“I asked him to take the bad away and give me something good in its place because I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I could feel their touch. Smell their breath. Hear their grunts. They filled me with poison and James took it away. He showed me not all men are bad. Made sure my body healed with antibiotics. Gave me a place to hide until I felt safe and a place to lay my head. There’s nothing nefarious about that. He’s the best man I’ve ever known. He may be a killer, but he’s no liar. That man sitting there.” Hand trembling, she points to Lion. “That man is pure evil. His name should be Lucifer because he’s the devil. If you let him walk next time it could be your daughter or Old Lady he goes after. What will you do then?”
“That’ll be all. Grudge, take her back to the bar.”
“Want me to grab Ruthie?”
Nickel holds his hand up. “Won’t be necessary. I think we’ve heard enough.”
**
“Your club has denounced you as Prez. You are hereby stripped of your colors and your position within the Royal Bastard MC.” Nickel takes a knife and jabs it into Lion’s cut to remove the President patch. “Your wife will no longer receive any benefits from the club. You will not be buried with club honors nor will we speak of you after today. Your existence will be scrubbed. It will be as though you disappeared. I, Nickel acting in my role as Vice President sentence you to death. Not only did you go against our code, but you violated one of the most sacred rules of all.”
“Fuck you. Get on with it. I’d rather you put a bullet in my brain than bore me to death.” His cold eyes cut to me. “I hope I put a baby in your whore so that every time you look at her and her bastard all you see is me. Whenever you sink inside that tight little pussy you remember that my dick was there first and that she moaned for me before she ever did for you.”
At those words I lose what ounce of control I had left. I look at his left hand. The one with the lion’s head tattoo. “Hold him,” I snarl. Two of my brother’s take control. I go to the
wall where the weapons hang. The ones we use to interrogate a difficult person of interest. I grab an axe. “Cuff him to the table.”
Lion jerks but it gets him nowhere. With his hand locked in where I want it, I line the sharpened blade up above his wrist and bring it down with one swoop to chop off his hand. Blood splatters and spurts. He cries out once before passing out.
I take off his other hand. I’m saving his head for last. Tonight I’ll bathe in his blood and fuck Alexa in it while he listens. Her crying out my name will be the last thing he ever hears. Tomorrow I’ll sew the President’s patch onto my cut.
Chapter Sixteen
“What did they ask you?” Ruthie lights up a cigarette and takes a shot of liquor.
“I’m sorry. They made me swear that what was said in that room stays there.”
“Right.” She takes a drag off her cigarette. “Want one?”
“No. Thank you.”
“Want a drink?”
“I’m fine. Really.”
“Alexa, you don’t have to be strong with me. I know my father’s a bastard. I see a lot of myself in you. Why do you think I latched onto James so young and got pregnant with Rochelle? I wanted out of that house. I wanted him to pay attention to someone else if you get my drift. I knew if I got pregnant, he’d make me get married, and then I’d be free, but he...never mind. It’s in the past. It’s over. We’ll both be free. Cheers.” She holds an extra shot glass up to me, and I accept it.
“To freedom.” The alcohol burns down my throat. I glance around the clubhouse. This is my first and probably last time here. There are some couches pushed up against one of the walls. A stripper pole attached to a small stage in one corner. We’re seated at the large bar that takes up most of the room. On the wall there are framed photos of motorcycles and club members.
“I do have one question.” I look back to Ruthie. The way she is staring at me so intensely sets me on guard. “Something my father said...are you fucking my husband?”
My face pales. “What? No. No way.” I shake my head. “Why would you ask me that?”
“I’m sorry you’ve been through an ordeal. I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s been a long night. I should take you home.”
“No.”
Her gaze narrows on me. “Something wrong?”
“I can’t go back there. Not after tonight. I can’t do it.”
She starts to say more, but a man by the name of Reed comes for me. “Ruthie, you’re free to go on home to Rochelle. Alexa is wanted for more questioning.”
“But...where’s James?”
“Busy. Get on home now.” He gives her a look and grabs me at my elbow. “This way.” Ruthie scowls at my back as I retreat down a set of stairs that leads to the clubhouse basement.
It’s dark and cold down here.