Page 19 of Chains

I can’t deal with this right now, her stowing away in my room will have to wait until we get through with Church this morning. I want to know what progress has been made so far in discovering the whereabouts of the fucker who attacked Zoe. I refuse to call him her husband any longer.

Without bothering to dress, I stride to my bathroom totally naked, but when I get in there, I lock the door just in case Sin thinks of following me. Within ten minutes, I’m showered and dressed in clean low-rise jeans, a gray T-shirt, and my cut, before I go back into my bedroom.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding when I see Sin isn’t in my room, but she has left the scrap of clothing she must’ve been wearing last night, which means she walked out of here stark naked. That’s all I need for the whole clubhouse to see her leaving my room.

I shake my head, there’s nothing I can do about that now. My phone dings; it was a message from Kick telling everyone to be in Church in ten minutes.

I look at the rumpled bed before I leave, a feeling of guilt washes over me, but I push it down, and make a mental note to change the bedding sometime today, before I lift my head and head out to the meeting.

I’ve been back at the club now for a few weeks, and I’ve not been able to see Zoe yet, being too busy with shit I have to do for the club. After the brothers from the Dallas chapter left, they unfortunately left Sin behind, and a few other sweet butts for a couple of our own, who wanted a change of scenery

The officers in the club are all seated around the table. Being the Road Captain, I get a seat at the table; waiting for the meeting to begin, the rest of the members standing around wherever they find room, when Kick finally enters, ignoring the ribbing he’s getting from the other members for being late.

I force my thoughts back to the here and now. My issues with Zoe can wait until after Church. After all, Lexie had gotten Zoe to move in with her, at least until she’s had time to recover. And she won’t be going anywhere. At least, for the time being.

Now this issue with Sin and me sleeping together, having the potential to ruin everything with Zoe, was doing my head in.

I’ve been hanging on by a thread, and anything that happens now is liable to make me explode. I haven’t been to see her in the last few weeks since I’d been back in Briar Creek. Not because I didn't want to, but because I wasn't sure how she would react to my presence.

Sitting down next to Tiny, the club’s VP, Kick bangs the gavel a few times.

“Okay, let’s get things started,” Kick calls out, and the room goes quiet. “I’ve just gotten off the phone with Kon, and that’s why I was late. Not what you assholes were thinking.” He adds by way of an explanation, with a smirk on his face.

“Anyway, Kon has eyes on that Caleb fucker. He was in Mexico recently, hanging around the villa of Jose Ramos. Seems the cartel has taken him in. Either that, or he’s been working with them from the beginning. I’m inclined to believe the former.”

“Fuck me.” I mutter to myself, ignoring the chatter that’s going on around me when Kick imparts that bit of news.

“How did we not know until now that he was working for the fucking cartel?” I ground out, trying to keep a handle on my swirling emotions. How the hell did we let him get away?

Kick’s eyes bore into mine, and I can tell he’s not happy with me cutting in.

“We still don’t know for sure…” he begins, but I couldn’t help the snort that escapes after he’d spoken those words. I need to get out of here, I have to find Lexie and find out what’s going on with Zoe.

I was happy that Zoe was staying with Lexie at her place since she had her own apartment away from club property which Kick had paid for, he's been looking after Lexie since she was a teenager, and Storm, her brother was in jail.

Lexie refused to be anywhere near my brother Riggs, and she readily accepted Kick’s offer to pay for her place, albeit reluctantly, which had cut my brother to the quick.

She decided not to go after someone who wasn't ready for what she had to offer. I mean, what did he expect after rejecting Lexie first?

I would have suggested Zoe come live with me, but I doubt after everything, she would be interested in that. So, I would have to be satisfied with her, at least being close by, living with Lexie.

I’d tuned out the details of the meeting until I heard my name being called by Kick’s irritated voice.

“Hey, earth to asshole. Where the fuck you at, brother?”

Returning my attention to the room, I see multiple pairs of eyes directed at me. Clearing my throat, I sit up straight in my chair.

“Just thinking about some stuff, Prez. Nothing important. Sorry, I’m present now.” The lie rolls off my tongue with ease. The answering smirks on my brothers' faces told me what they believed I was thinking about. They must’ve seen a naked Sin leaving my room this morning. Great, that’s all I need for it to get back to Zoe.

“You better fuckin’ be. This meeting is about your girl, after all.” He grouched.

Properly chastised, I opened my mouth to tell him Zoe wasn’t my girl, but closed it again. What would be the point of denying it? She’d been my girl since I’d seen her walk into that party all those years ago. Even though I was too blind and too wet behind the ears to see it then.

Just the thought of her being hurt to where she almost died made my blood boil all over again. Riggs elbows me in the ribs hard enough that I almost double over in pain. Asshole.

“Ky, how’s things at the gym?” Kick inquires.

Ky, his eldest kid who’s a part time MMA fighter, beamed. He’d opened Fitness Fuel recently, a gym where the brothers could come to keep in shape since we don’t have equipment here at the clubhouse, and it’s too much of a hike to Cullville just to attend their gym. And also letting other MMA fighters in the area come in to use the gym to train prior to a fight, since there’s a full-blown boxing ring in the middle of the gym.

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