Authors: Jane Slate
Patrick flashed him a smile.
“Patrick Leland. This is some event you’ve organized.”
Nash shrugged.
“Oh, this is nothing,” he said with a wave of his hand.
“You should see what we get ourselves into when the weather is nice.”
Patrick chuckled. Stella shifted on her feet and followed the men to the bar where Kade, Landon, and Trig were all sitting.
“Hi daddy,” she said to Trig, bending to kiss him on his cheek as she slid into an empty barstool beside him.
He reeked of whiskey and barely seemed to register his daughter’s presence. Stella sighed and rolled her eyes. She introduced Patrick to everyone at the bar and he made small talk with them.
Kade was visibly pissed off but kept his eyes glued to the television mounted above the bar and said nothing. For one brief moment, Stella regretted her decision to bring Patrick here. She glanced over at him and he gave her a perplexed look before smiling and gripping her thigh beneath the counter.
Stella felt uncomfortable. She tried to shift her body but it was no use. Patrick’s charming demeanor began to slowly dissolve with every beer he drank, and after the fourth or fifth, he only became more hands-on and entitled.
“Patrick,” Stella spoke up, pulling him aside during a game of pool.
She glanced over at Kade but he refused to make eye contact with her.
“Maybe we should get going,” she whispered.
“I think I made a mistake coming here.”
Patrick chuckled and snatched his hand from Stella’s.
“Why is that?” he questioned.
Stella cringed.
She didn’t want to go into details but it didn’t seem as though she had much of a choice. Patrick deserved to know that he was a sheep in a lion’s den.
“I dated him...” Stella said, keeping her voice low as she nodded over at Kade.
“A few years ago. I didn’t realize he would be here tonight.”
Ok, so that last part was a lie. But Patrick didn’t need to know that he had been used as bait to ruffle Kade’s feathers. Keeping things vague was for the best.
Patrick furrowed his brows and chuckled.
“Kade?”
Stella nodded.
“Yeah...wait how do you know his name?”
Patrick shrugged.
“You did introduce me...and I’m a doctor. A good memory kind of comes with the territory.”
“Anyway,” Patrick continued, slurring his words.
“I’m not threatened by some guy you dated way back when.”
He flashed Stella a toothy grin and pulled her small frame against his own.
“You’re here with me now, right?”
Stella nodded as a feeling of uneasiness flooded through her.
“Look,” she spoke up once more, glancing over at Kade.
“I just...I really don’t think staying is a good idea. I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable situation.”
Patrick frowned and looked from Stella to Kade.
“No,” he said through clenched teeth, tightening his grip on Stella’s waist.
““I’m having fun. We’ll leave when I’m ready.”
Stella looked up at him in shock and swallowed hard. A feeling of dread washed over her. She bit down on her bottom lip, feeling small and insecure as he turned his attention back to his game.
“Fine.”
With that, she sauntered towards the bar and sat down beside Grace, cracking her first beer of the night. She looked around for her father but he was nowhere to be seen. Kade stood up and grabbed a pool stick, joining the game and sliding in beside Patrick, who looked at him sideways.
“Kade,” he said warily.
Kade furrowed his brows.
“Patrick.”
Patrick nodded to where Stella was sitting with the other ladies at the bar and smiled tightly. Both men surveyed the game and waited their turn, refusing to make eye contact with one and other as they spoke.
“So...you and Stella...”
He paused.
“She told me that you two have a history together.”
Kade shrugged and took a long drink of his beer.
“I don’t see how that’s much of your business,” he answered.
Kade glanced over at Stella, who looked at him nervously before averting her gaze. Patrick chuckled and slapped Kade on the shoulder.
“Hey, I’m not trying to start anything. I’m just letting you know my intentions.”
He nodded at Stella.
“I like her. And when I like something, I get it.”
Something.
Kade tensed his jaw and willed himself not to beat Patrick’s ass right then and there.
“Whatever man,” he spat, keeping his tone void of any emotion.
“I don’t give a shit.”
It was a lie, but Kade wasn’t about to let some pretty boy piece of shit push his buttons.
Patrick nodded in satisfaction and turned his attention back to the game. Kade stepped away and took a seat at the bar. When Maria and Grace saw him approaching, they giggled and glanced over at Stella before walking off.
Stella stared Kade down but he lit a smoke and refused to make eye contact with her. Tension was heavy in the air.
“Kade...” she questioned nervously.
“What was that about?”
Kade shrugged.
What had she expected to happen?
“So,” he countered.
“He seems like a real charmer.”
Stella rolled her eyes. She glanced over at Patrick before giving Kade and icy glare.
“Maybe you should mind your business.”
Kade chuckled and took a long drink of his beer.
“Last I checked, you brought him here, sweetheart.”
“Not me.”
Before Stella could craft a response, Patrick slid into an empty barstool between her and Kade and wrapped his arm around her. He pressed a kiss against her earlobe and she scrunched her nose, attempting to pull away from him.
“Patrick,” she said evenly.
“Stop.”
Patrick ignored her and roamed his hands down her body, whispering crass talk in her ear. His breath reeked of beer and liquor. His eyes were bloodshot and dazed. It was obvious that he was wasted. Stella cringed.
Kade couldn’t take it anymore.
“Hey!” he spoke up from down the bar.
“She said back off buddy!”
“What are you? Hard of hearing?”
Patrick looked over at Kade and laughed in his face. Drunken confidence. That’s all it was. Even so, it was a bad move.
Kade was on his feet in seconds. He hauled Patrick off of Stella by his throat and slammed into him with full force, not showing him any mercy. Five years of pent up rage was unleashed on the intoxicated doctor, who didn’t do much to defend himself from the attack. Landon, Nash, and a few prospects stepped forward to try and stop the fight but Kade wasn’t having it. He shouted for them to back the fuck off and they did just that.
A silence fell over the clubhouse.
Someone stopped the music. The only sound that could be heard was Kade’s fists slamming against Patrick’s flesh. Finally, Nash stepped in and broke up the fight, ignoring Kade’s protests.
“Enough!” he yelled.
“Go outside and cool off!”
Kade hesitated as he attempted to catch his breath.
“That’s an order,” Nash said evenly.
Kade nodded and tensed his shoulders. He walked off and Stella ran after him, forgetting about Patrick entirely.
P
atrick Leland.
Kade didn’t know who the fuck the guy thought he was, showing up to a Sons event with Stella on his arm.
It was downright disrespectful.
Kade tensed his jaw and winced as Stella pressed a wad of gauze against his wound. There was no reason she should have been tending to him. Not after the number he had done on her new boy toy. But she had insisted on taking him into the clubhouse bathroom to clean him up after the altercation and he wasn’t about to object.
It didn’t matter that none of it made any sense.
“Hold still,” Stella hissed between her teeth, gripping Kade by the shoulder.
Her usual comforting demeanor was long gone. She was pissed and Kade could understand why.
They weren’t together. She wasn’t his. The way he had acted...well. It was animalistic rage. Jealousy. There was no rationalizing it.
Sweat, salt, and blood mixed and stung Kade’s eyes. There was a metallic, almost sour taste in his mouth. All of this was to be expected. The brutality of the beating Kade had unleashed on Peter had left him with wounds of his own, but they paled in comparison.
Without thinking, Kade grabbed hold of Stella’s wrist. She stared at him with a slack jawed expression and wide eyes.
“I’m fine,” Kade whispered hotly.
“I don’t need your help. Go be with your boyfriend.”
Stella pulled back and Kade let go of her. She reached for a tube of Neosporin and gave it a squeeze, rubbing the ointment into his wound.
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
Kade rolled his eyes.
“You two looked pretty friendly to me.”
Stella snorted and shook her head.
“So you what? Assault him for simply being with me?”
“You haven’t changed at all.”
Kade started to defend himself but Stella held up a hand to stop him and he obeyed.
“Let’s not forget that I have every right to attend club events. My father did have a hand in founding the Sons. You can’t bar me from going to these things, Kade.”
“And I’m allowed to bring friends,” she added.
Kade gritted his teeth.
“He doesn’t just want to be
friends
with you, Stella.”
Stella met eyes with him. A low groan of annoyance surfaced from her throat. She snapped the cap back on the Neosporin and pulled away from Kade, wiping her hands on her blouse.
“I’m a grown woman, Kade.”
“I can take care of myself.”
Kade shifted on the lid of the toilet seat and watched as Stella exited the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Kade closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, remembering how it had felt to wipe that smug, self-satisfied grin off of Patrick’s face. Regardless of how Stella felt about him, Kade knew one thing was sure.
Patrick wouldn’t be showing up to any other Sons events. Not if he knew what was good for him, and a busted nose and two black eyes probably did a decent job of delivering the message.
Yeah.
That was what Kade did. He fought. He threw fists and made blood pour. He taught lessons. He fucked people up and scared them away.
But it had never been a technique that had gotten him anywhere far. No...all he ever ended up was lonely.
Kade groaned and a second later, the bathroom door opened and Stella was standing there, visibly flustered. She pulled a suture kit from her purse and held it in the air, nodding at the wound above Kade’s right eyebrow, which was still trickling blood.
“You don’t have to...” Kade started to object but Stella shook her head and approached him.
She opened the kit and pulled out a pair of plastic gloves, sliding her hands into them. Kade studied her and they met eyes for one brief moment. For a long time, neither one of them spoke.
Stella was first to break the silence.
“I have something to confess,” she whispered as she began to thread Kade’s wound closed.
“When I came back to Falls Creek it wasn’t because I missed it here. I had a good life in New York. I was healthy there. Happy even. And so was Beth...”
Kade winced as the needle pierced through his skin. Stella bit down on her bottom lip in concentration. Her hair fell into her face as she worked.
“Why then?” Kade whispered, swallowing down the lump in his throat.
Stella averted her gaze and shifted on her feet, bringing her face closer to Kade’s to inspect her handy work.
“Perfect,” she whispered, knotting the end of the suture and pulling off her gloves with a loud snap.
She reached into the kit and pulled out a gauze pad, fastening it over the stitch. Then, she stuffed everything back into the box and closed it.
“I came back for you,” she choked out.
“It’s
always
been about you.”
Kade sucked in a deep breath, reaching up to brush his hand against Stella’s face. She stumbled slightly and fell into his lap.
“I’m sorry,” Kade said with a nod.
“About Patrick.”
Stella shrugged.
“He was kind of a pompous jerk.”
Kade shifted. This was the closest he had gotten to Stella since she had come back to Falls Creek and there was a certain euphoria attached. He restrained himself from taking her right then in there, but in truth, he was more turned on in that moment, with her tiny hands against his flesh and her body in his lap, than he had ever been in his entire life.