She picked up her phone and began to text him when it rang. It was Frederick. Exhaling a long breath, she picked up.
"Where the fuck are you? Do you know how worried I've been about you? I called the police, the hospitals. Fuck, pet, how could you let me worry like this? Why didn't you answer my calls or texts?" He sounded so worried and upset that she cursed herself for being so selfish.
"I'm sorry, Frederick. I needed some time by myself. I'm exhausted and I need to think."
"Where are you?" A hard edge had crept into his voice.
"I'm safe. You don't have to worry."
A long pause ensued and his anger radiated through the phone, curling around her neck and squeezing it. "You need to come home. Now."
"I can't just yet," she whispered.
"You've made your point, pet. You're throwing a tantrum, and I find it childish and distasteful. If I've been too hard on you, you should've told me. You know you can talk to me."
"I used to be able to, but over the last year you've become too possessive and it scares me."
"We can talk about it. Everything I do is because I love you. You know that, right?"
"Sometime it's too much."
"How can love ever be too much?"
"When it suffocates and swallows up who I am. I miss who I used to be." Her voice hitched.
"You miss the confused, broke, sniveling coward who couldn't even figure out how to make a go of her life? Think about what you're saying, pet."
"I have to go, Frederick. I'll talk to you later."
"Are you with the biker?"
"What? No. Of course not."
"You better not be or else I'll have to do something you'll regret for the rest of your life. You knew what my conditions were and you agreed to them. Now you're breaking them, and innocent people will be a part of the fallout. You'll have their blood on your hands. Don't be foolish, pet. You and others have so much to lose if you leave me."
His words chilled her bones and she shivered as his subtle but powerful threats weaved around her, choking all the breath from her.
He snorted. "I think you understand, pet." The phone clicked off and she stood there staring at it for a long time. She knew what he was capable of, and there was no doubt in her mind that he would make good on his threat. She couldn't let it happen; she had to do something about it. One thing was certain-going back to Frederick wasn't an option. She'd have to figure out how to stay one step ahead of him.
She rubbed her pounding temples with her fingertips. I'm going to have to ask Rock to help me without him knowing why. How the hell am I going to do that? Clotille knew Rock didn't trust her because she'd abandoned him when he needed her the most, but she'd had no choice at that time. What he hadn't known, hadn't wanted to hear, was that she'd let him in her heart, and that had never faltered. Even when she'd married Luc and knew she'd shattered Rock's heart, she'd loved him. Life was hard and she'd had to play with the cards it had dealt her, knowing Rock would never have understood that. How could he? He came from a different background from me. I was expected to behave and live in a certain way. The only person who could've supported and saved me was locked up in prison, hate and rage clouding everything in his life. I didn't know what I was doing, and I fucked up big time. That is my private hell, just like his is the image of his murdered mother burned into his brain forever.
She'd need a lifetime to correct a decade of mistakes and secrets but she'd have to try, even if she died doing so.
* * *
Banger stood silent in front of the brothers, muscles and veins straining against his skin, his lips pulled back and baring his teeth. His icy blue gaze bored into Rock, whose shoulders slumped as he braced himself for the rage his president was ready to unleash on him.
"What in the goddamned fuckin' hell made you think it was a good idea to bring the rich fuck's wife to the Insurgents' clubhouse?" His face was mottled, and he clenched and unclenched his hands.
"She's not his wife," Rock said.
Bones whistled softly under his breath. "Wrong fuckin' answer, bro."
Banger picked up a wooden stool and slammed it on the table, the splintering wood sounding like cracking bones. "I don't give a shit if she is or isn't. Why the fuck is she in our clubhouse?"
Rock didn't flinch. "I'll take care of it. This is my personal affair and it doesn't involve the club."
"Every goddamned thing each of you does involves the club. How can you have been part of this brotherhood for as long as you have and not fuckin' know this? You got shit for brains? The fuckin' minute she stepped her ass in here, it involved the brotherhood. Fuck!"
"I get that, but this is my problem that I have to take care of."
"You fuckin' put the Insurgents in a bad position. This isn't some bitch you saw at a damn nightclub and wanted to fuck. This is a client's wife, a big-ass client for one of our loyal outsiders. Liam doesn't deserve the shit you just dropped on him. This is bullshit!"
All eyes were on Rock, and several brothers had their heads down out of respect for the verbal beat down their president was giving to a fellow brother.
Rock lifted his chin in defiance. "I said I'd take care of it. The rich fuck doesn't know she's here, and she'll be gone before he finds out. Liam doesn't know either. She was in a bad way and needed my help. We go back a long time."
"What are you planning to do about it?"
"I'm not sure yet."
"Well you fuckin' better get sure real fast ‘cause her ass is out at the end of the weekend. And the only reason it isn't tomorrow is ‘cause we got the celebration for patching Puck, Johnnie, and Blade in on Saturday. We got enough shit going on with the Skull Crushers, Demon Riders, and now the goddamned Gypsy Fiends. I can't fuckin' afford to take on an asshole who's got enough money to buy an army and raze this place to the ground just to get his bitch back. Fuck! I never expected this shit from you, Rock."
"I said I'd handle it."
"You fuckin' better."
"If you need my help, bro, let me know," Bones said.
"Same goes here." Wheelie stood up, followed by Jax, Chas, Chicory, Bear, Bruiser, Axe, Throttle, and-except for four of the older members-everyone else in the room.
Rock straightened his shoulders and looked at his brothers, a gleam in his eye. The magnitude of support the brothers just gave him reinforced the love he had for the brotherhood. He'd never experienced such love and loyalty in his life, not even with his mother. Her undying loyalty had always been with his pa, and he could never figure out how she could've stood by such a selfish, cruel-hearted sonofabitch. But that was over. She was gone. His pa was locked away. Rock was in the Insurgents. And Clotille was up in his room.
A wolfish smile crossed his face.
"We're already so deep in shit over this that I don't give a damn who helps you. Just get it fixed." Banger cleared his throat. "Now, on to other business. We're meeting with Baylee to draw up plans for our new strip mall … ."
An hour later, Rock went into the great room, laughing and talking with his buddies. When he spotted Clotille sitting at one of the tables, a cup of coffee in her hand, his heart soared. She was wearing another one of his T-shirts and it turned him way the hell on. She had on a pair of yoga pants, and he couldn't wait to check out her ass in them when they went upstairs. Damn, she gets my blood boiling. As he approached she looked up from the magazine she was reading and smiled at him.
"Where have you been?" she said as he took the chair next to her.
"Church." He laughed at her quizzical look. "A meeting. We call it church."
"Why?"
He shrugged. "Just do."
"Okay. What was your meeting about?"
"I can't talk about what we discuss during church. It's club business."
She nodded. "I talked to Frederick this morning."
He stiffened. "What did he have to say?"
"The expected: he loves me, he wants me to come home, he'll destroy me if I leave him." She laughed as she pulled at her hair.
Rock scowled. "What does he mean by ‘destroy you?' Does he got something on you?"
She licked her lips and averted her gaze. "He's helping a lot with my family, so I guess he means that he'll pull the financial plug."
"Is he supporting your brothers too?"
She nodded. "Mostly Armand."
"Isn't he ashamed to have a sugar daddy?" He chortled.