“What the fuck?” Shouts Reaper, who I realize is right behind me. “I’ll fucking kill him!”
Shifting so I can see both of them. “I hurt him more than he hurt me.” I remind them.
They both stare at me, but before they can say anything, the clubhouse doors open and all the Old Ladies come pouring out. They push past Reaper and Flame to hug me.
“I am so sorry.” Kingsley says as she takes my hand to lead me back inside. “I can’t believe that bitch gave you to them.”
“What happened to you guys?” I ask. “Did you get drugged, too?”
“Church!” I hear Dante yell, and I watch the guys follow him down the hall where they meet. As Reaper files past, I lock eyes with him. I offer him a smile that he doesn’t return. I know that look. It’s his guilty look. I promise to make sure he knows that I don’t blame him for any of this.
“Let’s go to the infirmary so I an examine you.” Tally suggests.
I keep my eyes on Reaper until he disappears, before following Tally in the other direction.
CHAPTER FIVE: REAPER
Having Ashlyn’s breasts pressing against my back, her thighs on mine, and her core heating my ass calms me. They are what’s keeping me from turning around and killing Deion and his minions. I finally gain control of the chaos swirling around inside me as we get closer to the clubhouse. My girl is safe, and that’s all that matters. I know Flame is still pissed at me. It may take time and some groveling to get him to forgive me. I’ll do whatever I have to keep Ashlyn in my life.
I glance over at Flame and see him slide a look at Ashlyn before glaring at me. It may take a very long time to earn his forgiveness.
When we park, I feel Ashlyn pulled from my bike so I dismount to see Flame holding her tight. He asks her the questions I want to ask. She’s my girl and I need to know she’s ok. Hearing that the fucker Trask threatened her has me reeling. Even knowing she hurt him doesn’t help. I want to pull her into my arms and kiss her until she can’t remember the past several hours. But I watch the other Old Ladies take over.
I know Dante’s going to call Church, but I wish he’d wait until tomorrow. All I want right now is to take Ashlyn to my room and pleasure her until she falls into a deep sleep. Then hold her all night to keep any nightmares at bay. But that’s not to be. At least not yet. I see her turn back, searching for me. Her smile has my heart constricting. She’s so fucking beautiful. And she could do so much better than me.
I take my seat between Flame and Ghost. I feel the anger coming off Flame in waves. All directed at me. I know we need to talk, but now isn’t the time. Dante starts the meeting and we all turn our attention to him.
“This will be a short meeting. We have all the girls back Renee tried to sell. Maestro is calling his father to let him know we have Ashlyn. Renee’s been handled and won’t be a problem again.”
“Were Kingsley and Izzy really the ones to question and kill Renee?” Carver asks.
“I killed her.” Grimm says. “But Kingsley and Izzy worked her until she gave us Deion’s name as Ashlyn’s buyer.”
“Are we going to have them question others in the future?” Smoke asks.
Dante nods. “Maybe. They did a good job.” He glances at Grimm. “Not sure about Kingsley, though. This was personal for her.”
Grimm shrugs. “I’ll talk to her. They handled it and frankly, I think women instinctively know how to break other women. None of us enjoys hurting women, even if they deserve it.”
“Puma’s SOA is a woman, and he says she’s terrifying when she has someone in The Pit. Not only can she break them down physically, but she wrecks havoc with their minds.” I tell them. “I watched her once, and they’re right. She gave me nightmares.”
“We’ll get a feel for how dealing with Renee affected both women before we decide.” Dante says.
“Do we know why this Deion Jones wanted Ashlyn?” Byte asks with a glance toward me. “We know Reaper knew him, but that’s about it.”
I give my brothers a condensed version of how I ended up with the Spades and why I eventually left. I also cover the incident that forced my hand.
“Why did he wait this long to come at you?” Byte asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe he thought I’d come back to them if it didn’t work out with the Demons. He might have heard I patched in and wanted revenge because he knew I wasn’t coming back.”
Byte nods. “Good a reason as any. So what do we do now?” He addresses his question to Dante.
“Nothing.” Dante says. “We have enough on our plates with Gerard and his shit. We’re heading out to Chicago soon. Can’t afford to split our attention in multiple directions.”
“We could get some eyes on them.” Smoke chimes in. “I noticed they have some cameras around their hangout. I can take a run over there, see if I can hack into their network.”
Dante nods. “Ok, do that. I’m not saying we don’t watch them if they come into our territory, but I don’t want to start a war with them right now. Unless we have no choice. Once we handle Gerard’s human trafficking business, we can revisit the Spades.”