Tattered on My Sleeve

  “Yeah. Knifed him and got away, but I gotta—”

  “I understand. I’d do the same. I know Trin from way back. She’s a good girl. Glad she’s with someone like you now.”

  “Aw, shit. I remember Trinity from when she was just a lil’ kid,” Chaser adds.

  Not really sure what to say to that, I just nod.

  Stump shakes my hand. “That shit ain’t right. You let us know if you guys need support.”

  “Will do.”

  Without the concern of a crapton of weed in the back of the car in case we get pulled over, Z presses the pedal to the floor.

  Rock meets me at the door with a hug. “I spoke to Wrath. Guys are all coming in. You okay?”

  Pulling out of his embrace, I nod. “Yeah.”

  All softness vanishes and President Rock is in charge. “While we’re waiting for Wrath to get here, tell me what went down,” he barks at me as he leads me into the war room. Teller’s waiting in a seat on the other side of the table, but he gets up and gives me a hug.

  Holding me at arm’s length, he peers into my eyes. “You okay?”

  I nod and he releases me.

  Rock points at Wrath’s chair and has me sit.

  “Sorry, you’re going to end up going over this more than once, sweetheart,” Rock apologizes.

  It’s okay. I tell him word for word everything I can remember.

  “This is over me not letting them dip into our territory. Are they fucking nuts?” Rock fumes.

  “We’re gonna have to call some brothers in to help keep Crystal Ball locked down,” Teller mutters.

  “Yeah, I’ll have Z do it when he gets in. Where the fuck is Murphy?”

  “Don’t know, Prez. I texted him a bunch. Got no answer yet.”

  “Fuck, that’s all we need.”

  My head hurts from where I got slammed against the car. Listening to them go back and forth lulls me into a sleep like state. Sometime later, I’m aware of Rock picking me up and laying me down on the leather couch in the back of the war room. A blanket floats over me and I drift out.

  Angry voices shake me from sleep a little while later. The guys are assembling around the table. Murphy’s here and he smiles at me. Wrath and Z’s spots are still empty. My bladder insists I get the fuck up, so I toss off the blanket.

  “You okay, Trin?” Rock calls.

  Feeling fuzzy, I nod. “Yeah. Gonna run to the bathroom.”

  Run is overly optimistic. What I do resembles lurching. Instead of using the communal bathroom, I go into my room to clean up. Brushing my teeth unzombifies me a bit, but I’m still exhausted.

  Walking back to the war room, I hear car doors slamming outside. I quicken my pace just as the door’s thrown open and Wrath storms in. Fierce is the only way to explain his expression. I choke out a startled gasp drawing his attention to me.

  “Angel.” In three quick strides he crosses the room, and sweeps me into his arms. Only then do the tears start falling.

  Every sob that wracks my girl’s body sends a shiver of rage through me. This is three years ago all over again. Fucking Vipers going after women.

  This time, they all fucking die.

  Trinity has her arms looped around my neck, face buried against my shoulder, legs wrapped around my waist. I’ve got my arms banded around her keeping her tight to me, one hand rubbing her back.

  “You’re okay, baby. I got you. You did good. I’m so proud of you,” I keep whispering in her ear.

  Rock and Z are standing in the doorway to the war room looking like they’ve just spotted an alien spaceship in the living room. I pause to flip them off, then go back to calming my girl down.

  Every patched brother is at the table as I carry Trinity in and drop into my seat. She adjusts, so her legs are draped over my lap and she’s leaning against me. She’s stopped crying, but she’s definitely still close to the edge. Exhaustion dogs me, but I shake it off.

  Rock gives me the story. I’d like to hear it from Trinity’s mouth, but she’s still silent and I don’t want to push her. My brothers are still staring at us like they can’t believe what they’re seeing. Fucking hell, can’t we concentrate on the war that’s breathing down our necks instead of my love life?

  “He said he remembered me from the night of the fight,” Trinity says suddenly.

  “Good. Good Trin,” Rock reassures her. “Anything else you remember?”

  “Uh, he called Wrath a bandeho.”

  Bricks snorts at that. “Was it a pendejo, sweetheart?”

  “Yeah.”

  My eyebrows draw down. “What the fuck is that?”

  Bricks shrugs. “Depends where the fucker is from. Could be anything from jackass to coward.”

  I grind my teeth.

  Lowering my voice, I ask her the question I’ve been dreading the most since I first got her phone call. “He touch you anywhere else, baby?”

  She squeezes her eyes tight, her lip quivers, giving me all the answer I need. White spots of rage dot my vision.

  “Any other words Bricks can translate?” Rock asks with a smirk to lighten things.

  “He called you a cabrón.”

  “Asshole,” Bricks clarifies.

  “Called me a puta, but I know what that means,” Trinity says with a laugh.

  I know what that means too, and if my rage intensifies anymore I’m going to disappear in a cloud of smoke.

  Trinity sits up and faces the table. I keep my arms around her waist. I know we need to strategize, but all I want to do is take her to our room and make sure she’s okay.

  “It all happened so fast, guys. I just knew I couldn’t let him take me anywhere.”

  “You kicked ass, Trinny. We’re all proud of you,” Teller says with a smile. Everyone agrees.

  “All right, I’m going to give Ulfric a call. We gotta align ourselves with his pack again. He’s been itching to take these fucks out for a while now, and I’m sure this will push him over the edge.” Rock doesn’t elaborate on why that might be. Trinity shifts in my lap.

  “Do you want me to go, prez?”

  Rock flicks a glance at my face, which I’m sure is screaming No fucking way and shakes his head. “Stay in case I need you to explain any of it to him.”

  Rock uses a burner to call, but sets the phone on the table on speaker so we can all hear.

  “What?” Ulfric snaps.

  “It’s Rock.”

  “What up, man?”

  “Got a situation. Viper tried to grab one of our ol’ ladies tonight as she was leaving class.” Rock gets that out right away, because he needs to establish that Trinity hadn’t been violating our turf agreement with the Vipers.

  “Fuck me. You sure it was a Viper?”

  “Pretty sure. Said he recognized her as one of our girls.”

  We all hear him cover the phone and call for his VP and sergeant-at-arms, then put us on speaker. “I got Merlin and Whisper on now too.”

  “His beef seemed to be about us not wanting to do business with him, but she didn’t get a lot more info than that,” Rock continues.

  “Whose ol’ lady?”

  “Mine,” I answer. “Wrath.”

  “Since when you got an ol’ lady?” Merlin snickers.

  “Who?” Ulfric asks.

  “Trinity.”

  “Fuck, she okay?” Merlin asks.

  I find it interesting that Whisper didn’t spill to his brothers why I gave him a split lip a couple weeks ago.

  “I’m okay,” Trinity answers.

  There’s a bit of silence as I’m sure they’re absorbing the fact that one, Trinity belongs to me now, and two, we’re letting her sit in on club business.

  “Tell me the story from the beginning,” Ulfric asks.

  Trinity sits up, her voice much clearer and recounts everything.

  “Damn girl. Your man trained you well. Nice job,” Merlin praises her.

  Hearing her tell the whole story from the beginning leaves me shaking with murderous rage by the
time she finishes.

  “No fuckin’ way, prez. You ain’t shuttin’ me out this time.”

  Rock drags his hand through his hair. “I’m not. There’s nothing we can do right this second. We need to plan and organize before we take action. You need to take care of your girl.” He glances at Trinity, who’s curled up in the couch staring at nothing.

  “You’re right.”

  Rock’s eyes widen. Guess he figured I’d be more stubborn about it. “I promise I’ll come get you as soon as I’ve got something.”

  “Okay.”

  He smiles and slaps me on the back. “Take care of your girl.”

  Trin doesn’t even look up as I approach.

  “Come here, angel,” I whisper as I scoop her into my arms.

  She clings to me, but remains silent.

  I drop her carefully onto the bed and shut the door. She lies there while I strip her down. “Come on. Sit up for me,” I urge so I can slip a nightshirt over her head.

  I take off my cut, shirt and shoes and slide into bed with her. Gathering her in my arms, I kiss her forehead.

  “Wyatt?”

  “I’m here.”

  “I love you.”

  My heart stops.

  She slicks her tongue over her bottom lip. “For a second tonight, I thought I might die, and I was so angry with myself for not saying it to you. Only giving you that stupid note…I’m sorry. Please don’t think the only reason I’m saying it now—”

  “Please stop.” I yank my wallet out. Flipping it open, I pull out the note she gave me and hold it out to her. “It’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever given me. Keep it with me so I can look at it whenever I miss you.”

  She gasps and cries even harder. “Shhh.” I wrap her in my arms and after tucking her note away, toss my wallet on the night stand. “Come on, let’s get some rest.”

  I’ve got a splitting headache when my phone wakes me up. Completely disoriented, I roll over and answer, noticing it’s one in the afternoon.

  “What?”

  “We got a meet with Ransom’s crew in two hours.”

  Scrubbing my hand over my face, I nod, then realize Rock can’t see that over the phone. “Yeah. I’m up. Give me ten.”

  “Hope’s downstairs, waiting for Trinity.”

  Fuck. I can only imagine how well that conversation went. “Thanks.”

  Trin settles her hand on my back. “Wyatt?” She crawls over until she’s sitting on top of me. From the look on her face, sex is the last thing on her mind. “Please don’t do this.”

  “What?”

  “Go after them. I don’t want to be the cause of another war between—”

  Cupping her face between my hands, I stare into those honey eyes I love so much. “You know that’s not how things work, Trinity. They touched what’s mine. They pay.”

  “I—we just got things figured out. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  Aw, shit. “I promise I’ll be careful. But you know this can’t stand. What if they went after Hope next? You think she’d get away like you did? Or Swan? Or even Heidi?”

  Understanding flares in her eyes and she nods. She rolls to the side and sits up next to me.

  “Well, with the mouth on her, they’d probably give Heidi back right away,” she jokes.

  I’m happy she’s able to laugh, considering how grave the situation is. “That’s my girl.”

  Following the noise in the hallway leads us to the dining room. Hoot, Birch and Swan are busy running back and forth taking care of things. Everyone’s here.

  As soon as she spots us, Hope runs over and pulls Trinity into a hug. Rock whistles to get everyone’s attention.

  “Members and prospects to the war room. Everyone else stays on the property until further notice.”

  I have just enough time for Swan to shove a cup of coffee and a sandwich in my hands before I follow everyone down the hall. Z catches up with me. “She okay?”

  “Yeah. Better.”

  “Good. Real fuckin’ proud of her for gettin’ away like that.”

  My mouth quirks up. Me too.

  Once we’re seated, Rock remains standing and takes a look at everyone. I spot two members from downstate and give them a nod.

  “I know some of you have only gotten bits and pieces, so I want to make sure everyone’s on the same page. Trinity, a long time asset to our club, and Wrath’s ol’ lady, was attacked last night in downtown Ironworks.”

  One of the guys from downstate—Steer—raises his hand. Rock cuts him off with a shake of his head. “Our agreement with the Vipers is, associates, family, ol’ ladies are all allowed in their territory as long as they’re not on club business or wearing club colors. Trinity was there for class and no way would she wear colors in their territory. She knows better.”

  That seems to answer whatever Steer was planning to ask.

  “Trinity managed to knife the guy—” Rock’s interrupted by the room breaking out into applause, shouts and whistles, which makes me chuckle.

  “Yeah, we’re all proud of Wrath’s girl,” Rock says with a smirk. It’s probably an inappropriate time to notice, but I really like how Wrath’s girl sounds coming out of my president’s mouth in front of everyone.

  “Trin was able to identify the guy as Viper based on what he said to her. I’ve spoken to one of our local allies, and they’re ready to back us.”

  I raise my hand quick and Rock nods at me. “We also got an offer of support from the Devil Demons MC.”

  “Why ain’t you callin’ either of them in?” Bull—also from downstate—asks.

  Now, my answer would be Shut the fuck up or Because I fucking said so, something along those lines.

  “Until we know what we’re dealing with, I’d rather keep this in-house. No reason to use a blowtorch if a match works,” Rock explains as if he’s talking to a two-year-old.

  That’s why he’s the prez, and I’m not.

  “I also needed to let the local guys know to keep a closer eye on their women.”

  Bull nods as if that hadn’t occurred to him. As his name suggests, he’s dumb as an ox. That’s why he’s the sergeant-at-arms downstate and not the prez.

  “I’ve been in touch with Ransom, the Viper’s current president. At first he denied any knowledge of the attack. Said he didn’t authorize it and assured me there would have been no issue with Trinity being down there for class.”

  This is all new information. Seems Rock was busy while I was napping the morning away.

  “I got a call back from him a little while ago. They say they tracked the guy down. One of their hang-a-rounds, trying to impress the club. They’re holding him for us so we can verify. Now, I trust a Viper about as far as I can throw one—”

  “Which ain’t far, they’re a bunch of fat fucks,” Z blurts out for a little comic relief. Rock shakes his head.

  “This could be a trap or they could be sincere. I want to go in heavy enough so they know we’re not fucking around but not so many guys it looks like a threat. I also need to make sure CB has adequate coverage—just in case. And I need guys here at the house.” Rock levels a stern look at each of us. “These are the assignments. Do not question me unless you have a very good reason. And it better be stellar, so think it through before opening your mouth.”

  I’m not worried at all. I know exactly where I’m going.

  “Wrath, Z, Murphy, Bull, and Ravage—you guys are with me. We’ll take two vehicles. Ravage, Bull, and Murphy will wait outside and stay alert for trouble.”

  No one opens their mouth to complain.

  “Dex, Steer, and Birch—I want you at Crystal Ball. We open at four. I want you down there checking things over by three o’clock.”

  “Teller, Axel, Bricks, Stash, Sparky, and Hoot—I want you at the house. Sparky and Stash, I need you two upstairs and alert.”

  “Got it, boss,” Sparky assures him. For once he actually looks sober.

  “Bricks, you know the security set up, so
I want you on that.”

  “You got it.”

  Rock addresses the guys staying at the house. “Trin’s got the combination to both gun safes and she’s proficient with just about every weapon we have. Don’t hesitate to have her help out.” Rock sighs and his mouth turns up in a tired smirk. “Hope’s been to the range, but she’s not confident.”

  I think Rock’s message is to use Hope as a last resort, which isn’t quite fair. Cinderella’s a good shot—once you load the weapon for her and show her where to point it.

  Teller pipes up. “Heidi’s good with a couple different weapons.”

  Rock nods. “That’s it. We’re all clear?” Everyone says yes. Rock calls Bull and Steer up to the front of the table. “I think no matter how this goes down, I’d rather have some extra muscle at CB this week, you two up for it?”

  They don’t have to think about it. Hanging out in our strip club all week isn’t exactly a hardship for these guys. “Hell, yeah.”

  Rock slaps their shoulders. “Thanks.”

  Steer heads out with the CB crowd. Ravage joins us.

  “Prez, you really want me outside?” Murphy asks.

  “Did you miss something?” Rock asks.

  Murphy shakes his head. Rock’s feeling more generous than I am, ‘cause I woulda kicked Murphy’s ass for that. Instead he slaps Murphy on the back and pulls him close. “Vipers blow the three of us away, you and Teller will have to fight it out for my seat.”

  Murphy finally understands why he’s being asked to wait outside. “Sorry, prez.” He glances at me. “I’d take his job anyway.”

  Yeah, I’d like to kick Murphy’s ass on a regular basis—for lots of reasons—but I’d be comfortable with that. Not that it matters if I’m dead.

  Z’s jumping around ready to go. “I hope they give us a fuckin’ reason.”

  “Hey,” Rock snaps. “Simmer the fuck down. He looks over the five of us. “Everyone suited up?”

  Shit. “I gotta run upstairs, Rock.”

  He nods at me. “Yeah. Meet us at the front door.”

  Trinity intercepts me at the staircase. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I gotta grab something from my room. Come with?”

  She follows behind me and watches me get ready. “They think they found the guy.” I press a cell phone into her hand. “Check this later. I may send you a picture.”