Page 30 of Wild Side (Vicious Reapers MC #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

MAVERICK

Sucking in a breath, I sit straight up. I don’t get nightmares very often, but I’m thinking this has to do with what went down yesterday, along with Zadie’s father.

Two members in high standing and two prospects are a lot to lose in just a week’s time.

It’s a lot of fucking betrayal, too. More than I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life.

Zadie makes a noise, and I look down at her, watching as she rolls to her side, her eyes fluttering open before they shift to meet mine.

“Mornin’, honey,” I murmur.

She smiles sleepily. “Morning,” she says, her soft voice reaching my ears.

My balls are completely empty, and yet, my cock twitches at the thought of her sexy-as-fuck body beside mine. She reaches out, resting her palm on the center of my chest. “You okay?”

My lips twitch into a smirk. “I’m okay. You want something from the bakery this morning before we get your shit from the motel and go out house hunting?”

Her eyes open a bit wider. I’ve gotten her attention.

I called and scheduled a realtor to help us find a rental.

I’m not sure yet if I want to buy anything or when, but a rental would be a good start.

I called the agent days ago without telling Zadie.

She’d had enough shit to worry about. I didn’t want her to concern herself with this because I had it under control.

Thankfully, the real estate agent knows exactly who I am and has found some places where check stubs won’t be required.

“House hunting?” she asks in a whisper.

Fuck me, but this woman is absolute perfection. She seems to be in awe that we would need to find another place to live, even though I know she doesn’t want to stay here forever. I wrap my fingers around her wrist at my chest and clear my throat before I speak.

“Bakery, motel, and then house hunting for a place to rent. We’ll buy something later, but for now, a rental will suffice, I think.”

“Yeah,” she breathes, “it will.”

Then I really blow her mind. Flexing my fingers around her wrist, I squeeze gently before I continue. “And Brake, along with a few of the guys, is packing up your shit in your apartment in California. He’s going to be driving it out here.”

Her eyes widen even more, which is something I wasn’t sure was possible. “What?” she asks. “They’re bringing my things here? All this way? Why?”

I could give her a million reasons why. One of them being to kiss our asses in hopes we won’t do them the way we did Halo.

That we won’t get rid of the whole damn club and start over there from scratch, inserting people we know rather than them.

I don’t tell her that part, though. I don’t want her to feel guilty in any way, because none of it, not a single second of it, was her fault.

“As a show of faith,” I say, because at the end of the day, it’s also just that simple. “Now, go get dressed. We have a busy day.”

She pushes up on my chest until she’s sitting up, her eyes searching mine for a moment, then she flashes me a smile. “And this is really what you want?”

I don’t know how the fuck she can think I want anything less than to be with her. I open my mouth to tell her that, but decide against it, at least for now. I slide my palm along her jaw, then trace her bottom lip with the pad of my thumb.

“It’s all I want, honey.”

And it is—all I want. I love my brother. I loved my life before I met Zadie, but I didn’t know what I was missing. And I was missing something. I was missing her. Zadie is that piece of the puzzle that I didn’t know I needed. She is everything.

Leaning forward, I touch my mouth to hers, brushing my lips across hers. I seal my words with a kiss because they are the truth. A fact. She is who I want. And she came back to me for a reason—for this reason… to be mine until my dying breath.

She gathers her things, then makes her way toward the bathroom. When she’s out of the room, I throw my legs over the side of the bed and grab my jeans from the floor, tossing them into the hamper before I find a pair of sweats and tug them on.

I’m not sure if the clubhouse is up and running yet, but I know we have church soon. I don’t make it far, just one door down. I notice that it’s open and peek inside. My brother is sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands.

Leaning against the jamb, I fold my arms over my chest as I look across the room at him.

When he senses my presence, he lifts his head, then slowly turns to face me.

I watch him for a moment in silence. I want to ask him if he’s okay, but I also know that my brother wouldn’t want me to ask him a goddamn thing.

“I’m fine,” he grunts.

My lips twitch into a grin. “I didn’t say a goddamn word,” I point out.

He shrugs a shoulder. “I know,” he murmurs. “But I can hear the marbles rolling around inside your fucking head.”

Staying completely silent, I wait, because I know that whatever he’s working through, he’s going to tell me. He clears his throat, then shakes his head from side to side, and then he stands to his feet. I’m not sure what all the drama is about. Until he speaks.

“I’m just…” he begins. “I’m not sure how I feel about this shit with Razor. We’ve known him our whole lives. How could he betray the club this way?”

“Why does anyone do anything actually fucking insane and out of character? Greed.”

He dips his chin in a single nod. “Yeah, but goddamn.”

Goddamn is right. I’m not sure what else to say to that, and thankfully, I don’t have to think of anything because Goose continues.

“I can’t help but feel like this isn’t the last of it, either.

Whatever Razor was up to, I can’t imagine that it was just this and nothing else.

It feels like another shoe is going to drop, Mav. ”

He’s right. It does feel that way. “How do we figure it out?” I ask.

Goose shrugs a shoulder. “Got no fucking clue. We bring it up at church, though?”

I smile. My brother and I always bounce shit off one another, and I’ve missed this.

Sure, these are things we could think of on our own.

The other person doesn’t necessarily do anything other than be a sounding board, but it helps.

It helps with everything, and I am not Maverick without Goose, so I’ve missed it.

And I’m glad shit is getting back to where it needs to be.

ZADIE

After I’ve taken a shower, put some clothes on, and done what little makeup I feel like doing, my stomach groans, then clenches. I can’t get over this empty, then painful feeling every single morning. I guess I should be glad I’m not hugging-the-toilet sick.

I’m not sure what one should be wearing when they’re looking at houses to rent. The last time I did this, I was eighteen and wore my work uniform because I was looking after a long shift.

I am also running low on clothes. I decide I can grab something else to wear when we go to the motel to pick up the rest of my things.

Tugging on a pair of cut-off shorts, I wince when I button them, because they’re growing tighter each day.

The shirt thankfully hides everything that’s bulging over because it’s a bit oversized.

When I make it back to the bedroom, I’m surprised to see that Chase is gone. I don’t know where he would be. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t showered yet. My brows knit together as I tug on my shoes, then go in search of my man.

My man.

It feels so weird to think of that. I’m sure it would feel weirder to say out loud, too. But boyfriend doesn’t seem appropriate. Even though we haven’t been together long, he’s so much more than a boyfriend. He is my man, just like he’s claimed me as his old lady.

Walking through the hallway, I stop when I see his brothers’ door open, but the room is empty as well. They’re likely somewhere together. My feet carry me down the hallway and toward the bar. When I stop in the center, I realize it’s empty.

“They have church,” a woman’s voice calls out.

Turning my head, I look over to see the woman I spoke to the other day in the kitchen… Ice. Frowning, my gaze flicks over to the conference room. The door is closed, and there is a prospect standing just outside, likely for protection or something.

I’m starving, like gnaw-on-my-arm starving, but I was promised bakery treats, and the last thing I want to do is ruin my appetite.

“I bought donuts in town earlier. I know they aren’t nearly as good as anything Lainey makes, but they’re better than a kick in the head,” she says. “You’re welcome to have some. I figured the boys needed a little something after the drama of yesterday.”

“Drama?”

I know something happened. It had to have, the way Chase sent me to his room, the way he came in hours later, tension coiling in his body. Something happened; I just didn’t know what it was.

“What?” I ask.

It’s better to be in the know than completely blindsided.

Maybe I should be jealous that she knows something I don’t, but I know that the club girls are always around.

They hear things that nobody else does. I would imagine it would be good to have them in your corner, at least a little bit.

You know, as long as they aren’t fucking your man and all.

The thought of Chase being with the woman standing in front of me makes me physically ill. Honestly, the idea of him being with anyone else makes me sick. Pressing my lips together, I roll them a few times as I nervously wait for her to say something.

Ice looks around to see if there’s anyone else around. Then shifts a bit closer to me, dipping her chin slightly as if she doesn’t want anyone else to hear. Then her words come out in a whisper.

“The vice president of the club betrayed them. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but what I do know is that he’s gone. Forever. He’s gone.”

I’m not sure how I should feel about her words, but the door to the conference room opens, and we both turn our heads, looking over to watch the men as they begin to pour out.

None of them seems happy. In fact, every man who walks out of that room seems beaten down, exhausted, and maybe even a little disheartened.

Ice walks away, or maybe she doesn’t, I’m not even sure, because as soon as Chase makes his way out of the conference room, everything else completely fades away. When he appears in my line of sight, nothing else exists in the whole world but him.

He and I. Nothing else in this world matters.

Not a single thing.

Although I’m starving, so whatever this staring thing is, I am ready for it to be done because I need food, and fast. I need bakery muffins. I mean, the donuts sound great, but nothing is ever going to take the place of muffins from Lainey’s.

“Hey, honey,” he murmurs.

Chase dips his chin, brushing his lips across mine before he rests his forehead against my own. He lets out a heavy breath and slides his eyes closed. I feel his fingers curl around my biceps.

He holds on to me and lifts his head, his eyes open and find mine. Sucking in a breath, I hold it as I wait for him to say something. Anything. When he speaks, my whole body breaks out into goose bumps.

“I’ve never been so happy in my whole fucking life, honey. Let’s go find us a place to live.”

He doesn’t say anything about Razor, about betrayal. I’m not sure what that means or what he did. I may never know. But what I do know is that he’s never been so happy in his whole life. I like to think that’s because of me, that it’s all me.

Because it’s him for me, too.