***Sico***

I open the door and stroll inside as if I didn’t just kill two guys on the front lawn. My ol’lady comes rushing down the stairs, Pokey and his ol’lady following after her. Dammit, every time our eyes meet something flares inside me, as if stroking hairs the wrong way and yet it feels so damn right.

I point to my ol’lady. “You and me, full lockdown, starting right the fuck now.”

Everleigh’s nose scrunches up while her head rears back, confusion spreading across her face. “What?”

“It’s done. You got what you asked for. I turned the heat fully on me. Pokey and Orianna are carefree. I took the blame and added some more along with it. That makes me the one with a target on his head and with that, so do you.” I turn around and face Zack, my Prez. “Any problem with how I handled it?”

Zack’s jaw ticks but I can see the appreciation in his eyes over what I just did. With ‘the Cape Town crew’ showing up at Everleigh’s doorstep just now, it gave me the perfect opportunity to swing things around. They came looking for Pokey’s ol’lady, Orianna, because they wanted to kill her. They think she’s got something to do with one of their gang members, Jack, disappearing. Jack is the younger brother of James Johnson, the head of the gang.

This shit all started months ago when Orianna stepped off a plane and was pushed down the stairs and kicked half to death. She was fucking pregnant at the time and it was a damn miracle she and the kid survived. It was a damn gang initiation, just some random fucking fun for those punks.

The gang wanted to clear up their mess when they realized Orianna was alive and might recognize those involved. That fucker Jack isn’t missing. Pokey killed him when he showed up at Orianna’s house when he was there to take her out.

Pokey and Orianna have a son that’s just a few months old, while I don’t have anyone except for my ol’lady. But it was also something Everleigh said right before that gang showed up on her front lawn that made me justify my actions just now. Something about wishing she could take over their problems because that young family with the newborn doesn’t need that shit. Seeing my ol’lady has a grade A safehouse...it was more than enough reason to take on all of this myself.

Standing on her front lawn with those punks facing us, stirring up problems for the whole town with their robberies, vandalism, gang initiations, throwing drugs on our streets, and not having a problem with attacking pregnant women and killing mothers...yeah, I was calm as shit when I pulled the trigger.

So, here we are...easy decision, easy kill. The heat is on, full fucking force and I know those fuckers will regroup and come after me now. I’ll be waiting, while in the meantime I have my ol’lady locked by my side. We need it. Because I might call her my ol’lady, and she damn well is...but we’re not really together. Not by a long shot.

More like she hates my guts but I had to tie her to me because something deep inside me didn’t want her to be with anyone else. Yeah, I’m the kind of selfish asshole who goes head to head with her every chance I get. Don’t get me wrong, she gives back as good as she gets, making it hard as fuck for the both of us. But that’s a whole other fucked up situation that needs to be handled at another point in time.

“No problem, brother. You handled that well for all of us.” Zack, my Prez, nods.

Dams, my VP, stumbles into the living room. “I’ve got those two locked and loaded so I’m heading out to dump them. Tyler, you’re comin’ with me.” Tyler and Dams stroll out of the house and with that close the door behind them.

“Pokey, I want you out of here along with your ol’lady and your kid. Maybe spend a night at the clubhouse, or head on over to your sister’s for all I care, but you three need to disappear for a few days or for however long it takes for us to handle this shit. I’d expect it to be a couple of weeks, tops. Go to your sister, or better yet...take a damn vacation or something, hell...everyone knows you guys deserve it. Sico’s shifted the problem and him and his ol’lady have the perfect setting to deal with this,” Zack says and turns to Calix. “How many days before you have to work?”

“Bartending at the Purple Bean tonight, I have to check on my club tomorrow and I took a week vacation.” Calix rubs his fingers over his jawline, rubbing the hint of stubble. “Scratch that, I was put on a week leave since I’ve been working double shifts at the station. No detective work for a week because the captain ordered me to take some well-deserved rest before cases start to pile back up again. And to be honest, I need that time to think over a few things, so I’d be happy to do that here.”

“Good. I’ll get someone to cover your shift tonight seeing you’re going to be Sico’s backup this upcoming week. I’ll get a brother over here tomorrow night so you can check on your business, then your ass is right back here, yeah?” Zack orders Calix.

“Yeah, Prez. I’ll head on over to my house and pack some shit. I’ll be back in about half an hour.” Calix doesn’t wait for a reply and slips out of the house.

“Didn’t I fucking tell you to leave?” Zack growls at Pokey who nods and heads upstairs.

Everleigh is staring at me. It’s screwed up because I can’t get a read on her. She’s too fucking good sometimes with putting a mask on. She’s got so many sides to her and most of the time I can see right through her bullshit she puts in place to hide behind. I’ve been drawn to her from the start and effortlessly poke through the fake smiles and the lies she throws around. Yet now? No flames in her eyes, no mask, just...nothing. Empty as fuck.

“What?” I snap. I can’t fucking help it. Sometimes she really scratches the asshole in me that’s always available to flip over for her, ready for a good belly rub.

“You’re not staying here.” Her tiny fists are perched on those fine hips of hers. “Why don’t you get on that bike of yours and ride into the sunset, taking those gang punks with you? Good fucking riddance.”

“Then saddle up, baby. Because you’re my ol’lady so I ain’t going anywhere without you.” I plaster a smirk on my face that immediately flames up her eyes with annoyance. Or maybe it was my words, whatever.

I was a manwhore before I met her, and from what I had heard about her way back when...she was the female version of me. Oh, how wrong I fucking was about that. I’ve discovered something about her past, what she went through, what lies she told...making me aware she’s nothing like me at all. She’s not the slut she tries so hard to appear to the outside world.

And fuck...I know for one hundred percent sure my cock has been inside her more times than the amount of men she’s fucked. And the times I’ve had her I can count on one damn hand. So, no, compared to me, she might as well be a broken virgin.

Catch my drift here? Lies. Slut, whore, easy pussy...none of those words are her and yet she tries very hard to keep that mask in place. I claimed her before I fucking knew this shit was a mask. It was a spur of the moment thing. A jealousy wave ‘if I can’t have her no one will’ statement. We were both miserable because neither of us could fuck. Us hating each other’s ass, and with her being my ol’lady she wasn’t allowed to fuck others and neither was I.

I did mention I’m an asshole, right? Yeah, well...what’s a guy to do when you stick your cock inside a woman and for the first fucking time in your life it’s surrounded with so much heat and tightness, you come the same moment you bury yourself balls deep with her coming right along with you. Hence my reason for claiming; if I can’t have her no one will. Because she’s mine whether her, or I for that matter, like it or not.

I turn my attention toward my Prez. “I need to head to the clubhouse and grab my shit. Everleigh will go with, she needs to be with me at all times, and if I’m not there, I want at least two brothers watching her, yeah? Oh, and that would be sometime tonight since I have a thing I need to take care of.”

“You got it.” Zack nods.

“And that thing you need to take care of is?” Everleigh snaps, making me give her my full attention.

“I think it’s time I paid a visit to your brother. Now is as good a time as any.” I grab my phone and shoot the fucker a message, getting one right back with a time to meet him later that night at his tattoo shop. Perfect.

Pokey and Orianna stroll into the living room. Orianna is holding her son and has a bag over her shoulder. Pokey is holding two bags in one hand, a cat carrier holding Fuzzbutt, their cat, in the other.

“Okay, we’re all set. Thanks, man.” Pokey nods and his ol’lady’s eyes are spilling over with tears. Fucking emotional shit.

“I’m an egocentric ass, you know that. Now I get to be in full lockdown with my ol’lady keeping my cock warm. Couldn’t pass that shit up even if you forced my arm.” I give my brother a wink knowing very well I can’t fool him since he was the one who told me the truth about what happened to Everleigh.

Orianna is shooting daggers at me, nothing new there...all women think I’m an ass, and that right there suits me just fine. Well, all except for the one who is now hugging Orianna. Everleigh. My ol’lady. I need this time together to see if I can maybe turn things around between us. Fuck if I know how to be in a relationship, but the thought of having something like my other brothers have with their ol’ladies makes my chest tighten.

“I know just the thing to keep his cock warm, no worries. I’ll be sure to chop that cock right off and microwave that sucker a few times a day,” Everleigh quips making Orianna chuckle.

“Okay, folks, enough. Let’s head out and get shit done. These fuckers will regroup and we don’t know what they’ll do next. I need to get a hold of Ransom so he can call Casey and request intel. Last I heard Casey was leading the investigation against the Cape Town crew. Clearly, we can’t tell that fucker what went down just now, but we need to do some exchange of words because we need his FBI intel.” Zack rubs his eyes. “Fuck. I need to get out of here. Blue has a checkup later today and we’re going to find out what we’re having. Not that I care, two boys, two girls, one of each. Holy fuck, I still can’t believe I knocked her up with twins. Shit...as long as she pops them out healthy and stays fucking alive herself.”

“Women squeeze out kids every damn second all over the world, Prez.” I shake my head against his dramatic rant, he looks freaked out. “Come on, Simi. We’ll head to the clubhouse and stop to get some groceries on our way back so we can stock up,” I tell her and fuck...I love how her eyes always flare when I use the nickname I gave her. Simi, because her middle name is Simone. I like that a hell of a lot better since no one calls her that except me.

“Have you seen my pantry? I could skip the grocery store and live on that shit for over a year. Will you just leave so I can lock up behind you folks?” She gives me a motherfucking all telling smile.

Stepping into her personal space, I make sure to let my words tickle her ear. “That won’t be happening, Simi. Nothing will be able to keep me from getting close to you. I’m not talking about my cock taking that tight cunt of yours whenever either of us need it...I’m talking about getting underneath your skin...and every waking second I will grasp to get inside that head of yours.”

That’s it. That’s all the fair warning she gets from me. And when I step back confusion is written all over her face. Oh, yeah...she’s gotten used to my asshole ways and throws her bitch at me at every turn.

A huge turn on but she will experience soon enough that her scheme has holes the size of Texas. The only whore between the both of us was me. Hence the ‘was’ because when she stumbled into my life that shit was over and done with. Now she only needs to realize it.