Hunter waves me off and goes back to Hangman. “My sister is someone I want to get to know better, I only had that brief chance to know her when I took her. I want to meet her properly, that’s my only expectation with this meeting to be honest. I just want to know my sister.”

  “And stay the fuck away from Anara,” Dirty growls.

  “Of course,” Hunter replies, looking at him with a grin. “Anyways, I’ll let you think about that, text me with an answer soon. In the meantime, I’ll dig into your little Mayor problem.” With that he leaves, taking his men with him.

  “You trust him?” I ask Hangman.

  “No, but we’ll see how things turn out. I want them watched.”

  “Got it, Pres,” Gunner says, getting up and heading out of the restaurant.

  “What was that shit? What’d he help you with?” I ask him.

  Hangman runs a hand over his beard and sighs. “When Melissa first came here, I was happy. She was getting with Slammer and shit was good. Then Dray turns back up in town. I was worried he would take my kid away from me, so I hired Hunter to take him out.” Shit, that drug bust that Dray, Melissa’s ex, went on and was gunned down at was all Hangman’s doing.

  “And Melissa doesn’t know?” I wouldn’t think that would go down well. Melissa was considering being with both Slammer and Dray. Couldn’t choose between them until that choice was taken away from her.

  “Of course not, I ain’t fucking dumb, man.” He slams a hand down on the table. Dirty doesn’t say a word but I can tell he wants to say something. “Don’t tell anyone that shit, it’s something I’ll take to my grave. Anyways, let’s get the fuck outta here, I got a woman at home and a dick that needs sucking.”

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Jennifer

  Waking up to a sore neck, I realize that I fell asleep on the couch in an awkward position next to Kara, who is curled up on my lap. I smell coffee and bacon coming from the kitchen. I decide to get up, moving Kara slightly so I don’t wake her and tuck her in. Giving her a soft smile, I move away and into the kitchen.

  Rage is there, standing over the stove with his top off. When he turns around my stomach sinks. He’s got scratch marks covering his chest and stomach. Jordan really must have had a fun time with him last night.

  My anger comes back full force and I turn away from Rage, heading upstairs to the bedroom to get dressed for the day. Maybe giving Jordan some extra chores today will help me feel better. Even with Hangman’s new rules, woman now have the option of sleeping with the brothers, Jordan still went for my man.

  Once I’m dressed, I head out and notice that Weston is still sleeping. Peeking into his room, I turn on his light. “Hey, kid, sorry to do this but you have school.”

  “Mhm, thanks,” he says, face buried in his pillow. I smile and walk back downstairs, the smile fading because I’m dreading having a talk with Rage.

  Once in the kitchen, I notice he is now cracking eggs. Nothing hotter than a man who can cook; too bad I’m angry with him right now. “Morning,” he says, turning to me.

  “Yeah,” I mumble, not really wanting to say much. I get myself a cup of coffee and place it on the counter to get the milk. Rage comes up behind me, his face going into my hair.

  “I’m so fucking sorry,” he tells me, holding me tightly.

  “Be a lot better if you didn’t have the proof all over the front of your body,” I sass him, pulling away.

  “Fuck. Watch the stove,” he says, darting away and running up the stairs.

  “Morning, Mama Jen. Is it almost time for school?” Little Kara yawns coming into the kitchen.

  “Yeah, pretty girl, why don’t you go on up and get dressed and I’ll do your hair all nice for school today.” She’s only in kindergarten, but after last night, she should be bumped up a grade. Kid is reading at easily a second-grade level. At least Rage has done something right, his kids are amazing.

  Rage comes back down as Kara darts upstairs herself, dressed. Rage looks embarrassed and ashamed. Good. “I’m going to make it up to you, first, we need to hire a new manager at the strip club. I want you available for me when I need to make runs or the club is having a party.”

  I swallow thickly. He wants me on runs? Doesn’t he bunk with other clubs when he goes off places? Why would he want me there?

  “Um, okay?” I say questionably.

  “I just want you around, I’m going to prove you’re it for me, you’re the only one for me. And to do that, if I have to take you everywhere I am for the foreseeable future then so be it.” He shrugs.

  “You just have to give me time, Rage. I knew this would happen, just wasn’t sure when, and didn’t think it would hurt so badly, but it does. I don’t like feeling like this; I didn’t think my feelings for you were anything more than just caring about you. But I’ve managed to find myself in love, and then you tore that to shreds.”

  He stills, face hard as granite at my words. His stare is making me uneasy. He swallows thickly and finally speaks. “Fuck me, fuck me. I think that’s why I feel as guilty as I do, something that is new to me. Because I’m in love with you, too, Jennifer. Never been in love in my life, love my kids, but this is different. I never loved my ex, or the mothers of my kids. You’re different.”

  “I wish I could believe you, but I don’t. Your actions last night sort of showed that.”

  “I vow it, Jen. I’ll fix it I swear.”

  I shrug, words are pointless, actions speak louder, so we’ll have to wait and see. Maybe one day, I won’t be so upset about this, but today is not that day

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Rage

  She still isn’t speaking with me by the time she leaves for work. I load up Kara after Weston takes off for the bus and drive her to school.

  “Are you and Mama Jen mad at each other?” she asks from the back seat.

  “Why do you say that, kid?”

  “Because it just seemed weird this morning.”

  “Just grownup stuff, baby girl. Everything will be fine.” I hope so at least.

  “Okay, daddy,” she says, smiling. “I love Mama Jen, so I don’t want her to go anywhere.”

  “Never going to happen, Jen is here to stay.” Forever.

  I drop her off at the front doors of her school and she hops out and runs inside. I wave to the teacher standing at the door, who glares at me, and take off. Stuck-up snobs.

  Heading to the clubhouse, I speed, watching behind me for any cops, but I’m in the clear and make it to the building within twenty minutes.

  Hangman is in his office when I arrive, and he nods me into the room. “What’s up?”

  “When you fucked up with Justine, how’d you win her back?” I ask him, slumping into a seat across from his desk.

  “Fuck. You, too?”

  I nod. “Yeah, at least I felt bad about it right away and told her, but now she’s not wanting anything to do with me.”

  Hangman whistles. “Well at least you have that, took Justine catching me in the act for her to find out. Good on you for coming clean. And how I got her back—well, it took time, mostly her coming up pregnant and getting kidnapped by Hunter, but shit was different for us. She’s a different breed of woman.”

  He’s right, Justine is fucking wild as hell and can outdrink me any night. She’s pure biker royalty, sure she didn’t forgive Hangman’s ass right away, she made him work for it. I think the day she found out she was knocked up sort of had her pulling her head out of her ass and she took him back. “The difference, though, is I can’t knock Jennifer up to make this shit right.”

  Hangman gives me a pitying look. “I heard about that from Wiz and Manic. Speaking of that shit, I got a call from Happy today, he’s willing to speak with you.”

  He hands me a paper with a phone number on it and I thank him, leave the room, and go to mine. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I dial the number.

  “Been expecting this call,” Happy answers, he’s the president of the original chapter of the Jacks Devils in the US. “What can I help you with Rage?”

  “I got my woman and well, she remembers something from when she was a child that could have to do with your club.”

  “I heard you laid claim to Big Tits. That bitch fucked over Hush and everyone who lives here.”

  “You know why she did what she did, she didn’t rat in the end. You should be thankful for that at least. What your contract killers did to her is another story, but I’m putting that behind me now. I’ll fill you in on what we’ve learned. When Jennifer was a kid, she was on her way home with her parents from dance class, they were flagged down by a biker, and shot in the head. Jennifer remembers the Jack Devils logo on his cut. The whole thing was erased, making it look like a bad car accident. Jennifer wasn’t hurt, thank fuck, but it damaged her and it’s why her brother sought out revenge. Thing is, we can’t find this in any file we look up. It’s all legit, a car wreck. The police and the biker that did this are long dead, so I can’t seek retribution.”

  “Okay, that sounds like shit, but what do you want me to do about it?”

  “Just wanted to know if you heard anything about this, you keep a tight rein on your club these days, but this happened about twenty-five years ago.”

  “I remember a brother, back then, talking about covering something up but never went into details. About ten years ago, the same brother was found dead, gunshot wound to the head. I never thought about it until now. To be honest, I’m old as fuck, my memory isn’t what it used to be.”

  “So, I take it this guy wasn’t a great loss, or acting on the club’s behalf?”

  “Nope, just a low-level club member, don’t remember much about him, but he wasn’t a loss to the club, pretty sure he was newly patched.”

  “It was something big. Why would a biker just randomly gun down two innocent people with their child in the back seat?” I wonder out loud.

  “You got me, but that doesn’t sit right with me either, maybe dig into Big Tits’s parents more, maybe they were part of something, or just were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “Thanks, man, appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.”

  “No problem. If you find something and it concerns my club, call me back.” He hangs up and I do the same. Something isn’t right. I have a feeling this wasn’t just a random attack.

  I go out the clubhouse to our back hidden warehouse and open the doors. “Rage, what’s up?” Wiz asks, turning around in his seat.

  “Want a full background on Jennifer’s parents. Something isn’t right.”

  “You’re telling me, I’ve already started my search, also found information on the cover up. Original ME report states a single gunshot to the head is what killed them, but that was buried and a new ME report was done up. Died on impact.”

  “Fuck,” I mutter, Jennifer was right, it wasn’t just her imagination, it was a legit memory.

  “That report just came to me about ten minutes ago, so I just started to search the parents. I’ll let you know when something comes back.”

  “Thanks, brother.” I fist-bump him and head out.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Jennifer

  Getting to the apartments didn’t take me long after I left Rage’s house, or our house? I don’t know. The house, I guess. My name isn’t on the title, so it’s really just Rage’s house. I’m not sure if he plans on changing that or not.

  Before getting out of the car that Rage left for me in the driveway, I pull out my phone and call Hangman. “What’s up?” he answers.

  “I, um, well, I was wondering what it would take for you to let me go?”

  “Let you go? You mean away from Rage?”

  “Yeah, don’t you have another charter or something? I don’t know; I just need to get away right now,” I tell him, I want Rage but I also want him to want me, only me. And right now, that just isn’t true.

  “Look, Jennifer, I know what Rage did, and I get you’re pissed, but you belong to him now. You can’t leave, and if you did try to leave, he has every right to track you down and deal with you how he sees fit,” he warns me. I know what that means, Rage would have rights to kill me if I left him.

  “Thanks for nothing,” I grumble and hang up. Damn it. it’s not like I wanted to leave for good, but always being around Rage right now isn’t helping me get over what he did.

  I walk inside and go to the front office. I start calling each girl down here individually and we quickly get through our tasks. Finally, I call down Jordan, dreading having to look at her face after what she did with my man.

  She smiles at me when she enters, but I don’t return it and she frowns, pulling out her pen and paper. “What’s wrong?” she writes.

  “What’s wrong? How about the fact that you’re still after Rage?” I spit out at her, I told myself I’d control myself when dealing with her but instead, I just blurt it out.

  She raises a brow and goes to write again. “You don’t need to lie to me, he confessed it to me when he came home last night.”

  She looks at me in shock, shock that he told me. “He told you?” she writes in disbelief.

  I roll my eyes. “Of course, he did, he felt guilty for doing it and came right home to tell me.” Her jaw clenches and she stares at me expectantly.

  “You’ll do your testing like always, pick up your new birth control, and then head over to the clubhouse for cleaning. There is a party there tonight, and the guys want it clean.”

  “Will you be there tonight?” she asks, looking somewhat smug.

  “Actually, yes, I will be. Rage told me I was coming with him tonight.” Something I wish I didn’t have to do, but maybe we’ll figure our shit out or something tonight.

  She slumps in her seat defeated. And I feel smug, I’m not sure what I did to Jordan to have her want to fuck my man, but she needs to get over it. “Anyways, that’s all. Best get started.” She gets up without writing anything more to me and leaves, slamming the door behind her.

  I sigh, just feeling so over this day already. Minutes later, my office door slams open and Rage comes in, looking pissed. “You called Hangman asking him to take you away from me?”

  “I...um,” I stammer.

  “No, not only no, but fuck no. You’re mine, Jen. Mine. You’re never leaving me, ever, I don’t care if it takes me years to get you to forgive me.”

  “He already told me no.” I feel the need to assure him.

  “Good. But I need to know you aren’t leaving me.”

  “I’m not, I just need space.”

  “Did you punish Jordan for what I did? Is that why she flinched when she saw me coming in the building?” he asks.

  Shrugging, I flip my hair over my shoulder. “I may have given her the task of cleaning the clubhouse for tonight, and told her you confessed to sleeping with her; which shocked the shit out of her.”

  He raises a brow. “I’m surprised you didn’t do worse.”

  “I’ve heard stories about the clubhouse, especially y’all’s rooms. That’s punishment. It will take her, literally, all day. She also came in this office as if everything was fine with us. The bitch.” Although I can’t fault her completely, I used to be just like her, seducing men. Even men that were with their women at the time, I would pay attention to only them. Like that time with Wrecker, I’ve heard about him, saw him in town a few times, but it was the first time he ever came to the diner. My brother always told me if he ever came in to give him the full slut treatment. I did, feeling like shit the entire time because his woman was sitting right there, too.

  Wrecker is also the biker that took me to Trinity and Killer in the first place, guy kept talking about how he’d be fucking me whenever he could on the ride down to them. But he couldn’t get it up, kept cursing his dick and mumbling shit about a Harley.

  “I’m sorry you’re in this position because of me. But tonight, I’ll make it up to you. I’m here to spring you. I know you need to get over to the strip club, and I’ll get you there, but first, I want to take you to the mall and pick you out an outfit for tonight.”

  I look at him in shock, what man wants to go shopping?

  He chuckles at seeing my expression. “Come on, let’s go.”

  I do as he says, locking my office door behind me and sliding my hand in his. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll be okay.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Rage

  After taking Jennifer shopping and following her back to the apartments to get her car, I decide to have a talk with Jordan. I know she’s mute but she doesn’t need to talk back for this conversation. I wait until Jennifer is long gone and get off my bike, heading up the stairs to Jordan’s apartment.

  As I’m about to knock on the door she opens it, looking like she’s going to get on with her day. “Hey, we need to talk,” I say, startling her.

  She looks at me, hope in her eyes, and lets me in.

  “This isn’t a sit-down talk but I wanted to apologize for last night, it shouldn’t have happened. I’m with Jennifer now,” I tell her, and she looks about ready to cry. Fuck, I don’t do bitches that cry. Jennifer didn’t even cry when I told her what I did. Sure, she had tears in her eyes but she didn’t let them fall.

  She quickly runs for her notepad and writes out something. Taking it, I read. “If you didn’t tell Jennifer, I wouldn’t have. I know how to keep my mouth shut.”

  “Doesn’t matter, I’m not going to cheat on Jennifer, she’s it for me, and deserves the best in life.” Jordan shuts down, tossing her notepad across the room. “I just came by to apologize. It wasn’t your fault; you were doing your job. So, this mess is on me. Anyways, I’m gonna head out, you should get to work.”

  I leave, hopping on my bike and take off for home. I need to get the kids from the bus soon, so someone needs to be home. I can get ready for tonight, too. Having Jennifer on my arm at the club will be worth all the shit I’m going through right now. She held my hand the entire time we were at the mall, that gave me a little hope.