Page 7 of Buried

“Darlin’,” River called from behind me as I turned toward the clubhouse. I looked at him over my shoulder. “Show ‘em who the fuck you are,” he told me, a smirk tilting his lips as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

A slight smile tilted my own lips since smiling fully hurt too fucking much. He was telling me to stand my ground and that he would fully back me up in whatever… within reason, of course. But even then, I had a feeling he would correct me in private.

I strode into the clubhouse, walking into a round of arm wrestling. “A fighting ring would be much more fun to watch,” I commented nonchalantly as I walked past.

“Women keep their mouths shut around here,” one of the men stated, narrowing his eyes at me.

I eyed him with distaste, taking in his brown hair and the unkempt beard that was the same color as his hair. He was muscular, easily three times my size, and I rolled my eyes when he intentionally flexed his arm muscles as if that would intimidate me.

“Not this one,” I informed him.

“Probably why your face looks like it does,” a woman probably around the age of nineteen or twenty sneered.

River stepped into the clubhouse with Sam, and instantly everyone shut the fuck up and focused their attention on him. I snorted as I moved behind the bar to the kitchen.What pussies.I looked over my shoulder at River, and his gaze met mine, amusement shining in their blue depths.

I blew a kiss at him before I disappeared into the kitchen, rummaging for something sweet—cereal that had a fuck ton of sugar in it, preferably. I blew out a breath in frustration when I didn’t find any. All they had were salty snacks, a bunch of fucking beer, and food that had to be cooked. All I wanted was unhealthy cereal and milk.

I pushed back through the kitchen door, finding River sitting at the bar, talking to the man with the beard from earlier. “River, there’s no cereal,” I grumbled, drawing his attention to me.

“So, find something else to eat, girly,” the man snapped before River could open his mouth, annoyed at being interrupted. I glared at the man, a silent dare for him to continue. He was on a power trip, and I fuckinghatedmen like that.

“Watch your fucking tone with her,” River warned him, his voice low and gravelly. I smirked when the man scowled but kept his mouth shut. “Mel!” River called, grabbing the young woman’sattention from earlier. “Take this,” he said, pulling a twenty from his wallet, “and go get a box of cereal—the sugariest shit you can find—and a gallon of whole milk,” he instructed.

She nodded, taking the twenty from him and rushing out of the clubhouse doors. Henry stumbled out of the back hallway with a groan, drawing River’s attention to him. River quickly got off his stool, his features morphing into something that rivaled the devil’s. “Oh, great, your finally fucking awake,” he snarled.

And then, he slammed his fist against Henry’s face, a sickening crunch sounding through the room. I sucked in a sharp breath, watching as River slammed his fists against Henry’s face over and over, well after the man was unconscious on the floor. I’d heard numerous bones break as River beat the fuck out of him.

He pointed a bloody finger at one of the men that had been arm wrestling. “Vern, when he wakes up, I want his fucking cut. He’s out of the fucking club. And I want him escorted out of my fucking territory.”

“Understood, Prez.” Vern, a tattooed man with black hair and eyes just as dark, nodded his head at River.

River disappeared down the back hallway, and I quickly followed after him, finding him in the bedroom at the very end. His room was mostly plain. He had a black fitted sheet and a plain black comforter on the bed with a few pillows. The club emblem hung above his bed, and a single nightstand sat on the left side of his bed with a plain, black lamp on it. There was a dresser against the wall near the door, and the open door to the side of the room revealed the bathroom, where River was currently washing the blood off of his hands.

“Never took the time to make this place feel like home, did you?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “Don’t really have time to, darlin’,” he informed me as I leaned against the bathroom doorjamb to watch him. “Being a president consumes most of my time, and when I’m not doing that, I’m normally out in the garage.”

He turned the water off and dried his hands, turning to face me. “Feels a lot like home with you standing in the room, though,” he admitted, a small smile tilting his lips the slightest bit, making my nerve endings curl with warmth.

Fuck, he couldn’t just unleash his smile on me like that.

“Prez, you expecting company?” someone shouted from up the hall.

“Fuck no!” River called back. “Who the fuck is it?”

“Sons of Death!” the guy hollered back. “And ooh, boy, Tristan lookspissed.”

My breath lodged in my throat, and my heartrate went into overdrive. I hadn’t seen Tristan since I’d met him in another state to do a DNA test, not wanting him to know where I was staying at. The betrayal in his eyes that day had gutted me, and yet he still asked me to come back home to him.

River clenched his jaw, looking down at my face as it drained of color. “You going to be alright?” he quietly asked me, reaching up to caress the good side of my face, his eyes running over me as he did so.

I shrugged, not knowing how to respond. River drew me into his arms, pressing his lips to the top of my head. I closed all the distance between our bodies, leaning on him for that oneprecious moment before my world got flipped upside down, my sanctuary broken into. We both jerked our heads up when we heard shouting. “Grim, you can’t fucking go back there!” Sam barked.

“Fuck,” River cursed, releasing me as he quickly stepped out into the hallway. “Tristan, you can get the fuck out of my clubhouse right now if you’re only going to cause fucking trouble,” River growled in a warning.

“Where the fuck is she, River?” Tristan demanded to know.

I slowly stepped out into the hallway, nervously looking up at Tristan. There was so much pain in his eyes as he ran them between me and River. Instantly, River possessively wrapped an arm around my waist, tugging me against his side.

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