Jasmine
After leaving Joshua and the Venom Brothers bar behind, I could barely focus on what I had to do next. Somehow, I was going to have to stop Roni from calling the cops on Joshua and his guys. I had to make her see that Joshua wasn’t responsible.
Taylor! I thought suddenly. Taylor’s smart. She doesn’t want revenge unless it’s really against her attacker. She won’t let Roni do this if she knows the guys are innocent.
I was amazed to find the scene calm and relatively undisturbed when I arrived. Taylor and Lana were playing cards, Patti was standing behind the bar and gazing down at her phone. The other girls were lounging around and drinking, but I didn’t see Roni anywhere. The bad feeling in the pit of my stomach grew even worse as I stepped closer, wiping my sweaty palms off on my jeans.
“Jaz,” Patti said with a grin. “Do you have any news? Did you talk to them? Is Derrick okay?”
“I need to talk to you,” I said sharply. “Come on. Come with me, right now,” I added when Patti kept staring at me. “Hurry!” I barked when she still didn’t move. “This is fucking important!”
Taylor and Lana stared. “Jaz, can I get you anything?” Taylor stood up with her hands clasped in front of her. I stared at her; I couldn’t help myself, every time I saw her, she looked even more virginal and innocent than she had before.
“No,” I said sharply. “Actually, yeah,” I added. “Two beers. Bring them to the back room. Now. Then, the rest of you need to get out. Go look for Roni and call me once you’ve found her. Don’t let her go anywhere,” I added sharply. “We have business we need to discuss before she does anything.”
“Right,” Taylor said softly. She quickly ran over to the bar and grabbed the beer bottles, shoving them at me and then darting out of the clubhouse. I smiled. Even in the face of crisis, I loved that she was one of the strongest members of the club. She may not have had tons of ink like Lana, or a wise-ass mouth like Roni, but Taylor was turning out to be one of the most valuable members of the Wild Witches.
Patti gave me a sulky look once we were alone together. She stared at me as I passed her a bottle of beer after cracking my own open and taking a long swig.
“You’re drinking a lot lately,” Patti said cautiously. “Are you sure that’s smart? In the face of all this?”
“Shut up,” I snapped at her. “You’re the reason why we’re in so much trouble right now. Did you ever think about that?”
“What?” Patti narrowed her eyes and crossed her skinny arms over her torso. “What the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t do anything.”
I glared at her and took another long drink of beer. “Yes, you did,” I said calmly. Pointing to a chair, I ordered Patti, “Sit!”
Patti lowered herself down into the chair, looking up at me with big, reproachful eyes. “I didn’t do anything,” she insisted loudly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit,” I scoffed, sitting down across the table. Patti’s eyes were darting around nervously and I could tell that she was shaking. “You fucked up,” I said solemnly. “I’m gonna give you one more chance to tell me the truth, or I’m kicking you out of the Wild Witches.”
Patti held up her hands. Her eyes looked fearful. “I swear, Jaz, I didn’t do anything. I swear I’d never do anything to hurt the club.”
I laughed. “You should have thought about that before you started fucking a Venom Brother,” I said, shaking my head in disdain. “And before you lied to me about it, too.”
Patti colored. “I lied because I knew you’d be mad,” she said softly. “Doesn’t that count for anything?”
I rolled my eyes. “Patti, that logic only applies when you steal the last beer or take my food,” I said. “This was something that endangered the club. And you know what it is, and you’ve known it since it happened. Why don’t you tell me?”
Patti licked her lips. She blinked her eyes again and gave a tight little shake of the head. “Jaz, honestly, I don’t—”
“Shut up,” I said loudly. Patti jumped but she closed her lips. “Remember the night of the party?” I asked in a soft, dangerous voice. “Remember how Roni said she saw a Venom Brothers sneaking off the premises after Taylor was attacked?”
Patti nodded. I could tell she wanted to speak, but she kept her lips clamped tightly together.
“Well, Patti, why do you think she would have done that?” I asked softly. “Surely not because she saw Derrick sneaking away, am I right?”
Patti’s eyes widened and her shoulders slumped. I could practically read the look on her face. “Shit,” she mumbled. “You…um, you weren’t supposed to find out about that.”
I laughed. The balls these girls had on them! Patti looked alarmed at my laughter, then almost relaxed when she saw the grin on my face. Stupid girl.
"You bitch," I said softly. "And here's the thing: you know that it wasn't Derrick because Derrick was never sneaking away! He spent the whole goddamn night with you in the clubhouse, am I right?"
Patti nodded fiercely. “Oh god, Jaz,” she babbled quickly. “Derrick would never do anything to hurt anyone! He’d never have done anything to Taylor! I swear!”
“I bet,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “But he spent the night here with you, and Roni found out about it, and then I’m guessing you begged her to keep quiet.” I folded my hands in front of my chest and let them rest in my lap. “And then, when Roni said something the next day about seeing a Venom Brother sneak away, you knew that you had to keep silent or else we’d blame Derrick. Is that right?”
Patti swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded miserably. “That’s right,” she said, glancing down. “That’s exactly what happened.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “I was really hoping that I’d be wrong about that,” I admitted. “This hurts, Patti. Knowing that my own girls want to betray me really hurts.” I stared at her. “Do you know what that feels like?”
"Oh god, Jaz, I feel so guilty," Patti cried loudly. She put her face in her hands and began to cry. "I feel so horrible! I couldn't believe that Roni would lie about that, but I couldn't say anything because she threatened me! She told me that she had her reasons for doing this and that if I didn't go along with her, she'd kill me!"
I stared at her. This was bad. This was much worse than I’d thought when Joshua and I figured out what happened. I wasn’t sure what exactly I’d thought about Roni then, but now I was starting to realize just how dangerous my former best friend was turning out to be.
“What?” I asked softly. “Patti, you need to tell me exactly how she threatened you.”
Patti swallowed again. “She just…” Her voice cracked and she wiped at her red, wet face with the back of her hand. “She told me that if I said anything about Derrick being there, well, that she’d ruin me. She told me that she’d tell Derrick I was fucking around on him, and the whole Venom Brothers MC would want me dead.” Patti was shaking, and for the first time, I realized that her fear was genuine instead of a mere act for my sympathy. “She told me that bad, indescribable things would happen to me,” Patti added, lowering her eyes. “And she told me that the Russians would kill Derrick before Joshua and the other guys could save him. She told me that he’d die and it would all be my fault.”
“Because she wanted to get the cops involved before Joshua even met up with the Russians,” I said, feeling a chill in my stomach. “Did you know about this before that night? Or did she spring the whole thing on you then?”
Patti looked around and I saw that she was nervous once again. “It wasn’t like that,” she said softly. “Roni came to me, and, um, well, she told me to invite Derrick and some of the other guys. She said that you wanted some kind of peace treaty with Venom Brothers and that they should all come to the party."
The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. “Jesus Christ,” I mumbled. “This is fucking awful. She told you that you could bring Derrick and then she blackmailed you about it later?”
“Yeah,” Patti said. Her cheeks flushed a bright pink shade. “She told me that if I said anything, she’d kill me. When I asked why she changed her mind, she acted like we’d never even had the conversation about inviting the guys to the party.”
I nodded. My anger towards Patti was fleeing my body but I still didn’t feel very good about the whole situation. Roni was the most dangerous villain I’d ever faced, and I hadn’t even figured out her end game!
“Did you tell anyone else about this?” I leaned in close and stared at Patti’s trembling face. “Did you even breathe a word of it?”
Patti shook her head. “No,” she said softly. “I didn’t. Roni was the only person who knew I was dating Derrick.”
“What about Taylor?” I frowned. “Did she notice anything?” I knew it was wrong, but part of me was worried that this shit would traumatize Taylor. After all, she was the baby of the club, she was the one who needed protecting. I couldn’t let this get her down, not in light of her recent brutal assault.
“No,” Patti said. “She doesn’t seem to notice much, actually.”
I frowned again. I was sick of all of my girls treating Taylor like a moron just because she was young and pretty. “Fine,” I said. I got to my feet and finished the last of my beer. Instead of feeling relaxed, I just felt keyed up and faintly nauseous from the alcohol. “Don’t speak a word about this,” I told Patti in a low voice. “Don’t tell anyone. And don’t tell Roni anything else. I’ll have to deal with her as soon as the others track her down.”
There was a knock on the door. “Boss!” Lana yelled. “Roni’s back!”
My stomach flipped in my body as Patti glanced up to meet my eyes. A look passed between us—a silent look of recognition, as hot as a brand—but she didn’t say anything. I watched as she slipped between me and Lana, darting down the hall and into the main part of the clubhouse.
“Great,” I muttered under my breath. “Thanks, Lana.”
Roni was standing in the center of the room, taking her jacket off and tossing on a table when I walked up to her. When she turned to face me, she had a big grin on her dark face. “Jaz, my girl, today’s almost the day!” Roni said loudly, reaching out for a hug.
I stopped where I was, just a few feet shy of Roni. “No,” I said sharply. “Not right now. Roni,” I added. “We need to talk.”
Roni crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine,” she snapped. She sat down and cracked her gum, grinning at me sarcastically. “Let’s talk, Jasmine.” She pulled out a chair and held it up to me, batting her eyelashes. Anger and disdain were radiating off Roni’s frame in waves. I shuddered as I sat down and glared at her black eyes.
“This is serious, Roni,” I said sharply. “We need to call off the operation. We can’t call the cops right now.”
“Girl,” Roni said dramatically. She rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth loudly. “What the fuck are you talking about? We have to call the cops, honey. That was the plan.” She emphasized the last word, leaning down and glaring at me until I felt like shrinking away from her evil, awful gaze. “You agreed, Jasmine. You knew this was all going down today.”
I shook my head. Yeah, that was before I found out that you’re a fucking liar, I thought bitterly. “Roni, call it off,” I said sharply. “We ain’t dealing with this today. We gotta figure out how to do it on our own, not delegating to the police.”
Roni laughed loudly. “And just what on earth makes you think I’m going to listen to you?” She laughed again and shook her head. “Don’t be an idiot. You forget you're leading a group of girls here. Don't fucking forget your responsibilities, Jasmine."
“You are a group of women,” I hissed. “And we should all be smarter about what we have to do, and you know that, Roni. It doesn’t matter what you think. I’m the president, and I say we’re done with this today.”
Roni glared at me. I studied her features, painfully aware that this woman used to be my best friend. Now I couldn’t even stand looking at her without wanting to scream about what a fake and a liar she was. She’d been trying to ruin the club since day one, and I wasn’t about to let her.
“Roni, I got things wrong,” I said sharply. “It was my fault. I fucked up here, okay? I know that. But we can’t call the cops on them right now. We have to make sure Derrick gets out of this okay, and then we can talk about how we’re going to handle Venom Brothers in the future.”
Roni shook her head. “What do you bitches think?” she asked loudly, standing up from her chair and spinning around the room. She glared at Patti, at Lana, even at Taylor. “You girls,” she said, looking around in disgust. “You’re all up Jasmine’s ass.”
“That’s not true,” Patti said loudly. My heart sank—for a moment, I thought she was actually going to betray me and go back to Roni’s side. But instead, she walked over and stood close to me until our shoulders were touching. “If Jasmine says that she got it wrong, then she got it wrong,” she said. She squared her body and took a deep breath, rising up to her full height. "I believe her, and I stand with her because she's our president and she knows what she's doing." Patti glared at the other women in the room as if threatening them to challenge her. "I trust Jasmine," Patti repeated. "Don't you all? Don't you remember times when she stuck up for us?"
“Roni’s always been there for us, too,” Taylor said softly. She stood up and gazed around. “She cares about us just as much as Jasmine does. And just because Jasmine thinks something is going to bring heat on the club doesn’t mean it’s the wrong decision.” Taylor glared at me and I felt a spike of anger rush through my body. “I think she’s afraid of what’s going to happen if we take revenge like we want.”
I shook my head and squared my shoulders towards Taylor and Roni. Roni walked over to Taylor and wrapped a protective, muscular arm around her fragile frame.
“Come on,” I said loudly. “Don’t do this, Roni. You know it’s gonna be bad for the club. You know it’s gonna be bad for both of us.”
Roni sneered at me. “You’re just worried about something happening to your precious Joshua,” she said loudly. I blushed before I could even think about what she’d said. “It doesn’t matter that one of your own girls got raped, not when you’re just interested in fucking the leader of Venom Brothers!”
I glared at her. “That’s not fucking true,” I snapped. “I’m interested in getting revenge, but I think we got this all wrong. We don’t even know for a fact that Venom Brothers was involved!”
Patti shot me a warning look. “Jasmine,” she said in a low tone. “Don’t start with that, you know it’s not gonna go well.”
“What’s she talking about?” Roni demanded. Taylor frowned and walked over.
“Jasmine, I can’t believe you,” she said softly. “I can’t believe you’d really choose a man over the safety of this club.” She took off her vest and threw it on the floor. “I don’t know that I can stay here anymore.”
“Fine,” Roni snapped. “Jasmine, you win,” she added in a sulky, disgusted voice. “I won’t call the fucking cops. Happy?”
I swallowed hard. Victory didn’t feel as good as I’d thought it would. The look Taylor was giving me put a bad taste in my mouth and between her and Roni, I was starting to feel sick.