Chapter 11 West
ELEVEN
WEST
“God damn it!” I roared.
I slammed my fist against the van door as she cranked the engine.
I strode for my bike and hopped onto it as quickly as possible, not wanting to let that woman out of my fucking sight.
She was infuriating, and probably the greatest risk to the club at the moment.
And for some reason, I wanted to keep her damn secret for her.
“Fucking women,” I murmured.
I fell in line right behind her with my full tank of gas and settled on one truth: that I’d follow her wherever she went.
I hoped she didn’t get any smart ideas, but if she did, she’d figure out sooner rather than later that our van couldn't outrun a bastard on a bike. I stayed in her blind spot as well. I didn’t want her clocking me and maneuvering around me in any way.
I didn’t want her to have eyes on me in case she got smart and tried to take off, because if I needed to, I’d take those damn tires out with the gun on my hip.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Chloe,” I whispered.
Thankfully, we cruised all the way back to the clubhouse. She didn’t divert or take a different way. In fact, she took the most efficient way, and that gave me a bit of hope. Maybe she finally understood the severity of this situation.
But the second she charged out of the van and slammed the door behind her, I knew that wasn’t exactly the case.
“I don’t even want to BE here anymore!” she screamed.
I rushed up to her and grasped her upper arm in my grip. “Keep your damn voice down. For all I know, you’ve been followed back because you’re an idiot.”
She yanked away from me. “Let me go. Don’t you ever fucking touch me without my permission, you brute.
You aren’t in charge of me. This isn’t my group of friends or family.
This is Lexi’s place with Dean. Not mine.
And I don’t have to stay here if I don’t fucking want to.
I’m packing up my shit and getting the hell out of here.
You all are crazy as fuck. I’m leaving. Today. ”
She glared at me before she stormed through the front door as Stone called out my name.
Great. Just fucking grand. That meant he recognized the fact that I had been gone.
Not only did I have a target that wanted to flee the first chance she got, but I had a president breathing down the back of my damn neck.
“Well,” I called out as she strode down the hallway, “if you want to take the fucking cartel on by yourself, then by all means have fun!”
Chloe flipped me off before she turned the corner to make her way to her room and I watched as Stone poked his head out of the living room.
“Where the hell have you been?” he glowered. “I’ve been calling for you forever.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. I didn’t know what the hell possessed me to lie for the damn woman, but I decided it was the best decision for all of us.
“Chloe got spooked and tried to run again. I swear, she’s jumpier than a damn bean.
I left because I went to follow her and drag her ass back so that she doesn’t compromise all of us in the process of trying to go home. She doesn’t like it here.”
Stone scoffed. “I don’t give a shit what she does and doesn’t like. She doesn’t get to put all of us in jeopardy simply because of the company she keeps. That’s a personal problem on her part, so solve it.”
“I’m trying,” I murmured to myself.
“And one other thing,” Chloe hissed as she came back down the hallway.
But before I could interject to tell her that someone else had jumped into the conversation, Stone turned the corner and stepped into the hallway.
Separating me and her.
“Look,” Stone said as his voice hardened, “I charged West with keeping you alive. Keeping you safe. If you don’t want to keep your brains inside your fucking skull, that’s a personal problem.
But as long as you’re under this roof, you’ll do whatever it takes to keep all of us safe.
Women, children, and pregnancies. Got it? ”
Fear passed behind Chloe’s eyes. “I don’t know who the hell you people are or why you’ve suddenly become so obsessed with me—”
“Make no mistake,” Stone glowered as he hovered over her, coating her in his shadow, “we aren’t obsessed with you.
We’re trying to make sure no roads lead from the cartel to us, and right now you’re on that road.
If you don’t like it, pack your shit, and take your chances.
But if I ever catch wind that you’re talking with the cartel, the feds, or with anyone that poses a threat to us while we’re vulnerable? I’ll kill you myself.”
“Stone!” Texas barked.
And that was when Chloe unleashed. “I’m packing my things. You all are crazy as hell.”
“Chloe, wait!” I roared.
I shoved past Stone, not giving a damn that I had almost knocked him off his feet.
They’d all lost their damn minds, and I’d be lucky if I could convince Chloe to stay around after what he had just said.
I heard Texas chastising the man as I rounded the corner.
Chloe strode into her room and tried slamming the door closed.
But I slid my steel-toed boot in at the last second and stopped it from shutting.
“Get the hell away from me!” she shrieked.
I shook my head. “You need to take a breath and calm down before we talk.”
She ripped the door open. “Me? Calm down? The man that leads you guys just threatened to kill me! I’m not calming down for shit! I’m packing my stuff and booking it out of this fucking place. This has never been home for me, anyway.”
“We’re just trying to keep you safe. Quit being so damn—”
“What?” she asked as her eyes watered. “Difficult? Emotional? Curt? Crass? All of the things men don’t like women being because it makes us complicated?
Did you ever stop to think that all you’re doing is holding me prisoner?
I’m not your fucking prisoner. I’m not your inmate.
And I won’t stay here when I’ve had my life threatened. ”
“Your life will be threatened out there, too. Except we won’t be here to help you.”
She pulled a bag out from beneath her bed. “Either help me or get out of my way.”
I slipped into her room and closed the door, then I quietly flipped the lock.
We needed a barrier away from the guys that were already running hot in the first place.
I knew people were gathering to figure out what the hell was going on.
Boot-steps paced back and forth, up and down the hallway.
Probably trying to find some sort of tidbit to report back to the homicidal president of our club.
So, I grabbed Chloe and tugged her into the bathroom.
“Oh, for fuck’s—let me go!” she shrieked.
I tossed her into the bathroom and slammed the door closed behind me. “Breathe.”
Her chest panted with anger. “Get the hell out of my way.”
I shook my head. “Not until you fucking breathe, Chloe. We’re all running hot right now, you especially.
I get that you don’t like being controlled.
Neither do I. But right now, the cartel has us under their thumb and we’re all being controlled until we find a way out of this.
Your problems aren’t unique. Everyone here is in your exact situation right now.
The only difference is that we’ve come to terms with it. ”
She folded her arms across her chest. “So, I’m supposed to roll over and play dead because that’s what everyone else did.”
“Does it look like that’s what we’re doing? Because the last thing I remembered, you weren’t even capable of fighting them off when they took you last time. How are you going to protect yourself out there if you couldn’t do it last time?”
A tear dripped down her cheek. “That’s a low fucking blow, West.”
I took a step toward her. “And it’s the truth. You’ve got to face the truth, Chloe. Just for a little bit. Think rationally for five minutes, and you’ll realize why I’m right.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
I took a chance and gripped her upper arms softly, our bodies only inches apart.
“Neither do I. Neither does anyone else here. But right now? We’re trying to protect lives.
We’re trying to keep families safe. We’re trying to push the cartel out of our territory so that the people of our hometown don’t get hooked on drugs they don’t need.
That’s what we’re trying to do. We aren’t here to torture you.
That’s a narrow-minded way of thinking about this situation. ”
“So, yet again, nothing in my life is about me. Got it.”
I gripped her tighter and brought her closer to my face. “Are you always this stubborn? Because I get why you’re single if you’re always this stubborn.”
Her eyes fell to my lips. “Maybe if men weren’t such assholes, I wouldn't be so damn stubborn.”
I swallowed hard. “Maybe if you listened for once instead of thinking you know everything, men wouldn’t have to be such assholes when trying to get something through your thick skull.”
Her eyes fluttered up to mine. “Fuck you.”
“Don’t mind if you do,” I said breathlessly.
And as I crashed my lips to hers, her curves melted against my muscles.
Allowing me the full scope of her warmth as my hands fell away from her arms and cloaked her back.