Crazy thing kept me from crossing some lines I had no business crossing. I’d suggest you find something that will do the same for you.”
I watched as he took the bear and tossed it into the trash. “Can I ask you something?”
“What’s on your mind?”
“Have you ever felt guilty about what you do in here or worry that you took things too far?”
“There have been times when I’ve questioned the things I’ve done. Any man in this position would, but I’ve lost people who were close to me. I wasn’t able to protect them. I regret that.” He looked me in the eye as he said, “You know that regret. You’ve felt it. You’ve been haunted by it.”
“I have.”
“It’s a feeling that overpowers all others. I held it close every time I walked into this room, and it gave me the strength to do whatever it took to protect my brothers and my family. I suggest you do the same.”
“I will do my best.”
“I know you will.” Stitch stood there a moment longer, just looking around the room, then gave me a nod. “It’s yours now, brother. I’ll leave you to it.”