Page 44 of Acid

“Shouldn’t have gotten cocky,” Perrie says with a hint of humor, and I look at her, narrowing my eyes. She grins, but it soon fades when I raise a brow, and her eyes widen before she scrambles to get up. I quickly chase after her, John's laughter echoing in the gym.

The brothers banging on the table snaps me back, and I blink.

Fuck, I miss her. I miss her so much I can’t take it, but between Andrea and my past….

“Good. We have a fun run next month, so we need to start going to local shops and trying to raise funds for the children’s hospice downtown, and the sister one in Texas. The Devils and the Untamed are also taking part,” Steal announces, getting my attention, and everyone nods before Piston adds, “Natalie has connections in the school, so she can get the word out.”

Steal grins. “Perfect.”

His grin drops when Piston drawls, “She can also get Cass to get people involved at the hospital….”

Steal mumbles, “Fucking perfect,” and we all chuckle. He gives us all the finger before asking, “How is Natalie doing, brother?”

I smile at the concern in my prez’s voice for my sister-in-law before Piston admits, “She’s gone to Adam’s gravesite the past two days in a row. Cam sent me their location on her first day back at school.”

My smile drops. Poor fucking Nat; she’s never going to stop blaming herself for his death.

Anchor speaks up, "The girl wears her heart on her sleeve. She feels guilty, but she has nothing to be guilty about. It could have been any of us in that guardhouse, and we all would have left its safety to get to her. She’s family, brother.”

Piston smiles and replies, “I know, and deep down, she does as well. She’s just struggling a little, and going to his grave, talking to him, it helps….”

“Was it just me, or did she look like she had glitter in her hair this morning?” Pitbull asks, and Piston grins wide, and I drop my head.

Fuck’s sake….

“Ah fuck, what did you do, brother?” I ask with a groan.

In college, Nat was standing in front of a shelf, and the idiot decided to shake it, not realizing it held cans of paint and glitter. Safe to say she fucking jumped when the whole lot covered her, and until last month, she believed she knocked into it.

Piston holds his hands up and confesses, “Nothing…she came home two days ago fed up. The kids were extra excited after summer break, and she was covered in glitter and couldn’t get the stuff off. It turns out she knocked into the shelf, and the whole fucking tub of glitter fell on her, and I’m not talking about a small tub either, I’m talking about a paint can sized tub.” We all laugh.

“Fucking woman is clumsy as shit,” Steal mumbles.

That’s a fucking statement and a half.

The Untamed Hell Fire’s women love to play jokes, but Nat doesn’t even mean to, and her clumsiness makes her even worse than them.

Shaking his head, Steal looks down, murmuring, "Alright, that is everything on the agenda, money-wise.” I sigh and look down. I wonder if I got on my knees, Cass would give up Perrie’s address.

“Ready?” Steal says and I look up, confused as to why he’s not banged the gavel, only to frown when Piston stands.

He looks at everyone, our eyes briefly connecting before he says, “Two days ago, my wife messaged Steal,” he looks at our prez, “something I’m still pissed about, by the way, especially the two kisses at the end.” Steal grins, not at all bothered, before Piston clears his throat and looks at me. Guilt shines in his dark green eyes as he admits, “Perrie doesn’t want you involved.”

What the….

I sit up straight and demand, “Involved with what?”

He winces and says, “Involved with the person that left her a threatening note on her car windshield.” Anger like no fucking other consumes me as I stand quickly, causing Pitbull to move swiftly toward me, knocking my chair out of the way.

Okay, so I throw a chair in church once, just fucking once, and suddenly I’m labeled a chair thrower? I’d just found out someone was threatening my sister-in-law, my fucking father at that, so in my defense, the chair kind of had it coming.

Pitbull grabs my arm as Piston puts his hand up and states, “If you get involved, she’s threatened to buy a gun and shoot the fucker herself; you need to sit this one out.”

I growl, “Like fuck am I sitting this one out, Elijah….” using his legal name so he knows I’m serious.

Whoever left that note is dead, fucking dead!

Piston’s throat bobs before he admits, “Andrea told Perrie you got her pregnant.”

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