Chapter 27
Rowan
Frankie’s announcement came with so much shock that I almost flipped the glass we’d been flipping coins into onto the ground. She squealed excitedly, running over to me. Movement out of the corner of my eye had my head turning in time to see Chaos leaving the clubhouse in a hurry.
Poor guy.
Turning my attention back to Brianna, I noticed she had moved to allow Frankie to sit down. She smiled at me, as if she found Frankie funny, before she settled in to look at her phone.
“What do you mean?”
“I just told him how I wished I could go back, I haven’t been since I was a kid, you know, and he said he’s always wanted to see it.”
“You barely know him, Frankie.”
“So…you barely knew Reaper before you practically jumped on his dick and moved in.”
Brianna made a spluttering noise as if she were choking before she all but ran out of the clubhouse, holding in her disgust. Turning back to Frankie, who seemed oblivious to what had just occurred, I couldn’t help but see the brightness in her cheeks, the way her mouth was in a huge giddy grin, and her eyes were so much lighter.
She was happy.
Happier than I’ve seen in a very long time.
What kind of friend would I be if I were to dampen that with logic and turn her smile upside down?
The only kind of friend you need, that’s what.
“Babe. Just please be careful. He knows you’re linked to the Sons, and technically that’s the enemy.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, her smile dipping. “Why aren’t you happy for me?”
“Frankie, if you’re happy with this guy, then I am totally down for that, but let’s all go out. Let’s have a double date. How about tomorrow night?”
“That’s when we fly out,” she said, suddenly annoyed with me.
“Who else is going? Tiago?”
She shook her head. “No, I’d hardly want my overprotective cousin spying on me when I want to get naughty with my man.”
“You’re going on his private jet, alone, to another country with no one else with you after knowing him for a couple of days?”
“He’s just a guy with a private jet, I don’t know why you’re so fussy about it. I really didn’t think you’d be like this.”
“Frankie, Manny’s name is Mannix Charman. He’s the head of the Ironborne Crew in Sydney. I’d be a shit friend if I wasn’t worried how fast this was.”
Hilarious. I’d even questioned whether I should wait to marry Reaper earlier, but truthfully, even though I’d known him for years. I didn’t really know him all that well, just that we fit together perfectly. Now, I was questioning my best friend on her choices.
Yeah, way to go, Rowan.
I think a small part of me was hoping she would fix whatever had happened between her and Chaos. The guy was a lost cause. I truly believed he had fallen for her, and she had for him, but she knew what kind of guy he was.
A serial non-monogamist.
And after what happened with her mother and father, I doubted she wanted anything but one hundred percent loyalty.
“Maybe you’re just jealous because your man doesn’t want to take you out and show you off. He probably can’t even afford to fly to another country.”
I knew this Frankie. She was upset, and she lashed out, but I couldn’t let her think this was okay. What if he truly was using her against us?
She pushed off the stool, annoyed.
“Frankie, just take Tiago. He’d probably love it. At least you’d have someone with you.”
“Yeah, maybe. Look, I got to go. I just figured I’d tell you face to face. I’ll call you when I’m back.”
“Frankie…”
She was walking out of the clubhouse before I could stop her. Reaper was by my side, his hand on my hip, squeezing comfortingly.
“You okay?”
“Yeah…did you hear?”
“I did.”
“What do you think?”
“I think you did the right thing, but I also think she needs to figure it out on her own.”
“What if…”
“Look, I have friends in Europe. I can get them to keep an eye on her in Portugal, if you want, but if she were to find out, I doubt she’d forgive you.”
“So just let her go off with…the literal enemy in a foreign country?”
Reaper turned me to face him, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Look, Mannix isn’t his Dad.
He’s got ideas to change the Ironborne into something different.
We had a conversation and didn’t end up wanting to shoot each other.
I don’t actually think he’s planning anything, if that makes you feel any better. ”
“So I just pissed off my friend for no reason?”
“No, you did what any friend would do…but if he’s going to break her heart, he needs to be the one to do it, not you.”
I sighed, leaning into him. “I don’t want her to be mad with me.”
“So go outside, and talk to her before she leaves.”
Pulling back to look up at him, I raised on my tip toes and kissed him quickly before I ran out of the clubhouse and down to where she’d parked.
“Frankie!”
Her car was here, but she wasn’t. I looked around the grounds, but everyone was where they were meant to be.
That’s when I saw Brandon, one of the prospect’s smirk and point toward the back of the clubhouse. Confused, I headed that way only to come face to face with Frankie up against the clubhouse, making out with Chaos who had her caged in.
What the actual fuck?
“Frankie?”
Immediately, she pushed him away, her lips pink and swollen, and her eyes wide. Chaos didn’t move, he just looked at her with what I could only assume would be heartbreak in his eyes, before he sauntered away. Frankie looked flustered.
“God, what is it with this damn place?”
“Frankie…if you still like Chaos, just be with him. I know he likes you too.”
“Don’t be ridiculous…that was just…I don’t even know what that was.”
She was panicking. I could see it in the way her chest was rising and falling, and she was trying to look anywhere, but at me. Crossing the distance she’d put between us, I pulled her into my arms, and held her tight. She fought it at first, but slowly, she fell into my body, hugging me back.
“If you feel like this is what you want to do, I’m not going to stop you. If Manny really makes you feel safe and cherished, then go, but make sure you check in constantly. I mean it.”
She nodded against my shoulder, a sob escaping from her lips. I held onto her until she let me go, her eyes watery, and her lips swollen from Chaos’ kiss.
“Are you seeing Manny soon?”
She shook her head. “Tonight. I’ll go home, pack and have a shower.”
“Call me.”
She nodded, and headed toward her car with a faint smile and a wave. I watched her drive away, about to turn on Chaos when I saw him slinking toward his bike.
Oh hell fucking no.
Moving as quickly as I could, I headed straight for him. He was about to throw his helmet on when I got to him, and smacked him upside the head.
“Ow!”
“What the fuck was that?” I grilled him.
“I don’t know…I just…fuck—I don’t know, Rowan.”
“Don’t take that tone with me, Chaos. You broke up with her, and seem hellbent on making both your lives miserable even though I can clearly see you want her, and she wants you back, yet you choose to be this prick?”
All too quickly, he growled out, “She’s too good for me.”
My heart pattered angrily, but my chest bloomed with sympathy. I knew that feeling all too well. I’d felt it all my life.
“Why?”
“It doesn’t matter. I just don’t want her ruining her life with an Ironborne fucktard. She deserves a man who can give her everything she wants and needs without hesitation.”
“And why can’t that be you?”
“I want it to be…but I can’t change my ways. I’m too damaged. You shouldn’t want me for your friend if you knew what was good for her.”
He pulled his helmet on, and before I had a response, he was pulling away and out of the clubhouse. The distant sound of his Harley grumbling in the air had my chest aching for both him and Frankie.
“You all good?” I heard Reaper ask from behind me.
I nodded, still looking at the empty road he’d disappeared down. “Yeah. I just don’t get what his deal is. Why is he so…damaged.”
“You’d think it was because he had a shit childhood.”
“He didn’t?”
“Nope,” he said, wrapping his arm around my neck and wheeling me back to the clubhouse. “Good relationship with parents, who are still married by the way and very in love, close to his brother and sister, and even goes to family dinner once a month.”
“So…why does he think he’s not good enough?”
Reaper sighed. “I don’t know…truthfully, he was a rough kid. He got into fights, quick to find his temper, always in trouble. He just loves hard and fast, it’s intense and all consuming, especially for him.”
“That’s why he’s called Chaos?”
Reaper chuckled. “Yeah.”
“Why are you called Reaper then?”
“Ah-ah,” he said in my ear. “That’s a story for another time.”
“Wyatt…”
He shook his head, crossed his arms over his chest, and looked down at me. That intense kind of gaze that told me I’d cop a pink arse later if I didn’t behave. I knew better than to call him Wyatt in the clubhouse, in front of everyone else.
“Look, tonight I got a thing to do with the boys, but we’re all going to head to the other clubhouse to party afterward. Do you want to meet me there?”
“There’s another clubhouse? Why?”
“A long story that I may or may not tell you later,” he said with an infuriating wink. “Cherry can take you over later, or you can stay here if you want a quiet night.”
“What kind of party are we talking about?”
“Brandon’s being patched in. It’s usually a hell of a party, but it’s been a while since we patched anyone over.”
“So girls will be all over you boys then.”
Reaper sighed. “Why don’t you come and be all over me so they don’t get the chance?”
“Fine, go do your biker thing, and I’ll see you later.”
Reaper wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me up into him, his kiss was hard and brutal, and oh so good. “Can you go and see if Brianna is okay? She still won’t give me more than a few words at a time.”
Rowan nodded. “Yeah, I can do that, but you should know it’s going to take time.”
“I know…I just don’t want her to think we’re keeping her captive.”