Wrath Chapter 18
After the Black Outlaws left, all I wanted to do was relax, but it wasn’t to be.
First, we had to talk with Psycho and find out what was wrong with him.
He’d been acting insane since I met him.
I knew his road name was Psycho, but this behavior differed from what Cougar and Panther told me.
His attempt to get Jalisa away from us at the car show illustrated that he was living up to his name.
I’d asked Panther at the show before coming back to the compound if Psycho was mentally unstable, and that led to his road name.
He claimed it wasn’t that. Sure, Psycho could act like it, but he was intelligent and could use his name to his advantage.
If people thought you were nuts, they tended not to want to set you off.
With Lion and his crew gone, I turned to Forge. “Where is he?”
“We thought it might be best to keep him in the clubhouse rather than the Thieves’ Hole. He’s locked in the safe room with Keno and Dylan on the door.”
“Thanks,” I told him before addressing the entire common room.
“I want to thank all of you who came out today to help. I wasn’t expecting so many or that I’d get all the presidents.
As you heard, this might be over soon and possibly without a huge fight.
I’m going to wait and see. However, I don’t expect all of you to wait with us.
If a few would remain, that would be wonderful and plenty.
However, I invite you to stay, eat, and relax with us tonight. ”
“Hell, brother, it had nothing to do with you. We only came to see your woman and check out those cars,” Terror yelled. He had a massive grin on his face.
This made everyone laugh. Jalisa smiled and blew Terror a kiss. I pulled her close and kissed her. This set them off cheering and making catcalls until I let go. She winked at me. I gathered my addled brain cells and finished addressing the room.
“If you’ll excuse a few of us, we have someone we need to talk to urgently. Make yourselves at home, and we’ll join you soon.”
Jalisa grabbed my hand. “Babe, I need to come with you. I’ve got to know why he acted so off the wall.”
I didn’t want her to be in there because it was likely that the fact that he left the wannabe bomb would come up. I didn’t want her to know that yet. Panther caught my eye and nodded. Shit, okay, it was reveal time.
“Storm, I want you, me, Jalisa, Ryder, Panther, and Cougar in church with Psycho. Give us twenty minutes before you join Jalisa and me there. The rest stay and entertain our guests and make them feel at home.
“Sure thing, Wrath,” Storm said.
Taking her by the hand, I led her to church. I shut the door. Maybe I should take her gun first, entered my mind. I prayed she wouldn’t shoot my ass.
“Baby, come sit with me. I have to tell you something before your dad gets in here.” She frowned but followed me. I sat in my chair and brought her down on my lap. She was turned sideways on my lap so we could see each other’s faces.
“What’s wrong, Lucian? You’re worried.”
“I am. And I want to preface this by saying I intended to tell you this, but I wanted to wait until after we dealt with Killer and his guys. However, with us talking to your dad, I need you to know this before he arrives here. Christ, I hate this, Jalisa. I don’t want you pissed at me.
I did it so as not to add stress to you.
Hell, that’s what I told myself, but maybe it was because I didn’t know how to tell you.
I know how it’ll affect you, and I don’t want it to. ”
“Lucian, rip the bandage off and tell me. What’s done is done.”
Sighing, I went for it. We didn’t have long. As quickly as I could, I told her what Crusher found after the bomb scare. She grew steadily tenser until I made the big reveal. I expected her to cuss, scream, hit me, maybe shoot me. What I didn’t expect was for her to burst into tears.
I rocked her as I held her close, rubbed her back, and whispered in her ear, “I’m sorry, baby, so sorry.”
It took a few minutes for her to stop crying. When she did, she glanced up at me.
“How badly do you hate me and want to punch me?” I asked.
“I don’t hate or want to punch you. I do want to punch something, though.
The thing is, I think somewhere deep down in my gut, I suspected he might’ve had something to do with it.
Not at first, but when last weekend came and went without Killer making a new threat or trying something, I couldn’t figure out why.
God, what was he thinking? And why? Why is he so obsessed with me being an old lady to a Fiend? He’s never been overly vocal about it.”
“I don’t know, and neither does Panther or Cougar.”
“Do they and the rest of this club know what Dad did?”
“They do. I had to tell them.”
“So I’m the only one in the dark,” she said indignantly.
“No, Tonda and Betty don’t know,” I said helpfully. She snorted and then rolled her eyes.
“You know that you can’t get off Scot-free, Lucian. I’ll have to devise a suitable punishment for you withholding this.”
I groaned. Knowing her, it would be diabolical. She cackled in delight.
“Just be gentle with me, Lil’ Lunatic. I’m fragile,” I pretended to plead. It made us both laugh, lifting her mood.
We kissed for a few minutes before she pushed away from me. “I need to clean my face up. I look like a raccoon, no doubt.”
She stood. I wisely kept my mouth shut. There was a bathroom outside church.
She went there to repair herself. I didn’t care how black her eyes were.
She was still gorgeous to me. Jalisa returned, and I got her a chair that would sit next to mine at the head of the table.
We had a couple of minutes before the guys joined us.
When they walked in, Cougar and Storm had Psycho by the arms. He glared until he saw his daughter.
He was pushed into a chair between the two of them.
Panther sat across from them on my left.
Psycho then entered into pleading and guilting modes.
“Jalisa, honey, tell them to let me go. I wasn’t doing anything wrong.
All I did was try to protect you. I came to take you to a place where you’d be safe from Killer and this bunch.
Wrath has no right to keep us apart. Panther, you’re my best friend.
Why would you turn your back on thirty years of friendship for a guy and a club you just met? ”
Panther’s hands were fisted on the table, but he didn’t respond. When Psycho got no response from him, he turned to Cougar.
“Cougar, talk to your old man. Tell him he’s not thinking clearly. I’m the one who always has his back. He owes it to me to have mine.”
Cougar stared at him without blinking. Psycho knew not to say anything to Storm, so he returned to Jalisa.
“Jae, sweetheart, you need to come home. If you come with me, give yourself a chance to truly think through what you want without being influenced by Wrath or his people, and if you still want to be with him, I’ll bring you back myself.
I don’t want you to make a mistake. Remember what I told you about your mom and me?
We thought we were in love, and things burned red-hot between us for a while.
But we discovered we weren’t in love when the lust died down.
The problems began, leading to a ton of fighting, angry words, and heartache.
The only reason I don’t completely regret my time with her is because it created you. ”
Jalisa squeezed my hand, which she was holding under the table.
It was time to stop him. “Psycho, Jalisa isn’t going anywhere.
She’s mine, and that’s how we both want it.
We’re here to talk about you and what you’ve been doing, and why?
Would you like to come clean and tell us why you’ve been so crazed to get her back?
And don’t say it’s due to worry. That might be a part of it, but it’s not all.
Is there anything you’d like to tell us? ”
His eyes flickered the briefest movement, and then he gave me a perplexed look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t want her to make a mistake and get hurt. That’s it.”
Panther’s fist came down on the table hard. “Stop fucking lying, Psycho! Enough playing games! We know. She knows,” he roared. He was breathing hard. I was concerned he’d give himself a heart attack or stroke. In his condition, it could happen.
Psycho reared away from the table. “W-what do you mean, you know? Know what?”
“We know that you were the one who left the box outside the Pagans’ gate with the almost complete bomb in it.
You remember, Dad, the one that had the supposed letter from Killer that ordered them to return me to Athens last weekend or next time it would be a live bomb,” Jalisa said barely above a whisper.
Psycho flushed red and then paled. “J-Jalisa, we need to speak in private. I can explain.”
“No, we don’t. You need to explain how you betrayed me, your oldest friend, and your entire club.
Why? Why do that? Are you that hateful that the thought of me being happy makes you want to hurt me?
I don’t believe your crap about wanting me to be with a Fiend.
And you went around polling other chapters like I was some broodmare you had for sale. Tell me why!” she yelled.
His eyes grew glassy with tears. I didn’t know if they were real emotions or a ploy. He glanced over at Panther, then to the side at Cougar. I watched his liveliness seep away. He slumped in his chair and stared at the table.
“You’re right. I did it. I planted the box. How did you find out? I made sure not to look at any of the cameras. I drove an unrecognizable car, covered my head, the whole thing.”
“You did avoid the cameras that you could see. We have more that you can’t see. One of those picked up your face,” I informed him.