Chapter 34
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
WRATH
Standing in Elodie’s cramped fucking studio, I cross my arms over my chest as I look across at Cake. He seems to be completely fucking unbothered by this whole thing. He dragged me out of that bar and doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to tell me anything, which he was insistent we do immediately.
Now that we’re alone, he’s finding Elodie’s apartment very interesting. He jerks his chin toward the bed, chuckling, then shifts to face me. “This place seems small for an old lady.”
“Ain’t my old lady,” I state.
He hums, crossing his arms over his chest as he dips his chin down slightly. His eyes flick up to meet mine. And then I watch as a smile spreads across his face.
“Well, if that’s the case, then maybe you can help me.”
“Get on with it. I got a drink waiting for me.”
“It’s my daughter,” he says on a grunt.
“Chassis?” I ask.
For whatever fucking reason, Cake thought naming his kids after bike parts was the best idea in the world.
He’s got four kids, and they are all named after bikes, but his first wife wouldn’t let him do anything simple like Harley.
And since she’s the mother of all four children, she got the final say.
So they named the boys Piston, Gauge, and Clutch. And Chassis is his only girl. She’s also his youngest at twenty-five. I can’t imagine why he would need to discuss an urgent matter about his princess with me.
And she is just that, a full-on fucking princess. She is the daughter of an original chapter member. There is no higher a woman can be in this position. Not even Cake’s ex-wife is as high on the food chain as Chassis.
“What’s wrong with Chassis?” I demand softly.
“I need someone to protect her, and I trust you.”
Silence.
Mainly because I have no fucking clue what I’m going to say in response to his words. Because it can’t be me who fucking claims her, so I’m not sure why in the hell he would even come to me about it.
“Since that sweet piece isn’t your old lady, I figured it wouldn’t be an issue.”
“Cake,” I warn.
“She’s in trouble. I love my daughter. I would kill for her, but I can’t kill these guys, not without starting a war, and I’m too old for that shit right now.”
I stare at him for a moment, a long one, in silence. I don’t even know how to respond to this shit. Pressing my lips together, I wait for him to continue, because I'm fucking done trying to pull this information out of him.
Thankfully, he doesn’t make me ask him what the fuck he’s talking about. He continues, his eyes focusing on mine, and that’s when I see it. The hurt and the fear behind his gaze. There is something big going on.
“She’s pregnant, and the man who did it to her, she can’t be with him, or there’s going to be a war.”
“Want to tell me what the fuck that means and what it has to do with me?” I ask.
He rocks backward on his heels, his arms staying firmly in place across his chest. He doesn’t reply immediately, and as much as I want to tell him that I don’t know what the fuck he wants from me, I don’t.
I wait for him to come out with it, because he's clearly going to ask me something that has to do with Chassis, but I can’t imagine what the hell it is.
“Claim her.”
And there it is.
“Claim her?” I ask.
He dips his chin in a single nod before he continues. “I wouldn’t ask a favor this big if it wasn’t important. If that fucker finds out she’s knocked up with his kid, he’ll take her away, and I’ll never see her again.”
“What the actual fuck am I dealing with here?” I ask.
I don’t know why I’m entertaining this at all, and I can’t help but wonder if someone else in the club would rather take on this task.
Elodie would never understand this. She doesn’t even understand all the shit that happens down there, and she really doesn’t fucking understand her place, but this would send her over the fucking edge. I would never see her again.
“You’re dealing with a club princess who needs protecting.”