CHAPTER TWENTY
Axe
I built the crib.
I built the shit outta that crib.
An hour after I started, I was standing there shaking the damn thing to make sure it wasn’t going to collapse. I opened the mattress then found the sheets that Ellie had gotten. They had little yellow and light gray elephants all over and I thought it was the cutest thing. I fucking chuckled thinking it was something I would have probably picked out myself. I had a feeling that Lil man was going to love it.
Time was ticking down and I knew I was going to have to head to the club. I was hesitant to leave her, especially after what had happened earlier. While she seemed good at the time, I wanted to make sure that she didn’t crawl into her head and spin out of control. Not that I thought she would. She had made it this far without losing it, and while I wanted to do everything in my power to protect her, I knew she was strong enough to take care of herself.
I walked into the clubhouse with a hard look plastered on my face. I wasn’t excited in the least about this fucking meeting. I was worried it would turn into a witch hunt and I would be outnumbered in a vote. All afternoon my head was plagued with ideas of what I could do, but it all kept coming back to one thing. While I was fine with that plan, I wasn’t sure how Allison would feel about it. And not to mention how my brothers would react. I guessed I had no choice but to wait and see.
I walked into the club with five minutes to spare. I know, I was cutting it close. I should have been there earlier, taking in the atmosphere and listening to the chatter, but I just couldn’t leave her. It all boiled down to the fact that I just didn’t want to.
One of the club bitches caught my eye as I walked in. Immediately, she started walking over to me and I held back my aggravation as I continued on my way.
“Hey, baby,” she said as she ran her long ass talons over my chest like she had the damn right to. Then again, it had never been a problem before.
“I’m not your baby,” I said low and deep as I grabbed her wrist and pulled it away from me.
Her face whipped back and turned as red as her hooker colored nails. I shrugged it off and walked on.
I didn’t give a fuck. Only one woman filled my mind, one I hadn’t even had the pleasure of burring myself inside, and I wasn’t even sure if it was a good idea. I mean, that was a fucking amazing blowjob, don’t get me wrong, but I was still afraid of what I could do to her. I still felt wrong about it all. Though, that didn’t stop me from completely claiming her mouth in that shower.
Damn.
I needed to stop thinking about it, my fucking dick was getting hard again.
I took my seat at the table, all of us were there except Loch and I imagined it was because he didn’t want to leave Reagan. Also, Ethel became like family to him after his parents died so, I knew this was hard on both of them.
I was feeling a slight panic as I looked around at my brothers. The room had an edgy vibe to it and I could see it on all of their faces that they had no idea what this emergency meeting was about.
“Loch’s not gonna make this one. I’ll fill him in later, but right now Reagan and Ethel need him,” Cal said as he caught each of our attention and started the meeting. “First, there had been no change in Ethel’s status. It’s just a waiting game right now. Loch will call as soon as anythin’ changes. Right now, it looks like she lost control of her car and ran it off the road.”
Sadness filled the room for a few seconds before Cal pushed on. With a quick glance to me he opened his mouth.
“A situation was brought to me this mornin’. Took some time to think about the options I wanted to bring to the table. Before I do that, two things.” He paused and pinned each of us with a stare that let us know he wasn’t going to let this get out of control. “One, keep your fuckin’ fists at your sides. And two, I wanna hear what you got to say ‘bout it, but we are goin’ to keep level heads durin’ it. You hear me?”
Everyone nodded in agreement and I could tell they had no idea what was going to happen after they found out.
“Most of you know that there is a new girl in town and Axe has been over there keepin’ an eye on things and tryin’ to find out what’s goin’ on. Seems somethin’ came to light this mornin’.”
My eyes scanned the room, a few brothers seem fidgety and some seem like they were on guard and waiting for an attack. Cal sat up, filling in the entire space at the end of the table.
“Turns out this girl is Savage’s wife, and her son is his too.”
An angry uproar of voices bounced around the room. I had to grit my teeth in an attempt to stay cool and relaxed. Cal put his hand up, silencing the room.
“I understand you’re all not happy ‘bout this, but listen to me before you jump to judgment.” Cal rubbed his hand over his long beard before he spoke again. “I ain’t gonna lie, her story is a sad one. I’ve heard it firsthand and I can tell you, she is a victim. She was taken by the fucker when she was seventeen. She said she came here just tryin’ to find a safe place to hide. Now, I want you to know that I believe her. She never intended to involve the club. I know this brings up a lot of bad shit but we have to figure this out with a fuckin’ level head. Now, y’all take a minute and I want to hear what you got to say.”
There was no minute taken. There was no thinking before mouths started shooting off. I knew it was coming but that didn’t mean that my blood wasn’t pumping lava hot through my veins.
“That fucker is crazy. I don’t trust him and I wouldn’t put it past him to send her in to get an in on us,” Crow said, his body looking like it was about to jump out of his chair. “I’m not one for killing women and children…”
The ‘but’ hung in the air like a heavy weight. It pressed down on my chest and I had to force myself to remain in my seat. My hands curled into fists as I did my best to control my breathing.
“The club doesn’t need to have any part in anything that would piss him off.” This came from Seven, which surprised me a great deal. “I hate to say it, but I think we should send them on their way.”
“I say we wash our hands of this,” Crow spoke up again. “We’re barely keeping our head above water when it comes to Savage, and now…if we are going to take him down, we can’t take the chance on anything. You say you believe her, but I don’t. I don’t know the first thing about this chick. I don’t trust it, not one fuckin’ bit.”
I understood his anger but that didn’t mean I liked it. Stone and Crow were close and while Stone’s death shook us all it tore up Crow inside and out. I didn’t want to lose any more brothers, especially at the hands of Savage, but Allison wasn’t a threat. Sure, if he knew she was here and that we were helping her out, he wouldn’t hesitate to get her back and I had no doubt he would burn everyone that stood in his path. But I just couldn’t see them wanting to turn her away like that.
“At the same time…” Bocca breathed out, the stress of the last few days was starting to show on his face. “We are not the kind of men who leave a woman and a child defenseless.” His normally bright blue eyes seemed dull and tired.
My eyes cut to Diesel’s. The death stare he was shooting at me made me stiffen. He was pissed and maybe I couldn’t blame him. I only wondered if he was going to snap and lose his shit.
“I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if we didn’t at least try to help out somehow,” Tank said. As my gaze managed to pull away from Diesel's to look at him, I could see a trace of humor in Tank’s eyes.
Tank was calling me out without really calling me out. The big fuck had all the reason to hate this situation and want to tear her apart just to get to Savage, yet he wasn’t. With his simple, yet substantial, words he was letting me know that he was standing by my side. I gave him the smallest nod of appreciation and his lips twitched in response.
Sometimes it was nice that the hulking jackass knew me so well. Times like this for example, when I clearly had shit going on in my head and was about ready to jump out of my seat and say my peace, but couldn’t actually do that. He was there, reading my every thought and helping me out like a brother should. I fucking loved that man!
“No,” Diesel said, his voice low and controlled. I found myself holding my breath as he spoke. “Is one life worth all the shit we’ve had to go through?” His eyes cut over to Tank’s as if he was trying to make a point.
I couldn’t blame him, he didn’t know the truth. No one did. Not even Cal. When Tank had informed me that his son was still alive, I told him I’d keep his secret knowing it was what was best. I assumed Grass was in a safe place and it needed to stay that way. And while Tank’s little boy Grass was alive, it didn’t mean that Tank could make up for all that time he’d missed out on with the boy. Or the fact that his life had been completely turned upside down for a few months.
“Or the lives we could be risking if we did help her out?” Seven added. His voice held an edge to it that I hadn’t heard before and the strange thing was, his face looked almost regretful when he spoke. He was on the fence about it even if his defenses were up.
“She made her bed…” Crow said giving his head a hard shake.
I waited, hoping that Cal would take control of the situation. I knew he wanted to hear what the brothers had to say but, shit, this was getting out of hand.
“Now wait,” Cal said, his face a mask of stone, giving absolutely nothing away of how he felt about the situation. “What if I told you that she didn’t have no choice in the matter? Huh? She’s been his slave for the past seven years, and that’s puttin’ it lightly.”
“We could use her as bait,” Crow spoke up. “Tell him we have found her, set up a meet, put a tracker on her. She could help lead us to his compound. Then we could finally take the fucker out.”
“The fuck you will!” I fucking roared as I shot up out of my seat. The room went dead silent, and I was pretty sure they all had stopped breathing as their eyes grew wide in my direction.
“Alright. Enough,” Cal said in a stern voice. “Fuckin’ settle down.”
The room remained silent as everyone shot daggers at each other with their eyes. It didn’t go unnoticed to me that most of those daggers were aimed in my direction.
We were dividing. This wasn’t good. This was what Savaged had wanted us to do all along and the thing was, it wasn’t him that was making it play out this way. It was over a scared and abused woman who happened to, for lack of a better word, belong to the Devil himself.
“We’re takin’ vote here tonight,” Cal said taking command of the room again. “Tomorrow, I got the other chapters ridin’ in. I only think it’s right to include them in this, also think they need to know. This is what I can come up with. This is what I got, we cut the girl and boy loose and act like we’ve never seen ‘em, or we keep them safe. If it comes to war, then we fight. It’s been a long time comin’ anyway. But absolutely no harm will come to them by our hands, you get me?”
He paused and though the room was tense, everyone nodded to let him know that they understood his order.
“Now,” Cal continued on. “Let’s vote. For giving them our protection.”
Cal’s eyes turned to Crow.
“Ney,” Crow said and his eyes looked down at the table.
“Aye,” Tank said next, his gaze hard set on mine. I gave him an appreciative nod.
Bocca hesitated for a long minute. The room was as still as his face, his eyes unfocused as he stared at the insignia in the middle of the table.
“Ney,” he said after taking in a deep breath.
I clenched my jaw trying my best to hold back my shock. I thought for sure he would have been all for saving the girl. I couldn’t deny that I felt the panic shoot through my heart.
“Now let me explain myself,” he went on and since it was his right to defend his vote, so the room stayed silent. “I don’t think it’s right to leave her out there all alone. I think that she needs protection and I think she should have it. But I don’t think it should be the club. We have enough resources and know enough people to find someone to hand her over to. Hell, it might be better if she was away from all of this shit anyway.”
Alright, fine. He had a good point and an idea to back it up. I respected that and maybe was a little less mad. I got where he was coming from and if my feelings weren’t so askew when it came to Allison, I might have voted that way too.
“Ney,” Diesel said his eyes cut over to me. “I can’t fucking believe you. You brought her here to the fucking club. You let her walk right in. You let her around Jessica like it was any other day. Around my damn woman and my kid. Don’t you think that Ellie’s been through enough? And you didn’t even give me a goddamn heads up about that shit. What the fuck is wrong with you?!”
“You think that I would have let her in here, around them, if I didn’t feel like it was okay?” I barked back. “I couldn’t fuckin’ tell you because I was here to tell it to Cal. You don’t think he needed to know that shit first. I would never do anything to put the club in danger.”
We were now both standing, chest to chest, toe to toe. Our breaths came out in heavy, angry pants. His hands curled at his sides and I just stood there waiting. I couldn’t believe we had come to this, but I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“With all the shit that has happened, I can’t fuckin’ believe you.” he snarled. “My fuckin’ woman, Axe. And my kid. You let her in here without so much as a warning. We’re so fucking close to ending that sick fuck and you could have just fucked it all up.”
I knew it was coming, but even as his fist crashed into my jaw, I couldn’t believe he’d actually done it. My head whipped to the side from his blow. I didn’t move. I didn’t raise my fists. I didn’t make any move towards him. I jerked my head back to look at him, the pulsing pain from his blow caused my jaw to tick.
Everyone jumped up, but it was Brand who was there first. His hand firmly placed on Diesel’s shoulder, not exactly trying to hold him back, but more to capture his attention. Brand’s body slid halfway between Diesel and myself.
“You really think he would ever put them in danger, Diesel?” Brand said low beside Diesel’s ear. We all heard it and the amount of calm Brand held was pretty amazing. “Think about it, man. Think about who you’re talking to. We don’t need to go down this road. This club needs to stay strong. He wouldn’t have brought her here if he didn’t have even a sliver of doubt that it was safe for the club.”
Brand’s words seemed to calm Diesel down, but he didn’t change his tune, not that I expected him to. I got that I fucked up, but I had no idea that Ellie would be there when I’d showed up. And even still, I knew Allison wasn’t a threat. One hundred fucking percent.
My eyes cut to Cal as Diesel and I took our seats. Cal’s eyes were narrowed in a pensive way, following Brand as he made it back to his spot. It was clear that Cal was impressed. And if I was being honest, I was too.
“Aye,” I said as I held my chin out in a challenging way.
This wasn’t going well. I was sure Seven was going to vote no and I was on the fence about Cal. With Loch out, we had the potential to tie.
Then it suddenly clicked. That was why Brand was there. Loch must have appointed him to stand in for his vote. Well, shit. This day was just full of surprises.
There had been a thick tension between Loch and Brand for a while now. I knew it had to do with Reagan, but I wasn’t clear on the details, nor did I really care. Brand had been nothing but respectful of Loch and the club, and even Reagan, as far as I had seen. So, the fact that Loch had sent Brand in his place had me scratching my head. I also had no idea how Brand would sway the vote if it came to that.
“Ney,” Seven said with a little, sad shake of his head.
All eyes turned to Cal. He rubbed his hand over his beard for a long while.
“Aye,” he finally said.
It looked like it was up to Brand. I eyed him as he stepped forward from his corner and it was clear that he knew what he was there for.
His mouth opened but before he could vote, I jumped up out of my seat. I didn’t want to know the outcome, because if it was negative there would be nothing further I could do. So before it was set in stone, crazy words spewed out of my mouth.
“She’s mine,” I all but yelled. I mean, it probably could have been considered yelling for me. “I’m claiming her.”
Those words earned me a mix of looks. Icy glares, shocked eyes, angry exhaled breaths, and puffed out chests. I got them all aimed in my direction. I also got a small smirk out of Tank, and that was probably the only thing that kept me from lashing out.
“You can’t claim another man’s woman.” Crow’s words came out slow and controlled.
“I can if he’s dead,” I replied back hotly. “You all say we are going to kill him, we are gearing up to go to war to take him down. So he’s as good as dead in our eyes, right?”
See, I had them there. I had a good idea that none of them would argue about that. It would not only show doubt and weakness, but it would also show lack of faith in the club.
“Well, that’s settled then,” Cal said banging his meaty fist on the table. “She’s part of the club now and we protect our own.” His fist banged two more times making it official.
The meeting broke with a mix of emotions floating around. Diesel was the first out of the door, his boots beating angrily against the floor. Tank gave my back a friendly clap as he passed. My eyes caught Brand’s and his face held a laughing smile as he shook his head. I wanted to hate that guy right then.
“Don’t even say it,” I barked semi-jokingly.
“Aye,” he whispered as he darted around me and out the door.
Fucker!
The room was clear save for Cal and me. Once the door was shut, I collapsed back into my chair.
What had I just done? It started to hit me hard. It wasn’t that I had a problem claiming her as my own because I meant that shit. It was more of how would she feel about it. After being owned by Savage, would she hate me for doing this? Would she see me the same as him? That fucking gutted me. There was no way that I could keep this from her, not that I wanted to, but what would it cost me in the end?
“Sure this is what you want?” Cal asked, effectively bringing me out of my head.
“Should have done it sooner. I knew from the first moment I laid eyes on her.” I had to bite back a smile remembering that very moment.
We stood and he patted me on the back, then without warning, he pulled me in for a rare hug.
“Never regretted savin’ you, boy. Not even now.” His words were soft for such a gruff old man. “Let’s go drink. Take a bit before you go rushin’ off.”
I nodded. I knew I’d been scarce and I had to make my presence known, especially after such a big declaration.