Chapter 21 Puck
TWENTY-ONE
PUCK
The minute Stone told me to take a walk with him, I knew I was screwed. I peered over my shoulder to catch Brigid one last time, but she had already slipped away into her room. I didn’t want her worrying. I’d throw myself under the bus before I ever incriminated her. But did she know that?
Or would she continue to worry and keep herself awake?
“Follow me,” Stone said calmly.
I braced myself as we rounded the corner into one of the back hallways. We kept them deserted for a reason, just in case we needed to house one of our enemies. But now I was the enemy.
And Stone slammed me against the wall before he wrapped his hand around my throat.
“Stone, fucking hell,” I choked out.
He snarled at me. “What in the actual fuck do you think you’re doing?”
I gasped for air. “Dude, I’m sorry. It just sort of—”
He squeezed my neck further as his knee found my groin. “What part of ‘stay away from our contact’s daughter’ did you not fucking understand?”
I wrapped my hand around his wrist, trying to breathe in the process. “It isn’t what you think. If you’d just let me bre—”
Stone barked with laughter. “I know exactly what I saw and what I heard, for that matter. Neither of you are necessarily quiet.”
“Stone, I can’t breathe. I-I can’t—”
He dropped his hand before he slammed me against the wall again. “And now, I know exactly why that goddamn intel from Pathways was late. You two were fucking, weren’t you? At her place?”
I rubbed the raw spot around my neck. “Look, none of this was her idea. I was the one who came onto her. I was the one who—”
“I don’t give a shit who came onto who!” he bellowed.
His voice echoed down the entire hallway, and I prayed with all my might that none of her brothers were in this warehouse.
“Stone, let’s just take a breath and—”
In a flash, his hand wrapped back around my throat. “I don’t give a shit who started it or who jumped whose bones. I don’t care what you guys talked about, or what happened, or whether or not she pursued you. All I want is for you to end it.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
His face came closer. “End it or I’ll have your leather cut.”
I’d had enough. The second my hands pressed against his chest, I shoved him away so hard that he stumbled back into the opposing wall in front of me. His eyes lit up with anger and he balled up his fists, so I put one foot in front of the other and prepared for his assault.
But instead, he straightened his back. “You’re not worth my energy.”
I scoffed. “That makes two of us, then.”
His stare dropped down my body. “End it, or your career with us is done.”
“Are you really going to tell me that after all of the ways you and your O.G. members met the love of your lives?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying that Brigid is the love of your life?”
“Well, no. But—”
He growled as he leapt at me and punched me straight in my gut. “Then end it, you fucking sorry-ass piece of shit. Clancy is an overprotective motherfucker, and if he ever finds out you screwed around with his precious daughter, he won’t hesitate to kill you. And I just might let him.”
I doubled over and fell to my knees gasping for air as Stone walked away.
His words shocked me to my core as I tried to stumble up to my feet so I could tackle that pathetic excuse for a little bitch right to the ground.
If he thought he could take cheap shots like that because he was fucking president, he had another think coming.
But by the time I caught my breath and stood upright on my legs, he was gone.
“God damn it,” I growled.
“He’s right, you know,” Texas said.
I rolled my eyes as I leaned against the wall. “You come to punch me, too?”
He walked up to me, his shadow cloaking my entire body. “No. Just to help you back to your room.”
I scoffed. “I don't need your help.”
“Do you know what that man is capable of?”
I rolled my eyes as I started down the hallway. “I can only imagine.”
“No, you really can’t. If Clancy finds out that you’re shacking up with his daughter, there won’t be anything Stone can do to protect you. That wasn’t Stone’s rule he set forth; that was Clancy’s.”
I slowly turned around to face him. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
He shook his head. “Nope. And if you were to hurt her in any way? You know damned well none of us would be able to find your body to bury you the proper way.”
I leaned against the wall, continuing to catch my breath. “Been a while since I’ve had the wind knocked out of me like that.”
Texas patted my shoulder. “This isn’t a joke, okay? Brigid isn’t a conquest or some casual hookup. She isn’t a piece of ass you can fuck with. I’m saying this to protect your life, Puck. Not your pride. End whatever it is. Okay? Promise me?”
I looked up at him as I finally caught my breath. “Yeah, yeah. I promise.”
As Texas walked with me back to my room, I found my eyes gazing upon Brigid’s door.
Texas gave me the old one-two with his eyes before leaving me alone, but he made sure to peer over his shoulder before nodding in the direction of Brigid’s door.
I held my hand up and nodded, signaling to him that I had this.
That I could do this. But the second he disappeared around the corner, I charged into my own room and locked the door behind me.
What the fuck am I supposed to do now?
I limped into the bathroom and propped myself against the sink. I took a good, hard look at my face and the deep red mark Stone left around my neck with his bare hand. I rolled my shoulders, listening as my back cracked from my shoulders to my ass.
Then I shed my clothes so I could take the hottest shower imaginable.
“I need to fucking sleep,” I murmured to myself.
I turned on the water as hot as it would go and waited until steam filled the bathroom.
I stepped into the shower and couldn’t help but notice that the shower would have easily fit both me and Brigid with room to spare.
Damn it, the woman had crawled under my skin, and I didn’t want to end things with her.
She was the only slice of happiness to come my way in years.
Fucking years. And I was supposed to let that go because some dickhead from another country thought my dick wasn’t good enough for his damn daughter?
Why doesn’t he let her be the judge of that?
I ran my hands down my face as the water battered my sore muscles. I washed Brigid’s scent off my body before I sat on the floor, allowing the hot water to relax me. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back before stretching my legs out in front of me.
And as I sat there, allowing my mind to tumble out of control, there was only one thing I was sure of.
I don’t want to let her go.
But as I opened my eyes, reminding myself of where I really was, I wondered if that even mattered. I wondered if the guys even cared about what made me happy, despite the bullshit they went through just to keep their women at their sides.
It honestly felt like I didn’t have a fucking choice with these hypocrites hovering over me every second of every goddamn day.