“Whatever you say, Crank,” he said, giving up on my tattoo. “It’ll get infected,” he stated matter-of-factly. “Hope’s going to fucking poison you.”
“You have no idea,” I replied, and left his room.
Bull was out of his office by then, talking at the bar with Ranger, Thor, Hammer, and Wolf. I ignored all of them and continued across the clubhouse floor.
“We need words!” Hammer bellowed to me.
“Crank, brother,” Ranger called. “Congrats and shit.”
My steely gaze stayed focused on the door, my intentions unbending. I pulled the door open and the sunlight blinded me after the darkness of the clubhouse. As I stepped outside I saw Maria and her friend climb out of a black SUV. She looked uncomfortable as I got closer, looking away from me, the normally confident woman missing. But right then I had no intention of talking to her; I had more important things to do.
“Crank!” Hammer bellowed my name again. “I said we need words, now!”
My footsteps faltered and I looked back over my shoulder. Maria was standing to my left, the remnants of a black eye partially hidden by makeup. She looked away, her gaze going to Hammer, and I finally turned to look at him.
All of my brothers stood together outside the clubhouse, a mix of different expressions on each of their faces. Bull and Hammer came toward me, and I had a feeling that Bull was there to hold Hammer back. It was almost laughable. Had they not seen how I’d destroyed Bench in the fight? I wasn’t afraid of Hammer. I wasn’t afraid of anyone.
“What?” I barked out as they got closer.
“What? That’s all you got to say to me?” Hammer growled out. “After everything this club’s done for you, this is how you repay me—by fucking my old lady and then asking me ‘what’ like it means nothing to you?”
My gaze shifted to Bull, who shrugged. “Sorry, kid. He needed to know.”
I cracked my knuckles and glared at Hammer. “You need to lower your tone, Hammer. Your old lady is a whore. A fucking crazy whore at that. Go deal with her and stay the fuck out of my way,” I replied coldly.
Hammer swung with a punch, catching me on the corner of my jaw. “Talk shit about her like that again and see what happens.”
I laughed. “You have no idea what you’re doing, man. No idea at all. You can keep her poisonous pussy all to yourself. I wouldn’t touch her again if you fuckin’ paid me.” I spat out a mouthful of blood on the ground between us.
“You’re an asshole!” Maria screeched. She started to storm forward but her friend grabbed her and pulled her back. She fought for a second until she caught wind of the furious glare that Hammer was giving her. Her eyes went to the Hope’s name on my chest and the hurt expression on her face betrayed her. “Oh, that’s fucking priceless!”
Bull’s gaze dropped to my chest too and he shook his head. “You two need to sort this.”
Hammer pulled out his gun. “I’ll sort it.”
“Put that down!” Bull bellowed angrily, his words echoing around us. “No one is fucking killing no one. Crank just saved Stone’s life. He’s fucked up chasing away his demons and looking for some woman. He didn’t even know Maria was yours. Bitch kept that information to herself when she opened her legs to him.”
Hammer’s gaze went to Maria. “You said he seduced you. Said he’d been following you around like a lost puppy.”
“He may as well have,” she mumbled, looking worried.
“That true?” Hammer said, his gun still aimed at me.
“I don’t want anything to do with her. Never knew she was yours until Bull told me,” I said to Hammer. “I had a raging hard-on and needed to get rid of it. Maria was there, but she never mentioned shit about being owned.”
Hammer was still staring at Maria, looking angrier by the second. But that was their business, not mine. I had my own drama to deal with.
“This true?” he said to Maria, his voice shaking with anger.
Woman would have had more sense to keep her mouth shut and not say a damned thing. But sense clearly wasn’t her priority.
“It was Hope’s fault, not mine,” she replied with exaggerated annoyance. “Bitch should have fucked him while she had the chance—then he wouldn’t have come out of there like a horny teenager! She always thought she was better than me, but it turns out she’s not.”
“Maria, so help me God you’re a cunt!” Hammer yelled. “We’re done. I’m done with you and your bullshit, woman!”
“You knew her?” I said, turning back to Maria.
She shrugged. “Her parents knew mine way back before I hooked up with Hammer. They were always droning on about what a good girl she was, how far she’d go in this life, blah blah blah. I swear, if I heard my parents tell me to be more like Hope one more time I would have killed myself. But it turns out the little princess wasn’t as good as everyone thought.” She sneered.
