Swerve Chapter 13
After fighting to sleep for most of the night, I gave up around five.
Rather than returning home, Dozer and I stayed at the clubhouse.
I wanted to be nearby in case anything went down.
That’s what I told everyone and myself, but in the darkness of my room, I admitted the truth. I wanted to be near Electra.
Reflecting on the revelations of yesterday, I tried to stay upset with her and wished her and Boone out of our lives.
It failed to happen. The truth was, I wanted her here.
I understood not only why she took the job to investigate us, but her drive to bring people like the ones who killed her friend, Selah, to justice, no matter what.
After she was shown to her room, the club held an emergency session of church.
We wanted to get ourselves on the same page regarding what to do with the agents.
Eventually, someone would come looking for them.
If it weren’t the ones gunning for Electra, it would be their people.
Two FBI agents couldn’t simply disappear without anyone raising an alarm.
And when one of them was a supervisory special agent, that alarm would be loud.
There had been grumbling about the fact that we’d been suspected of being involved in such things, and more than one member had wondered if they told the truth about Electra being the only agent planted in one of our businesses.
Micro said he’d be going back, and for anyone hired within the last six months, he’d conduct a deeper dive into their background.
If that brought no new names to light, he’d go back a year.
Micro was taking it badly. He felt it was a personal affront that they fooled us. He believed he should’ve known her backstory was fabricated. We assured him that the Feds were professionals at it, but he still wasn’t buying it.
A big question was what to do with them.
The club agreed that leaving her exposed and in danger wasn’t right.
It boiled down to whether it was our responsibility to protect them or let them find their own help.
Surely, not everyone at the FBI was untrustworthy.
The problem was how to tell the difference.
After circling several times, we decided to take a wait-and-see stance.
Electra’s condition required her to be under medical care for at least a few days, maybe a week.
That bought us time to decide our next move.
I knew one thing—Boone wasn’t moving her unless he could prove there was a solid, safe alternative for protecting her.
I refused to let Electra be killed. The kind of monsters she battled were like the ones we did.
She was a kindred spirit in that regard.
Diablo had said he’d make a few calls and let us know what he discovered.
What he meant by calls, was anyone’s guess.
It might be as simple as talking to the presidents of the other clubs we were friends with, or he might go further.
The Dark Patriots might have ideas. They worked with the government at times.
Or Smoke and Everly in Dublin Falls with the Warriors could have an idea.
They worked for the government on top-secret shit.
Everly had worked undercover like Electra did.
Getting up, I took a shower and then got dressed.
Dozer watched me from his bed. I’d told him to stay when I went into the bathroom.
I kept spare clothes and care items in my room at the clubhouse for those occasions when I stayed overnight.
When I was done, I took Dozer outside to use the bathroom, then to the kitchen.
They kept a supply of dog food there for Isis, Fenrir, and him.
He greedily ate his portion while I made myself a cup of coffee and some toast. I wasn’t feeling hungry enough to do more.
I was trying to kill time until I felt Electra was awake.
When she was, I planned to see her and hopefully talk.
We hadn’t touched on the other topic that kept me awake.
That kiss we shared had rocked me to my core.
It was more intense than any I’d ever had before, and my desire for Electra grew stronger as a result.
The way she responded told me she felt something more for me than friendship or basic esteem for a coworker.
I tried not to hope. What if I was wrong?
To have my hopes dashed would be painful as hell.
My attraction to Electra was more intense than I had ever felt for a woman before.
Before my accident, I’d been with more than a decent number of girls and women.
They liked bikers, even though I wasn’t officially one at the time.
My status as a legacy was enough. The danger and mystery of it called to them.
I hadn’t minded it because I wasn’t looking to get serious with any of them.
I was young and having fun. It was all about sex.
After I was hurt, the first year or so, I was too depressed to think about sex and women.
It wasn’t until I came out of that mindset that I slowly let myself think about them.
I kept trying with women in the hopes I’d find someone who wasn’t like the ones we get at the clubhouse.
After years of it, I’d given up. I still, on a rare occasion when I was desperate to feel something other than my hand, slept with a woman.
The sex was fine. The emptiness left behind wasn’t.
After Scorpion got together with Paige, and I saw what a genuine, loving relationship meant for them, I stopped pursuing unfulfilling sex.
The club sluts and hangers-on offered, but I said no.
Finishing up my toast and coffee, I was about to take Dozer for a walk when I saw Scorpion coming into the common room. It was too early for him to be up, and even if he was, why wasn’t he at home? He spotted me and came over to drop into a chair next to me.
“What got you in here this early? Paige kick your snoring ass out of the house?” I joked.
“Screw you, I don’t snore, asshole. And my woman wouldn’t kick me out of our bed for it if I did. If you must know, I brought her over not long ago to confer with Wolverine. She’s in with him and Electra.”
Mentioning Electra had me on alert. “What do you mean they had to confer? Why are they with Electra? Is she okay?” I barked.
Scorpion’s gaze settled on me and went from slightly surprised to knowing. “Goddamn it, I knew it. You’ve got the hots for the Fed. Leave it to you to want the one woman you can’t have. Shit. Please tell me it’s merely that you find her sexy and would like to fuck her, and that’s it.”
I remained silent. He groaned. “Goddamn it, Swerve, you can’t have her.
For one, she’s the law. Secondly, she spied on our club.
Do you think Diablo would allow her to be with you, even if she wants to be?
You know how protective he is. The rest of us might give her the benefit of the doubt, but we’re talking about Diablo.
How would it work? She’s a federal agent, and while we’re no one-percenter club, we’re not lily-white innocents.
There’s no way you can keep everything from her, and that would mean we end up in jail one day. ”
Nothing he said was untrue, and I knew it, but it didn’t change anything. I wanted Electra Winters, wait, make that Prescott.
“Swerve, talk to me, man.”
“What do you want me to say, Scorpion? I know those are true, and the chances that she’d want me, period, are slim, but I still have hope and want her. Do you know how it feels to think that she could be into me enough to overlook this?” I slammed my fists on the arms of my wheelchair.
“Yet, it’s for nothing because my club won’t accept her, and even if they did, her job would be the downfall of it all. It fucking makes me want to scream. Talk about getting fucked over again. What did I do to deserve this?” I muttered.
He was quiet for a long moment before he spoke again. “Do you have any indication that she feels the same?”
“Yesterday, after we found out she was FBI and I went to see her, we ended up kissing before Boone showed up, and everything went to hell. Scorpion, it was hands down the best kiss of my life. And she responded to it. I haven’t had time to ask her about it.
Brother, I think about her constantly. I can’t sleep.
I’m sexually frustrated beyond anything I’ve ever been.
I’ve had more erections just thinking and dreaming about her than I’ve had since the fucking wreck,” I admitted.
There was no shame between the two of us.
He whistled. “Shit, you do have it bad. Do you know what this reminds me of? Me when I was trying to deny how I felt about Paige. Tell me what I can do.”
“Nothing. You said it yourself. Either her job or the club will nix it if she does feel anything other than pity for me.”
Before either of us could say more, the sound of voices caught our attention.
Looking toward the hall, I saw Paige and Wolverine enter the room.
It took effort not to go over and demand to know what was up with Electra.
When Paige saw her man, she made straight for us.
She kissed Scorpion. When she was finished, she sat, smiling at me. Wolverine sat down, too.
“Scorpion said you were talking about Electra. Is she doing alright?” I asked.
Wolverine scowled. “She developed a damn fever. The wound is infected. Paige performed some of her wound mojo magic on it, then called to have Dr. Neeson order an IV antibiotic for her. Darian is headed out to pick it up at the pharmacy. We’re hoping a few days on the IV will knock it out, and then we can finish off with pills.
I hate bullet wounds almost as much as knife wounds.
Those are dirty fuckers. Even though I thoroughly irrigated the wound, she’s still sick,” he grumbled.
My heart beat faster at the news that she was sick. “What if the IV doesn’t work?”