I try not to let the amount of stress ripping through my head crack my brain, but it has been a tough week. Fuck, it hasn’t even been a week. It’s only Thursday. Not even five full days since I last saw Leah, but I’ve been in a hell of my own making.
She’s getting under my skin. Big fucking time. I want to say that she wasn’t there already, but that would be a damn lie, and I’ve never been very good at lying to myself.
If there’s a hell, I am sure as shit going to taste the flames for the thoughts I’ve had about her these past few nights. Or more like the past fewyears. I have kept my palm busy, but it’s done absolutely fuck all to take the edge off wanting Leah. The sooner she learns she’s better off far away from me, the better.
“Right. Well, I can find Snake and his family a temporary place. I’ll find someone that Harris hasn’t got to yet, and I’ll find them a place to live for good after. We have the money to buy them something, ‘round the edge of town maybe, where shit is cheaper and Snake ain’t fussy, but we’re gonna have to get this figured out. For all the brothers.”
I nod because it is all I can do. “Yeah. This club is about family, and that’s our vow. To look after each other.”
“So…” Edge leans forward, pressing me in that silent way he has for answers I don’t have. “How are we gonnafix this? Harris ain’t small time, and we don’t have a man on the inside like we were talking about before.”
I shrug because fuck if I know.
Edge stares at me without blinking. He stares so long that the hair at the back of my neck prickles with unease because when he wants to be, good looks or not, Edge can be creepy as all hell.
“What?” I lean forward and rest my elbows on the desk and stare Edge down.
“You don’t have to do your best to look pissed off. You’ve been in a shitty mood all week. As in someone pissed in your cereal, except you don’t eat cereal, so I’ll go with whiskey.”
“You’re like a nagging wife, you know that? Jesus fuck—when I made you my VP, and we started this damn thing together, I didn’t think I’d actually see the day.”
Edge grins, and of course it’s that horrible shit-eating grin that he has perfected over the years. ”I didn’t know you thought of me that way, darlin’.” He draws out the word so that it sounds more old fashioned—dawhlllling. “Say the word, and I’ll make it legit.”
“Why I didn’t put a fucking bullet between your eyes the second I saw you trying to jack my bike, I’ll never know.”
Edge bats his eyelashes at me. “That’s sweet, darlin’. Real sweet.”
“Do me a favor and fuck the fuck off so I can get back to what I’m supposed to be doing. Gimme a day to think about the problem, and I’ll come up with something. We’ll call church and make it legit.”
Edge still doesn’t leave, and I nearly give in to the impulse to plant my fist in the center of his smug mug. I don’t have to ask if there is a reason he’s still there. I know he’s going to fill me in whether I like it or not. I am leaning heavily on the side ofnot.
“That girl… Harris’ daughter. What’s the real story with you? I know you don’t wanna tell me, but if she’s not spying for her father, did you ever stop to think that we could use her?”
I glare at him.
“Fuck, I don’t meanuseher. I mean, not like that, but maybe convince her to work for the club? If she’s rebelling against her father, she might warm up to the idea.”
I knew he was going to play his ace. I just hate that it’s Leah.
“No. I’m not getting her involved. You think her dad is an asshole? I can’t imagine what he’d do to her if he found out that she’d betrayed him like that.”
“What if he thought shewasspying for us? She could approach him. Sell him a story about wanting to help out the family business. You know, make it up for, uh, well, that accident. Some shit like that. She seems like a smart girl. I’m sure she could figure it out.”
“No.”
“She’s—”
“I said fucking no. Now fuck off out of here before I make good on my promise to put you in the ground.”
Edge’s brows shoot up. “Jesus. We’ve got rules about doing a brother in.”
“In this case, I’ll make an exception.”
Edge stands and nearly makes it to the door. Almost. So fucking close. He turns and shoots me a look that says he knows he is going to eventually win, especially when he puts it to a vote with the rest of the club, which I already know he’s not above doing because if it means helping us out and giving us an edge over a man who wants to wipe us from the face of the earth just because he can, I’m obligated, as the club’s Prez, to do the right thing.
Leah isn’t my old lady. She’s not anything as far as Edge is concerned, and while no member of this club is allowed to harm a woman, putting her on our payroll if she’s somehow game for it, isn’t off limits.
I lean back in my chair and fold my hands behind my head. I let out a big sigh that echoes through the office. I thought I was doing the right thing, keeping her at a distance, but now I realize just how well and truly fucked I am.
