Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
MILLIE
“It’s going to be okay,” Heidi whispers from behind me as she slips her hand in mine and squeezes. “We’ll walk in together.”
I know it’s safe inside. Not a single one of those men would do a damn thing to ever hurt me. Especially not now that Axton has claimed me, but even before that, they’ve known me forever. They wouldn’t hurt me. Couldn’t hurt me.
I know everything is going to be okay, but this feels gigantic, beyond huge. Taking one step inside that building feels like I’m accepting everything. Sure, I’ve told Axton yes, that I want to be with him, but this feels so much bigger than even that.
Heidi squeezes my hand as she gently pulls me beside her. My feet are forced to move, and then the door opens, and the smells and sounds of the past slam into me. One step inside, and a million memories flood my brain.
Nothing has changed, and yet everything has changed. I’m not the eighteen-year-old girl I was ten years ago. I’ve matured, I’ve lived, and I’ve lost. But right now, there are remnants of the past that I’ll never be able to escape, and maybe I don’t want to.
My gaze slides around the room, taking it all in before it stops at the end of the bar.
My god. There, where he’s always been, is Shocker.
I don’t know why I figured he was probably dead.
He’s not that old, but after hearing Shade had passed, I assumed everyone from back then who was older was gone.
But he’s not.
As if he can sense my gaze on him, Shocker slowly turns his head, his eyes flicking up and meeting mine. We stare at one another for a long moment. Then he stands, and I watch, frozen in place, as he closes the distance between us.
When his arms are wrapped around me, Heidi releases her grasp on my hand, and my arms automatically wrap around him. The bear hug feels beyond comforting, and I exhale a long, heavy breath, pinching my eyes closed.
Home.
“Shocker,” I whisper.
“It’s good to have you home, sweetheart.”
His voice is rougher than I remembered, a bit more weathered, but at the same time, it’s comforting, and he’s right… I am home.
“You trying to steal my girl?” Axton’s voice booms from behind me.
Shocker lifts his head and takes a step back, his gaze flicking behind me, his lips curved up into a grin. “Boy, if I wanted her, I’d have her. I wouldn’t have to steal shit. She would come a runnin’.”
“Yeah?” Axton asks, although it sounds like he’s trying to bite back a laugh.
I don’t blame him. The conversation is funny. Shocker probably could have any woman chase after him. He’s charismatic, charming, and handsome even at his age. Axton chuckles, slipping his arm around my waist before he tugs me closer to his side.
“Get your own woman. Millie’s taken.”
Shocker lifts his hands, his palms facing us as if he’s surrendering. Axton changes the subject and introduces Heidi to Shocker and the rest of the guys walking around. I recognize some of their names. Others are new, and then, of course, the prospect behind the bar is new.
“Let me get you girls a bed. You’ve got to be exhausted,” Axton murmurs.
I don’t get the chance to ask him if Heidi and I are going to be sharing a bed or if I’m going to be sharing his bed.
He tugs me behind him and forges ahead. I know exactly where we’re headed: the hallway that leads to the living quarters.
When he stops in front of a door, my breath hitches because I know it’s his.
“This is our room, Mill, but if you want to stay with Heidi until I can join you, for comfort reasons, you’re more than welcome.”
Tears fill my eyes. They don’t fall, but I swear my entire body melts into a pile of goo. How did I ever think that this man didn’t love me? Clearly, he is falling all over himself with feelings. I mean, they’re a bit buried, but they are right here in front of me.
Turning to face him, I tilt my head back slightly to look into his eyes, and my lips curve up into a grin. “When did you become a sweet, sensitive teddy bear?”
His lips twitch, but he doesn’t flash me a full smile.
It’s there, though, and the way his eyes look into mine, the softness, the care…
It’s there. I can also tell there is worry behind his gaze.
I don’t blame him. What happened to me is not for the faint of heart, but at the same time, it could have been so much worse.
“I’m alive,” I whisper.
He grunts and lowers his face, and then I feel his lips touch mine, but he doesn’t deepen the kiss. Those lips move against my own as he speaks, and his words send a thrill of desire up my spine.
“Get some rest,” he says. “You’re gonna need it.”
Axton takes a step backward, then, as if he didn’t just send my entire body into orbit, he walks past me. He starts pointing out things to Heidi, like where the bathroom is, where the guest room is, and where she’ll be staying. I’ll apparently be sleeping with her for a few hours.
“There’s a lock on the door. Feel free to lock it, but not a single person will fuck with you.”
“Thank you, Axton,” Heidi murmurs.
He dips his chin, but I can tell he hasn’t figured her out yet. That’s okay, because I haven’t either. What happened today was wild. It’s beyond anything I could have ever dreamed up, and I think I need to sleep for a few hours before I attempt to process it and before I ask any questions.
We walk into the room, and Axton wordlessly closes the door behind us. Neither of us makes a move to lock the door or even go to bed. We just stand in the middle of the room, frozen.
I’m not sure what to say, and I have a feeling she’s the same. “I’m tired,” I whisper.
“Me too.”
Silently, we decide that a conversation isn’t happening. I don’t even change out of my sweatpants. Dropping everything in my hands, purse and phone included, I walk over to the bed and crawl on top.
Heidi flips the light switch off and joins me. The moment my head touches the pillow, I am out. Completely asleep. A bomb could go off, and I would hear absolutely nothing. Not a single thing. My body, my mind, and my soul are completely and totally exhausted.
PIGGY
“What happened at the house?” I ask.
Bullet and Lightning are leaning back in their chairs. We’re sitting in the conference room where we hold church. The walls are littered with tokens of the past, of the club and the men who started it. I don’t look at those. My focus is on my president, Lightning, and Ivy.
“Initial thought was a murder-suicide, but you guys kind of fucked us up with the way you shot them,” Bullet begins.
That’s true. I should have made him eat my gun. That actually would have been kind of great anyway. Next time, next asshole, that’s the plan. It wasn’t something that crossed my mind at the time. I was so focused on him being dead that’s all I could think about.
“I wasn’t really thinking,” I confess.
Bullet snorts. “It wasn’t planned, so I get it. We decided to light the place on fire. What I was most concerned about was the sheer number of cameras in a neighborhood like that.”
“I got someone working on wiping them all,” Ivy says.
I didn’t know we had a contact like that. I start to ask who the fuck is that tech-savvy, but he only shakes his head before he continues.
“It involves the Front mob family. They’re going to get their techie on it, and apparently, he’s really fucking good. I didn’t want to ask too many questions, and I know that puts us deeper in with them, but since it was Thunder Rock, I wanted to ensure nobody went down for this,” Ivy says.
Fuck.
“And now we owe Lorenzo more of ourselves?” I ask. “And it’s all my fault. Let me be the one to pay him back.”
“He doesn’t want you,” Ivy mutters.
The way he says it, my spine straightens, because that means he wants someone. My chest squeezes as I wait for him to continue. Clearly, he’s going to tell me something I don’t think I’m going to like at all.
“He wants Heidi and Millie to continue headlining the Gilded Room for a two-year contract.”
Pressing my lips together, I try really hard not to tell him to fuck off. I also know that it’s not Ivy who is demanding this. Bullet clears his throat, and I tilt my head to the side when it hits me. He’s not asking me. He’s telling me. He’s already made this agreement.
“You agreed to his terms.”
Ivy dips his chin in a single nod. “I didn’t have time to ask questions.”
I open my mouth to speak, but it’s Bullet who does first. “You agreed to something on behalf of not only Piggy’s old lady but also her friend? For two years?”
Ivy shrugs, not giving a fuck that he just decided something without asking anyone. Sure, we’re lawless, but we’re not ruleless, and that is an unspoken rule, of this I’m goddamn certain.
“Heidi will do it if she values the fact that she won’t go down for killing Anna,” Ivy snaps.
This could turn into a big fucking fight between us. Since shit went down with Goose and Ivy’s cousin, Cidney, he has been distant when it comes to club shit, and not just distant, but also… not here with us.
“This is definitely something you should have run past me before you agreed to it,” Bullet grinds out. “Minimum.”
“I understand we couldn’t have church about it, but as her man, I think I should have had some input on my woman continuing to be a fucking stripper.”
Ivy laughs at my words, and I instantly want to beat the shit out of him for it. I don’t, but I’m ready if need be. He shakes his head a couple of times, finding this situation comical, I guess, before he speaks. And with each second that passes, I grow more and more pissed off.
“I made an executive decision,” he states. “It was either that or chance all of us being caught. They can shake their asses for two years as a goddamn thank-you for staying out of prison.”
Slamming my palms down on the table, I stand, leaning over, my eyes focused on his. “I get it. You’re still pissed your cousin is fucking one of your brothers. But lose the goddamn attitude. And never talk about my woman like that again.”
Without giving him the opportunity to respond, I turn around and walk out of the room. I don’t give a fuck what he has to say. I’ll talk to Millie and Heidi about the deal, and they’ll do it because that’s who they are, but Ivy can fuck himself.