Page 26 of Wait For Me

“You heard the man. Knock it the fuck off,” Reaper added his authority to his own men. “Taco, Blue, get Striker the fuck out of here. Someone grab his bitch and get her ass out of here too. Find out what Striker wants, might need to put her ass on a bus back home.”

“What?” The woman shrieked. “You can’t send me home on a fucking bus!”

“That settles it, don’t care what Striker wants now. Get her ass on the first bus back home. Ain’t gonna have some bitch here causing trouble with other clubs instead of settling shit with her man privately.”

“I got her,” Striker huffed at his club brothers as they all started to make their way out of our club’s designated area.

“Sorry ‘bout this,” Tripp groaned to the Stoneridge Raider’s President.

“Don’t fucking worry about. You know it isn’t a rally if someone doesn’t fuck the wrong woman and start a damn brawl.” Reaper joked. “You got a sweet girl there, Tripp. Keep a watch on her, yeah? If my own guys were eyeing her up as she passed through, chances are there will be far worse ready to pounce if given the chance.”

“She’s with her brother right now,” Tripp explained. “We’ll keep watch.”

“Star!” I heard Kip yelling as he pushed past us. “Star?” It was more of a question then. “She isn’t here?” Kip was frantic as he spoke.

“What do you mean? She was just with you,” Tripp asked, the tension in his stance evident.

“Yeah, but I fucked up,” he admitted.

“What the fuck did you do?”

“I was angry with her for not keeping in better touch with me and when she got smart…” his voice trailed off as Kip looked away, not willing to face his father’s wrath for whatever he’d done.

“When she got smart, you what?” Tripp growled at his son.

“I - fuck! I mentioned that we always knew where she was because the fucking tracker and the tail she had.”

“You stupid motherfucker!” Tripp yelled at his son. It was the first time I’d ever heard him say a harsh word to him in all the years I had known their family. Tripp took off running with most of us behind him. Reaper led the way, so that we’d know which way she had come in. When we made it to the parking lot designated for cages, there were familiar taillights far off in the distance. Worse, there was a crushed tracker at our feet in the lot.

“FUCKING HELL!” Tripp yelled into the night!

“You and you!” Our VP pointed at me and Kip. “Get the fuck back to camp and do not open your mouths until I come to speak to you.”

“My baby’s out there on her own now while we’re in the middle of shit with The Violent Order.” The grief-laden admission hurt worse than the beating I’d just taken. Sure, Star was his daughter, but I couldn’t help realizing that my own stupid actions had, at the very least, started a series of events that led to her running from us once again.

Nothing more was said until we all returned to the inner sanctum of our site, far from prying ears and eyes. Then, all hell broke loose, albeit quietly.

“You’re lucky I don’t take that fuckin’ cut permanently!” Tripp managed to spit through teeth that were clenched so hard, it was a miracle none of them broke.

“And you,” Mack turned toward his nephew, Kip. “What the fuck were you thinking? Did you think she’d thank us for tracking her this whole time when she thought she was exploring the world independently?”

“I’m sorry,” Kip whined as he held his head in his hands and rocked back and forth. Normally, my fellow club brother was hardcore as they come, but losing his sister in this way, and knowing it was his own doing, had broken him.

It was Mack who turned on me next. “I thought you wanted a second chance with my niece?”

“I did. I do.”

“Then what the fuck were you doing balls deep in some other man’s woman. Let’s not forget, it was in fucking public where anyone could see it happening.”

“I don’t know!” I yelled back at him. “She never came home! I’ve been waiting a fucking year! Celibate for a fucking year! It got to me. For a few minutes tonight, I gave up hope that I’d ever see her again and I just wanted to be numb in every way.”

“Hope it was fucking worth it,” Mack didn’t even raise his voice that time. “I know it wasn’t though. I’ll tell you what,” he hesitated as his eyes met with Tripp’s. “We’re not doling out any punishments for this. I think both of you will suffer enough with your own guilt.” He nodded his head once, as if approving his own sage advice. “But if anything happens to my niece while she’s out there on her own without having us at her back, I will flay the skin from your very bones and feed it to you. That goes for both of you, dumbasses.”

“Fuck!” Kip yelled into the night sky, the word became a sound of anguish and pain that I felt deep in my own soul. We had both fucked up tonight. She had come to us, to the club, to her family, only to see that nothing had changed, and we were still betraying her trust. The chances of her ever coming back home now were probably slim to fucking none.

“Where in the hell is Mike? He was supposed to keep trailing her,” Tripp called out to whoever was listening.

“Prospect’s getting his head tended to. Someone knocked him out cold in the melee, and the kid got his bell rung right good. Found him head down on a sharp fucking rock.” Grady turned cold eyes my way. Yeah, it wasn’t just Tripp and Mack I’d have to deal with for being part of what sent their princess away again. I’d have a whole line of brothers waiting to give me what I deserved and then some. And I’d let them because I’d fucked it all up again with my impatience. Just a few more minutes, that’s all I had to hold out for, and then I could have claimed the woman who had been haunting my dreams for more than a year.

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