When Opposites Collide Boxset

by Kathy Coopmans

  This woman is turning me into a pussy. And if that’s what love does, then I’m okay with it.

  Eden

  My house is going on the market as soon everything settles down. I don’t give a shit how fancy of a place it is or how much money I lose on it. It’s a pathetic farce to call a home. I’d always wanted it to be one. Begged and begged for Zoe and Wilder to move in with me. Too many haunting memories are there. The thoughts of what if and that I didn’t do enough have me not wanting to go back there. I know I have to, though. I tighten my arms around Saxon’s waist, resting my cheek on his back as he roars down the highway.

  The hope in making my life complete fires back up. Making my sister proud and raising her son the way she would want me to has tears falling from my eyes.

  Wilder will come home to me. I’ll give him everything from the perfect house, school, and loving environment. He’ll go crazy over Saxon’s bike. I can picture them wrestling around on the living room floor while I cook dinner.

  Saxon’s bike slows at the gates of the club. And holy shit, there’re hundreds of people here. My jaw drops as I take in the scene. It’s not just bikers but little children and women all hanging out on the grass. Saxon explained it’s a family deal during the day then gets crazy when the sun sets. He claims that’s when the real party starts.

  “Whiskey or wine?” Saxon asks the minute we make our way through the crowd to the makeshift bar lined with all kinds of booze, cheap boxes of wine, and coolers of beer all over the ground. He flips the lid of one of them open. Pulls out a beer and twists off the cap.

  “Wine is good,” I say, telling myself I’m staying sober. Saxon reassured me that Nelly the whore bag wouldn’t be showing herself inside these gates again. However, I don’t trust these women I’m seeing sitting around either. Some are sitting on men’s laps, their eyes hung casually over the men’s shoulders, while others are rubbing themselves all over the men. Their skirts short, their tops showing off a heavy amount of cleavage. I’m not judging, because I’m sure some of them are wives or old ladies, but still, I’m sure the whores stick together. The thought of it all makes me sick.

  “Here.” He hands me a red Solo cup of wine, making me smile. The man doesn’t flinch about the etiquette of wine consumption, and I love him for that. It’s just one of his ‘I don’t give a fuck about society’s rules’ that warms my damn heart and tingles my lady parts.

  Brick grabs my hand and leads us around the crowd. Halfway through the chaos, he drops my hand, pulling me to his side with his hand resting low on my hip, then stops and kisses me harder and deeper than ever before. I know exactly what he’s doing. Brick is claiming me out in public right here and now for all to see, giving the other men no doubt who I belong to. I brush his stubble with my free hand while we kiss, hoping like hell he knows how much this means to me. We pull apart and begin walking together side by side as one.

  My eyes light up when I see Rachel, Caitlin, and Amelia all sitting on a blanket with Clara.

  “You good?” He stops right in front of the girls. I tilt my head up to look at him. A wide smile spreads across my face.

  “I just thought of something you didn’t tell me about your club,” I say, feeling like a teenager. I don’t care. It feels good to be loved, good to be needed and wanted. Even if what we have comes with a label, because I want his brand more than anything else right now. The thought of the whores who will be out after dark in full force enrages the green-eyed monster down in my gut. He is mine.

  “What’s that, darlin’?” Saxon brings his hand to the back of my neck. Pulling me into him for a short kiss.

  “I’m your old lady.” I tell him something he already knows. I thought about this the other day, too, but it slipped my mind to bring it up.

  He smirks. “Thing is, I’m the boss of that and tell you when and where that shit happens. Bitches don’t come in here and claim it when they want.”

  My anger is evident on my face, then Brick’s smirk morphs into a full-out, megawatt smile followed by a roaring wave of laughter.

  “Sexy when you’re pissed, baby.” He kisses me then pulls back. “Yes, you are. Going to have to get you a vest. Put ‘Property of Brick’ on the back.”

  “I love you,” I whisper.

  “Might have to mark this again, since everyone will be looking at your backside when you're on the back of my bike.” He grabs my ass, squeezes one cheek in his hand, and lifts his brow seductively. Good Lord, he is ridiculously handsome and hard as a rock; I can feel it through his jeans.

  “We’ll see.” I lean up and kiss him, shove him away, and take a seat on the grass by the girls.

  “Amelia, you look wonderful.” I squeeze her hand. We stare at each other for a few moments. Our eyes showing the other that this waiting is driving us both insane.

  “So do you. I know that look, too,” she says with a low voice.

  “What look?” I voice skeptically. Hoping no one noticed my look of disgust over the women I was guessing were whores.

  “Brick gave you the same look that Zeke gives me. The two of them may not resemble one another all that much, but that look of love in his eyes, the one that tells you you’re it for him. Well, it’s the same look Zeke gives me. I couldn’t be happier that Brick has found someone as wonderful as you. It makes all of us incredibly happy.”

  “Thank you. He’s an amazing man,” I say, not wanting to share more.

  “You look a lot better than you did the last time I saw the two of you,” I tell Rachel and Caitlin.

  “Yeah, well, you look hot as fuck in those clothes. Love your taste,” Caitlin replies, while Rachel peers around the baby to take a look at what I have on.

  I don’t remember Saxon calling a prospect to bring all my bags from shopping over to his house. Apparently, he did. They were all sitting in the cab of his truck this morning. After we showered, he went out to get them.

  This is the outfit he tossed at me and demanded I wear—sans panties.

  A simple pair of black jeans with a white lace-scalloped tank top. I matched them up with a pair of flip-flops. Figuring this was not the type of party to be walking around in heels. Besides, I only bought what I needed when we shopped. I did stop in the sex store like Saxon asked, but I bought strawberry-flavored lotion to lick off his dick while I’m on my hands and knees. The man loves having his cock sucked. May as well turn him on by teasing him as I lick straight up his hard shaft.

  I squirm at the same time as Caitlin squeals and bolts, and Curtis, Brick, and a few of the other men shout. “What the fuck?”

  My head turns to see two men covered in tattoos, another man who I assume is Caitlin's husband, Katch, only because they now have each other’s tongues shoved down each other’s throats, and a man who by looking at his face you wouldn’t think he was old enough to be knocking back the beer he has in his hand.

  Chills run up my spine as the pieces slowly drift together. My brain fogs over. I don’t even remember standing up and walking toward the gathering crowd until Brick has me pulled into his wall of a chest. His lips pressing kisses into the top of my head grounding me in this moment.

  “Katch, Cain, what the hell you guys doing back?” Curtis shouts. My eyes lock on Amelia’s. My throat closes and I begin to shake. The skies aren’t blue anymore. There’s a dark overcast with gray clouds of worry. Something is wrong. Brick knows it, too, as he pulls me harder to his chest and growls.

  “Church.” Curtis throws his beer bottle down to the ground.

  All the men wearing leather cuts follow behind him heading into the clubhouse. Brick places one more kiss on my forehead before letting me go.

  “No!” I grab his forearm.

  He cups my face offering up an expression that he does not want to be questioned about this. “I have to go. Club business and brothers only. You stay out here with your friends. You have to trust the process, darlin’.”

  I know it kills him to let me go. It’s evident in every stride he takes t
o the clubhouse, but he still does.

  69

  Brick

  “You mind telling me what in the fuck all four of you are doing back here without calling first?” Curtis growls, his jaw moving back and forth as if the words he’s spitting out are bitter. And they are.

  I’m standing here ready to start bashing some heads together. I don’t give any fucks anymore. I’m over this shit. I’ve done everything I can to keep this in the back of my head. Taking my woman and learning everything about her I can while trying to get her head out of worrying. She’s been drunk, she’s been fucked, and yet I still see that worry behind her stunning eyes. I still hear that scream for help when she calls out my name. She hasn’t brought it up much, but it’s there. It’s going to always be there until we find this fucker and bring justice home for Zoe.

  I don’t understand how someone like him can throw everyone off. Curtis has been appeasing the guy whenever he texts. We know by his angered responses he isn’t buying it. There have to be bigger players in this game, there just have to be. Goddamn it.

  “Don’t raise your fucking voice at me. I’ve been gone away from my wife to do you a fucking favor. I’m not one of these fuckers who you can boss around. Now, if we can conduct this shit as a meeting and not your club church business, it would suit me fine.” Katch leans back in his chair. Lights up a smoke and stares Curtis down. This shit ain’t good when Katch loses it.

  “You may not be officially part of my club, but this is my home. Don’t bring your ass up here telling me what to do.”

  I’m done. I push myself off the wall, lay my hands on the table, and bend forward. If I get my ass chewed out over this, then so be it. There isn’t a man in this room who wouldn’t do the exact same thing for his woman or at least want to. I’m the guy with the balls to do it.

  “Ain’t no time to see who has the bigger dick here. I do not give a shit who is who or what is what. Except the fact the woman I love is in so much pain she’s starting to hide behind it. Every damn one of you has an old lady. I finally got one. I ain’t fucking around with losing her to her own head. If someone would tell us why you’re back, I’d appreciated it, because I can tell you right now, all of our women are outside of these doors freaking the fuck out, and I’d like to go get mine.” I take in a breath, pound both fists on the table, and take the steps back to get to my normal spot. I don’t once take my eyes off Curtis. He’s pissed. I can also see he knows I’m right. Fuck the fact that I can see Katch out of the corner of my eye shooting daggers at me. Fuck ‘em all. I’ll take each one of them on and know they’d do the same in my position.

  The room goes eerily quiet before Dilan Levy clears his throat. “You guys sound like us at times.” He smiles and pulls a phone out of his pocket, hitting a few numbers before he places it on the table. The sound of ringing fills the confines of this room.

  “Dilan.” Roan sounds as frustrated as all of us are.

  “We’re here, man. Tell them what’s going on.” He leans back in his chair, clenches his fists, and so does Cain. Fucking hell.

  “I hope you’re all ready to combine our ways of living. Let me rephrase that. I mean killing. The news I have for you isn’t pleasant.” I grit my teeth to hold in my anger. There are so many questions lurking in my brain, and the one he’s asking isn’t one of them.

  If he’s talking about killing someone, it don’t matter to me how anyone does it as long as it gets done.

  “If you’re talking about blowing these fuckers’ heads off, I already told you I would. Get on with it, Diamond. I need to walk out of here and tell my wife good-bye before I even told her hello,” Katch remarks.

  Curtis usually doesn’t back down from anyone. Him going from standing to sitting tells me everything I need to know. This is some big time shit we’re dealing with.

  My gut is usually efficient. Right now, though, it’s churning like a bitch ready to puke. I’m afraid to fucking swallow.

  I look at Cain, whose fingers are tapping on the wooden arm of the chair. Snake, who is about ready to crawl out of his skin. Every one of my veins opens up welcoming anger inside.

  “Brother, I don’t care if you toss them in the Hudson. We want that man dead and the little boy brought back to his aunt. Don’t give a fuck what happens from there. You know how we kill around here. Clean. You want torture and dirty, that’s fine by me. I play by my rules and you play by yours. However, I have no problem switching teams when it comes to finding out who did this. Tell me what the hell is going on. This bigger than we thought?” Curtis replies. He may not care how Ricky dies. I do. I want that fucker to pay a slow death for what he did. I don’t care who or how big they are or if I have to burn down an entire town to get to him. I’ll do it.

  “I believe I know who Ricky owes money to. The punk is a dealer. Now, before I get into him, let me explain a few things. We had quite the run-in eight years ago with the Mexican cartel. The leader was a good friend of my brother’s. Unlike you, my brother and I hated each other. It’s a story left dead right along with him. However, it seems they’ve built their empire back up and now they’ve spread into our country with dealers like Ricky.” Dilan pulls a package out of a briefcase I didn’t notice he had, tosses a bunch of photos down on the table, and my stomach clenches. Ricky is in several of them. Trunk of his car wide open in some. Head bent down in others. Packages exchange hands. Jesus Christ.

  It hits me why he killed Zoe. She found out. I’ll bet my life on it.

  “You all thinking what I am? This woman, Zoe, found out. She was drawing the line with the drugs. I’ll bet anyone a damn thing she was trying to leave when he caught her; that’s why he killed her.”

  “Motherfucker!” Curtis roars, leans in, and Roan carries on.

  “I’m positive that’s what happened. We aren’t dealing with kind people. These are the types who will shoot you for smiling at them. I hate this fucking family for my own personal reasons. I have a family to keep safe back here while all of you take these fuckers out. Cain and Dilan know how these men work. I want them eliminated. This Ricky, he’s hiding from them. I’ll guarantee they’ve been under your noses the whole Goddamn time without them or you even knowing who is who. Trust me when I say we aren’t the only ones looking. My guys can fill you in. I’d suggest you take a few men with you. Leave behind the ones you know will take care of your women and get your asses searching them mountains. I’d lock down my club as well. These fuckers don’t care if it’s a man or woman or even children. They protect their empire. Ricky’s crossed it and now he and anyone around him will pay.”

  “We got this, Roan. You take care of our family back home. Get the other families together to see what they want to do. We got it from here.” Dilan grabs the phone, disconnects, and I’m shaking with fury.

  “Ricky fucked them over on money and a load of drugs; all of it happened about the time the girl was killed. He’s a scared fucker running,” Dilan adds.

  “You still with us, Brick?” Curtis asks.

  “Yup. I’m not staying back here. Not this time. Don’t even fucking think about asking. I’ll go AWOL. Swear to Christ, I will. I know better than most people about loyalty, respect, and protecting the people you love. This is my responsibility here. Just like whatever Roan has going on is his. I ain’t staying.” Curtis’ eyes search mine for long seconds before I nod in understanding. If anything were to happen to Wilder over this, I know Eden wouldn’t survive.

  “I’m going to leave you in charge while I’m gone, Snake. Club’s on lockdown until we get back. I ain’t taking any fucking chances. Brick, it’s me and you. We don’t need a fucking army for this. You gonna stand down until we’re given the word to attack? We ain’t calling the shots this time, brother.”

  “You got my word. You of all people should know this.” As far as my word goes, a man doesn’t have the balls to hold up his cock if his word is shit. We may not know how these types of people work, but we deal with scum like this on a daily basis. E
veryone wants to be the king. To rule us all. They want war instead of peace. Peace among our families is important to me. The problem with all that is, if you aren’t willing to mind your own business and leave me to mine, well, then we have a fucking problem. The Mexican cartel has a problem, and it’s me. Cain rubs his fingers over his chin.

  “We need Eden to call this Ricky. She needs to keep calling until he answers. I want to talk to him,” Cain says.

  I’m about ready to object. Tell them I’ll call, then all hell breaks loose and a pissed-of Caitlin and a beautiful woman with tears in her eyes bust through the door.

  “Woman, what in the fuck do you think you're doing?” Katch stands, grips his wife by the arm, and escorts her flapping mouth out the door, while Eden stands there not knowing what to do.

  “What’s going on?” she whispers.

  Her voice is shaking harder than the tremors running through her body. I can see her wobbling as she tries to hold herself upright. She shouldn’t be in here. To be honest, none of us should be. This shit needed to be handled a long time ago, and if I had opened my big, fat mouth the same way I did a few minutes ago, then we wouldn’t be. Zoe would be alive. I would have made sure that bastard never touched her again.

  The problem is, we don’t get to choose the path life takes us on. We just have to travel down the road and hang the fuck on with all we got. My woman is barely hanging on. I can feel her grip loosening with each breath she takes.

  “With all due respect, Eden, this room is off limits to you unless you're invited in here. I’m going to strum it up to the fact my cousin went on a rampage to get in here and you followed. We’ll be out in a minute.” It’s a damn good thing Curtis is going easy on her, or I would lose my shit.

  “I got her,” I say, grip her tenderly by the arm, and pull her into me.

  “No.” She jerks away. Her eyes shooting her anger in Curtis’ direction. Fuck.

  “This may be your club. It may be your rules and your damn kingdom. Whatever all of you are discussing in here is my business. So, fuck your rules. I’m not going anywhere. You aren’t going to send Saxon out to fill me in. I’m not going to keep my mouth shut any longer. This is my family and I appreciate everything you are doing to help me get my nephew back. I owe you for something that is irreplaceable to me. That little boy. He’s all I care about right now. So, either you tell me what’s going on, or I demand you give me my phone back so I can find out for myself.” She’ seething mad. Any other time, my dick would be ready to pound her anger out of her. Not today, though. Not with Curtis lifting his brows and telling me she is stepping over the line.