Chapter Fourteen

 

 

 

 

“Let’s get this shit over with.” Bone said, stomping up the porch steps. Pretty Boy followed him grimly. Bone banged on the door, his hand on the gun that was on his hip. Pretty Boy didn’t think that the gun was necessary. This was Rock they were coming to see, and if he was the one betraying the club because of his friend’s sister, Pretty Boy was pretty sure he’d just come clean and they’d go find the girl. Bone was more cautious than he was.

“Hang on a second.” Rock’s voice called out and they heard him coming to the door. After a few moments, the door cracked open and Rock peeked out. He paled a little and his eyes darted between them both in surprise.

“Hey, you need me to take care of something?” Rock asked, eyeing them with caution. Not missing the way Bone’s hand was on his gun.

“Let us in, Rock. We need to have a chat.” Bone said, his voice grim.

“Um, I can meet you at the clubhouse or your place, but my house is a mess right now.” Rock said, sounding nervous and edgy. Fuck, Pretty Boy had hoped he was wrong, but with the shifty, almost scared way Rock was currently acting that wasn’t the case.

“Open the fucking door and let us in. We’re discussing this now, here!” Bone yelled, his gun clearing his holster. Rock’s eyes widened and he stared at the gun with a dazed look for a second. He stepped back a step allowing Bone to shove the door open as they stepped into the cabin. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut it with a knife as they stood staring at each other.

“Hey, Rock. Is it okay if I use your—oh shit. I didn’t hear the door. I—is that a gun. Oh god, I don’t want to cause trouble. I’ll leave.” A soft feminine voice said as a tiny elfish looking woman with big dark purple eyes and dark hair came into the room. She looked scared out of her mind and she was wearing a robe that only covered her slightly, revealing her heavy curves and leaving little of her shape to the imagination.

“Go back to the bedroom and get dressed, Marnie.” Rock said, moving to block her from view. He glared at both Pretty Boy and Bone.

“I—are you sure everything’s okay?” Marnie asked.

“It’s fine sweetheart, just go get dressed.”

“Okay,” Marnie said, looking at them over Rock’s shoulder. He was looking at her and Pretty Boy sensed the tension in his shoulders until she turned and walked back towards the bedroom to get dressed.

“Who the fuck is she?” Bone asked, his gun still drawn.

“Fuck, hell. This isn’t the way I wanted you to find out.” Rock said, running a hand over his face as he turned to look at them. “I was going to talk to you and Tank about it this week. It’s just a really fucked up situation.”

“You need to start talking now Rock. Who the fuck is she and why is she in my territory without my knowledge.” Bone demanded. Following him into the living room where he waited for an answer from their friend.

“She’s Larry’s sister. He asked me to look after her,” Rock replied, glancing back towards the room. “but it’s complicated. I—fuck. I didn’t talk to you about bringing her here because she just showed up two months ago. She’d run away six months before that because—fuck.” Rock sat down heavily in the chair beside the fireplace and he looked frazzled. “Because her step-father tried to rape her, alright.” He finally burst out, sounding disgusted.

“Explain.” Bone commanded.

“She’s not even eighteen, and he thought that was old enough to force her. Fuck me. He was never all there and well, she’s—you saw.” He muttered, motioning towards the back room. Pretty Boy knew he meant the killer curves and the beauty she couldn’t hide. If he wasn’t so gone over Gabi, he’d likely have a hard-on for her. “She ran, but she didn’t have anywhere to go. When she showed up here she was in bad shape. Dirty, and she’d lost weight. I just couldn’t turn her away, but I wasn’t sure she’d even want to stay.”

“Why didn’t you come to me?” Bone demanded

“She just decided yesterday that she was going to stay, and I planned on talking to you about it. She’s turning eighteen in three weeks, but if her step-dad finds out where she is, he could come and try to take her. I just didn’t want to cause any trouble with all the Jackals bullshit we already deal with, I didn’t want to make you deal with more issues. He runs with the Dark Horse patched over MC as you know, and I knew he’d bring them into it. You have enough shit going on.” Rock said, looking torn.

“It’s just as likely to cause me issues now as it was when she showed up. Why do all you mother fuckers do this shit. First Mark, and now you? If you came to me, you know I would handle it. I don’t give a fuck about a patched over club getting bent out of shape. I do care about my men not coming to me with their fucking issues like they’re supposed to. What the fuck man? We thought you were our mole!” Bone roared.

“What?” Rock asked, anger boiling in his eyes as he glared at Bone. “You think I would betray the club? I would never do that. Not for any reason. I just thought I wouldn’t make this an issue until I was sure she was going to want to stay here. Hell, I’ve been sleeping on my couch, or at the clubhouse for weeks and that shit’s getting old. I was going to ask for one of the cabins near you that has two bedrooms this week when I told you about what was going on.”

“Yes, but since you were acting suspicious and shit. We thought we might have another Mark situation going down.” Bone said grimly.

“I even went to her mother’s place in Titus to check up on her. Strangely the girl’s mother seems to think she ran off with a boy and that she’s a little loose with her morals.” Pretty Boy added.

“Ha, that bitch knew her step-dad went after her. It’s part of the reason Marnie left. Her mother told her that she should be flattered that he wanted her. What the fuck is that man?” Rock asked, his eyes filled with hatred for Marnie’s mother.

“That’s seriously fucked up, but so is you keeping this from me.” Bone growled.

“I’m sorry.”

“I want to talk to her.” Bone said.

Rock stiffened, and Pretty Boy could almost see the dark anger that poured through him as he sat forward on the chair looking grim. Pretty Boy had a feeling that not all of Rock’s feelings for Marnie were platonic in nature.

“Why?” He demanded, his fist balled on the arms of the chair he sat in.

“Because she will be in my backyard and I want to talk to her.” Bone’s eyes narrowed as he spoke, realizing that Rock was about to get defiant.

“She is innocent and she has nothing to do with the leaks. Hell, she hasn’t left my house except for the few times at night that I let her take a walk with me.” Rock said, explaining why he’d seen him out at night looking suspicious over the last few months. He was likely afraid that they’d discover Marnie lurking in the bushes where he’d shoved her.

“I will be talking to her today and you’re the deciding factor in how that goes. You want me to let her stay, then I get to ask her some questions, understand.” Bone growled.

“It’s fine, Rock.” That soft voice said from the other side of the living room, making their gazing snap around to find the pixyish girl standing in the doorway, now wearing a pain of faded jeans and one of Rock’s t-shirts. If she hadn’t tucked the shirt in, it would likely hang to her knees it was so big on her. Her long dark hair fell to her hips, making her look soft and inviting. Not that he was interested in any woman who wasn’t Gabi, but damn she was gorgeous. He could see why Rock was so over protective of her innocence.

“Marnie, I will handle this. Go back to the bedroom.” Rock grunted, his glare moving from Pretty Boy to Bone before softening as it landed on Marnie again.

“No, I can talk to them. You said I might have to this week anyway after you told them I was here.” Marnie firmly stated, taking another step into the room. Rock didn’t look happy about it and he sent a warning look at Bone. Pretty Boy interrupted the look to mean, upset her and I will kill you, which was bold considering who Bone was. Yep, platonic feelings weren’t the only thing going on here. He recognized that dark look and he was damned sure Bone did too. It was one they’d both worn at some point when they were protecting their women.

“You’re Marnie?”

“Marnina actually, but everyone calls me Marnie.” She came further into the room and Rock stood up guiding her to the couch. Rock sat beside her, pulling her hand into his.

“You came here because you knew Rock was here?” Bone asked, his tone still slightly suspicious.

“Sort of. I kind of stopped at the diner and he saw me outside looking through the trash for food one evening close to sunset. He recognized me. At first, I wasn’t sure he was any different than my step-dad. I didn’t know Rock very well because I’d only met him a few times when I was much younger, and he brought me stuff or checked on me. He was kind to me and offered to bring me dinner outside when I refused to go anywhere with him. After I ate, he asked me where I was staying. When I didn’t say anything he offered to let me stay here. I wasn’t sure, but I still had my Taser, that’s how I got away from my step-dad. Knowing I could Taser him and get away, I agreed to come to his cabin. Only Rock just left me here and went to stay at the clubhouse. He told me that I couldn’t turn on the lights, but I could stay here for as long as I liked. I realize he wasn’t supposed to let me stay without your permission, but he was only trying not to scare me away. After Tyson trying to rape me I was really skittish. Please don’t punish him for taking care of me, I couldn’t live with myself if I got him into trouble,” Marnie finished, looking at Bone with big eyes that begged for forgiveness.

“Damn,” Bone muttered, rubbing his face with his hand. Pretty Boy knew that he was trying not to lose his shit after that story. How the hell was he supposed to punish Rock for something like this when he was just trying to protect someone who was innocent of any wrong doing.

“You pay her buy out from your cut, and she has to pretend she just showed up. No telling anyone she’s been here for months. You’re responsible like I am for Molly, capisce. There will be a vote too,” Bone finally grunted, earning a nod from Rock.

“Done.”

Pretty Boy wondered what Marnie would think if she knew she’d just been claimed as an old lady by Rock without her knowledge. Bone had sensed the same thing he had about Rock’s feelings for the young girl and he’d already given permission for him to put her becoming his old lady to a vote. He didn’t know what would come of this because it was obvious to him that Rock was in way over his head. All he could think as they said their goodbyes a few minutes later was a line from an old song he’d heard by Queen, ‘And another one bites the dust, another one bites the dust hey, hey’ yep, it seemed like the whole club was finding women they couldn’t live without.