The room went quiet.
No one moved.
All eyes were staring at Jess, who yelled trying to kick Darla. “Shut up!”
Reaper roared, “Massacre, get the bitch out of here.”
When Darla was gone, I released Jess who stood frozen in her spot, looking directly at Reaper who asked, “What did she mean by saying your mother is a club whore?”
“Nothing. The bitch is fucking crazy.”
“Jess,” I whispered, softly forcing her to turn towards me. “Who is your mother?”
“No one. She’s dead. Been dead since I was sixteen.”
“Savage, take care of it,” Reaper ordered, before walking away.
Fucking hell and damnation.
So much for a quiet night and good conversation. I took Jess by the arm and escorted her back upstairs to her bedroom. I knew what Reaper wanted me to do. With anyone else it wouldn’t be a problem but this was Jess. I didn’t want to force her to say anything she didn’t feel comfortable talking about but Reaper’s instructions were clear.
Any other time and Reaper would have just let it go but not with the shit going on in the club. Everyone was guilty until proven innocent. Fuck, he killed Shamrock for just passing a damn note. We all knew that Reaper was done with the lies and bullshit. He wanted the club clean, free of the past. Anyone coming near the club would be vetted extensively and still that didn’t mean that the club would trust them.
Trust was earned and the only way to earn it, was to lay your burdens bare, leave nothing out and pray Reaper was a forgiving man. Either way, I wasn’t leaving her room until I knew what that comment meant.
Closing her door behind me, I leaned against it and watched as she paced the small room. She was quietly muttering something I couldn’t quite make out. I could tell she was pissed, even a bit scared but she was angrier at herself.
Why I didn’t know. As far as I was concerned, her past was her own. She had done nothing but help take care of me, Bullseye and Remi. Today, she assisted Healer with Ink and stuck with me to help me with Hailey.
The woman was a saint in my book.
“Why were you downstairs? I thought you said you were going to bed?”
“I got thirsty. Thought I could sneak into the kitchen for some water without anyone seeing me,” she said, looking at the floor as she sat on her bed. “He’s not going to let me leave now, is he?”
“No, he’s not.”
And that was the truth. Reaper now knew that Jess wasn’t just some nice nurse from Louisiana. She was hiding something and until Reaper knew what that was, she wasn’t going anywhere.
The bigger problem was now that the cat was out of the bag, there were club rules that couldn’t be ignored. If her mother was indeed a cut slut or club whore Jess could never be my Ol’Lady because I was an officer of the club. The Sergeant of Arms.
Because of her mother, Jess couldn’t be in or around the club, unless she chose to become what her mother was and I just didn’t see that happening. Jess had too much damn respect for herself to allow that to happen. In fact, I saw her leaving as soon as Reaper gave the okay.
The only way she could stay and be mine was if her father married her mother, giving her his last name. Typically, when brothers got a cut slut pregnant, they ignored them or shipped them off with some money never to be heard from again. I just didn’t see a brother manning up and doing the right thing, especially if that brother was an officer. There were rules for a reason.
No brother wanted a whore for a wife.
“We need to talk.”
“About what? The bitch was right. My mother was a club whore before she had me.”
“What was her name?”
“Candy Banks.”
“What club was your mother with?”
Jess looked up at me and if I wasn’t leaning against the door, I would have fled the room as if my ass was on fire. The venom spitting from her eyes was enough to shrivel my balls to dust. When she finally answered my question, I knew there was more to her than she let on. “The fucking Golden Skulls.”