Rock side-eyes me but doesn’t say anything.
Priest settles his gaze on Rock again. “You still feel your relationship with the Wolf Knights is solid?”
Did I not just explain this to him?
Rock answers carefully. “Yes. We haven’t had a lot of contact lately, but we’re on good terms.”
“Make contact,” Priest says. “Z tells me there’s a family relationship between one of your ol’ ladies and their club?”
“Their former president.” Rock grits his teeth. Knowing him, he wants to protect Charlotte, not offer her up to do our dirty work. “She doesn’t have contact with them otherwise.”
“Z and I talked about consolidating our two clubs. Maybe one bottom rocker instead of the upstate/downstate—”
Respect is a huge thing in our world. You can’t have relationships with multiple outlaw clubs while stabbing them in the back. Honor among thieves and all that. Your word has to mean something.
Rock cuts Priest off before he can go any further with this claiming all of New York idea. “You want to spark off a war between Lost Kings and multiple clubs, go ahead. That’s never going to work, Priest. Except for the Vipers, we’ve had peace between all the clubs. There’s no reason to mess with that just because we want to look like we claim a larger territory.”
Priest holds up his hands. “All right. Z explained some of the more geographical issues earlier. Upstate/downstate it is.”
Irritated he brought it up again after we already discussed it, I keep my mouth shut.
“Brave leaders don’t stay silent during the hard conversations,” Priest continues. “This is why I want you two in charge. You’re not afraid to respectfully give me a straight answer and the facts to back it up. You understand that quality is rare, right?”
“That’s what we’re here for,” Rock answers.
“Courage over comfort. That’s a true outlaw.” Priest slaps the table and stands. “All right. Thank you for a productive talk, brothers. Now, let’s meet this wife of yours, Z. Valentina’s waiting outside.”
“Brother, she could’ve come in. Hope’s here too,” Rock says. “She would’ve been more than happy to show her around.”
Priest waves that off. “She’s fine.”
Hope found her way outside anyway. She’s in the parking lot with Charlotte and Valentina catching up. Teller, Rooster, and three brothers from Mississippi stand back a few feet, watching over them.
“Z, it’s so good to see you,” Valentina says, kissing my cheek. “I can’t wait to meet your bride. Hope was telling me she’s been friends with her for years and she’s already an asset to the club.”
My throat constricts with emotion. That Hope’s already trying to smooth the way for Lilly means a lot. “All true.” I slap Rock’s shoulder. “I tagged along when he was stalking, I mean, courting, Hope.” Everyone stops to laugh and needle Rock a little. “I saw Lilly and knew she’d be my wife. Eventually.”
Now, they have a good laugh at me. But I’m so fucking happy Lilly, Chance and I are all together as a family, I don’t even care.
Chapter Forty
Lilly
Hope abandoned me with Stella. Actually, Wrath called her away.
She probably found Rock and they’re screwing in a closet right this second. I’m going to strangle her if she comes back all afterglowy.
Trinity finally rescues my ass.
“Hi, Stella, I’m not sure if you remember me. We met at your—”
“Oh, yes!” She gushes and gives Trinity a hug. Judging from the freaked out look on her face, Trinity wasn’t expecting the embrace.
Maybe Stella’s nervous too?
Heidi eventually joins us and doesn’t seem to know what to say once she realizes who Stella is.
Oh, the awkwardness never ends.
I’m trying to plan an escape when the crowd parts like something out of a biblical story. I don’t need to read the patches or ask anyone to know the six-foot-tall silver fox has to be the national president of the Lost Kings MC. I vaguely remember seeing him here at the clubhouse after Sway was shot but never spoke to him. The regal woman at his side must be his wife. Z’s on his other side, eyes on me. Rock and Hope behind them. Three more huge bikers trail behind them. From the hallway, Charlotte flashes me a thumbs up.
I slide off my stool and stand straighter, fussing with my dress to make sure it’s straight and my boobs haven’t fallen out.
“Here we go,” Trinity murmurs. “You’ve got this, Lilly.”
The three bikers following Priest sort of fan out around him when he stops, creating a wall of muscle that blocks Stella and anyone else from joining this conversation.
Ta-ta, Stella!
Z slides up next to me, and slips his arm around my waist, settling his hand somewhere between my ass and my hip.
“Priest, this is my wife, Lilly. Lilly, this is our National President and his wife, Valentina. They came up from our Mississippi charter to join us for a couple days.”
“Oh, wow,” I blurt out like an airhead who’s never seen a map in her life. “I hope it was a good trip.”
Priest’s mouth curls into an almost fatherly smile. “It was. Even better to find out how much your old man’s accomplished since my last visit.”
Everything I can come up with sounds too kiss-ass, so I smile politely instead.
Priest only stays for a minute before moving into the rest of the crowd with his men. Z kisses my cheek before following. Valentina and Hope stay with me. I turn my don’t-you-dare-leave-me eyes on Hope and she winks.
At least my night isn’t boring.
Chapter Forty-One
Z
“Your wife is lovely, Z,” Priest says.
I’ve been dragged around the room while Priest met with every single member of the downstate charter. He completes another lap of the room to touch base with everyone from upstate, heaping praise on my brothers for what a fantastic job we’re doing.
Just how bad are our other charters fucking shit up?
Finally, he’s finished with the tour of brothers and calls me into the chapel.
“We didn’t get to discuss finances. Where are you at with the club?”
“Money is flowing. Things are coming back in line.”
Not only had Shadow betrayed us with the Vipers. Turned out he’d been skimming from the laundromat. Something Suds, who’s responsible for that business, didn’t realize was happening because Shadow always threw around his VP weight. Hustler has been given explicit instructions to pay better attention. I’m not sure how long he’s going to last as our treasurer, though.
I don’t bring that up tonight with Priest, because I consider it an internal issue.
“The porn thing.” He pulls a face. “Is that still making money?”
“So far, yes. Sway runs it. His main star is actually here tonight if you want to meet her.”
He flicks his hand in the air, like it’s the last thing he wants to do.
“You think porn is a good idea? Be honest.”
“Honestly? Yeah.” Just because I don’t want to personally deal with Stella doesn’t mean I want to diminish the money her production company brings into the club. “She fills a niche. There’s still money to be made and it doesn’t bring heat from the feds. Kind of the perfect situation. Like we were talking about.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Strip clubs. Porn.” He spreads his hands in front of him. “Club’s always dabbled in wink of the pink business in one way or another. Surprised we didn’t step into this sooner.”
I snort. “Who knew Sway was such a visionary.”
“Christ, you got that right.” He pauses. “Why isn’t your ol’ lady patched?”
My head spins from the change in topic. “Uh. I’m planning to do it.” I tap my President’s patch. “Since things are so up in the air right now, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to ask upstate or downstate to vote her in.”
“I understand.” He strokes his hand ov
er his chin a few times. “How about I negate that concern for you?”
“How?”
“I’ll give her my patch for the side. No one can argue with the national president’s patch on her vest.”
Holy fuck.
Normally, the brothers take a vote on an old lady and each officer gives her his patch to wear on the side of her vest. A brother doesn’t have to get the votes. He can still patch an old lady, but she’s respected a lot more in the organization if she has the approval of your brothers.
Will Priest’s approval make it easier for Lilly wherever I land or will the brothers resent her and think she got some sort of special treatment?
Doesn’t matter. I can’t say no.
“Thank you, Priest. That would mean a lot to both of us.”
“You’ve done an exceptional job, Z. I’m sorry if moving down here has fucked up your life, but you’ve risen to the occasion.” He lets out a thunderous laugh. “Fuck, I got half a mind to send you out to a couple other of my problem child charters to whip ‘em into shape.”
Again, I’m too stunned to speak right away.
“Thank you, Priest. I’m not doing anything exceptional. Just what we’re supposed to do.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Z
“I want to fuck you so bad,” I whisper against Lilly’s ear. I run my hand over the curve of her ass, dying to do more.
“Don’t get any ideas. I can barely move in this dress. Once it’s off, it’s off for good.”
“Done. Let’s go.” I tug on her hand.
“Shouldn’t we stay until Priest retires for the night?”
Fuck. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Aww.” She rubs her hand over my cheek and leans in. I drop my gaze to her ample tits barely contained by the sexy fucking dress.
“I want to lick you.”
“In good time,” she purrs.
“If we had done a big wedding thing, this is exactly the dress I would’ve wanted you in.”
“Not white?”
“Fuck white.” I pick up one of her hands and kiss the back. “Thank you for putting up with all of this.”
“I’m fine, Z. Well, except for hanging out with Stella. That kind of sucked.”
Shit, I forgot she’s still lurking around here somewhere. “I wasn’t the one who invited her.”
“It’s not a big deal. She was nice enough…It’s just…”
“I get it.” I brush my lips over her knuckles again. “I appreciate it.”
“I like Valentina. She’s real, balls in your face, but also really nice.”