Page 8 of Tempting Fate

With his succinct, and brutally honest, description of our president aired in a voice loud enough for everyone waiting for Brutus to call us into the chapel to hear, I expect some of the old-timers to kick up a fuss. Loyalty is a big thing in an MC, and even though the VP patch now sits on the left side of my cut, there’s some who remain displeased about my promotion. Despite the fact I should be president, not Brutus, the naysayers could use this conversation to push for a re-vote.

Strangely, all Slash’s pronouncement receives is a few murmurs of agreement.

We exchange looks, then lapse into silence.

Maybe we’re not the only ones growing frustrated with Brutus’ latest antics?

Slash blows smoke in my face, and I do my best not to give him the reaction he’s seeking. Namely, snatching the cigarette back and sucking down the calming nicotine that I’m trying so hard to avoid. If I do that, he will tattletale to my woman and watch her ream me a new one for breaking my promise to her.

It’s becoming a bit of a joke around here—my inability to say no to Lily.

She casually mentions how much she dislikes the smell on me, and the next day, I’m doing my best to quit. Of course, my brothers can’t leave well enough alone, and just let me get on with it.

That’s not how our brotherhood works.

Nope. We much prefer to take the piss out of each other.

The moment I announced I was giving up smoking after fifteen years, suddenly everyone in the MC became a smoker. Noxious clouds hang in every room as they all puff away. I’ve been offered more cigarettes than one man can possibly smoke in a lifetime. Even my dad, the ex-president who was forced aside while he delayed lung cancer’s victory, is in on the gag. He’s gone as far as to buy me a pack for the first time in my life.

It doesn’t matter.

They can laugh it up all they want.

If it’s in my power, Lily gets what Lily wants.

She’s been through more than enough bullshit in her twenty-three years of life. It’ll take more than some good-natured but malicious mocking and sabotage from my brothers to force me to give her a reason to frown again.

“Five minutes.” Slash’s father, Angelis, sticks his head out of the chapel where he’s been huddled with Brutus and a couple other old timers while the rest of us waited to be called in.

With my recent promotion to VP, I should be in there with them. I would be in there, except Brutus locked the doors before I could enter. As much as my pride rankled and my sense of justice flared, I decided it wasn’t worth kicking up a stink since the pang in my gut warned me that that was what he wanted from me.

Angelis peers at me, then at his son, and a strange expression flits across his face before he quickly schools his features into something more neutral. “Phones will needa go in the box for this one… and it’s gonna take some time. Make sure you’ve made ya calls before we start.”

Angelis has barely finished speaking and I’ve already dragged my phone out of the inner pocket of my cut. With a quick touch that speaks to years of practice, I open my mobile without looking and call my woman. Her phone rings five times, and I’m about to end the call and send her a text instead, when she answers.

“Zeke,” Lily whispers down the line. “Stuck in a meeting. Can’t talk. Love you.”

She ends the call, and I pull the silent device from my ear to stare at it. With a shake of my head, I type out a warning that I will probably be a little late to escort her home, so she should wait for me at her office.

Lily’s boss, Gabriel Abaddon, is related by blood to the president of the US mother chapter, so I know she’s safe under his supervision. If it came to it, he’d take a bullet or a life to protect her. Which may come in handy if Lily discovers what I’ve been hiding from her for the past two weeks before I can cook us a nice dinner and confess tonight.

I might be the one needing protection… from my woman.

“She hung up on you?” Lily’s cousin, Toker, interrupts my internal worrying with a chuckle. He grins, waiting for me to respond to his cheeky goading. I press send on my texts, then regard him with an impassive stare. When I don’t reply, Toker raises his voice so the others can hear, and mocks me in a babyish tone. “Someone needs to g-wive Venom a widdle hug… widdle Cherub isn’t taking his c-walls.”

Ignoring the way everyone laughs at his wisecrack, I run my gaze over my phone’s wallpaper, taking in the smile that curls Lily’s generous lips and the happiness that lights up her expression as we posed together for an impromptu selfie in bed a few months ago. Her blonde hair is a mess. My arm is behind her head, wrapped around her shoulders to hold her in place since she’d tried to slip away from me by claiming morning breath. The bright blue eyes that I adore, so full of life and love, are fixed on me instead of the camera.

Lily looks at me like I hold the answers to every question in the universe.

It’s intoxicating.

Sustaining.

I allow the contentment I felt that morning to flood my body, then I slide the device back into my pocket.

We’re solid.

She’s stronger than ever.

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