Chapter 3
3
Chase
I slowly dragged my eyes open when the apartment door creaked. Trigger slipped inside, quietly shutting the door behind him. I pulled one of my hands from behind my head and rubbed at my eyes, feeling absolutely fucking drained and exhausted.
And my head still felt like it was splitting open. A nap hadn’t done shit for the pain throbbing through my skull.
“Did I wake you?” Trigger asked, his deep voice low and gruff. It sent shivers down my spine, which I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand a lot of things lately when it came to my body’s responses to Trigger. Listening to him speak was like listening to pure sex. And more than once, he’d made my dick hard.
I didn’t get it. I was straight. I’d always been straight. Never been interested in a guy in my life. But more often than not now, I found myself dreaming of being inside him or him being inside of me while we were with Sophia, and it was driving me crazy . I was too old for some kind of fucking sexual awakening.
I was damn near thirty. Wasn’t I too old for a gay-for-you moment? Because I wasn’t bi or pan. Couldn’t be when I wasn’t interested in any other man than Trigger, right?
“Yeah, but it’s fine,” I gruffly answered. I dropped my hand to rest on my bare stomach, watching as Trigger opened his drawers. His lips quirked when he saw that not only had Sophia put his things away, but she’d organized everything just right for him. Our woman was a bit of a neat freak, especially after her attack. She sought control of little things in her life. Trigger and I both did our best to help keep everything organized.
But she was still more than happy to let me and Trigger have control of her body in the bedroom. And fuck, did we thrive in the trust she placed in us.
“Soph still downstairs?” I asked. She’d gone down a little while ago to do some cleaning up with Jessica, Scorpion’s wife, so I’d taken the opportunity to catch a little bit of shut-eye and try to get rid of the headache that’d been pulsing at my temples. Seemed to have only gotten worse though, which was just fucking great.
“Yeah,” Trigger said as I eased out of bed. I winced, reaching up to rub at my temples when a particularly hearty throb slammed through my skull, making me a little lightheaded. “You good?”
I grunted a, “Yeah,” as I headed for the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. After emptying my bladder and washing my hands, I grabbed two Tylenol tablets and swallowed them dry before heading back into the room. I laid back down in bed and closed my eyes, willing the Tylenol to hurry and kick in.
“You don’t look okay,” Trigger said, the other side of the bed dipping as he sat down. I peeked one eye open to look at him, only to find him facing me, his brows furrowed in concern.
I sighed. “Just a headache, Trigger,” I muttered, shutting my eyes again. I just wanted to try to nap, though I couldn’t yet. While he wasn’t busy, I needed to talk to him about Sophia. “I just took some Tylenol. I’ll be fine.” I scratched at my beard, yawning. “We need to talk though.”
He shifted, and the sound of his boots thudding to the floor reached my ears a moment later. When I peeked my eyes open again, he was scooting back to rest against the headboard and crossing his legs at the ankles. “About?”
“Sophia,” I told him honestly. I closed my eyes again since the light was just making my head hurt worse. “She’s worried about the effect you being here and staying with us will have on our relationship. I assured her it wouldn’t change anything, but…” I sighed. “You know how she is.”
Trigger chuckled. “Yeah. But once she gets settled in, she’ll stop worrying. But just in case, I’ll help make sure she understands her bond with you isn’t going anywhere. You two are life, Chase.”
He was right. We were. I’d fought tooth and fucking nail to have her, and I was never letting her go. I just needed her to remember that.
We were quiet for a beat, and I was almost asleep again when Trigger suddenly said, his voice quiet, “We’ve got a fucking problem on our hands, Chase.”
A frown pulled at the corners of my lips, and I opened my eyes, squinting against the dim lighting. When had Trigger gotten up to turn off the overhead light? The only light now was the dim glow of the lamp from his side of the bed. Maybe I’d actually fallen deeper asleep than I thought I had.
“Is that why you’re here?” I asked, looking over at him. I’d been waiting for him to tell me what was going on. I knew he would in time and when our woman wasn’t in listening distance.
Trigger nodded. “Johnston had a… package waiting for him yesterday morning.” I frowned. “Someone is stalking Aaliyah and warned him that if Johnston didn’t give them what they wanted, Aaliyah would be…” He paused like he was trying to find the right words before settling on, “Next.”
Next.
Next.
Next .
My gut twisted and cramped, and my headache only got worse.
“Next as in…”
Trigger nodded, his expression grim and his lips flattened. “Yeah. Next as in what happened to Sophia.” A low growl rumbled from my chest. “Johnston wants this under wraps, so what I’m telling you doesn’t leave this room unless Scorpion mentions it.” If Scorpion mentioned it, then it would mean that Johnston had given the order. “Johnston gave me permission to tell you, but that’s it. I’m assuming he doesn’t want word of this getting back to Aaliyah, and I don’t blame him. What happened to Sophia…” I clenched my jaw. What had happened to Soph had been fucking horrifying. They’d not only raped her; they’d fucking brutalized her. Beaten her black and blue. Left her living in fear and suffering from PTSD. Trigger sighed. “I’m here until the stalker is eliminated, no matter how long that takes.”
My teeth audibly ground together. I still lived with the guilt of what happened to Sophia a year later. I hadn’t gotten to her in time, despite stalking her through the cameras in her store. This club, though she’d hated us at the time, had failed her, and she’d suffered just for her affiliation with us. And at the time, her affiliation had been nothing more than us being the security company she’d employed. That was it .
What would they do to Aaliyah, knowing she was the mother charter’s president’s wife?
“Russians?” I asked, but I knew in my gut, I already knew the answer.
Trigger nodded. “Yeah. They’re the only ones we’ve got beef with right now, and they’re on a power trip. They want our territory.”
I drew in a deep breath, forcing myself to remain calm. I couldn’t stomach the thought of something happening to Trigger, but I also knew this was the life we’d chosen. When we took that fucking oath and put those cuts on our backs, we agreed to lay our lives down for this club—for both charters and all its members. For this family.
“If you need backup,” I quietly told him, “I’m here.” Looking over at him, our eyes met, and with steel in my voice, I growled, “And don’t you dare fucking die, Trigger.”
He shook his head. “I won’t.” His lips quirked with a tiny smirk. “Got too much to live for now, Chase.”