Page 54 of Feint

I realized I probably didn’t have much time left alone here. So, I kept exploring. There was another bedroom down the hall from the one I was in, missing its door as well, but this one was where he slept for sure. Extra clothes for him in a dresser, a nightstand with a lamp. Man, he was set up compared to the room I was in. But still, nothing could help me escape that I could see.

I sighed and walked back to my room and looked out the window. It was bluntly obvious I wasn’t in the city anymore. There was dirt and farms around us that stretched into the mountains.

How far did he take me?!

I started to feel sick to my stomach as I sat on the edge of the bed.

“I want to go home.” I hiccuped and felt my eyes fill up with tears when I heard the front door close. I quickly lay down, facing the wall, trying to hide my sniffles.

His footsteps paused at the edge of my bed. “Shouldn’t cry yet, girl. You don’t know if you have a reason to. But we will find out soon enough if you will.”

I refused to look at him. I just reached down and grabbed the blanket and pulled it up over my face. I kept quiet until I heard him walk back into the living room and turn his TV back on. As I silently cried into the covers, I wished Kordell knew what was happening, the one person who loved me.

Kordell… please… I need you… Help me.

CHAPTER 22

KORDELL

Things had beenon the up-and-up since I’d reclaimed our product and sealed the deal with the Kkangpae. Being the VP brought a whole new round of perks, which included my own office space and a private house of my choosing and my pick of assistants from the members to do what I needed to be done, along with the new responsibilities. It didn’t hurt seeing the sergeant of arms moping around like a kicked little bitch either. But as much shit as he had given me leading up to the decision, I was surprised he just took losing without making a big deal about it. But, shit, I wasn’t going to complain. The better man had won, and he had accepted it.

I was busy getting things on track that Damien had struggled to stay on top of while the VP spot was vacant. From reaching out to past business clients, to managing members’ concerns and needs before they got to Damien, to handling a lot of the club’s day-to-day issues. It was a lot different from being the enforcer, but this kind of difference was exactly what I had wanted. Leadership suited me, in my opinion.

But I really hadn’t seen Rosalie enough since my promotion, and I was getting overdue for a little visit. I knew things had been busy for me, so I wasn’t making much of an effort to reach outor go down. Maybe she was mad at me because she hadn’t sent a good night text last night, something she did on a regular basis.

But when I woke up and saw that I didn’t have a good morning one either, I decided to give her a call. Let her know I’d be coming down to see her this weekend so she could stop pouting now. But when I gave her a call, she sent me to voicemail. I chuckled to myself. She was really that pissed, hmm? Well, I’d have to give her something else to focus all of that angry energy on. I opened our messages and started typing.

Kordell

Mama, it’s adorable when you act all upset. I know I haven’t been giving you enough attention lately. Don’t worry, I’ll be down this weekend, so you’d better be ready for me and all the dirty things I plan on doing with you to help you get rid of this little attitude you have.

I hit Send and tucked my phone back into my pocket. I was sure I’d have a response from her soon from that message. But I needed to get through some of this paperwork that had piled up the past couple of months. I stretched and drank some coffee while I started to flip through the stack of papers. The clubhouse had gone into debt to a few different places, and my first act as VP was going to get us out of them. Then, our financial health as a club would grow, and within a year or two, I could convince Damien to start an LA chapter that I should head as president. My plans were all coming together. Vice president of a tiny club up in the country was never my dream after I met Rosalie. Turned out, the city had grown on me. And I wanted the BLVDs to stake a claim there.

That was when Wilder knocked on the door to the office I was sitting in.

“Hey, VP? Dang, still not used to calling you that! How’s it feeling, by the way? Do you feel different? Like wearing a warm, clean pair of socks after riding in soaking wet ones all day?” He walked over to the small couch in the room and tossed himself on it, slinging his arms along the back, and he looked around the room. “You should change up the decor here. It’s a little outdated.”

I shook my head. The kid always talked a million miles a minute; he could never just chill. Which was why he was such a good fit for road captain. He reminded myself of a younger me, but much more outgoing. He was hungry to prove himself in the MC, a trait we needed more of here. I wouldn’t mind taking him with me when I started a new branch—if he could shut the fuck up.

“Did you actually need something, Wilder? Or were you coming in to knock the old VP’s decoration taste?” I looked up at him and leaned back in my office chair, cracking my neck. I had gotten stiff from looking down at all this paperwork for a while.

“OH! Shit, that’s right, my bad! Something came for you this morning. No address, though. It was taped to the front door with your title on it. Kinda weird.”

He reached into his interior jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope and held it to me. I took it and turned it over. He was right, all it had wasVice Presidentwritten on the front of it.

Who the hell left this? Too light to be a bomb or anything living that could kill me.

“All right. I’ll get to it in a minute.”

I really needed to get through this folder first, so I tossed it onto the desk and started to get back to my paperwork, but the road captain didn’t move.

“Was there anything else?” I asked him, glancing over in his direction again.

“Oh, nah! My bad! I got your bikes all worked on and cleaned up, and the sarge is particularly happy today, which is always weird so I just needed a couple of minutes away from his humming as he packs to leave this morning for his trip. It was really getting under my skin.” He sarcastically itched his arm and rolled his eyes before standing up and walking out the door. “Catch you later, VP!”

I thought about what he had said. The sergeant was happy? Weird. He had been pissed since the promotion, just keeping his head down and being a grumpy bitch the last few days. I would check on him later, but for now, I shrugged and rolled my shoulders, getting back to what I had been doing.

It wasn’t until an hour and a half later when I finally reached back over to the envelope. It was weird-feeling, almost like something soft was inside. And it was light. I questioned if there was really anything in there for a moment. I slid my finger under the seal to open it, but when I flipped the flap up, I froze. The inner side of the envelope had a sticker of the Wayward Suns MC on it. I tensed, warily opening the envelope’s contents out onto my desk.

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