Page 20 of Anchor

We should have been living in the wooden lodge I had built on club land, a home she wanted which should be filled with children….

I take my seat at the table, my eyes going to the tree with a sword through it carved in the middle as I try to calm my fucking anger.

“Brother?” Steal questions as he sits beside me, and I shake my head.

“I think I need to go on the next club run this weekend,” I admit, “but I’ll need you or Acid or Piston to stay at the house to watch Micha while Heaven works.”

He’s quiet for a moment before he speaks, “I’ll consider it,” and I look at him sharply. He gives me a sad smile. “Right now might not be the best time to travel to Texas, brother. Heaven went onanother date today, leaving Micha with the grandmother from hell.” I sit up straight, anger coursing through me, and Steal holds his hand up and admits, “Micha called me quickly on his mom’s phone before she left. I’ve sent Western to the restaurant where she’s meeting some grocery store clerk. I’ve ordered him to remove his cut and spill hot food all over her date.”

I swallow hard and nod in thanks before slouching back down in my seat, my eyes returning to the engraved tree.

“You leave for a few days, and we both know you’ll regret it, especially when she keeps trying to organize dates to move on from you,” he says lowly as brothers start to file into church, chatting.

“What more can I do? She completely ignored me after she returned from the bathroom,” I admit as Acid sits beside me, giving me a sad smile as he hears my words.

Steal shrugs. “Not continuing to mess with her birth control would be a start.” Acid looks at me wide-eyed, and I shrug, not sorry one bit, and Steal continues, “But to be fair, I did see her mom come out of the bathroom first. Maybe she said something. We both know she’s not your biggest fan, hasn’t been since high school, and we both know she had a revolving door of men.”

Ain’t that the fucking truth; the woman wanted a man to look after her for the rest of her life, not wanting to work or earn for herself, her child. Fuck, the clubwhores are more respectful than her, minus Ginger, that is….

“We need a plan,” I state firmly. “I want my woman back. I want the club to know of her existence, of Micha’s existence. I wantthem both on club land where they’re safe. We need a fucking plan.”

“Couple therapy,” Acid replies to me, and I look at him. He smiles. “Perrie and I do it once a month. It has helped me stay open with her, especially after I tried to knock her back several times because of my childhood.”

And by childhood, he means his father pimping him out, holding him down, and allowing women to do whatever they wanted from when he was eleven until he fought back at fifteen.

“I know talking to someone you don’t know sounds hard, but trust me, it saved me and gave me my girl. Suggest it to Heaven, but do it carefully, which means don’t bring it up that it’s been ten years or that she should be ‘over’ it by now like your mom suggests every single day because, in her mind, it’s always there. She closes her eyes, she still sees you screwing Ginger from behind, she still hears your words.”

I swallow hard and nod before I look at the carving again.

I know Acid is right.

“Okay, church is in session,” Steal announces, giving me a reprieve as he bangs his gavel and the brothers get comfortable.

“First things first, the finances. Where have we been since last month?” Steal asks and looks at Cannon, our Sergeant-at-Arms, who manages the Huntsmen Bar.

“Katie has, yet again, decided to drink more on the job than she serves, and caused three fights last night alone.” I wince as some brothers groan. “She went after taken guys, two she wouldn’t take no for an answer, and their girls got involved…. I fired her, on the fifth warning, last night because I am done with hershit; she’s hit her quota. As for financial shit, money had been going missing this week. Piston and I reviewed the footage, and Herman was doctoring the books. He’s also fired. Otherwise, revenue is up by five percent.”

I lock eyes with our enforcer, Pitbull, and he gives me a nod, and I nod back. He’ll pay Herman a little visit and collect everything that the fucker stole.

Steal goes to Acid next with the Huntsman Grub, who confirms, “Business is good and steady; revenue is the same as last month.” Steal looks toward me, and I state, “Huntsman Arts is picking up; revenue is up by nine percent.”

Steal grins, looks around the table, and announces, “Huntsmen Angels is also up by four percent this month, especially now that Cass isn’t trying to get my dancers to ask the feds for a private room to punish me.”

We all laugh. When the fucker decided he wanted his girl back after realizing she was still in New York and had found out they had a child together, the idiot decided to kidnap her, and Cass, being the non-pushover ER doctor that she is, got payback, including causing shit at the strip club and messing with his belongings.

I mean, if the fucker hadn’t tried to save her to begin with by putting a gun to her head after she killed Brute, who attempted to assault, and hadn’t taken her for granted, then he wouldn’t have lost her for four years.

Some of us brothers, when we fuck up with our loves, wefuckup.

“Okay, now the next run to Texas. The Rebels can’t meet up; there's something about trouble with another start-up MC intheir territory and a traitor in their club, so we’re meeting up with the Devil’s MC. Snake mentioned that he and Tats will be in attendance, so let’s go over the plan and decide which brothers will be in the van with the goods and which will be riding look out….”

Steal side-eyes me, and I sigh but subtly shake my head at him. Acid pats my back as Steal smirks and then confirms, “I will be the one going. Anchor will stay here and take charge. So, who else….”

An hour later, after confirming Pitbull, Art, Canine, and Steal will surround the van, and our two prospects, Western and Harry, will be driving it, Steal bangs the gavel to end the church, and we all stand to leave.

With Killian and Cam now patched in, we’ve taken on five new prospects. However, they have yet to prove themselves to the club, meaning they’ll be stuck on bar duty at the clubhouse, cleaning duty, and gate duty.

“I’m proud of you,” Steal says as he pats my back.

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