Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
axel
I flip through my messages; almost all of them are from Shiny, letting me know the Reaper we took is at the warehouse and filling me in on cleanup.
I roll my shoulders, excited to get my hands dirty and get some information out of him.
Realizing I have a missed call from Bear, I hit his contact and put the phone to my ear.
Jenna is still in the bathroom; our last conversation plays back in my head.
The look on her face leaves me worried. Had I been too honest with her?
She looked like she was going to run for the hills.
Fuck, get your shit together, Axel. There’s no time to sit around and have a fucking feelings circle.
Honestly, the toiletries are from my sister.
She and her asshat of a boyfriend are on again off again and when she needs a place to crash, she stays here and I find one of the guest rooms to stay in.
But Jenna questioning me about the girls I’ve slept with leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I don’t want her worrying about anyone else.
She should know how strongly I feel for her.
With her still occupied in the other room, I’m able to talk freely on the phone.
“Axel,” Bear answers in an almost groggy tone. Most of us are pissed off and tired, but we won’t be able to sleep until after Church.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“How’s Teach?” he asks. I pause. Is this what he’s really calling me about?
But it wouldn’t surprise me. Bear has always been very protective over women.
He was married a few years back but when things went down with Knife, she was collateral damage from the fallout with the Russians.
He’s never been the same and I don’t think I’ve actually seen him talk to another woman except for the old ladies.
“She’s fine, Bear. Was that all you called for?” I reply in a short tone. I need to get dressed and get downstairs for Church.
“No, we’ve got a problem down here you might need to see for yourself. Gunner’s lost his shit; we need to call Cali,” he says as I hear a commotion in the background.
“I’ll be down in five.” I hang up with more force than needed. Tossing my phone on the bed, I move to my dresser and pull out a pair of dark jeans and a long sleeve flannel. Jenna walks out of the bathroom as I sit on the edge of the bed to put on my socks and boots.
“You’re leaving?” she asks, giving me an unsure look.
She’s wearing nothing but one of my shirts.
It’s so big on her it falls just above her knees.
Her hair is still wet and falls around her face in deep red waves.
She’s the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.
It takes all my willpower to keep putting on my shoes and not pull her into bed with me.
“I have to go deal with something before Church. You’ll be fine here. I’ll have someone bring you food.” That look of confusion wrinkles her perfect features again at the mention of Church.
“You guys go to church in the middle of the night?” Jenna asks curiously.
I smirk to myself. “Angel, this isn’t the type of Church you’re thinking of.” I finish lacing up my boots and stand in front of her. Nothing stands between me and her naked body except for the thin material of my shirt.
“It’s what we call a club meeting. All the club officers meet to discuss business.”
Her eyebrows raise for a moment, and then her eyes latch onto mine. “Huh, I thought I had entered some extremely religious biker club.”
I rub my hands down her silky arms, feeling goosebumps erupt in their wake. It’s nice to know I affect her just as much as she affects me.
“Thinking about bolting?” I raise an eyebrow at her.
“Only about a dozen times,” she jokes and turns to walk over to the bed. “I mean, it would make more sense as to how this brood of large bikers has welcomed an innocent teacher into their lair… human sacrifice.” She wiggles her eyebrows as she says the last words.
I watch as she pulls the covers back and settles herself right in the middle of the bed.
I’ve never let a woman actually sleep in my bed before, but I don’t know if anything has felt more right.
I grapple with my feelings, trying to suppress the surge of possessiveness that once again consumes me.
Every time I look at her, I know she’s made just for me.
Her curves fit my hands so perfectly, her face delicate but strong, and she’s braver than most grown men.
“Nope, sweetheart. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, you fit right in here.” I let her think I’m talking about the club.
Honestly, she does seem to fit right in with the club.
Sierra, the office manager at my garage, couldn’t stop blabbing about how great Jenna was after some dinner with the girls.
Even Cali, who almost never likes anyone new, seems to enjoy her company.
But really, there’s an unspoken truth: she fits perfectly here with me.
“A gorgeous, smart, pain in my ass. What more could I ask for?” That coaxes a giggle out of her. The sound makes my chest tighten. I love it when she laughs.
“Ugh, I knew I was destined to ride a motorcycle!” she says with gumption.
Something about the thought of having her ride on the back of my bike has my dick throbbing. Shit, I need to get downstairs to deal with business so I can come back and bury myself in her for the rest of the night.
She yawns and stretches her arms out in front of her, beckoning me forward. She’s adorable.
“Be safe, okay?” she whispers into my chest.
“Always,” I say into her hair.
She leans back, and I can’t help but leave her with a breath stealing kiss.
“Bed, now.” I tuck her in and watch as she fights to keep her eyes open.
I walk to the door. “If you need anything, text me.” Without a look back, I’m out the door.
Coming down the stairs, I hear shouting and chairs scooting around.
“We’ve got a fucking rat! I don’t care what the fuck you have to do, but we need to find the fucker and make them pay!”
I can’t see anyone yet, but I know that voice belongs to Gunner. Crazy bastard has a slug in his shoulder and is still yelling about club business. Stepping off the last step, I’m met with an absolute shitshow.
The first person I see is Cali, standing off to the side in a dark purple pantsuit and sky-high heels, her arms crossed against her chest. Her platinum blonde hair is pulled back into a perfectly slicked-back bun.
She exudes power when she needs to, but her face is painted with worry.
She’s staring at Gunner, who’s standing between Jax and Bear.
Both men flank his sides, keeping him upright.
He’s slurring his words, and it’s clear Doc gave him some hardcore pain medicine.
“Can you please take him up to his old room?” Cali says, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“No problem, Cali. I’ll have the guys help you get him back into bed,” Prince says as he walks toward her.
I make my way over to her and wrap an arm around her shoulders.
“You doing, okay?” I ask her. She looks up at me with tears in her eyes. Shit. I hate it when women cry, and honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Cali cry.
“Hey, Gunner is one tough son of a bitch. He’ll be fine.” I try to soothe her.
She nods at me and takes a deep breath, putting back on the mask of confidence and power that I’m used to.
“I know he will. I just… he said he was just doing boring club stuff tonight, and I get a mysterious call from Doc saying Gunner was shot. Nothing more. I was still at work, and I nearly had a heart attack.” She picks a piece of lint from the sleeve of her jacket.
“I’m fine, I promise. Just hate this part of it all. ”
I can’t imagine how hard this is for the women of the club. We signed up for this shit, knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into. They, on the other hand, didn’t. I give her a squeeze.
“Yeah, I’ll talk to Doc and remind him he can’t just drop that on you without detail.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s not his fault. It’s Gunner’s for putting himself in that position.” She moves away from us and starts to walk toward the door. “Thanks again for your help tonight, Prince. I owe you.” She waves to both of us as she struts up the stairs.
“No, doll. We owe you.” He tips his head toward her and walks back to the conference room.
Why would we owe Cali?
Men file into Church as we sit in our designated spots. Only patched members are allowed tonight, seeing as how we may have a rat among us. Jax sits outside the door with a basket for everyone to drop their cell phones into while Knife takes his wand and searches the room for bugs.
“All clear,” both of them say in unison.
Prince bangs the gavel and takes a seat at the head of the table. He doesn’t talk at first, but leans back and lights a cigarette. Taking a deep drag, he stares up at the ceiling and then back down.
“Well, boys, tonight has proved one thing to me. The Reapers are not here to make peace; they’re here for war.
Nothing and nobody are off-limits to them, so tonight I want you all to make plans.
I’m opening the clubhouse up to those of you who want to bring your families here.
Keep ‘em safe. Anyone wants to leave or has to go somewhere, make sure there is protection with them.”
Everyone stays quiet and nods. I’ve already decided Jenna is staying with me until this shit is all taken care of.
I don’t care how long it takes. She’s going to hate the idea; she already nearly blew a gasket when I told her she was staying tonight.
I wish I could take her to my house. She’d be way more comfortable.
It’s nothing special—I bought it a few years back to have a place of my own but rarely ever stay there.
But I haven’t been able to set up a security system there, so we’ll stay here.
“Otherwise, I want business as usual. We don’t want those fucking Reaper scum thinking they’ve spooked us. Everyone goes to work and does their shit, but we keep a close eye out.”
Prince looks to me.
“I know this has touched some people who don’t exactly belong to the club, but if she stays, you better make sure she can be trusted.”
I look around the room for a moment, looking each of my brothers in the face. I don’t want to claim Jenna yet. She’s not ready for that yet. But I need to make it clear that she’s mine.
“She can be trusted,” I say sternly.
Prince nods to me, and I make eye contact with Blaze.
“I’m not claiming her yet. Shit, I’ve only known her for a few weeks, but she’s mine.”
You could hear a pin drop in the room.
“Oh, look who’s got his balls in a sling now,” Jax jokes from across the table.
The men erupt with laughter, and the tense feeling in the room relaxes a bit.
I deserve that. When he claimed Sierra, I gave him nonstop shit for settling down and being tied to one woman.
Didn’t see the point with all the ready and available pussy we have around here.
Well, that was until a sexy teacher walked into my life.
“Fuck you,” I say while flipping him off with both hands. A smile pulls at the corner of my lips.
“Alright, you two,” Prince says like a father separating his kids.
“We gonna talk about the fact that we probably have a fucking rat among us?” Bear says from the back of the room. He’s leaned back in his chair so the front two legs are suspended in the air.
“There’s a reason we called an officer-only meeting, boys.” Prince juts out his chin toward Blaze.
“We have a hunch that it might be one of the prospects,” Blaze says.
“A hunch? What the fuck do you know?” I say in a pissed-off tone. If they knew something, we should have dealt with it by now. The thought of having someone unloyal in the club makes me see red. Whoever it is, is going to see why you never cross us or put the lives of us and our families in danger.
“Relax. We aren’t sure. That’s why we’re going to feed each of them a different story as to how we’re going to retaliate. If the Reapers make a move to attack, then we’ll know who the rat is.” A menacing smile grows on his face. “Then we’ll deal with them.”
It’s a good plan, but it also means we have to keep the prospects separated for the time being. We only have three at the moment, so that won’t be too difficult.
We devise a plan for what we’ll tell each prospect and how it’ll be delivered to them.
The itch to figure out who the prick is overtakes me, I just want this done.
I practically vibrate with anger. Every officer agrees on the plan.
This will be done tonight, and we hope it’ll lead us right to the dead man walking.
Prince stands, and we all give him our attention again.
“Remember, tonight you get your shit in order because tomorrow we figure out how to take these fuckers down.” He bangs the gavel, and we all stand to leave.
Thank fuck. I need to get back to Jenna. I bet she’s already fallen asleep and I want to wrap myself around her for a couple of hours.
I get two steps out of the Church doors when I feel a hand slap down on my shoulder. I turn back to see Jax.
“Prez wants us to go deal with the guy at the warehouse.” He says as he heads for the main door leading to our bikes out front.
“Already planned on going in the morning,” I snap back not wanting to deal with anymore of this shit right now. The guy isn’t going anywhere and I am so worked up I’m not sure I’m going to have the patience needed to do this interrogation well.
“No can do. Said it needs to be done now,” Jax says as he opens a piece of gum and pops it into his mouth.
I roll my shoulders, trying to alleviate some of the tension. “Fine.”
“Don’t worry, lover boy. You’ll be back soon enough.” Jax slaps my back as I walk out into the dark night.