“And then you’re starting at Roxie’s?”
Her eyes lit up; I knew she was looking forward to this. “Yes, on the Monday after I finish at Indigo, so it’s all worked out really well. She’s set a room up for me to rent off her, and she’s got ladies booked in already.”
I loved seeing her happy. I brushed a kiss over her lips, and murmured, “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”
Nodding, she asked me, “Have you thought anymore about going to see Gabriella?”
Velvet and my family all thought I needed to go and talk to Gabriella, for closure or some fucking thing. I wasn’t so sure, and was stalling on it. “Babe, it’s only been two weeks since I last saw her. I’m still fuckin’ angry at her, and that’s not gonna go away anytime soon. Let me get through this shit in my head, deal with that first, and then I’ll think about going to see her.”
“Okay. You’re probably right. At least you’ll consider it; that’s all I really wanted you to do at this point.”
I pulled her to me. “How the hell did I get so lucky?”
“Why? What do you mean?”
“I mean, you don’t fuckin’ nag me, you don’t bitch about shit to me, you haven’t tried to change me, and you cope with my addiction to your tits and pussy. How did I get that lucky, woman?”
She grinned. “Oh, there’s still time, baby. I can do all that stuff if you want.”
I grinned back at her. Two could play this game. “Okay, how about we work on curbing my addiction first? Get that one out of the way before you start in on the nagging and bitching.”
She pulled my face down to hers. “I’ll make you a deal, Nash Walker. You keep that addiction for the rest of your life, and I promise not to start with the nagging and bitching.”
“Done,” I agreed, and smacked her on the ass. “Now, get your shit together, and let’s get you to your exam.”
***
After I dropped Velvet off at her exam, I headed to the clubhouse. The last two weeks since Kick left had been tense. Marcus was rounding his troops up so to speak, making all sorts of promises to the boys who agreed to Storm moving back into drugs. There were only a handful of us left who were against it, and if he called for a vote, we’d be outnumbered.
From the moment I entered the clubhouse, I knew something was off. And when I found Scott in the bar area, he confirmed it. “Dad’s gonna make his move in the next couple of days, brother.”
I sat at the table with him. He was in the corner by himself, with his morning coffee. I drowned out the noise of the other guys talking and laughing, and gave Scott my full attention. “Who told you that?”
“Wilder. Dad’s taken a liking to him, and is using him for all sorts of shit.”
I liked Wilder, even after my run in with him, but I was wondering what was in it for him to be playing both sides. “Can we trust Wilder? Why’s he giving you that information?”
Scott leaned forward so he could drop his voice. “You remember how Wilder became a prospect?”
I searched my memory, but came up with nothing. “No.”
“I brought him in. And I did it intentionally. It was after I found out about Dad. I had a gut feeling that shit was going to go south, and then I met Wilder. He’d been screwed over by Dad, and was looking for payback. I figured it would be useful to us to have a member I could be sure of if shit ever hit the fan, so I sponsored him.”
“Fuck, it could have gone the other way; could have backfired on you.”
He nodded. “Yeah, brother, it could have. I was willing to take that risk though, and I’m glad I fucking did. Wilder’s proved himself, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to be patched soon.”
“Any news on Blue?”
“No, still coming up empty on that one. You heard anything from Kick?”
“They’re convinced Marcus is their man, but because of his ties to Adelaide and some of the other chapters, are reluctant to move without proof. Marcus has been busy making friends; seems he’s got allies everywhere.”
“Fuck,” Scott muttered.
“How the hell did he screw Wilder over?” I asked.
“He - ” he began, but stopped talking because Marcus was headed straight for us.
“Nash, Scott,” he greeted us, clearly not pleased to see us.
“Marcus,” I said, jerking my chin at him, but Scott didn’t say a word.
He scowled at Scott before saying, “Church tomorrow. Don’t be late. We’ve got a lot of shit to discuss.”
I nodded, and he left, as quickly as he came. Mind you, it couldn’t be soon enough as far as I was concerned. Giving my attention back to Scott, I shared my thoughts. “Not looking forward to tomorrow, brother. Christ knows what surprises he’s got in store for us.”
Scott was deep in thought, and slowly nodded as he took in what I’d said. “I hear you, man. I fucking hear you.”