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Relief washes over me and I take a second to close my eyes. Now I can focus on getting my club straightened out and recover from the fuckery Shadow caused.
Now I can focus on making Lilly mine. Permanently.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lilly
“I’m a free man, baby!” Z shouts when he comes in the house.
My stomach flips. I’d been terrified the whole time he was gone.
“Why didn’t you text me?” I rush into his arms, almost knocking him over in my excitement to get to him.
“Wanted to get home as soon as possible and tell you in person.”
I squeeze him tighter. In fact, I might not let him go at all.
He presses his palms against my cheeks, tilting my head back. “Let’s make those reservations for California and go get your stuff.”
“Are you sure? Don’t you have…business to handle for the club? Or, I don’t know...”
He stares at me for a minute. “You want to be here in New York, right?”
How can he even question me? “Yes! Dammit, Z.” I slap his chest. “I’m worried about you, that’s all.”
“The club will survive without me for a few days. You’re my priority.”
“All right. I’ll see if I can get tickets.”
He pulls out his wallet and hands me a credit card. Before I can open my mouth to protest, he presses his finger against my lips. “No arguing. I do have a few things I need to take care of, so can you please handle this for me?”
“When do you want to leave?”
“As soon as possible.”
“So, if I can get us a flight tonight, you want to go?”
“All right.” He seems to reconsider. “Any time after tomorrow.”
The smile tugs at the corners of my mouth. “See, Mr. Bossy Pants, I needed some clarification.”
“Fuck!” He squeezes his eyes shut and throws his head back. “I fucking love you.”
“You love when I give you a hard time?”
“Yup. Every second.” He kisses my forehead. “I’m going to run to the clubhouse and let everyone know I’ll be away for a few days. Take care of things there.”
“All right.” I tap his card against my open palm. “Is there a price limit?”
He cocks his head and stares at me. “No, Siren. Just book the fucking flight.”
“Daddy!” Chance yells, running over the floor and slamming into Z’s legs.
“You ready to take a trip with us?” Z asks, swinging Chance up into his arms.
“Yes!”
“Good.” Z kisses both his cheeks before setting him down. He meets my eyes. “Really looking forward to spending some time alone with you two.”
“Me too,” I whisper.
Z
At the clubhouse, I say goodbye to Rock. “Thank you. You didn’t have to come all the way down here for this again.”
“Of course, I did.” He hugs me and slaps my back a few times. “Happy it’s over with.” He glances over his shoulder. “You headed to California for a few days?”
“Fuck yeah. Stopped by the house and told Lilly to book the first flight she can get.”
“Good. What’s next?”
“Gonna marry her.”
He laughs. “I meant here, but good.” He jerks his thumb toward the chapel doors. “Thinking of patching her?”
“I don’t know where to ask for the votes. You guys haven’t spent enough time with her. These guys don’t know her that well.” I shrug.
“Teller and Murphy have been around her enough. I certainly have…”
“You know Wrath will bust my balls.”
He shrugs. “Whatever you think is best, brother. You’ll know when the time is right.”
“I want to marry her first. Just—”
“Better to do it out there, anyway.”
I’m way ahead of him. Already talked about this with Hope a couple days ago. I assume she told him my plans which is why he’s bringing it up now. “I might need to rent the damn house for even longer,” I growl.
“Well, hopefully you can send Murphy and Teller back soon.”
“I have been a greedy bastard, huh?” I slap his arm. “You mind if they stay until I get back? I’ll feel better with them here.”
“That’s fine.” He glances around the clubhouse. “Things are good.”
“Place still needs to be fucking cleaned. It’s disgusting.” Murphy started working on a few things like I’d asked but getting thrown in jail had sort of derailed us.
“You’ll get there.” I give him another hug before sending him on his way.
Back inside the clubhouse, I find Rooster in the office looking at some tapes. “You spying on our guests now?” I ask.
He jumps. “Jesus, you stealthy bastard. No, just looking at who was at the party the other night.” He points to the screen. “You recognize this dude?”
Something about the skinny guy on the screen seems familiar but I can’t say.
My phone rings.
Trey the dirty cop.
I’m not even free and clear for a couple of hours and this asshole’s bothering me.
“What’s this shady fuck want now?” I growl, staring at the phone.
“He’s the shady one?” Rooster jokes.
“I’m not sworn to uphold the law, fucker.”
He laughs and I slap his back before answering the phone. “What’s up?”
“Hey, I got some info for you.”
He won’t say more than that over the phone, so I don’t bother pressing for answers. “Usual spot?”
“Yup.”
We agree to meet up in an hour.
“I guess I better grab some cash.” What a pain in the balls.
“It’d be nice if we had more regularly scheduled bribery,” Rooster jokes
“Very funny, fucker.”
“Think we should have someone else go with us?”
Am I worried about Trey trying to ambush us? Not really. I’m more worried it’s a set-up to throw me back in jail. Call
me twitchy, but I’m not exactly excited about the idea of getting locked up again.
Unfortunately, that’s the risk I take by wearing this president’s patch, so I’m going to man the fuck up, see what the fuck Trey wants, and go from there.
On my way to find Hustler to extract some cash, I run into Steer.
He gives me a big, brotherly hug. “So fucking happy the charges were dropped, bro.”
“Me too. Can you hold this place down while I’m out of town for a few days?”
“Yeah, anything you need.”
For some reason, I’m not eager to take him with me to the meeting with Trey. “What’d you find out from Josey the other night?”
“Not much. Wouldn’t stop flapping her lips about you, though.”
“Great. Just what I need.”
“I made it clear she’s not to bother you or Lilly and she promised she’d behave.”
“Why don’t I feel reassured?”
He shrugs.
The clubhouse is quiet this afternoon. After finishing up with Steer, I track Hustler for some funds. Once I’ve got a fat envelope of cash, Rooster and I make our way out to the parking lot.
Jigsaw’s riding up and shuts his bike down next to mine. “Where you headed?”
“Sheriff McShady.”
He chuckles. “Want me to come along?”
“Sure, why not?”
The three of us take off for the junkyard. It’s a long ride when I’ve got my mind on so many other things.
Trey’s waiting by his car. No Rottweiler in sight today. “What’s going on?” I ask after our initial handshake.
“Your case was dismissed, right?”
Way to rush right in, Trey. Although, it’s not like I feel like sitting around and shooting the shit with him so I appreciate that he’s direct. “Yeah.”
“I may have found out why it was brought in the first place.”
“That right?”
“Something you want to take care of if I do?”
