“Follow my lead, and you’ll know what the plan is.” Saint eased back, closing his eyes. The tension in the room mounted, and in the few precious seconds he was able to call his own, Saint let his mind wander. He thought about his sister, and his little niece Bluebell. They were his world, but even as he tried to stop, he couldn’t stop her from entering his thoughts. Her red hair, her porcelain skin, and her curves, fuck, her curves had driven him crazy with need. He wouldn’t think of her name. He couldn’t do it.
“Saint, it’s either me or the club. What’s it going to be?”
His father had still been alive, and he’d been a Prospect. It was so long ago, nearly ten years now, and he’d walked away from her, and worked for the club. She had been the only woman he ever loved, but she’d seen what it was doing to him. Rubbing his eyes, he contained his annoyance as he heard the car driving into the parking lot.
Opening his eyes, he took another sip of his whiskey, and waited.
Ralf drinking heavily near the bar drew his attention, and he frowned. Saint didn’t like the spiral that Ralf was going down. He wasn’t the same guy he remembered, and there was just something off about him. For the first time with Ralf, he didn’t trust him.
Making a note to talk to him, Saint brought his focus back to the main door. Councilman Wallace entered the club looking all smug. Even as he looked around the clubroom, he still continued to look smug as fuck.
Sipping at his whiskey, Saint stared at the man who’d hurt a woman.
“Wallace,” Saint said. “Take a seat.”
“This makes a refreshing change, Saint, being invited to the clubhouse. You usually stop by my office to discuss business.”
“Yeah, I do. Well, this is not about business.”
The look on Wallace’s face was priceless. It was like the stupid fucker had just realized that he was in danger. “You said you had some business for me to handle.”
“I do have some business, but it’s more for me to handle it, and you to fucking listen.” Saint kicked out the table and grabbed the man around the throat, drawing him to his feet. “You see, Wallace, I don’t like women beaters, and I really don’t like fuckers like you that use their fists on our women.” He grabbed his gun out of his pocket and pressed it against the man’s lips.
“The club is changing you, and you don’t even see it.”
Saint forced her words to the back of his mind. She had no place here.
Wallace had no choice but to open his mouth as he pressed the point of the gun into his mouth. “You see, Wallace, you think you can get away with everything. You’ve got a little file on the Saints and Sinners MC, and you think you can beat Melissa into submitting to you. What do you think we’ve got on you?” He nodded at Pea. “It seems to me, Wallace, you’ve got a gambling habit. You’re pretty much broke. People don’t like you, and you like fucking young women, don’t you? I have to say, Melissa is a little old for your tastes. You’re not into kids, but you’re into them being young. Is that so you can control them, Wallace? Smack them around so they don’t have a clue how to fight back.”
Pea stood behind him and showed the thick file that Saint had made on the councilman. “Do you really think I’d start business with a man I don’t know anything about? Go ahead, Wallace, call the cops on Pea, call them on the club. My lawyer has a copy of this file, and he’s been given permission to release it to everyone in town, not to mention the video footage.” In the background, Zeus pressed play, and Wallace’s disgusting groans filled the silence. “No one would believe you, Wallace. You’re a fucking crook, and you’d be the one rotting in a cell, not us. You’re done with the club. Pea will be going back to your office, and you will give him everything you have.”
Saint removed his gun but kept it pointed at him.
“I want that shit,” Wallace said.
Saint shook his head. “You’ve not got a chance. If I even see a cop looking at me in the wrong way, I will send this out, and make sure you’re destroyed.”
“Don’t leave, Natasha.”
“Saint, this man you’re becoming, he’s dangerous. I don’t trust you anymore. You don’t even see what you’re doing is wrong. I’ve got to go before you hurt me as well.”
Saint stepped back, and watched as Pea, Willy, and Zeus followed Wallace out of the club. He didn’t stay around to talk, he left going to his office, and slamming the door shut. Sitting behind his desk, he ran a hand down his face, trying to clear his thoughts. He hadn’t thought about her in so long.
She was the only woman he’d ever begged to stay, and she was the only woman who had ever walked away from him.
****
Melissa sat in her sitting room, waiting for Pea to get home. She hadn’t heard from the club nor had she heard from Wallace. Pressing some frozen peas to her face, she flicked through the channels. Each second that passed made her even more nervous.
She didn’t want Pea to get hurt, and she didn’t want him to get sent to prison. When they were together, they had fun, and she liked the life that he’d given her.
Yeah, most women would have run the other way at his cheating, but she hadn’t been ready to settle down with just Pea. Their arrangement was strange, yet it worked.
The front door opened, and she sat up. On her way toward the door, Pea made her pause as he came through.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Wallace won’t be bothering you again.”