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“You can mark that fuckin’ X on the calendar,” Cage informed Ozzy.
Sig snorted. “He’s gonna need to admit he needs readin’ glasses first so he can mark it. That’s why he don’t take any fuckin’ notes.”
Easy didn’t bother glancing at the Original to see his reaction, instead he stayed focused on the president. He nodded as if he had any other fucking choice. “Two weeks.”
“Stay away from Tessa, E. Otherwise, we ain’t waitin’ those two weeks and I’ll be usin’ those bruises you already sport as targets. You got me?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Ain’t no ‘but,’” Judge barked. “Your prez just gave you a fuckin’ order. You follow it. You don’t, there’ll be consequences. We let you choose your punishment. Next time we won’t.”
“Tessa—“
“Nope,” Trip cut him off. “She ain’t even a part of the discussion right now. You survive your date with The Punisher and you wanna approach me the proper way afterward, then we might discuss it. Might. No guarantee.” He turned to Cage. “She sneaks out, you let me know.”
Cage turned his gaze from Trip to Easy, then back to Trip. “Shouldn’t be babysittin’ a grown woman, brother.”
“Shouldn’t be questionin’ your president’s order, either,” Judge reminded him.
After a few seconds, Cage reluctantly nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll let you know if she sneaks out again.” With a frown, Cage cocked an eyebrow at Easy in an unspoken message. The man didn’t like being a snitch and that was what Trip was forcing him to be.
Trip focused his attention back on Easy. “She comes to you, you send her away. Hell, you send her to me. I’ll deal with it if you don’t wanna.”
Easy would never do that. But if staying clear of Tessa for the next couple of weeks was part of his punishment, he’d deal with it. It was important both of them toed the line for a while.
Maybe they could make a negative turn to a positive by using those two weeks apart to figure out where they went from there. To clear their minds and figure out their futures. So, yeah, he’d give Trip those two weeks, because by doing so he was also giving Tessa that time, too.
Hell, maybe it would only take those two weeks to figure out that they shouldn’t be together in any capacity. That sex had been the only thing keeping them together.
That they had no real relationship at all.
Yeah, right. If they didn’t have a true connection, they’d never be in their current situation.
“All right,” Trip said. “Mark that fuckin’ calendar that you keep spoutin’ off about, Oz. Two weeks from today. Judge, no women, no children but everyone else? Their ass is gonna watch like they did when Cage met The Punisher for the first time.”
“First time?” Cage echoed. “First and last, get it right.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Deacon said on a laugh.
“Reese probably keeps a club on her nightstand and beats his ass into submission every damn night,” Ozzy said.
“She only beats my meat.”
Judge groaned at his cousin’s juvenile answer. Ozzy barked out a laugh and Trip only shook his head.
“We done here?” Sig was not amused. “I got better things to do.”
“Dunno. I’d rather be here than dealin’ with three young kids under five,” Ozzy said with a shake of his head. “More power to ya, brother, just glad it ain’t me.”
“We done?” Judge asked Trip.
The president nodded. “Yeah. Otherwise, I’m gonna start clobberin’ these idiots with the gavel.” He struck said gavel against the table. “Meetin’ adjourned.”
All at once, the officers rose to their feet and Easy wasn’t sure if he should wait or go.
Trip rounded the table and stopped toe to toe with Easy. “Make yourself scarce for the next coupla weeks. I don’t wanna see you.” He shot a glance toward Cage, who was hanging back as everyone else moved toward the door. “Tell Tess I don’t wanna see her, either. We all got a lot of thinkin’ to do in the meantime. Just hope to fuck when it’s over I don’t wanna kill you as much as I do right now. Bein’ more than generous to let you heal in the meantime. Better appreciate it.”
“Yeah, brother, I do.”
“Ain’t your brother, Easy. Not today. Not tomorrow. Gonna be a while before I trust you again.”
Those words hurt more than the injuries from his crash, but he nodded and accepted them anyway. “Understood.”
“Yeah, well… Thought you understood the rules, too.” With that, Trip spun on his heels, followed Sig out of the meeting room and down the stairs.
Easy waited a few moments before heading in the same direction, his mind on figuring out how to keep out of his president’s way since they lived on the same damn property.
Luckily, with the birth of Rush, Trip wasn’t out in The Barn as much as he used to be. When he wasn’t doing repos, helping out at Pete’s or hitting the gym, he was spending as much time as he could taking care of his son. He wanted to be a better father than his own and would do whatever was necessary to make sure that happened.
