Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chasm
“Jude.”
I turned around at Morgan’s soft voice. She’d barely spoken to me since her father and brother left. I didn’t blame her. I was an asshole to them and her. I never should have said shit about her not telling me who her father was.
I never told her who my father really was.
I never wanted to tell anyone. Never wanted to even acknowledge the bastard. But you couldn’t change who your parents were. No matter how hard you tried.
“What’s up, baby?”
Her cheeks reddened, and it made me smile. I slowly walked closer to where she stood in the doorway to church. I’d had the guys install the door when they moved her workroom upstairs. I wanted unrestricted access to her.
“Mom and I need to go shopping.”
“What do you need?”
She bit her lip and her eyes searched the floor for an answer I knew she didn’t want to give. I tucked my finger under her chin and lifted until I could see her face.
“What’s going on?”
“I need some new clothes.”
My eyes dropped to her belly. She was barely showing, but I knew she’d mostly been wearing jeans until the last few days.
“Clothes getting a little snug?” I asked with a grin. A grin I knew made her wet. A grin she’d never been able to resist in the past.
“Well, yes, but that’s not why I need new clothes. I mean I will need them eventually, but...”
“But what?” I pressed.
“I don’t have any clothes. The ones I’m wearing are my mother’s.”
I stepped back and looked at what she was wearing. Leggings and a long T-shirt. They were a little baggy, but I’d just assumed she wanted to be comfortable.
“Where are your clothes?”
“They were destroyed.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? When?” I asked. “How?”
She exhaled a weary breath and said, “The night before Thanksgiving, I went up to my room to lie down. When I got there, the room was in shambles. Everything I had was cut up and thrown on the floor.”
“What the fuck, Morgan?” I growled. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“Because my father was here, and my brother. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it.”
“It is a big fucking deal. Who fucking did it?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t there.”
I studied her face; she wouldn’t look me in the eye, so I asked, “Who do you suspect?”
She clamped her lips closed and stared at me.
“Who, Morgan?”
“Jenna.”
“Jesus Christ,” I cursed, and ran my hands through my hair. “You have to tell me this shit, babe.”
Morgan rolled her lips between her teeth and looked away. “What?” I growled, knowing there was more.
“My workroom was ransacked too.”
I put my hands on her waist and walked her back through the doorway. Looking around, I didn’t see anything out of place. When I turned to question her, she added, “When it was downstairs.”
“That was fucking months ago!”
She swallowed and I cocked my head to one side and then the other, trying to crack my neck and relieve the strain and tension I was now feeling.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because she’s just some jealous bitch.”
“I wish you would be a jealous fucking bitch for once,” I shouted. I closed my eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
She muttered something that sounded an awful lot like, “I am jealous.” But when I said, “What?” she answered, “Nothing. I promised my mother that I would tell you about the clothes. And now I need to go shopping.”
“Okay, let me put my shit away,” I said, moving back toward church.
“Smokey is driving us.”
“Morgan,” I started.
“Jude, please. Smokey said he’d drive us. We’ll be perfectly safe with him.”
I nodded and let it go. I followed her out into the main room and looked around.
“Smoke?”
“Yeah?”
“What vehicle are you taking?”
“The SUV.” He watched me, waiting for me to object, but it was the safest one we had.
“I’m going too,” Sully said.
“What?”
My sister looked at me. “Morgan invited me to go, so I’m going. I need some stuff too. I didn’t exactly pack to move.”
“Brian!” I shouted to the prospect behind the bar.
“Yeah, Prez?”
“Follow them. Morgan doesn’t leave your fucking sight.”
“You got it, Prez.”
“Pardon!”
“Already got my keys,” he said as he followed my little sister out the front door.
“You want me to go to, Prez?”
I looked at the prospect whose name I couldn’t remember. Hell, I couldn’t remember any of their names, other than Brian.
“No, they’re good.”
He nodded and disappeared. I followed Morgan outside to the car and held the door open for her and my sister. They both climbed in the back, while Smokey held the door for her mother to slide into the passenger seat in the front.
“Be careful, baby. Stay with Brian.”
“Should I take him into the dressing room with me, too?”
“No, smart ass, but he will be checking the dressing room before you walk in there.” I looked over my shoulder. “You hear that, Prospect?”
“Heard, Prez.”
I looked at my sister. “You stay with Pardon.” She rolled her eyes and looked out the window. I placed my hand on Morgan’s stomach and whispered, “Please be a boy.”
I heard Morgan giggle, and I looked up at her smiling face. “There’s my fucking sunshine.”
“Oh my God, you guys are so cute it’s disgusting,” Sully said.
I kissed Morgan hard on the lips, then quickly pulled away and shut the door before she could protest. I stepped back and watched as Pardon pulled out with Smokey behind him and Brian in the back.
I didn’t move until they all disappeared. Then I stared at the clubhouse as my body filled with rage. I stomped inside and searched the room.
When I saw the bitch, I bellowed, “JENNA!”
Missing the anger in my voice, Jenna smiled and sauntered over.
“When the pussy’s away the mice will play, is that it, Prez?”
I grabbed her biceps and hauled her close.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” I snarled in her face.
Her smug face turned to fear instantly at the tone of my voice.
“I-I th-thought you wanted me.”
“I told you I don’t fuck whores. So you thought you’d destroy my wife’s things?”
“Prez?” Eagle asked, stepping closer.
“Back the fuck off,” I snarled.
“I-I didn’t do anything,” Jenna cried. I could feel her shaking under my hands.
“You destroyed her workroom. Broke her bowls and cut up her clothes! What did you think you’d gain from that?”
“Th-that wasn’t me. I-I didn’t touch anything.”
She was sobbing now, from fear, or maybe remorse—who the fuck knew? I shoved her away, and she landed on her ass on the floor.
“Don’t fucking lie to me, or your ass will be on the street!”
I glared at Eagle. “You are fucking responsible for her.”
“What did she do?” he asked, looking between me and the whore crying on her ass.
“She broke into Morgan’s workroom downstairs and destroyed everything. Then, the night before Thanksgiving, she broke into her room and cut up every item of clothing she had.”
A thought occurred to me, and I looked down. “Did you lock her in that room?”
“Wh-what room?” she sobbed.
I took a step closer, and Ambush blocked my path. “Calm down, Prez.”
“Don’t tell me to fucking calm down. She locked my pregnant old lady in a room in the basement.”
“We don’t know that. The door wasn’t locked. It wasn’t even jammed. We found no evidence of tampering.”
“And her fucking room? I wondered why she was ordering more shit so soon. I thought she was doing it because I pissed her off. She was ordering new shit because everything got destroyed.”
“Jenna,” Eagle growled.
“It wasn’t me, Leo. I swear. I don’t even go into the basement; it scares the shit out of me. I pay Misty to do my laundry so I don’t have to go down there.”
“She’s telling the truth, Prez,” Misty said, stepping forward. “I found her down there one day and she was practically catatonic. We made a deal then.”
Jenna lay in a heap on the floor, Eagle on his knees beside her while Hawk and Falcon stood back a few steps.
“I suppose you didn’t break into Morgan’s room either?” I demanded.
“No, I swear.”
“And my room?” I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for her to deny it, like she did before.
“I lied. I did break into your room. I just wanted you to give me a chance. But I swear I didn’t break into Morgan’s room.”
“Get her out of my sight. Jenna, you’re confined to your room until I say otherwise. You are only allowed out of your room to eat, and you have to be with Eagle, Hawk, or Falcon.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” she wailed as Eagle helped her stand.
“You’ve been a bitch to my old lady since she got here. And you don’t fucking listen.”
I stomped across the room and slammed through the church doors. I paced the room as Ambush and Zombie quietly walked in and sat at the table.
Neither of them said a word. They watched me while I mumbled about stupid cunts and jealous bitches not knowing their place. Finally, when my mind was as spent as my body, I dropped into my chair and tossed my head back to stare at the ceiling.
“She can’t stay.”
“I believe her,” Ambush said carefully.
“Me too,” B agreed.
I glared at them both. “So do I, but that’s not the fucking point. She can’t stay.”
“We can’t send her out there; she’ll be dead within twenty-four hours,” B reminded me.
“She. Can’t. Stay. Here.”
“Give it some time with her confined to her room,” Ambush suggested. “Then we’ll re-evaluate.”
“Why did you want me to be president?” I asked, leaning forward and resting my arms on the table. I stared at them both, waiting for an answer.
“We trust you and we respect you.”
“But you won’t fucking listen to me.”
B stood up and walked to my desk. He shuffled around the papers until he found what he was looking for. Then he came over and set it in front of me.
He pointed to the list. “This, right here, is why we don’t listen without a fight. This is why we fucking buck you at every goddamn turn.”
I closed my eyes, blocking out the list of names that betrayed the patch.
“We won’t let this club become what it was again. We love you, brother, and we fucking trust you with our lives, but we can’t let another president rule with his fucking ego.”
“We gave Eagle, Falcon, and Hawk our word that Jenna would be safe here,” Ambush said.
“And they gave us their word she wouldn’t cause problems.”
“I don’t think she did those things to Morgan.”
“She broke into my fucking room!” I shouted, slamming my hand on the table. “And she fucking lied about it. She accused my old lady of trying to get her into trouble. Club whores are nothing but fucking trouble.”
“She’s not a club whore,” Ambush said.
“The fuck she’s not. She sleeps with any brother that shows her the least amount of attention.”
“Look,” B began. “I know you don’t know Eagle, Hawk, and Falcon. But they’re good brothers.”
“This isn’t about them.”
“It isn’t about Jenna either,” Ambush snapped. “This is about you and Morgan. You need to work your shit out.”
I rubbed my hands over my face. I knew Ambush was right. My attitude had been shit since Thanksgiving, and it was only getting worse.
“Someone destroyed Morgan’s shit. If it wasn’t Jenna, then it was someone else.” I looked at both of them. “I want Omen to put cameras throughout the clubhouse. But I want him to do it at night, and no one else but the four of us knows.”
“You think it’s one of the brothers?” B asked, his eyebrows creased in anger—whether that was aimed at me or the possibility we still had someone in the club working against us, I wasn’t sure.
“She didn’t do it herself.”
Ambush nodded. “Chasm’s right. I’ll get Omen on it tonight.”
My phone rang, and I smiled at Morgan’s picture on the screen. That smile dropped the second the call connected.