Chapter Twenty-Nine

Cullen

The rest of the weekend went by in a blur. I spent two days home with Grace and Ella, cocooned in our home, making sure that they were recovered from what had happened over the weekend. As if they could recover. But we had to try.

On the third day, Grace walked into the kitchen as I was eating lunch, after she’d put Ella down for a nap. “Do you think it would be okay if I went next door with Ella sometime?”

I lowered the beer bottle I was drinking from and swallowed. “Why?”

She shrugged. “Barry stopped by while you were in the shower.”

I frowned. “You opened the door?”

“Well, yes, Cullen,” she said to me, rolling her eyes like she always did when I got overprotective. “I looked out the window. I saw her. It was fine.”

“Yeah. But you shouldn’t . . .”

“I can’t even talk to friends?” she asked, flustered. “What are we, your tower princesses?”

I fought the urge to get angry. I knew this was going to happen. I couldn’t keep her and Ella locked up inside for the rest of their lives. Eventually, they’d have to get out.

But I also knew that Slade was probably foaming at the mouth to get to me, in any way he could. Hart had learned from some online digging that the president of the Fury hadn’t taken the loss of Bruiser and the other men well. Word on the street was that he was out for blood.

But other than that, there was nothing. No knowing when the Fury would strike. After being caught unaware with the bomb, I didn’t want to make that mistake twice.

“No, you’re not locked in, Grace, goddammit. But you know you have to be careful.”

“I am being careful, Cullen,” she said. “But Barry’s granddaughter is over with her baby and she thought it would be a nice time for the girls to meet. They’re at the age for playdates so it’s normal. I can’t stay in here forever. Ella can’t.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, thinking. “Yeah. I know.” I sucked in a breath. “So you’ll just be in their backyard? When?”

She nodded. “Whenever you’ll let me go.”

I stood up and set my beer bottle in the sink. “Not today. I’ve got church.”

Grace walked to the sink and put the bottle in the trash can under the sink.

“Okay, but I could—”

“You’re not going without me,” I said.

She looked surprised. “So, you’re actually going to go next door? And be civil to our neighbors?

I shrugged. “Why not?”

She snorted. “This, I’ve got to see. I’m pretty sure Barry thinks you’re an evil biker who’s got me under his spell. She doesn’t think there’s any reason why we should be together.”

I grinned. “Sweetheart, most people think that.”

She nodded, agreeing with me. I sure as hell knew I wasn’t the type of guy girls could bring home to mom.

“But I don’t give a shit what any of them think,” I said, coming up close to her and taking her chin in my hands. I kissed her lightly on the forehead as she wrapped her arms around my waist.

She grinned up at me. “How late are you going to be this time?”

“Just an hour. Two, tops.”

She laughed. “I’m not holding my breath. We’re eating dinner without you. And . . . probably going to sleep, too.”

“Good plan.” I looked around for my kutte and found it hanging in the closet in the room off the garage. It smelled fresh. The girl really did need to get out more. I slipped it on. “Where’s my piece?”

She reached into one of the high cabinets over the refrigerator and pulled it out, closed up in a Ziploc bag, like Exhibit A, evidence of a crime. When I gave her a questioning look, she said, “I didn’t want anyone getting to it.”

“All right, but if it’s hidden . . . I won’t know where to find it when I need it. And what if I needed it?”

She pressed her lips together. “I guess. I just worry about having weapons in the house.”

I guessed I’d have to get used to keeping my weapons in a safe place.

“We’ll figure it out.” I pinched her ass and she jumped, grinning, and swatted me. “See you.”

I got into the Dodge Charger and drove down to Lucky’s, keeping an eye out for anyone strange. I’d gotten at least a hundred messages since that night in Santa Barbara, all of them from my guys, wanting to know what the hell was up. I’d responded to each one of them, telling them I’d call church in a few days. But time was running out. They were getting more and more restless. It felt like the Fury was taking that big breath, ready to come out with their guns blazing.

They had a big reason to, now.

And I may have been Public Enemy Number One, but they didn’t just want me. They wanted the club. Every one of them had a target on his head.

Now the people we loved weren’t safe, either.

When I got to Lucky’s, there were a hell of a lot of bikes parked outside. I don’t remember ever seeing so many. Hart was pulling one of the cars out of the bay, probably to make more room for the rest of the Cobras in the cramped space inside.

“Hey,” he said. “You turning in the wheels?”

I hadn’t had a chance to look into a new car for the family. We hadn’t really talked about it but Grace had mentioned a minivan, which effectively shut me down. No fucking way was I driving one of those. “Can I keep the Charger a little longer?”

“Knock yourself out. You get the stuff from Drake?”

I shook my head and gave him a fist bump. “I’ll get it from him later. Thanks for doing that for me, man.”

I’d been concentrating on Grace the rest of the weekend, and hadn’t had time to go and pick up the suitcase, my boots, my gun, and the other things we’d left there when we split in a hurry. Drake had messaged me that night, telling me they’d taken care of everything, no problems. I’d had my hands full, trying to get Grace to feel a little sense of normalcy in the house with me.

“No problem. How’s she doing?”

I looked at him. “She?”

“That’s your girl, right? Her kid? Are they okay?”

“Yeah. They were shaken up. But they’re better now.”

I walked inside the open door, observing the tense faces of the men, all packed like sardines in the smoke-filled room. Hart closed the garage door for privacy.

“You gonna tell us what the fuck is up?” Jet asked, sulking, the hothead as usual.

Nix took a drag from his cigarette and punched his younger brother. He leaned in and said, “Hey man. Good to see you. There are a lot of rumors going around, so I think it’s time you separated fact from fiction.”

“Was just going to,” I said, moving to the front of the room. I hopped up on the workbench and lit a cigarette. “Listen up. I’m sure you heard about the incident at the hotel in Santa Barbara over the weekend. I was there with my girl, and Bruiser and a couple other Fury showed up, wanting to talk. They told me that they wanted all Cobras to leave Aveline Bay for good. I told them under no circumstances was that gonna happen. Weapons were drawn, there was a fight, and I ended up taking all three of them out. I had no choice.”

Zain said, “So it’s true? You took out Bruiser?”

I nodded.

“So naturally Slade is gonna have it out for us. No question. But what he’s up to now is anyone’s guess.”

I looked at Hart and he shrugged. “I haven’t seen anything online.”

“Why the fuck wasn’t that pussy Slade there to deal with you on his own?” Jet asked. “They weren’t at that party at their clubhouse, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah. It seems they were all expecting we’d go after them, so they staged that party so we’d end up with our thumbs up our asses. Then they sent their boys after me.” I sucked on my cigarette and let out the smoke in a rush. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you guys. I wanted to be, but I have something I need to tell you all.”

I looked over their faces. These are men who I’d promised they’d come first, ever since I assumed the reins as president. I knew I’d done the right thing, but it still felt like swallowing razor blades, admitting this.

“I was in Santa Barbara because I was protecting my girl, and my daughter. She’s not quite two, and on Saturday, I was taking them out of town to keep them safe. That’s where I got held up.”

There was a moment of silence, where people traded glances. Finally, Hart said, “What the fuck?” I winced at that, until he said, “I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. Cullen’s a daddy?”

Everyone laughed. “To a little girl, no less,” he added. “Shit man, payback’s a bitch.”

They were all hysterical over that one. At first, yeah, it was awkward, but gradually, I relaxed into it. They weren’t pissed about me missing the meeting. Hell, it was good to be a dad. To be a part of a real family, for the first time in my life. And I’d be damned if I’d ever tell anyone something that felt so right was wrong.

Nix came up to me, and fist bumped. “Congratulations man. What’s her name?”

“Ella’s my daughter,” I said, taking out my phone and showing a picture I’d snapped earlier that day. “And Grace is my girl. They’re living with me. And they need your protection.”

The men nodded. Jet said, “You know you’ve got it. But we’re not just going to hole up and defend ourselves against them, right? We’re going to fight back?”

I nodded. “Fuck, yeah. As far as I’m concerned, we’re at war. We’re going to hit them, and hit them hard, and we’re not going to stop until every last one of them is out of Aveline Bay. That’s a promise.”

Jet tightened his fists. “Yeah. Let’s get ‘em.”

“I want all of you to have eyes in the back of your head. They’re gonna be coming at us from all angles now and it’s not gonna be pretty. If any of you need our protection, let us know. We have to watch out for each other, more than ever now. Got it?”

They all nodded.

“All right. So the officers and I are gonna go over some things over the next few days, try to get intel on the Fury’s situation. The prospects are gonna have to be all in on this. No questions asked. If you hear of anyone has anything, needs anything,” I held up my cell phone. “Doesn’t matter how small. Text me and we’ll be there, we’ll check it out. We stick together in all this, and there is no way the Fury’s gonna run us out of this town. Aveline Bay is Cobra territory. That ain’t gonna change.”

The men roared their approval, and for the first time, Jet actually didn’t have anything snide to say. I figured that was progress as I snuffed out my cigarette and got ready to go back home.

Home. The mansion finally felt like a home.

“Hey,” Nix said to me after most of the guys had left. “If we didn’t have X’s on our backs, I’d say we should all double date. You and Grace and me and Olivia.”

I laughed. Double date. Did I ever think I’d hear Nix say those words to me? “Yeah. We’ll take a raincheck on that one.”

“So what did Bruiser say?” he asked.

“You know. He said Slade wouldn’t rest until all Cobras were out of the bay. I told him no way in hell and thought I could reason with him, but then he went and grabbed Grace. At that point, I’d had it. He was dead. Started talking shit and threatening her and you know Bruiser. He was never that bright. So I took him out. Him and two new Furies. I don’t know who they were. They must’ve followed the car over there.”

“Fuck,” Nix said. “Yeah, we’ve got to be careful. And you know we’ll protect your girl. You call us, and we’ll be there.”

We walked out to the lot, where most of the bikes had already cleared out. He walked to his while I went to the Charger.

“You gonna get a new bike?” he asked me.

“Got one. My dad’s.” I took the picture out of my wallet and showed it to him.

He grimaced. “Indian, aye?”

I stared at the picture. My dad never wanted me touching the damn thing. Never rode it, either. It was all for show. But he was gone now. And that was my damn house, my things, my family. I was the man of my house, and I could do what I pleased. “Yeah. Figured I’d try it out. I’ll probably go back to my Harley, though. Eventually.”

He peeked inside the back of the car and grinned. “Car seat?”

“Fuck you.” I grinned.

“Talk about a one-eighty. You’re turning into a real family man,” he said, slapping me on the back. “What the hell is this world coming to?”

I was going to tell him not to let anyone know, that it would crush my image, but fuck it. My dad had been all about image, wanting to be the fun party guy. And look where that got him.

Image was overrated. If any of these fuckers thought I wasn’t capable of being president just because I had a family, then fuck them.

Still, I had to wonder. I crossed my arms and leaned against the Charger. “So, you had to have heard rumors. What were people saying? When the president of the Cobras didn’t show up for his own meeting?”

Nix shrugged. “They were confused, at first. But they know you, man. They know how loyal you are. When you didn’t show up, they knew you had to have a good reason.”

I let out a breath of air. “I know she’s a good enough reason to me.”

A slow smile broke out on his face. “What are you wondering? Whether they’re going to vote you out, man?” He smacked me on the shoulder. “Fuck that. You don’t have to sell your soul to us, man. You can have a life. What you just said in there proves it. No one else could do what you do. I know I sure couldn’t. We’re damn lucky to have you.”

“Yeah. Thanks. See you man.”

As I got in the car and gunned the engine, I let out a breath, then rolled down the window and let the cool breeze from the Pacific take me home.