The banging in my head forces me to wake up. Why the fuck did I drink so much last night? Fucking, never again! My eyes are blurry and the light peeking in through the window curtain is making my head hurt worse. I take inventory of my surroundings and notice that this doesn’t look anything like I’ve seen before.
The bed has a leather headboard and the mattress feels as though I’m lying on a cloud. On the nightstand, the clock reads nine twenty-three. There must be some mistake.
A groan next to me puts my senses into overdrive as I whip my head to the noise. Next to me snuggled up in the covers is a naked woman. Her hair is splayed out everywhere, making it hard to see her face. She rolls over on her side with her back to me, and I see the distinct markings of ink across her lower back. My eyes widen, and my mouth goes slack.
Fucking hell!
I try hard to think back at how I got here and a flood of memories come rushing back.
~Fourteen Hours Earlier~
We’ve arrived in Las Vegas a few hours ago as Gunner, from the Fallon Chapter, and Bullet, from the Tucson Chapter, met us here for the next few days. The club is having a problem with some assholes who want to try to make a buck off our name, and we’re here to help set the record straight along with some other business. We’re also meeting up with mob boss, Ox Bishop, to work out better ways to launder our money. There are four families that run the drug and arms business here in Nevada, and we’re supposed to have a meeting to see if we can be beneficial to each other in expanding everyone’s territory.
“Everything all set for tonight?” Havoc asks while drinking his beer at the bar.
“Yeah, it shouldn’t be too much longer,” I say and sit next to him.
“You nervous?” he asks.
“Should I be?”
“Dude, every man should be! When you have the eye of Ox Bishop, you’re under his judgement.” He chuckles and finishes off his beer then slides it down to the end of the bar. “Let’s get this done, shall we?”
We both stand and fix our clothes and cut before striding out of the gigantic bar area at the hotel Bishop put us all up in. Our brothers from all the chapters are on their bikes waiting for us to mount and go to the back lot of the hotel.
Tonight and tomorrow are going to be huge. One that will hold a lot of meaning for my club and any future members into our MC. The actions of tonight and tomorrow will follow me around for the rest of my life and those close to me.
Side by side, we ride down the main strip of Las Vegas and park our bikes behind a tall, bulky building. Tourists watch us like we’re a show about to start. Knowing there are a lot of witnesses makes me uneasy.
A man in a suit walks straight over to where we are and from this distance, I can see the worry in his features. His forehead has a layer of sweat forming and he fidgets with the bottom of his suit jacket.
“Mr. Gunner?” the nervous bald man asks with a shortness of breath.
Gunner nods and from just the short walk over to us the man is sweating and acting as though he sprinted over here.
“Right this way, sir.” He stares out at our large group. “I’ll make sure everyone is validated for parking.” With that, he turns and leads us through the lobby and down several large hallways before opening a set of white double doors. “Mr. Bishop will be with you shortly, if you’ll just have a seat over there.”
We all file into the room with white sterile walls with a stained-glass circular window at the front. I can’t help but think of my little wildcat and what she must be doing right at this very moment. I’ve been a little distant lately, but I know if I stayed too long next to her, I’d tell her all about what was about to happen and I just couldn’t do it.
I hear the doors creak open, and I can’t help think that this is the right move for the future of Dead Road MC.
Three men and a woman walk out approaching us. Gunner takes the lead pushing his hand out in greeting.
“Mr. Bishop?”
“Call me, Ox. This is Luca, Wyatt, and this beauty is Kendall.” We hear a growl from Wyatt and I raise an eyebrow. Ox shrugs then gestures for us to come in. “Let’s get down to business, shall we?”
“Ready to go?” Sutton calls out from the front room as I’m gathering up the last of my toiletry bag from the bathroom.
Ever since she showed up, Sutton has been nothing but cheery and bouncing on the balls of her feet. I get that she is excited and I am too, but I can’t help but feel a little depressed and neglected by Kane lately. I feel him putting up a wall between us, and I don’t know to fix this with us.
Is he mad at me for the accident? Does he really blame me for Trick’s death? Why won’t he touch or have sex with me anymore?
He is mind fucking me, and it’s like when he’s here with me, he’s somewhere else. He claims to have a lot going on at the club, but that isn’t anything new. Maybe he regrets bringing me into his life and doesn’t know how to tell me it’s over.
Ugh!
Sutton chooses this moment to burst through the door, but she falters when she sees my face.
