Betrayed (Soldiers of Darkness MC Book 2) (12 page)

‘Baby, I’m fine. So don’t you waste no more time worrying about your old man, OK?’ He kisses my shoulder and moves his hand down, his fingers gently stroking my inner thigh. ‘All I need is you, here.’

I close my eyes and reach back to slide my fingers into his hair as he moves his hand again, and I flinch slightly and sigh quietly as he finds my clit, nipping it and rubbing it and I open my legs a little wider.

‘All I need is my girl,’ he murmurs, ‘and I’ll be just fine, darlin’.’ His mouth travels down over my neck and across my shoulder. ‘I don’t need nothin’ else.’

I lean back against him as he continues to stroke and rub my pussy, making me wet and crazy all over again. But I’m still not convinced. I still think there’s something he’s not telling me. But as his fingers slide inside me and his other hand begins stroking my clit again, I’m ceasing to care…

Chapter Eight

Zeb

‘Jesus! What the fuck are you doing calling me?’

I ain’t supposed to be even talking to Kes, Sam warned me off any kinda contact. But then again, I ain’t Sam’s fucking bitch. He can shove his orders. I’m playing by my own fucking rules now.

‘Can we meet?’

‘You know how dangerous that would be? If Sam found out…?’

‘Are you scared of him, Zeb? Is my brother that much of a monster?’

‘Fuck you! I ain’t scared of no-one.’

‘Then I need to see you. The Old Wheelhouse, you know it? An abandoned clubhouse about fifteen miles outside of town.’

‘Yeah. I know it.’ It’s a pretty isolated spot he’s chosen there, and I ain’t sure whether I’m comfortable with that or not.

‘Two hours. I’ll see you there.’

He ends the call and I throw my phone down onto the countertop.

‘Everything all right?’

I feel Izzi wrap her arms around me from behind and I take one of her hands and squeeze it gently, bringing it to my lips, and I kiss it. ‘Everything’s fine. Just some club business I gotta take care of.’

‘Still no word from Mack?’

I turn around and she pulls her arms away from me and folds them across herself. She looks ridiculously young this morning, just out of the shower with no make-up on. And I feel a pang of guilt at some of the things we did last night, because it seems almost wrong to be doing that, with her, when she looks like this.

‘Do you mind, Izzi? Me being so much older than you?’ Where the
fuck
did
that
come from?

She smiles and moves a little closer, reaching out to run her fingers over my jaw line, standing on tip-toes to kiss my mouth. ‘No. In fact, I quite like it. The age gap – I get off on that sometimes.’

I catch her waist and pull her against me, and I grin as I feel her tits press against my chest. ‘Oh yeah? Have I got myself a girl with a bit of a daddy fixation, huh?’

‘You’re a twisted bastard sometimes.’

I kiss her hard and deep, and she falls against me like a broken rag doll, a beautiful mess in my arms. ‘You like twisted. You know you do,’ I murmur, keeping my mouth against hers as I speak.

‘Maybe.’ She smiles, and I just wanna take my baby girl back to bed and play all day.

She lets go of me and steps back, going over to the fridge to get herself some orange juice.

‘You got anything planned for today?’ I ask her, watching as she busies herself sliding bread into the toaster, my cock reacting as she reaches up into the cupboard for the teabags, causing her shirt to ride up over her thighs, giving me a glimpse of her tight ass. Man, I just wanna cup it, spread those cheeks apart and dive in.
Shit!
I gotta get outta here quick.

‘I’m going to swing by the clubhouse, see if they need any help over there. Some of the old ladies are bringing their kids down. We’re gonna see about maybe setting up some kind of kids club somewhere on the compound. Maybe in that outbuilding by the workshop.’

Yeah. That sounds like one of Mack’s new ideas, the start of his plan to turn this club into something it ain’t, something he never really wanted it to be. So why’s he suddenly changed his fucking mind? Like I don’t fucking know. And that’s why it still bothers me; why
he
still bothers me. He’s got some kinda ulterior motive, and I know it involves Izzi. But I also know she knows nothing about it, yet. And I’m gonna keep it that way.

‘Zeb?’

Her voice drags me back to the here and now and I look at her. ‘Sorry, baby, I was just thinking about what I gotta do today, is all.’

She frowns. ‘This isn’t something dangerous, is it? Zeb?’

‘Hey. Hey, no, it ain’t dangerous.’ Isn’t it? ‘Cause I don’t fucking know that for sure. ‘Come here. Come on.’ She steps into my arms and I hold her against me, kissing the top of her head. All I want to do is keep her safe; protect her. Even though I know that, if it came down to it, she could kick ass almost as well as any of my brothers. ‘It’s just something I gotta sort out, it’ll be fine.’ I pull back slightly so I can look at her. ‘I’ll meet you in
Six
tonight, OK?’ She nods and steps out of my arms and as I watch her go back to fixing her breakfast I think I’m beginning to see glimpses of the girl she was before me and Sam took her and ruined her. She’s got no scores to settle now, no need to seek revenge or retribution so is she now slowly reverting back to what she once was? She said she could never go back to that, that we’d changed her so much she couldn’t even remember who she’d been before. But maybe she don’t even know it’s happening; that the girl she once was is slowly coming back.

‘Izzi, baby, come here a second, darlin’.’

She turns around and looks at me, but she comes straight over. ‘I thought you were going.’

‘I am. In a minute.’

She reaches up and rests her palm against my cheek, her smile a small one, but it still lights up her beautiful face. ‘You sure you’re OK?’

I return her smile and kiss her slowly, running my fingers up over her forearm until they intertwine with hers. ‘I’m fine. Guess I’m just a bit tired, I mean, we didn’t exactly sleep much last night, did we?’

She smiles again, and kisses me back before she lets go of me. ‘I’ll see you tonight, huh?’

‘Yeah. I’ll see you tonight.’

But right now, I got a whole heap of shit to sort out…

Mack

‘Where the fuck have you been?’

‘What kinda welcome home’s that, huh?’ I throw my bag down onto the bar and look at Sam, and I shrug. ‘What? You gonna ground me or something?’

‘Quit with the smart mouth, Mack. Do you have any idea what I’ve had to do to cover for you? To sort out the mess you left behind in North Carolina?’

I frown. ‘Huh? What the fuck are you talking about?’

‘You think they would’ve left you alone if they’d known what you’d done? You shot one of our own, Mack.’

‘He was a fucking rat, Sam. And how the fuck do you know what...?’

‘You go missing without any word to anyone as to where you’re going and you didn’t think I’d try and find out? It didn’t take a genius to work out what you were gonna do. And the mood you were in before you left… I had to make sure nothing blew back on us. So, it’s sorted…’

‘Hang on. It’s
sorted
?’

Jesus. Two minutes through the door and I’m already pissed. All I wanna do is shower and sleep, I don’t need a fucking lecture from daddy.

‘It’s dealt with. No-one will know it was you who killed Odi. So this is over now, OK?’

‘Because you say so?’

‘Because it’s finished. You’ve done what you needed to do, so let’s just move on…’

‘Hey, slow down there, all right? Y’know, for a man who said he wasn’t gonna get involved with the decisions I make, you got way too much control here.’

He’s right up in my face now, and I swear, if he don’t move I’m gonna show him just how pissed I am. ‘You think I
want
to spend my time cleaning up your mess? I’ve got way better things to be doing with my time, I don’t need the crap you’re causing right now. But if I’d just let what you’ve done go, all kinds of shit could’ve ended up on our doorstep. You really want to kill this club for good, huh?’

‘Jesus, is that not a slight over reaction?’

‘It could’ve led to that, Mack. And I know that rats aren’t tolerated, I know that. I know how we deal with those brothers, but you weren’t thinking like a President. You were thinking like a man on his own personal mission when you should’ve brought it to church. It should’ve been a decision made by everyone, not just you. Meetings should’ve been organized between chapters, this should’ve been discussed properly…’

‘You’re talking to me like I don’t know how this works.’

‘And yet you still saw fit to act alone.’

I laugh and reach for the whiskey bottle sitting on the bar, and Sam watches as I pour a shot and down it.

‘What’s going on, Mack?’

I look at him, and again I shrug. I’m bored of this now, I just need to sleep. I’ve been riding for three days, I look like crap and I probably smell like it, too, so this – I’m done with this. ‘I ain’t in the mood for this right now, Sam.’

‘And you think I am?’ He grabs my arm as I make to go, and I stare down at his hand gripping my wrist.

‘You wanna let go of that?’

‘I think I know what you’re doing, Mack. But I’m telling you, son, things have changed. Izzi’s happy with Zeb, and she knows that you and her…’

‘First of all, don’t
ever
call me son, OK? That relationship you think we’re developing here, it ain’t happening, so just back off from the daddy duties. And secondly, you don’t know shit, all right?’

‘You want this club to change, Mack. Why?’

I lean back against the bar and drop my gaze, folding my arms and sighing deep, ‘cause Sam’s right on one score. Things
have
changed. All that time alone, just me, the bike and the open road, I got around to a lot of thinking. And, yeah. Things have changed. ‘I’m stepping down, Sam.’

I raise my gaze and his expression is one of surprise. ‘Stepping down?’

‘As President. I can’t do it no more. I can’t give this place what it needs.’

‘Mack, come on…’

‘Zeb should be running this chapter. I mean, I ain’t a fan of the guy as far as our personal relationship goes, but he’ll make a good President. He’s been doing that job while I’ve been outta town, right? And I think we need to make it official. He’ll be good for this chapter, Sam. Better than I can be right now.’

Sam says nothing for a second or two, and that gives me time to focus again, to get my head around what I’m actually saying out loud now because, before – before it was all just muddled thoughts in my head; maybes and mights and I had no idea if I was anywhere near brave enough to carry out what I was planning. But I think I am. I’ve gone through something I can’t even begin to explain, but I know what I want now. And it isn’t what I ever thought I’d need.

‘Are you sure about this, Mack?’

‘I’ll still be a Soldier. I’ll still be part of this club, for a while, anyway.’

He looks at me again, and I suddenly feel a sense of freedom I ain’t felt in a long while sweep over me. And it’s like I can suddenly breathe again. ‘A while?’

‘I’m leaving.’ My eyes lock with his, ‘cause I’m fucking serious now. ‘I want out of this God-forsaken world, Sam. I want out. And I’m taking Izzi with me.’

Zeb

‘You’ve spoken to Sam?’

‘You know I have.’

‘And he told you not to contact me in any way, right? Until he tells you to.’

‘Why am I here, Kes?’ I ain’t answering his rhetorical questions. I ain’t playing that game.