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Far too soon, we pulled up to the clubhouse, a brick building that spanned an entire city block. The black garage door rolled up for Hunter and we both pulled in behind him, our engines loudly echoing around the small space reserved for club use. Judging by the number of bikes already parked beside the stairs, we were the last to arrive.
Stel swung her leg off, and I immediately missed having her close to me. It was akin to an icy wind making its way inside your coat in the winter. Funny what could change during the span of a ride. Now, I was more determined thanever to make her mine, to tie her to me in every way a woman could be tied to a man.
She walked ahead of me up the metal and wood floating steps, her hand trailing along the whitewashed brick. Her step faltered at the collage of pictures her dad put on the wall, but she shook it off and kept going.
Inside, Hunter breezed past the bar, but as soon as Cherry caught sight of Stel, she squealed. Honest to god squealed, and damn if it wasn’t shrill. Cherry was the only grown woman I knew of who could pull that off without you wanting to punch her.
Stel put her finger in her ear and worked her jaw, which Cherry ignored as she hopped over the bar like a gazelle and came running straight for Stel. My hand automatically reached out to steady Stel as hurricane Cherry hit, landing at the small of her back. For such a petite thing, Cherry sure could pack a wallop.
Stel looked over her shoulder at me and raised an eyebrow, so I let my hand drop and moved around them. Neither needed me lording over the top of them anyhow, but I couldn’t help overhearing Stel say they weren’t doing any “girly shit” now that she was back.
As I walked into church, I couldn’t keep the small smile from tugging at the corner of my lips. My girl was back, more or less.
Ryder nodded at the two metal folding chairs off to the side and asked, “Stel coming?”
“Yeah.” I plopped down in the one closest to the door. “Cherry stopped her at the front door.”
Ryder rolled his eyes but didn’t comment. He knew how Cherry was, and while she was a little too sweet for his tastes, he’d still kept her around all these years as a sweet butt. There was something to be said about a girl loyal enough not torun her mouth, even if she was perkier than a cheerleader on crack.
Stel walked in, her T-shirt falling off her shoulder, and her jeans hanging low on her hips. God, she was beautiful, even if she did give me a hateful look as she sat down beside me.
“You left her to hug all over me!”
I shrugged, glad to have her saying more than a few words to me.
“Shouldn’t have given me a fuck off look then.”
“You earned that look,” she groused, crossing her arms.
The action shoved her full, perky tits up, making my mouth water.
“If you two are done?” Ryder asked, one dark brow raised.
Everyone stared at us, which was damn unfortunate considering my dick was now half hard. Beast even stroked a hand down his dark beard to hide the smirk he wore.
“Yes,” Stel hissed back, eyeballing Beast, who wisely slid his hand under the table to protect his junk. We’d all learned the hard way that Stel was fast as lightning and showed no mercy.
“Fan-fucking-tastic.” His wooden gavel came down with a crack against the long table in front of him. “Stella, the club has given you the space you asked for. Unfortunately, now that we know Los Sepultureros was somehow involved in your abduction, privacy is no longer a luxury we can afford. We need you to tell us everything about what happened.”
She tensed beside me, and I looked over, studying the side of her face. Her teeth dug into her plump bottom lip, drawing blood. Ryder would never ask her to share the details of any assaults she may have endured at these animals’ hands, yet there was something she was stewing about. Something she didn’t want to share. But what could she possibly want to keep from the club? From her family?
Her tongue snuck out to soothe the lip she’d been worrying as she inhaled a shaky breath. “Hunter says the man who killed Jules is Los Sepultureros, but he didn’t claim any affiliations in front of me. All he said was that he wanted to prove The Devil’s Deviants weren’t as untouchable as they thought. Up until then, I thought they took me because of Antonio, not the club.”
Ryder leaned back in his chair at the head of the table, his dark eyes intent on Stel. “And why would you have been taken because of Antonio?”
“He tried to warn me of a security breach where his enemies got ahold of my identity. But he’s a complete control freak, so I figured that was his way of restricting my movements. It wasn’t until someone opened fire while I was standing in front of his house that I took him seriously.”
“I’m your father, for fuck’s sake. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Mad Dog had stolen the words out of my head, not the father part, but of telling someone, anyone that she was in danger. I wanted to reach over and shake her for putting herself in harm’s way. But I didn’t. How could I when I was the reason for all of it? Damn. Talk about regrets swallowing a person whole.
“When Antonio and I started dating, I thought he was just a successful businessman. By the time I realized what he was involved in, it was too late for me to leave. I knew too much.”
Fuck. She was talking like she was retelling the plot of a blockbuster movie to a friend, factual, and with no emotion. Still, it was like a punch to the gut. Boyfriend. Knew too much. Too late. The words kept running around and around in my scattered brain.
“Dad, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you getting killed trying to bail me out of the mess I’d made of mylife. Losing one parent was bad enough. Besides, Antonio was dealing with the threat.”
“Dealing with the threat how?” Mad Dog asked, his voice deceptively low. Whenever he was really pissed, he never yelled. And the quieter he got, the more you needed to consider hauling ass out of his general vicinity.
