Page 48 of Slayin Villain (Royal Bastards MC: Nashville, TN #11)
Rachel
The meeting was packed. All eyes on me.
I stood near the front of the club, my fingers curling into the sides of my dress. Villain hadn’t told me everything, just that Kingpin had called a meeting and that I needed to be there.
I figured it was another club emergency, more fallout from Ember and Rome’s mess. But then Eve nudged my elbow and whispered, “Straighten your shoulders, baby girl. It’s your night.”
My heart skipped.
Mine?
Kingpin stepped forward, his eyes sweeping the room like a storm front. “Before we get to business,” he said. “We got something to take care of.”
Villain walked up beside him, something folded in his hand.
I knew that leather.
I knew it like I knew the sound of his voice in the dark or the way he said my name when no one else was listening.
My breath caught.
He unfolded it slowly, holding it up for the room to see.
A black leather cut.
Stitched across the back was the new Bastard Sons MC patch.
And below it, in bold red thread:
PROPERTY OF VILLAIN
The room erupted. Applause. Whistles. A few cheers. Sweet Tea let out a holler loud enough to echo off the cinderblock walls.
I stood frozen.
Villain stepped down, the cut folded again now, reverent.
He came to me.
“Rachel,” he said, voice low, cracking just a bit. “You’ve been mine since the moment I saw you standing behind that nurse’s station at Silver Springs. You fought me with more fire in your eyes than I’d seen in years.”
A chuckle rolled through the room.
He took a shaky breath. “I fought it. I fucked up. More than once. But I know now what I should’ve known all along.”
He held up the cut.
“If you’ll have me, this is yours.”
I didn’t even hesitate.
I took it with trembling hands, pulling it on over my shoulders like it had been made for me, which, it had.
Sweet Tea and Jassica surged forward, flanking me like sisters. Cece gave me a nod from across the room, Memphis grinned, and Eve mouthed, finally.
I wasn’t just some club girl anymore.
I was his.
I was claimed.
Later that night, we celebrated on the back patio, bonfire crackling, music low. I couldn’t drink, not that I wanted to. I was too high on everything else. Villain kept a protective arm around me like he still couldn’t believe I hadn’t run again.
“I got something else for you,” he whispered, slipping a little box in my hand.
Inside was a delicate silver charm with a tiny V etched into the back, attached to a chain.
“For the baby,” he said, eyes glinting.
I threw my arms around him before he could say another word.
Ember found me near the drinks table later. She looked different. Tired. But calm.
“Can we talk?” she asked.
I bristled, but nodded.
We sat down near the fire pit, away from the noise.
She sighed, staring into the flames. “I was awful to you.”
“You were.”
“I let jealousy eat me alive. Told myself lies because I couldn’t handle the truth.”
“What truth?”
She looked at me, really looked. “That he had eyes only for you.”
My throat tightened.
“I saw it every time he looked at you. Felt it every time he didn’t look at me like that. And yeah, we had heat, crazy, stupid heat, but that’s not love.”
I stayed quiet. I didn’t want to hear about their heat. My stomach knotted.
Ember wiped under her eyes. “I’m sorry. I should’ve never come between you two. But I needed to say it out loud. Not for you. For me.”
I nodded, not ready to say I forgave her, but also not ready to hate her either.
She glanced down at her stomach. “If the baby’s his... what happens?”
I stared at her. “He’ll do right by it. He’s already said as much.”
“But what about you?”
I looked her square in the eye. “I’m not raising my child in chaos. I won’t play second to anyone. Only his baby. Not you. So if it’s his... we’ll figure it out.”
Ember nodded slowly. “You’re stronger than I thought.”
“No,” I said. “I’m just done being the one who breaks.”
We sat in silence for a moment, both of us weighed down by what the future might look like.
Then Jassica came over with Sweet Tea, drunk on club gossip and victory.
“Y’all see that post?” Tea asked.
“What post?” Ember asked, frowning.
“Rome had a gig. Word is he got spared,” Jassica said, scrolling through her phone. “Club let him off the hook. Turned over intel on another MC, some crew outta Memphis dealing arms through a strip joint.”
My stomach dropped.
“He’s useful now,” Sweet Tea added. “Which means he’s breathing. And maybe too close for comfort.”
I looked at Ember.
She was pale.