Honey Whiskey (A Bastards MC Novel) (23 page)

I nodded, half-numb as my heart
thundered wildly in my chest. I’d done what I was supposed to do.
I’d created a bond that would hopefully lead to the end result Rob
was so desperate for. However, I was more confused now than I had
been in months. Engagement party? What in the hell was going on,
and why in the hell had no one told me?

*****

The ride back to the apartment was
filled with tension. I had wanted to demand answers, but the
warning look on Rob’s face told me I would have to wait. As our
driver weaved in and out of traffic, I felt my annoyance grow.
Maybe there was a perfectly good explanation, but the jerk could
have at least warned me. No wonder Matty hadn’t wanted me to go
tonight! He was going to give me some answers, and he was going to
give them to me immediately.

I stormed out of the limo and into
the building behind Rob, barely offering Hawk and Tabby a terse
goodbye. Rob tried to say something once the elevator began to
move, but I shook my head. “No." I snapped. "Just save it! Matty
and I need to have a long talk.” He’d only nodded and pulled his
cell from his pocket.

I heard the chimes signaling the
phone coming to life as I stepped onto the lower level of our
house, marching straight for Matty’s room. I didn’t care if he was
sleeping, his ass was getting up and finally answering all the
questions I had. There was no escaping it this time.

But Matty wasn’t in his room. And there were
no signs he’d been here all night. Groaning in frustration, I
started to yank the bobby pins out of my hair, letting the curls
cascade down around my shoulder. I’d go upstairs and face him, but
I refused to do it in this damn dress.

The sharp double knock on the door
startled me. “Jesus, Matty, it’s your room too, you don’t have to
knock!” I yelled as I started to untie the knot on my hip. The
knock came again, though, and I hurried around the bed and pulled
it open.

Rob, jacket off and bow tie
undone, stood in the hall, holding up a finger to me. I raised an
eyebrow, but he shook his head. “No, we’re on our way. Just keep
him there!” he snapped into the phone before jabbing it with a
finger.

He jerked his head toward the
stairs. “You’re comin’ with me. Let’s go.”

Go? Where? “What’s wrong?” Panic
started to rise. “What did you do now?”

“Me?” he asked incredulously,
holding up the phone before shoving it into his pocket. “Eighteen
messages. That’s how many I have, but I only needed to listen to
one to get the fuckin’ point.” He grabbed the edges of the
doorframe, leaning into the room, every line of his body stressed
with tension. “Matty is at the club, totally fucked.” Dark eyes
narrowed at me. “I’m thinking that has more to do with you than
me.”

Well, that explained why my
boyfriend wasn’t here. I turned back into room, exhausted, intent
on changing into pj’s and falling into bed. “He’s pissed at
me.”

“Yeah,” Rob snorted. “You could
say that. You didn’t tell him you were coming with me. Why the fuck
not?”

I turned back to him, irritated at
his accusing tone. “Are you freaking serious right now? It takes
seriously large balls to be irritated with me for keeping a secret
after all the shit I found out you have been lying about! But, to
answer your question, I didn’t tell him because I thought that you
would! You tell him everything else I do!”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,
but my plates a little fuckin’ full right now!” he bellowed. “Is
that really why you didn’t tell him, L.K.? Or, was it some sort of
screwed up payback?” My mouth fell open in shock, but I couldn’t
form the words to argue back. The asshole took that as a sign of
guilt. “You need to stop fuckin’ with his head or so help me God, I
will…”

I cut him off before he
could finish his threat, white hot anger scorching through my
body
as I stepped towards him. “What? What
are you gonna do?” My eyes flared—if only looks could kill. “We had
a fucking argument! Wasn’t our first, sure as hell won’t be our
last! Couples do that every now and then. I’m not some weak-minded
little twit that's gonna roll over and do whatever the fuck he
wants me to do, whenever the fuck he tells me to do it. He doesn’t
own me! I am my own person and just because I make choices on my
own, doesn’t mean I’m fucking with his head!” My fists balled at my
sides, all exhaustion gone.

He watched my rant, unimpressed.
“I like you, L.K. In fact, I fuckin’ adore you. But, Matt’s my best
friend. Yeah, I would take a bullet for any one of my brothah’s,
but Mateo and I have been through the fuckin’ ringah togethah.
There isn’t a friggin’ thing I wouldn’t do for him.” He stood,
pulling himself up straight. “There is a lot of shit goin’ on right
now, and I need Matt thinkin’ straight, not drunk off his ass or
fucked up ovah you.” He pointed at me. “You ahh gonna go ovah theah
and straighten this shit out. And, you’ah gonna do it right
now!”  

It was my turn to snort. “Oh? And
what am I gonna do—stroll in there and take the bottle away?” I’d
done it once before, and it hadn’t been easy. Matty was a mean
drunk.

He glowered angrily and I stepped back,
momentarily terrified. “That’s exactly what you ahh gonna do.” If
possible, his face got even darker. “You say you wanna know what
secrets he’s keepin’. Well, I’ve watched him drink himself half to
death ovah the last few months. We don’t sit around bitchin’ and
moanin’ about our feelins, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist
to figure out what’s wrong.”

I shook my head, feeling the blood drain. No.
Matty had drunk himself into oblivion once before, a long time ago
when he and Becky got divorced. I’d been so sure he was going to
kill himself, either with alcohol or by making a stupid decision
because of it. Getting him sober had been hell, and I doubted he
remembered the days I’d spent with him, or the things he’d said
while drunk. He’d promised me that he would never let anything get
him that low again. The idea scared me more than anything
else. 

 “
You ahh
his whole fuckin’ world, L.K. You ahh always so quick to remind
everyone you don’t need to be saved. Did you evah stop to consider
that you’ah the one that needs to save
him?” 

Chapter 22 

Jo 

The atmosphere outside the club was completely
different than it had been two days ago. The parking lot was filled
with motorcycles, the music loud as it drifted out every time
someone opened the door, and there were tough looking men and a few
women gathered in small groups scattered here and
there.  

Most of the men spoke to Rob, some throwing a
laughing insult, others just smiling in greeting. They all seemed
to stare at me, curious about the woman their leader was bringing
in. Not one of the women offered me as much as a smile. It was
clear that even though they didn’t know jack shit about me, I
wasn’t welcome. As he pulled open the door for me, I wiped my
sweaty palms down the front of my jeans.  Thankfully Rob
had given me a few minutes to throw on pants and a tee-shirt,
because I couldn’t imagine coming here in my dress from
earlier.

I saw him almost immediately.
There were tons of people inside, scattered along the couches,
huddled in groups at the high tables, and playing pool. Matty,
though, was sitting on a stool at the bar, hunched over his drink,
oblivious to the fun that was going on around him. One of the
prospects was leaning against the other side of the bar, talking to
Dean. It looked like they were trying to include Matty, but he only
had eyes for the glass in front of him.

He looked so sad that my nerves
vanished immediately and my heart tore a little. “Oh, Matty!” The
words came out as a whisper, but I had a feeling Rocker heard them
anyway. I took a step forward, ready to hurry over and rescue my
beautiful boy, but a hand closed over the top of my arm.

“Wait,” Rob growled in my ear, not
giving me a chance to speak. “These boys don’t know you yet. Let’s
not give Mateo a reason to start a fuckin’ fight. Yeah?”

I nodded, letting him pull me
towards the bar. After the confusion with Tank, Rob wouldn’t get a
single argument from me. We were almost to the other side of the
room when a short, curvy redhead slid onto the empty stool beside
Matty and slid her arm up his back and over his shoulders. It was a
comforting gesture that seemed all too familiar, and the
butterflies invaded my stomach as I realized that Matty didn’t move
away from her. Rocker stopped abruptly, almost making me fall. I
glanced up, seeing the scowl, but he didn’t look at me.

“What are you doing?” I hissed,
prying at the fingers that were now squeezing my bicep
painfully.

He didn’t look down and he didn’t
loosen his grip. Instead, I watched as he turned his head as if
looking for someone. Then, obviously finding whoever he was
searching for, he started moving us sideways. I looked back to the
bar. The woman was still there, and Matty had sat up a little and
leaned in to talk to her. It was painfully obvious that they knew
each other, and I saw, rather than heard, him laughing at something
she said.

We stopped as suddenly as we had
started. I looked around, trying to see where Rob was headed, but
all I saw was the quick jerk of his head towards the bar. Then,
Tiny and another man were weaving their way through the people.
Within seconds, Tiny had placed himself between Matt and the woman.
Whatever he said caused Dean, the woman, and the prospect to look
back at us. The woman scowled but uncrossed her legs and pushed
herself off the stool, throwing me a nasty look before she walked
away. The prospect had enough sense to turn back to the bar. Dean,
however, didn’t try to hide his annoyance.

“What the hell, Brothah?” he asked
Rob as we approached.  I didn’t know if he was talking about
bringing me here or about forcing the other woman away. Rocker
ignored him, instead tipping his head once more, and suddenly Tiny,
the other man, and Rob disappeared, and I was alone with Matt and
Dean. I swallowed, not sure what to do.

I slid the woman’s stool out of my
way and stepped up next to Matty. He didn’t even turn to look at
me. “That’s Rebel’s seat,” he slurred, four sheets to the wind.
“She’ll kick your ass when she comes back.”

Groaning to myself, I forced a
joke. “Let her try. I’ve been told I can hold my own.”

His head jerked towards me as soon
as I started to talk. Bloodshot eyes met mine, squinting to see me
through his drunken haze. “Joes?” The disbelief in his voice
chilled me to the bone.

“Matty.” I reached up, palming his
cheek, enjoying the feel of stubble under my fingers. “Why don’t
you come show me your room?”

He swallowed, watching me. Then he
turned, breaking our connection, and picked up his glass, downing
it in one gulp. “Naw. I’m good. Thanks.” He held the glass in the
air towards the prospect.

I felt my eyebrows rise in surprise.
Seriously? The prospect immediately refilled the amber liquid.
Keeping my voice level, I asked, “How much have you had,
babe?”

Matty’s only response was to turn
to Dean and laugh like I was the most hilarious thing on the
planet. In seconds, the glass was empty and he was holding it in
the air again. I reached out, covering it before the temporary
bartender could fill it, and glared at the kid. “He’s
done.”

The prospect’s eye’s moved between
me and Matty and then to Dean. He swallowed, obviously not sure
what to do. Matty turned back to me, but this time the glare was
full of anger. “What the fuck is your problem? Didn’t have fun on
your date so now you’re ruinin’ my night?”

I didn’t move my hand. I’d seen
him a lot worse and sure as hell wasn’t going to back down. Trying
another angle, I leaned in closer, making my voice soft. “I’m
worried about you. You’re a fucking mess right now.”

He scoffed, but set the glass on
the bar. “I’m just havin’ a good time.” Then, he turned back to me,
voice sarcastic as he spit the word, “Babe.”

I laughed bitterly once. He
really thought he had an option here. Fuck being nice.
“
Were
having a good time. Now you’re done.” I saw Dean twirl his
finger at the prospect, motioning him to fill up the cup. I wasn’t
fast enough, but I snatched it away before he could half-fill it.
Glaring at the kid, I tried to sound as threatening as possible.
“You give him any more, and I swear to Christ, I will kick your
ass.”

I blocked Matty’s attempts to
reach the drink as I slid it down the bar, away from him. “Come on,
honey. Let’s go sleep it off.”

“Fuck off!” he spat as icy blue
eyes filled with indifference turned to me. “Why are you even heah
right now?” His voice was filled with emotion. “You left me, Jo.
So, no. You don’t get to worry. You don’t get to ask how much I’ve
had to drink. And, you sure as hell don’t get to take my glass
away. Honey, whiskey is alls I got.”

I leaned in close, pushing my face
into his. “I’m not sure if you’re talking about tonight or last
summer.” My anger rose with each word. “But, I didn’t fuckin’ leave
you, you giant stubborn ass! I’m right here and I’m not leaving
until you do. We can go now, or in a few hours, but either way,
you’re not drinking another fucking drop tonight.”