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Lilly
“What are you doing here?” Z asks tightly when Stella approaches him.
She’s not alone, so that’s good. If she brought another guy with her, then she’s not here hoping to reunite with Z, right? Because I’ll have no problem ringing her pretty little neck if she tries to get cozy with my husband.
It’s not like he didn’t warn me that the club works with her. Deep down, I knew I might run into her eventually.
Z keeps his arm snug around my waist.
“I was told there was a welcome home party for Sway,” she answers, frowning at me when Z doesn’t introduce us.
“That’s tomorrow,” Z growls. “This is a different celebration.”
“Well,” she laughs and lowers her lashes, “I’m down for that too.”
He sneers at her and puts his other arm around me. “Stella, this is my wife, Lilly. Lilly, this is Stella.”
“Hi.” It’s awkward with Z wrapped around me so tight, but I shake her hand. “Thanks for joining us.” What the hell else am I supposed to say? I got the man, the ring, the house, the family. She’s not a threat to me in any way.
“Wife? Like, real wife. Or biker, old lady wife?” she asks.
“Both.” Z’s jaw is clenched so tight I’m surprised he even got out the word.
“Z! Prez, we need you!” someone yells.
Perfect.
Z pretends to ignore the call.
I tap his hand. “Go on,” I whisper. “I’m fine.”
“Z!”
Reluctantly, he leaves.
“So, when’d you get married?” Stella asks.
“Last week. This was kinda, uh, our surprise reception.”
“Oh, shit.” She covers her mouth with her hand. “Really? Fuck. I’m sorry I crashed it.”
She seems sincere. I still kind of want to stab her in the eye with a fork.
I’m too old not to address the awkward situation. “I know who you are, Stella. He told me all about you.”
“Phew!” She signals the girl behind the bar to bring her a martini and then faces me. “Jesus. Thank God.” She takes a long sip of her drink before continuing. “I was seeing this guy before Z who was cheating on his wife. I didn’t realize he was still married. Thought they were separated or whatever. We weren’t ‘exclusive’ obviously, but still. Christ, she caught us one day and almost skinned me alive. I can’t stand men who cheat. I wasn’t sure if he…if you…”
I can’t say I didn’t find myself in a situation like that once or twice in my twenties. “I moved back to New York recently and we rekindled our relationship.”
“Oh, okay. Thank God.” She gives me a bright smile, that I’m not quite ready to return yet. “I’m sorry. I was so happy to hear that Sway was coming home, I guess I didn’t listen to the part where his party was tomorrow.”
“Well, there’s certainly enough food and alcohol so you’re welcome to stay.” I’m trying to be a gracious hostess, even though I really want to tell her to take her tight ass and perky tits on out the door.
“Thank you.” The friend she came in with passes by and she grabs his arm. “This is a good friend of mine. Garrett, this is Lilly, Z’s wife.”
He shakes my hand, but is busy searching the room. For who or what, I have no idea. Nor do I care.
Z
I’m not thrilled about leaving Lilly and Stella alone together. “This better be good.” I slap Jigsaw’s chest as I walk past him.
He grips my shoulder and yanks me toward him. “Priest’s here. He wanted a private sit-down with you first.”
“Fuck. Thanks, brother.”
Priest isn’t waiting in the chapel like I’d expect. He’s waiting in another office-type room at the end of the hall, opposite from the guest rooms and farther from the noise of the party. There’s a side-entrance here, which is how I’m guessing he entered.
“Priest, thank you so much for making the trip,” I greet him when I step into the room.
“Shut the door.” He stands and shakes my hand. “Good to be here under better circumstances this time.”
“Amen to that.”
He nods for me to sit and I plant my ass in the chair across from him. “Now that I’m here and we can talk face to face. What happened with Shadow?”
How did I know that would be the first question out of his mouth?
I give him the full, uncensored version.
“Fucking hell, are you serious?”
“Got the scar on my leg to prove it if you want to see?” I move like I’m going to unbutton my jeans and he makes a slashing move with his hand.
“Knock it off. You know what I meant.” He clasps his hands on the table in front of him. “This girl of yours, I’m guessing she can put two and two together and figure out why Shadow isn’t here?”
I stare at him without answering or moving. “She doesn’t have details and she knows not to ask questions.”
“You’re sure? Stake your life on it?”
“Absolutely. My girl knows how to keep her mouth shut.” Isn’t that an understatement.
“Where are you living while you’re running this place?”
“We rented a house not too far away. It’s not the house I started building upstate, but it’s nice.”
He raises an eyebrow at the hint that I still want to head home eventually.
“You all right staying put for a little bit? I don’t want to turn things back over to Sway as soon as he gets out. Doesn’t seem right.”
Sure, because Priest is so concerned about what’s right for Sway. “Whatever the club needs, Priest. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m planning to stick around and chat with him about it tomorrow.”
Poor fucking Sway won’t even have a night to enjoy his freedom from the hospital. “Appreciate that, Prez.”
“Maybe I’ll wait until Monday.” He grins at me. “Give the lucky fuck one night to enjoy himself.”
“I’m sure that’ll make him happy.” I might as well tell him this now. “We have another club coming. One we’ve done business with for years.”
“Demons?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a good time to strengthen whatever alliances we can.” He gives me a pointed look. “Without compromising ourselves.”
I take that to mean he agrees with my decision to pull us out of business with the mafia.
“Speaking of, you’re aware two more clubs were taken down because of some bullshit territory beef, right?”
I haven’t exactly had time to keep tabs on all the outlaw news of the day. But since the events I think he’s referring to happened not that far from us, I had heard about the shootout that got four bikers, two civilians, and a cop killed over in Vermont.
“South of Satan MC was a bunch of wanna be pissants,” I answer. “We had an issue with them not that long ago.”
“Don’t matter.” Priest waves his hand in the air. “MCs are all the same to law enforcement. They don’t give a fuck if one’s shit. An act like that brings heat on every club in this country.”
I can’t deny the truth of what he’s saying. If only every club out there could grasp this simple concept. We’d all be better off.
“You better be prepared for more scrutiny when you’re out on a large run. Keep things clean. Keep out of trouble.”
“Yes, sir. We always do.”
“I’m glad you got clear of the arson before that happened. They might’ve kept you locked up longer.”
As if that thought hadn’t occurred to me a million times.
Timing is everything.
He seems to lighten up and sits back. “You and Rock have always been the pride of this club.”
That seems like some extreme praise coming from Priest. I wonder what the hell he’s angling for.
“Never have to worry about upstate.” He grins. “And now downstate.”
“Uh—”
“I know you want to go back upstate, Z. I ain’t deaf.”
“I’ll stay wherever you need me.”
“And I appreciate that.” He drums his fingers over the table. “How’s your relationship with the Iron Bulls MC doing?”
“Still solid, as far as I know. Dex reached out to them not that long ago. Had a good talk with their enforcer.”
“Good. Good. They’re aligned with Savage Dragons MC who just took over a large portion of Texas.”
“Yeah, I heard about that.” Who hadn’t?
