Monk (Royal Bastards MC: Sacramento Book 3)

by Winter Travers

  That was how I had lived my life since.

  Now I had someone trying to mess with me, but the problem was, I didn’t know who to raise my finger and say “fuck you” to.

  Hopefully, Monk and the rest of the guys were figuring it out in church right now. I needed answers before I could know how to proceed.

  The sound of the TV lulled me to sleep, and I was out like a light.

  On Monk’s bed.

  *

  Chapter Ten

  Uh, just a second…

  Monk

  I scanned around the common room, but I didn’t see Mitzy.

  Where the hell is she?

  I moved to the front door, opened it, and peeked out. My bike sat parked where I had left it. For all I knew, Mitzy knew how to hotwire and was halfway home already.

  She warned she was going to leave if we were here more than an hour, but I had figured she was just joking. She seemed pretty happy to see Raelyn and Memphis when we had walked in, and I thought she was good to stay for a while.

  Maybe I was wrong.

  “What’s wrong?” Playboy asked.

  I stepped back into the clubhouse and shut the door. “Uh, I think I misplaced…Mitzy.”

  Playboy chuckled. “Maybe she’s just in the bathroom, brother. Raelyn,” Playboy called. “Is Mitzy in the can?”

  Raelyn rolled her eyes. “You sure do have a way with words.” She fanned her face with her hand. “I don’t know how I could have resisted you.”

  Playboy brushed off his shoulders. “I was known for having a way with the ladies before you, babe.”

  Raelyn pretended to gag. “Please, let’s not talk about the Playboy days.”

  “Mitzy,” I interrupted. “Where is Mitzy?”

  Raelyn shrugged. “She got impatient that you were still in your meeting, and she said she was going home.”

  “What?” I roared. “And you just let her walk out the door?”

  What in the hell was going on? Raelyn and Memphis both knew that shit was fucking crazy with the club and that neither of them were allowed to be alone. Why in the hell would they think that it was okay for Mitzy just to waltz out the front door and walk home?

  “Have you met Mitzy?” Memphis asked. She shook her head and folded her arms over her chest. “You do not tell that woman what she is going to do.”

  “At least you don’t if you don’t want her to bite your head off,” Raelyn mumbled.

  I pointed at Raelyn and Memphis. “You two are permanently on my shit list. If anything happened to Mitzy, it’s going to be your men’s asses on the line.”

  “What?” Playboy growled. “How the hell did you come to the conclusion that I was going to take the fall for this?”

  “They’re your ol’ ladies.” Playboy and Six-Gun needed to get a handle on their women, so they didn’t start running all over the club. This shit was not going to fly as long as I was in charge.

  Raelyn waved her hand at me. “I’m sure Mitzy is fine. She probably called an Uber or something.”

  The mention of Uber infuriated me. That would be exactly what Mitzy would do. Hell, she called a fucking Uber before she had even been discharged from the hospital. “Everyone, get your asses on your bikes and find Mitzy,” I yelled.

  With the club behind me, I made it halfway to the door when Memphis let out a shrill whistle.

  I spun around and glared at her.

  She had her hands clasped in front of her, and she nibbled on her bottom lip. “I, uh, don’t think getting on your bike is going to be necessary.” She elbowed Raelyn, who was frantically typing on her phone.

  “You mind explaining just what the hell that means?” I demanded. Here I thought bringing Mitzy to the clubhouse would make it easy for me to keep an eye on her. I was fucking wrong about that.

  “She’s not answering,” Raelyn whispered to Memphis. “What should I do?”

  “Call her,” Memphis whispered out of the side of her mouth. “Just give us one minute, and everything will make sense.”

  “Babe,” Six-Gun called. “What in the hell shit do you three have going on right now? Mitzy gonna jump out of the garbage can or something?”

  Raelyn put the phone to her ear and pasted a huge smile on her face. “Technical difficulties,” she gulped.

  “Once we find Mitzy, I am never letting her hang out with your ol’ ladies,” I growled. Raelyn and Memphis obviously couldn’t stay out of trouble. First, they get picked up by Leo Banachi when they were out for a “drive,” and now, they had somehow misplaced Mitzy.

  “She’s in your room!” Memphis shouted. “We were trying to play a prank on you, but it’s not really a prank because, for some reason, she isn’t coming strutting down the hallway like we had imagined,” she rambled.

  “Raelyn,” Playboy groaned. “You gotta be fucking kidding me, babe.”

  Raelyn shrugged and shoved the phone at Memphis. “It was all Memphis’ idea. Mitzy and I just went along with it.”

  “It was not,” Memphis insisted. “It was a joint effort.”

  “Well, it was,” Raelyn admitted. “Though, to be fair, Mitzy was sort of dragged into it.”

  I turned and pushed past Jinx and Playboy.

  “Be nice to her,” Memphis called. “She really was just going along with Raelyn and me to be nice.”

  I didn’t fucking care what Memphis and Raelyn said. I was going to have Mitzy’s ass for trying to play some joke on me. Now was not the fucking time to pretend to disappear. I already lost two members of the fucking club; I didn’t need to add Mitzy to that number. I prowled down the hallway to my room and flung open the door.

  Mitzy was curled around my pillow, sound asleep in my bed. She hadn’t even moved when I had opened the door.

  “Be nice!” Memphis called from down the hallway.

  I stepped out into the hallway and pointed at Memphis, who was standing about twenty feet away. “You better thank your lucky stars that the reason she didn’t answer your call was because she’s asleep.”

  Memphis sagged into Six-Gun. “Thank God,” she gasped.

  I stepped back into my room and shut the door.

  My breathing was labored, and it took me a bit to squelch the panic and rage that had been pumping through my body. I moved to the bed and looked down at Mitzy. Her hands were folded under her cheek, and her dark blond hair was fanned out on the pillow.

  My pillow.

  Seeing her safe brought a sudden calm to me.

  I understood that Memphis and Raelyn were just messing around with me, but they hadn’t known the protective possession I felt for Mitzy.

  Hell, I didn’t even know I had it until they had told me she walked out the front door of the clubhouse.

  I brushed her hair back from her cheek and felt her soft skin under my fingertip. She flinched in her sleep, and I moved my hand back.

  Something had shifted inside me when I had found Mitzy faceplanted on her desk. It was a shift that made me want to protect her with my dying breath.

  I grabbed a folding chair from next to the dresser and moved it beside the bed. Two times in the past seventy-two hours, I sat and just watched Mitzy breathe.

  The simple act brought something I had never felt before.

  As long as Mitzy was breathing, I was okay.

  A woman I barely knew somehow held the peace I had been trying to find forever.

  Now that I had found it, I was never going to let it go.

  *

  Chapter Eleven

  Payback is a bitch…

  Mitzy

  “You’re being creepy,” I croaked.

  “And you’re lucky I’m not spanking your ass for scaring the shit out of me again.”

  I cracked open one eye and looked up at Monk. “Where am I?” The last thing I foggily remembered was Memphis and Raelyn hiding me to play a prank on Monk.

  “You’re in my bed, and it’s eight o’clock.”

  Popping my other eye open, I jackknifed up. “What do you mean
it’s eight o’clock? I need to get to the club,” I ranted. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and ran my fingers through my hair. “I have to protect Memphis from Rain.”

  “You’re not going to work,” Monk replied. “You just slept for six hours after only being awake for three.”

  “Who cares,” I replied. “I have to go to work.”

  “How about you try to tell me why you think you need to work to protect Memphis,” Monk demanded.

  My mind was foggy, but I knew I needed to get to Rain to tell her to lay off trying to steal Six-Gun away from Memphis. Not that it was even remotely possible, but that didn’t mean Memphis had to be tortured watching Rain try. “Because Rain thinks she’s better than Memphis and that she can steal Six-Gun.”

  Monk scoffed. “That chick is fucking whacked in the head if she thinks she can even catch Six-Gun’s eye.”

  “Right?” I mumbled. I stifled a yawn with the back of my hand. “I think I need to fire Rain. She really is just a problem that I don’t want to deal with anymore. I don’t have a problem with her, but I know ninety-nine percent of the girls can’t stand her,” I babbled.

  “Fire her. I got your back.”

  I smiled and closed my eyes. “You seem rather calm considering you spent six hours looking for me.”

  Monk chuckled and shook his head. “It was more like sixty seconds of panic before Memphis and Raelyn blurted out you were in my bedroom.”

  “I knew they would crack under the pressure. If I were them, I would have told you I saw me hitchhike out of the club driveway and get a ride in a creeper van.” If they were going to play a prank on Monk, they needed to be fully committed to it. I had actually planned on waiting a few minutes when I got the message to come out just to scare even Raelyn and Memphis.

  “Creeper van?” Monk chuckled.

  I hummed. “Or something like that.”

  “So, is this what I have to look forward to whenever you come to the clubhouse?”

  I shrugged as a laid back and snuggled into his pillow. “Not sure. I like Raelyn and Memphis, so I’m sure I’ll be a bad influence on them just like they are on me.” I opened my eyes and looked up at Monk. “You do know this was all their idea because you yelled at them for taking a drive, right?”

  Monk sat back in his chair and kicked his feet out in front of him. “You mean the time they were at a gas station getting donuts and coffee while a killer is on the loose?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Did they also tell you that the only reason nothing happened to them was because Leo Banachi happened to stumble upon them before they got into trouble?”

  “Am I supposed to know who that is?” I mean, the name sounded rather intimidating, especially since Monk had use his first and last name. I think the only thing that could have been more menacing was if Monk had said The Leo Banachi. Adding a the to the front of someone's name gives a finishing touch of threat.

  Monk smirked. “It’s for the best that you don’t know who he is. If you did, I would have to wonder what kind of shit you’re into.”

  “I think I have enough shit going on in my life. Let’s just keep The Leo Banachi out of it, yeah?” Yeah, I added the to his name. It did seem like he needed it.

  “You hungry?” Monk asked.

  “All I had was one Pop-Tart hours ago. Yeah, I’m a little hungry.”

  A mischievous grin spread across Monk’s lips. “Since Raelyn and Memphis tried to prank me, you wanna get them back?”

  I lifted my head off the pillow. “What do you have in mind?”

  *

  Monk

  “Put me down!” Mitzy screeched.

  I strode down the hallway and into the common room.

  “Oh, my God!’ Memphis gasped.

  “You better put me down this instant, Monk!” Mitzy yelled.

  “You better shut your mouth right now, woman. I’m gonna teach you not to hide from me.” I smacked her ass, and she jumped.

  Mitzy was slung over my shoulder, her ass in the air, and her face to my back. I was going full-blown caveman carrying her out of the clubhouse, and Memphis and Raelyn looked absolutely terrified.

  “Don’t you touch my ass!” Mitzy beat my back with her fists.

  That might have been what she was actually thinking. I was pretty caught up in the moment and was firing on instinct.

  “Put her down!” Raelyn called. She had jumped up from the couch and was barreling toward me.

  Playboy caught her around the waist and halted her. “You need to calm down right now, Raelyn.”

  “Calm down,” she screeched. “He’s got Mitzy over his shoulder, and he’s going to do God knows what to her.”

  “I gotta say it’s damn impressive,” Jinx called. He raised his beer in the air. “I knew you were going to be the only one who could tame that wildcat.”

  “Wildcat?” Mitzy gasped. “Once Monk sets me down, I’m gonna beat your ass, Jinx.”

  “If you could just hold on to her until I get a running start, that would be great.” Jinx set down his beer and jogged down the hallway to his room. “Get her, Monk,” he called faintly.

  “Where are you taking her?” Memphis demanded.

  “Where ever the hell I want to take her,” I spat. I felt Mitzy’s body shake, and I knew she was struggling not to laugh.

  “I hate you,” she called weakly.

  Yeah, we needed to get the hell out of here before Mitzy blew this. Even Playboy and the rest of the guys were looking a little concerned.

  Well, all of them except for Jinx, who was probably halfway out of town by now.

  I threw open the front door and headed to my bike. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw everyone spill out of the doorway with their eyes glued on us. “Nobody fucking follow us. This is between Mitzy and me.”

  “Help,” Mitzy gasped.

  Now I was the one trying not to laugh. I set her on her feet, and her eyes connected with mine. She was shielded from the view of everyone and had a huge smile on her face.

  “I think they’re buying it,” she whispered.

  “Get your ass on the bike, woman,” I shouted.

  “Oh, woman, huh? You’re gonna pay for that later, Monk.” She winked and threw her leg over the bike.

  I got on in front of her and cranked up the bike.

  “You don’t have to go with him, Mitzy,” Memphis called.

  I revved the bike to drown out Memphis’ voice.

  Mitzy leaned forward and brushed her lips to my ear. “You need to get the hell out of here right now before I lose it and laugh my ass off.”

  I nodded and knocked up the kickstand. We rocketed out of the parking lot and in the direction of Mitzy’s house. I checked my rearview mirror and saw Memphis and Raelyn had run to the edge of the road.

  “I think they fell for it,” I called.

  Mitzy laughed loudly. “You do know we’re horrible people for doing that to them, right?” She pressed her chest to my back, and I felt her body shake with laughter.

  “That will teach them for trying to pull a prank on me.”

  Mitzy laid her head on my shoulder and sighed. “Take me home, Monk. I don’t think we can top this.”

  I reached back and dropped my hand on her thigh. “You got it, woman.”

  *

  Chapter Twelve

  Wow…

  Mitzy

  “Are you sure you are okay?” Memphis asked.

  I held the phone to my ear and laughed. “Yes, Memphis. It was just a joke. Monk wouldn’t lay a hand on me like that.”

  “He slapped your ass, Mitzy. I was surprised you didn’t breathe fire and knock his nuts off.”

  Under normal circumstances, that was what I would have done, but since I knew Monk was just playing, I was mostly okay with it. When he had first done it, I was ready to grab his balls through his jeans and twist. “I swear to God, I am fine, Memphis.”

  “If you say so. Just tell me you want to order a large pepperoni pizza, and I’l
l have the police there in five minutes.”

  “Goodbye, Memphis,” I cackled. I ended the call and tossed it on the kitchen table.

  “What’s so funny?” Monk asked. He was in the living room watching the morning news.

  “Have you ever seen where if you call the police and ask to order a pizza that you’re actually asking for help?”

  Monk turned to look at me. “What?”

  I waved my hand at him and grabbed my coffee cup off the table. “Never mind. Memphis was just trying to be sweet. She still thinks you actually took me against my will yesterday.”

  “Serves her right for trying to prank me.” He turned off the TV. “She won’t mess with me anymore unless she wants to look like a fool.”

  I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my coffee. “Or you might have just started a prank war between the three of you.”

  “You mean the four of us,” Monk clarified. “I think you were a much more active participant in my prank than you were in theirs. You did happen to fall asleep during their prank.”

  I shrugged. “You may be right.”

  Monk’s phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket. “It’s the cops.”

  Oh. My heart sank. This was going to be the call that brought me back to reality.

  “Hello,” Monk said into the phone. He wandered into the kitchen, and I stayed in the living room. I heard his mumbled voice talk here and there, and then he was back in the living room.

  “Fentora,” he stated.

  “Um, what?”

  He sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands. “You overdosed on Fentora.”

  “I don’t even know what that is, Monk.”

  Monk sighed, and his eyes connected with mine. “It’s a drug cancer patients take when they become opioid resistant. It’s got Fentanyl in it. You took two pills of Fentora, which should have killed you, Mitzy.”

  I didn’t know how to wrap my mind around any of this. “So, it’s not really possible that one of the girls had those pills for themselves, huh?”