Page 20 of Wild Side (Vicious Reapers MC #3)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

MAVERICK

The complete rage and betrayal Rose communicates is nothing less than I would expect from a brother who feels disrespected. It’s the same anger that Halo walked in here with, ready to shoot first and ask questions later. However, neither man has a goddamn leg to stand on.

Zadie is pregnant with my baby. Mine. And I outrank him any fucking day of the week. Same goes for Rose. Halo technically outranks him, although it goes against their unspoken rules. That being said, Sable is indeed a fucking adult and not an old lady.

“You never said she was off-limits,” Halo tries to justify.

It doesn’t work. There is no justifying what this fucker has done, not to his own brother and certainly not to me.

“Fuck you,” Rose growls.

Halo ends the call and shoves his phone in his pocket, his gaze flicking to mine. “Happy?”

“No, I am not fucking happy,” I grind out. “You’re breathing.”

Sable moves to the middle of the room and looks at Bullet. I don’t know if she’s pleading or what, but when she speaks, it falls on deaf ears. She’s a cunt. I don’t even have to have a single conversation with her to know that much.

“Just let us go home. No harm, no foul. My dad knows, and now they can deal with it back in California.”

“Did you think this was about you?” Bullet asks.

She blinks and takes a step backward. Clearly, she thinks that little conversation was actually about her when it indeed was not. That confession was about control, it was about having the upper hand, about dominance.

“Wasn’t it?” she whispers.

“No, bitch,” I snap. “It wasn’t. Shut the fuck up.”

I am so done with this conversation. I know Bullet is dragging this out in an effort to mindfuck Halo, but I don’t care any longer. I want to go to my woman. I need to know that she’s okay, and I need to know that in a variety of ways, all of which include both of us being naked.

She presses her lips together, her eyes wide as she flicks her gaze between each of us, then finally stops on Bullet. Thankfully, he seems to be as done with this shit as I am. He jerks his chin up slightly, his focus on Halo as his lips stretch into a sinister smile.

“You’re eighty-sixed.”

“What?” Halo hisses.

“You’re done. I don’t want anyone in my club who would lay hands on a pregnant woman. Don’t give a fuck whose property she is.”

Shocker clears his throat in the background, likely not having left his spot on his barstool, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been listening and isn’t paying attention. Because he is. He’s paying close attention.

I hear him shift around behind me, then he sidles up to Bullet. He murmurs something inaudible to Bullet. I’m not sure what, his voice was too fucking low.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Bullet mutters, then shifts his focus back to Halo. “You can’t walk out of here alive.”

I can’t hide my smile. It consumes me immediately.

Halo lifts his hands, his palms facing us as he shakes his head from side to side.

He opens then closes his mouth, then opens it again.

He looks like a floppy-ass fish, which makes me laugh softly because this is what I wanted, and the look on his face is priceless.

“Why?” Halo asks. At the same time, Sable cries out.

“You know why,” I growl.

“If I knew why, I wouldn’t be asking,” he snaps.

Sable cries out again, but I ignore the bitch. The door to the bar opens, and light spills in. We all stop talking and turn to face the door. It’s Robin. He holds his hands out and calls out to the room that he’s here, as if we’ve all been waiting for him.

Viking, who I hadn’t realized has been watching from somewhere in the distance, shuffles toward him, slings his arm around his shoulders, and distracts him. Bending his neck, he guides him away from our huddle and toward the hallway where the guest room is.

Once they’re out of earshot, I shift my attention to Bullet, who arches a brow. “Deals on deals, brother,” I murmur.

Bullet chuckles. “Let’s get this one put to bed so I can get to my own. This old man is tired as fuck.”

Halo opens his mouth, but Bullet gives me a nod.

Taking my knife out of the sheath at my hip, I move toward him and slice it across his throat.

He makes a gurgling sound as Sable parts her lips to scream, but Shocker moves faster than I’ve seen the man move in years and wraps his hand around her mouth.

Halo drops to the floor. The conversation is finished. I was willing to accept him just being thrown out of the club, mainly because it would ruin him mentally, and I knew that, but whatever Shocker said to Bullet cemented his fate.

“He’d have been like a thorn. If you’re reasonable with unreasonable people, it never works out. We’ve got too many babies around our clubhouse right now to chance a man scorned like that. He would have been far too desperate, and I’ve seen desperate men do some really fucked-up shit.”

Shocker isn’t wrong.

“Prospect,” Bullet calls out. “Get a couple guys. Clean this shit up,” he says, waving his hand around.

The prospect behind the bar hurries over, his phone to his ear, no doubt calling another prospect. Taking a step backward, I wipe the bloody blade of the knife on my jeans before I slide it back in the sheath.

“And what do we do with her?” I tip my head in Sable’s direction.

“I’m open to suggestions,” Bullet says. “Quick ones, because I wasn’t joking that I wanted to go home to my family.”

“Send her ass back home,” Lightning mutters. “She’s not going to do a goddamn thing, is she?” he asks, his gaze focused on Sable.

She shakes her head with Shocker’s palm still wrapped around her mouth. He slowly releases his grasp on her and takes a step backward. She steps forward, her eyes wide as she looks up at me.

“You’re a monster,” she hisses. “All of you are.”

“Why?” I ask. “Because you thought you were gonna be queen? You ain’t shit, little girl,” I grind out. “And Zadie doesn’t exist to you, not now, not ever again. Get the fuck out and never come back.

“Fuck you,” she grinds out.

I tilt my head to the side with a snort. “I’m pretty sure you’re talking out of turn here, bitch. Want to rephrase that?”

Her eyes slide to the side, then shift back to meet mine. “I’ll get on the plane. I’ll go back to California. You’ll never hear from or see me again,” she whispers.

“How about I take you to the airport?” a voice says from behind me.

I know exactly who that voice belongs to. It’s my brother. I don’t bother checking. I don’t need to. He walks past me and stops in front of her, turning his head to look back at me. He jerks his chin, wraps his arm around Sable, and walks her out of the bar.

ZADIE

Goose and I move into the bedroom. Wrapping my arms around my waist, I hug myself as I think about what’s going to happen. There is no love lost for my father. He’s made his bed, and he’s going to lie in it, just like me.

He’s been in this world since he was seventeen years old.

He knows the rules better than anyone else probably, which means he knows the consequences as well.

As much as I want to feel bad for what he’s done, he didn’t feel bad when his hand was wrapped around my throat while I had another life inside me.

I need to worry about that, about my baby. I need to focus on that. Not on whatever is happening out there. So, in order to keep my mind off things, I shift my attention to him, to Goose.

“I know you don’t want to hear it, but thank you,” I murmur.

“I don’t want to hear it?” He swings his gaze to meet mine.

I shrug a shoulder, my gaze focused on his. I can’t look away from him. He looks so much like Maverick, like Chase, but he’s also so different. Nodding once, I let out a heavy breath, straightening my shoulders.

“That I’m appreciative of what you did. I’ve never defied or tested my father before. I haven’t ever known what he was capable of when it came to me. I’m glad I didn’t, but at the same time, I’m glad that I know now.”

Goose chuckles and runs his fingers through his hair. “You’re right,” he states. “I don’t want to hear it.” Lowering my head, I look down at my feet when he continues speaking. “Because you’re family, babe. So there’s not a fucking reason I need thanks for protecting you.”

“Family?” I ask.

I feel his fingers slip beneath my chin before he applies pressure and tilts my head back. My eyes connect with his, and he gives me a smile. I’m not sure it’s a genuine smile, but I decide not to dissect him.

“Still not totally convinced this is what needs to happen. Still wondering how my brother’s entire personality, wants, and desires could change that goddamn fast. But I’m here for the ride, babe. And you’re carrying my niece or nephew inside you. Nobody hurts you. Nobody hurts my family.”

And that is that.

Goose leaves me alone not much longer after his amazing speech. I take this opportunity of being alone to pace the bedroom, needing to move my feet… Then I realize that it’s a clean bedroom.

I don’t know how it got so clean in here, and now that I’m alone, I realize that someone must have spent all day in here, because it’s sparkling. And that somebody wasn’t me, and it assuredly wasn’t Chase, either.

I’m focused on my spinning mind, which is now spiraling at the thought of who could have possibly been in this room cleaning it.

I shouldn’t be upset. It shouldn’t matter.

But I know the women in this clubhouse. I know what they are.

The idea of them being in here in any capacity makes me feel physically ill.

The door flies open just as I’m thinking about naked clubwhores cleaning Maverick’s room. All those thoughts die instantly as I stare at the man in question, the man in the forefront of my mind. He’s standing in front of me, wearing the same clothes, but something has changed.

They’re covered in blood.

And I know without even asking, it’s my father’s blood.