Wed to the Bad Boy(70)

Why the hell did she have to walk back into the club?

She didn’t know it yet, but she’d just sealed her own fate. Bones would never let her back out again. Hell, he hadn’t let her run away the first time. Mick had put his reputation on the line for that, and it almost cost him big.

“We take care of our own,” he’d told me as soon as he saw her, but I saw more than duty in his eyes. More than ‘family duty.’

He’d looked at Layla and I’d seen his lust.

Fuck.

Seeing him look at her like that had made me want to rip the old man’s eyes out in a blind rage.

Rage. That was what the other guys in the Club called me.

I couldn’t fix this for her, but I wanted to. And that made me even angrier. I looked down and saw that I was shaking. I was so close to exploding. Not only because Sean was gone.. Not because we had an impending war brewing. No, right then, it had nothing to do with the club.

It was because Layla was mine.

At least, she was supposed to be.

But that was years ago, even if I never could shake the memories. There had been promises made. The feel of her behind me on the bike. Beside me while Sean laughed. In my arms as she let me kiss her neck.

I’d known what I wanted, even then. Her. All of her. But I’d get shy whenever I had gotten near her. She’d been a wild girl and a lady. The girl I didn’t dare just kiss.

She let me kiss her, her hair and her throat, then turned and kissed me back. Ever since, I’d never shaken the feeling that she belonged to me.

And then she had turned around and walked away.

She didn’t just leave me, she left Sean too. He took it with a brave face like he did everything, but I could see the pain behind the mask. Her leaving had been worse than anything their old man had ever inflicted on either of them.

Sean had been was my best friend. And now he was dead.

Shot down. Murdered by assholes who were going to get theirs. Bones promised me revenge.

It was the only thing that kept me going. Well, that and my M.C. brothers. They needed me. Now more than ever, especially as we were already starting to fracture.

There were two factions, pulling us apart at the seams.

But Sean’s death had woken us up. We were under attack, and Bones was right. We needed to band together, at least for now and we had to do one thing.

We had to give them hell.

Just a few more steps, then my job was done. It was one of the last things I’d ever do for Sean. One of the last things. I keep my promises. Even if that meant I did the one thing that I thought I’d never have to do. The one thing that could ruin the entire club.

I’d protect her.

I looked over at Bones, who, despite carrying her dead brother’s casket, was staring right at Layla. He had to be at least twenty years older than her, the same age as her father.

I’d defend her from anyone. Even if that meant I had to go against my own “brothers.” I’d break apart the club to keep my word to Sean.

I set down the casket on the stand and said goodbye to my brother-in-arms. Layla was there, standing so close to me. I could feel her. I wanted to reach out and touch her, bury my face in her dark red hair. Remind her of exactly who I was.

A promise is a promise, after all.





Chapter 2

Layla

When I was a teen, I used to wish I could be a fly on the wall of the club meetings, just to know what they were talking about.

But now that I was here, right outside the door, watching them talk through glass and hearing just the tail ends of their words, I wished I was anywhere else.

I didn’t want to know what they were saying. It was probably illegal. And dangerous. I just wanted to say my goodbyes and be on my way.

Back to Chicago where I didn’t have a job, a life, or any place to stay, other than my aunt’s crowded apartment.

Yeah, my future sucked. But it was better than not having one.

I chewed the inside of my lip and waited. They were yelling, and a part of me wanted to slink out and take off, but that would be stupid.

That would put a target on my back and make life harder for Uncle Mick.

Suddenly the doors opened, and the President in all of his glory stood there, leering at me like I was a piece of meat.

I knew that look. It made my entire body feel like I was covered in worms.

“It’s been decided. You’re staying.”

“Excuse me?” The pit of my stomach clenched.

“You heard me, little girl. You’re in danger. Here, or in Chicago. Here we can watch you. There’s a war going on, honey, and whether you like it or not, you’re involved.”

“I don’t understand. Why would it reach into Chicago? Wouldn’t I be safer there?”

They handed me a bloodstained note.

“This was found on your brother.”