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“No, because I expected you to trust me,” he gritted out, but he was watching her warily.
“How do I know you didn’t sleep with half the fucking state while I was gone? You admitted to sleeping with Steph, and I know you weren’t exactly a monk while we were apart. So why shouldn’t I wonder if that was your kid when he looks just like you!”
While Rory was cutting into Matt, Butch was coming down hard on Joslyn as we all stood there watching. “You should have told me you were pregnant when you found out. You should have fucking told Tanner. Now that boy is gone, never having gotten the chance to meet his own son. I’m ashamed of you, girl. Keeping Reid from his father was real shitty of you.”
“I didn’t know!” she cried, tears pouring down her cheeks. “I had no idea Tanner died. No one bothered to tell me.”
“Why does that matter?” Butch asked her with a scathing look. “How old is Reid? Close to two years old now? You had years to tell Tanner about his kid.”
“I know,” she muttered, sounding like a sullen teenager. “I know, Dad, and I’m sorry.”
“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to, Jos. Both Reid and Tanner deserved better.” He turned to Rory, his eyes bitter but regretful. “I’m sorry for what I said.”
“Yeah, whatever. I don’t really give a fuck right now.” Shooting Matt a reproachful glare, she picked up the laundry basket she’d dropped on the ground and walked around the group of people still standing there watching the free show.
I’d left Kelli in our room to deal with this shit?
Fuck it all.
Fed up with every one of them, I headed back inside and straight to our room. As I shut and locked the door behind me, I noticed Kelli was sound asleep and snoring lightly.
My body was sore from sleeping on the hard floor all night, and I groaned as I sank onto the bed beside her. Kicking off my boots, I tossed my cut onto the chair across the room and curled my body around Kelli’s from behind.
She released a soft breath as I pressed my lips to her bare shoulder and unconsciously cuddled back against me. Grinning, I closed my eyes and let sleep take me.
Chapter 11
Matt
I watched as Rory stomped into the clubhouse, gritting my teeth as she shot me a look over her shoulder that told me I shouldn’t follow her. She was pissed at me, and I could see that all this shit had stirred up her jealousy and hurt over the whole Steph thing.
Jos hadn’t helped any, not telling anyone about Reid and Tanner, and letting everyone assume what I had first thought when I saw her with the kid. Fuck, back then, my head was so twisted over losing Rory, I’d done a lot of things I wasn’t proud of with fuck knew how many chicks. I even had to stop and ask if Reid was mine because I couldn’t remember if Jos was one of those girls I’d used to try to help me forget for a little while.
Knowing he was Tanner’s, however, kind of eased something in my chest about losing my brother. His son meant a part of him lived on.
Jos hadn’t bothered explaining who her baby’s daddy was, but I’d been too busy with shit to think about what the outcome to her remaining quiet could be. I should have seen this coming, though. Butch wasn’t one to sit back and let anyone disrespect his daughter. But he should have confronted me, not Rory, and I was going to deal with his ass as soon as everything else calmed down.
I started to follow after Rory, to hell with her not wanting to be around me right now.
“Matt!” Bash called out, stopping me before I could reach the clubhouse door. “We need to go, cousin.”
My shoulders stiffened, and I glared at the door, debating for a second whether to follow after my girl or go with Bash and the others. Rory needed some time to cool off before we talked. She could wait. But following Bash wasn’t just business. This was personal, and I needed to be there.
Growling a curse under my breath, I walked over to where Bash and Jet were standing near Raven’s SUV. There were bullet holes in the side and the tire had been replaced, but it would look more inconspicuous driving it to where we were going than the three of us on our motorcycles. After the shootout with Fontana and his men two days before, the local cops were watching us closely. Every move we made had to be undertaken with the utmost care.
Bash climbed behind the wheel, and Jet took shotgun. As I folded my long legs into the back, I flipped a switch, turning off what I’d been feeling about Rory just moments before. I couldn’t do this if I was thinking about her. Couldn’t allow so much as a stray thought about her to fill my head as I prepared myself for what needed to be done.
Bash drove out of town then took a series of backroads for nearly an hour before we came to the old shack. Dutch’s old van was parked in front, the back doors open with him sitting there smoking.
Dutch was a nomad who was all too happy to help bury a body. The fucker got thrills from watching someone make someone else bleed. Everyone walked a little cautiously around him, unsure if he would stab them in the back with the nasty-ass machete he kept strapped to his lower leg at all times.
As we climbed out of the SUV, Dutch threw his smoke on the ground and stepped on it to put it out. Crushing it under his boot, he waited for us to reach him. I could feel his eyes watching me behind his dark aviators.
“Knew you would be the one,” he said with a grin. His teeth were stained yellow with a tinge of brown, his face pocked from all the drugs he used to do when he was younger. I couldn’t remember how old Dutch was, but he wasn’t a spring chicken by any means.
“Fuck yeah, it’s gonna be me,” I told him with a twisted grin of my own. “You didn’t kill him yet, did you? I’m going to be pissed if you did.”
He snorted. “Where’s the fun in that? Death is too good for that sonofabitch. He can’t take out my brothers and not feel pain for a good long while.”
