Flea
THE COMBINATION OF boredom and worry had me crawling out of my skin. I tried to let thoughts of Grace distract me, but somehow it felt shitty to use her that way. I didn’t want the most perfect person I’d ever known to be connected to all this club shit, even if it was only in my mind.
It felt strange to think this way, but maybe that’s what being in love was. Wanting to protect your loved ones from every kind of evil, even the imagined kind. The problem here was, not all the evils were imagined. Some of them were very real, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that this new element our club was running with would somehow put her in danger. Before I could worry any further, the sound of a pack of bikes pulling up to the compound brought everyone to their feet.
“Hatch is back!” Finch shouted, looking through the window.
Hatch walked in, looking like he’d lost a little weight, but otherwise okay. Maisie was tucked protectively under his arm and she looked wrecked. Her eyes were red and her hair wasn’t perfectly styled like it typically was.
Keeping a tight hold on his woman, Hatch moved through the room, hugging the brothers, and accepting shots until Maisie cut him off.
“The man needs to eat,” she said. “You can get him wasted later.”
The room erupted in laughs and I made my way to the bar.
“Flea.”
I turned to see Crow extending his hand as he walked up to me. “Sorry I had to yank on your leash earlier.”
I accepted his handshake. “I was out of line. I shouldn’t have questioned you in front of everyone like that. It won’t happen again.”
“You’re a good guy, Flea. I know you were just worried about Hatch. We all were.” Crow smiled wide and patted me on the back, our conversation ended by the roar of pipes. More bikes had pulled up to the compound gates.
“It’s the Saints!” Booker called out after checking the security monitors.
“Let ’em in.” Crow said, and the motor on the rolling bay doors activated. A group of five Burning Saints rode up, parked and got off their bikes. I recognized Minus and his Sgt at Arms, Clutch, but the other two members were strangers to me. I say the other two, because the last man with them was not a Burning Saint at all. In fact, it was Kitty. His mammoth frame looked perfectly intact, and his face didn’t have a scratch on it, so if the Burning Saints had just handed him a beating, he certainly hid it.
It took the same amount of time for Hatch to recognize Kitty as it did for me, and he wasted no time at advancing toward the man that had almost sent him to a Federally funded dark hole for the rest of his life.
“What the fuck is he doing here!” he growled as he charged forward.
“Whoa, hold on just one minute, Hatch. Lemme explain,” Minus said, blocking Hatch’s path… a brave and some (including myself) would say, dumbass move on his part.
“Fuck you, Minus, step aside or I’ll make sure you’re separated from Cricket for good this time around.”
Minus’s jaw stiffened, and his fists balled at his side. “I’m gonna let that go, but you need to stop and let me explain why he’s here.”
Hatch continued his advance. “I mean it, Minus, there’s gonna be six feet of fresh soil between you and my sister if you don’t get out of my way right fucking now.”
“Hatch!” Crow yelled, causing him to stop in place, but his eyes remained locked on Kitty’s massive frame, which now stood only three feet from Hatch. “What the hell is going on here, Minus? You’d better have a really good explanation as to why this giant sack of shit is stinking up my clubhouse, and why you brought it here.”
“Kitty’s the reason Hatch is out of jail,” Minus said.
“Bullshit. He’s the reason he was there in the first place,” Booker snapped.
“That was Scorpion, and Los Psychos,” Kitty said, causing Crow’s face to twist in anger at the very sound of it.
“You shut your fucking mouth, Ben,” Crow spat out, possessed by far more anger than I’d ever seen from him. “You have no right to be here, and I swear there’ll be nothing but a stain where you’re standing if you don’t leave.” He turned to Minus. “I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re pulling here, but you need to go with him, and I’ll think about whether or not our clubs have any kind of future together.”
“Crow, please. That’s what this is all about. That’s why Kitty is here with me.”
“You don’t know shit about Kitty or his history with my club,” Crow snapped. “My club, Minus. My club that I kicked him out of years ago. The guy that I just found out was trying to frame my Sargent. A man I asked you to deal with to settle up your debt to me.”
“I did deal with it. I got you every shred of information you needed and then some as a matter of fact. I held up my end of the deal, lock stock and fucking barrel, Crow.”
“He looks no worse for the wear, I notice.”
“I told you the Burning Saints are out of the hurt business. I got you what you needed, my own way, without violence,” Minus said calmly.
“By cutting some sort of deal with him? By agreeing to bring him here in exchange for the information he planted?” Crow growled.
“Yes and no. If you’d just hear him out, he can explain everything,” Minus said.
“I don’t want an explanation from him. I want an exodus from all of you. Get the fuck out, or I’ll put you out.”
Clutch took a step forward and moved his hand towards his inside cut pocket, but Minus saw him, and motioned for him to stand down.
“It’s cool, I’m not here to cause trouble Crow. You know the kind of future I’m trying to build for my club, and you know how much I respect your council. You also know the intel we gave you was solid, and that we’re gonna help you until this Los Psychos shit is resolved, but right now I need you to trust me. Give us five minutes and if you don’t like what you hear, you’ll never hear from Kitty again.”
“I shouldn’t have heard from him at all, and it’s your future presence around here that you should be worried about.”
“I understand. Five minutes, that’s all I ask.”
“You’ve got three.” He crossed his arms. “Start talking.”
* * *
Grace
I pulled open the front door and wrapped my bestie in a hug. “Oh my god, I miss you!”
Poppy grinned hugging me back. “Me too. Mum dropped the boys at Payton’s so she could try to get back in to see Sid, and Dev’s at the club. This whole thing is a shit show, and I didn’t want to be alone.”
“I hear ya.” I closed the door. “Grams is chomping at the bit to hug you.”
“Girly, you better get your cute butt in here!” Grams bellowed.
“See?” I said.
Poppy laughed, rushing into the family room and hugging her. “You really need to stop stripping, Grams,” Poppy warned. “You’ll break a leg.”
Grams laughed, shaking her head. “What can I say? I’m an addict.”
“Oh my god, Grams, you’re insane,” I complained.
“The pipes are rusty, sweetpea. Gotta get me some somehow.”
I shook my head. “Oh, lord.”
Poppy howled with laughter.
As Grams continued to get more and more ridiculous with her sexual prowess accomplishments, Poppy’s phone pinged… as did mine. I snagged it off the kitchen counter and focused on Poppy.
“Hatch is home,” we said in unison.
* * *
Flea
“Let me get this straight,” Crow said, stroking his thick beard. “In order to pay off your debt to me, I told you to get information from Kitty and for you to come through for me you had to agree to patch him into your club?”
“Not had to, chose to,” Minus clarified.
“As if that’s better.”
“No one gets into my club by force. Kitty agreed to give me, therefore you, access to the information you needed, and in return, I’ve agreed to bring him on as our tech guy. We have needs, he has skills, n
ot to mention he knows the area.”
“You’re forgetting the part where I ran him out of the area years ago and told him not to show his giant face around here again.”
“Yeah, well I think you’re gonna want to hear what he has to say,” Minus said.
* * *
Grace
Less than an hour later, Poppy’s phone pealed. “When?” she demanded (instead of hello). “Is he okay? I’m coming to the compound. Excuse me? What do you mean it’s not a good time? Devon, I swear―no. Is Mum there? She is? Then I’m coming. Ohmigod, I’m quite capable of driving… hm? No. Devon,” she growled. “You have twenty minutes. I swear, buddy, you’re one minute late, I’m out of here. Yeah, yeah, just hustle your cute ass.” She hung up and frowned. “Overprotective butt.”
“Is he picking you up?” I asked.
“Yes. Which means, I have no idea what to do with my car, but you know what? He can deal with getting it back to our place.”
I smiled, but I was a little bummed. I really wanted to go and see Hatch too… and Flea. But the most important thing was that Hatch was finally home.
“You girls need to cherish these men,” Grams said. “Women have gotten far too independent these days. It’s nice when you have a man who wants to protect you. The feminists have fucked that up.”
Poppy and I shared a ‘Grams is stuck in the past’ glance as I walked back into the room. I kissed Gram’s cheek, then flopped onto the sofa next to Poppy. “We do cherish them, Grams. Don’t worry.”
The doorbell pealed and Poppy jumped up. “That’ll be for me.”
I tucked my feet under my butt and grabbed the remote just as Poppy walked back in… with Flick. “Hi,” I said. “Everything okay?”
“Flea and Sparky want you two at the compound, so I’m here to hang with Sharon. If that’s okay with you, of course, babe.”
Grams blushed and I couldn’t stop a smile. “Well, Grams?” I nudged. “Are you okay with that?”
“Yes. Yes, of course.”
I climbed off the sofa and hugged her gently. “I won’t be late.”
“Take as long as you need,” Flick said. “I can stay all night.”
Grams giggled and I glanced at Poppy who was trying not to laugh.
“I’m going to freshen up,” I said.
“I’ll meet you in the car,” Poppy said.
“Sounds good.”
I grabbed a change of clothes, brushed my teeth, then headed out to Poppy’s car. She was a bit of a demon behind the wheel as it was, but tonight she defied speed laws and I was a little surprised we made it in one piece.
We both rushed into the compound where we were met by our men, who obviously saw us coming in on the cameras.
“Hey,” Flea whispered, kissing me gently. “Your grams good with Flick hangin’ with her?”
“She blushed,” I said. “She’s good.”
Flea chuckled. “Come on. Hatch’ll be glad to see you.”
He took my hand and we headed into the great room where Hatch had Poppy in a bear hug, and she seemed to be hugging him back just as hard. Maisie hovered, her hand always touching him somewhere.
Shit, I didn’t blame her. I’d be doing the same thing.
Their boys, Flash and Jamie, weren’t far either. They weren’t even teenagers yet, and I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to have their father ripped away so suddenly.
“Baby girl, get your ass over here for a hug,” Hatch bellowed, waving to me.
I grinned and made a run for him, wrapping my arms around his waist as he squeezed me tight. “Your daddy made this happen, Gracie,” he whispered. “Just in case you were wondering.”
I squeezed my eyes shut briefly and pulled away. Hatch held me a little bit longer, then finally released me, and I was pulled into Maisie’s motherly hug. “Miss you, darling. How’s your grams?”
“She’s doing really well,” I said.
“We’ll have her over for dinner when she’s well, eh?”
I smiled. “She’d like that.”
Hatch grabbed Maisie and pulled her close and I made my way back to Flea.
He smiled. “Hey, baby.”
“Your room. Now.”
I didn’t wait for him to acknowledge my demand. I just headed toward the stairs and up to his room. I couldn’t figure out if I was confused, pissed, or hurt. Probably a combination of all three and I wanted answers.
Flea unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping back so I could precede him inside. Which I did. Turning on him with my arms crossed.
Flea raised an eyebrow, closing the door behind us. “What’s up?”
“My dad?”
“What about him?”
“He’s the reason Hatch is out?”
“Part of it, yeah.”
“Were you going to tell me any of this?”
“Yep.”
“When?” I demanded.
“Now works.”
I let out a frustrated growl. “You should have filled me in the second he got involved.”
“Technically, I did.”
“You didn’t mention he was this involved. You should have given me more information.”
He grinned. “Nope.”
“What the hell do you mean, ‘nope’?” I snapped. “And, why are you smiling?”
His smile got wider. “Love it when you’re feisty, is all.”
“I’m not feisty! I’m pissed.”
“Like you pissed, too.”
“You haven’t begun to see me pissed,” I warned.
He nodded toward the chair by the window. “Take a seat, baby.”
“I don’t want to take a seat, Flea. I want answers.”
Flea gripped my shoulders gently and guided me backwards to the chair. “Which I will give you… when you sit down.”
I huffed, but flopped into the chair, while he dragged another one over to face me. He sat his cute ass down and leaned his elbows on his knees. “First, I’m not always goin’ to tell you shit happenin’ at the club, whether it involves your dad or not. Club business stays with the club.”
“I think the fact my dad was working this case could have been an exception.”
“Not gonna argue with you on that point, honey, because I agree. The problem is, we’ve been knee-deep in shit, and you and I haven’t really had time alone since everything went down.”
Well, I had to give him that. We’d barely had a few minutes, let alone time enough to fill each other in on what was going on day-to-day.
“What did my dad do?”
“He played interference with the local PD, got Maisie in to see Hatch, and worked with Jaxon to find evidence that showed Hatch was innocent.”
“He did?”
“Yeah, honey, he did.”
“Why would he do that?” I asked.
“Because he loves you and he knows how much you love Hatch.”
I snorted. “That’s not the reason.”
“Maybe not the whole reason, no, but it’s part of it. Maisie’s his friend, Grace. Hatch is, too. All of this is bigger than you, but you’re still a part of it.”
I bit back tears. “I feel like everything I’ve believed for the last ten years is crumbling.”
His hands slid up the outside of my thighs. “I know, honey.”
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Nothing, Grace. There’s no pressure.”
“I have to hate him,” I whispered.
“Yeah?”
I nodded.
“How come?”
“If I stop, what then?”
He cupped my cheek and wiped an errant tear away with his thumb. “You heal.”
“I have been in therapy for ten years. That’s not gonna happen.”
“All this new emotional shit is draggin’ up memories of your trauma. That’s all normal. We’ll sort it out together.” Flea smiled gently. “You’re not alone in this, honey. I’ve got your back.”
I stood, moving to s
traddle him, and dropping my forehead to his. “I love you, you know that, right?”
“Got an inklin’.”
“Just an inkling?”
His hands slid under my T-shirt, running up my back and unhooking my bra strap. In one move, my shirt and bra were off my body and tossed onto the floor and his palms were rubbing my nipples into tight buds. “Maybe a little more than an inkling,” he said, kissing me deeply.
Cupping my bottom, he stood, keeping me tight to his body, and I wrapped my legs around him, kissing him as he carried me to the bed. He settled me on the mattress and yanked off his shirt… and I lost my shit.
“What the fuck happened?” I squeaked, scrambling to my knees.
He had a huge bruise in the middle of his chest and it looked like it hurt.
“Nothin’. It’s fine.”
“Baby, it’s not fine. Did you see a doctor?”
“It’s a scratch.”
He leaned in for a kiss, but I shook my head. “What happened?”
He sighed. “I had a minor disagreement.”
“With whom?”
“Crow.”
“Crow did this?” I snapped.
“Baby―”
“No. This is unacceptable,” I growled, pushing off the bed. “No one, and I mean no one, puts his hands on my man and lives to talk about it.” I headed for the door. “I’m gonna give that old man a piece of my mind.”
Before I could get anywhere, Flea’s arm snaked around my waist and I was pulled back against him. “Where you goin’ without clothes?”
I glanced down. “Shit.”
He chuckled, turning me to face him. “You’re going nowhere for the next hour.”
“You really think this is gonna take an hour?” I sassed.
He raised an eyebrow and slid his hand to my neck. “You gonna take that back?”
I licked my lips. “Nope.”
His eyes darkened. “Really?”
My breasts grew heavy and my nipples hardened, knowing something incredible was coming. “Really.”
Road to Grace (Dogs of Fire Book 8) Page 17
