“I never knew that,” I said, surprised again. God, today was a day of discovery.
“Give him a chance. But know that it might take some time for him to change his ways. Yeah?”
It was almost as if he was pleading with me. Braden was a big guy. Way over six feet and built with muscles that looked like they took hours in the gym to achieve. He stood in front of me, his dark, wavy hair sweaty from being outside, his muscles tensed and a demanding look on his face, telling me he how much he wanted me to do what he asked. But it was his eyes that said the most. They gazed at me through pain; Braden was hurting from watching Kick struggle. Nodding, I said, “I don’t intend to give up on him, but he’s gonna have to step up, too.”
He smiled. “I’ll give him a kick up the ass for you.”
It seemed like Kick might need more than that. I just hoped he had it in him to be the man I needed him to be.
Chapter Ten
Kick
I strode into the clubhouse, looking for Hyde. The motherfucker had called and demanded I get down to here straight away. Right when I was finally starting to get my shit together with Evie. Pulling me away from my woman had not fucking pleased me, and I was about to give him a piece of my mind.
“Kick!”
I spun around to find Hyde coming up behind me, a hard glare in place. Walking towards him, I asked, “What the fuck is going on, Hyde? What was so fuckin’ important that I had to get here right fuckin’ now?”
“Did you go and see Jonathon Gambarro?”
“No.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You sure about that, Kick?”
“Yes, I’m fuckin’ sure about that, motherfucker. Why?”
“Well, it seems someone from Black Deeds got in his face and he’s gone fucking psycho on them, so I wanted to make sure you weren’t thinking of taking him on. I told you, the last thing we need is a problem with Gambarro.”
He wasn’t fucking serious? “You dragged me all the way here when I was in the middle of something to tell me that?”
I watched his eyes flash with rage. “It’d pay for you to remember who you’re talking to,” he said, his fury rising fast.
“I never forget who I’m talking to, VP. And you know my loyalty to this club, so don’t come in here and insinuate that I am anything but fuckin’ loyal.” I shook my head in anger. “The shit I’ve done for you, for King and for Storm, go above and fuckin’ beyond. If you ever imply it hasn’t or doesn’t again, you might just find out what it’s like to be on the end of my anger.”
“Are you fucking threatening me?”
I moved closer to him so we were almost nose-to-nose, my anger rolling off me. “Yeah, I’m fuckin’ threatening you.”
Hyde looked like he wanted to punch me, and I had no doubt the thought was running through his head, but I could fucking care less. If he wanted a fight, I’d give him a fight. In the end, though, he turned and stalked out of the room.
Fuck.
I was between a rock and a fucking hard place. And I still had no idea what the fuck I was going to do about it.
***
Five hours later, after I’d gone for a long ride to blow the shit out of my head, I pulled my bike up in Evie’s driveway. Her lights were still on, and I wondered if she’d waited up for me. She’d been pretty fucking clear about me coming over so my guess was she had.
As I walked the short path to her front door, she pulled it open and stood staring at me.
Christ, she never failed to take my breath away. Tonight she was dressed in an old t-shirt of mine that I didn’t even realise she still had. Her long, brown hair was flowing wildly around her shoulders and her face was flushed.
“Sorry I’m so late,” I apologised.
“Better late than never,” she replied quietly.
I waited for her to step aside and let me in but she didn’t. “You gonna let me in?”