Page 47 of Catch a King (Five Kings 1)

“No need, honey, I’m right here.”

I look up in alarm and see the worry on Skye’s face as she steps in front of her aunt. Rose puts a hand on her shoulder and smiles. “It’s ok, let them through.”

Rose looks at me with an apology in her eyes and I feel the frustration tear me up inside. Bloody woman, no wonder Billy married her, she’s got balls of steel.

We follow her out the back, past a furious Skye who flashes a warning at Slade as he passes. He just replies with his usual evil grin and winks as he passes.

Once again, I find myself in the back room with a woman I have grown to love, and she gives nothing away as she motions for us to sit facing her. It looks awkward as fuck as we all surround her and she appears so fragile, yet full of bravery as she nods in Axel’s direction.

“It’s good to see you again, Axel.”

He smiles, which takes me by surprise. “You too, darlin’.”

“Do you know this woman?”

Slade looks surprised and I share it because to my knowledge Axel never met Rose.

“We’re old friends.”

Rose shares a look with him and he nods as if they are passing a secret between them that needs to come out.

Rose smiles “Axel and me, well, we used to hang around together back in the day. It was always Axel, Buck and Billy and I kind of drifted in and out of their gang. When I started dating Buck, the gang kind of disbanded but Billy and Buck, well they were good friends and kept in touch. It was only after Saskia died and Buck went not long after, it left Billy and me on our own.”

“Why didn’t he tell us you were meeting?”

Axel sounds hurt and Rose sighs. “He wanted to, honey, but at the same time he wanted to protect me, the business and I suppose to have somewhere to escape. He knew if you all found out about this place, me, it would bring trouble where it wasn’t wanted.”

“We would never hurt you.” Axel is damned certain of that, and Rose nods. “The danger wasn’t from you, it was the others. The feuds with the other clubs, the enemies thinking they could get to you through us. Billy hated knowing we could be in danger because of him, so he made it a condition that we were his secret life. I’m not saying I agree with that, but I had to respect his wishes.”

Slade looks across at me and I can tell he’s on edge. He growls, “We would have respected that; kept his secret. Why didn’t he tell his own sons?”

Rose looks at me nervously and I sigh. “He did.”

Slade turns, his eyes blazing with fury. “You knew.”

I nod and he makes to stand and Axel growls, “Hear him out.”

Rose looks concerned, as I say firmly, “Billy told me about Rose just before I went on my first mission. He knew I was hurting; it was a hard decision to make to go into the military and leave the club, especially when you were so destroyed.”

I look at Slade and hope he understands.

“Billy was worried about you. He knew how close you were to mom and were still grieving. If he told you about Rose, he wasn’t sure you’d understand.”

“I don’t.” Slade is angry, I can see the storm in his eyes and I say in an even voice, “I was worried about you, Billy and Axel. I was leaving you and may not come back. Anything can happen in war and I had so many doubts, I changed my mind more times than I could count and Billy called me in and told me he had it covered. He would stay at the club to make sure you were watched over. He worried about Axel for reasons of his own, and he worried about Rose. He told me he would never leave you; you needed him badly and so did his brother.”

I look at my uncle and notice the blood has drained from his face. He appears to be dealing with some serious shit right now, and even Rose looks concerned. “You ok, honey?”

She hands him a shot of whiskey and he smiles as he accepts it and laughs. “You always did have a liking for the hard stuff.”

She winks. “It’s why I married your brother.”

They laugh and Slade yells, “Excuse me, but I’m not laughing. Why did Billy not tell me any of this, and yet he couldn’t wait to spill his dirty little secret to you?”

I make to stand and Rose says firmly, “Watch your mouth, Billy was a good father and did everything for everyone else’s benefit and not his own.”

She faces Slade and says angrily, “Don’t you think he wished like crazy that he could leave the club and retire here with me? As soon as you were settled, he was going to do just that. We had plans - to travel, live our last years without fear, without violence, like normal folks do. He hung around out of love for his family. He knew you missed your mom like crazy and was worried for you. He wasn’t prepared to leave you with no parent to lean on, and so he put his own life on hold. Because of you.”

She turns to Axel. “He was worried about you too, living a lie.”

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