Chapter 26

Raider

Bash’s office upstairs was overflowing with my MC brothers by the time Colt and I got up there for church. I tried to turn off what had just happened in my room, to focus on what needed to be done with the Italian, but all I could think about was Quinn. The way she had so forcefully refused to believe anything I had tried to tell her told its own story of the damages I had done to her heart over the years.

I could only hope that I could repair them.

Pushing our way into the room, Colt and I found two open spots in front of the pres’s desk and took them. Bash was on his feet, along with Hawk, who was the new VP. He was why Fontana was out for blood, but I couldn’t blame him even for a second for what had happened earlier. If what had happened to Gracie had happened to Quinn, I would have done the exact fucking thing.

“I want everyone’s eyes open, twenty-four seven,” Bash was saying now, his cool, metallic blue eyes scanning over every single MC member. “This is war now. Fontana has declared it loud and clear by shooting up Quinn’s house. He’s trying to hit us where we are the weakest, and that means attacking our women.”

“Let’s let Raven loose on them,” Uncle Chaz said with a rough chuckle, trying to ease some of the tension in the room. “That girl will fuck them up so badly they will be crying for their mommas.”

That had most of the others laughing along, and even Bash was fighting a smile, but I couldn’t find the energy to do, either. My body might have been in there with all my brothers, but my head and my heart were downstairs with Quinn.

“No one goes anywhere without an extra set of eyes,” Hawk instructed us. “And the women only leave if it’s absolutely necessary.”

“Tell that to Gracie,” Uncle Jack grumbled half to himself. “Girl is determined to go to work tomorrow.”

Hawk’s face tightened. “Let me worry about her.”

“Good luck with that, boy.” Uncle Jack snorted. “Girl’s just like me—stubborn to a fault.”

“Believe me when I say I know that.”

Bash shook his head, making his long, dark hair fall forward. He impatiently pushed it back. “Okay, brothers, those motherfucking Italians aren’t the only ones we have to worry about. The DA and the mayor are set on getting us behind bars. Matt has heard that the dickhead mayor is supposedly close to making an arrest. Let’s keep our noses clean for the time being. I don’t want anyone giving them an excuse to take us in.”

“How does Matt know that?” Colt asked from beside me.

I turned my eyes to my friend Matt, who was picking at something on his casted hand.

“Rory’s back.”

Of course she was.

With the mayor’s daughter back in town, it was no wonder the guy was so set to put us in jail. He hated us, but he especially hated Matt. Still, Rory was a good source to have if the local politician was working against us. I trusted what news she would be able to give us about what went on in the mayor’s office.

“Fuck, Matt. Be careful,” Hawk told him, but he didn’t attempt to so much as lecture him about the dangers and complications that could and no doubt would arise if he went down that road with Aroura Michaels again.

“Can’t make any promises,” Matt told him with a smirk.

Church lasted another twenty minutes or so before Bash dismissed us. I stood and followed my brothers out.

Downstairs, Colt stopped me before I could head back to my room. “Let’s get a beer,” he suggested, but from the glint in his eyes, I knew it wasn’t a request so much as an order.

Not wanting to fight with my little brother, I nodded. “Sure. But just one. I don’t want to leave Quinn for too long.”

“One,” he agreed, and then we headed into the kitchen.

The place was full of women running around to fix food for the brothers. One after another asked us if we wanted a plate. I wasn’t hungry, so I went to the fridge and pulled out two beers. Handing one to Colt, we headed outside through the back door.

The air was muggy, but there was a hint of rain on the wind. Two brothers were already standing out there, guarding the rear entrance. Up on the wall, at least four other brothers were walking the perimeter with guns at the ready at all times. The place was heavily armed and guarded, but I couldn’t help feeling edgy after what had happened earlier.

I couldn’t stop wondering who they would try to hit next. There wasn’t much chance of them getting into this compound, but that didn’t mean those fuckers weren’t waiting and watching for the first person to leave.

“Look, I …” Colt broke off with a grimace, pulling me out of my musings. He shook his head before taking a deep swallow of his beer. “I heard some of what you were saying to Quinn earlier.”

“So?” I twisted off the top of my own beer. I didn’t care who had heard it, or what anyone would think of me for all the emotional stuff I had been lying at her feet. “I meant every word I told her.”

My little brother looked off into the dark night. After a long pause, he finally nodded. “I know.” He lowered his eyes to his beer, peeling at the edges of the label. “You’ve changed, Raider. At first, I didn’t really believe it was a good thing, but the more I see you with Quinn, the more I watch the way you look at her, I believe that you really care about her.”

“I love her.”

Another long pause came from him before he blew out a long, pent-up breath. “Yeah, I can tell that, too.”

“She doesn’t believe me,” I confessed, tossing the cap of my beer on the ground.

Colt grunted. “Can you blame her? She’s loved you since she was practically a kid. All that time you pushed her away, fucked everything with a pussy but her, and then suddenly you do a complete one-eighty? The girl is feeling confused as fuck right now, on top of all those damn pregnancy hormones wreaking havoc on her. Shit, Raid, you remember what Raven was like when she was pregnant with Max? She qualified as a mental patient at times.”

“Fuck you,” I thought I heard Raven call through the door to the kitchen, making us both chuckle despite the seriousness of our conversation.

For a long while, we just stood out there, not talking, just finishing our beers. Finally, I got up the courage to ask the one question I figured he would be the only one to answer for me. “Will she ever believe that I love her?”

“I think she already does, brother.” He poured out the suds that were the only thing now left of his drink. Tossing the now empty brown bottle into the trashcan, he gave me an affectionate, but hard punch in the shoulder. “Just give her a little time to realize that for herself, though, okay?”