Page 2 of Scorched King

Fuck. I was late.Again.

I shoved my legs into my pants and grabbed one of my old t-shirts from a drawer, before scooping up my cut and the keys to my bike from the table. Yanking the door open, I nearly moaned when I found Cash on the other side with a cup of coffee in one hand and a bottle of aspirin in the other.

“Fuck, man. You’re a godsend,” I said, grabbing both from him as quickly as I could.

“I don’t know about that. But I was there last night, remember, so I know how you feel.” He rubbed his head indicating he was dealing with the same damned thing.

“Yeah. I’m surprised you’re not passed out in a bitch’s bed somewhere.” I shoved a handful of the pills down my throat and chased them with one of the worst cups of swill of my life. Calling that shit coffee was a crime. “What dragged your ass out here this early?”

“I did.”

I slowly turned my head to see Axel leaning against the wall at the mouth of the hallway, looking stone cold sober and cocky as hell with a smirk firmly plastered on his face.

“Shouldn’t you be at home taking care of your old lady? She deserves more of your attention now seeings how you knocked her up and shit.”

He scoffed at that. “She kicked me out. Her and the girls are planning a welcome home party for Bear and apparently my ass was in the way. There were threats to my manhood.”

I winced, shaking my head. “Speaking of.” I handed the cup of swill back to Cash. “I’m fucking late. I’m supposed to pick him up at the hospital in fifteen minutes.”

“On your bike?” he asked, nodding to the keys in my hand.

I closed my eyes and squeezed my temples. “Right. Okay, I’ll be heading to the hospital right after I go and retrieve my truck.”

Axel shook his head. “We can take mine. It’s already sitting out front and we can talk business on the way. Kill two birds with one stone and that shit.”

I inwardly groaned. It was too fucking early for logic-or-business. Especially from my too fucking cheerful VP. Since he and Mandy had finally made up for the ten years of bullshit that had kept them apart, he’d turned into a mother fucking mary sue.

“Whatever. Let’s go.”

He led the way, crossing through the main club room with the still boarded up windows and the shiny new front door that had been recently installed. The entire front wall had been blown open by a bomb and during the repairs we’d opted to reinforce this area with sheets of steel in case of future attacks. Thanks to ongoing supply issues, those upgrades had taken far too long. But they’d be worth it in the long run.

Although another attack would happen over my dead body, I had agreed to taking additional precautions just in case. Clubs like ours, in the business of getting paid to serve justice, with a few “extra curriculars” on the side, made a lot of enemies. And although our reputation usually kept those enemies on the right side of crossing the line, there was always someone who didn’t heed our warnings. When that happened, we dealt with it.

My mind went briefly to the new rival club in Seattle, the serpents, that I didn’t quite trust to honor their deal to stay out of our business. They’d gotten entangled in the cluster fuck withthe Mazzeo’s and I didn’t like it. They’d have to be monitored. If they stepped one tiny toe outside the line, I wanted to know. If they wanted to fuck around and find out, I was more than happy to put them back in their place.

I climbed into the passenger seat of Axel’s custom truck, taking notice of all the modifications that had cost him a fucking fortune. His latest ride had been put together with his new family’s protection in mind. This time he was taking Mandy’s pregnancy seriously, and there would be no mistakes when it came to their safety.

Something deep inside my chest ached at the thought and I quickly pushed it away.

“I guess since you’re here and not bitching and moaning, Mandy must be feeling better.”

As the truck rumbled to life, Axel nodded. “Yeah. It looks like she’s finally made it to the other side of the morning sickness. That was rough on her. Now she’s got to get some of that weight she lost back.”

I nodded, remembering when my Malia had gone through that years ago with our son, Rock. She’d lost so much weight in her first trimester it had scared the hell out of me. But she’d also been the most beautiful woman I’d ever met and I would have plucked the stars out of the sky for her if she’d wanted them.

Watching my son grow inside her had been an amazing journey. And as much as I loved Rock, I would have enjoyed having more children with her. But fate, and my mother fucking former best friend had made sure we didn’t get that chance.

Despite that, I’d been one lucky SOB to have the time I was given. And even if our love had eventually been tainted by grief, Icouldn’t imagine what my life would have been like without her. We’d thrived together for a good long time.

Until we didn’t.

It was another lesson learned the hard way. Life had a way of changing right underneath your feet, and if you weren’t paying attention, it could get away from you before you could stop it. That’s what happened to us. Three people in a relationship had turned out to be too many, and Pops had grown bitter over the years. And I’d been too blind to see how bad until it was too late.

Even then I still believed I could fix anything. We were a family and all I had to do was try harder…

I scrubbed my face and the memories away. All of that felt like a lifetime ago. A lifetime I couldn’t—wouldn’t revisit. Malia’s death—it—well, it was a dark time in my life I needed to avoid at all costs. For my own mental health as well as those around me.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” I said, forcing myself to focus on the conversation with Axel. “A stronger woman than Mandy I’ve yet to meet.”

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