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“I warned him before to leave her alone.” He shakes his head. “Pissed Tawny off because she assumed it meant I was fuckin’ her.”
“Were you?”
“Not in a long time.”
I barely restrain my eyeroll.
“Wasn’t just her though. I heard stuff from some of the other girls.”
Something like that wouldn’t be high on Sway’s priority list.
“You learn the most about a man’s character by watching how he treats people who can’t fight back.”
Sway stares at me.
“Men who don’t stand up for others aren’t fit to wear our patch.”
He dips his chin, acknowledging the sentiment, but not necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with it.
“Anyway, that’s not the worst of it. After that incident, he decided to go after my old lady.”
“Jesus Christ. You fuckin’ serious?”
“Dead.”
“She okay?”
“She’s fine. But he and I got into it.”
“As you’re allowed to do.”
I keep speaking as if he hadn’t interrupted. I don’t need Sway to assure me I did the right thing.
“Maybe he figured I’d still call a vote to strip his patch and he had nothing to lose, but he pulled a knife on me. Sliced up my leg pretty good.”
“What? Shadow?”
“Yup. I can show you the stitches if you need to see ‘em, but I gotta pull my pants down and that might look odd if any of the nurses walk in on us.”
“Sit down and keep your pants on, ya dick.”
I chuckle and ease back into one of the chairs.
“You end him right there?”
“No. I took it to the table. The votes to strip his patch was unanimous. We took the other vote after we…extracted some information from him. That one was unanimous too.”
He stares at me for a few seconds. “You didn’t have to put it to a vote.”
“Yes, I did. They didn’t vote me in, Sway. I was forced on them by Priest. I couldn’t make that call on my own.”
“Shit, brother.” He shakes his head. “Go on.”
“Rooster’s been digging into Shadow. He hadn’t brought it to the table yet because he didn’t have solid proof, but given what we were voting on, he told us he suspected Shadow was the one who shot you.”
“Fuck!” He squeezes his eyes shut.
“Something coming back to you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. What’d he say?”
“He came clean, brother.” I tip my chin in his direction. “About the shooting.”
Sway struggles to sit up. “He shot me?”
“Afraid so. Thought you weren’t doing enough to stand up to National and take over more territory.”
“Oh, fuck that. I should’ve sent him to take over New Jersey and let them kill him.”
“How’d you ever let him slip under the radar?”
“I had my doubts. Told you that before. I was trying to keep him close. Until I had something more solid to go on.” He touches his head. “Maybe too close.”
“Well, it’s done.”
“I hope you made it hurt.”
I tilt my head not really answering. “I want Rooster as VP. Going to put it up for a vote today.”
“I support that.”
I wasn’t really asking for Sway’s opinion or advice, but it’s good to know he agrees.
The door swings open and a fuckin’ ghost walks in.
“Sway?” she rasps. Her soft amber eyes meet mine and she shrinks back against the door.
This calmer, less made-up version of Tawny is fuckin’ eerie. Without the teased hair, pounds of makeup, tight clothes, and sky-high heels, she looks about twenty years younger than I remember.
“Z,” she finally says in the same dramatic, breathy voice I recognize. “You’re here with him. Good.”
“Where’ve you been?” I growl.
“Where I told her to be,” Sway says.
“What?” My jaw drops. I wasted a lot of time searching for her ass. “How?”
“It’s an agreement we made a long time ago. Anyone ever tried to take me out, she was supposed to go somewhere safe and wait for me to contact her.”
My eyes are so fucking wide, I probably look like a damn cartoon. “Jesus Christ, Tawny. I thought you mighta done it for a while.” Fuck, I’ll admit it to her face. She’ll probably take it as a compliment.
“Nah.” She runs the back of her hand over Sway’s bristly cheek and stares down at him with an affection I haven’t seen on her face in fifteen or more years. “I wouldn’t risk ruining this handsome mug. I’d shoot him in the dick, for sure.”
I can’t help it. After every crazy absurd thing in the last twenty-four hours, I sit back and laugh until my stomach hurts.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Z
I can’t describe what it means that Lilly doesn’t hesitate to join me at the clubhouse again. After what went down with Shadow, I wouldn’t have blamed her if she told me to go fuck myself when I asked her to attend tonight’s party to celebrate Rooster being named our vice president.
Having her on my arm, unafraid to return to the clubhouse sends a powerful message to the rest of the club.
My woman won’t be intimidated by anyone or anything.
She has love and respect for the club. All qualities any president’s old lady needs to have.
“I’m fine, Z, really. You assured me Shadow isn’t here, so I’m not worried.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“The death grip you have on my hand says plenty.”
I ease up, placing my hand on her ass instead, and she chuckles. “Much more subtle, Mr. Frazier.”
“Watch your mouth, soon-to-be Mrs. Frazier.”
She stares at me for a second, then leans up and softly kisses my cheek without saying a word.
Inside, I’m not sure what the hell we’ve walked in on. The guys are wild, clearly needing to blow off steam after losing a brother. Even if that brother was a piece of shit, they’d shared a patch with him for a long time.
Here’s a painful truth. One of the reasons Rock, Wrath, and I decided early on to keep our club and rules tight upstate. The agony of being betrayed by a brother costs too much. To be forced to take a brother’s life stains your soul.
We take the club, its rules, and its consequences for breaking those rules seriously and only admit brothers who will do the same.
“How do you feel about flying out to California soon?” I ask after we stop at the bar and have been handed a cou
ple drinks.
Lilly’s sinful lips wrapped around that tiny plastic straw have me thinking of something much more substantial she could wrap those beautiful lips around.
She lifts her gaze, meeting my hungry eyes, and teases her tongue over the end of the straw.
“You’re killing me.”
“What?” she asks innocently.
“Stop trying to distract me. I asked you a question.”
“I’d like that. Are you sure you can be away from the club right now?”
“Things should calm down. A couple days won’t hurt.”
“I want to bring Chance,” she says quickly. “So, he can say goodbye to the old place.”
“Was planning on it.”
She lets out a relieved breath. “Oh, good.” She presses her hand to her chest. “The thought of being away from him, even for a couple of days, was making me freak out a little.”
I laugh and pull her closer. “I wouldn’t do that.”
Lilly
“As my first act of faith in my new VP, I’m thinking of leaving you in charge for a few days.” Z raises his bottle and tips it in Rooster’s direction.
“Wait, what now?” Rooster feigns shock by clutching his chest.
Chuckling, I shift and tug the edge of my dress down.
“Stop fidgeting,” Z breathes against my ear. “You look hot.”
“I feel like my ass is hanging out. This dress is shorter than I realized. Or I’m wider than I thought.”
He slaps my ass, earning us a bunch of hoots and whip-crack noises from the brothers. “Don’t disrespect my old lady,” he says to me.
I’m still reeling from the shock of his hand on my ass in front of everyone and how much I liked it.
Since our display is probably the mildest thing that’s happened in this clubhouse tonight, the guys lose interest fast. Z takes my hand and leads me to the corner stool. Lala rushes over and sets a drink in front of me.
“Thanks, hun,” Z says.
She squares her shoulders and takes a deep breath.
