Page 40 of Wild Night (Vicious Reapers MC #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

POSEY

I wish I could have a drink. The stress of this entire ordeal is starting to get to me. Closing my eyes, I place my hand against my forehead before I let out a heavy and long sigh.

“You’re okay,” Dakota states.

Looking across the small round table at her, I arch a brow. “Am I?” I lower my hand before I reach for the bottle of water in front of me. She smiles, rocking Nathan in her arms as she brings her own bottle to her lips and takes a sip.

Dakota shrugs a shoulder then places the bottle back down on the table, her eyes connecting to mine. “You are,” she says before she continues. “You’re safe here with us. Nothing and nobody here is going to hurt you. This is the safest place in the world for you right now.”

I want to believe her. I know I should, because literally nobody is getting in or out without being seen.

And if they somehow got through the gates, it wouldn’t be for long.

The number of men walking in and out of this building, walking around the building, and then back, is astounding.

Not a single thing is going to go unnoticed for long here.

“I just have a bad feeling about all of this, about the whole situation.”

She opens her mouth, no doubt to tell me to relax, when I see Piggy walk out of the hallway that Justin disappeared down with Bullet. Piggy’s jaw is set… hard. His eyes are narrowed and focused.

There is a problem.

Dakota notices it, too, probably because I’m staring at Piggy and am unable to do or say anything else. He makes a straight beeline for… one of the clubwhores. I don’t know their names, and I honestly pretend they don’t exist.

“Hazzard,” Dakota whispers, as if she can read my mind.

I don’t respond.

I have nothing else to say. Instead, I watch in silence as he wraps his fingers around the back of her neck and marches her in the same direction he came from, then disappears down the hallway with her.

Shifting my gaze around the room, I realize that the entire place is now silent, minus some music playing in the background.

Everyone is staring at that dark hallway where Piggy and this woman just disappeared through, and that’s when it is confirmed for me that this is not normal. Not that I thought it was.

“What does that mean?” I ask, shifting my attention back to Dakota.

She turns her head to look over her shoulder at the damn dark hallway, then turns back around so that her gaze finds mine. “I don’t know,” she whispers. “But nothing good.”

Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I worry it back and forth, my knee shaking from the anxiousness that fills me. I don’t know what any of this means, but I also know that it’s not good. That sense of safety has completely vanished.

Poof —gone.

“Let’s go get your room here set up. Ivy told us to put everything in his room. It wasn’t messy, but I’m sure you want to wash sheets and stuff.”

It’s a distraction. I know it is, but I accept it happily.

Dakota and I walk out of the bar area and head toward the other hallway and then to Justin’s room.

It’s not dirty, which doesn’t surprise me because his house is well maintained, so I just assumed he was a clean person, maybe a little particular, but I’d rather that than him being a complete slob… I think.

I’ve lived alone for so long, not counting the moving in with Lucian and then not seeing him for years.

Because technically, we lived together, but we didn’t actually share the house for more than a few weeks.

There wasn’t time to even learn how each other took their coffees, let alone whether one person was clean and the other was messy.

So I’m sure it will take time to get used to one another when it comes to that kind of stuff. I’m going to neatly put away my things in this room, though. I don’t think Justin would appreciate a mess, and I’m not usually someone who thrives in chaos.

This is a good distraction, including laundry and remaking the bed. I even unpack my toiletries and set them all up in the bathroom. I’m hoping by rearranging everything I can and moseying around the room, I can keep busy until something happens, until there is news.

Unfortunately, nobody comes knocking on the door to inform us of any news.

So once I’m finished, Dakota and I drop our shoulders and head back out to the bar, where it seems everyone else is doing pretty much what we are.

Pretending to keep busy while also keeping an ear and eye out on that damn hallway.

“We need food,” Dakota announces. I stare at her for a moment, then blink. “Come on, let’s go make something.”

I want to tell her that I’m not a great cook, but I decide I can play with Nathan if need be. And that’s exactly what I do. Following behind Dakota, I slip Nathan from her arms and set his little diapered booty on the counter as I sink down on the barstool and watch her move.

“You’re not cooking anything, are you?”

I make a face at Nathan, which causes his lips to curve up into a grin before I speak. “I can chop things up, but actual cooking is just not something in my repertoire.”

“Repertoire,” Dakota says with a little giggle. “Okay, Posey.”

She continues to cook, grabbing things to make a veggie and cheese tray, but also a whole dinner.

She starts throwing things in the Crock-Pot, and I stare at her in amazement.

I almost ask her where she learned how to do any of this, because I don’t think my sister could do a damn thing in the kitchen, but then I realize I don’t even know who my sister was as an adult.

Instead of asking her, I just watch in amazement.

Maybe one day, we’ll sit around and share stories of our pasts, but I am here to live in this moment that I never thought possible.

My sister lived her life, she did whatever the hell she did, but that part doesn’t matter as much as Dakota does right here and now.

She is my focus, Nathan is my focus, and this new baby is my focus as well.

My new life.

My whole new world.

IVY

“What the fuck did you do?” I demand the moment Hazzard is pushed into the office.

Her eyes are wide as she looks around the room. She shakes her head, her lips parting as if she’s about to say something. I don’t give a fuck what she has to say. I only want to know what she fucking did. Nothing else.

“It’s not what you think,” she says, lifting her hands as if to feign innocence. I don’t buy it. She showed up at my house under the guise of whatever, knowing that I was in a place where I needed to be alone, but she didn’t allow that, and I want to fucking know why.

“Barry Scott is my brother,” she shouts.

Staring at her, I blink, then blink again. Nobody else speaks, because they have no goddamn clue who the fuck Barry Scott is. But something flashes in my head. Cidney. My cousin. I haven’t checked on her. I didn’t think any of this would affect her, but now I’m thinking otherwise.

“Is Cidney okay?” I demand.

Hazzard’s eyes find mine. She smiles softly, but I don’t buy it.

That shit is an act. What the fuck is wrong with these bitches?

First Exorcist and now Hazzard. I don’t understand it, and I don’t remember this shit being an issue in the past. Sure, there have always been jealousies and little schemes, but nothing to this extent.

Sending a text to Goose, I ask him to check on Cidney. He confirms and I go back to this bitch. I know she’s likely just trying to scare me, but I’m still going to ensure my cousin is safe and sound.

“You better start fucking talking. Fast,” Bullet grinds out.

My heart starts racing at the same time there is a pounding in my head that feels unnatural. I know it’s probably the culmination from the stress of this moment and my head injury, but I’m ready for this shit to be done. Whatever it is, we need to find out and get it handled.

If Hazzard is the key, then I need her to start fucking talking. But she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she shifts her gaze to her feet, then slowly lifts them back to meet mine.

“I love my brother,” she whispers.

“Yeah?” I ask. “I loved my fucking life and my brothers’ lives, and he almost took them away from us,” I grind out.

Tears fill her eyes as she shakes her head from side to side. “I didn’t know,” she whispers. “I didn’t know he was going to take it that far. He just said he was going to leave some threatening notes, then blackmail you.”

“Blackmail me? For what? How?”

I don’t understand where the fuck this shit is coming from. She opens her mouth, no doubt to tell me, when there is a loud noise.

Too loud.

I rush toward the door, but she wraps her hands around my uncasted arm while everyone else runs out of the room to check on the women. I’m taken aback that she’s stopped me. Looking into her eyes, I raise my brows as I wait for whatever the hell she’s going to say.

“I wouldn’t have said anything. I wouldn’t have tried anything if I thought he would have hurt you. I love all of you. This is my world.”

Tugging my arm out of her grasp, I shake my head.

“You wouldn’t have done this if you hadn’t wanted to hurt us.

You wouldn’t have tried to take my pregnant woman out of that hospital.

You wouldn’t have put her in the position of being a single mother.

Or taken away Nathan’s father. Scott is pissed because he lost some money.

Money . Who the fuck gives a goddamn shit about that? ”

“Ivy,” she whispers, her eyes searching mine.

I grunt, taking a step backward. “Don’t,” I say. “If you give half a fuck, you’ll tell me what the fuck he has planned so I can stop anyone from getting killed.”

Her eyes are watering, and the tears begin to fall, but I don’t give a fuck about those tears. They’re tears of desperation and regret, neither of which I give a flying fuck about right now. Moving toward her, I lift my good hand, wrap my fingers around the front of her throat, and squeeze.

“You better start fucking talking, bitch,” I growl.

“Barry worked his whole life for that money, and those people just turned him into the police like he was trash, like he didn’t matter. They have plenty. They have so much that they don’t even miss it.”

“But you and your brother needed it, right? You needed it more, so you thought you should have it.”

Her upper lip curls. “He worked hard for it. They underpaid him. They abused him. He earned that money, every single dollar.”

Releasing my grasp on her throat, I run my fingers through my hair as the realization slams into me. “It was you,” I breathe. “You were going to have him blackmail me.”

The tears don’t stop streaming down her cheeks. She’s playing a good part, but it’s clear to me now that she’s playing. She came to my house, tried to weasel her way into my life, but it didn’t work, so then she got her brother in on it. And all because they wanted money. My money.

“Love of fucking money,” I whisper.

“I would have made you happy,” she breathes. “I just wanted to be comfortable. You don’t know what it’s like to have nothing, then to have a glimpse of something just to have it ripped away from you again.”

“Sit your ass in that fucking chair and don’t move. If you do, I’ll hunt you down and slit your throat myself. You’re nothing but a useless cunt. A couple holes to fuck, and you thought you could make yourself an old lady? Not fucking possible.”

“I just want happiness,” she whimpers.

I shake my head as my lips curl up in disgust. “You’re a liar, too. You wanted money.”

Without another word, I turn around and walk out of the office. I want to kill her right here and now, but I need answers from her first. So instead of murdering her, I walk out of the office and head to the bar, where the noise came from.

The sight that greets me is fucking mayhem.