Page 24 of Rogue’s Path (Sweet Chaos #1)

Rogue

Bishop is waiting as I pull into my spot at the clubhouse.

“What’s going on?”

“Reaper’s out.”

Delightful. “What is our favorite person doing?”

“Sitting, staring at where Rhys set up shop. If anyone tries to go in, he steps in front of them.”

Is it too much to dream that I’m going to at least get to punch him in the face? Just once. I don’t have time to think about what just happened with Peaches, but whatever it was, she might be on the back of my bike very soon.

Something tells me she’s not going to be a fan of riding at first.

“There’s another thing, but it’s just a hunch.”

If Bishop has a hunch, you listen. “What is it?”

“The girl Reaper brought with him.”

It makes me angry even thinking about how he treated her. “What about her?”

“She hasn’t come out of their room once.”

That’s odd.

“I just have this feeling that he hurt her.”

It wouldn’t be that big a jump. Reaper likes hurting women.

“While he’s distracted, I want to go in and check on her.”

And that’s where the issue arises. If she’s not hurt, Reaper will lose his mind with reason.

How do we do it so as not to cause issues?

“Today we have housekeeping. Take Bliss with you—” She can hold her own if it comes to that.

“—to deliver towels or whatever. You need to work quickly. I will only be able to tolerate being near Reaper for so long.”

Bishop nods. “Got it.”

“And if she needs an extraction—” She better not need one. “—blindfold her and take her through one of the tunnels so you aren’t seen.”

“Will do.” Bishop marches off.

Tonight could get interesting. The feel of the knife stuck in my boot reminds me of just how interesting. Reaper isn’t known for playing fair.

Cyclops and Carver aren’t even pretending not to be watching Reaper. I give them a nod, then walk up to where Reaper is staring at the door to the workspace we gave Rhys. “Rhys isn’t going to tattoo you.”

“Mind your own business,” Reaper snaps.

“Everything that happens here is my business.”

“Rhys is mine.”

Her husband wouldn’t agree. “She’s under our protection while she’s here.”

Reaper strides over and gets in my face. “What have I told you about interfering with my women?”

Like I care. “Rhys has another man’s ring on her finger and name on her body. She isn’t yours.”

“She will be. And I’ll wipe every trace of him off of her.”

That’s a threat. “But that’s not today. Go find something else to do.

You’re not getting anywhere near her while you’re here.

” I step between him and the door. “You’ll find we have a wonderful selection of top-shelf liquor.

” It’s common knowledge you can’t hold your liquor and you’ll be passed out somewhere. Hopefully, in the mud.

“She won’t always have people around her.” He stomps off with his two guards following behind him.

Now to check on her. I knock on the door.

“Go away Reaper.”

I poke my head in. “Not Reaper. He’s going to leave you alone for a while.”

“Thanks. He won’t accept no. The coward in him comes out whenever my husband isn’t around. Want a tattoo? There will probably be a line from here on out.”

Don’t do it.

Don’t say the words hovering in the back of your mind.

It’s too soon.

It’ll never last. “Yeah. I’d like a small peach over my heart.”

Rhys freezes. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“The gossip got to you already?” My big-mouth brothers were probably trying to protect me from what I’m about to do.

“How could they help themselves?” She grins. “So what will it be, smart or wild?”

This doesn’t feel wild. “I won’t ever regret meeting her.”

“You know, saying things like that makes women, even us married ladies, sigh.” She pulls on a pair of black gloves with a snap.

I take off my jacket and shirt and sit down on one of the chairs we keep for when artists visit. “Not trying to.”

“That’s what makes it even more romantic. So tell me about her.”

Talking to a tattoo artist is like confessing to a priest, right? “We don’t make sense together at all.”

“You don’t need to make sense to anyone else but her.

My husband and I are the last people in the world that anyone would put together.

He should have been with a woman who makes home-cooked dinners in a sweet little dress while caring for their four children in a house with a white picket fence.

I’ll never be any of those things.” After she squeezes the last color into the little cups for the tattoo gun to pick up, she turns around with a disposable razor in her hand. “How big do you want it, and where?”

I point to the spot on my chest, right above where my heart beats. “Not too large. Leave room for a name.”

“Slightly larger than a silver dollar?”

That seems about right. I don’t need to worry about anything else with Rhys. “That works.”

“Alright then.” She starts to shave the spot where she’s going to apply the ink.

This is the part I hate the most.

“You can stop cringing. We haven’t gotten to the painful part yet.” She teases.

I laugh. “The pain I can handle. The itch as the hair grows back in drives me crazy.”

“You could always start waxing your chest.” She checks for stray hairs that she might have missed and then picks up the machine. “Ready?”

“Yup.” Tattoos aren’t that painful, but I can’t say that I enjoy getting them done.

“So how did you really carry her out of a bar when you first met…”

***

“There, all done. What do you think?” Rhys holds up a mirror.

“It’s perf—"

“WHERE IS MY WOMAN?” Reaper storms into the room.

Guess Bishop’s hunch was right. Slowly, I stand up, handing Rhys her mirror and placing my body between them. “I told you already. Rhys isn’t yours.”

The veins in Reaper’s head throb as he stares past me at her. “The other one. The useless one. Where is she?”

“How would I know?”

“You know everything that happens in your clubhouse.”

That I do. “She’s probably gone looking for something to eat. Have you tried looking for her?”

“That piece of trash knows better than to move when she’s told to stay put.”

This isn’t the first time he’s hurt her. “What can I say? Some men don’t know how to keep a woman happy.”

Reaper charges at me.

The click of a bullet being chambered behind me is the only sound in the room.

Rhys came prepared, it seems.

“You might want to stop now.” I keep my voice calm. “Though it would be my pleasure to smash you in the face, Rhys isn’t going to wait to see if you’re going to play by the rules or not.”

He stops. “Rhys would never hurt me.”

And it seems he’s delusional too.

“I could shoot you between the eyes and not lose a moment’s sleep. Just try me.”

Reaper shifts his gaze to me. “WHERE IS SHE?”

Cyclops and Carver step into the room.

“That’s not my problem. Now you have two choices: go to your room until the funeral tomorrow, or leave.”

“You can’t do this. You’re breaking the rules.”

Rules don’t matter when it comes to protecting a woman.

I step forward into Reaper’s space. “You have ten seconds to decide before I have you physically booted from this property.” There’s no way Reaper’s going to back down.

Two fights in two weeks won’t even come close to a record for quantity, but they might be my two favorites ever.

“Fine. I’ll go back to my room, but this isn’t over.”

It never is.

But that was too easy. Reaper is up to something. “I need to go. Do you want me to escort you to your room?” I ask Rhys.

“Nah, I’m good. There will probably be a line soon.” She slides the safety back on and goes to work wrapping my tattoo up.

Sexy. I’m glad she was taken before I met her, or I might have made a play for her and missed meeting Peaches. “Security will be right outside the door.”

I don’t waste time pulling on my shirt or jacket as I head over to Havoc’s office.

“Tell me you didn’t put her on your chest.” Havoc glares at the new tattoo. “You don’t do stupid stuff like that until she’s on the back of your bike. Or did something major happen at the café tonight?”

“Peaches wasn’t at the café.”

“What?”

“She was out on a date with Bear.”

Havoc holds up a finger to me and walks over to the bar in the corner of his office. After he throws back a shot, he says, “Explain.”

“It’s nothing. On Monday, we’re going on a date and talking things out.”

“Talking things out? Did you even get her name?”

“That didn’t come up.”

“Tell me you didn’t spend whatever time you had making out.”

Making out sounds childish and fun. “It wasn’t totally like that.”

“I can’t have my VP losing his mind over some woman.”

“Peaches isn’t some woman.”

Havoc shakes his head and takes another shot. “You didn’t just come in to show me that.”

No, I didn’t. “Reaper planned something.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. But it was big enough for him to back down from a fight and shut up about us taking his woman.”

“His woman,” Havoc sputters. “She’s going to be scarred from what he did to her.”

Rhys should have shot him when she had the chance. “Leech with her now?”

“Yeah. All the doctors who are on property are in that room trying to help her. For once, I’m not complaining that we let plastic surgeons in. Bishop was just as leery as you are. He bugged Reaper’s room.”

We can always count on Bishop. Let’s just hope we can stop whatever it is that Reaper’s got planned.