Chapter TWENTY-NINE

FINN’S OFFICE was neat as a pin. Its orderly appearance, with clear desktop and everything in its place, was a reflection of the man himself—dedicated, organized, and focused. Finn did what needed to be done, whether it was here in the office or back at their house. Their house? Since when did it become my house? Mitch chuckled, the sound loud in the small office and making him suddenly self-conscious. Fuck, he was losing it.

He tore his mind back to the immediate situation. He’d extracted himself from the gathering in Rocky’s office because he needed to get ahold of Ross and let him know about the shit that was about to go down.

Rocky Cummings was about to do something incredibly stupid. His plan was to set up the Brutes. He was going to lure them to “neutral” ground, supposedly to negotiate territory. He intended to use the drug haul as a bargaining chip to sweeten the deal. His aim was to set up the opposing club and take out its leader, Steve “Slider” Popov, and his right-hand man, Joker Dunstan. It wasn’t proven that Rocky hadn’t done it before, but Rocky was now officially moving into the world of murder. Fuck!

Mitch’s fingers felt thick as he swiped them across the surface of his phone and typed out a brief message to Ross. He didn’t have long, and his haste seemed to slow his typing. He’d only just hit Send, quickly followed by Delete, when the door opened. At the sound of the door, he shoved his phone away and turned to face Finn.

“Everything all right?”

He nodded. “I guess so. As all right as can be expected.” It would be all right if Ross were able to ensure a tail was on them ASAP, make sure they’d be covered as they headed to the rendezvous. Wherever that is. “What about you?”

Finn’s usually tanned face was pale, his eyes dull. “Not really.” He closed the door and stepped toward Mitch. “I hate all of this.”

“I thought you wanted the confrontation?”

Finn’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy? I thought you knew me better than that by now. I hate everything to do with the club, or at least what Rocky’s made it. I hate the drugs. I hate the violence.”

“So when you wanted to plan the attack…?” Mitch was having trouble keeping up.

“I wanted to delay anything happening, Mitch. I wanted to give us—me—a chance to stop it, or at least change the course of action. Like I said before, if Rocky goes out with guns blazing, the whole thing’ll be a catastrophe. It just may well be a disaster anyway. Rocky’s crazy, and he’ll get us all killed.”

Finn’s lip quivered, and Mitch couldn’t resist the urge to pull him into his arms. Finn slumped into his hold, shoulders shaking as he obviously tried to get himself together.

“Sorry,” Finn mumbled. He took a deep breath and stepped back slightly to meet Mitch’s gaze. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this, and you’ll hate me for it, but if I could fuck Rocky over, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” he whispered. “If I could bring this club down to its knees, I’d be rejoicing, not commiserating. I wish he was dead.”

The strong words, spoken so quietly and calmly, were like a balm to Mitch’s soul. The leaden weight that had pressed on his chest ever since Finn talked about being involved in planning the attack lifted, and Mitch could breathe again.

“Oh, babe,” he whispered back. “Nothing could be further from the truth. I couldn’t ever hate you.”

Finn tilted his head for a moment, a flash of confusion crossing his face before his mouth settled in a soft smile. “I’m hope you mean you’re not pissed off at hearing me saying that about the club.”

Mitch tightened his hold and pulled Finn back to him. “Your words are like music to my ears.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

At Mitch’s nod, they gravitated together. Finn relaxed into the hug, raising his face and bringing his lips to Mitch’s. At first the kiss wasn’t sexual; it was gentle and slow and full of hope. Mitch moved his mouth over Finn’s, trying to convey how much Finn meant to him and how much happiness he felt at that very moment.

Finn returned the kiss with a soft touch of his mouth on Mitch’s lips, enough to give Mitch a hint Finn wanted more. But before Mitch could deepen the kiss, Finn took control. He placed his hands behind Mitch’s neck and pulled, drawing him closer. He pushed his tongue between Mitch’s lips, and Mitch accepted it eagerly, sucking and moaning into the kiss. They stumbled backward as they kissed until Mitch’s back was against the far wall. With nowhere else to go, he reveled in Finn pushing against his upper body, kissing and grinding and taking exactly what he wanted.

An instant later, the perfect moment was ruined as the door crashed against the wall.

Instead of celebrating that Finn had shared his thoughts about the club and wondering what that meant for the two of them, Mitch realized that was the least of his worries.

“What. The. Fuck!”

Mitch shoved Finn away.

“Huh?” Finn grunted as he regained his balance and stared in surprise at Rocky.

Rocky’s face was a mask of shock and disgust. His lips curled as he spat words. “What the fuck is going on here?”

“N—nothing.” Finn looked as if he were going to be sick—pale and shaking.

Rocky snorted and stepped toward Finn. “Nothing my arse. I know what I saw.”

“Then why the bloody hell did you ask, then?”

Thankfully Rocky spun around at Mitch’s question. “So you’re not going to hide it, then, try to pretend I didn’t see what I saw?”

Mitch pulled himself to his full height, mind racing a million miles a minute trying to work out the best way out of this. He needed to make sure his stupidity didn’t have life-changing consequences for Finn.

“Rocky—” Finn started.

“You saw what you saw,” Mitch said.

“Filth.” Rocky looked between the two of them. He turned to Finn again. “I always had my suspicions you were a fag, but you”—he looked to Mitch—“I never had you pegged as one.”

“Listen, Rocky—” Finn started again.

There was no way Mitch was going to let Finn take any heat from his mistake. Kissing Finn in the office had been a stupid thing to do. “It wasn’t his fault, Rocky. It was all me.” Mitch looked to Finn and hoped he’d stay quiet. He has to. Please.

“I—”

Mitch stepped forward before Finn could get out another word. He held himself tall. “Yeah, I’m gay. So what? I usually keep quiet about it, but it doesn’t change anything. I still do a fucking good job. I can take a man down as good as anyone else in this club, no matter where I like to put my dick.”

“And you thought my little brother was a good place to stick it, huh?” Rocky sneered. He screwed up his nose as he looked between them. His gaze settled on Finn, and Mitch’s blood ran cold. “Like I said, I always had my suspicions about you.”

Mitch stepped forward, drawing Rocky’s attention again. “It wasn’t him.” He thought wildly for a way to get Finn out of this. “It was all me. I forced myself on him.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

Mitch shrugged. “Sure, ’cause it’s the truth. All the talk about the Brutes and what’s going to happen got the adrenaline pumping. I was horny as all shit. He had nothing to do with it, was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I should have had better control and waited till later, gone to a club and found someone else to take it out on.” He chanced a glance at Finn, who thankfully didn’t say a word. He turned to Rocky. “Listen, I’m sorry you found out I’m gay like this, but—”

The fist slamming into his cheekbone knocked Mitch’s head against the wall. The flare of pain was instantaneous. His teeth knocked together from the impact, and his face throbbed. He itched to slam into Rocky but forced his hands into fists to prevent himself from retaliating. Rocky rounded on him, using one hand to hold Mitch against the wall. It took every ounce of Mitch’s self-control to let himself be pushed back.

“I don’t give a flying fuck that you’re gay,” Rocky hissed. “Actually that’s a lie. I fucking hate the fact you’re gay, but what pisses me off even more is you touching a Soldier, and even more, you touching my brother.”

Mitch stood ramrod straight, ignoring the urge to shove Rocky away. He allowed Rocky his show of power, particularly glad Rocky’s focus and anger was on him.

“So he forced himself on you?” Rocky looked over his shoulder and addressed Finn.

Finn looked to Mitch, his blue eyes wide and scared. Mitch didn’t think he’d ever seen him look so miserable. Mitch ducked his head slightly, hoping Finn would see the gesture for what it was. Yes, Finn, say yes.

Finn lifted his chin and answered his brother. “Yeah. He forced me.”

Mitch smiled at him. Good.

Rocky looked back at him. Fury flashed in his eyes, and his nostrils flared. He growled, then spat words at Mitch. “You make me sick.”

“Please, Rocky, don’t do anything.” Finn moved to his brother’s side. “It’s okay. I had it under control.”

“It didn’t look like that to me.”

“You came in at the wrong time. I was just pushing him off.”

“You shouldn’t have had to push him off. He shouldn’t have been on you in the first place.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“One thing’s for sure, he’s no longer welcome here. No job and no membership.” He turned his head and glared at Mitch. “And no fucking with this club. You’re lucky I don’t cut your fucking dick off.”

“You’re not going to hurt him?” Finn’s voice shook.

Rocky finally dropped his hand, and Mitch took in a deep breath as the pressure eased from his chest. “Oh, he’ll hurt all right, but just not in the way you’re most likely thinking. He’ll pay for what he’s done to you and the disgrace he’s brought on the Soldiers.”

“He’s not brought anything on the Soldiers—in fact, he’s taken a lot of the heat off.”

“Yeah. I stepped in when the shit went down with Pete. Surely that has to count for something.”

“It doesn’t work like that. Nothing you’ve done up until now can change anything. There’s no place in the Soldiers of Fury for someone like you.” Rocky looked Mitch up and down with obvious disdain.

“So—what happens now?” Finn asked.

“Now? Now we talk about the Brutes.”

“I don’t understand.” Finn’s voice shook as he darted a glance at Mitch and looked to his brother again. “What do the Brutes have to do with this?”

“Mitch here has just scored himself a starring role in the showdown.”

Mitch’s blood ran cold.

“Mitch will be coming with me to meet with the Brutes, and Mitch will have the honor of taking out Slider Popov.”

Oh fuck. He swallowed hard. At least Rocky was letting him stay around and, better than that, keeping him close to the key events. It could be lost worse, and maybe he should be grateful he still had all his body parts. He forced a smile onto his face.

“Sure, Rocky. This is my chance to prove myself once and for all. I won’t let you down.”

“This isn’t a fucking chance for you to hang around. Like I said, we don’t want your sort around here. But you can pull the goddamn trigger. If everything goes according to plan, then you get to keep your balls. If something goes wrong, then you take the fall. Win-win.”

Finn looked horrified. Mitch forced himself not to react. He’d never killed anyone in his life—pulled a gun, sure, fired to maim, yep, shot to kill, never—and even though it wasn’t going to happen this time either, just the thought made him feel sick to the stomach. The situation wasn’t ideal—he didn’t need the additional attention on him, and the distrust wouldn’t help—but at least he could keep an eye on Finn.

“Get outside and wait with Stack. He’s gathering some of the boys together. Tell him I’ll be ready to leave in fifteen. I want to talk to my brother. Alone.”

He nodded. “Sure, Rocky.”

At the doorway, Mitch looked at Finn. He wished he could say something to remove that look of horror from Finn’s face. Instead he closed the door. He had a message typed and sent to Ross before he even hit the end of the corridor.