SOULLESS (Black Thorns, #2) (12 page)

“So, what’s up?” he asks, standing up from his bed like nothing’s happened.

Fine. Good. I’m all for playing it that way, too.

I hand him the piece of paper in my hand with the address we got on Kent’s possible location. He takes it and reads it.

“Need you to check this out.”

He pockets it and nods. “Sure.”

He moves to walk past me, but I press my hand to his chest, holding him back. “After dark.”

“Ax, you know how discreet I am. Don’t need the dark for that.”

“Not taking that chance, brother.”

He eyes me in surprise. “You worried? ‘Bout me?”

“Kent’s a dangerous motherfucker.”

I see him scrutinizing me and I know why. Since our blow up over Rox, things ain’t been the same between us.

“Guess me coming down there to save your ass has sorted shit out between us, yeah?”

“We’re good,” I tell him.

He sighs with relief. “Thank fuck, Ax. Hated not being good with you.”

“I know.” I ain’t gonna get all mushy ‘bout it, but I did miss our friendship. How close we used to be. But it weren’t easy just to get back to that after the shit he pulled and the way he didn’t have my back before. Anything to do with Rox, he just went against me on. That weren’t the actions of a brother, or a best friend. But what he did recently put him back in my good graces. He proved himself to me.

Fuck. Ever since I met Rox, everything’s been so fucking complicated. Alliances changing, my whole world spinning on its fucking axis. The rift with Runner was just the tip of the iceberg. And now she’s back in my life, shit ain’t ‘bout to get no easier.

But she’s something else.

Worth it.

Always was. Always will be.

And, once I’m done with Kent, I can go back to that damn list and take all those assholes out. We can be together. I can leave the club without taking a fucking bullet the moment I do from one of my enemies. There won’t be no more complications. I just gotta ride all this bullshit out ‘til then.

“All right. Let me know when you head out and keep me posted,” I tell him as I turn to leave.

“Ax, you know why the boys are upset, right?”

I grunt, my hand on the doorknob.

“Ain’t why you think,” he pushes.

That gets my attention. Didn’t wanna talk ‘bout it, but what’s he tryin’ to say here? Ain’t why I think? Why else is it then?

I turn ‘round and fold my arms. “What?”

“Boys ain’t upset, cuz you kept shit from ‘em. That’s just part of being Prez sometimes. We all get that. Nah, what they’re upset ‘bout is losing you as Prez once you complete that hit list of yours.”

“Grit will take it on. You’re all fine with him.”

He shakes his head. “You really don’t see it, do you?”

“See what?” I snap, getting pissed. I hate cryptic crap. Why can’t he just spit it out?

“Trig nearly wrecked the club, Ax. Then, with you becoming Prez, it was back to being what it was before. A family. It’s cuz of who
you
are—what
you
bring to the role. Club ain’t been this way for a while and now it’s finally good again, the boys don’t wanna lose that. They don’t wanna lose
you
. Not just anyone can bring what you have as Prez. I mean, I’d respect Grit becoming Prez if I had to, but he ain’t you. Even he knows that.”

What? Wow. “Runner, listen—”

“Nah, man. Just answer me something, yeah? You ever think ‘bout bringing your girl into the club?”

I scoff at the ridiculousness of it. “Come on.”

“She’s been here for over a week now and shit’s been fine. More than fine. She ain’t been such a bitch like she was last time. Boys have accepted her.”

“She ain’t Old Lady material.
You
told me that.”

“Does she need to be? Live at your house away from the club. You don’t need to sleep here, just be here in the day and shit. You got Grit for the rest. Just like running a business, right? Just keep her away when we throw pussy parties so she ain’t seeing any of that going down.”

Huh.
Does she need to be?
It’s messed up that I ain’t never looked at it like that before. Ain’t the way I was raised. I been ‘round club life since I was a kid. Women have always fallen into two categories: club whores or Old Ladies. And Rox weren’t neither, so I just figured there weren’t no place for her in the club. And
she
saw it the same as me, cuz of all the shit she knew ‘bout club life from her dad. Figured, like me, that women were only seen in those two ways.

But she ain’t neither one of those. Hell, she’s probably closer to club member material than anything else.

Ain’t no way I could patch her in as a member, though. For one thing, Dealer would fucking kill me. And another, we ain’t never patched a woman in. And she ain’t just any woman. She’s reckless and she’s got a major problem with authority. A loose cannon. Woman can’t be controlled and I don’t want a member like that running ‘round my club. It’s dangerous.

“I…I dunno,” I answer as my mind whirls, going a million miles a minute, as I try to think over the shit he’s just thrown at me.

“You take her as yours again and the boys will have her back automatically. A bunch of ‘em, like Smiter, are already treating her like a little sister. You still got it in your head ‘bout what things were like under Trig. I know you still see it that way. Can’t get it outta your head, or something. But it ain’t that way no more. The club’s a family again, Ax. You sure you wanna walk away from that?”

When I don’t answer and, instead, just stare at him, tryin’ to think ‘bout it, he smiles and squeezes my shoulder—the good one, thankfully—and says, “Give it some thought.”

Ain’t like I got the time to do that right now. This Kent situation is my priority. I’ll deal with that first and then…
this
…this I’ll get to after.

Shit.
The club’s a family again.
Have I been so clouded by my mission and going through the motions of leading the boys as Prez, that I didn’t fucking see that?

Nah, it’s more than that.

It’s her.

Rox.

Ain’t been able to get her outta my head. She’s all I been able to see in all these months that we’ve been apart.

And now she’s here in my club, she ain’t even
her
no more.

Maybe Runner’s right then.

Before, Rox hated the idea of being part of the club as my girl. She’s different now, so maybe she’s thinking different on that, too? Could I bring her in? Would she accept me as a club member now? And do I wanna remain as one? Do I wanna remain as Prez?

I dunno. I got a lot to think over.

Chapter 14

~Roxana~

“Argh!” I mutter, throwing down my laptop. It bounces off the couch cushion beside me and clatters to the floor. Great.

I move to pick it up, but my dad’s out of his chair in the next second, handing it back to me.

“Thanks,” I say, settling it carefully onto the cushion this time. Shit. I need to be careful with it. My dad told me that Neil went out of his way to get it for me. My dad gave it to me about three weeks ago on Neil’s behalf. Neil’s been avoiding me all this time, so
he
wouldn’t come to give it to me himself.

Dad grins at me, clearly amused by my little temper tantrum.

“What?” I snap.

He holds up his hands. “Nothing, princess. You having trouble with work?”

“Yeah,” I sigh. “I can’t figure out something with a design I’m working on.”

“Maybe your head’s not in the game.”

He snatches my laptop up and places it on the round wooden table he’d been reading his paper on in the leather armchair beside me. Then he comes to sit next to me on the couch and asks, “You want Brockford back?”

“What?” I gasp, surprised by this coming out of left field.

“You miss it?”

I glance around quickly. Phew. No one is around. “Dad, not here.” When I was running things in Brockford, I wasn’t exactly the most popular person around here, at the club. The boys hated how I did business. The last thing I want is to bring that up and rock the boat when I’m living with them right now.

“You worried ‘bout what the boys are gonna think?” he asks, incredulity clear in his voice.

“Of course.”

“That ain’t the daughter I raised.”

I shoot to my feet and blurt out, “It isn’t just about
me
now!”

His eyes go wide at my words.

Oh no. Oh shit. Why does my temper always get the best of me and have me blurting out things that it shouldn’t? Urgh. I’m just like Neil. Well, not as bad, but still bad enough.

My dad rises to his feet, too. “What’s that mean?” he asks, warily.

I try to make a break for it—I can come back for my laptop later—but my dad grabs my arm.

Right then, my
old
reaction sparks to life and it takes everything in me not to rip his arm off me and kick his ass. The concern in his eyes stops me, along with the fact that he’s my father. How could I strike my own father? He sees my temper and releases me immediately.

“Roxana,” he presses. “Not just ‘bout you? Tell me you mean Ax.”

I shake my head, my throat suddenly dry. I can’t say it…I can’t get the words out.

“Are you…are you….?”

I nod.

“You didn’t take the pill I got you?”

“I…I forgot. In all the chaos of moving in here.”

“Jesus!”

I run my fingers through my hair. “I know. Shit.”

“You took a test? How?”

I rub my fingers together. “A bribe to one of the prospects.”

He rolls his eyes. “Now,
that’s
the old you.”

“You can’t tell him, Dad. Neil can’t know.”

“What?”

“Not yet. There’s too much happening.”

“Princess, no.”

“Dad, I’m asking you, as your daughter.”

“This is what’ll stop him, Roxana!”

“Stop him?”

He steps back and mutters, “Ah, shit.”

He’s let something slip? Wow. He must be really worked up over what I’ve just told him then. My dad never reveals information he doesn’t intend to. He’s very good with that.

He closes the distance between us and starts whispering, telling me all about a hit list Neil apparently has, about everything that he’s trying to do to facilitate us being together.

“Oh my God.” Shock isn’t a strong enough word for it. “No. He can’t do that.”

“Agreed. Been tryin’ to stop him, but he’s a stubborn ass. But you telling him
this
will do it. It’ll become his whole focus and he’ll finally agree to my proposal.”

“What proposal, Dad?” I ask worriedly.

“
I
will take ‘em all out.”

“What?” I yell. “No! No way!”

“Roxana, you know my history. It won’t make a bit of difference.”

I shake my head with disbelief. “You’re both idiots. You don’t need to
kill
them.”

“What? Of course we—”

“Murder isn’t the only way to neutralize a threat.”

“What you talkin’ ‘bout, princess?”

“Leverage.”

“Roxana—”

“I need to see the list. When I was running things back in Brockford, Black Thorns and I were dealing with a lot of the same people. I might know some of the people on this list, which means I might have something on them.”

He shakes his head vigorously. “No way. You ain’t getting caught up in this. Especially, not with what you just revealed. You just gotta tell Ax and I’ll deal with this shit. Can’t right now, cuz I can’t risk taking my eye off him. I know the second I turn my back and I ain’t there to stop him again, he’ll make his way down the list.”

“Fine. I’ll just contact Ralph and have him look into it for me.”

Something in his expression has a sinking feeling settling in my stomach then. “What? What, Dad?”

“Ralph ain’t available right now.”

“Why not?”

He takes a breath and tells me, “He ended up in the ER.”

“What?” I shriek. “Oh my God. What happened? Is he okay? Is he—?”

“He’s gonna be fine. He’s been released now. Still recuperating, though. A few weeks back, just before we brought you here under club protection, Kent sent his boys ‘round to him, tryin’ to find out where you were.”

“Shit. I need to see him. I need to—”

He grabs my arms and growls, “No. You stay here. We got this. Let me and Thorns deal with Kent. When that’s done, we’ll talk ‘bout the list. In the meantime, tell him, Roxana. Tell him.”

With that, he releases me and walks off, leaving me to absorb all of these shocking revelations.