Page 40 of Hollywood

“No,” I sighed. “But I get that this isn’t fully an MC fight. My point is that Winston is my brother the same as all of you and there’s no fucking way I’m not going to check on him.”

“We get it,” Rocky assured me.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t in a listening mood. I stormed out of the meeting room and through the bar, with all eyes on me as I made a total fucking spectacle of myself.

Maverick and Gio were on my heels, they called after me as I made my way out into the cool, starry night. “Man, hold the fuck up!” Gio grumbled to my back before he caught up with me. “Stop acting like a fucking asshole.”

“Who says I’m acting?” I shrugged off his touch and spun to face him.

Maverick placed his hands on my shoulder. “Bro, you think you’re the first brother to have it so bad for a woman that you’re motivated by pure blind rage?” He let out a bitter laugh. “You’re not.”

“Fuck you,” I spat out.

“I’m serious. The reason we, the Steel Demons MC, are still here, is because we’re smart about it. When one brother is out of his mind in love, the others step up to make sure we don’t damage the MC beyond repair. We’re here,” he motioned to himself and Gio, “to make sure your back is protected while you act like a mad asshole.”

Gio laughed. “He’s right. You can either let the MC help you, which is what we fucking do, or end up dead or back behind bars, which will leave Winter and Winston deader that fucking dead. Feel me?”

His words hit the intended mark. I nodded as I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Yeah, okay. I hear you. I can’t let Winston die.” Neither of us would ever recover if that happened.

“I ain’t suggesting that, man.” Gio gripped my fist and brought it to his chest. “We’re saying that we’re here. We have your back. Go and act a fucking fool but don’t go alone.”

Maverick smacked me on the back. “We’re coming with you.”

The tension I didn’t realize I was holding left my shoulders. “I appreciate it.” More than I could say in that moment. “Let’s go. I’m pretty sure someone was there with Winston when he called Winter.” I wasn’t even sure if his place had been wrecked and there was only one way to find out.

“We got your back, brother.” Maverick clapped me on the back and strode to his bike.

“But not in the prison sense,” Gio added with a smile.

“Asshole,” I grumbled and jumped on my bike, my mind focused on getting to Winston as quickly as possible. I had a bad feeling that I couldn’t shake, and I pushed my bike harder, shaving a few minutes off the trip.

“Wait the fuck up Hollywood.” Gio called out, hot on my trail.

I didn’t slow down and I didn’t wait, couldn’t when I saw that Winston’s door was half open. “Win?” I burst into the house without regard to my own fucking safety, looking around the dark hall and living room. “Winston!”

“Here,” he choked out around a cough.

I looked around the room once again, squinting into the dark until I managed to spot his crumpled form on the floor. “Winston.” I rushed to his side and dropped to my knees. “What the fuck happened?”

“We’ll clear the place,” Gio called out as he passed the living room.

Maverick smacked on a light as he followed Gio up the stairs and I got my first look at my nerdy best friend. “Fuck man, what happened?”

“You’re exactly as smart as I thought you would be.” He tried for a laugh, but a cough came out instead. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be close enough to Winter to jump on the call, but I hoped you would be.”

“You were right about one thing,” I told him as I helped him to his feet and headed towards the kitchen. “You’re a terrible fucking liar.”

“Good thing you’ve always been able to read me.”

I nodded. “I’m guessing they read you too.”

He let out a grunt and dropped down on a stool that somehow managed to survive the wreckage left behind by the Jade Devils. “Nah, they were more upset that Winter didn’t just give me an address. Furious, actually.”

He sported a black eye, a fat lip, and if I had to guess, a few cracked ribs. “She almost gave them exactly what they wanted.”

He shook his head. “My girl always did have too much faith in me.”

“Not too much,” I countered. “She just took your words at face value, but once I told her my suspicions, she heard the tremor in your voice and brought up her mom on her own.”

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