Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Hades
Her ass swayed as she left the kitchen, and I wasn’t even sure she realized she was doing it.
The way her body moved with that natural grace made my cock throb.
I couldn’t wait to have her riding me while those perfect tits bounced in my face.
Couldn’t wait to watch her come apart on my dick, screaming my name while I buried myself so deep inside her she’d feel me for days.
My dick was so fucking hard in my jeans from watching her come that I considered slipping into the bathroom to jack off.
I used the heel of my hand to press down on my cock, hoping it would deflate enough that I could walk without looking like a goddamn teenager.
Fuck. Just the way she reacted to my kiss told me everything I needed to know. That and her dog’s fucking name.
I looked down at Cerberus, the black Cane Corso lying on the floor.
He looked relaxed with his head resting between his paws, but his eyes stayed open, locked on me.
His tail didn’t wag. One wrong move, and he’d tear me apart.
Christ, the dog probably weighed more than Lettie did.
Probably had better instincts too. He knew I was a threat to his mistress.
Knew I’d corrupt her, claim her, ruin her for anyone else.
Good.
My phone pinged, and I groaned at the message from Zeus.
I opened a drawer, looking for something to write with, and found a pen among packets of seeds.
Organized. Methodical. My queen had a system for everything, didn’t she?
I wondered what other systems she had. What other secrets she kept locked away in this house.
I looked out the window over the sink and smiled when I saw the gardens. Flowers lined up in neat rows on one side, vegetables on the other. Beyond that, I spotted an iron gate. Locked. Hidden. Another secret.
My queen was a busy little bee, judging by all the work she’d put in outside.
I’d seen the chickens wandering the yard and wondered how self-sufficient she was.
How isolated. How alone. I’d find out everything at dinner tonight.
Every secret. Every vulnerability. Every dark corner of her soul that matched mine.
I quickly scribbled out a note telling her when to be ready, then left. She’d hear the bike and probably be pissed I didn’t wait to say goodbye, but the club came first.
That was a lesson she’d have to learn fast. My world was brutal and unforgiving. She’d either adapt or break. I was betting on adapt. Something about her told me she was stronger than she looked. Darker than that sunshine exterior suggested.
I pulled up in front of the club and tossed my keys to the nearest prospect. “Wash her up. I want to see my reflection in the fucking chrome.”
“Yes, sir.”
I stomped through the clubhouse and headed for Zeus’ office. The sounds of two people yelling had me shaking my head. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was in there. Zeus and his fucking temper. The man could negotiate treaties with rival clubs but couldn’t keep his dick out of drama.
“How fucking dare you!”
“He’s my fucking kid. I want to meet him.”
“He’s not your kid. He’s mine.”
“If he’s not mine, the test will prove it, and I’ll never have to look at your fucking face again.”
“Asshole.”
The door swung open, and I came face to face with Reggie. Her eyes shot daggers at me, and her words cut even deeper.
“I fucking hate you. Stay the fuck out of my business.”
I didn’t have anything against Reggie—at least I hadn’t growing up.
Sure, her puppy dog eyes and the way she followed us around the clubhouse whenever she came to see Aspen was annoying as fuck, but it didn’t affect my life.
She was background noise. A nice girl who’d made the mistake of falling for a man who would never see her as anything but a convenient hole when he needed to blow off steam.
Despite everything, she was a good person, just in love with the wrong man. A man who wouldn’t give her the time of day. Until he did. Until he got drunk and angry and used her body to work out his frustrations. Now she was paying the price for that mistake.
“If it’s his kid, it is my fucking business.”
“Go fuck yourself, Brock.”
She shoulder-checked me as she pushed past and practically ran down the hallway, desperate to get away. I turned to Zeus, who was glaring at me like I’d personally wronged him.
“Don’t fucking glare at me. I didn’t get you into this shit.”
“You didn’t have to be an ass to her.”
My mouth dropped open. “Me? What the fuck did I do?” I asked. “How does she even know about the test? The lawyer only left a few hours ago. No way he had time to file the papers and have her served.”
“I told her.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Why are you so fucking stupid?”
He didn’t answer my question, knowing it was rhetorical because I already knew the answer.
We both did. He let his fucking temper rule every fucking decision he made.
He was just like his damn father. Kronos had been the same way.
Quick to anger, slow to think. It was a miracle Zeus had kept the club running as long as he had without burning it to the ground.
“If you want to meet your kid, you need to play this smart and stop making these fucking rash decisions. Explain to me how you can run this club with diplomacy, precision, and common fucking sense, but you let one fucking woman get under your skin?”
Zeus closed his eyes, and it hit me like a fucking lightning bolt. The tension in his shoulders. The way his jaw clenched. The barely controlled rage simmering just beneath the surface.
“Oh my God, you still fucking want her.”
“I don’t want her. I want my son.”
I smiled. “You want to fuck her again, don’t you? Jesus Christ, Zeus. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
He stood up and walked around his desk, pausing to get in my face.
Close enough that I could smell the whiskey on his breath.
Close enough that I could see the lie in his eyes.
“I don’t want to fuck her. I can’t stand the woman.
I got drunk off my ass because my father pissed me off letting Aspen marry that piece of shit.
She caught me at a weak moment. She was nothing but a fucking hole to get my dick wet and burn off some frustration. ”
Liar.
Zeus walked out of his office, leaving me standing in the doorway, dumbstruck.
He was a goddamn liar, and Regina Brooks had gotten under his skin.
Burrowed deep. Made a home there whether he wanted to admit it or not.
I followed him down the hall, giving him shit until we were outside.
He’d just sat down on the porch when a flashy ass Ducati rolled up in the front yard.
A bike we all fucking recognized. She pulled off her helmet, shaking out her black hair, and I narrowed my eyes, not believing what I was seeing.
Zeus stood from his seat and descended the porch steps in her direction, Atlas and me right behind him.
I glanced at our SAA and he shrugged. He didn’t know shit either.
Poseidon shoved the door open and paused.
“Alex?”
Alexandra Jones, Poseidon’s little sister, swung her leg over her bike and stood. Four years older. Harder around the edges. Running from something, judging by the way her eyes darted around the yard before landing on her brother.
“Hey, Oscar. Miss me?”
Poseidon shoved through the crowd and grabbed Alex, pulling her into a hug. The relief on his face was pathetic. He’d carried guilt over her disappearance for four years, blaming himself for not keeping her safe. For not being enough.
“Jesus Christ, Alex. Four fucking years. About fucking time you came home.”
The rest of us stood there, watching, waiting to see what brought the prodigal daughter home.
Poseidon and Alex were kids when their parents died.
They’d both grown up in the clubhouse, and the day Alex turned eighteen, she disappeared.
Ran. Left nothing but a note saying she needed to find herself.
Bullshit then. Bullshit now.
“You look like shit,” he told her.
“And you look old,” she shot back.
He barked out a laugh. “Where the hell have you been?”
“Around. Seeing the world. Living the dream.”
“Bullshit.” His grip tightened on her shoulders. “What happened?”
She ignored his question. “I need a place to crash for a few days. Just until I figure some things out.”
“What things?”
“Oscar.”
“What. Things,” he demanded. He’d always been soft when it came to Alex.
At least when she wasn’t around. He made excuses for her behavior, blaming their parents’ death for the fact that he let her get away with too much shit.
She manipulated him. Used his guilt against him.
And he let her because he couldn’t stand the thought of losing her too.
She glanced at Zeus and said quietly, “Can we talk about this inside? Please?”
“Inside. Now.” He turned to Zeus. “Prez?”
Zeus studied her for a long moment, his expression blank. Calculating. Weighing the threat she represented against the loyalty he owed Poseidon. Then he nodded. “Church. Ten minutes.”
“Zeus, I’m not asking for club business,” she rushed out. “I just need a place to stay. A few days, that’s all.”
“You’re Poseidon’s sister,” Zeus said, his voice calm and measured. “That makes you club business. Church. Ten minutes.” He turned and walked back toward the clubhouse, Atlas and me behind him.
There went my fucking date. I didn’t even get her number to let her know why I wasn’t coming back.
There was almost no chance I wouldn’t be stuck in church all night.
Alex showing up out of nowhere didn’t bode well.
She was a walking disaster. A liability wrapped in a pretty package.
And we’d all pay the price for whatever shit she’d brought to our door.
My mind drifted to Lettie. To the way she’d looked at me when I kissed her. The way her body responded to my touch. The way she came apart in my arms. She’d be waiting for me tonight. Getting ready. Choosing what to wear. Maybe touching herself while she thought about what I’d do to her.
And I wouldn’t show up.
Fuck.
By the time Alex walked out of church, she’d fed us a whole lot of bullshit and nothing else. A story about a bad breakup and needing a place to lick her wounds. Poseidon and the others followed her out, leaving only Zeus and me behind.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“I think she’s fucking lying. Par for the course with Alex.”
“You can’t throw her to the wolves,” I reminded him.
“I know.” He ran his hands over his face. “All this bullshit with Reggie, and now Alex—it isn’t leaving much time to dig into my father.”
I held my tongue. What I wanted to tell him was that digging into Kronos was a waste of time. The man was dead. His secrets were buried with him. But Zeus needed this. Needed to understand who his father really was. Needed to reconcile the hero he’d worshipped with the monster he’d become.
Thanks to Ares, Oceanus had confirmed he knew about Kronos’ time with the Brotherhood. He swore he didn’t know shit about the Trick Pony or Karlyn Ingalls, despite his son treating him like any other prisoner we questioned.
Ares hadn’t held back. Years of abuse had built up inside him, and having the person who’d made him suffer his entire childhood right there in front of him was a gift not many would pass up.
He’d beaten his father until the old man’s heart gave out, then wiped the blood from his hands and walked out of the cell without a word.
He refused to talk to anyone about it, insisting he was fine. Not even Apollo could get him to open up. The son of a bitch had even tried to use his paralysis to guilt our brother into talking.
It hadn’t worked.
Zeus ordered everyone, including Apollo, to leave him be. Ares would talk when he was ready. Or he wouldn’t. Either way, we’d deal with it.
The church door opened, and Rhea stepped in. “Was that Alex?”
“Yeah.” Zeus sighed and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling.
“Why did she come home?”
When Zeus didn’t answer, I did. “She claims she needs a place to land and lick her wounds from a breakup.”
Rhea looked at her son. “You don’t believe her, Zeus?”
“I don’t know what to fucking believe. I’ve got women on every side of me lying through their teeth.”
“This is about Reggie,” Rhea said with a nod.
“She had my fucking kid and didn’t tell me!” Zeus shouted.
I sat back in my chair and watched Rhea. She’d been closed off to everyone since the funeral. Even now, her words were measured as she spoke to her son. Careful. Controlled. Like she was walking on glass and one wrong step would shatter her completely.
“What’s your plan?”
“I got a lawyer. He filed a petition for a blood test. I have to prove he’s mine before I can move forward,” Zeus explained.
“And after that?”
Zeus looked at his mother. Not many people knew Zeus had a tell.
The man could look you in the eye, lie to your face, and you’d never know the difference.
It was so fucking subtle and so damn random that I might be the only one who knew him well enough to catch it.
He tapped his finger on the table. Once. Twice. Three times.
And lied to his mother.
“I haven’t gotten that far.”
“Let me know when you figure it out,” Rhea said before turning back toward the door. She paused and looked over her shoulder. “And Alex?”
“Alex is family.”
It was the answer Rhea needed. A small smile crossed her face. She nodded and walked out of church. The door closed behind her with a soft click that echoed in the silence.
“I need you to stick around the clubhouse for the next few days. I need every eye on Alex,” Zeus ordered.
“In case she slips up?”
I’d known this was coming the moment she climbed off her bike.
Alex was a liability. She always had been, and Poseidon held too much guilt over the way she was raised to hold her accountable for the shit she pulled.
She had him wrapped around her finger and we all knew it.
She’d use that. Exploit it. And when whatever she was running from caught up to her, we’d all be standing in the blast radius.
“There’s no question she’ll slip up,” Zeus grumbled. “Alex can’t control herself. She’s selfish and entitled. She thinks the world revolves around her, and I guarantee she’s brought shit to our door. We just have to figure out what it is before it gets here.”
“And when it gets here?” I asked, knowing there was only one acceptable answer.
“We protect her,” Zeus said. “Just like we always have. We do what we’ve always done and clean up the mess she made.”