by Lane Hart
“What?” I answer as I walk out in the hallway so that I won’t bother Sasha.
“Where the hell are you?” Torin growls.
“Why?” I ask rather than tell him my location. He wants to keep shit from me; well, I can do the same.
“Get your ass back to the clubhouse now!” he orders before hanging up on me.
Fuck.
It’d be easy to say to hell with him and crawl back in the bed with Sasha, if he was just my brother. But he’s also our MC president, and I’m pretty sure it was that version of him calling. If I start blowing him off, it looks bad for the club, so I’ll cave and go.
Grabbing a quick shower and changing into some of my old jeans and tee in my bedroom, I sit down to tie my boots up. Once my cut is back on, I’m ready to go.
There’s no way I’m leaving Sasha here by herself, though, so I step into the hallway to call Abe.
“What the fuck man?” he grumbles when he eventually answers. “Do you know what fucking time it is?”
“Time for you to get up and do me a favor,” I reply with a grin.
He curses and mumbles some unintelligible shit before he finally asks, “What do you want?”
“Can you come out to the farmhouse? Sasha’s here, and Hector Cruz is after her, trying to get to me.”
“Fuck,” he replies.
“Yeah. And Torin wants me at the clubhouse. Are you there?”
“Yep, and I think I just heard him shouting at someone right before you called.”
“That was probably me,” I say. “Anyway. Get here as soon as you can.”
“Let me take a piss, and I’m on my way.”
“Thanks, Abe,” I tell him.
While I wait, I call to check in with the prospects. Holden doesn’t answer, so I try Maddox.
“Yo, Chase, man. Torin is on the rampage. He told us to get back to the clubhouse, so we’re about to walk in.”
“Okay,” I reply. “I’m on my way too, so I’ll take the heat off of you.”
“Appreciate it,” Maddox replies.
“Any problems last night?” I ask.
“Nope.”
“Good,” I say before I hang up.
Back in the bedroom, the sheets have come down to Sasha’s waist, revealing her long blonde hair trailing down her bare back and just a hint of her tit since she’s lying on her stomach with the pillow still on her head. Covering her back up, I squat down, eye level with her face and lift the pillow to kiss her on the neck, just below her ear. That has her squirming and moaning instantly, like I knew it would. And while I don’t have time to take care of her right now, you can bet your ass I will as soon as I get back. In the meantime, I want to leave her with the reminder of last night and all the good things to come later.
“Mornin’, sweetheart,” I tell her softly as she starts to blink her eyes open. I brush the hair from out of her face so she can see.
“Why are you up…and…have you had a shower?” she asks. “What time is it?”
“Early. Go back to sleep. I’ve got to go to the clubhouse, but Abe’s on his way here to stay with you.”
“Okay,” she agrees, rather than argue that she doesn’t need a babysitter. Shit is too risky right now. And while I can’t figure out any way that they would find us here, I’m not taking any chances.
“I’ll be back soon and make you breakfast,” I promise.
“Good,” Sasha says.
When I hear Abe’s bike rumbling down the road, I give her a quick kiss on the lips and then head down the steps to the front door to let him in.
Killing the engine, Abe says, “You look like you had a better night than me.”
“What happened?” I ask, noticing his face is bruised and cut up.
“Couple of Aces assholes came into Avalon and started messing with the girls. Took a few of us to help Cooper and Miles get ’em out, but not without it coming to blows.”
“Jesus,” I mutter. “What the hell were those assholes thinking?” I ask. They’re brazen as fuck selling their crank on our streets, but blatantly coming into one of the businesses they know is owned by the Savage Kings is suicidal.
“Don’t know,” Abe replies. “A few of them caused a fight over at the Iron Carousel too. Dalton and Reece handled it without needing backup.”
“They’re getting too fucking brave,” I tell him. “And I think Hector Cruz is behind their confidence. If he’s backing them, they think they’re untouchable.”
“Shit’s getting fucked sideways,” Abe agrees with a shake of his head. “So, what’s with the reporter?”
“We’re back together,” I tell him. “Keep your eyes and hands off of her.”
He holds his palm up in the air in surrender. “You know I wouldn’t try and fuck with your girl. I’ve seen your ink. I get it, brother.”
“Good,” I tell him. “Call me if you need me. I should be back soon.”
“Got it,” he agrees before he goes inside, and I climb in my truck.
Abe is one of the few guys I would trust alone with Sasha. I know she’ll be in good hands with him.
The Savage Asylum is still closed this early, so I unlock the doors, punch in my security code to the clubhouse, and jog down the stairs to find Torin.
“What the hell have you done?” he barks from his seat at the table at me when I step into the room. The two prospects are standing there like scolded children since they haven’t earned the right to sit in one of our chairs yet.
“Well, let’s see,” I say as I walk around to take my seat on Torin’s right. Leaning back, I stroke my hand over my beard and tell him from the beginning. “I wrestled with an asshole Trooper in his pool, and he didn’t wake up. He was working for Hector, by the way. Also, he was planning to kidnap Sasha to get to me, so he could kill me,” I explain. “Then, when I got to Sasha’s house the next night, there were two fuckers watching her, so I lured them into the house and took them out before they could put a bullet in me.”
“Three more dead bodies means Hector is gonna come at us with everything he has!” Torin roars. His face is blood red, and I’m pretty sure he wants to throttle me right fucking here.
“Let’s not fucking forget how this all started,” I remind him.
“By you losing your fucking temper and killing one of his guys and hurting two others on the highway!” my brother bellows.
“Do you really want them to hear this?” I ask, pointing over at the prospects.
“Get out!” Torin yells at them, and they leave, closing the door behind them.
“You’re making shit worse, Chase. You can’t keep going around killing everyone you think deserves it,” Torin starts, his jaw clenching between every sentence. “This woman is making you lose your shit and jeopardize this club.”
“That woman is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I lost her for ten years, and now I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, just like you would do for Kennedy.”
“Exactly!” Torin exclaims.
“What does that mean?” I ask through narrowed eyes. “What does this shit with Hector have to do with Kennedy?”
“Goddamn it,” he mutters before he gets to his feet to pace. The more he does that, the more I worry that things truly are out of control, and he just won’t admit it. Usually, Torin is calm, cool-headed. Now, he’s starting to look fucking frazzled. “Hector’s got me by the fucking balls, okay? And every time I start to think I’m gonna be free of him, he squeezes even tighter.”
“Fuck, Torin. What’s he got on you?”
“He’s blackmailing me,” he answers, making my fist clench with the urge to smash them into the fucker’s face.
“With what?” I ask.
Torin shakes his head, refusing to answer.
“Bro, you know I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
“It’s something that would ruin me. That’s all you need to know,” he replies as he scrubs his hands over his face and starts pacing again.
<
br /> “So, Hector is fucking you over, and he wants me dead. There’s a simple solution to this problem…”
“Fuck, I wish it was that easy,” Torin says with a heavy sigh as he looks at the ceiling. “He warned me that if he dies, there’s someone else who has the tape and will release it.”
“What fucking tape?” I ask.
“One that will take everything from me,” Torin answers.
“It can’t be that bad,” I tell him. I know my brother; he doesn’t put a toe across the line unless he absolutely has to. Whatever he did can’t be that damn bad.
“Look, let me handle this, okay?” Torin asks. “I make the decisions, and you follow them. You hate any fucking responsibility, which is why you refused to take the gavel, so leave the important shit to me.”
“You’re right. I’ve never had any interest in leading. That’s all on you. But you’re hiding shit from everyone. All those plates you’re spinning are gonna come crashing down on your head real soon. I think the pressure is getting to you and you’re scared to do what needs to be done.”
“Just give me a few days,” Torin says. “If I have to kill Hector, then I will. But I’m trying to figure a way out of this without spilling any more blood. Don’t you think you’ve done enough of that?”
“I did what was necessary to keep Sasha safe and keep me alive. I won’t apologize for it,” I tell him. “Now, I still have to watch my back and Sasha’s. I can’t do that shit forever. You keep waiting around, doing nothing, and you’re gonna get me killed. Eventually, Hector will get the drop on me and put a bullet in my head. When he does, that’s on you,” I tell Torin before I get up from the table and walk out.
Torin doesn’t think I ever take responsibility for shit. Well, I’m disappointed that my brother, our leader, doesn’t have the balls to man up and take responsibility for whatever he did to start this war.
He can blame me for being a hot-head who escalated things on the highway; but when someone makes threats, I don’t sit around and wait to see if they’ll go through with them or not. That’s a good way to end up dead.
Chapter Sixteen
Sasha
I lie in Chase’s bed, staring at the ceiling and just soaking up all the details from last night. I miss him, but I love how at least the bed still smells like his soap or aftershave mixed with leather. It's masculine and alluring, making me want to drown in the scent.
Just the word drown makes me feel guilty, thinking about Travis, the highway patrolman. I knew something was off with him that night at Darren’s. There was a bad vibe coming off of him. That’s why I told him I didn’t feel well and got up to leave before our meal even arrived. He scared me.
Deep down, despite his badge and clean-cut appearance, I knew he wasn’t a good guy. While I hate what Chase did to him, I know he only did it to protect me. Chase would do anything to keep me safe, which is why he must have felt so awful after the accident. There was nothing Chase could’ve done to avoid the truck crashing into us.
At the time, I kept asking myself what if we had stayed in the tattoo shop’s parking lot for just another few seconds. What if I had kissed Chase one last time or took a minute to tell him how much he meant to me…could we have avoided the accident?
But that’s not how life works. There’s no way for us to predict the future, which is why we were riding through that exact intersection at that exact point in time.
The truck was meant to hit us, just like my path was meant to cross with Chase’s again because of another collision. Despite us going our different ways — me to college and into a career in television and Chase moving up in the MC — fate took us both on a path back to each other. This is where we’re meant to be.
Even though my parents wanted to keep us apart…
After I take a quick shower and dry my hair, I put on one of Chase’s black Savage King’s shirts and then sit down on the bed with my phone, ready to get answers from them.
As soon as I hear my father’s voice, so loving as he greets me like every other time while keeping his lie from me, I ask him, “How could you?”
“What’s that, sweetie?” he replies.
“You know what! You and mom have lied to me for ten years!” I say as my throat begins to burn from trying to hold back the tears and emotion.
“Calm down. What are you yelling about, Sash?” he says.
“Chase,” I tell him.
“Who…are you kidding? Chase Fury? Why are you bringing up that loser –”
“I loved him!” I interrupt when he tries to badmouth him, as he did so often those first few weeks. “I loved him, and you pushed us apart. How could you tell him that I would never forgive him, knowing how much it would hurt him and me both?” I ask. “Now I don’t know how I can forgive you and Mom.”
“We did you a favor, Sasha! He would’ve dragged you down, knocked you up or worse! Without him holding you back, you went to college; you have the career you’ve always wanted…”
“I wanted him more,” I reply before I end the call, too angry to keep speaking to that man right now.
My parents have been there for me through everything. They saw my tears, the sadness that crushed me, the depression of losing so much and not understanding why. I couldn’t believe that Chase would abandon me; that was the hardest part to cope with. And now I know why I questioned that so much, because in my heart I knew that he wouldn’t do that to me.
“Everything okay up there?” a gruff voice asks from downstairs, reminding me that I’m not alone.
“Yeah, sorry,” I call back to him. Tossing the phone on the bed, I swipe my fingers under each of my eyes to wipe away the moisture, and then look for a pair of Chase’s shorts to throw on. “Just a second and I’ll be right down,” I say as I pull the red athletic shorts up my legs and then roll the elastic waistband over a few times to make them stay on.
Finally decent, I jog down the stairs and come face to face with a big guy with black hair and a beard even longer than Chase’s. Wearing the MC’s black leather cut over a black wife beater to reveal the sleeve of dark tattoos covering his right arm, he looks strong enough to tear the head off of a man with his bare hands.
The fact that Chase trusted him to stay here alone with me must mean that he trusts him more than anyone else.
“Hi. I’m Sasha,” I tell him with a smile as I hold out my right hand to him.
“The mysterious Sasha behind his ink,” he says as he shakes my hand in his large, calloused paw. “You know, I made the mistake of asking Chase about that tat the first day we roomed together in prison. I thought it would be an icebreaker, you know, get him talking about his old lady or daughter, someone he cared about to soften him up since he looked like he wanted to punch me. Turned out, that question was the detonator on his hair-trigger. He socked me right in the jaw,” he says with a chuckle as he releases my hand to rub the left side of his face. “We’ve been tight ever since.”
“Wow,” I reply in surprise to all of that information.
“I’m Abe, by the way,” he says.
“So, I’m guessing you guys met about six or seven years ago when he was in for aggravated assault?” I ask.
“That would be it,” Abe agrees. “I was in for grand theft auto. Real life is not like the video game at all. If you try to run over a cop, they put out the spike strip and then drag your ass right to prison.”
“Good to know,” I tell him. “What kind of car was it?” I ask curiously.
Smiling wide, he says, “A black 1957 Jaguar XKSS.”
“Nice,” I reply. “You’ve got great taste. Those are rare and worth a fortune. Only, what, fifteen or sixteen ever made?”
Abe arches one of his black eyebrows in surprise and says, “No wonder Chase laid claim to you on his skin. Beautiful woman who know cars. Well, that’s a hard combo to find.”
“Why, thank you,” I reply. “And I'm pretty sure Chase loved my car before he loved me – a cherry red 1967 Mustang convertible.”
>
“No shit,” Abe says.
“My dad and I rebuilt it together,” I say, hating that all of my good memories of my parents are now tainted with their lies. “It took us two years to put it back together. And then a few weeks before my eighteenth birthday, my dad gave me the keys and told me it had always been mine.”
“Nice,” Abe says. “You still have it?”
“I do,” I reply. Narrowing my eyes, I point my finger at him and tell him, “Don’t even think about trying to steal it.”
He holds up his palms with a deep chuckle. “My grand theft days are over, doll.”
“That’s probably for the best,” I tell him. “Prison doesn’t seem like much fun.”
“It’s not,” he agrees. “But I’m glad I met Chase. He talked me and my younger brother Gabe into prospecting with the club when I was released a month after him. Best decision I ever made.”
“It’s nice when something good comes from something shitty,” I tell him.
“Speaking of good things, you got any cute friends, preferably redheads that you could hook me up with?”
“Hmm, maybe” I look him over slowly from head to toe. My roommate from college is a natural redhead, and I think she should be back in the Carolinas soon after a year hiatus. “But I don’t think I know you well enough to date my friend just yet. I’ll have to keep an eye on you and see if you can earn it.”
Grinning, Abe gives me a nod. “Fair enough.”
“So, tell me about Chase the last few years,” I say as I lead the way into the living room to take a seat on the old sofa.
“He’s been a hotheaded, grumpy, overall pain in the fucking ass, pretty much,” Abe informs me as he sits in one of the armchairs across from me.
“So, not much has changed, huh?” I ask.
“Guess not,” Abe agrees with a chuckle.
Chapter Seventeen
Chase
If Torin knew that I was on my way to his house, he would kick my ass.
But I need to find out more about how deep he is with Hector, and Kennedy may be able to help with that.
