Page 34 of Wild Side (Vicious Reapers MC #3)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

MAVERICK

The black car pulls up to the front of the building. Ivy is waiting just inside the door, gun in hand, and Cidney is hiding, locked in his office. Piggy is just a few feet away, hugged up beside the building, gun in hand, posted up and ready.

The driver opens the door, and I watch him unfold. I know who it is before I even see his face. My lips twitch into a smirk because he’s still got some bruising where I punched his goddamn lights out. That’s fucking amazing.

“Kyle Alexander,” I drawl.

He jerks his chin and tries to look down his nose at me, but he can’t because he’s about six inches shorter than I am, so he has to look up at me… which again, is great. Continuing to smile, I watch as he closes the distance between us, his eyes narrowing on mine as he looks up.

“You came all this way. How may I help you?” I ask.

It’s not too far, only a few hours, but I want to make sure he realizes that I know he actually went out of his way to come here, and I think it’s stupid as fuck. At least my visit to him made sense. I already know that this is going to be lame.

“You came into my place of business, then stalked me to my home and attacked me,” he states.

“Okay.” I wonder what his fucking point is.

“It’s my turn.”

I’m not sure if he thinks he’s going to hit me, but I have news for him if that’s what he’s got on his mind. I don’t respond to his words, not just because I think he’s dumb but also because I don’t understand what he’s getting at here.

“You’re embarrassing yourself,” I mutter. “What do you want?”

He presses his lips together, and it’s not because he wants to. It’s to keep me from seeing them tremble. “You won’t ever do business at the port authority again. Don’t ever come to my town again.”

“Did you think I would beat the shit out of you and then come back and pay you for anything or do business with you after you fucked me?” I ask. “You’ve lost your mind and wasted your goddamn time.”

His face twists and contorts into something ugly. I don’t understand why the fuck he is here right now and what he’s trying to accomplish. He takes one step backward, and then I realize he’s got something in his hand. I hadn’t seen it before. He must have been hiding it behind his pant leg.

It’s a gun.

But his hand is shaking so goddamn hard, I’m surprised he’s even got a hold of it at all. It’s kind of waving around. I could disarm him faster than he could even fucking blink, that’s how much of a mess this guy is.

Before he can do anything, Piggy appears at my side, gun aimed directly at the fuck. Then the door opens behind me, and Ivy makes his way toward us. I almost laugh, because Alexander is so fucked.

He’s never dealt with men like us before. He doesn’t know what he’s gotten himself into. He thinks because he’s driven here with his gun loosely held in his trembling hand that it’s going to intimidate me.

“So you came here to what? Shoot me? Scare me?” I ask.

His wild eyes flick between the three of us and then land on me again. I can tell he’s scared shitless. He wasn’t expecting anyone to be here, which I don’t understand, because why the fuck would I be here alone?

“Just leave me alone,” he cries out.

My brows rise. “I haven’t given you a second thought, buddy.”

His eyes shift around wildly before he waves the gun around again. He leans forward, his words coming out in a hiss when he speaks again. I’m not sure what’s happening here. Maybe I knocked something loose inside his head when I roughed him up. I’m a bit concerned for him.

“You came to my house,” he hisses.

“You pissed me off,” I grunt. “But it’s done, or it was. My organization has shifted. We don’t need you, don’t need your port. Don’t need a goddamn thing.”

Alexander straightens, his gun lowering slightly. Though even if it’s loaded, he poses no fucking threat to me.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“You’re of no use to me.”

“The money. You owe the money. The product is still sitting in the port.”

My lips twitch into a smirk again, but this time, it’s Ivy who speaks.

Which is probably for the best because he’s the one who read those documents and wrote the letters.

All I was doing there was trying to figure out the logistics to get access to our shit while this fucker was trying to extort us.

“Actually, we don’t owe shit,” Ivy states. “If we don’t take possession of the items due to the port authority’s refusal to release said items, the port authority is responsible for the items and the costs incurred with returning them.”

Alexander’s mouth opens and closes like a fucking fish. It’s half hilarious and half sad all at the same time. “If I incur a loss like that, I’m out of a job,” he whispers.

The three of us stare at him. I would have sympathy, but I don’t. I went there to get our shit. He wanted more money, wanted more of everything, and when I didn’t give it to him, I’m pretty sure he thought we would come back crawling on our hands and knees.

“Get in your fancy car and get the fuck out of town,” Piggy grinds out. “You are not welcome here.”

“I can’t lose this much money,” he whimpers. “You don’t understand.”

He holds up the gun again, and it’s shaking vigorously in his hand. If he squeezed the trigger, it wouldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. Piggy takes a step forward and wordlessly reaches out, taking the gun from his hand. I watch as he shoves it in the back of his waistband.

“You know what?” I ask, though I don’t wait for him to answer. “I don’t give a fuck.”

“And to add to that, get the fuck out of my town,” Piggy growls.

Alexander takes a step backward, then another. He lifts his hands again, shaking his head from side to side. “You don’t understand. I’ll be fired.”

“Don’t give a fuck,” I mumble. “Get. The. Fuck. Out.”

“We can take you out,” Ivy says.

And he means it in every way. I’m ready to put this fucker out of his misery and be done with it already. Alexander takes another step backward, then he turns toward his car door. He reaches for the handle, but before he tugs it open, his eyes find mine.

“You don’t understand,” Alexander mutters. “You just don’t understand. My wife…”

This white-collar motherfucker is scared shitless. I kind of feel bad for him. But at the same time, I don’t give much of a fuck. He tried to fuck with our business. He tried to fuck with me. He gets whatever his wife dishes out to him.

“I don’t give a fuck,” I say, but my tone doesn’t come out as harsh as I expect it to.

Instead, I sound almost sad. I am sad. I feel bad for the asshole, but not that bad.

He’s got to fucking go. He needs to get the fuck out of here and head straight the fuck home.

Like a whipped fucking dog, he sinks down into the driver’s seat of the car, starts it, shifts into Reverse, and takes off.

He sends gravel and dirt flying around, but we don’t even flinch.

“You wanna follow his sketchy ass out of town?” Ivy asks.

“Damn fucking straight,” I say.

ZADIE

As I sit in the waiting room, my leg shakes while I think about what’s going to happen to me in that back room.

I don’t know what I’m thinking about, because I have no idea what they’re going to do.

I’m panicking; that is what I’m doing. Maybe I should reschedule.

There’s no reason for me to go in there yet, right?

“Calm,” Goose murmurs beside me.

I feel his fingers curl around my bouncing knee. Lifting my chin slightly, I look up at him. He doesn’t even look in my direction. He’s staring straight ahead. He isn’t even looking down at me. As I stare at his profile, I can’t help but smile.

“I can’t be calm,” I whisper.

“Yeah,” he grunts, shifting his gaze to mine. “You can.”

“I’m scared,” I whisper.

His lips twitch into a smirk as his eyes search mine. “Don’t be, babe. That’s a Fairfax kid in there, strong as fuck. Nothing to worry about.”

His words make me feel better.

I’m not sure if they should, but they do. I reach out and wrap my fingers around his wrist.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “Thank you for being here.”

He doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t need to. I’m not sure what else can be done at this point. I just need to wait. I know I should want Chase to be here, but I’m glad it is Goose.

“Miss Rowan,” a nurse calls out.

I look up at her but don’t move immediately. Goose’s fingers flex around my knee before he releases it. “Go ahead,” he murmurs.

I stand but can’t move. I’m not sure why, but I can’t walk back there alone. It’s weird. I’ve always done everything in my life alone, mostly anyway—except when Sable was at my side.

As irritated as I am with her, she was always there, even if it was for her own benefit. And it usually was self-serving, but isn’t that the way all humans are? We’re all selfish; it’s in our nature.

I look down at Goose, and I know it’s the wrong thing to ask, but I ask it anyway. “Come with me?”

His eyes widen, but without hesitation, he stands. He turns his head, his eyes focused on mine. “I’ll go, but the minute the septum comes out, I’m fucking gone.”

I grin at him. “Okay,” I say, trying to hold in my laughter.

And together, my man’s twin brother and I, we walk into the ob-gyn’s office. What a freaking pair we are. I hope this means we’re bonded. I want this to work, and it won’t work without Goose.

“Trent,” he says as we approach the nurse together.

Looking over at him, my eyes flick up to meet his, and I frown slightly. “Trent?” I ask.

“That’s my name.”

Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I worry the flesh back and forth. Trent. Chase and Trent.

I like that.

A lot.

I don’t tell him that, though. I think there must be a special meaning behind these men telling someone their real name.

I’m pretty sure only my father’s closest friends knew his legal name.

And even then, I don’t think I’d ever heard it spoken aloud a day in my life, unless it was a solicitor calling our house; that’s how I always knew it was someone who didn’t actually know him.

I don’t want to act crazy and have him regret telling me that information, so I smile up at him, inhaling a deep breath and holding it for a moment, then letting it out slowly.

“Let’s go check on my niece or nephew.”

“Yeah,” I breathe. “Let’s do that.”