Chapter 14
King/Dante
I stood in the middle of the office trying to come to terms with what the hell had just happened. The beer mug that Jagger used as a pen holder now lay in pieces on the floor, and there was a hole in the drywall from the impact of it. I glared at that hole, which seemed to mirror the hole in my gut from Ella walking out.
I sat down heavily in the desk chair, then tipped my head back to stare at the ceiling.
“Uh, everything OK, Prez?” I looked over to find Hawk standing in the doorway, his gaze bouncing between me, the broken mug, and the pens scattered on the floor. His eyes widened when he spotted the hole in the wall.
“It’s nothing,” I sighed. “Sorry about the mess. Get one of the prospects over here to clean it up, and patch that hole. I need to get back to the clubhouse.”
“Sure thing. Tony will be here soon for his shift anyway.”
“What the hell’s going on in here?” Hawk stepped aside as soon as he heard Jagger’s voice, looking grateful as hell that he didn’t have to deal with any of this. He whispered something to my son, then ducked around him and clomped back down the hallway.
Jagger came in and surveyed the damage, then gingerly stepped over the broken pieces of glass on the floor. He reached into the mini fridge in the corner and grabbed two bottles of beer, using the bottle opener he kept on his keychain to pop the caps off before passing one to me. He sat down on the loveseat, then took a long pull of his beer.
“I take it things didn’t go well with Ella? I didn’t see her, but Hawk just told me she looked like she was crying when she left.”
“Shit,” I muttered, raking my hand over my face. I hated to hear that she was upset enough to cry, although hell, maybe that meant she cared. Fuck, I didn’t know what to think anymore. “No, things did not go well.”
“If it’s because of Simpson, I don’t think you need to worry about him. He was a little pissed when you dragged Ella back here, but he was too worried about losing our business to try to stop you. I pumped him for a little info. According to him, they were having a drink to celebrate wrapping up some kind of marketing plan her company’s been working on for him. He went out of his way to make sure I knew he wasn’t trying to make a move on her.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. I fucked up, and now she wants no part of me.” I lifted my bottle to my lips and took a swig. The cold beer didn’t do shit to help the burning feeling in my gut that started when Ella walked out the door.
“Anything I can do to help?”
I glanced at him over the rim of my bottle. “No, but thanks for giving me a heads up that she was here.” I took one last sip, then set the half-full bottle down on the desk. Getting drunk had the potential of fucking things up more, as Rome had proven last fall.
“No problem. Anything I need to know about whatever you and Trick were doing for the last few days?”
I hesitated, then glanced around the office. “Nothing that can’t wait until after Church Sunday.”
Jag nodded, understanding that I wanted complete privacy before saying anything.
“All right. I need to get back out there before Hawk is up to his ass in customers. See you Sunday.”
I got in my truck and just sat there for a moment, wishing like hell I was on my bike. I needed a good, long ride to clear my head, and the idea of going home didn’t appeal at all. I knew I would just sit there staring at the walls, brooding over Ella.
So, I headed to the clubhouse instead. The place was starting to fill up with brothers and hangarounds ready to blow off steam at the end of a long week. The music was thumping out of the sound system, and DD was enjoying the attention she was getting as the new bunny around here. Saint, Buck, and Skid were buzzing around her like bees to honey, as Cowboy would say.
Star waylaid me on my way into the common room, giving me a flirty smile as she thrust her chest out so far that her tits were about a millimeter away from falling out of her top completely.
“I missed you around here, Prez. Cowboy said you were sick. I would have been happy to come over to take care of you.”
“No sense in you getting sick, too.”
“But I could have made you feel better,” she said throatily, leaning closer to make herself heard over the music. I eyed the tits on display, then looked into her pale blue eyes. She bit her bottom lip and peered up at me through her lashes, her body justinches from mine, and for a brief second, I considered using her to try to fuck Ella out of my system. That thought was washed away by a wave of revulsion, followed by guilt that I’d even let the notion enter my head.
“Not happening, Star.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, then she turned and flounced off with a huff toward the corner, where several of the brothers had gathered to watch Diamond take a twirl on the pole.
I shook my head as Ace reached for her, pulling her onto his lap. She gave him a big smile, then shifted so that she was straddling his lap. It didn’t take long for him to hook a finger in the front of her top and give it a tug, exposing her tits. He licked his lips, and I looked away in disgust. Yep, it was official. No matter what happened with Ella, I would never, ever touch Star again.
I took a seat at the bar and spent the next ten minutes or so nursing the beer that Linc had given me. Someone sat on the stool next to me, and I turned my head to see Cowboy staring at me in concern.
“You look lower than a flea on a rat’s ass. Is it Ella?”
