Man of the House(187)

We walked back toward the bikes together.

I didn’t know what the fuck was happening, but I hadn’t shot that dumb asshole. Maybe the whole thing was a setup from the start, just an excuse for something bad to happen. Maybe the Rebels wanted to force a little chaos in our midst.

But I couldn’t imagine they’d kill their own guy for it. No, this was just a random, unfortunate, bullshit accident. I hadn’t killed Lavoy, but they were all willing to pin it on me.

Didn’t matter. The bastards would say what they wanted. I welcomed it, frankly. It might give me a chance to fuck a few more of those assholes up in the long run.

I got to my bike, setting it right and cleaning it off. We got on and kicked our engines to life.

There was suspicion between the clubs, but now it was only going to get a lot worse. With Janine in the position she was in, I was going to have to be extra careful. Now she might be in danger from the Rebels, too.

We rode back toward the club, much richer, but in much more danger.





23





Janine





I woke up for the second time that morning, and for a second, I forgot that Clutch had left. I got out of bed and was about to leave my room before I remembered his visit.

I grabbed a robe and wrapped it around my body. I didn’t want the pledges to see me in just a tiny old T-shirt and short little shorts.

TomTom looked up as I walked out into the main room.

“Morning,” he said. “Clutch told you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “He told me you’d be here.”

He nodded. “They had a job to do this morning.”

I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a mug of coffee. Slip nodded at me, sipping from his own mug. I leaned up against the counter.

“Well,” I said, “where’d they go?”

“Can’t say,” Slip answered.

“Club business?”

“You know the drill.”

I sighed, sipping my coffee. I shouldn’t have been surprised that they couldn’t tell me, but it did annoy me more than I would have guessed. Normally I was used to them not telling me anything, but now it felt like I was involved. I was a part of this now, even if I wasn’t an actual Demons member.

Still, it wasn’t their fault that they couldn’t tell me anything. They were just pledges after all. They had no power or anything to make decisions like that.

“I’m going to shower,” I said, “and then you two are taking me over to the club.”

“Why?” TomTom asked. “Most people will be gone.”

I stared at him. “Is it your job to protect me or to ask questions?”

He grinned. “You got it, boss.”

I smiled back. “That’s more like it.”

I walked off to get a shower and heard the two boys laughing as I left the room.



Just like TomTom had predicted, the clubhouse was pretty empty. I wasn’t sure if that was because most of the guys were out on the job or if it was just too early.

Still, despite that, there were a few guys I didn’t recognize sitting around at tables. I felt a knot tighten in my stomach, and I wondered what I was doing there without Clutch.

“Janine!” I looked over, surprised to hear a familiar voice calling my name.

Caralee was sitting at a table near the bar, waving me over. I walked over, feeling genuinely excited to see her.

Caralee was probably my closet friend in the club. I first met her a while back when she stumbled into our lives, causing an uproar in the club. She ended up married to Ford and giving birth to his little, adorable babies.

This morning Caralee was without babies. She smiled as I sat down across from her.

“How are you doing, girl?” she asked.

“I’m good. Haven’t seen you in here in awhile.”

“I’ve had my hands full.”

“How are the kids?”

“Amazing,” she said. “And it feels even better now that I have a break from them.”

I laughed. “Are you just hanging around here?”

“Waiting for Ford to get back,” she said. “You know me. I always worry when he’s out.”

“I hear you. It’s not an easy life.”

“No, but it’s club above everything, right?”

I laughed. “Right.”

“What are you drinking?”

“Coffee.”

Caralee waved at the pledge working the bar, and he brought over a mug for me. I didn’t recognize him, but I didn’t have the brain space to learn his name just yet.

“So, I’ve heard some things,” Caralee said, leaning toward me.

I frowned. “Like what?”

“Like you’re claimed, and there’s a new club getting patched over.”

“That’s all true, yeah.”