Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
LAINEY
Viking grunts just as there is a knock on the door. I announce that the lasagna is ready and decide that the last thing I want to do is open the door to my pissed-off brother. So Viking can do that, and I’ll just get dinner out and ready to eat.
I hear my brother’s feet stomping through the house grow louder as he approaches. I take a deep breath and hold it for a moment, then let it out slowly as I turn around, heavy and hot lasagna in my hand.
“Hey,” I cry out.
His expression is thunderous. Well then, I guess this won’t be as simple as I thought it would be. I open my mouth to attempt to explain myself as I place the hot pan on top of the trivets that are sitting on the counter, but quickly snap my lips shut when he begins to speak.
And thunderous doesn’t even explain the absolute boom of his voice. “What the fuck is going through your fool-assed head?” he demands.
I attempt to explain myself, but snap my lips closed when he holds up his hand, his palm facing me in an attempt to shut me up. I press my lips together, trying to keep from saying something, because I don’t think he’s ready to hear my voice just yet.
“You know what?” he asks. “I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know why you think it would be a good idea for you to just hand yourself over to them. You don’t even know who the fuck they are. And you’re not gonna know, because it doesn’t fucking matter. You are absolutely not getting involved.”
Viking grunts somewhere in the distance, but I don’t look at him, because my focus is on my brother and only my brother, because fuck Viking. Narrowing my eyes on Axton, I take a step toward him, but instead of screaming or being loud the way he is, I speak calmly, firmly.
“I’m already involved, Axton. I’m actually the main one involved, and if this is better for everyone, then who cares?”
He wraps his fingers around the back of his neck as he shakes his head from side to side a few times, then he clears his throat. He looks down at his feet, then lifts his eyes to meet mine.
“You don’t know what you’re saying, Lainey. If you do this, I can’t protect you anymore. You would be his. You know how when it comes to the club, women are property?” he asks.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nod once, because I have a feeling I know what he’s going to say.
“It’s the same for them. Except if you’re with anyone in the club, they at least have to look me in the eye if they did something to you. Those guys, they don’t have to do shit. And they don’t have to answer to anyone. Not even Bullet.”
“Okay,” I whisper.
“Not okay,” he snaps. “You think I can’t tell when you’re just trying to shut me up? I came down here, I’ve told you my thoughts, now please explain yourself.”
God, I really hate it when he’s like this. It’s annoying as hell. Mainly because he only does this when he thinks he’s right, and he’s so damn smug about it. If I were the kind of person who would slap someone, this would be the moment and the someone.
“My dinner is getting cold, so I’m going to say what I’m going to say and that’s going to be that, okay?” I ask. “This doesn’t need to be a fight or anything.”
He jerks his chin but otherwise doesn’t speak, which is my signal to go ahead. But I know that he’s not really listening to me with an open mind. He’s already decided what he thinks is the right thing to do, and it’s nothing that I’m about to say.
“I’m thirty-two,” I begin. “I’ve got no prospects, and with the bakery and my life here, I probably never will.
I don’t want to leave Thunder Rock. I don’t want to leave you or my friends, my family.
I love my life here, but I do want someone to share it with, and I want children one day.
My window is closing, Axton. I know it is, and if this helps the club, helps you, helps Millie and everyone else, let me do it. ”
He shakes his head. “I won’t hear of it.
You’re my little sister,” he says, lowering his voice as he takes a step closer to me.
“And I want you to have everything you deserve in life. A piece of shit trying to kidnap you in order to force our hand at whatever the fuck he’s got going on isn’t going to happen. ”
Then his arms wrap around me, and he gives me a hug, a big one. A brotherly bear hug. I haven’t had one of these in a while, so I close my eyes and accept it. When he’s finished, he takes a step backward, his fingers curling around my shoulders as he gives me a gentle shake.
“Eat your dinner, get some sleep, do your bakery. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I whisper.
Axton flicks his gaze up to Viking, jerking his chin. “Talk to you for a second outside?”
Code for… I’m going to talk about Lainey, tell you how to handle her, and how I want this situation to go. That’s fine. I’ve never been in complete charge of my own life anyway. And I never will be.
Picking up my phone, I decide to text the girls.
A group text. I need a wine night. Dessert’s on me.
And bread too for charcuterie, because there’s always charcuterie.
I don’t want to do anything stupid, like run off and put anyone else in danger.
That’s happened before in the name of self-preservation, and it didn’t work.
Wine and snacks. ASAP.
DAKOTA: I’m there.
brIANA: Same.
MILLIE: Are you okay?
No.
And that’s the long and short of it. I am not okay. And I need to talk to a group of people who do not have testosterone and who will give me sound advice now that I mostly know what’s going on.
MILLIE: Tomorrow. Your place?
I look over my shoulder as Viking walks through the door, and I realize I’m not sure where I could meet them where he isn’t going to be listening. If I say the bakery, Axton can easily listen in through the surveillance equipment.
Somewhere we can talk in private.
DAKOTA: Shit.
Shit is right.
CIDNEY: Come to my house. Goose is going to be working at the club in Raleigh.
Cidney comes through in the clutch, plus if anyone knows what I’m going through right now, it will be her. Ivy is her cousin but practically raised her, and much like me, she stayed away from the club, didn’t get involved with anyone there… until she did. Then her world imploded.
I also have a feeling this group that wants me is the same one who tried to take her, but that guy wanted her dead as a revenge thing, so this is different.
Everyone confirms. And tomorrow night, at seven o’clock, we’re all meeting at Cidney’s.
Millie sends a happy-face emoji along with a rock-on one.
She is so happy to be part of our crew now that she no longer has to strip at night down at the Gilded Room.
My birthday two years ago was her last night, and she’s always down for a girls’ night.
Viking walks back into the house, closing and locking the door behind him. The conversation is dropped because I don’t bring it up again, and he likely thinks my brother put me in my place and ended it there.
He obviously doesn’t know shit about me. Because I’ve never just let something go, especially when I think I’m in the right. I don’t see how this could be so detrimental. These people love contracts, so why not make one with all the stipulations?
I make a mental note to contact both Bullet and Ivy after I meet with the girls to form my finalized plan. I’m going to need an ironclad contract, and Ivy is the best.
I’m also going to need Bullet’s approval. As the club’s president, he, without a doubt, has more say than my brother. I doubt he would just ignore my brother’s wishes, but still. There’s a chance, if it makes sense, that Bullet will talk that sense into him… one way or another.
VIKING
She’s up to something.
I’m going to let her think that she’s getting away with it, at least until I figure out what exactly she’s up to. Because Lainey is indeed up to fucking something. Once dinner is consumed and I’ve cleaned everything up, I turn to her.
“You want a glass of wine or something?” I ask.
She shakes her head, then slowly turns around, her eyes finding mine. She’s standing on the other side of the bar, her phone in her hand. She’s been furiously texting since we finished dinner. I don’t know who the hell she’s talking to, but it’s also not my place to ask.
“What did my brother talk to you about outside?” she demands softly.
I’m surprised she’s not a bit more forceful in her words. I can’t help but wonder if this is a new tactic. It doesn’t matter what it is, because she won’t be getting any information out of me that I don’t want to give her.
Tilting my head to the side, I watch her for a moment.
A long, quiet moment. Sliding my tongue along my bottom lip, I rock back on my heels as I think about how to proceed.
She’s not going to tell me anything about her phone conversations if I don’t give her anything about the talk I had with Piggy.
“He wanted me to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid like run off to that organization and offer yourself up for marriage.”
She narrows her eyes and presses her lips together, then straightens and spins around. I watch as she walks toward the window, the same one I was looking out of earlier, though, like me, I don’t think she’s really seeing anything.
She’s beautiful.
Too fucking pretty to be sold off to the mob.
“Lainey?” I call out.
She looks over her shoulder at me, her gaze searching mine before she shifts her attention back to the glass. I don’t know if she has something else she wants to say to me, but I decide that I need to be the one who breaks the silence.
I need to tell her something.
“That night, all those years ago. I didn’t mean I didn’t want you. I did. I do,” I begin.
I can’t take my eyes off her, the way every muscle in her body tightens. I want to kiss her. Every fucking inch of her. But my feet stay planted where I am, unable to move. Unwilling to move, because I know if I do, I’m going to lose control.
And the last thing I can do right now is lose control.
“I’ve always felt drawn to you, Lainey. But I respect your brother too much to go there. You deserve someone a hell of a lot better than me. I could never make you happy.”
Slowly, she spins around, her gaze flicking to meet mine. She doesn’t say anything, though. She just watches me, and I wonder what it would be like to have just a taste. Could I stop at that? Would I want to keep going? Stupid question. I know I would. I wouldn’t be able to stop.
“I don’t need someone else to tell me what I need or what’s good for me, like I’m a child.
Did you know that my brother was twelve when I was born?
He’s been like a father to me my entire life, and it’s wonderful to have someone look after you like that, but I’m not a child.
I’m an adult, and I want to be seen as one. ”
I take another step toward her, but stop short of being close enough to touch her. “I’m not telling you that I’m not good for you because I think you’re a child,” I whisper. “I’m telling you because I would hurt you. I would ruin you.”
And the last thing I ever want to do is hurt Lainey-Rose. I would die before I made her cry.