Leaving MaryAnn nearly killed me because when I return to her everything will have changed between us. I called a secret meeting with Hades and Boogeyman. This concerns them. This shit with Mandy is boiling my blood. I picked up some coffee and donuts. I figure if I treat the fuckers they won’t be so moody for waking them up before dawn.
Hades is already in his office waiting for me. His expression is grim when I hand him my peace offering. “You better have a damn good reason for this shit. It’s too Goddamned early.”
“I second that,” Boogeyman agrees, announcing his presence. He grabs a donut and flops down in a chair. I take another sip of my coffee and hope they have a solution to get me out of this mess.
“I have a lot to fill you in on and don’t even know where to fucking start, but it’s bad. Real fuckin’ bad. We have a rat.”
“Explain,” Hades says, motioning with his hand for me to continue.
“I had a call from fucking Mandy, saying she needed to see me that it was urgent. MaryAnn was out shopping with the girls, so I didn’t see the point in telling her I was going. Anyway, I got there, and she asked me to walk with her. Boogeyman, don’t if you know this or not but her father’s land is on the other side of the woods that borders your backyard.”
His head angles to the side and he questions me, “What’s she know?” His response is enough to confirm that Mandy was telling the truth.
“Says her father has a game camera up and it caught you shooting that prospect that’s been missing. Also says you buried him in your backyard.” He starts to speak but I cut him off. “That’s not all. She knows too damn much about the missing sorority girls in the area and it’s not because I said shit all about it. Someone is feeding her information. I know you’re going to say to put her to ground, but she says she’s pregnant with my child. Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen but I can’t and won’t hurt my own child or a pregnant woman for that matter.”
“What’s she want in return for her silence?” Hades speaks for the first time since I started telling all. He’s eerily calm. As for Boogeyman, he looks ready to kill and I am second guessing calling him in.
“Says she wants me to dump MaryAnn and remarry her.”
Hades whistles.
“That’s not all. MaryAnn is pregnant too. Found out yesterday.”
“Does she know about Mandy?” Boogeyman asks, softening his tone.
I shake my head. “What the fuck do I do?”
Prez rubs his chin. “You’re not going to like this, but it is what must be done. Give the bitch what she wants. She’s bound to be talking to someone. She’ll let her guard down or whoever she is working with will fuck up eventually. As for MaryAnn, you can’t tell her. If this is going to work…shit’s gotta be believable. There’s no room for her here at the clubhouse but Reaper and Harley moved into their rental a few weeks ago and you will still be able to check on her when stopping by the office. When she shows here upset, I’ll suggest she stay there.”
I swallow hard. I know he speaks the truth. Only what if it takes too long to find the rat? What if she doesn’t forgive me when the truth comes out? What if I lose her forever?
“Cupid? You good with this?”
I nod even though I am far from good.
“Good get this shit rolling,” he dismisses me. As I get up from my seat he tells Boogeyman to stay put. “You and I need to have a chat about Eugene and what you are gonna do about moving that body off your property.”
With that I take my leave. I get on my bike and go for a ride, trying to get the courage to destroy the woman I love. I’ve never been a coward until now. The temptation to put her on the back of my bike, ride off to Mexico, and never look back is strong. But that isn’t who I am. I’m a Devils Reject and, in this life, you can ride or die. I’ll ride for my club until the day I die.
———
When I get back to the house my gorgeous pregnant girlfriend is sleeping. Her blonde hair is in a messy knot on her head. A few stray strands frame her face. I stay standing in the doorway for half an hour just watching her, wondering how long it will be before I can watch her anytime I want to. I have to make her hate me. It’s the only way she will believe me. I have one hour before I am supposed to be at the new jobsite for Reaper’s construction company. He put me in charge of my own crew. I can’t let him down because I have personal shit going on. He’s trying to grow his business, so he can give Harley the life she deserves. Eventually he says he wants to make me his partner. With two kids now on the way, I have a lot riding on this too. Raising a family isn’t cheap and I have two to support now.
I could kick my own ass for ever touching Mandy again, but it is what it is. And I have to do what I must to make this right for MaryAnn and that means protecting her and our child from whoever is behind this shit with Mandy. Glancing at my watch, I know it’s now or never.
The bed dips under my weight as I sit on the edge next to where my sweet Mary slumbers. Her hand clenches into a fist around the hem of my shirt. “Hey. You just get back?”
“Yeah,” I lie. “Let’s go to the living room and have that talk.”
Letting go of my shirt, she rubs her eyes and stretches like a cat.
I get up and offer her a hand to help her up, but she ignores it and gets up from the other side. She immediately goes to the bathroom and I go on to the living room, mentally preparing for what I am about to say to her. I don’t know whether to sit or stand. I stand by the window that overlooks the front lawn until she joins me.
MaryAnn chooses to sit on the armchair, so I take the couch. I clasp my hands together and say a silent prayer that we’ll get through this somehow.
Chapter Sixteen
—MaryAnn
“I lied to you. I lied to you about everything. I’m still married…to Mandy. She’s pregnant and coming home, here to give our marriage a real shot. She’s my wife and I have to put her needs first…” He keeps talking but my brain isn’t registering his words.
There’s a lump in my throat the size of a tennis ball and I can scarcely breathe. He sounds like the teacher on the old Charlie Brown cartoons. The room begins to spin, and I am on the verge of passing out. It’s worse than I thought. He was using me as a placeholder, but I shouldn’t worry, he’ll make sure my baby never wants for a thing. Hot fat tears roll down my cheeks as he says, “We had a good time. Maybe when Mandy gets settled in then can still see each other on the side. She won’t have to know. She can’t know about your baby either. It’d just make shit harder. It can be our secret.”
Nothing about this makes sense. He’s saying all these terrible things but there is this look in his eyes that says it’s all lies. Why is he doing this to me? To us? I thought he was happy about the baby. I thought he loved me. Maybe it was all a great big act. Maybe he was bored because his wife left him, and I filled the void. I’ve been zoned out for the past few minutes, lost in my head. I haven’t a clue what he just asked me. He moves from the couch and stands in front of me with his hand on his zipper. “Be a good girl and suck my cock before you go, sweet Mary.” Thick digits stroke the head of his dick. He takes a step forward and his dick is right in my face. I should bite it off, but I don’t. I don’t do anything. I’ve shut down. I’m numb to it all. His words…his touch as he rubs the tip over my lips. “Suck me, MaryAnn. I want you one last time before my wife comes home.”
You’re nothing but a worthless whore.
That’s all you’ll ever be.
No man will really ever want or love you.
Fucking pathetic cum slut.
Stephanie isn’t here but I hear her malicious words playing on a loop in my head.
Girls like me—we don’t get happy endings.
Anger finally rears its head and I grab Cupid by the dick and squeeze his flaccid cock hard. “I’m not your dirty little side bitch. I will never touch you again. Men like you disgust me.”
“I know,” he groans as I let go. He cups his dick with both hands in a protective
manner.
I shove him out of my way as I stomp to the bedroom and start gathering my things. My chest squeezes tight. My heart feels ready to explode. I’ve been shot with Cupid’s arrow and have never felt more alone. He doesn’t follow after me or tell me to please not go. Not that I expected he would. I do my best to grab what I can but right now I don’t care what I leave behind, I just need to get out of here. Away from him. Away from what I will never have. What I never should have hoped for.
I want to be vindictive. I want to make him hurt like he has hurt me. As I go out the door and toward my car for the last time, I scream at him, “I hope and pray that this baby isn’t yours. Zo Zo wasn’t the only other man I fucked.”
He grabs my arm and I can see so much hurt and anger swirling behind his eyes I almost take it as real and not what it is, his attempt to manipulate me. “Don’t drive angry, MaryAnn.” His fingers move to my face, searing my skin with his touch. Part of me wants to lean into him and beg him to take it all back.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do. I’m a person, Ryan. I have feelings. I feel. You cut me, and I’ll bleed. I’m not just your side piece to be used up and tossed away. I know what people think of me. I know how they see me. I just thought you didn’t see me that way. That was my mistake.”
“I don’t see you that way. Things are complicated. But you’ll see its better this way.”
I can’t help but laugh. The man is a narcissist who believes his own lies. He twists words to suit his own needs. I see that now.
“Goodbye, Cupid. Have a nice life.” I spit his road name at him and try to pull away, but he won’t let go.
“We both know that’s not my name when it’s just you and me.”
“There is no you and me. There never was and now there never will be.”
Hurt registers across his face. “You don’t really mean that.”
I shoot hm a look that could slice him open. “Let. Me. Go.”
He nods and drops his hands to his sides.
I get to my car and I drive to the clubhouse. I put my car in park and let the damn holding my tears break. They rush out like the Great Rapids, blinding my vision. I don’t know how long I just sit and cry with my head down on the steering wheel. I had nowhere else to go. How pathetic is that.
My car door opens, and I fall into Zo Zo’s embrace. “Hey, hey. What’s going on?”
I sniffle and dry my eyes on the shirt he wears under his cut. “It doesn’t matter.”
He pulls back and his gaze locks in on all my stuff in the backseat. “Appears to be more than nothing. You need a place to stay until you figure things out? I have a guest room at my place. It’s yours and no one will bother you. I’m hardly there.”
My bottom lip trembles and I could kiss him, but I don’t. I really don’t want to go in there, in the clubhouse and let anyone see me like this. I don’t want them to know Cupid made a damn fool of me. Stephanie would love to watch me fall apart…to see me crumbled up and broken.
Zo Zo pulls a key off the ring and drops it in my palm. “Do you know where my house is?”
I nod. At least I think I remember going to a cookout there once to drop off beer and food.
“Good. Make yourself at home and if you need anything, you call me. I mean it.”
“You’re a good friend.”
“You’d do it for me.” His fingers pinch my chin, lifting my face up. The way he is looking at me right now I am afraid he is going to kiss me. “Whatever is going on, you’ll get through it.” I offer him a weak smile. His words are nice, but I don’t believe I will ever be okay again. He leans down and I close my eyes, mentally begging for him not to kiss me right now. His fury lips touch my forehead. “I gotta get to the garage.”
“Thanks, Z.”
“Don’t mention it.” He closes my driver’s side door and I start my car up and drive off.
I get to his house after taking two wrong turns. My recollection of his address wasn’t as good as I had hoped but I made it. Zo Zo’s house is on the other side of town from where Ry—Cupid lives. At least I won’t have to worry about running into him and his wife. Unless I decide to go back to my job at the clubhouse. I don’t want to, but I don’t have a lot of savings. Too bad I never took the club up on their offer to get me my own apartment. I walk into the red brick home and find it is pleasantly clean. The kitchen is a bit bare and the only thing in the refrigerator is old orange juice and some ham.
I go into the living room. There’s a big screen mounted on the wall and two mismatched chairs facing it. The place could definitely use a woman’s touch, but it looks better than the ugly shit Mandy did to Cupid’s house. I shake my head and take a breath. I don’t want to think about them. I finish my tour of the small home. There’s two bedrooms and a weight room. I claim the room with the empty closet. I left my stuff in the car. I don’t plan on staying here long. Maybe a few days until I get a plan in motion.
Cupid doesn’t want me—us. I rub my hand over my flat stomach. “It’s just you and me kid.”
I need a shower before I do anything. Then I need food, so I can think.
Chapter Seventeen
—Cupid
After MaryAnn left I sent a text to Mandy even though I didn’t want to telling her I did as she asked. I know by the time I get off work for the day she will be back at the house. I don’t want to go home but I know I need to do this shit right. The faster I can find out who is masterminding this deal, the quicker I can explain to MaryAnn and have her back in my arms where she belongs.
Hades said he’d let me know when MaryAnn showed but it’s past lunch and I’ve yet to hear from him. By the end of my shift, I am worried. What if she took off and left Webb Hollow all together. I should have fucking told her the truth. Hades’ orders be damned.
Fuck, I miss her already. I scroll through my phone and stare at her pictures. She is so beautiful. I stop on my favorite photo, it’s one of her sleeping. I took it the first night she moved in with me. I move to the next image saved in my gallery but it’s a video and not a picture. Terror captured it and sent it to me in a text message and I downloaded it to my phone. I’ve never watched this. It’s the day I claimed her.
I press play and the camera is shaky at first as he finds his focus. Music is playing loudly from the jukebox and I am approaching MaryAnn at the bar. She’s opening a bottle of beer and sliding it across the top to Zo Zo. I can’t see his face from the angle the camera is pointing but know it’s the back of his fat head. My woman smiles at him and then she gasps when I grab her from behind. I can’t hear my words, but I remember them clearly. I told her, “You no longer serve the members of this club, sweetheart. You’re mine and only mine. I’m claiming you.”
She tried like hell to pull away and said, “Don’t play with me, Ryan.”
I told her to get her stuff that she was going home with me, but she shook her head and said she didn’t believe me. Then she told me to go fuck myself. Hades whistled, and all the brothers started laughing. I couldn’t have my old lady disrespecting me, so I bent her over the damn bar in front of everyone, directly across from Zo Zo and started spanking her ass, telling her exactly who was going to get fucked. I threatened to pull her pants down and take her right there. I was ready to. She had me so damn fired up.
I didn’t notice it at the time but Zo Zo slams his beer down on the counter and stomps off looking angry. I go back and watch the clip a few times. Maybe he was pissed that I claimed the one woman who banged him willingly. I don’t put much thought into it. He’s congratulated me and said he was happy for us. The video plays on and stops when I throw her over my shoulder and carry her out the front door. Terror is chuckling loudly when it cuts off.
I wish I could go back to being that happy. My phone rings and I groan when I see Mandy’s name on the screen. Reluctantly, I take the call.
“Lo,” I answer.
“Hey, Ry. I’m home. I’m going to cook something special for you. Be home by seven.”
“I’ll be there.” Silence passes between us. “Anything else?”
“Nope. Just can’t wait to see you. When I told daddy our big news he actually hugged me. I thought he’d be mad.”
“That’s great. Look, I gotta get back to work.”
“Okay. I love you.”
“You too,” is all I can muster out.
————
I loaded up the work truck and parked it behind Reaper’s building hoping I would see MaryAnn’s car but she’s not here. I go in to the office to return the keys hoping Harley is here and knows something of my woman.
“Hey you. In a hurry to get home to your woman?” She beams at me as I hand her the keys. I nod and don’t ask her about MaryAnn she must not know anything yet. “Quinn has you down for that cement job tomorrow at Burnside.”
“Thanks, Harley.”
“See ya. And tell MaryAnn, I’ll call her soon about that wreath I want for my front door.”
I wave my hand over my shoulder feeling like the scum of the Earth. Maybe she’s at the clubhouse. I drive past there but her cars not there either. I make it to my place and Mandy is waiting by the door to greet me like she’s Mrs. Suzy Homemaker.
“Did you have a good day at work?”
“Sure. Yeah.”
“Dinner will be ready in five minutes. I made my mom’s meatloaf recipe.”
“Great. Can’t wait. I gotta get a quick shower.” I kick off my boots and make my way through the house to the bathroom. Once I’m out of her sight I pull my phone out and text Hades.
Where’s MaryAnn? - Cupid
Not seen her all day. - Hades
The fuck you mean? You said the minute she showed up you’d send her to Reaper’s apartment. - Cupid
I would rather discuss this in person. Come by in about an hour and we’ll talk. - Hades
I’ll be there. I might have to bring Mandy though. - Cupid
Maybe if I can introduce Sara and Mandy, she can learn something useful. I delete the texts and place my phone on top of the towel shelf.
Cupid's Arrow (Devils Rejects MC Book 4) Page 6
