I’m in the gym across from my room at five in the morning and not even ten minutes later, Hope strolls in.
“Hey,” she greets. “I never got to see you last night.”
“Yeah.”
She’s not dressed to work out, so I don’t know why she’s down here.
“Can we talk for a minute?” she asks.
“Why?”
She reels back as if I slapped her. I guess my tone was sharp. Maybe I’m still a little pissed.
Taking a few steps farther inside, she pins me with a pained look. “Are you mad at me?”
Dammit. I slow the treadmill down to a crawl and hop off.
“Why would I be mad at you?”
She fiddles with the hem of her shirt. “I missed you.”
“Didn’t seem like it. I thought we were friends, but I guess not.”
Aw shit. Her eyes tear up. Seeing that she’s about to cry, makes me want to cry.
“We are. But I didn’t think…I know your loyalty is to Rock and the club first. I didn’t think you’d want to be friends if we weren’t together. And I didn’t want to make things weird for you.”
It’s the same thing Wrath said.
“I’m still mad at you,” I tell her.
“I don’t blame you. I’m mad at myself.”
“At least we agree on that,” I say and then laugh.
She still looks like she’s going to cry, and I can’t stand it. “Give me a hug.”
“I really did miss you,” she says as she squeezes the daylights out of me.
“So why are you up at this ungodly hour?” I ask when we part.
Her shoulders jerk up. “I couldn’t sleep. We had this big emotional talk that wore me out, but also gave me nightmares.”
“Talk? You’re supposed to have makeup sex.”
She blushes like crazy and looks away. “We never got to that.”
“You better get on that.” I give her an evil grin. “Or better yet, get on Rock.”
Her cheeks turn an even deeper red. “Oh my,” she mumbles. Then shocks the hell out of me. “You’re right. Maybe I’ll try the wiggle-my-ass-against-him-by-accident move,” she says, while demonstrating exactly what she means.
“I’m a big fan of that move myself,” Wrath says from the doorway.
Hope jumps about ten feet in the air. “You jerk!” She whips her head around at me. “You need to put bells on him.”
Wrath’s laughing so hard he can barely talk. “No. Please demonstrate the wiggling your ass thing again.”
“I’m out of here.”
Wrath watches her go, then grins at me. “I think Z’s about to get woken up again.”
It’s not until breakfast that I get to tell Hope I kept planning the engagement party.
“Trinity—I don’t know what to say.” Terrific. I made her cry again.
The boys distract her with car talk. After we eat, she follows me into the kitchen.
“Think you can still help me with that business?” I ask her.
“Of course. Are you going to tell me what it is?”
I take a deep breath and explain it. Why was I so nervous? Hope loves it. She claps her hands together. “Oh my gosh, that’s amazing. You have to show me.”
“I will.” I feel like I owe her after Wrath razzed her this morning. “I even got to take some photos of Wrath the other day. He’s agreed to be a cover model for me.”
Her eyes go round with excitement. “I think I just died of happiness. Can I please make fun of him?”
“Not yet.”
Rock interrupts our discussion by barging in the kitchen. “Can we go for a walk, baby doll? I want to show you something.”
The corners of her mouth quirk up. “Yeah, sure.”
“Stop by when you get back and I’ll show you.” I give her a quick hug. “Don’t say anything to Rock yet, please,” I whisper in her ear. She nods against me.
“We won’t be gone long, Trin. Got church in an hour.” Rock assures me.
“Okay.”
Wrath’s ready to vibrate out of his chair when I join the guys in the dining room. “What’s wrong?”
He glances at me and squeezes my hand. “Nothing, babe.”
Z snickers. “I’ll give you one guess what those two are up to in the woods.”
“Jesus Christ. Will you go get them? Everyone’s almost here,” Wrath bitches.
“You’re excited to get back to being the Wrecking Ball, huh?” I tease him after Z leaves.
“Yeah, something like that.”
A guy like me can’t afford to be nervous. But that’s exactly what I am as we sit down at the table. I almost wore a hole in the floor waiting for Rock and Hope to return from their nature walk. While I’m happy they’re back together, it’s way past time for me to get my own business in order.
I’m not nervous about the regular club business. Everything’s good there. “Plants are healing, boss. Yield’s lookin’ plentiful,” Sparky informs the club. He credits Hope with their recovery, which makes me laugh. Crazy bugger is completely smitten with prez’s ol’ lady.
CB is strong now that we’ve cleared all the coke-sniffing sluts out.
Rock turns to me next. Not for my announcement. Not yet. “Gym’s good. Thinking of keeping the kid on.” Rock nods. He’s been down there and so far approves of Irish. “Might even be a good prospect one day.” Everyone at the table grumbles.
My mouth lifts into a smirk as I remember my conversation with Whisper yesterday. “Supposedly, Ulfric’s all freaked thinkin’ you’re pissed with him. Might wanna give him a call.”
“Jesus Christ, what the fuck is going on with him lately?”
I shake my head. “No clue. But that little discovery was a major fuck-up on his end. He keeps that shit up, they’re gonna vote him out.”
Rock waves his hand in the air. “Whatever. Not our problem.”
Murphy gives some details on a run he’s trying to organize over the Fourth of July. Gonna have Trinity on the back of my bike for that and I can’t fucking wait.
“Who wants to take the Demon drop with Z?” Rock asks.
I raise my hand right away and Rock nods. “Figured.”
“Can we vote on introducing Loco to Sway next?” Rock asks, giving me a weary look. He thinks I’m gonna vote no, but I understand why this needs to happen.
The vote is unanimous.
We briefly discuss patching Hoot and Birch in. Their vote will be a no-brainer. Both of them are hard-working and fit to wear our colors. Axel has, at minimum, another year to go and by the look on Murphy’s face, it’s going to take some serious convincing to give Axel a seat at the table. It’s too bad because he’s a loyal kid and would be an asset to the club. Shit with Heidi is going to cause fuckin’ trouble real soon and there ain’t a whole lot we can do because she’s the sister of a patched-in member. An office holder. So yeah, there’s a real possibility Axel gets shipped off to a different Lost Kings charter. I wonder if Murphy’s thought this through, because if Axel leaves, there’s a good chance Heidi goes with him.
“I’ve got one, maybe two, kids at the gym who might make good prospects,” I inform everyone.
Rock nods. “If they’re eighteen, start bringing them ‘round Crystal Ball when you think they’re ready.”
Christ, like I wanna hang anywhere near CB. Z smirks like he knows exactly what I’m thinking.
Once club business is out of the way, Rock glances at me. I nod. Hell, yeah motherfucker. Let’s do this.
Rock holds one hand up to the group. “Hang tight, everyone. Wrath has an announcement.”
I’m glad every brother is here while I deliver my message. “I’m claiming Trinity as my ol’ lady. Anyone fucking looks at her with anything other than friendly, respectful intentions will be answering to me.” I glance at Rock and see him chuckling at my choice of words.
The responses range from “about fucking time” to “congratulations.”
Rock gives everyone a hard stare. “We’re all clear on this, fellas?”
No one has an objection. General members are dismissed. Rock motions the officers to stay.
I stare down at my clasped hands on the table. I’m really fucking doing this. Holy shit.
“We’re taking a vote on Trinity. Wrath wants to patch her too.” Rock doesn’t fuck around, getting right to the point.
A whistle. A sharp intake of breath. Why, I’m not sure. It shouldn’t be a surprise. Property patch is the next logical step. Trinity and I have wasted way too much time as it is.
Z walks around the table to punch my arm. “All right, brother.” He plops down in the empty chair next to me, grinning like an idiot.
Some of the tension drains out of me and one corner of my mouth lifts.
Then Murphy opens his big mouth. “You realize she’s fucked everyone at this table, right?”
My eyes snap up at that. Brother apparently didn’t learn his lesson. I know he’s young and dumb, so this time he needs more than a choking to drive the message home. Rock knows exactly what I’m thinking, because he puts his hand on my arm.
He drills Murphy with a withering stare. “First, that’s not true. Second, you got a motherfucking death wish, Murph?”
Murphy looks away. “Sorry,” he grumbles. I get why he’s so surprised. Club girls don’t usually become ol’ ladies. But he’s also known me long enough to know I don’t give a fuck about shit like that.
“Get it all out of your systems now, you three.” Rock jabs his finger at the closed war room door. “‘Cause once we walk out, if one of you dares bring past shit up or makes Trinity uncomfortable in any way, I will personally kick your ass before handing you over to Wrath.”
“I’m cool, prez.” Z reassures us. He taps my shoulder. I turn and give him my full attention. “I’m happy for you, bro. Trinity and me—we’ve been just friends for a while now. She’s a good girl.”
I nod. “Thanks, brother.”
Teller blows out a breath and I turn to stare at him. Brother can’t quite meet my eyes. “Fuck, man. You love her?” He rakes his fingers through his hair. Is he having a hard time with this because he has feelings for my girl? Somehow that bothers me a lot less than if he just saw her as his favorite fuck toy.
Never one to enjoy discussing my emotions, I just grunt. “Yeah.”
Teller nods. “She deserves to be happy.”
Murphy glances at his best friend like he’s got two heads. Guessing he didn’t realize Teller’s feelings ran deeper than blowjobs and three-ways.
“Anything else you want to add, Murphy?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “No, man. I’m happy for you two.”
“Thanks.”
Rock sighs and taps the table. “Can we vote now?”
Z, again raises his hand first. “Shoulda made her an honorary member or something years ago for puttin’ up with all our bullshit.”
I toss a look at my friend. He’s obviously got a lot of respect for Trinity to say something like that.
“Is that a yes?” Rock grumbles, with a smirk.
“Yes.”
Teller and Murphy both give their yeses.
I turn to prez.
“Well, I wouldn’t have brought it to the table if I wasn’t going to say yes. Jesus Christ, you two have given me fucking gray hairs.”
Everyone has a good laugh at that.
Z’s the first to get down to logistics. “Need help moving her shit up to your room?”
“No, man. I’m staying right where I am.”
A “What?” comes out of everyone, except prez. Even though I hadn’t shared this with him yet, I can tell he’s not surprised.
I shrug, not really giving a fuck what anyone thinks about our living arrangements. “Her room’s bigger and she’s not comfortable being in a room where I’ve fucked a bunch of skanks fifty ways from Sunday.” Also, I know I’m the only one who’s been in her room. I don’t have to say it though, everyone knows.
“Well, at least you’ll be closer to the gym. Work some of that flab off you’ve accumulated sitting around on your ass,” Z snarks at me.
“Aw, thanks for worrying about my figure, brother.” I give him a quick shove. “Actually, I’m thinking of measuring out a few acres and building a little cabin right next door to you, prez,” I say with a completely straight face.
The corner of Rock’s mouth twists up into a smirk, but he doesn’t comment.
“Copycat,” Z jokes.
“So, except for…you know. She gonna do the same stuff around the clubhouse?” Murphy asks.
I don’t hesitate. “No.”
Rock quirks an eyebrow at me.
My fists clench on the table in front of me. “Fuck, she doesn’t want anyone knowing this. She’s got this book cover design business started and she’s taking art classes. I want her to focus on that.”
Rock slowly nods his approval.
Teller’s clearly shocked. That’s right, brother, we’re about more than sex.
Z taps the table to get Murphy’s attention, then pins him with a hard stare. “What the fuck you worried about? Learn to clean up after yourself.”
I snort out a laugh, then reconsider my blanket no. “I’m sure she’ll still want to plan the parties. She likes doing that stuff.” I nod at Rock. “She’s ecstatic about your engagement party, you know.”
Rock’s mouth twitches. “I’m sure.”
“But as far as doing everyone’s laundry, and playing housekeeper? No. She’s done with that.”
“Fair enough. We’ll figure it out,” Rock says and his word is final.
We break and everyone gets up to leave. Rock stops me before I get out of my chair.
“Books?” he prods when everyone else has cleared the room.
A slow smile spreads over my face. “Yeah, she’s good with the art stuff. Real good. She’s slowly picking up some authors and making money with it.”
I’m not sure what it is, but this look of relief, happiness, and pride flickers over his face. “That’s good. You okay with how this went down?” he asks, waving his hand around the table.
I think about it. “Murph fucking pissed me off, but I get it. I’m sure he thinks it’s strange. Long as he treats her with respect, we’re cool. Teller, though? I think his feelings are more than I realized. Don’t know if that’s better or worse.”
“He won’t interfere.”
“I know. It’s good to know he cared about her more than just a...” Yeah, I don’t need to finish that sentence.
“I’m proud of you. You wouldn’t have been able to handle that shit a while ago.”
“No kidding.”
“She know you were doing this?”
“Sort of. I’m not sure she wants it.”
“You two have come this far. You’ll figure it out. Want Hope to talk to her?”
“I appreciate the offer, but no, we need to figure this out on our own.”
Rock pauses and takes a deep breath. Something is weighing on my brother and I wait for him to get it out. “I’m happy for you two.” He stops again. “This is the only time I’m ever going to say this, so listen good.” Rock closes his eyes for a second, then meets my stare. “I’m sorry for my part in—”
“Don’t go there, Rock.”
“No. You tried to tell me how you felt. I shoulda sat you both down. I knew her story, but I didn’t understand until much, much later what her issues were.”
“Jesus, Rock. You were two years out of prison and the new president of an MC that was barely standing on its feet after some serious shit went down. It wasn’t your job to play relationship counselor to two fuckups.”
His mouth twists and he huffs a bit of a laugh. “I love both of you, you know. It tore me up watching you two rip each other apart, knowing I had a hand in it.”
“Let it go. We’re good now. I never blamed you.” At least I don’t think I did.
Rock quirks an eyebrow at me and suddenly I get his meaning. “Uh-uh. Don’t go thinking I was mean to Cinder-fuckin-ella ‘cause I had some subconscious anger toward you over Trinity. I ain’t that deep, prez.”
Laughter shades his voice. “Don’t underestimate yourself.”