Chapter 15
15
Steal – One Week Later
I gently tap my desk, my eyes on the picture of Cass, while Anchor and Pitbull sit in front of me.
“No evidence?” I confirm.
“None,” Pitbull says. “Killian and I made it look like they were in a rush and packed most their important shit, and Piston cleared all camera footage before ensuring all their nasty child pornography shit was easy for the cops to find.”
I nod, relaxing a little bit.
When Cass walked in here demanding I kill the Aldo brothers, two men that have a bad reputation but stayed out of our jurisdiction, I never thought the reason would be because they raped Perrie. One fucker held her down while the other did the deed before swapping places, all because she beat them in the ring.
Perrie’s the one who stabbed their dicks in revenge. I thought they hurt Perrie in the ring, just not to that extent, until Acid called, sobbing, explaining exactly what she went through four years ago, the fucking day Cassidy left, the day I tried to protect my girl by pushing her out.
“It’s not your fault it happened, brother,” Anchor tries to reassure me, but I just shake my head.
A part of me believes it was.
“Cass only left because I dragged her out by her hair and threatened to kill her if she didn’t leave New York. If Cass hadn’t left, then Perrie wouldn’t have fought them,” I remind him as guilt eats away at me.
“You only did that to save Cass, knowing Bull would have killed her without a second thought,” Pitbull growls. “And those fuckers were going to rape her one way or another; they’d already made their minds up, you know this, and so does Perrie, which is why she’s never blamed any of this on you.”
I scoff. “She still hated me, though, didn’t she.” Anchor sighs, and I shake my head. “I’m sorry, I know I sound like I’m having a pity party for one, I just…. She’s like a little sister to me, she’s Acid’s one, and because I was trying to protect her sister from the danger of the club, she didn’t feel like she could come to me, to him.”
“We slayed her demons, brother, that’s what you need to focus on. It wasn’t your fault, it was those fuckers who will be torn apart by sharks,” Anchor says firmly, and I nod.
After finding the fuckers getting high, we knocked them out, wrapped them up in trash bags, before loading them into a van.
I watched with glee as we dropped their pleading asses into the ocean near the docks, where sharks are rumored to swim. But it doesn’t matter; they would have drowned to death anyway, as they’re wrapped in rope and weighed down by cinderblocks.
“We should have roughed them up first,” I complain because, let’s face it, for what they did to Perrie, I don’t believe they suffered enough.
Both men chuckle, making me smirk just as my phone goes off. I sigh before picking it up and checking it. I frown and then show Pitbull and Anchor the message.
Acid: Meet me at The Fight near Brooklyn at eight tonight. Bring Piston.
“Ah, for fuck’s sake, please don’t tell me the fucker is fighting there….” Pitbull groans as he slumps in his chair, and Anchor laughs while I shake my head and message Piston, who, let’s face it, is not going to be happy being dragged away from his pregnant old lady.
Me: Acid requested us at The Fight tonight at eight. We’ll leave here at seven forty.
I send the message, then look up and ask, “What has Bull been up to today?”
Anchor scoffs, “Mainly keeping his hand up Faith’s skirt at the back of the common room like we wouldn’t notice.”
I shiver in disgust, then gag when Pitbull helpfully states, “You’ve basically fucked Bull, Prez.”
“Thanks for that, jackass,” I growl, and he laughs as I look back at Anchor and comment, “Other than fingering a girl young enough to be his granddaughter, did it look like he was whispering anything to her?”
He furrows his brows before he nods. “Yeah, it did…. Do you think he was in on what happened in the kitchen?”
I nod. “Yeah, I think he was, but again, we need proof. He’s a patched brother, so we can’t jump the gun, though knowing he wants to put a bullet in my girl, not putting one in him is difficult.”
“I don’t get it,” Pitbull states, and I tilt my head at him. He continues, “Why does he want Faith to be your old lady so badly if he’s fucking her regularly?”
I smirk. “In the hopes of getting in my head, to find out the combination of the safe and, most likely, to make out like I’m stealing from the club.”
Pitbull sits back in shock. “He wants the president patch.”
I shrug. “It wouldn’t surprise me; I mean, for years, he tried to convince my dad to make Skinny the next prez despite not having any blood link to my founding grandfather who started the club to begin with.” I grab the folder next to Cassidy’s picture and chuck it toward them. “Turns out he was kicked out of an old MC that got pulled apart by rivals. He wanted to be the leader and attempted a coup, which obviously failed. According to Dad, when I spoke to him this morning, he said Bull and my grandfather were close, and that’s why dad patched him in, but he regretted it instantly, because not even a day after getting his cut, the fucker started bringing up Skinny.”
Pitbull's face reddens as he snaps, “So basically, he handed his old MC over their rivals, then tried to con your grandfather?”
I nod. “That’s what Piston managed to find. I was going to bring it in at the club vote to get the fucker out of the club, and if he doesn’t go willingly, then we’ll fucking bury him. I wouldn’t put it past him to get Faith to try and drug me next, just like that bitch Andrea did to Acid.”
Both men nod, and my eyes go back to Cassidy’s photo. I know I’m doing this all too late in her eyes, but until she appeared again and confirmed Faith had been watchdog while Brute attacked her, I had nothing to go on. Piston and I had no idea which brothers were in on it and which weren’t.
Now that we have a lead, we’re watching Bull like a hawk, watching who he speaks to privately, who wants him to take my patch.
I just wish Cassidy would hear me out….
A few hours later, Piston and I stand, shell-shocked, as Perrie bounces on the balls of her feet as a big mother fucker called Cannonball glares at her.
“Fucking explain, Acid!” I demand as the fucker runs toward Perrie, and my body tightens, the urge to go kill the fucker high.
She dodges his fist and purposely trips him up, making the crowd laugh and the man’s face turn red, but my fear for her runs deep.
She’s fucking family, my family. I can’t watch her get hurt.
When Acid asked us to meet him here, I had no fucking idea it was because his Tinker—a name she decided to use as her fighter name—was the fighter in the fucking ring.
“Turns out our girl here has been fighting since she was fourteen, earning extra money for her dad,” he admits.
“Did he fucking know?” Piston growls, and Acid nods, replying, “I think so.”
“Son of a bitch,” I curse as my eyes go to the ring just in time to see the six-foot fucker, with one side of his face tatted like an idiot, land a punch to her jaw, causing her head to snap sideways, and stumble.
Acid steps forward, and I reach out to grab his arm, knowing she’ll be angry if he gets involved, but he halts as Perrie looks his way.
I squeeze my hands into fists, seeing her lip bleeding before I feel eyes on me, and I look around the room. Men are all screaming and shouting at the ring while the women try to get their attention, but I don’t notice anyone looking my way despite the itch I feel in the back of my neck, so I turn back to the fight and watch as Perrie slams her head back, connecting with the fucker’s nose. He stumbles back as blood pours, and instead of calling off the fight because his nose is broken, the ref lets them continue, and I cannot help the pride and awe I feel for her right now.
“Fucking hell, she’s like a machine,” I say with awe as she corners the fucker, and then rains down punches to his face and body—left, right, continuously, the crowd cheering wildly. Finally, his eyes roll back in his head, and he drops, knocked out, and Perrie steps back, breathing hard.
The ref pulls her into the middle of the ring, and I see the lack of emotion on her face despite her obvious injuries, making me suck in a breath.
Piston rasps, “She can’t handle her emotions, can she?”
I don’t take my eyes off an emotionless Perrie as Acid replies to Piston, “No, she can’t. At first, this was a way to help with her dad, but now, it’s a way to run from her trauma, her dad’s death, Cass leaving, me….”
The announcer shouts ‘Tinker’ as the winner and the crowd chants and cheers as she jumps down from the ring. Viking, a member of the Rebels MC, hands her a thick envelope, which I’m guessing is her winnings, as she passes into the mouth of the hallway. With anger coursing through me, noticing the wince she tries to hide, I grab my phone and get the number Piston kindly gave to me last week when I started my kidnapping plan.
Acid raises a brow at me, but I just shake my head and put the phone to my ear.
She answers within three rings, but I snap before she can say anything, “Cass…don’t hang up. Perrie needs you.”
“How in the hell did you get my number, Steal? You know what? I don’t care. Perrie doesn’t need me; she’s fine, so don’t call me again. I told you to move on.”
The little….
Growling, I snap, “She’s fucking injured, Cassidy!”
The line goes dead, and I tense as I remove the phone from my ear, and growl, “She fucking hung up!” just as someone snaps, “Seriously, Piston, you gave him my number?” seconds later. We all look at Cass in shock. She’s wearing jeans and a flannel, her face red as she looks at Piston.
“What the fuck…” I mutter as I take in my girl.
Fuck, she looks hot, like really fucking hot, but why in the fuck is she here?
Cassidy sighs, placing her hands on her hips, hips that I’d give anything to squeeze while I fuck her hard from behind, and she looks at me and asks, “Remember the three nights a week I said you couldn’t see me?” I nod numbly, my mouth not seeming to work with the shock that she’s actually here, and she holds her arms out and states, “Here’s your answer. I fix up the fighters for extra cash, including Perrie.”
No. Fucking. Way.
My anger vibrates through me. She’s stupid to put herself in danger, but then suddenly, a thought hits me….
I take a step forward and demand, “The past four years you’ve been gone?”
She shrugs. “I was still here doing what they pay me to do, only I stayed hidden from Perrie….” She looks at Acid. “How did you know she’d be here tonight? It’s rare she fights more than twice a week.”
I blink, trying to calm the rage as Acid sighs, “She opened up a little last night, and so did I….”
Cass nods, ignoring the fury she can probably feel from me right now, and confirms, “She needed an outlet….”
Acid nods, and I crack. “Get your fucking coat, you’re leaving with me now!” I demand, not able to keep my calm facade any longer, but the little minx snorts.
“Sorry, ex-lover, no can do; some of us have to pay bills, and being in my last year of residency doesn’t pay me as well,” she says with a sneer, then looks at Acid again. “Perrie’s wounds are superficial. I was watching her fight like a hawk. She’ll be on her way back to the gym….”
Acid nods before she sends me a death glare, then turns on the heels of her cowgirl boots and heads to the hallway where Perrie disappeared, and I growl, instantly following her.
She can’t fucking do this; I didn’t lose her to protect her only for her to put herself in danger, I mean fuck, look what happened to Perrie, and she’s a trained fighter, for fuck’s sake. Cass only knows the basics.
Viking gives me a grin when I storm past him, seeing who I’m following. I glare his way, but his grin just gets wider.
Fucker knew she was my girl and yet kept the fact she was working here from me. I could have found her years sooner!
I follow Cass into what looks like a medical room, and before the door can shut behind her, I slam it back open, making her jump and spin around in shock.
We lock eyes as I slam the door shut behind me.
“I didn’t fucking lose you to save you just for you to put your life at risk!” I shout, losing my temper, and her eyes widen in shock.
My breathing picks up, and before I know what I’m doing, I spin on my heels and ram my fist into the metal door, causing pain to shoot up my arm, but it doesn’t calm my fury.
She didn’t fucking come to me for help….
“Dammit,” Cass hisses before I feel her touch, her hands wrapping around my fist as she inspects the damage, but the pain numbs with her touch.
My eyes take her in, the loss I’ve felt for four years and the split-second decision I made to protect her vanishing.
“Fuck,” I rasp, causing her to look at me, and without thinking, I slam my lips down on hers, making her gasp, and not even three seconds later, she melts against me.
Acting on instant, my hands find her ass and lift her. She wraps her legs around my waist, and my feet move on their own accord as my tongue snakes into her mouth, tangling with hers.
Cassidy moans and my dick hardens behind my zipper, wanting his tight heat after so long without her. I place her on the small bed and stand between her legs as I cup her jaw and tilt her head to deepen the kiss. I rub my cock between her legs, finally feeling at home….