“Others wanted revenge. I admit, I was a fucked up teenager full of anger, I wanted to kill every one of those motherfuckers. Steg’s a real smooth talker, he kept everyone in the business, the money was too sweet anyway. He took me and Rosie in, looked after us, as well as he could.”
I was surprised at this, there was obviously something going on between them now, Cade didn’t seem to be feeling the love for his father’s best friend.
“What about your mother?” I asked carefully, remembering the woman in the photo.
Cade laughed coldly. “She took off when Rosie was two, wasn’t cut out for being a mother. Held her down too much, at least that’s what she told me.”
“Shit,” I whispered, feeling sad for Cade, not being able to imagine not having a loving devoted mother.
“Don’t pity me babe,” Cade growled, face hard. “She was a crappy mother, did us a favor by leaving. Rosie suffered not having a woman around, but Dad did his best. She still comes to town every now and then. My mother. Stays for a couple of weeks then takes off.” He looked at me. “We’re not talking about my family history though. You want to know about the club. What we do.”
I gulped, I did want to know about his family, but I needed to know about the club first. I needed to know if I could handle being around to learn about his family.
“Do you still run guns?” I asked, voice small.
Cade’s face was stony. “Yeah, babe, we do.”
My stomach dropped and I felt dread creep up my throat. Could I deal with that?
Cade took my face in his hands, his eyes searching mine. “Trying to get away from the guns, babe, few of the brothers like the money but not to keen on the risk, especially after Laurie.”
I flinched at the mention of Laurie. “That was because of the guns?” I asked, wondering if I would get the honest answer.
Cade seemed to be contemplating what to say before reaching a decision. “Mostly, yes. Spiders have always hated us, but things picked up when we tried to cut in on some of their customers.”
So many thoughts were running through my mind at the moment I didn’t know where to begin to process this.
“We’re going to go legit Gwen,” Cade promised. “Been trying to get the club to do it for years, most of the reason behind the boys sticking with the guns is the money, so I’ve been acquiring legitimate businesses owned by the club to get us some of the same income. Garage does well in its own right.”
I was intrigued. “What other businesses does the club own?”
“Valentines for one.”
Wow that was a surprise, a classy joint like that being owned by bikers, it made me smile.
Cade’s expression lightened a bit. “Yeah that was Lucky’s idea, fucking goldmine that place.”
“What else?” My mind was ticking over, wondering about the sincerity to his words.
“Couple of bars and a strip club next town over.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Strip club?”
“Yeah, babe.” His face was blank as if telling your girlfriend you owned a strip club was as normal as telling her you liked Vin Diesel movies.
“Just a strip club? Or does it specialize in happy endings?” My voice was dangerous.
“Don’t peddle pussy babe, strictly stripping.” Cade’s voice had an edge, like he was almost finding my reaction amusing.
“How involved are you in the running of this club?” I asked, trying not to sound like a crazy jealous girlfriend. But I was feeling like taking a drive to this strip club and burning it to the ground. Or at least checking it out.
Cade smirked, definitely finding this part of the conversation amusing.
“I check in every now and then, take care of the books and most of the security side of things.” His eyes were twinkling.
I didn’t say anything else, chewing all of this information over. So not only was my boyfriend selling weapons, he also ‘checked in’ on a strip club. And looking like him, I bet he got a fair share of attention. But I was focusing on the wrong bit of information. Owning a strip club wasn’t against the law, but selling guns on the black market sure as fuck was, those guns weren’t used for good deeds.
“Babe.” Cade’s voice brought me out of my head and I saw an almost worried look in his eyes. Strange, he always seemed so under control, but he seemed rattled.
“Give me a second.” I didn’t move off him, I doubt he would’ve let me anyway, his arms were tight around me, bordering on painful, relaying some emotions he wouldn’t verbalize, he was scared of losing me.
I thought about the reality of what he did, aside from it potentially landing him in prison for a long time, it also put him in a huge amount of danger. I was already worried sick about Ian, now my mind would be constantly wondering if my boyfriend was going to be arrested or shot. He said he wanted to get out of the business, he sounded like he meant it and the look of disgust while he was explaining it convinced me. But how long would that take? And I’m sure not all of his brothers would be happy with that idea. Plus I’m pretty sure you couldn’t just inform dangerous people, ‘Sorry we don’t want to sell you guns anymore, don’t worry we won’t tell anyone about your illegal activities, as long as you keep us off your Christmas card list.’ I bit my lip. Shit! I really knew how to pick them. I felt Cade’s fingers softly brush my mouth.
“Hard for me to concentrate on not claiming that mouth when you do that baby,” Cade said softly, eyes intent on mine.
I felt down to my bones that this was special. What we had, it was not something you threw away easily. We seemed to be moving at warp speed, which felt insane and right at the same time.
“You’re serious about getting rid of the guns?” I whispered.