“Wants to talk. Says it’s important.”
“Bull-fuckin’-shit!” Ripper raged. “I don’t want anything to fuckin’ do with them.”
Fuck. He still loved her.
“It’s for the club to decide,” Prez said. “Know you got a history with—”
“It ain’t about that shit.”
“Just proved it was.”
Clenching his jaw tight, Ripper took a step in Prez’s direction. Pound, standing next to him, tensed. Before he could react, Ripper snarled, “Fuck you.”
“It’s a club matter, and we vote. Don’t know what he has to say. I’m thinking that club’s still dirty. We aren’t. Means they won’t be welcome in our town, but think we can agree we should hear what he has to say.”
“I don’t fuckin’ agree.”
“Think about it.” Prez scanned the room. “We’ll vote Friday.”
Ripper closed the distance between himself and Prez, snaring his attention. “Don’t matter if you give me five fuckin’ decades. Ain’t gonna change my mind.”
Prez’s eyes narrowed. “It isn’t about you. It’s about the club.”
Chapter Thirty
Allie, standing by the refrigerator filling a glass with water, turned when Lynn called her.
Lynn smiled widely. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
She took a sip of water, and then placed the glass on the counter. “Moved in.”
“What?” Mia asked, peering into the kitchen.
She smiled wider. Mia closed the distance between them.
Pausing, she blurted, “Ty knows.”
Mia’s jaw dropped. Lynn gasped loudly. “Wait, wait…you told him?”
She shook her head, her face reddening with the memory. “We were going to today, but…He showed up at my apartment early this morning, and…Jace was there…in my room…in bed…with me…We weren’t dressed.”
“Oh my God!” Mia screeched.
“I can’t believe it.”
She shrugged. “Yeah.”
“So, wait, that means you’ve moved in?”
She shook her head. “Well, no, the thing is my tires were slashed yesterday. Ty said I had to move back in, so he can keep an eye on me, but then he caught Jace and me. So now, I’ve moved into Jace’s room.”
Lynn’s eyes widened, smiling, then rushed her, wrapping her arms around her shoulders, hugging her. “I’m so happy for you guys!”
She released her, and then Mia hugged her. “Me, too.”
“Don’t get too excited.” She was living with Jace, but it was temporary. Jace hadn’t asked her to move in. The club was protecting her and moving into Jace’s room just made more sense. After this was over, who knew?
Mia’s brow quirked, “Why?”
“This is temporary because of the tires and—”
“Please tell me you don’t believe that.” Lynn smirked. “It’s Trig. He’s never—”
“Don’t get her hopes up. We all know Jace.”
Mia and Lynn turned, letting Allie get her first glimpse. A woman she’d never seen before, tall, at least 5’8, wearing a denim mini skirt, a cleavage-baring red shirt, and five-inch heels. Blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders past her breasts. Her steely, narrowed, gray eyes pinned Allie on the spot. Attractive, no doubt about it. She could be beautiful if she didn’t have makeup caked on and if she’d left some of her best assets to the imagination. It hinted she was a tap, and yet, Allie knew she wasn’t. Taps didn’t talk to the old ladies. Taps didn’t walk around the compound with free rein, not on a Saturday afternoon, not ever.
The woman strutted to her, her gray gaze never leaving hers. “Jace will say and do all the right things, but then he leaves. He always leaves, so don’t get attached.”
Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach.
The blonde wasn’t a tap. She’d once been with Jace, and he dumped her. She couldn’t help but wonder if she’d once ridden on the back of his bike, if he’d told her he would make her his old lady like he’d told her. She hated doubting Jace. She loved him, but she couldn’t help it when doubt stared her in the face.
“That’s not true, Lilliam,” Mia sniped, her tone harsh.
Lilliam narrowed her gaze on Mia. “Really? When has Jace ever been serious about a woman?”
Further proof, Lilliam called him Jace again. Every time, she wanted to cringe. It proved they’d once been something, and the knowledge of Jace with another woman made her stomach turn. It shouldn’t. He was a man, who’d once been single and wasn’t a saint.
“It’s not the point—” Mia began.
“Oh, I think it is.” A mean glint in her eyes, Lilliam flipped her hair behind her and set her steely gaze on Allie. “Jace doesn’t stay. Jace doesn’t make anyone
his
old lady. He makes them think he is, and then he throws them out on their ass.”
“Allie isn’t you,” Mia shot back. “Trig—”
Lilliam wasn’t paying attention to Mia. She was smiling widely, her eyes on her. “Jace fucked me every night for three months straight, then left. I know he likes blondes with bods. I don’t want to be mean. I’m just trying to warn you. You aren’t his type. I give it a month tops.”
God, that hurt. A searing ache in her chest like she’d been burned from the inside out, and that pain spread through her limbs and up her throat.
Like that morning, she wanted to deny it, wanted to believe Jace would never do that to her, but the pain burning her throat wouldn’t let her. A pain clear in her face because she couldn’t fight it or hide it.
Lilliam got too much pleasure telling her this and watching her crumble. Allie could see behind the mean glint in Lilliam’s eyes, she was laughing, loud. Lilliam was the worst kind of person, the kind who got off on hurting people. For that reason too, Allie wanted to tell her where to shove it, but the pain hadn’t numbed, it compounded with anger, and only made it harder to keep her emotions in check. If she stayed any longer she’d cry, and no way in hell she’d let Lilliam see her cry.
Without word, she lifted her chin and sidestepped to pass her. Mia jumped to her defense raging at Lilliam. Lynn called out to her, but she kept walking. Her chin down, she strode out of the kitchen and into the hall, not paying attention like she should’ve. Next thing she knew, she walked into a mass of muscle. The familiar scent of him wafted into her senses.
“What… Allie?”
She didn’t look at him. She couldn’t. A fresh wave of tears hit her eyes. She had to hold them back.
“Allie?” Jace stilled. He lifted her chin with his finger until her gaze met his.
God, he was handsome. If he left her, she’d still think he was a mistake worth making. Her eyes on his, she watched in sheer fascination as those dark eyes turned cold, his jaw clenching so tight she wondered how it didn’t crack.
He grabbed her wrist and hauled her, backtracking her steps. She realized too late where he was taking her. When she did, she resisted, pulling herself in the other direction. He stopped and turned. His rage-filled gaze hit her, and then he leaned into her. His face inches from hers. “Not fuckin’ happy, Allie. You don’t wanna fight me when I’m this pissed.” He dragged her into the kitchen.
She caught glimpse of Lilliam’s back and Mia, livid in a totally cute way only Mia could pull off. Mia’s gaze shot to Jace then to hers and softened, and then she moved away from Lilliam.
“You’re a fuckin’ cunt.”
Lilliam spun. Still, she didn’t wipe the smirk off her face. Instead, she jutted her chest forward, stepped closer. “Hi, Jace.”
He tightened his hold on Allie’s wrist, yanked her to his side until her front was plastered against him. He then wrapped his arm around her shoulders, gripping her tightly. She loved it when he held her, always, but right then, he was so angry she couldn’t help but be a little worried.
“No one calls me Jace. No one’s ever called me Jace. No one but Allie ’cause she’s my woman. You were never my woman.”
A warmth settled in her gut.
“You were a tap, a conniving cunt, who thought she could manipulate me.”
Lilliam took a step in his direction. “You can’t deny we were more than—”
“Back the fuck away from me and my woman,” he screamed so loud his whole body shook. His voice seeped in rage. “You were and still are a tap. That’s all you’ve ever been, all you’ll ever fuckin’ be. I fucked you ’cause you were easy pussy, and I’ll regret it every day of my life ’cause you’re a manipulative bitch. Further prove my point, you never rode on the back of my bike. You never slept in my bed. You never met my niece, my sister. I never ate your pussy, never took you out, and I never showed you my house.”
A relief to hear, but it came with guilt for so easily believing everything Lilliam said.
Lilliam flinched.
“It was three fuckin’ years ago. Let it the fuck go. You fucked my brother the night I heard you were getting ideas and broke off whatever it is you thought we had. You got knocked up, and married my brother, and you still fuckin’ dress and act like a fuckin’ tap. You’re still a fuckin’ manipulative cunt.”
Lilliam’s eyes widened. “Trig.” Her voice hollow.
“This is the last time you’ll ever see me or my woman and the last time you fuck with me or my woman. You aren’t welcome here. You haven’t been welcome here for a long fuckin’ time. Nobody’s fault but your own. You dug your own fuckin’ grave. Now, by fuckin’ with my woman, you’ve nailed your coffin ’cause everybody loves Allie ’cause she fuckin’ sweet, smart, and beautiful.”
Did that mean he loved her, too? The warmth in her gut spread to her chest and limbs.
With those last words, he turned, taking her with him. Oh God, they had an audience. Ty stood at the threshold, his jaw clenched and arms crossed over his chest. Beside him was Cuss giving Lilliam the coldest look. Behind them, a mass of bikers; none looked happy.
Shoving his brothers to get to the front of the mass, Dodge appeared. He scanned the room. His face went feral. “Where the fuck is my kid?”
It hit her then. Dodge was the brother who’d married Lilliam, and Lilliam was Cullen’s mother. Dodge had a two-year-old son, Cullen. She’d seen them together at the cookouts. Cullen also attended the daycare where she worked. Dodge dropped him off and picked him up. She had never met Cullen’s mother and had assumed Dodge was a single father. That Cullen had a mother came as a shock.
“I don’t know.
You
should be concerned with what Trig said to me,” Lilliam snapped, proving she was not only a bitch but a bad mother and crazy.
Dodge turned away from her, a frantic look in his eyes. “Cullen!”
“I got him,” Lynn shouted over the throes of bikers.
Dodge looked down, took a deep breath, and finally met Lilliam’s gaze. “We’re over. You got till tonight to get your shit out of my house.”
“You can’t—”
“We’re fuckin’ done. Tomorrow, I’ll have my lawyer draw the papers. Cullen’s mine. Don’t even think about fightin’ for him ’cause you’re a shitty mother, and I can prove it.”
That was all she heard before Jace grabbed her wrist and hauled her through the mass of bikers. He dragged her down the hall, up the stairs, and into his room. He then closed the door and faced her.
She swallowed, knowing the angry look. Taking deep breaths, he tried to fight it. Lilliam had really pissed him off, and it hadn’t yet abated.
Jace took a step in her direction. He went to take another, then stilled like he thought better of it. “You ever listen to me?”
Oh God, he was angry with her? Why? And where was he getting at with this question?
“Allie.” His voice hard. “Answer the fuckin’ question.”
“Yes,” she said, instantly.
He shook his head. “No, you don’t. Maybe you hear me, but you don’t fuckin’ listen.”
She swallowed.
“It’s that or you hear whatever the fuck you wanna listen for.”
“I don’t understand…”
His stare hardened. “Don’t you think there’s a reason why I’m so pissed?”
She really wanted him to get to the point. She hated when he was angry, hated it more when it was directed at her. Worse, when she didn’t even know the reason.
Still, she answered the question. Not answering it would make him angrier. “Yeah.”
“Why am I angry, Allie?”
Really? She obviously didn’t know. “I don’t know.”
He took another step in her direction and leaned into her. “You fuckin’ believed everything she said ’cause you don’t fuckin’ listen to me.”
A valid point. Guilt flooding her, she bit the side of her lip. Still, she defended herself. “I listened. I heard what she said.”
The wrong thing to say. The corded veins on his neck clamped.
“Proving my point, Allie. Never said you didn’t listen. Said you don’t listen to
me
.”
“I’m sorry…I—”
“You remember when I told you I wouldn’t mind having you in my bed every night? It was the first night, Allie, the first fuckin’ night. Remember when I told you, you’re mine and that’s why I handle shit for you? Six days in. Remember when I told you I’d never be done with you? That was seven days in. You remember last night on your couch I was lying over you and I fuckin’ told you I needed you, that if it were up to me I’d patch you in a fuckin’ second?”
Shit. He’d said it all, and still, she’d so easily doubted him. Why? Her mind scrambled for the answer. She couldn’t grasp it.
“It isn’t just about words, Allie. Everything I do proves it. I called you four fuckin’ times, then showed up at a bar knowing you were there, knowing you were ignoring me. I gave you my cut to wrap around your waist ’cause the thought of someone seeing a piece of you makes me wanna rip out their fuckin’ eyes. You weren’t mine then, but I wanted you to be, so I put you on the back of my bike. I fuckin’
claimed
you. Do you understand the significance of that?”
Shit. He’d done it all, and pointing it out made her feel worse. She did understand the significance of it. Mia told her, and still, she’d doubted him. She remembered everything he’d ever told her and everything he’d done to show her, but doubt
always
reared its head. She didn’t understand why, but she understood every time she doubted him, she hurt him.
She did the only thing she could do. She nodded.
“You’re the only woman I’ve ever fuckin’ cuddled with, the only woman I’ve slept beside, and the only woman I call and text fifty times a fuckin’ day ’cause I can’t help it. I’ve never had a steady woman. You’re the only one, the only woman I’ve ever made
mine
.”