Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
VIKING
It doesn’t take me long to pull into the venue parking lot. The parking lot is half as full as it was when we left. They must have cleared out everyone except Lorenzo, Paul, and their top men.
I make my way toward the front door. I’ve decided that I’m not going through the back this time. Walking into the building, I listen for voices, and I hear them. They are a dull roar behind two closed French doors. I could open up one and slip inside, but I decide I’m ready for a bit of flair.
Grabbing ahold of both handles, I tilt my chin up slightly as I pull them open roughly.
As I walk into the room, I smirk as all the heads swing around and eyes land on me.
I can’t hold back my smile. It consumes my fucking face, and that’s because Paul is as white as a sheet and looks like he’s seconds away from shitting himself or puking… maybe even both simultaneously.
“Paul here thought that he was going to start a little war, get the girl, and then take over the whole fucking organization Lorenzo built,” Bullet announces.
I snort as I move farther into the room, only stopping when I walk up beside Piggy. I figure being here is as good a place to stand as any, considering I need to talk to him about claiming his sister once all this is said and done.
“Interesting,” I state. “Paul, you’re not the smartest fucker in this room, are you?”
Lorenzo barks out his own laughter. “Paul is a fucking idiot. A dead one.”
“Dead?” Bullet asks.
“If you think I’m going to give him even half as much grace as I gave my son, then you don’t know me at all,” Lorenzo states. “In fact, hand me a gun. I’ll do it right fucking here.”
Paul whimpers, which is hilarious, and I would laugh if I weren’t trying to figure this all out. Bullet has the leverage now, and I can’t help but wonder what he’s going to try to pull here. I hope it’s good, so fucking good we’re done with these people.
Money or not, I don’t give a shit right now. They tried to take Lainey. But then I remember the way Paul was looking at Lorenzo’s wife, and I decide that’s even more goddamn leverage for us.
“You do know Paul’s been fucking your wife, yeah?” I ask.
The way Paul doubles over as his reaction is fucking great.
I wasn’t even certain. I was just going off a hunch, but I am right.
Lorenzo’s face instantly turns bright fucking red.
He stands, and without a word, without asking for anything, not even a weapon, he picks up a fucking butter knife and starts to stab the absolute shit out of Paul.
Nobody even flinches. Not Lorenzo’s men, not us; we just watch as Lorenzo fucks Paul up, stabbing him so many times that I lose count.
The excitement wears off about the thirtieth stab, so I actually yawn, then check my phone.
I’d like to get back to my woman, maybe get my dick sucked, too, before I go to bed tonight.
When Lorenzo stands up straight, I watch as the knife clatters to the floor, then he turns to Bullet, his body covered in blood. He tilts his head back, and when he speaks, I can’t believe he's giving us this gift, because it is a gift.
We’ve been trying to get out of Lorenzo’s contract and grasp for a while now, a contract that we had no desire to really get into, but we needed the money and kept getting tangled in his web.
“You’re free, Bullet. I will have the paperwork sent to your attorney. But you are free. Your club is free. This was unacceptable, and it’s time for me to clean house. You have those girls?”
“I do,” Bullet states.
“I do not want them back. When I find the stolen bikes, I will have them delivered to your clubhouse along with the last payment you’re owed, but consider your contracts serviced in full. My men will clean this up.”
And without another word, he walks away. We stand still, unsure of what to say. I’m completely unable to come up with words. I am shocked as shit as I watch Lorenzo and some of his men leave the room while the ones who stay start to clean up the bloody pile of flesh that is Paul.
“What the fuck just happened?” Goose asks.
“Got no fuckin’ clue,” Maverick grinds out.
“I think we just lost our contract and the ties that bound it,” Bullet mutters as he closes the distance between us, stepping away from the men cleaning up the body.
My heart races at the thought of losing the contract. We’ve all wanted this, but at the same time, we’ve got zero other revenue streams. We abandoned the idea of being security for venues and shit. It was a lot of time for not enough money.
We have the strip club, but since Lorenzo is also connected to that, I’m sure that means it’s canceled as well. Shaking my head from side to side, I can’t help but feel like this is somehow my fault. I let my brothers down.
“Shut the fuck up,” Piggy barks.
My spine straightens, and I realize I said my thoughts aloud. I turn to him, my eyes wide, and he frowns as he watches me for a moment. His gaze searches mine, and I am fucking frozen.
“You didn’t do shit,” Piggy continues. “Paul fucking did this to himself, and Lorenzo backed him on some very fucking questionable shit, plus his vetting system is completely fucked. Now he knows it for sure. Not only did Paul pull this under his nose, but he also got three of his men to do it. Which is a mess in and of itself. This is on the Front Mob Family, not you, not Lainey, not any of the Reapers.”
Piggy’s right. I know he is, logically. But I still feel like I’m to blame for some of this.
I open my mouth to tell him about Lainey, but then snap my lips closed.
This isn’t the time or place. I don’t know when there will be a time or place to tell him that I’m in love with his sister, but standing at her reception site, the flowers still everywhere, the cake untouched, and a bloodied body being cleaned up in the corner, I imagine this isn’t it.
The other brothers slip away, Bullet having called them to gather whatever was left behind that could possibly link anything to us in this space, but I don’t move, and neither does Piggy.
We both stay looking straight ahead, and I try not to shift from side to side on my feet. I’m nervous but not overly so. He could tell me to fuck all the way off and that he won’t support me and Lainey. Then we’d have to fight about it, and that’s not something I want, not after today.
“Do you love her? Down to your fucking marrow, do you love my sister?”
“Yes.”
“Would you kill for her?”
“Yes.”
“Die for her?”
“Absolutely.”
The questions he’s asking me are the easiest questions I’ve ever answered in my life. I would do just about anything for Lainey-Rose. Anything. Whatever Piggy asks, I would fucking do it.
“Would you betray the club for her?”
That is where I pause. Turning to face him slightly, I cross my arms over my chest and dip my chin slightly to look down at him. I cannot fucking believe he’s seriously asking me that goddamn question.
“That’s not a fair question.”
He lifts a brow. “Is it not?”
“No,” I snap. It’s his turn to face me, arching a brow in question when he does. I continue, and when I do, I don’t hold back.
“It’s fucking not. I would be sorely fucking disappointed in both Lainey and the club if anything ever came to that. I would never do anything to have her or myself be put in that position, and you fucking know it.”
Piggy stares at me for a moment, then he lets out a chuckle. “Welcome to the fucking family, in every sense of the word. You have my full blessing to claim Lainey, if that’s what she wants. At the end of the day, that’s up to her, too.”
My lips curve up into a smile. I try to keep it a grin, maybe even a smirk, but I fail, and it turns into a smile that takes over my entire face.
“Just to add, I would have been cool with this weeks ago. I just want my sister to be happy and at home. I fucking want her in Thunder Rock.”
And Thunder Rock is where she’ll goddamn stay, especially if I have anything to say about it. Piggy and I shake hands before we decide to go back over to the rest of the men.
Now I realize they were leaving us alone to have a conversation, but now that it’s over, I’m ready to get on with everything. And by everything, I mean go back to the clubhouse to my woman, to officially announce the fact that I’ve claimed her.
LAINEY
The girls get me out of my dress, and between the clubwhores and the clothes in my friends’ closets that they keep here, I’m able to put something on that isn’t a wedding dress. Scar and Heidi are huddled up together, talking to one another. They look deep in conversation and have been for a while.
The three new girls, the ones who were in the back of that box truck, are sitting on the sofa against the wall, but Screamer has pulled up a chair, turned it around, and he straddles it as he faces them. They’ve also got some different clothes on. Likely scrounged up the same way that mine are.
I don’t ask any questions, and everyone is drinking and animatedly talking around me. Thankfully, I don’t have to join in because I wouldn’t be able to hold a conversation right now.
All I can think about is Gunnar and Paul.
Well, really, all I can think about is Gunnar. I don’t care what happens to Paul. Gunnar is who I care about. His coming back here to me, my brother accepting us being together, and then our future—that is all I care about.
Because I love that man.
That absolutely wild man.
When the door to the bar opens, all conversation ceases, and we watch as the men begin to file in. My eyes scan them all, one by one. They are still in their wedding attire, not a single one of them worse for wear.
But I don’t see Gunnar.
The door closes, and my heart sinks. I can’t believe something happened to him. I suck in a breath, holding it as I wait for someone to tell me what the hell is going on. I attempt to fight back the tears, and thankfully, before they fall, the door opens again, and then he’s there.
I don’t say anything. I stand where I am, my feet planted to the floor like cement. I can’t move. I can hardly breathe. I just stare at him and hope he’ll make his way toward me, wrap his arms around me, and tell me that everything is okay.
He walks toward me, and the rest of the room completely fades away. It’s just him and me standing in the middle of this dirty bar, surrounded by everyone we love. But I don’t see them, can’t hear them. It’s only Gunnar.
Then I feel his hands on my cheeks as he cups them, bending his head slightly, and then his mouth on mine. He doesn’t deepen the kiss, no matter how badly I want him to. Reaching up, I wrap my fingers around his wrists as I wait for him to slip his tongue inside me and taste me.
All of me.
But instead of kissing me deeper and harder, he speaks. “I love you, Lainey. I love every fucking part of you. Will you be my old lady?”
“You know I will,” I exhale. “I love you, Gunnar.”
His tongue slips inside me, and he finally tastes me. As soon as he breaks the kiss and shifts backward slightly, the rest of the room comes back around me, including the shouting, hooting, and hollering.
Biting my bottom lip, I look around at all the people I love. It’s in this moment that the realization slams into me. This is what I was going to give up in the name of protection. The people who love me, all of me, every damn inch of me.
Never again.
This is where I’ve always belonged.
This is my home.