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Chapter Forty-Four
With Ham’s help, I loaded the large amount of groceries into the back of Leo’s truck. I liked his new one, it was a stunning metallic blue color. He’d ranted on about how it had all these different features, and I’d just smiled and nodded like I had some idea of what he was talking about. When he realized I was completely clueless, he’d just laughed and tapped my ass before sending me out the door, telling me not to bring this one home with bullet holes.
I didn’t find that funny.
Tomorrow was Slider’s funeral, and I’d all but begged Chelsea to help with something so I felt like I was contributing. She’d finally given in and handed me a list of food and drinks that we would need. The boys from Troy were coming up again to show their respects, along with a handful of members from Brothers by Blood chapters across the states.
Slider had been with the club for a long time, and it was clear that he’d made an impact on a lot of people.
Ham took the shopping cart with a smile, pushing it back to the front of the store as I climbed in and started the engine. I hummed along to the radio as we pulled out of the lot and onto the street, Ham’s bike growling loudly behind me.
I narrowed my eyes as something caught my eye as we drove through the streets of Athens and headed toward the clubhouse. At first, I tried to ignore it, knowing that my orders were to go straight back to the clubhouse when we were done. But when I looked in my mirror, I saw a face I recognized and slammed on the breaks, pulling the truck off to the side.
Ham’s engine revved hard as he changed down gears quickly, shooting past me before he managed to pull his bike to the curb in front of the car. He looked over his shoulder at me with a frown.
“Cut it out, Nick,” the girl shouted as I jumped out of Leo’s truck and began walking back down the street.
“Hadley!” Ham called from behind me, but I ignored him, my eyes zeroing in on the three teenage boys who were tossing a backpack back and forth between them and laughing at the girl.
“Meyah?” I called, drawing her attention to me. She looked relieved to see a familiar face. “What’s going on?”
“They won’t give me back my backpack.”
The boys snickered. The one who held it in his hands stared me down, a self-assured smirk on his face. “Aww, who’s this, your babysitter?”
I held out my hand. “Give me the backpack.”
He chuckled. “This is none of your business, lady, get back in your car and go home.”
I was surprised at the amount of confidence that came from one boy. The others seemed to stand back smugly, watching the interaction like little minions.
“Okay, let’s try this again. We can do this the easy way, where you give it over and I don’t put my foot up your smug punk ass…” all their eyes widened in surprise at my words, and I slipped my phone out of my back pocket, holding it up for them to see, “…or I make a phone call, and you can deal with a very pissed off uncle and his brothers. Who, without a doubt, will make you cry like a little baby.”
The kid frowned, but he stood his ground. I had to give him props for that. Suddenly all their eyes moved from me. Meyah’s widened in surprise.
“Give the kid her fucking backpack, you little shit,” Ham’s voice growled as he stepped up beside me and folded his arms across his chest. “You don’t want to find out what happens if I have to take a few extra steps over there and take it from you.”
Meyah swallowed tightly, her eyes never leaving Ham.
I smiled. “Well, boys?”
“Give it back, Nick,” one of them muttered. Obviously one of the smarter ones.
Nickthe kid holding the bag glared at the both of us for a minute before tossing it in the dirt next to the sidewalk. “Here’s your fucking backpack.” His eyes met with Ham’s. “You want her, bro? You can have her. She’s a lousy fucking lay.”
Ham took a step forward, but I grabbed his arm. “Leave it,” I told him quietly.
Nick kicked up some dirt, and all three boys took off back down the street and climbed into a parked car. I glared as they did a U-turn and disappeared. The little shits had purposely stopped to torment the poor girl.
Meyah gathered her bag, brushing off the dirt and wiping at the tears in her eyes.
I walked the few steps over to her and brushed the hair away from her face. “You okay?”
She choked on a sob and shook her head back and forth. “I wanna go home.”
“Oh, honey.” I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and guided her toward the truck. Ham still hadn’t moved. His face was like stone as he stared down the road where the boys had disappeared like he wanted to go after them.
“I have a better idea,” I told her as she climbed into the passenger’s seat. “How ‘bout we go to the clubhouse, and we let Leo and the boys explain all the different ways they will castrate Nick and his buddies if they ever bother you again?”
