Chapter 24 #2
I heard her muffled yet adamant disagreement before Pistol interjected, “If anything happens to you, it’s on me. I’m not stupid enough to keep your old man out of this. Clubhouse. Fifteen minutes.”
He paused a second before repeating louder, “Clubhouse. Fifteen minutes.”
This time, he didn’t give her a chance to argue before disconnecting the call. As his thumb continued to tap at his screen, he demanded, “Put some clothes on, angel. You’re comin’, too.”
I was smart enough not to argue.
Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting at the round table in the back room, all the ranked members of the club accounted for—Max and Viv there, too. Pistol didn’t bother to sit, and Max was anxiously chewing at her fingernails as she paced the length of the room.
“Alright. What are we doin’ here?” asked Nighthawk.
Pistol raised his eyebrows, looking to Max with an obvious question in his eyes. I watched as she glanced between Pistol and Nighthawk before settling her gaze on my man and shaking her head no.
“Have it your way,” he muttered before addressing the president.
“The night I was arrested, I was here, shootin’ the shit when I got a call.
” He jerked his head in Max’s direction, and I was sure everyone understood.
“She wouldn’t tell me where she was until I promised to keep my mouth shut.
Found her in Copper King territory at a fuckin’ chophouse.
There were five other girls there. Lucky for both of us, there were only two Kings there keepin’ watch.
My guess was there were more comin’ with more girls.
The way they had them locked up, it was obvious they were planning to ship each one off to the highest bidder.
“I was there for Max, but I raised enough ruckus they had to let all the girls go. It was a neighbor who called the cops. The sirens forced their hand. The girls fled, probably scared shitless. Fang pressed charges out of revenge—not for what I did to his face, but what I did to their operation. Rumor was, that place got burned. I didn’t mess up one night of business, they had to start over. ”
“Let me get this straight,” Nighthawk began slowly. “My daughter was almost trafficked and I’m just now fuckin’ hearin’ about this?”
“There’s more,” said Viv, resting a hand on her husband’s shoulder.
Her voice was calm and steady, but the quiet ferocity housed in her eyes could not be missed.
“Maxine,” she demanded.
And it was a demand, there was no questioning that.
Max finally stopped pacing as she looked over at her parents. Her chin wobbled, and I was sure I’d never seen her look so young.
“It was stupid,” she whispered as her first tears fell. “I was stupid. But—I thought—I thought he loved me.”
“Say that again?” grumbled Nighthawk.
“We—we met on neutral ground. At first, I don’t think he knew who I was. But after he found out, he was still so sweet to me. I didn’t know. I didn’t know I was being played. I thought—he told me we could be together. He said we could bring real peace between the clubs.”
“Oh, Max…”
“That,” she cried, pointing at her mother. “That look right there is exactly why I never told you. I didn’t need anyone telling me how na?ve I was.”
“Na?ve? You were worried about us thinkin’ you were na?ve?
Oh, baby girl, I gotta believe I raised you to be smarter than that,” said Nighthawk, his temper barely contained.
“So, what? You walk out of there, one of mine gets locked up, and you think it’s none of my damn business you’re roamin’ around with a fuckin’ target on your back the last three years? ”
Max wiped her tears away with the palms of her hands as she argued, “Obviously, we broke up. I mean, whatever—things were over after that night.”
“How long were you involved with him?” asked Viv, her patient tone somehow just as intimidating as Nighthawk’s fury.
“Three months,” confessed Max. “At first, I refused to meet him in King territory. But then he convinced me I’d be safe, that he had my back.”
Nighthawk scoffed.
“When it was over, I never went back. Not even to the places where we met up in neutral territory. I never spoke to him again—I mean, not until Pistol came home.”
My heart was racing, my brain whirling, piecing together things I didn’t understand until now. That night at the diner, when Max came in anxious right before closing time. The way she always defended Riley.
“Motherfucker,” roared Nighthawk, slamming his fist against the table before standing to his feet.
“You want to talk about bein’ na?ve? You haven’t learned shit if you’re gonna stand there and defend yourself right now.
Don’t you see, they’ve had your number this whole time. You could have been gone.”
“Nighthawk,” muttered Pistol, clearly trying to calm the man down.
This, of course, did not work.
“I haven’t even begun with you. She’s my only daughter. What the hell were you gonna do behind bars, huh? You thought you were protecting her?”
“Daddy, he was keepin’ a promise. I made him swear! And I promised in return that if I thought they were coming after me, I’d tell you. But I was careful. I’ve been nothing but careful.”
“You don’t get to decide what careful looks like. I do.” Turning to address Pistol, he added, “And I shouldn’t have to tell you, your first allegiance is to the club. You left all of us out here blind with our dicks swingin’ in the wind. I can’t think of anything more fuckin’ selfish.”
I looked up at Pistol then, expecting him to say something, but he kept his mouth shut. I could tell by the tense set of his face it pained him to do so, but he was yielding to his leader.
“Look—tempers are high, and I get it,” began Nomad, “But we gotta deal with the situation at hand.”
“Agreed,” piped in Cobra. “Connection she’s got with Fang means we don’t know what they’re after. Answers. Money. Revenge. She could be bait, or she could be money in their pockets. I’m sure I speak for the room when I say none of us want to find out which.”
“Yeah.” Nighthawk pressed the knuckles of his fists against the table, staring down at it as he took a moment to think. He didn’t look up right away as he began to speak, doling out orders.
“Fact that we’re here means they showed their hand tonight. Until we get this sorted, Max is on house arrest.”
“Dad!”
He was quick to aim his gaze her direction. “Don’t even start with me,” he demanded. “You’re to be under constant surveillance. We’ll work out a schedule that doesn’t conflict with the patrols we already got. I want only men in this room on Max.”
“I’ll take first—”
Nighthawk didn’t let Pistol finish, his eyes dark with his still simmering anger as he spat, “Not you. You’ve done enough.”
Pistol raised his chin, and I watched his nostrils flare as he let out a breath. “Right,” he all but growled.
Then he turned on his heel and started for the door.
“Ly.”
One syllable, and I was on my feet, chasing after him. I spared one last look over my shoulder as I went. Max’s eyes found mine, and I forced a smile I hoped was encouraging. She flashed a sad smile in return, and then I was gone.
No one called after us.
Just like everything lately, so much happened in the blink of an eye.
I was still processing it all while simultaneously trying to figure out what Riley needed.
He was livid. I could feel it wafting off him like a thick cloud of smoke.
Not yet sure what to say, I didn’t say anything as we approached his hog.
When he climbed on then wordlessly offered me his hand to assist me while I did the same, I understood my silence was welcome.
Before we sped off, he revved his engine multiple times—his Road King yelling on his behalf. I tightened my grip around him, wanting him to know he wasn’t alone, and it was then that we took off into the night.
We were less than five minutes from the house, but we didn’t pull into the driveway until an hour later. I didn’t complain, understanding how much he needed to feel the wind in his face and the road beneath him.
Rather than climb down after he turned off the hog, I propped my chin on his shoulder and asked, “What now, baby?”
“You got somethin’ to say? If so, let’s hear it.”
“Something to say?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. I don’t need your protection.”
“I wasn’t—” I started and then stopped, not wishing to argue. Not tonight. Not about this.
In fact, I had a lot of thoughts. A few questions, too—our ride giving me the time and space to replay the night over again.
“Honestly?” I shook my head. “The thought of Carmy being part of a club that sells women like that—it makes me sick. It makes me think, I don’t know…maybe I never knew him. And that makes me sad.
“As for the rest of it?” Tightening my grip around him, I continued, “I’m glad to know why you did it.
All of it. It explains a lot. About Max.
About you. About the bond you two share.
And maybe they were right back there; maybe you shouldn’t have kept it a secret, but I told you what went down at the diner tonight and your first instinct was to tell the truth.
“You’ve been protecting her in your own way this whole time. To me, that’s not selfish, it’s admirable.”
For a moment, we sat in silence. Then he held out his hand and demanded, “Off.”
I obeyed, no longer sure where his head was. As soon as both my feet were on the ground, he tugged me toward him, forcing his thigh between my legs. He let go of my hand only to bury his fingers in my hair, pulling me close.
“You asked what now? Now, you go inside, you take your clothes off, you stretch out on your knees, and you wait for me.”
“Okay, baby,” I breathed.
He pressed a hard, closed-mouth kiss against my lips, and I melted into him a little before he yanked on my hair, pulling me away. This was crazy—but this was the life. It was our life. Messy and dangerous and complicated and everything I signed up for.
Excitement shot straight to my core, and I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth, already anxious for what would come next.
“Go, angel.”
I didn’t have to be told twice.