Hudson got them in the same room together. Once Connor was out of the woods, moving around more, going to physio, regularly seeing a therapist and even walking outside of the hospital.
Hudson came down hard on Connor. He’d eventually agreed to talk to Warren, but my brother was struggling to get over the ultimatum and trying to figure out how they could continue the way they were before. They were both hurting, neither one of them able to come to an agreement that gave them both what they wanted.
I could totally understand why Connor wouldn’t want to be around the club but the fact he could so easily throw away what he had with Warren, or walk away from our family, stunned me.
I wanted to go to King and tell him all it took was one word from him and things would be okay, but Warren said he’d never speak to me again if I went behind his back and did that, and I believed him.
Still, he was seeing Connor more now, so I hoped they could fix things. Jolene and Smokey had left the club and moved down to Paterson to be with him. A part of me was glad he had them, but another was sad that he didn’t want us. He was pushing us all away. I hated the thought of them losing one another over this. It would be just one more thing Danica had taken from us.
We got up and each took showers, I made him let me go in alone because we’d never leave otherwise. We rode up to the clubhouse,could hear the party long before we pulled up outside. There was a huge bonfire lit, music playing and people laughing. There were a lot more bikes out front than normal, which let me know Mace and his chapter were here.
“Hey, how is the business plan going with Cassie?” Hudson asked as he put his arm around my neck, pulling me into him as we headed around the side of the clubhouse.
“It’s coming together,” I told him.
“You still planning on taking out a loan?”
Another bone of contention between everyone and me was the trust fund. I still wasn’t sure I wanted to take it. It felt like dirty money, even though deep down I knew it wasn’t. I didn’t feel as if I deserved it or earned it.
I’d met with the lawyers. It was due to come to me on my twenty fifth birthday. They told me if I didn’t take it, it would sit in their account until such a time as Warren or I had a daughter. That was the sticking point, I didn’t want to have that pressure put on my or Warren’s kids, if either of us had any.
I was in two minds about releasing some of it for the business venture I was going into. I’d only agreed to allow the club to invest if they swore the place would be clean. King agreed but was adamant Cassie would be my lawyer and Curtis Construction would build it.
My plan was to open a gym in town. There were already gyms around, but I wanted to make a state of the art place, somewhere the hospital could refer patients to affordably, specializing in physio work to help get people like Connor back on their feet. I’d come up with a good business plan by myself, my degree was in business so if I couldn’t handle that, then I was screwed.
“We’re not at the money phase yet,” I told him.
He’d long since stopped trying to convince me to take the money from the trust fund but I could see the disapproval written all over him. If I did take it, even a small portion of it, I would only use it for the gym, and I would make sure Warren got some too. Whether he wanted to or not.
“Hey!” Handlebar saw us first. “You two finally come up for air.”
“Get fucked,” Hudson told him, but he laughed.
I blushed and walked away from them. I’d never get used to the easy way they discussed sex around this place. Although he’d done it as respectfully as a brother could, it still made me uncomfortable.
Warren was standing with a couple of guys over by the fire but his gaze was distant, like he wasn’t fully paying attention. When he spotted me he lifted his chin, said something to the man next to him then headed towards me.
“Hudson’s home,” he greeted me. I just rolled my eyes in response. “Glad he’s back,” he frowned. “I heard from Mia today.”
“Who?
“The journalist,” he cleared his throat.
I hadn’t known her name was Mia. I eyed my brother, he looked back at me, giving nothing away. I still wasn’t sure how he knew her. I wanted to ask but the look he gave me made me keep my mouth closed.
“She has a contact with the feds. They found something. It means the end of him.”
My throat closed up, any questions I wanted to ask dying there. Warren put his hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“A flash drive he had hidden away, they found it. There were things on there,” he lifted a brow, he didn’t need to say it.
We’d already seen what Andrew kept on his camera, or they had. I hadn’t wanted to see that.
“It’s recent, they’re underage. So there are charges coming, ones he can’t get out of. He’s going down, Wave,” he squeezed my shoulder again. “We did it.”
He hugged me, giving me a really tight squeeze, then he walked off before I could ask him any questions. Either about Andrew, or Connor. I watched after him for a while, he joined a group of people but he was on the periphery of them and his smile wasn’t real as he got involved in their chat.
I drew in a heavy breath. This was what I’d wanted for so long. Somehow, it didn’t seem as satisfying as I’d hoped. I just needed to actually see him behind bars. I made a conscious decision not to let this bring me down. We were here to celebrate. I wouldn’t let Andrew Reinhart ruin anything else for me.
