Page 35 of Ruckus

“The war already started when they killed Willow,” I remind him, and my heart clenches just at the thought of what she would have had to endure before that happened. I didn’t ask Aaron how long Dad had left her there for but I know from the stories I’ve heard that those Bastards would have made her suffer. I should have come back for her, I should have found the courage to run away from Drew and take her somewhere we could both be safe.

“Either way, you can’t keep something like this from them. The longer it goes on, the more of a betrayal it will seem.” I feel like a hypocrite giving out this kind of advice, but Saul needs to do something about the situation he’s in.

“Exactly what I’ve been telling him.” Alicia folds her arms and looks at her brother cleverly.

“Don’t you start, you still haven’t made a trip out to Bakersfield to tell Griller’s mom she’s gonna be a grandma. In fact, you haven’t even told our own parents,” he points out, making Alicia's face turn red.

“Your parents don’t know you're pregnant?” I turn my attention on to her.

“They will have too many questions, then they’ll assume I’m out of my depth and expect me to go home. I amnotgoing home.” She looks to her brother sheepishly.

“Listen, I left my bike at the club, I need to be on surveillance with Vike in an hour, do you girls want me to drive you to the clubhouse or are you gonna hang out here?” Saul stands up.

“Clubhouse.” I stand up too, surprised by how automatic my answer is. I guess I’m not going to see Ruckus if I avoid the place, and Ineedto see Ruckus.

“Good idea, come on. Peyton messaged to say that Polly’s been baking.” Alicia grabs her purse and we follow Saul out to the car.

Rocco doesn’t seem as welcoming as he usually is when we pull up at the gates. He hasn’t got anything clever to say, like he usually does. He doesn’t even have a smile. I thank Saul for the lift, and when we step through the arch into the yard, I see Finn sitting exactly where he was when I left, only now I'm relieved to see that he has Ruckus beside him. He’s wearing tight black jeans and no shirt under his cut, and it makes my stomach flutter, my pussy pulse, and my heart sink all at the same time. Still I manage to keep my head up as I pass them both.

“Freya,” he calls out my name and when I turn around and see him coming toward me I feel myself starting to panic. Saul and Alicia continue heading inside, and when Ruckus throws a look at Finn, he clears his throat and quickly follows after them.

After he does a quick scan of the yard to check we’re alone, Ruckus grabs my arm and drags me over to the wall.

“Nothing happened the other night between me and Trin.” I can see he’s finding the admission awkward, and as much as I appreciate hearing it, I don’t understand why he feels the need to tell me.

“And you're telling me this, why?” I decide that after three days of radio silence he deserves a little attitude.

“Freya, don’t—I’m tellin’ ya because I want you to know. Nothin’ happened.” He seems frustrated at me, but then he always is.

“Ruckus, I really don’t think it has anything to do with me.” I go to move on, but he forces me back. “I saw your face, you looked hurt. I didn’t like it.”

“Where have you been?” I ask him, refusing to confirm or deny if he’s right.

“I’ve been avoiding you.” His voice turns soft as he laughs at himself.

I don’t expect him to be so honest, so I have no comeback.

“And now?” My lips automatically rub together when I imagine them touching his.

“Ruck,” The door suddenly opens and Saul interrupts us. “Raze wants everyone at the table,” he informs him, and Ruckus nods his head to let him know he heard him before looking back at me.

“I gotta go.” He smiles sadly before rushing in after him, leaving me flustered, frustrated, but most of all relieved.

“Nice to see ya back with us.” Raze smiles at me sarcastically as I take my seat.

“Apologies, Prez, just needed a few days out.” I look across the table to Wrath who's staring back at me curiously. He’ll be wondering why I avoided his calls for the past three days.

“We all need a break sometimes, luckily ya didn’t miss anything exciting.” Raze looks over to Finn and smirks before he takes his seat.

“I called ya all in because I got a call from Cam,” he announces.

“Is everything okay?” Vike asks. We don’t tend to hear much from our brothers over at the Arizona charter, despite them being pretty close. They’re a small charter, and Cam keeps everything running smoothly.

“Everything’s great, they just need us to take care of some stock for a while. Two of their members got arrested on a GBH and they’re taking precautions in case the investigations go any further. “Saint, Dev, Sasquatch, and Vike. I want you to take a cage and meet ‘em half way. They need to shift their shit quick,”

“And where we gonna store it? The bunkers are already pretty loaded.” Dev looks unsure.

“We’ll find room, Cam’s a good guy, and he don’t ever ask for much,” Raze points out, and not a single brother around the table disagrees. Cam is a hard worker, he keeps his town clean, and most importantly, he’s loyal. He prospected here way before I did, and volunteered to transfer to Arizona when their members started to dwindle. I always suspected it was because he had a dislike for Cliff and the way he ran things.

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