Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
VANNA
“What’s in the bag?” I asked as I looked over at the bag Devil had dropped when he came in through the door. He turned to look over at it, a smirk on his face.
“Go have a look.”
I rolled my eyes and made my way over to it from the kitchen. After our little impromptu trip to poundtown on the couch, Devil had made me a sandwich and made me drink water. I wanted to be a brat about it, but I liked that he was looking out for me.
Just like he used to.
I grabbed the bag and pulled it open to find clothes from my apartment in there, as well as my sketchbook and pencils.
“You went to my apartment?”
“I did.”
“How did you get in?” I asked, looking up at him. Devil gave me one of those ‘Really?’ looks and went back to eating his sandwich. As much as I wanted to be mad at him for not letting me go and get it, I couldn’t help but feel…seen.
“Why’d you get my sketchbook?”
“Aren’t you bored here when I go to the clubhouse?” he asked me honestly. “You don’t usually watch TV so I can only imagine what you’ve been watching to keep your mind busy and not overthink everything that is currently going on. This way you can work while we sort the issue out at the shop.”
Fuck.
Sucker punch right to the heart.
He knew. Well, of course he knew, but he had thought about it. He’d thought about those chats we would have all those years ago, when I had been falling in love with him.
“You said you loved me.”
The statement was out before I could stop it, and I slowly looked up to see he’d stopped eating.
“I do.”
“You hated me just yesterday.”
He scoffed, and pushed the rest of the sandwich away. I moved over to him, my sketchbook in my hand, and took a seat at the kitchen counter.
“I need you to talk to me, Noah, without the threat of clothes being removed.”
“You don’t like that?” he asked, smirking again.
“I do,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “But I’m also very fucking confused. You’re fighting with your best friend, you’re not letting me talk to anyone, you’re claiming me in the club. What’s going on, Noah?”
“Do you remember when I told you what I wanted?” he asked, leaning down to be at my level. I nodded, because I remember everything about those chats we would have. “I wanted to be loved, to have a wife I loved and craved, to have kids who looked up to me.”
“You said you never thought you’d have that,” I recounted. “But I never understood why.”
“Van, you saw my parents. I figured I’d turn out just like them.”
Everyone knew about Devil’s promiscuous mother and asshole dad.
They were legend in the club. His dad was my dad’s best friend, much like he and Vice were, only difference was his dad couldn’t keep his drinking under control and everyone copped it when he got mad at his wife flirting with all the men in the club.
She’d been a club girl when she got pregnant, and let’s just say those tendencies to be filled with as many men didn’t go away, even after Devil was born.
“You wouldn’t have. It’s not genetic to be that way, Noah. If you wanted something, then you take it. You learn to be what you want. I doubt you’d ever treat your wife or kids like your parents did, because you know what it feels like to be left behind.”
He nodded. “I know that now. Back then…I didn’t. I was stupid, reckless, wild, and I wanted desperately to be with someone I couldn’t.”
“Me?”
He nodded again. “You were nineteen, Van. I was thirty. You still had so much to live for. I wasn’t going to take that away from you.”
“It had nothing to do with Vinny?”
“Maybe a little, but not the reason why I told you to go,” he replied.
“I didn’t hate you. I hated that it felt like I had no control over my actions around you.
I hated that even after all these years, when I heard you were in trouble, I came running and wanted to punch every goddamn person who tried to hurt you. ”
I swallowed, because I didn’t know what to say or do, but I needed to know more. “What happens now?”
“Now, I find out, with the club, who the guy is that broke in to your shop, then we go have a chat with him and find out why he’s trashing your business.”
“And after that?”
“After that, is a different conversation.”
This was the best I was going to get, and I knew it. Devil may open up with me, but it was limited at best.
“Noah,” I said, as he stood back to his full height.
“Yeah?”
“You claimed me. At the club. In front of Ode.”
“I know.”
“You can’t unclaim someone.”
He nods. “I know.”
“Noah…”
“I don’t want to unclaim you, Van. It’s selfish of me and I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I needed to. You’re not in the club anymore, you haven’t been back in years. If you don’t want to be mine, you don’t need to come back.”
I wanted to speak, but I couldn’t. The idea of him doing this so the club would protect me as one of their own, even though they would have as my position in the club was higher than an ol’ lady, filled me with joy. I wanted to tell him how much I wanted to be his but he turned and walked away.
Turning back to my sketchbook, I flipped it open to the page at the back.
The page I dedicated to him. The full page drawing of Devil stared back at me, his eyes almost black, just like I’d always remembered him.
The next page was filled with designs I thought he would like.
Snakes and skulls, some black roses around a scorpion.
I’ve been in love with Devil for years, and now, in the eyes of the club, I was his.
NOAH
Was it wrong of me to be happy about that?
Vanna’s assistant was sitting in Chapel with us, her eyes taking in the walls of fallen members and photos of rallies we’d attended over the years.
“Whoa,” she said in wonder. “Is that…Vanna’s dad?”
I turned to see the picture she was looking at and wouldn’t you know it, it was. “You know him?”
She nodded. “He came to see the shop once. Intense guy but I could see how much he adored her.”
He did. Our fearless former prez had a soft spot for his daughter, which meant she knew she could get away with anything. Vice was sitting next to her, looking tense. Somehow, I got the feeling that he and the girl had a thing going on.
But we all knew Vice’s reputation. He was a manwhore, plain and simple. It was dangerous for him to get involved with his sister’s friend and colleague.
“Do you know who this is?” Ode asked her, pushing the grainy photo still toward her.
She frowned, picked up the photo and cocked her head to the side. “It looks like…well, I can’t be sure, I’ve only seen him a couple of times and he was always dressed up in his suits, but…well didn’t you show this to Vanna?”
I sat forward. “Who is it?”
Bria flinched at the tone in my voice. I knew I could intimidate, it was why I was the enforcer, but it looked like this motherfucker knew my woman, and I didn’t like that.
“It’s Ethan. I think. I can’t be sure. I’ve never seen him wear clothes like this.”
“Who the fuck is Ethan?” I growled, feeling a little territorial that I didn’t know who the fuck this was in my woman’s life.
Vice had a smirk on his face as he leaned back in his seat, and I wanted to launch him through a motherfucking window for it.
“Doesn’t your ol’ lady tell you about her exes?” he asked.
“I see you enjoy the fact your sister is being tormented by her ex,” I spat back. “Some fucking brother you are.”
Vice’s smirk died immediately and he sat forward. “Sit down, fuckhead. I’ll go see him and find out why he’s doing this to her.”
“Nah,” I said, already calling Bug before I was out of Chapel. “I got a man to see.”
Ode waved me off, and I put the phone to my ear to get the details for Ethan. My anger was brewing, and I knew it wasn’t wise to go and see this motherfucker when I was so heated but he needed to know touching anything of my woman’s, including her, was a really bad idea.
Bug came through with an address and I was about to leave the compound when Vice moved in front of my bike, an expression I knew all too well not to discount.
“She’s my sister.”
“I know.”
He nodded. “And she’s your ol’ lady.”
“I know.”
Another nod. “We’re not good yet, but if you’re going after this fucktard, I’m in. For Vanna.”
This time, I nodded. “For Van.”
Vice moved to his bike and we rode out of the compound together. Vanna may be the reason we were at odds, but she’d also be the reason we fought together.
I wonder if he knew how much I have loved her all these years.
When we rocked up to Ethan’s house, I couldn’t help but laugh. Vanna was with this guy? He was walking to his Bentley in a full suit, a briefcase in his hand and a phone to his ear. The house itself was large, an old Victorian with two floors.
The sound of our bikes had him turning, his face paling immediately before he ended his call. He ran, toward his house, dropping his briefcase before he fought with his keys to get inside.
“He thinks a door is gonna stop the Hollow Saints?” Vice asked, a genuine smirk on his face. We lived for this shit. Both of us had come up as enforcers, quickly making a name for ourselves, and separating us from our father’s legacies. I’d missed that.
“Looks like it,” I grinned back. “Time for some fun.”