“Can we at least focus?” Rider prompted.
Battle turned his face back to us, his huge, shit-eating grin still on his face. “All right, so like my fine woman just said, where the fuck is Penny now?”
“She’s gone back to the Vipers,” Charlie said, coming back into the room. “Thanks to this asshole, I bet she felt like that was her only other option.”
I threw my hands up in the air in frustration. “Why am I the bad guy in this? I didn’t do anything.”
“Exactly,” Charlie snarled, her kohl-lined eyes narrowing on me. “You didn’t do anything but push her away. She came to you for help. Her daddy was trading her like meat and you were pushing her away, literally! She’s gone back to him and whoever he was giving her to, and we’ll all be damn lucky to live out the day if she snitches on us!”
She was yelling then, her eyes blazing with anger, and I looked to Rider for help. Charlie scared the shit out of me. There was no knowing what she was capable of when she lost her temper, and right then she was on the verge of losing it big time.
“Chill, Charlie, we’ve handled the Vipers, dropped a couple of names down the rabbit hole, and pinned this shit on a couple of the Reverend’s boys looking for a payout.” Rider stood up and walked to Charlie, putting a hand on her waist. “Ain’t no way that shit’s coming back on us as long as Penny keeps her mouth shut. I got the word that Razuuk put his VP Solomon on it, which means those fucks we framed are already in the ground. Solomon kills first and asks questions later.”
“And Penny? What happens to her?” Charlie asked, still not appeased by Rider’s answer. “What about her safety? She came to us for help.” She glared at me again. “She came to you!”
“She’s a big fuckin’ girl. She can take care of herself,” I gritted. “Trust me, that woman ain’t no wallflower that cowers at the first sign of a fight. She can handle herself.”
Images of her spread-eagled, naked, and cuffed to my bed with my face buried in her folds came to my mind. One of the hardest things I’d ever had to do, walking away from that pussy.
I was brought back to the moment by the feel of Charlie’s palm hitting my cheek with a sting.
“Fuck!” I roared, stepping to her.
Rider grabbed her from behind and dragged her away. “Charlie! Calm the fuck down.” He turned and glared at me. “And you, dumb fucker that you are, back the fuck off.”
I snarled.
Charlie snarled.
Battle laughed.
“Nice to see nothing’s changed much around here,” he chuckled.
“If she could handle the situation she wouldn’t have come to you, asshole,” Charlie yelled. The sound of Macy crying interrupted Charlie and she grumbled and stormed away. Thank fuck.
“She’s right,” Rider said. “Woman’s crazy, but she’s right. Also, don’t tell her that I said she was crazy.”
I stared around the room, at my brothers and Quinn. All their eyes were on me, judging me and everything that had led me to that point in time. I’d fucked it all up. They knew it and I knew it. But the biggest fuckup was Penny. She was in trouble—in danger—and that was on me. I shouldn’t have cared, but I did.
“So what now?” Battle asked, leaning back in his chair. He draped an arm across the top of the sofa and Quinn leaned back into him. “I mean, do we help her?”
“We can’t. Not without getting involved with the Vipers and giving them an idea that we had something to do with her kidnapping.” Rider shrugged and looked to me.
“What?” I grumbled. “You’re the VP. This is your choice not mine.”
Rider shook his head. “Nah, brother, this is on you. This is your choice. You good to leave her be? Let shit land where it lands?”
Was I good with that?
Fuck, no.
Could I do anything about it?
No.
Not without putting my brothers in danger.
I shrugged in reply, not sure how to answer him.
