Healing Gabe (Last Hangman MC Book 3) (23 page)

I don’t know how long it’s been, but I feel the bed move behind me. I mumble incoherently and try to move on my back but a wall is blocking me. I wake up fully with a start and stare at Gabe who was making himself comfortable.

“Sorry Doll. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me to him.

“What time is it?” I yawn.

“It’s only been thirty minutes since you came up.” He chuckles.

“I told you to enjoy the party.” I face plant his chest.

“I didn’t want you to be on your own and I needed you all to myself.” He brushes a strand of hair away from my face.

“You can’t leave our company alone downstairs though.” I frown.

He chuckles. “They went home already.”

“What?”

“Yeah, they understood you needed to rest and left of their own free will, I didn’t kick them out. I had to kick Ayden out because she wanted to take all the Red Velvet donuts with her.”

“She didn’t, did she?” I look at him with a look of horror.

“I think she did because when I went back to the kitchen the box was gone and she was rushing out the door.”

“The witch!” I pout.

“I’ll go get you some more tomorrow, don’t worry.”

“You’re spoiling me.”

“Only the best for you.” He beams at me.
Fuck, but he’s beautiful.

“Aww, you’re such a sweetheart.” I kiss him softly. “I can’t believe how far we came.”

“I know.” He brings his lips to mine and kisses me with all the passion he has.

After making out for what seems like forever, yet never long enough, I look up at him and nibble my lip.

“What’s wrong?” He looks at me confused.

“Will you move in with me?” I grin shyly.

“Since when are you turning shy on me?” He raises his eyebrow.

I shrug. “Just answer the damn question, Lyle.” I glare at him because I’m seriously dying from anticipation here.

“My stuff is already here and unpacked, Doll.” He smiles at me, this one reaching his eyes and my man is fucking beautiful.

“I fucking love you, you know that right?” I grin and kiss him fiercely, not giving him time to answer me.

CHAPTER 28

Gabe

A Month Later

I haven’t been to the compound since the accident. I didn’t feel like leaving Viv on her own and it didn’t seem right of me to be going out when she still can’t move too much. She’s getting better, but she’s still struggling to follow the doctor’s orders and rest, no carrying heavy weight or over exerting herself. Being the fucking stubborn woman she is, Viv hasn’t,  but I wouldn’t have her any other way.

Things have been fairly quiet on the club front. Ant and Aleck have been keeping me updated on what’s going on. Our alliances with the Fallen Angels and Bastards from Hell are still standing, thank god. It’s kind of ironic, the Bastards and the Fallen wanted to ally themselves to the Kings and now, they’re with us, the number one enemy of the Kings.

There are, as of now, only ten members left of the real Hades’ Kings, but their charters are still around. So far, we didn’t suffer from any retaliation from blowing up their compound and killing most of their club. Maybe their affiliation with the Kings was a result of bullying, and now that the Kings are more or less gone, they’re free from the Kings’ clutches.

Today is my first day back at the compound and it feels weird. Not being there, but leaving Viv alone with the other women is making me a bit uneasy. It’s going to be just them, no babysitter, I did install a very good security system so if anything happens, I can be there in less than five minutes. Let’s just hope it won’t come to that. I’ve only been gone for a few minutes and I fucking miss her already. I can’t help but worry if she’ll be okay or if something will happen to her.

I park my Harley next to Ant’s and walk towards the compound. We have a meeting with the Fallen and the Bastards, along with Sanders, I’m not sure what it’s about but it must be big for them to ask me to come in.

I walk into the bar and immediately my brothers greet me, with some patting me on the shoulder a bit too hard.
Fuckers.
It’s too tempting to punch them, but I stop myself getting into a fight on my first day back, not for myself or the club, but for Viv. She’s never asked me to leave the club or even hinted at it, but I know she worries whenever someone goes on a run and can’t stomach the thought of someone getting hurt. She’s been nagging Bennett to come over at least once a week to make sure he’s okay. He usually ends up coming over three times every week just to reassure her. I haven’t heard him complain yet because each time he comes over, Viv tries a new baking recipe.

“The Mighty Gabe is back.” Ant says making the others laugh.

“Fucker.” I shake my head and tap my brother on the shoulder, then the others. As we walk into the Chapel, I see Aleck looking at me as if he’s seen a ghost. “What’s with the long face, Aleck?”

“Nothing.” He sighs and sits down on Ant’s right as I take my place on his left.

“Okay?” I look at him confused. “Where’s Sanders?”

“He’s la-”

“Right here, sorry, work is fucking chaos.” He sighs and sits down next to Aleck.

“They made you go back to work already?” Ant asks him in disbelief.

“Yeah, I was only allowed three fucking weeks.” He sighs and rubs his face.

“That’s bullshit. How have you been?” Aleck says, we’re all fucking surprised that they wouldn’t even allow him a longer break to mourn the loss of his wife.

“Struggling. Some days are better than others. I’m still hoping I’ll wake up from this nightmare and she’ll walk through the front door.” He sighs, looking exhausted.

“You know we’re here if you need anything,” I tell him, meaning it.

“I know, thank you. I just need to sort this on my own. You have enough on your plate, how is Viv?”

“She’s good, getting there. Frustrated that she can’t do what she wants physically, but she’s making progress.”

“That’s good, glad she’s better.” He smiles softly. “What about Bennett?”

“He’s over three times a week, getting fatter by the minute with the amount of pastry Viv is shoving down his throat.” I say with a serious expression on my face and we all burst out laughing.

“I can so picture her doing that,” Ant chimes in. “Ayd is doing the same, blaming it on having to try out different cakes for the wedding.” He shakes his head.

“They’re all cake crazy.” Aleck chuckles. “Line has been doing the same.”

“Good luck with that, Brother.” Ric chuckles. “My wife did that too.”

“We’re fucked.” Ant elbows Aleck who nods. “Anyway, forget cake explosion, I wanted to thank you all for coming today. Today we’ll discuss the alliance between our three clubs, see if we keep it or call a truce and go our separate ways, but also something that was brought to my attention yesterday.”

“What happened?” I ask him instantly, expecting the worse.

“First, the club alliance.” Ant gives me a look and I nod. Ever since the incident, I naturally expect the worse whenever someone tells me they heard something new.

Ric starts talking. “I’ve talked to my men. It’s good working alongside your two clubs. We’ve never had an alliance with anyone before, so it was all new, but the outcome has been beneficial, despite us losing two members. We don’t know what your two clubs are looking for, but we’re in if this is approved. Not gonna lie, the fact that we are outnumbering every other club out there is a huge fucking bonus. Things were rough for a couple of days with your woman getting shot and yours getting killed, but we’ve managed to take them down and word on the street is that it’s a lot better to live in the Kings’ old area. Not as much crime anymore.”

“I’ve heard that too, looks like a couple of good things came out of this crazy man blowing up their compound.” Ant points at Sanders and we all look at him pointedly.

“Don’t look at me like that. Had I not, more of us would be dead.” He shrugs. “Besides, always wanted to use one of those bad boys.” He smirks.

“How did it feel?” I ask.

“Pretty fucking amazing.” We all laugh.

“I’m sure it was,” Ray chimes in. “At least, you didn’t blow one of your limbs off. Happened to one of our retired members. He held it for too long, then didn’t throw it far enough. Poor bastard.” We all join him laughing.

“Sorry to hear.” Ant offers.

“Don’t be, he’s living the fucking life of leisure in Florida or some old people place.” He chuckles. “Missing a leg sure, but never stopped him from getting pussy and marrying his old lady.” He chuckles. “But anyway, I have to say that ever since you got rid of the problem from my club last year, things have been a lot smoother. We separated ourselves from a couple of club members who were siding with Blades and joined the Kings. So I’m glad they are gone with the trash too. We patched the two prospects who now know better than to listen to anyone other than me for orders. They’re good kids, I didn’t invite them for our events as I didn’t know how you would feel about it and I didn’t want to make trouble. We took a vote and we all agreed this” he gestures around the table. “worked fucking amazingly. We’re in too.”

“Very good and I’m grateful you didn’t force them onto us for the past few events. I’d like to sit down with them and have a talk. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to have to set some ground rules that we all have to abide by so we can avoid any misunderstanding. We’ll draw up those rules together with the Prez, VP and Sergeant at Arms of each club.” Ant explains calmly.

“What about Sanders? He’s been very efficient, but what is he doing here or in the middle of this?” Ray asks quite confused by Sanders’ presence and so am I.

Sanders looks over at Ant who nods at him. “It’s been brought to my attention, that while there are only ten members left of the Kings. Most of their charters have been fairly quiet, but the rest of the Kings and one of their charters are moving in together and creating chaos just outside of Louisiana. They call themselves the Hades’ Disciples. They haven’t made a move yet, but I’m sure it’ll come soon enough. Until we know what their goal is we need to keep an eye out.” I knew nothing good would come out of this.

“So you’re telling us that a bunch of those no life motherfuckers are teaming up to come here to take us down?” I ask him sarcastically.

“Take us down, not sure, cause chaos? Definitely.” Sanders answers truthfully.

“Us? You consider yourself one of us now?” Ric taunts him.

Sanders sighs. “Honestly? I feel out of place at the station. It’s all I ever wanted to do when I was growing up, but now it feels so fucking wrong. I feel more at home here than I do at the station.”

“Why? Did losing your wife mess you up because there’s nothing your little cop friends could have done? Or maybe you’re realizing that doing your own justice is better than asking for help, when you know they won’t do shit.” Ric says rather harshly.

“Fair enough. It feels wrong to work for a system that is supposed to protect, help and serve, but actually doesn’t do much. Working on Cabe’s case opened my eyes to the corrupted and dirty side of the law. From that point onwards, everything went south and led me to feel this way.” Sanders shrugs.

“Good answer, but you’re going to need to rethink your priorities if you are about to work with us.” Ray tells him gauging him.

“What exactly do you mean?” Sanders looks at him, unafraid.

“While your position on the force could be beneficial for all of us, it could mean a lot of trouble for you, from inside and outside. No one likes a rat, even if that rat is a detective and it’s his job. You’ll have to choose between your cushy life or our lifestyle, can you handle that? Playboy?” Ray chuckles.

“You mean choose between a lifestyle that is slowly killing me or one that makes me feel something, that gives me that same rush of adrenaline that being a detective used to bring me? The choice is easily made, but the decision will be made in due time. I think it can be beneficial until we know more about those Hades’ Disciples, don’t you think?” Sanders doesn’t cower under Ray’s intense gaze. Credit to him, he’s much tougher than I thought he’d be, he could easily be one of us.

“You’re starting to grow on me.” Ray chuckles.

“Not too much I hope. Next thing we know, you’ll be the one throwing a badge around.” We all burst out laughing.

“You’re funny. That’s a good thing to have.” Ray smiles, approving of Sanders. None of us ever trusted anybody with a badge, but Sanders has proven himself to be a man we can trust, despite the badge.

From time to time, I catch Aleck staring at me. I don’t know what’s wrong, but I can feel something is bothering him. We carry on talking about club business, laying down some important rules about the dynamics of three clubs plus a cop working together. It’s a good thing it’s only the ten of us, if the rest of the clubs were here it’d be fucking chaos, with everyone shouting ideas at each other. Get all of us into a room and you’d think we were a bunch of school kids stuck in the classroom.

Two hours later, we all walk out and shoot the shit with our other brothers. I walk outside to call Viv and check on her.

“Hey Booboo!!!!” she exclaims a bit too loudly. They’ve been eating Red Velvet donuts again.

“Hey Doll.” I chuckle. “How are the donuts?”

“How do you know?” she asks surprised.

“Because you’re hyper as fuck, that’s why.”

“Oooh…busted!!!” She laughs.

“Either that or you’re drunk.”

“No, we’re hyper on cake, donuts and wedding preparations.” She giggles shushing someone in the background.

“Will I have another near heart attack when I walk inside?” I ask scared of what I might find.

“Mayyyyyybe…” she says tentatively.

“Oh shit, what have you done?” I ask, actually worried.

“Nothing, I swear.”

“You’re full of shit, Viv.”

“I know, haven’t pooped yet.” I laugh.

“I love you, you know that right?”

“Yes. I love you too, everything okay?” she asks, obviously nervous.

“Yes, more than okay. You’re just fucking crazy. I’ll be home for dinner, don’t cook anything, I’ll grab Chinese food.”

She squeals into the phone. “Can the girls stay over?”

“Yes, of course, I’ll bring Aleck and Ant.” It’s good to see her wanting to socialize again.

“And Bennett.” She adds quickly.

“I’m going to start to think you’re having an affair with Bennett with the amount of times you wanna see him,” I tease her.