Chapter 5
AXEL
I’m tense as fuck when Chief Benning leaves the clubhouse. I’m pissed because of what he did to this club, but I’m even more furious for how he spoke to, and looked at, Wren.
He spoke to her as if she was the scum of the earth but looked at her like he wanted to ravage her. It made me fucking sick.
My temper is at an all-time high right now, but I remind myself to stay cool as everyone clears out of the clubhouse. Most of the guys are heading out to blow off some steam after what we all went through.
I feel a slight tug on my arm and look down to find Patience staring up at me. I had completely forgotten she was here.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“Can you show me to my room?” She asks, fluttering her lashes.
I fight my eye roll. “Sure, follow me.”
I sigh as I turn toward the hallway that houses all the single bedrooms we have at the clubhouse. These rooms are reserved for members who don’t hold a title, club sluts, and visiting members from other charters. I probably should have had someone show her to a room before the raid happened.
“That was really crazy,” Patience says as she smiles up at me, grabbing my arm and tugging me towards the hallway. “Does that kind of thing happen a lot around here?”
“Nah,” I mutter unimpressed that this girl thinks she can just touch me whenever she wants. “Usually, it’s pretty quiet.”
“I bet you could keep us really safe,” she purrs as she wraps herself around my arm.
I grimace but choose not to respond.
I lead her out of the main room and down the hallway. Most of the rooms up front are already occupied, so I take her towards the end of the hallway and push open one of the available rooms.
“I don’t know how the guys in Detroit do things but the room is fully furnished,” I say as I step to the side and let her enter.
“There is a pretty decent sized closet, and the bathroom is through there,” I tell her as I gesture to the closed door.
“It’s not very big but there’s a shitter and a shower.
You don’t really need anything more than that. ”
She turns around in a circle, taking in the room. “It’s perfect!”
This girl is too fucking much.
“The fridge is always stocked because of Chef. If he needs help, you’re expected to help him out,” I explain how things work around here.
“If the guys are interested in you, that’s great, but if a brother doesn’t reciprocate, leave him alone.
No means no around here. You’re allowed to say no; we don’t take woman against their will. That’s not how this club works.”
She nods her head. “What about old ladies?”
I sigh, ready to leave the room. “We don’t have many, just Sophie and Everly at the moment. Keep away from Grayson and Rowan because the girls will beat your ass if you make their men feel uncomfortable,” I warn her.
She giggles. “What about you?” She asks as she saunters toward me.
“I’m not interested,” I tell her bluntly. “I already have my eye on someone,” I admit, softening the blow. “There are plenty of other guys here to fill your time with. I have to go see my pres now.”
I nod my head in farewell and walk back out to the main room to find Rowan. He’s already waiting for me, and we head toward our bikes.
“Patience is really going to test our patience,” I mutter as we climb on and strap on our helmets.
“She already tried to get you in bed?” Rowan chuckles.
I grunt and start the engine. My Harley Nightster is shiny black with black rims and trimming. It’s a real beauty.
We drive the short distance to Grayson’s house and park before climbing the steps of their porch. He opens the door for us as soon as we reach it.
“What happened?” He asks on a sigh before stepping to the side and letting us in. “We literally just got home from the hospital.”
“We got raided by the cops,” I tell him. “They were looking for drugs.”
“Drugs?” He asks with a grimace. “We don’t deal with drugs.”
“We know that. Benning knows that,” Rowan mutters. “He still convinced a judge to give him a warrant.”
“They didn’t find anything, did they? You guys had the heads up.”
“Nope, we were all clear,” I reply.
“The only thing he found was Ax’s attitude,” Rowan chuckles.
Grayson snorts. “I’m sure it was well deserved. What else is going on?” He asks as he walks over and sits on the couch. We follow his lead and take a seat.
“Patience showed up today. Right before the raid,” I mutter. “She’s already a lot and I don’t want to think about how much she’s going to cling to the guys.”
Grayson sighs. “The guys from Detroit didn’t really say why she was leaving, just that she had to move. I hope they weren’t just trying to pass her off to us.”
“As long as she understands how this club works, it’ll be fine,” Rowan says and then turns to me with a smile. “Want to tell us why you and Wren were so hostile towards each other in the hospital?”
I groan and swipe my hand over my cropped hair, sinking back into the couch.
“Yeah, what the hell was that about?” Grayson grumbles.
“I saw Wren leaving Ax’s room the night Lily was born.”
I shoot an unimpressed look at Rowan. “What are you, a twelve-year-old girl? Shut it.”
He waggles his eyebrows at me with a manic smile.
“Did you guys finally fuck?” Grayson asks with a smirk.
I nod my head. “It was just a night. The alcohol was flowing since we were all so excited for you and Soph.” The lie tastes bitter on my tongue, but it’s something I’m going to have to come to believe myself.
“Sure, it was,” Grayson murmurs. “Keep telling yourself that.”
I will because there is no future for Wren Dixon and me. No matter how much I had thought that had changed.