Page 5 of Georgie (Sons of Hell MC #10)

Georgie

The second I pulled my vehicle into a parking spot at the Ski Resort, Josie’s gasp had me looking around.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she growled, muttering under her breath as she unbuckled her seat belt and reached for the door. “I’m gonna kill him and you are not allowed to bring him back to life. Understood?”

Before I could ask her what the hell she was talking about, she was out of my car and storming over toward the entrance. Since the funeral, Josie had been acting really weird.

Weirder than usual and that was saying something.

Shaking my head, I turned off the engine and stepped out of my vehicle to figure out what the problem was. She might still be mad at me for some nefarious reason, but I wasn’t going to abandon my best friend in her time of need.

Following closely, I heard a familiar voice.

“Hey, beautiful.”

“Don’t you beautiful me, you lying two-timing bastard. What the hell are you doing here?”

“Came to see my wife.”

“I will wipe my ass with a cactus before I ever take you back.”

“That was harsh!”

“You think that was harsh? See what I do if you don’t sign those damn divorce papers.”

“Now, why would I do that? I hear your old man is sick and soon this is gonna all be yours.”

Stopping dead in my tracks, I growled. “What the fuck are you doing here, Hunter?”

“George!” My former business partner and ex-best friend smiled as he greeted me.

Hunter Dukes and I attended the same medical school, and, for a very short fucking time, he was my best friend and business partner.

That was until I found him fucking my former fiancée, Emily, in my motherfucking office.

But seeing him standing next to Josephine, and the stupid shit-eating grin on his face, the same grin I’d seen on one of the sweetest little boys in the world, I growled because it didn’t take me but a nanosecond to put together that Hunter Dukes was none other than Freddie fucking Hennessy.

The con artist!

The same motherfucker who broke my best friend’s heart.

There was a medical term that described when a sane person lost all reason and did something completely out of character and for the life of me, I couldn’t think of what it was, because when the motherfucker touched Josephine, I charged the slimy bastard and tackled him to the fucking ground.

“GEORGE!” Josie screeched.

Ignoring her, I threw my arm back and punched the fucker in the nose. Motherfucker thought he could come back and hurt my best friend more, well he was in for a rude awakening.

No one was going to hurt Josie ever again.

Not on my watch.

I was about to take another swing when powerful arms wrapped around me and hauled me off the slimy bastard.

“Calm down, George,” I vaguely heard King say.

“Fuck, man.” Hunter rolled over, spitting blood on the ground. “What the hell? Is that how you greet all your friends?”

“You are not my fucking friend, asshole,” I seethed as Josie rushed over to me, grabbing my hand to take a good look at it, and I let her.

“So, you and my wife, huh?”

Without thinking, I wrapped my other hand around her and yanked her close. “You’re damn right she’s mine. So sign those fucking papers, fast.”

Sitting up, Hunter grinned. “That’s gonna be a problem ’cause I still love my wife.”

“Oh please,” Josie scoffed. “Which one?”

Hunter shrugged. “Love them all, but you’re special, Josie.”

“Yeah, and so are her millions, right?” King growled, narrowing his eyes.

“What can I say? My wife has a very special quality that I’m drawn to and, more importantly, she’s legally mine,” the fucker sneered.

“That remains to be seen,” I snarked, holding Josie tighter. “Which reminds me. How is Emily?”

Hunter shrugged. “Wouldn’t know. Haven’t seen her since I fucked her in your office.”

If it wasn’t for Josie and King, I would have charged the fucker again despite the sound of police sirens in the distance.

“And that’s my cue to leave.” Hunter sighed, straightening his jacket. “Later, babe. Tell the brats I said hi.”

Watching him run off, I turned to find Granny, Jack, and LeeAnn all staring in rapt attention.

“Inside, now. We need to talk.” King barked, shaking his head as he walked toward the entrance.

“Why are you yelling at me?” Josie snarked as she glared at me.

Pacing her family penthouse, I couldn’t stop seeing his smug, arrogant face. That motherfucker slept with my best friend. Got her fucking pregnant, then continued to fuck anything with two legs.

I was going to kill him!

“What I want to know is why you called the con artist Hunter?” Jack asked, standing near the bar with a scotch in his hand.

“Because that’s the fucker’s legal name. Hunter Aaron Dukes,” I clipped, marching over to Jack and taking the scotch out of his hands before downing it in one gulp.

“No alcohol, Jack,” I muttered, placing the now-empty glass back on the bar.

“No, it’s Fredrick William Hennessy,” Josie challenged. “I think I know who I married, George.”

Rounding on my best friend, I snarked, “How would you know? Your naiveté is showing, Josephine. You married a fucking con artist for Christ’s sakes, so excuse me if we all question your creditability.”

“Whoa. You hold it right there, young man,” LeeAnn snarked, glaring right at me as she jumped to Josephine’s defense. “It’s not Josie’s fault she got swindled by that two-bit hustler.”

“No,” Josie whispered, getting to her feet. “He’s right. I played right into his hands. That’s on me. I should have seen the signs, but because of my lack of experience, he knew I was ripe for the picking. I’m sorry I disappointed all of you. If you will please excuse me.”

“Josie, I didn’t mean—” My words fell on deaf ears as she walked out of the penthouse, leaving me alone with four very angry people.

“I ought to take a switch to your backside,” Granny huffed. “That poor girl hasn’t had it easy, and you decide to dig the knife deeper in her back. I taught you better than that, George Harrison Steiner. Now go apologize.”

“Let her be,” Jack piped up as he glared at me. “She won’t listen to anything you have to say. Not that I blame her. You sure stepped in it, boy. Big time.”

“Oh, he did more than that,” King growled from across the room, where he was standing against the wall, arms crossed over his chest.

“Why are you even here, King? This doesn’t concern you.”

“Here for a meeting with those three,” he said, looking at the three buttinskis in the room.

Yeah, I didn’t even want to know what the three of them had to talk about.

“But I’ve got to say, this is more interesting. Not only did you just put your foot up your own ass, but you also publicly claimed Josephine.”

“The fuck I did!”

Pushing off the wall, King shook his head and grinned. “Oh yes, you did. You let your temper get the better of you and instead of thinking clearly, you claimed Josephine, right in front of your president. I might be getting on in years, but my hearing is better than ever.”

“I heard it too.” Jack grinned, reaching for LeeAnn’s hand.

“Me too.” Granny smiled happily.

“Fuck!” I roared. “For the last motherfucking time. We are just friends!”

Storming out of the Rosewood Ski Resort, I got back in my vehicle and sped away from the damn place as fast as I could.

I was so tired of explaining my non-romantic relationship with Josephine to everyone.

Apparently, no one believed that a man and a woman could just be friends.

I didn’t know what everyone’s problem was, but I was tired of it.

My personal life and who I was friends with was no one’s business but mine alone.

And that’s all Josie was.

My friend.

Okay, so she was stunningly beautiful. Her smile was a captivating, dazzling display that could mesmerize even the angels, and her eyes sparkled like the morning dew. Her laughter, a melody as light as dandelion fluff, was enchanting, and with her around, nothing else held significance.

But all that didn’t mean I liked her in that way.

Josie was special. I knew that from the first time I met her. She wasn’t like other women. She was better, and I refused to fuck everything up by sleeping with her.

She deserved better. Better than me.

A short time later, I parked in front of the Irish Rose Tavern and walked in. Finding a seat at the bar, I said nothing when Pyro walked over and leaned against the bar.

“Thought you went to the funeral?”

“I did,” I grumbled. “Give me a beer.”

“You on call today?”

“No.”

Saying nothing more, I watched as Pyro grabbed a tall glass and poured my beer straight from the tap, before placing it in front of me.

“So, what’s wrong?”

“Why do you think anything’s wrong?”

“’Cause you have the same miserable face as Josie.”

“What?”

Pyro pointed, and I turned to find Josie in the booth where we first met, head bowed, a long-necked beer bottle in her hands, the dim lighting casting long shadows around her.

She looked miserable.

“Pyro, give me a bottle of tequila.”

“What?”

“A fresh bottle and two shot glasses.”

Pyro shook his head and chuckled. “Your funeral, brother.”

The second Pyro placed the bottle and shot glasses before me, I grabbed them, along with my beer. The condensation clung to the cold glass as I walked over to join her. I removed the beer from her grasp, replacing it with a shot glass.

“Go away. I’m not talking to you.”

“What else is new?” I muttered, unscrewing the cap before pouring Josie and myself a shot. Raising my shot glass, I toasted, “To my stupidity.”

My best friend grinned, grabbed her glass, and downed it.

“What else ya got?”

I smirked.

Sitting in my seat, my head bobbed as I downed another shot, watching Josie on the stage, singing her little heart out. Woman couldn’t carry a tune to save her life, but her gumption and anger carried the song as she sang, GAYLE’s “abcdefu.”

Girl had some anger in her and apparently so did every other woman in the bar ’cause they were right along with her, belting out the catchy tune.

“Dude,” Pyro groaned, throwing his bar towel over his shoulder. “Who pissed Josie off?”

“Everyone with a dick.”

“Great,” Pyro moaned, shaking his head. “Well, at least Bailey and the others aren’t here.”

“They are on their way,” I absently said, watching Josie share the microphone with Devlyn Never and Morgan Delany.

“What!”

“Called them.” I smirked, taking a swig of my beer. “Thought Josie could use her girlies tonight.”

Pyro stiffened, then turned toward the bar and yelled at Scribe, “We’ve got INCOMING!” just as the doors slammed opened.

“You coulda had a bad BITCH!” Bailey shouted as all the wives of the Sons of Hell MC walked in just as “Truth Hurts,” by Lizzo, started pumping through the speakers.

The music was blaring, and the girls were tearing up the dance floor, their moves putting us guys to shame. I mean, there’s nothing like watching your granny cut a rug to make you feel like you’ve missed the mark in life.

I chuckled to myself as I took in the scene, feeling a little better about my own less-than-stellar dance skills.

Scribe leaned close and said, “King said if Bailey gets arrested, he’s kicking your ass.”

I chuckled. “Already called Mike. He has a deputy on the door to make sure they all get home safe.”

“You know when you said you called the girls, I didn’t think you also called LeeAnn, Granny, and Martha Cohen.” Pyro chuckled as we watched Granny and Martha Cohen dancing to “Gives You Hell,” by The All-American Rejects.

“I didn’t call them.” I laughed as Bailey slapped LeeAnn’s ass then fist-bumped Laurel.

“So what brought this on?” Gunner asked, licking his lips, his eyes laser focused on Sarah as she danced with Skylar. “Not that I’m complaining. I’m getting butt sex tonight.”

Rolling my eyes, I ignored that comment and said, “Josie’s ex showed up at the ski lodge and upset her. Then, to make matters worse, I went and pissed her off. Said something I shouldn’t have.”

Slapping me on the shoulder, Gunner laughed. “Dude. We’ve all been there. Welcome to the grovel club.”

Shaking my head, I sighed. “Yeah. Problem is, I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Oh, that’s easy!” Gunner grinned, getting to his feet. “When in doubt, make sure she wakes up with a big smile on her face.”

Scribe slid next to me. “Make it good too. Lots of orgasms.”

“Seriously, brother.” Pyro laughed, handing his bar towel to Enigma. “If she’s walking straight come morning, you did it wrong.”

Watching all three men head to the dance floor, I sat there and watched Josie as she let down her hair and released all that anger she’d been holding onto and wondered...