My dad slammed his palms down on the table, standing up from his seat at the head of the table. “There's more to the fucking story than anyone knows—even me!” he hollered at us both, losing his cool. Hell, it didn't take much these days for him to get angry. “Amelia is the only damn person that holds the fucking secrets, so there was no fucking need to tell someone if we didn't know the whole fucking story behind her time inside and how the fuck she got there!”
Amelia stepped into the room. She looked fucking amazing with her dark hair cascading around her shoulders. Her long legs were hidden beneath a pair of blue jeans that disappeared into combat boots. She had on a leather jacket over a white t-shirt with her cut over the jacket. I got hard at the sight of her standing in the room like she owned the place.
God, she was a sight for sore eyes.
Besides, I was still pissed at her for keeping secrets from the clubs—from me.
“I was called here?” she asked, her eyes flickering to me and then back to my dad.
Whatever reason she had been called in here for was no longer on anyone's mind since everyone in the room had just been slapped with the news of her time in jail.
My mom walked over to her, glaring. Amelia didn't back down like other people would have. My mom could intimidate anyone but Amelia, and that drove her insane. She felt like she had no control when she couldn't have the upper hand over someone.
“You better fucking tell us what in the hell is going on in your life that is stopping this club from retaliating on the fucking rat that got you sent inside,” she spat at Amelia.
Amelia smirked. I hated that fucking smirk on her lips. She looked cold and sadistic.
“Back down, Katie. I'm a Black Skull, not a Bloody Royal,” she reminded her. “You and Travis may be married, and we may all work closely with one another, but we haven't joined the clubs together yet, so I don't have to listen to you.” She stepped closer to my mom so their chests were touching. I knew Amelia was intimidating my mom, but I knew my mom wouldn't show her that. “And I'm not telling you or anyone else in this room a goddamn thing about my enemies or my time inside. I don't need the club to handle my dirty work. If that was all that I was called in here for, then I'm leaving. I've got shit to do.”
I was seething. My hands were shaking because I was so pissed. I wanted to break something. She couldn't keep fucking secrets from the club like this. It ruined the whole fucking meaning of family. We protected what was ours, especially our women. She was going to get herself hurt sooner rather than later if she didn't fess up on everything and let us help her.
“Amelia, you better start talking right now,” I ground out through clenched teeth.
She glared at me, her eyes lighting up with fury. It turned me on, but I was too pissed at the moment to even think about how fucking beautiful she looked standing up to me. She had to be the only woman who had the confidence to argue with me.
“Fuck off, Colton,” she snapped at me, using my full name. “I'm not telling you or anyone else anything. Until I know that I can trust this club to retaliate without fucking getting all of your asses sent to prison, my secret stays just what it is—my secret.”
She was one to fucking talk when she got her ass sent to jail for five months for some fucking random reason. She had a point though, even if I didn’t like it. My mom got sent to prison for almost ten years for retaliation on another club, and on top of that, we had almost ruined the clubs in our rage when we killed that stupid fucking cop.
She stormed out of the room, slamming the doors shut behind her with a loudbang. I clenched my fists. I was going to find her after this meeting and fucking get this secret out of her, even if it was the last fucking thing I did. I refused to find her body in a shallow grave off Route 44 just because she didn’t want goddamn help. Who knew Amelia could be so secretive?
I sat down at the table next to my mom, which was my spot considering I was her VP. I had to do something to keep my mind off of this Amelia bullshit.
“What’s on the table?” I demanded to know.
“We’ve got to find out what’s going on with Amelia,” my mom said. I sighed. This wasn’t what I was trying to talk about. I was trying to get my mind off this shit. “She’s putting both clubs in danger by keeping secrets. Secrets make clubs vulnerable. I refuse to have that.”
“We’re going to leave her alone,” Luke said, speaking up. He was my dad’s VP, and though he rarely spoke, he was a damn good vice. “I mean it, Katie. She’s right. What proof do we have to make her think we can retaliate against the rat without ruining both clubs? We have none. We almost ruined the clubs by killing that cop that arrested you, and you were in prison for almost ten years for retaliation. Is that supposed to make her feel that we won’t ruin everything that we’ve worked so hard to build?”
“That’s mine and Travis’s decision to make, not hers,” my mom snapped at him.
“It’s her life, therefore it’s her decision,” he retorted. “My point is made.”
My dad sighed. “Whatever Amelia is hiding, it’s something that will most likely hurt us just by us finding out. Amelia has always done what is in the best interest of this club, and everyone sitting at this table knows that. She would never do anything to hurt any of us. We need to let her come to us on her own time and her own terms; we just have to be patient.” His eyes locked with mine, knowing every word coming out of his mouth was pissing me off more and more. “I mean it, Cole. Leave it be. We’ve got other shit to worry about.”
I clenched my fists. I swore if I found her dead somewhere, I’d ruin everyone in this room. I’d make them all hurt just as much as I would.
“Next order of business,” I spat, changing the subject. If I didn’t focus my mind on something else, I was going to cause hell and uproar in this room.
“The ATLs were found at one of our ports,” Dad said. “Guns were found missing. We need to retaliate. They’re not going to get away with stealing our shit nor being on our territory.”
I nodded. This was something I could do. It would make me feel a lot damn better to get the fuck away from this goddamn clubhouse for a little while, too.
“I’ll take Keifer, Drew, and Lorenzo with me, and we’ll see what we can find out,” I told Dad.
He nodded. “Good. That’s all we need to talk about then. Ride out. Keep in touch.”
I got up from the table and walked out of the room with everyone following behind me. Amelia was sitting at the bar with Heather, and they seemed to be in a pretty heated argument. “What’s going on?” I asked, walking over. God knew Heather could start some fucking drama.