I’d spent the last few days avoiding Eagle’s brother Jake, and in turn, avoiding Eagle since they were together a lot of the time. I was happy that Jake was here and that he came out of the mission okay because I’d seen how close Eagle was to breaking point when he thought there was a chance that his brother wouldn’t come home.
The truth was, the way Jake looked at me made me feel like shit. I could tell he’d already formed his own opinion, his eyes following me with suspicion when I was around other brothers serving drinks or just talking. I didn’t understand why he was always glaring at me as though he was just waiting for me to do something that he could criticize.
I had a job to do, and it wasn’t like the clubhouse demanded that the girls stay in their rooms with their legs spread until a brother needed them. The brothers weren’t continuously horny every minute of the day. A lot of the time we would just hang out when the boys weren’t working, we’d chat about our day, things that were going on, the news and stuff in the media.
It was why I loved it here because all of us were really close and there was no intense segregation, like I wasn’t allowed to speak with the boys unless spoken to or bullshit like that that I know does happen in other clubs.
My curiosity was driving my brain wild as I wondered why Jake had come here and wasn’t with family, or whether Eagle and Jake even had a family. It was all festering away in my mind, but there were just questions that we didn’t ask unless the information was offered or less than personal. I didn’t want to seem like I was digging my nose in Eagle’s business so I decided to remove my nose altogether, and what I discovered about myself during this time was that I missed Eagle. I basically had a list of jokes and comebacks that I’d actually started noting down in a pad beside my bed so that I could use them on him later.
Not seeing any of the other boys come through my room wasn’t helping either because it was just confusing me even more. Part of me could use the distraction, and the tension release that sex brings, the other part of me wanted to leap up and run and hide every time I heard footsteps come by the door in case it was one of them needing something.
It was a strange vortex to be in where you really don’t want to belong to someone, you don’t want to give your entire self to them and have them basically own you. Maybe not in the sense that I was once raised, where you were the property of your husband, but in the sense that you’re giving him your heart, allowing him to own that piece of you. You’re giving that man the power to love you and fill your life with amazing joy, or to completely destroy you.
It’s been a long time since a man had enough power to destroy me, and I wasn’t about to let that happen again.
A knock on the door had my gut churning, for a second, I actually contemplated just climbing under the bed.
“Hey Sky, I have that stuff for you,” Wrench called through the door, and I chewed my lip nervously as I crept toward it and pulled it open just a crack.
“I’m not sure I know what stuff you’re talking about,” I told him innocently.
Wrench smirked. “You know, the information on that guy that Sugar asked me to find, refusing to tell me that it was on your behalf until I offered to buy her some new material for her to sew Harlyn summer dresses with.”
I strummed my fingernails on the doorframe. “Oh, that information!”
After talking with Sugar about what Emerald had told me, she’d suggested that I ask Wrench to run the guy’s name. Unfortunately, that isn’t something he can do without letting Optimus know what was going on, and I just wasn’t sure I was ready to bring more drama into the club than I had already, especially given that this was to do with Emerald, not exactly me.
So instead, Sugar offered to ask him to do it for me which had ended up in Wrench figuring out what was going on anyway. I wasn’t even surprised that she was so easily persuaded to tattle.
“Fortunately for you…” he started, making my eyes grow wider, “… Eagle had already requested information on the same guy. So as long as you talk to him about it, I don’t have to go to Op and let him know that you’re digging for trouble.”
My mouth fell open at the knowledge that Eagle had already had Wrench dig out information on this guy, and there was no doubt in my mind it was because of some kind of connection with the Colony, I just didn’t know where he would have gotten the name from.
I looked down at the paper and quickly scanned the list on the front which happened to be things that Brock Obrien was wanted for in different states and fucking countries.
Human trafficking.
Pimping and pandering underage girls.
Kidnapping.
And the list went on.
Wrench leaned against the doorframe. “I’m not a hundred percent sure why either of you needed this information, Eagle didn’t say much. But what I can tell you is there was nothing good in this guy’s background, and by nothing good, I mean he’s a really fucking bad guy.”
“He was the reason Emerald ran,” I said quietly, unable to draw my eyes away from the paper. “My father was trying to marry her to this guy.”
Wrench cursed under his breath. “Well then, your sister should be thankful she got away because I have no doubt she could have easily become just another statistic,” he grunted, shaking his head. “Go and talk to Eagle, then it gets me off the hook.”
With that, he turned and walked off down the hallway.
Eagle was obviously interested in Brock for some reason, most likely the same reason I was—his part in the Colony, but I still had no idea where Eagle had been given his name. And I really wanted to find out. Folding up the paper, I decided to venture out and look for the man I’d spent three days trying to avoid.
The sun had set, and there was low music playing in the main room as people mingled and had a few drinks. Harlyn, Jayla, and Macy were cozied up on a couch in the corner of the room watching The Smurfs, with Dice and Camo sitting at a table beside them, pretending to not be watching it too.
I spotted Chelsea and Hadley sitting at another table with a twin each, pulling funny faces and I headed for them. “Hey cuties,” I said tickling Oli under the chin as Hadley bounced him in her lap.
“Hey yourself,” Hadley joked, batting her eyelashes at me.