Chapter Thirty-Three
Chasm
I sat at the bar watching O’Malley at the other end, talking with Smokey. Anyone with eyes could see Smokey had a thing for Benny, and I couldn’t help but wonder how O’Malley would react.
Cian sat down on one side of me and Duncan sat on the other. Mac sat halfway down the bar, his head swiveling back and forth between me and his boss.
“You’re a lucky man, Chasm.”
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” I asked, taking a drink of my beer.
“Because if you’d done to my daughter what you did to Morgan, you’d be dead.”
Duncan chuckled beside me. “Ci doesn’t have a long-lost son he’s trying to connect with. King is the only reason you aren’t dead.”
“I think Morgan would have something to say about that,” I argued.
“Would she?” Mac said from his stool a few seats away.
I wanted to believe she would. I wanted to believe she still loved me and was just afraid I would leave again. Afraid she would lose me a third time.
I wouldn’t let that happen. I was done being afraid myself. Done trying to be selfless and keep her out of this shit. It was time to be fucking selfish and lock her down so she couldn’t leave me.
I opened my mouth to say something when the door opened again. King and his entourage had arrived. I groaned, and Duncan snickered beside me.
“The fun has just begun,” he whispered as he slid off his stool and walked over to the group.
“Lannie!” He shook Declan’s hand and then pulled the woman next to him into his arms. “Hey, little sister.”
“Hey, Duncan,” Maureen said behind her hand as she yawned.
O’Malley greeted his son and then pulled Grace into his arms. I was surprised when she hugged him back willingly. I was more surprised to see Darcy, King’s mother, and two old timers from the Soulless Sinners.
Popeye didn’t surprise me as much as Snoopy did. Then again, Popeye was Grace’s father, and Snoopy... well, he had a son with Darcy.
A son I glared at.
Hemlock moved around the group and stood beside me at the bar. He motioned the prospect for a beer, and I asked, “You tell Reaper the truth yet?”
“Nope.”
“You going to?”
“Maybe.” The big bastard grinned.
“What about King? Does he know?”
I briefly caught the guilt that washed over his face before he turned and looked at his brother.
“No.”
I stood up and whispered, “Tell him the truth before he finds out from someone else. He doesn’t take well to betrayal.”
“It’s not a betrayal,” the Viking grumbled.
“Isn’t it? You knew who he fucking was, and you never said a fucking word.”
“Did you?”
I clenched my back teeth and ground out, “I didn’t get the chance to before I was blown the fuck up.”
Hemlock growled low and glared at me. “It’s not fucking time yet.”
I shook my head and walked away from him. If he wanted any kind of relationship with his brother, he needed to step the fuck up.
I stood on the outside of the group as my men surrounded them and said hello to King and Blade. Grace stepped up beside me.
“How is it going with Morgan?”
“Fucking slow.”
“You tell her the truth yet?” I looked down at Grace. We didn’t have the best first impression. When I met her at the bar in Diamond Creek, I had decided I didn’t like her because I knew King loved her. I’d been watching him for months sneaking in and out of her house.
But when the bullets started flying, my only thought was keeping her safe.
“I don’t know if I can.”
“Then you don’t want her back.” Grace blew out a breath, and said, “I know it’s hard.
Telling King everything, about why I went to Diamond Creek and then what happened to me.
” She looked down at her hands pressed against her belly.
She was a few weeks ahead of Morgan but wasn’t showing yet.
“It was so damn hard. And all I wanted to do was run. But he never gave up on me.”
“It’s not the same, Grace. The things I’ve done...”
“Were to keep her safe. Keep her protected. That will mean something to her. But you have to tell her why.” She looked around the room. “Where is she?”
“I think she’s in the kitchen.” I watched my men as they fawned over King. Smiling and laughing at everything he said. He looked over, catching my gaze, and his smile never faded, except from his eyes.
“You two need to work this shit out,” Grace said. “Maureen, Colleen, and Beck, let’s go to the kitchen.” I noticed she didn’t mention Darcy.
“A little bit of the pot calling the kettle black, don’t you think?” I asked her pointedly.
“No. She walked away from her sons to keep them safe; I understand that. But she could have come back to him long before now. If Dread hadn’t found her, she wouldn’t have ever come back. Coming back is hard to forgive, but never coming back would have been harder. Remember that.”
“Darcy, come on,” Maureen said, grabbing King’s mother by the hand.
Benny was in the kitchen with Morgan, and I wondered how that introduction would go, as O’Malley stared after Darcy.
It was clear Darcy was the one who got away—for O’Malley and Snoopy.
Morpheus, the cold-hearted bastard, didn’t give her much thought after asking her for a divorce he didn’t legally need.
But the look on the faces of the two men in this room, two men who each loved her and had children with her, said that maybe O’Malley would forget why he hated me so fucking much.
When his eyes looked in my direction and I saw the sneer on his face, I realized nothing would make him forget that shit.
“You gonna survive this, Prez?” B asked at my side.
“I guess we’ll see.” I watched as Blade hugged the brothers he knew from when he was here before. I didn’t know him well; he’d just been patched in when the explosion happened and took my life away from me. “You get the rooms ready?”
“Yeah, I’ll have Nathan show them all where they’re staying.”
“No, have Brian do it.”
B was quiet. “He’s the only prospect you’ve gotten to know.”
“Yeah, so?” I asked as I looked at him.
“I’m just wondering why.”
“Because I know he’ll make it. The others are up in the air, but Brian wants this for the right reasons. He wants a family. A place to belong. There’s no better reason to join a club than that.”
I should know because that wasn’t why I joined the club. I joined because I was ordered to. Ordered to infiltrate the Silver Shadows and learn what I could.
And there wasn’t much to learn, not while Titan was president. The Silver Shadows were an outlaw club. A 1% club who lived by their own rules, but they weren’t fucking dirty.
Not until Steele took over.
That was when my job began. That was when I started doing what I was sent there to do. The Biker Federation was working behind the scenes to clean up the overall image of MCs. My job was to find the men who were a threat to the Federation and quietly take them out.
I fucking failed.
“Chasm.”
“King.”
He stared me down, and I held out my hand. I had to take the first step, for Morgan. For my kid. For my club. They needed to see a united club, so when he shook my hand, I pulled him in for a hug.
He slapped me on the back and held tight for a moment.
For those few brief seconds, nothing had changed. There was no betrayal on either side. No woman between us. Just two best friends, two brothers, who had lost seven fucking years.
It was Thanksgiving after all. A time to give thanks for everything you had. And I was fucking thankful for my club. But I was thankful he was here. I wouldn’t fucking tell him that, but I was.
I needed to come clean with him.
I needed to tell him everything. About James, the Federation, all of it. But I needed backup. And when the front door opened, I sighed. Because my fucking backup had finally arrived.
My brother moved through the room with authority. He stopped to say hello to Popeye and Snoopy, his club brothers. Then he made his way to me and wrapped his arms around me.
“I’m so fucking glad you’re here,” I whispered.
Justin chuckled and leaned back. “I’ve always got your back.”
“King.” Justin held out his hand, and King took it.
“Shame.”
“Okay, everyone. My old lady wants this room set up before the night is over.” King raised a brow at me, and I ignored him.
“She doesn’t want to be stressed out tomorrow, making sure we have everything we need.
So get the tables and chairs set up. Brothers, show these degenerates where everything is. ”
“You have anything?” I asked my brother.
“Yeah, let’s move into church.”
I nodded and said to King, “Grab your old man. Just him for now.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you in church.” I walked away, and my brother followed me into church, while King went to get O’Malley.
When the four of us were settled in the room, I began.
“When I took over as president, I went through Steele’s office and found six files with the names of six women.” I looked at King and O’Malley. “You both know Morgan was one of them. But from what we can find, he had no idea we were married.”
“Then why have a file on her?” King asked.
“We think he was looking into her because he saw her with you after the explosion.”
“What?”
“Omen found some evidence that Steele was having you tailed after the explosion and saw you spending time with Morgan.”
“I was checking on her every day, especially after the baby...” His words fell off, and his hands clenched into fists on the table. After a beat, he slammed his hands on the wooden surface and stood to pace the room.
“We think he discovered her link to O’Malley. When she went home to Rosewood, he left her alone. My guess is, he didn’t want to tangle with the Sons of Hell,” Justin said.
King eyed my brother. Everyone knew who he was and what he was capable of. “If Steele found that information so easily, why didn’t you?”
Justin looked at me, and I nodded. “Because Jude asked me not to look into her.”
“And you agreed?” O’Malley asked. He’d been quiet until then.
“Yes,” Justin said without any further explanation.
O’Malley shook his head, then looked at me. “Would it have made a difference?” he asked, and when I pulled my brows in, he answered the question I didn’t ask. “If you’d known she was my daughter, would you have still pursued her? Married her? Left her?”
“Yes. I know you don’t believe this, but I love your daughter. I haven’t looked at another woman since the day I met her. Knowing you were her father wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference. I did what I had to in order to protect her.”
“Maybe you should have thought about that before you made her fall in love with you.”
“Sal,” King warned.
“No, Son. My daughter, your fuckin’ sister, is in danger because of this selfish bastard.”
“I won’t fucking apologize for that,” I spat. “And I won’t fucking back down now because you want me to. I told you, she’s mine.”
“You don’t deserve her,” he snarled.
“I FUCKING KNOW THAT!” I shouted.
“Jude,” Justin said, his hand going to my arm. I shrugged him off and leaned my hands on the table, my eyes piercing O’Malley.
“You want me out of your daughter’s life? You’ll have to fucking kill me. And I don’t die fucking easy. Better men than you have tried and fucking failed.”
O’Malley tried to stand, and King immediately slammed a hand on his shoulder. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. What is the point to this?”
Justin spoke before me and said, “We believe that when the news broke about you being O’Malley’s son, that was what pushed Steele into working with the Death Dogs.”