Chapter 40
Chapter
Forty
We’ve been sat in the shadows across the street from a scruffy dive bar for the last three hours. We’d got a call from the owner to let us know that six members of the Poisoned Devils were inside. When we got here, we sent in one of the new prospects as a civilian to check it out. Once he confirmed they were in there, Ice made a call for a few more of the brothers to head down. We want to deal with these fuckers as swiftly as possible, and we’d need more than myself, Ice and the newbie to do it. So, Nitro and Gears arrived on their bikes followed by Tongue, Blades, Doc and Priest in one of the club’s vans.
“How’s things with you and Marissa?” Nitro asks, side eyeing me the longer I take to answer.
“Good.” One word, what else am I meant to fucking say? I enjoy being with her, I enjoy fucking her and watching her break. And I love how she lets me test her limits.
But it won’t last. It can’t.
Every time I think about having a future with her, I remember how Chloe betrayed me. I know Marissa isn’t Chloe but most of the women we meet in our world are only after a property patch and I can’t help the niggle in the back of my head that tells me it will never work.
We sit up as we watch two of the members leave the bar and climb onto their bikes. As they ride off Nitro gives the nod to the brothers in the van for them to follow while the rest of us stay behind to make sure the others don’t come out of the bar and catch us.
A few seconds later the van disappears from sight, and we’re focused on the bar door once more. As I settle back onto the seat of my Harley, Nitro lights up a smoke and then turns to me. “You’re getting your dick wet while leading her on. It isn’t fair on her, if you aren’t going to commit…”
“I can’t fucking commit to her,” I hiss out at him, and he glares at my outburst.
He lets out a heavy sigh turning his gaze back to the bar. “If you can’t commit. Don’t be a prick, fucking let her go.” The conversation over, he pulls out his phone, taps the screen a few times and then tucks it back into his pocket.
“The two who left the bar have been secured and are on their way to the clubhouse. Let’s go. Now we know where they drink, we can take the others another night.” Not waiting for any of us to respond he starts his engine and takes off in the direction of the clubhouse.
I stood and watched as Tongue and Ice literally tore apart one of the Devils in the hopes that we would get more information out of them but to their credit they both remained tight lipped. Tipping my head against the wall I watch as Tongue slices parts of skin from the remaining member. Knowing he won’t talk, it’s no longer about getting information; this is simply a form of enjoyment for Tongue, the rest of us are just here to watch.
Dropping the knife, he steps back from his torture.
“Brother?” Ice questions him.
We all watch him waiting for some sort of response from him, but he just shrugs his shoulders and walks over to the sink and washes his hands without a word.
“Guess he’s done,” Ice quips and the rest of us chuckle.
We turn to the Devil strung up from the ceiling, naked, beaten and missing half of his skin as well as some fingers and toes, bones broken, eyes swollen shut and blood dripping from almost every part of him.
Nitro, Ice and I follow Tongue up from the basement, and along the corridor toward the main room. The closer we get, the louder the din of music and chatter becomes. Nobody bats an eye as we walk through the door. Tongue as usual heads for the stairs, he isn’t social so will avoid crowds unless he’s made to stay.
As I make my way over to the bar I stop when I realise the others aren’t following me. I turn to see Nitro watching Ice as he heads over to Georgia-Rae. A quick glance tells me she’s watching Nitro though and I shake my head turning back and slapping my President on the arm.
“What the fuck?” I ask when I realise he's watching her and not Ice. I see him swallow as he looks at me and then storms off toward the bar.
Taking a seat on the stool I give the prospect a chin lift and then turn to face the room, leaning back and placing my elbows on the counter.
I watch as Ice and Georgia-Rae talk. He’s protective of her as a big brother should be, but it feels like more. He doesn’t seem to just protect her from the men of the club, it’s like he wants to protect her from the world. I get it, the life we choose to live is dangerous, but it’s clear she isn’t a shrinking violet and if he pushes her too hard, she’s likely to push back.
“Prez, tell me you haven’t gone there? Ice will fucking kill you.”
He turns stepping into my space, his face close to mine his anger evident as he quietly bites out, “Firstly what I do has fuck all to do with you or anyone. And secondly Ice couldn’t kill me.”
“You’re my brother and my President and I respect that, but as your friend I’m telling you it would be a mistake. She’s off limits.”
He grabs his bottle from the counter and downs half of it before turning back to face me. “I’m not fucking stupid. Nothing happened. Maybe you should worry about your own love life instead of mine.” He tips his head in the direction of the door and then storms off in the direction of Tank and Gears.
My jaw drops and my heart pounds as I see Marissa standing in the doorway of the clubhouse looking fucking stunning in black jeans, black leather jacket and a white t-shirt. Her blonde hair curled but tied back in a ponytail.
Just looking at her makes my dick hard and I’d love nothing more than to grab her and drag her to my room and fuck her senseless, but the fucking crazy side of my brain loses its shit as I watch her head over to Maria who bounces up and down with excitement as Marissa hands her a book of something.
I know my thoughts are irrational as I storm over there. But I can’t control them. The crazy is in control right now and it’s about to create a shit show.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I bellow out before I’ve even reached her.
The room goes silent, and she slowly turns to face me, her eyes widen like she’s surprised but then she pulls a mask over her face. I hear Maria whisper, “Shit.” As I reach them.
“I was just dropping something off for Maria. I didn’t realise you’d be here.” Her voice is calm, but I hear a bite of annoyance and I’m turned on by the confidence she portrays.
“So, you thought that you could just fucking show up to my house uninvited because you thought I wouldn’t be here…”
“I invited her here and told her that you wouldn’t be,” Maria pipes up, stepping a little in front of Marissa trying to protect her, but my girl is having none of it. She steps to the side and glares at me.
“You look fucking desperate turning up here. I told you that you were nothing more than a good fuck. I knew I should have fucking kicked you to the curb weeks ago. I knew you’d turn into a clingy little bitch,” I yell at her, my crazy fully on the surface now.
I see in my peripheral brothers moving toward me, Ice steps to my right, his sister Georgia-Rae stepping up to Marissa.
A hand clamps down on my shoulder, and I quickly glance to see Nitro standing behind me and Tongue appearing from fuck knows where moving to stand beside Marissa and I snort a laugh, fucking prick.
“You should have fucking left London when I told you to. Get the fuck out of my clubhouse and stay the fuck away from me and everyone associated with the club. Go find yourself some other desperate arsehole to get your claws into, you’re not fucking welcome here.”
She sighs and then turns to give Maria a quick hug before turning back to me, no emotion on her face. She takes a step toward me and Tongue steps with her, for a minute I think he’s getting ready to remove her, but then I realise that he’s doing it to protect her. I can’t believe he thinks I’d fucking hurt her. Not like that at least.
“I didn’t come here to see you.” I’m stunned by how cool her tone is toward me, I know I deserve it and I swallow down the bile in my throat as she continues. “Let’s clear up a few things. You were the one who came to me, each and every single time, not the other way around. I’ve never been clingy with you, despite how I feel, or felt about you. You never once said what we were, but I didn’t need you to tell me. The fact that you turned up whenever you wanted and got what you wanted then left made it fucking clear.” She takes a couple of deep breaths and then takes a few steps toward the exit before stopping and turning back to me. “And one last thing. Nobody, absolutely, fucking nobody in this world tells me where I can and cannot live nor who I can fucking talk to. You don’t want anything to do with me then that’s fine, stay the fuck away from me. But you do not get to dictate who I talk to.” She glances at my brothers and then gives a small smile to Maria and Georgia-Rae before turning and casually walking out the way she came in.