Corrupting Cinderella (14 page)

A few seconds later, her hands flatten against my chest and push me back. She chokes on a soft sob.

“Baby, no.”

She wriggles out of my embrace and pushes inside. “Text me when you get home,” she asks before shutting the door.

I guess it’s something.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Hope asked me to leave Trinity out of it, but what she doesn’t realize is that it’s Trinity’s unofficial job to make sure the club girls behave themselves. I’m not mad at her. Not at all. I know how sneaky these little bitches can be, but I do want to get some information from her.

Knocking on her door gets me nowhere. Turning around, I see Teller working out in the gym and duck my head inside. “You seen Trin?”

He frowns. “Last I saw, she and Wrath were in the war room watching a movie.”

I’m not even sure how to respond to that. The fuck?

Sure enough, I find them coming out of the war room together. I’m not even going to ask.

“Trin, I need to talk to you.”

Wrath squeezes her shoulder and whispers something in her ear. As I approach, Wrath gives me a chin lift. “How was the show?”

“Fine. Need to talk to you about some stuff.” I made a deal we’ll need to hammer out. But Hope’s comments about the way my best friend has been treating her have me really pissed off at the moment. “We can discuss it tomorrow, though.”

“Hope come back with you?” Trinity asks.

My gaze darts to Wrath, who finally takes a hint and gets lost.

“No, that’s kind of what I need to talk to you about.” Unlocking the war room, I usher her inside. We pull out the two chairs closest to the door and sit facing each other.

“What’s wrong, Rock?”

“You notice any of the girls hassling Hope?”

Trinity thinks it over. “Besides me, she talks to Swan a little bit. She never talks shit about Hope. Same for Envy and Breeze.”

All girls I’ve never slept with, so that doesn’t surprise me. But, I seize on another part of what she said. “Who
has
been talking shit about her?”

Trinity’s mouth twists. “Fucking Roxy. She’s a cunt.”

I can’t stop the sharp bark of laughter that escapes me. It’s rare to hear Trin use that word. Then I remember after I took myself off the menu, Roxy went at Wrath pretty hard for awhile.

“She give you shit too, Trin?”

Trinity shrugs. “Of course, but I can handle it. You think she’s been hassling Hope?” My shoulders lift. I have no idea, because Hope won’t open up to me. “When? Either you or me is usually with her when she’s up here,” Trinity finishes.

“I don’t know. She wouldn’t give me names.”

She cocks her head to the side. “Want me to ask her?”

“Nah, she’ll know I put you up to it.”

Trinity sinks her teeth in her bottom lip as she’s thinking over the problem. “If Roxy’s giving Hope shit, then Cherry will be in on it too.”

Fuck. Trinity and Cherry have a very recent beef, and I’m sure I’m making things worse for Trin right now, but I gotta know. “Anyone else?”

“Ginger,” she spits out. Guilt punches me in the gut. Ginger’s been causing trouble for years. Her round, rosy ass shoulda been booted from the MC a long time ago.

“They’re the toxic twat trio,” Trinity tells me with a completely straight face.

“I don’t even—”

Trinity shakes her head. “I didn’t come up with it.”

I hate stirring up bad shit for her, but I have to ask my next question. “Don’t get mad, but you know which brothers they’re tight with right now?”

Her jaw tightens. “Definitely Stash and Ravage. Probably the prospects. Anyone else you have to ask yourself.”

I give her a wry smile and pat her leg. “Thanks, honey. Listen, I told you a long time ago, if we needed to get rid of girls, I’d back you. I don’t want you taking shit from any of these bitches. We clear?”

“If we ran off every bitch who gave me lip, there’d be no one left to fuck the guys, Rock,” she deadpans.

“Dammit, Trin, I’m serious.” But I can’t help chuckling a little.

All week long stuff came up that kept us apart. I’m able to take Hope out to lunch twice and we talk every night on the phone, but nothing more than that. She’s put up a bit of a wall and talks her way out of spending any nights together. It’s killing me, but I’m working hard at trying to give her the space she seems to need.

Besides the sex, I miss waking up next to her, holding her at night, and talking to her in the morning over breakfast. I’m a complete sap and don’t give a shit. All I want to do is fix this distance between us because it unnerves me. But I am also trying to tread the line between attentive boyfriend and overbearing asshole. She doesn’t bring up the club girl issue again, and neither do I. But it’s still hanging in the air every time we talk. Since I haven’t had an opportunity to take care of it yet, I don’t want to mention it either.

When I ask her what time she wants me to pick her up Friday night—like I have every Friday for the past few weeks—she hesitates.

“I’m going out with a few friends, so I’ll drive myself up after.”

I don’t like this answer at all.

“Will you be drinking?”

“Probably not.”

“Hope, I don’t want you drinking and driving. You need a ride, call me.”

Nothing but dead air. Fuck, I wish I could see her face.

“I will—promise.”

“Love you, baby doll.”

“Me too.”

Not good enough. My fist itches to connect with something. If I don’t fix this, I’m going to lose her. I can feel it.

The sensible thing to do is call a meeting this week before the rowdiness starts up. This is long overdue. Z gets the word out, and pretty much everyone who has anything to do with the club shows up early tonight.

Hangarounds, club girls, prospects, and patch-holders are seated or standing in the dining room. Trinity and the prospects have taken care of drinks. I notice with a bit of annoyance how none of the other girls, except Swan, have lifted a finger to help Trinity out. That shit ends tonight.

Wrath goes over some new security issues. Nothing top secret, of course, but still important. When he’s done, I step up.

I re-iterate a few of the things Wrath touched on before delving into what I really want to talk about.

“I don’t think it’s a secret that I’ve taken an ol’ lady. Most of you have met Hope.” Some of the guys whistle and clap, making my mouth twist up in a grin. “This shouldn’t need to be said, but since we’ve got a few new faces, I’m going to say it anyway.
Everyone
associated with this club treats her with respect. If you don’t, you are directly disrespecting me.” I let those words hang in the air so they sink in to a few of the thick skulls I see in the room. “She’s a little shy, so I expect all of you to make her feel welcomed in my clubhouse.”

Roxy actually has the nerve to raise her hand. My eyes skip to her, and she takes it as permission to open her mouth. “Why ain’t she here for this? Ya know, if she’s gonna be part of the club.”

Some of the guys grumble and shake their heads. “I’ll give her the details later,” I answer with a hard stare that shuts her the fuck up.

“Next thing I want to talk about…” I curl my finger at Trinity and motion her forward. “Lot of you know Trinity. She’s been running the clubhouse and taking care of things for LOKI for a long time.” Trinity blushes and ducks her head. A couple of the guys clap and heckle her a little. She giggles, so I let it slide. “Anyone needs supplies for the clubhouse, kitchen stuff, beer—”

One of the guys yells out, “Condoms?”

I shake my head. “Yeah, that too.”

“Snugger fit, right, Rav?” Trinity jokes back.

Ravage, is a good sport and laughs along with everyone else.

“Can we get back on track?”

After everyone settles down, I’m able to continue. “Just for clarification, Trinity answers to me. She is in charge of the household stuff. Whether you’re a hang-around, prospect, or club girl, if you’re spending time in our clubhouse drinking our beer, smoking our weed, enjoying the benefits of the MC, you best pitch the fuck in and help Trin out. Show her respect. She does a lot for the club, and I want to start seeing some fucking gratitude.”

Trinity’s face flushes bright pink as the guys yell, “Thank you, Trinny!” at her.

I’ve probably confused things a little by stating that Trinity answers to me. But I have my reasons for phrasing things the way I did, and I don’t need to explain myself to anyone.

Clapping my hands, I grab everyone’s attention again. “Lecture part’s over. Sparky’s got some new shit he wants some opinions on—he’ll be setting up in the champagne room in a little bit. Pay him a visit if you wanna be his guinea pig.”

The volume in the room instantly jumps to ten. Trinity turns to me. “What was that all about?”

“Just what I said. I shouldn’t be letting you fend for yourself with these bitches. It’s better if it comes from me. And I do appreciate everything you do around here.”

Her eyes well up.

“Don’t you dare fucking cry on me, Trin,” I warn her.

“I’m not,” she sniffles. “You’ve always taken good care of me, Rock. I got no complaints.”

“I know.”

“I’ll do a better job looking out for Hope, promise.”

Couple of the girls swarm around Trinity to ask her what she needs help with, and she takes them into the kitchen with her. The toxic trio watches her leave but stays put.

“What’s goin’ on, prez?” Wrath asks.

“Nothing. Stay close tonight.” I nod my head at the three girls. “Keep an eye on them. Their days here are numbered.”

Suddenly Wrath’s all business. His face locks down into his hard, Enforcer expression. “Rock, if it’s a security issue, you gotta tell me.”

“Nothing like that.”

“They hassling Trin?” he asks with an edge to his voice.

“Possibly.”

“Hope?”

I shrug. “Can’t get either of them to give me details.”

“Rox is trouble, no doubt. You thinking of banning her?”

“Maybe.”

“Christ, you’re a cryptic fuck tonight.”

“We got any brothers coming in from downstate?”

“A few.”

“Good. Maybe we can send the toxic trio back with them.”

Wrath snorts. “Fine by me.”

Girls’ night out is what I need. Rock has consumed my life since the night we got together, and I’ve been neglecting the few friends I have. Sophie, Mara, and I meet up at Hamilton’s. Of course, the only thing I can think about is the first night I came in here after Clay’s death. Meeting up with Rock.

Crap. Now I miss him terribly.

Sophie is looking to stir up trouble tonight. She’s wearing a black, sparkly crop top and red leather skater skirt that reaches mid-thigh. I’m pretty sure if she twirls around, it will flare up and flash us her underwear. Hopefully she’s actually wearing underwear. Her long, curly brown hair is loose, falling halfway down her back.

Mara is married to one of the scariest City Court judges I’ve ever appeared in front of. I’m surprised he let her out of the house. She is dressed much more conservatively in jeans and a peach-colored, lacy peplum top.

“Who’s watching Cora?” I ask when she pulls out her phone for the tenth time. She gives me a strange look.

“Damon.”

I melt a little thinking of big, scary Judge Oak home alone with his baby daughter.

“He’s picking me up at ten, so let’s make those drinks count!”

Sophie orders a pitcher of margaritas, which arrives at the same time Lilly does.

“Seriously, we have got to start meeting half way or something,” she grouses as she drops into the chair next to me. “Who’s DD?”

I throw my hand up. “I’ll do it. I have to drive up to Rock’s after anyway.”

The later I get there, the better. Hopefully the muffler bunnies will be busy sucking tailpipes and leave me alone.

“How is that going, Hope?” Mara asks.