Page 21 of Wild Side
“Absolutely fucking not,” my dad snaps. “You omitted some important information from me. This shit is unacceptable.”
God. Sable. I could kill her. I don’t say that, though. It’s pointless. “I’m handling it. Let me do this.”
“No,” he snaps. “This is the club, and you are in the absolute fucking wrong by going there without me. That’s not how this works.”
Tears fill my eyes. I don’t understand why he’s being this way, and if I’m doing something wrong, it’s because I don’t know whatever made-up rules he and these men have. Their secret society, their shit, I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t been allowed to know anything.
My father has never let me know this part of his life. Sure, I know a few basic things, but only because I’ve been in lockdown or something like that. I’m not like Sable. I was never allowed to spend time down there.
Those men are my uncles, sure, they’re my father’s men, but they’re strangers to me and I to them. Seen, never heard from, and certainly never touched.
“Stay the fuck there and do not go down to that clubhouse until I’m there. This is not in your control any longer.”
He ends the call, and I pull the phone away from my ear to stare down at it.
Shit.
I don’t even try to sleep. There is no way I’ll be able to. I am on a countdown to tell Maverick everything. Nothing like having the looming pressure of my father coming here and no doubt causing some kind of drama to speed up my process.
MAVERICK
Sleep is for the fucking weak.
And apparently, I’m not fucking weak.
I don’t know what I am at this point. Leaving Zadie outside the clubhouse felt wrong. Then again, her being here feels right, but also, why is she here? I can’t place what the fuck is going on, but I also didn’t want to have a conversation.
I wanted to fuck her again, then sleep. The rest could come in the morning. Now it’s morning, I haven’t slept, and I can’t get her out of my head. Glancing down at my phone, I wince at the time—three in the morning. I haven’t even closed my eyes.
I can’t.
Every time I close them, I see her. Tugging my cut back on, I walk out of my bedroom as I slip my phone into the inside pocket. The clubhouse noise is down to a dull roar. Music has been turned down, there aren’t any clinking glasses, no loud talking, and no pool is being played.
There are a few moans in the distance, no doubt sucking and fucking going on, but nothing in the bar area as I walk through. That is, until I hear my name being called. I know who it is. I’ve never in my life needed to or wanted to distance myself from my brother.
Our road names are Maverick and Goose for a reason. Where there is one, there is always the other. Except in this. Something changed the moment I laid eyes on Zadie, and I can’t figure it out, but I need the space to do that.
“You going to her?” he asks.
Turning my head, I look over my shoulder to see my brother standing a few feet away from me. He’s wearing nothing but hisboxer briefs. His arms crossed over his chest, his gaze pointed directly at me.
“Need to know what she’s doing here,” I state.
He dips his chin slightly, though he doesn’t break his focus before he speaks again. “Whatever hold she’s got on you, time you figure that out. I feel like I lost my fuckin’ brother.”
Arching my brow, I turn around to face him. He has my attention. “Lost me?” I ask. “Because I’m not fucking women with you?” I ask.
Even though I know that’s a lie. I have been fucking women with him, just not with the same vigor I used to, or as often. My mind has been completely fucked up, and I need to get my head on straight.
“Not just that. Everything. She’s got you twisted up and fucked up.”
He doesn’t allow me to respond to his observation. Which is fine, because I don’t even know what I would say to that. So, I say nothing. Instead, I watch him walk away before I turn and continue to make my way outside and to my bike.
Climbing on, I start the engine, closing my eyes as I inhale a deep breath. I let it out slowly, open my eyes, and turn my bike around, riding for the exit gate and then toward the motel.
Toward Zadie.
CHAPTER NINE
