I finally knock, and it isn’t her that answers. It is one of the other clubwhores. Zoey or some shit. I don’t even know. She is popping bubble gum like a little kid as she rolls her eyes at me. “Nails!” she calls obnoxiously loud, and I hear a movement before the two switch places. I see her, and my heart skips a beat. She leans in the doorway in a pair of short shorts with a drawstring and a tank that hugs her perfect tits real tight. I am instantly turned on and want her so badly right now, but I have so much to say before we get back into that. We have fences to mend.
“Why are you here, Chains?” she says defensively, but I can see the way her eyes land all over me like she is making sure I am still mostly in one piece. I don’t know what all has been told to everyone about what happened to us, about losing five men and me being in the hospital so long. I can only imagine what she must have been thinking.
That is, if she actually does love me like she said.
“I came to find out if what you said before I left was true.” Well, I guess that’s one way to get the answers I want. It just comes out of me like bile without any thought to easing into this conversation.
She sighs and crosses her arms over her chest, causing there to b even more cleavage. “If we’re really going to talk about this, maybe it should be somewhere private,” she suggests, and I guess I agree with that. Everything we have always done has been behind closed doors. I mean, I have slung my arm around her in front of some of the guys, but I think there is something magical when we are alone that we just can’t express when everyone else is around. At least what this thing used to feel like to me.
I still feel it now, looking at her even though I question a little whether or not she even wants me anymore.
“I know a place, but you might want some pants,” I tell her.
She turns around and grabs something; some jeans, and I watch her slips them over those legs of hers.
We walk in silence outside to the back of the clubhouse before she says anything. “You aren’t going to try to ride your bike like that , are you?” she asks me, and I shake my head.
“No, I am not anywhere near ready for that yet. They are going to put me in therapy so I can learn to use a prosthetic. It’s weird to wear, though,” I admit before changing the subject. “But where we are going is just a short walk. No worries.”
I wind around the neighborhood and shopping center that’s just around the corner from us and head into the residential district while we hash it all out, knowing she has no idea what I am going to show her. And either she is going to be jealous and never get to see it again, or she will get to share it with me because she proves to me that she meant everything she told me before.
“Yes, I meant every word, but I doubt that it’s that simple, Chains. I know I hurt you,” she admits to me, and I contemplate interjecting, but she continues. “If you will stay silent and let me explain, then I will, and then if you still can’t forgive me, then that’s okay. But please, find a way never to take that job again even after you can use your new hand.” I don’t say anything. I haven’t decided at all yet what I am going to do. I know this is dangerous, and I know just how dangerous now, but I can’t risk even telling her. I guess I am beginning to understand the need to keep secrets. Sometimes, they protect someone you love. “I did it because Karl told me that if I slept with him, which was my only form of available payment, he would give you experienced help and more weapons. I thought I was saving you. But he was playing a game all along and meant for you to show up that day and catch us. I know he did.”
I stop walking and look over at her. “You slept with your ex, a man that you hate, to save me?” I ask, blinking a few times. When she nods, I grab her by the waist and pull her tightly in. I hold her against me so tight she can’t go anywhere as I plant my lips to hers and say everything I need to say with that one kiss. And then, I point to a house we have stopped in front of.
“I know it’s not much, but I bought it. You can’t ask me where I got the cash, because I can’t tell, but it can either be mine, or it can be ours,” I offer her, leaving the ball in her court.
“A house?” she breathes, and I can tell she has never even dared to dream of something like this, that I have done the right thing. “I can’t think of anything better.”
“Oh, I can.” I pull out the key and lead her inside, giving her the grand tour before taking her down a set of stairs into the basement. I turn the light on, and we are instantly plunged into the perfect BDSM dungeon. I have been planning this since the moment I got that money, paying people to decorate and to swear themselves to secrecy. I have enough money and then some to do whatever I want for us for the rest of our lives.
“I don’t suppose you’ll let me take charge?” she asks me with a wicked gleam in her eyes. I don’t hesitate to back her into a wall, the bulge in my jeans pressing into her thigh and holding her there.
“Not a chance in hell.”
Epilogue
6 months later
Nails
Today is going to be a day for the history books.
Chains and I have been living comfortably in our new home, laying low and staying out of MC business as much as we are allowed to manage. And we have been having a hell of a time doing it, if I may add.
But today, today is the day that he gets to be done with physical therapy, and today is also the day he has decided to sit down with Doc and beg him to talk some sense into Karl. Chains and I got word that the heroin trade will start once again, a different location and with more men and backup, but he is obsessed with doing it, and we both get the feeling it is because it is too late to back out.
He has clearly sold his soul to Samuel Laurent and the whole MC right along with it.
I don’t have any proof, but it’s the only logical explanation for all of this behavior.
Doc and Karl have been friends for so many years. In fact, Doc was a member of his band in the early days, a drummer, but then he got straight and sober, and decided to go to medical school. The rest is history, I guess. Though, I don’t understand what kind of bond they must have had for Doc to end up stuck working for the MC rather than taking a six-figure job at a hospital or some shit. It isn’t like he couldn’t have. He is the cleanest man we have.
So, we figure, Doc would be the only one who could pull Karl pout of this maniacal state he’s in.
But all of that is now set aside as I walk into the house that I share wit Chains knowing that I have some unexpected news of my own; news I never thought I would have at the age of 36 and all used up.
I still can’t wrap my head around it, but I’ll be damned if I am going to keep secrets for even a second from Chains ever again. He even eventually broke down and told me everything that happened that day he almost died and that Samuel was involved, even though he had been given hush money.
I know better than to speak a fuckin’ word to anyone who doesn’t already know. And we both knew Doc did since he was the one who told Chains to keep is trap shut about it all.
I find Chains on the couch, a shot of whiskey in his hand. Doc must have just left or something because there is another empty whiskey glass on the coffee table.
He sits on the edge of his seat, his brow creased in worry. He can sense that something is up with me, and he knows I went to see a doctor, not Doc simply because I just never want to see Karl again if I don’t have to, because I wasn’t feeling well. I thought I had the flu. Boy, was I wrong.
“What is it?” he asks, and I shake my head, still in shock.
“You’re never gong to believe this, Chains. I barely do except they showed me because I didn’t believe them,” I say, my voice sounding like it’s coming from far away.
You’re scaring me, Brooke, what is it?”
He only calls me that when he wants something out of me, and I glare at him before breaking out in tears, and I don’t even know why. Damn female hormones. “I’m pregnant.”
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Chains (Quarter Kings MC Book 1) Page 7
