“I know you do, Briggs.”
And I let him hold me knowing that he’s got me. Knowing that he’ll protect me. Knowing that I’ve found something special and will have to be strong enough to hold onto it.
CHAPTER 15
MAYHEM
When I glance at the clock, my stomach tightens. Duckie texted me to let me know Wagner stopped in at his precinct even though he’s still, technically, on a leave of absence. You know, because he’s grieving his wife’s death. I hate how no one seems to have figured out that they were estranged. At least, they aren’t reporting on it.
The media has paraded Wagner out in front of the case like he’s up for fucking sainthood. It’s disgusting.
And that feeling in the pit of my stomach is growing, the one that says the calm isn’t going to last. I’m not sure what is going to happen, but something is on the horizon.
He wouldn’t have had to dig very much to find the connection between Addyson and the Devil’s Saints MC. It’s not like we’re unknown. Far from it.
We have more than a few cops on our payroll. It’s allowed usto stay ahead of them when they’re investigating us. But, even more than that, it’s allowed us to help people who need it. Far too often cops have a shit ton of red tape preventing them from doing what needs to be done.
The club doesn’t have the same problem.
Not like we’d solely take the word of the cops about what is going down in my city. Hell fucking no. It wouldn’t come as any surprise to me to find out we were being used for the dirty work of some corrupt cop.
I mean, they are on our payroll after all. That’s not fucking loyalty and we all know it. We just don’t point it out in mixed company.
When I told Scythe about Wagner taking a trip to Magnolia Point, I thought the man’s head was going to explode.
His reaction had my hackles raised. I couldn’t help myself, again, and seethed, “You’re too concerned about a woman who isn’t your Old Lady.”
Scythe paused in his raging, and I could feel him trying to get himself under control. His words were dangerous, but I’ve never been one to back down from something dangerous, “I’m nottoo concernedabout Addyson. She was the only lifeline my Old Lady had for years. Apostle wasn’t there for her, and she had so much fucking weight on her shoulders. She managed it all and the only person helping her was a tiny thing with a big attitude. Addy is my sister and I would gladly walk through fire for her, for my woman or not.”
He wasn’t saying it for recognition or even praise. He was saying it as a fact.
I don’t have to like it.
Fuck, I still don’t like it.
But I can’t say I don’t understand where he’s coming from. He feels like he owes my woman a life debt. And he feels protective of her.
I haven’t made peace with it, not yet. It’s possible I never will.
I’m not sure I can help it either. The beast inside of me has a need to claim Addyson; it’s unhinged and insatiable.
It’s what my woman brings out in me. There isn’t a damn thing this world can throw at us that I wouldn’t shield her from.
She’s strong and sweet. She’s caring and courageous. I’ll make sure those things in her, all glorious and wild, are never tainted.
And in return I get the sweetness she brings into my life. The lightness of it all.
I realize I’m grinning as I think of her and the way she blushed last night when we finally showed up for dinner. No one waited for us, which was for the best, but no one pretended to not know what we were up to.
We had only been sitting at the table for a few minutes when Rampage teased her, “Your ‘just been fucked’ hairstyle is really working for you, short stack.”
She happened to be taking a drink and choked on it. I glared at the man and considered slitting his throat as I rubbed her back while she coughed.
Her voice was hoarse when she admonished him, “His parents are sitting at this table with us, what is wrong with you?”
Unsurprisingly, Rampage only shrugged. He didn’t have a care in the world. Frankly, I didn’t give a fuck about everyone knowing what we were up to. Including my parents. No one wasworking under some misguided assumption of me still holding onto my virginity. Trust me, the two of them slipping away when parties got wild had nothing to do with my activities and was all them.
Which I’m more than thankful for.
