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Ivy turning back up in my life was fucking with my head. Fifteen years without her by my side, yet it felt like only yesterday I sat back with a whore’s mouth wrapped around my dick while killing the love Ivy had for me. But the love I had for her had never died, and that was proving to be a mindfuck I didn’t have the time for. Not when I had club business to take care of.

Splashing water over my face in the clubhouse kitchen, I attempted to shake off the exhaustion that came from no sleep and trying like fuck to put regrets from years ago out of my head. They swam there, circling like hungry sharks desperate to feed on me, determined to dominate my attention.

Regret would choke the breath from me if I gave it space in my life, so I made a point not to. I didn’t dwell on shit, and I sure as hell didn’t spend time thinking about the bad decisions I’d made. But as much as I’d tried over the years, the regrets I carried over Ivy refused to ease up. I’d made promises to her and then I’d poured gasoline over them and lit the match myself.

The mindfuck of it all was that as much as I regretted how it went down, I still believed it was for the best. I was certain that if we’d continued on the path we were on, we would have destroyed each other. Our love may have been pure, but it was as fucked up and dysfunctional as it came.

I scrubbed a hand over my face and took a good look in the mirror. Thirty-nine years of hard living had etched itself into my skin, as had the exhaustion that staked its territory in my life. I was fucking tired of the battles I was fighting. That Storm was fighting. Shit had to get better soon; otherwise, what the hell was the point of it all?

Movement to my right caught my eye, and I turned to find Skylar entering the kitchen.

“You look like shit,” she said, her voice groggy from what I guessed to be too little sleep. Moving to the fridge, she grabbed out the milk before reaching for a mug and the coffee. “You want a coffee?”

I rested against the counter. “You gonna slip some poison in it?” She’d spent last night pissed at me, so I found it surprising we were even having this conversation. Skylar could hold a grudge for longer than anyone else I knew.

Her eyes met mine. “Now why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because deep down in that cranky soul of yours you do actually love me.”

“Mmm, let’s not get too crazy here, big brother. Love is a strong word.”

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at her. “Okay, what are you fishing for this morning?”

“What? I can’t offer to make my brother a coffee without having a reason?”

“You refused to even look at me last night you were that pissed off. And now you’re coming to me with a sense of fucking humour and an offer for coffee first thing in the morning before you’ve even fully woken up. I’m not buying it, Skye. What’s going on? What do you want?”

Her shoulders sagged a little. “Fine,” she muttered. “It’s not so much what I want, but what I need. I’ve got a tutorial on today that I really have to attend, and I’m figuring you’re going to try to block me from going.”

Fuck.

I scrubbed my face. “I don’t want you leaving the clubhouse. Can you get the notes from someone?”

She shook her head. “No, this isn’t about the notes. It’s about being involved in the discussion that’ll be going on today. I really need to be a part of it.” She hit me with the look that told me to expect a guilt trip to fall from her mouth next. “Besides, you’re paying for this course so I’d expect you to want me to be there for something this important. I mean, I know you don’t want me to fail.”

Jesus, she knew how to push my buttons. She always had. “I’ll find someone to take you.” At the smile that snaked across her face, I added, “Two things, though. One, if I’m going to put you at risk like this, I hope like hell your grades are good at the end of the semester or we’ll be having words. And two, this coffee you’re about to make me better be the best fucking coffee you’ve ever made me.” It was going to be a long fucking day while I worried about her safety.

Her smile morphed into a grin that screamed triumph. “Two things, King. One, when have you ever known me to make a shit cup of coffee? And two, my grades will make you fucking weep they are that good.”

Without waiting for my response, she turned away to make coffee. I watched her in silence, remembering the day she’d agreed to go to university. She’d fought me on it for a long time, but I’d refused to back down. Skylar was smart, and I wanted her to have the best life she could, so it was a no-brainer for me that I pushed her to study. The day that Silver Hell cunt beat her up, I stepped in and forced her to get her shit together. Between partying almost every night and drinking far too fucking much, she was slowly pissing her life away. The beating seemed to knock some sense into her, and it had made my fucking year when she’d finally said yes to uni.

Annika wandered through the kitchen doorway, tiredness etched into her face, a yawn escaping her mouth. She rubbed her eyes and mumbled, “I need some of that coffee, Skye.”

“Mummy!”

Rebecca screamed into the room so fast she ran smack into a cupboard before bursting into tears. I pulled her into my arms before her mother could and held her tightly while she buried her head into my neck, crying. Smoothing her hair, I attempted to distract her. “Did you read any of that book I gave you?”

Annika’s eyes met mine and she mouthed, “Thanks,” as she waited for Skylar to make her coffee.

Rebecca sobbed for another minute before lifting her head and slowly nodding. “I read some with Mummy last night.”

“Is it a good book?”

She kept nodding. “Yes.” Her face crumpled and more tears streamed down her face. “My arm really hurts, Uncle Zac. I think I broke it.” Her body shuddered, indicating a flare in her anxiety. Rebecca was an anxious kid at the best of times, but in moments of stress, her levels could rise fast.

I held her to me and exited the room that had grown noisy. Carrying her to my office, I closed the door behind us to create some quiet. Sitting, I rested her on my lap and met her gaze while taking hold of her arm. “It takes a lot to break a bone. I doubt yours is, but I’ll give it a good look, okay?”

She didn’t seem convinced, but she agreed with a quick nod. Her bottom lip quivered, though, so I quickly inspected her arm. The sooner I could confirm there wasn’t a break, the sooner I could get to work on calming her down.

Meeting her gaze again, I said, “Good news, it’s not broken.”

She wiggled in my lap, the look on her face telling me she remained unconvinced. “But it feels like it.”

I nodded. “I know it does, and I know you’re scared, but have I ever let you down?”

Exhaling a shaky breath, she shook her head. “No.”

I gently rubbed my hand up and down her forearm. “Do you know what will make it feel better?”

Hope flickered in her eyes. She’d stopped crying, but I knew the tears weren’t far away if her fear took over again. “What?”

In one swift movement, I stood, scooping her into my hold as I did. Heading back towards the kitchen, I said, “My chocolate milk.”

The hope in her eyes turned to excitement, and I knew that promise had done the trick. She scrunched a handful of my shirt in her little hand and said, “With extra chocolate like you did last time?”

I met her smile with one of my own and nodded. “Yeah, with extra chocolate. But this is between us, okay?” I never kept anything from Annika, but I liked Rebecca to think I did because it drew her closer to me, and that was a place I always wanted her to be. Close as fuck so I could always keep her safe.

Her smile grew and she nodded enthusiastically while leaning in close and whispering, “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

I cleared everyone from the kitchen and made her a hot chocolate with extra white choc chips melted into it and plenty of chocolate powder sprinkled on top, all served in her favourite Winnie the Pooh mug I kept here for her. We sat together at the table while she drank it, and I ignored the text that sounded from my phone so I could give her my full attention.

Glancing towards where the sound came from, she asked, “Are you going to check your message?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m busy.”

Her forehead wrinkled as she frowned. “No you’re not. You’re not doing anything.”

I leaned toward her. “I’m spending time with you, which means I’m very busy.”

“But the message might be important.”

I shifted the lock of hair that had fallen across her face and hooked it behind her ear. “There isn’t any message to check that could be more important than hanging out with you. When we’re done here, I’ll check it, but until then, I don’t want you to worry about that message again. You got it?”

Nodding, she blasted me with a smile. “Got it!”

“Good. Now, I want you to tell me all about the trampolining party you guys went to the other day.”

“I already told you about it, silly!”

“I know, but I wanna hear all about it again.”

She looked at me like I was the silliest person on the planet before sighing. “Okayyy, but you’re probably gonna get bored.”

I settled back in my seat and crossed my arms. “Never.” I jerked my chin at her. “Now start talking, little miss.”

She giggled. I didn’t call her that very often, but I knew she liked it when I did, so I reserved it for when I was working hard to take her mind off something. It did the trick this morning. Ten minutes later, we were laughing over the funny stuff that happened to her at the party, her sore arm and anxiety completely forgotten.

This was the shit I lived for and was the reason why I’d bury Tony Romano for even thinking about fucking with my family and my club.

I leant back in my chair and rubbed my temples. A headache pounded against my skull, interfering with my ability to think. The painkillers I’d taken after finishing my conversation with Rebecca had started to kick in, but still, the headache lived and breathed pain that I didn’t fucking need. Looking up at Hyde, I asked, “Where are we at with Tony?”

“Our guys are in Melbourne but are yet to get eyes on him. His men are busy, but he’s nowhere to be seen.”

“I’ll talk to Ivy again. See if she’ll share more information.”

Hyde pressed his lips together, concern clear in his eyes. “You want me to do that? Might be safer.”

I grunted. “For me or for Ivy?”

“Yeah, not fucking sure at this point.”

I contemplated it but decided we had more of a shot at Ivy talking to me than anyone else. “I’ll do it. You keep on top of our guys in Melbourne and let me know if they find him. And call Scott Cole. Tell him to get his men ready. I have a feeling we’re gonna need them on this.”

He nodded. “Will do.”

Turning my attention to Devil, I said, “I need you with Skylar today. She’s got a uni class on that she can’t miss, so I need you to make sure she’s safe there.”

“I’m on it,” he agreed.

I rubbed my temples some more. “And don’t fucking let her talk you into anything other than that, Devil. My sister has a knack for asking for the fucking moon and getting it.”

His lips twitched. “You forget I’ve played a round of that with Skylar, King. She’s not getting anything out of me today.”

“Good.” I pushed my chair back and stood. “Fucking hell, is the fucking air conditioning working?” I felt like I was burning from the inside out.

Nitro frowned. “You okay, brother?”

“Yeah, just fucking hot. Get someone to look at the air con,” I barked, irritated as fuck. Between the heat and my headache, I could hardly keep a straight fucking thought.

“King, it’s not fucking hot today. It’s raining and cold. You sure you’re not running a fever?” Devil said.

I scowled at him. “I’m fine.” Turning to Nitro, I said, “You good to deal with Marx this morning?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I’ll leave in about twenty to take care of that.”

“You want someone with you?”

“No, I’ve got it covered.”

“Good.” I didn’t want to pull anyone off what they were already doing.

Hyde opened the office door. “Text me if you need me.”

The three of them left me alone with my headache and my thoughts. If I knew anything, it was that my headache was going to get worse before it got better. This fucked-up situation we were in pretty much guaranteed that.

“She’s not eating much,” Winter advised me an hour and a half later when I met him outside the room we had Ivy in. I intended to keep her there until I’d dealt with her husband.

“Keep an eye on that and let me know if she still refuses food later.”

I entered the room to find her sitting on the bed staring out the window. Her back was to me, but it seemed she could still sense my presence as easily as she could fifteen years ago.

“What do you want now, King?” The flat tone of her voice didn’t surprise me. Ivy hated being confined in small spaces. It stemmed from the horrific childhood she had when her biological parents sold her for weekends at a time to men who locked her up and abused her.

“Why aren’t you eating?”

She remained silent and still for a few moments, simply staring out the window. Then she turned slowly and found my gaze. “Why do you care?”

“Just answer the question.”

Her eyes narrowed at me. “No.”

“No?”

She stood and came to me, stopping a couple of feet away. “I’m not answering your question until you answer mine. Why do you care whether I eat or not?”

I scrubbed my face. “Fuck, Ivy, you’re still as fucking argumentative as you were years ago.”

“And you’re still an asshole.”

“I never tried to change. Now tell me why you aren’t eating. Are you just trying to be a pain in my ass or are you not feeling well?”

“Did you ever consider that maybe I’m just not hungry? That you kidnapping and locking me up has killed my appetite.”

This fucking conversation was the last thing I had patience for. I decided to cut to the chase. “Where’s Tony?”

My question caught her off guard, and she frowned. “What do you mean?”

I exhaled harshly. “I mean, where the fuck is he? He’s not anywhere he should be.”

Still frowning, she said, “As far as I know, he should be either at home or at work.”

She appeared to be telling the truth, but my gut twisted with doubt over her honesty again. If she were anyone else, I’d push her a lot fucking harder.

I warred with myself over which path to take to get the information I needed. In the end, I went with my gut.

Gripping her neck, I walked her to the wall and held her against it, ignoring the shock in her eyes. “It’s been a long time for us, Ivy, since we’ve spent any time together, and I can’t fucking tell anymore if you’re being honest with me or if you’re lying through your teeth.” I gripped her harder. “What I can’t figure out is why you’d lie to me.” Pressing myself against her, I continued to squeeze her neck and bent my mouth to her ear. “Are you lying to me?”

Her fingers clawed at my hand, trying to pull it from her neck. Her breaths weren’t restricted, but my grip was painful enough to get her full attention and understanding that I wasn’t fucking around here. When I eased the pressure a fraction, she coughed and croaked out, “I’m not fucking lying to you! Let me go!”

I kept hold of her but eased the pressure a little more so she could speak without coughing. “Not until I know for sure what the fuck is going on.”

Her eyes burned with hate as she spat, “You wanna know what the fuck is going on here, King?”

“What?”

“Your fucked-up kink is what’s going on. Are you trying to get off while interrogating me?” When I didn’t respond straight away, she kept pushing. Taunting. “You’re just like your daddy. Tell me, King, have you succumbed fully yet? Have you turned into the kind of man your daddy would have been proud of?”

I clenched my jaw as her questions infected the air around us. What Ivy didn’t know was that since her, I’d embraced both the darkness his genes had given me, and my kink. I never took it to the extremes my father had, but I was brutal when it came to sex. Women knew what to expect—I never hid my desires—and if they didn’t want the shit I wanted, I never went back for more.

I’d accepted my needs a long fucking time ago, and chose to own my depravity rather than fight it. This was a button she could no longer push.

With one last squeeze of her neck, I let her go. “That’s not gonna work today, Ivy. I’m not the man you once knew. Not anymore.”

She either didn’t know anything further about Tony’s whereabouts or she wasn’t going to share it with me. There was no point continuing down this path. I’d find another way to get this information.

As I walked towards the door, she called out, “So that’s it, King? You come charging in here demanding answers and assaulting me, and then you just leave without another word? Without getting what you want?”

I glanced back at her. She appeared agitated that I was walking away. It reminded me of how shit used to go down between us. Me trying like fuck to avoid a fight, her throwing shit in my face, drawing the fight out of me. And here we were, still doing that same fucking dance.

Stalking back to her, I grabbed her throat again, pissed off at the attitude blazing from her. She might not have been able to provoke me before, but she sure as fuck had now. Playing her games wasn’t something I ever enjoyed doing. “Let’s get one thing straight—I ask the questions, you provide the answers. End of fucking story. And when I’m done with your husband, you’ll go back to your life and I’ll go back to mine.” I shoved my face closer to hers. “End of fucking story.”

The only fucking way to get through this was to throw that wall up between us that should never have been pulled down in the first place.

I exited the room and didn’t stop moving until I’d left the building. Wild energy engulfed me. Energy I didn’t know what the fuck to do with. My chest felt like it would explode and my fists craved violence. The fucking worst of it was that I couldn’t figure out my thoughts. They ran through my head so damn fast I could hardly latch onto them, and when I did, they conflicted with each other. This situation was stirring up a lot of shit from the past—shit I’d buried so fucking deep that I never wanted to confront again.

Fuck.

My phone rang, dragging me from my hell.

Devil’s name flashed across the screen. I swiped to answer it and barked, “Yeah?”

I listened to what he had to say as parts of my body I didn’t even fucking know existed knotted into balls of tension. When he finished, I roared, “Motherfucker! I’ll be there soon.”

“What’s wrong?” Annika asked, joining me outside.

I shoved my phone in my pocket and tried like fuck to contain my anger. It was a pointless fucking exercise, though, because nothing right now would do that. “Devil and Skylar have been in a crash. Some asshole rammed his car into them. Devil’s okay, but Skylar’s not.”

Her eyes widened with worry. “Oh God, what, King? How bad is she?”

“Devil’s not sure, but she’s conscious and still being a smartass, so my guess is it’s not life-threatening. But she’s in a lot of pain and Devil is pretty sure she’s got broken bones.” I raked my fingers through my hair as I forced some of the breath I’d been holding out. “I’m heading to the hospital now. Do me a favour and stay here. I don’t need anyone else to be worrying about today, okay?”

She nodded. “Let me know how she is as soon as you know.”