Chapter 114
-Logan-
I was strapped back into my armor before Hailey stepped out of the shower.
Leather. Steel. The cold weight of a loaded magazine the only things that felt real anymore.
I leaned against the doorframe and watched her.
She was standing by the sink with a towel wrapped around her, rubbing another one through her hair. She looked… soft. Peaceful. For about three seconds.
Then she saw me. Already in my boots and cut, fully strapped. The peaceful drained right out of her, replaced by slow- dawning resignation.
I guess she thought the sex meant we were parking the war for the night.
It’d only refueled me.
“Get dressed,” I said. My voice came out rougher than I meant.
She dropped the towel from her hair. The one around her body followed a second later.
She was making a point. Or maybe she was just too tired to care. I didn’t look away. F**k, she was a goddess. My eyes track over the water droplets chilling on her spine, the jagged scar on her shoulder, the red marks my mouth put on the back of her thigh.
Mine. Marked and claimed.
She bent over to dig through a drawer for clean clothes, and the sight of her ass in the air, still pink from my beard and my attention, sent an unwelcome jolt straight to my dick. I shoved it down.
That wasn’t the fuel I needed right now. Rage was.
I’d already called Jake while the water was running. Told him to round up the brothers for church. Now. His silence was heavy, but he agreed. He knew.
Hailey pulled on panties and jeans, yanking them up over her ass. A black t–shirt and a black hoodie. She was dressing for a fight she wasn’t gonna be invited to.
I wasn’t letting her out of my sight until I could deposit her directly into the protective hive of club women. Let Trina and my mother and Scarlett form a wall around her.
“You got a plan?” she asked quietly. She was pulling her boots on, not looking at me.
“Always do, darlin,” I lied. I had the start of one. A direction. Anatoly had shown me his hand. He thought he was a chess master. I was about to flip the fucking board.
She stood up and finally looked at me. I could tell she was looking for the man who had his face buried in her ass an hour
ago.
I could still taste her pussy on my lips, but that man was in the back seat now. Vengeance was driving the bus.
I pushed off the doorframe, ignoring the pain in my thigh. It didn’t feel quite so sharp anymore. “Cimon.”
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Chapter 114
I ushered her out of the apartment in front of me. Like I said, not out of my sight.
Down the hall, down the stairs, back toward the wreckage I’d made and the war I was about to declare.
It smelled like Pine–Sol. They’d done a decent job. The glass was swept up and the pieces of broken furniture were wacker against the wall. A little monument to my tantrum.
I tried not to look at the holes in the plaster. The cracks in the mirror. The damage was still there, just tidied up.
Every set of eyes was on us. The conversations died. My brothers watched me warily. They saw the weapon. they also saw the loose cannon.
The women were a different story. My mother, Trina, and Scarlett were clustered next to the kitchen door. Their eyes skipped right over me and locked onto Hailey, Relief and concern. Like they were checkinger for bruises.
It almost fired up my temper. Almost.
I didn’t break stride. I walked Hailey right over to them with my hand on the small of her back, guiding her. Delivering her
“Keep her here,” I said to my mother. An order, but it came out sounding like a plea.
Trina’s eyes flicked from Hailey’s face to mine and she gave me a single nod. “We’ve got her.”
My mother’s hand came up to touch my arm. She looked sad, but there was no judgment. Just a weary understanding that made the guilt in my chest burn hotter.
Scarlett raised an eyebrow at me in a silent ‘you good?”
I gave her a slight shake of my head. No.
Then I turned my back on them. On Hailey. The hardest fucking thing I’d done all day.
I felt her eyes on me as I crossed the room to the chapel door. The room stayed quiet. I didn’t look back at my brothers either. I didn’t need to see their distrust.
I shouldered the chapel door open and stepped into the meeting I had demanded.
Every chair at the table was filled – Talon, River, Ledger, the rest of the inner circle. They were all waiting for me.
River wouldn’t look at me. Monty gave me a look that made me wish he wouldn’t look at me. Ledger was already tapping co his laptop, probably pulling up maps.
Good. I didn’t want to waste time.
I took my usual seat next to Talon. My leg ached as I sat down, but I locked the pain away. I leaned forward with rag on the table, ready to get into it. I looked at Jake impatiently.
He was staring at his hands. Then he looked up at all of us. “Before we start.” Man, he sounded rough Good. I wa fuckin pissed at him.
“I wanna bring something to the table,” he continued. “We’re standing neck deep in a war we duin’t ask for agains enemy we’re not accustomed to.”
My eyes narrowed on him. This wasn’t the start of a strategy session
“I’ve been president of this club for a lot of years, he continued. The eyes swept the room. The led xox
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Chapter 114
and bad. But this… this war needs strength… and focus.”
Ef 56 vouchers
His eyes landed on me, then my father. “And I’m tired. If I stay in this chair, I’m gonna get us killed. Or worse.”
Wait… what?
“I’m steppin‘ down,” he said. “Effective immediately. If you’ll let me. Obviously, it needs to be put to a vote.”
I stared at him, waiting for the punchline. The qualifier. All I got was a weary resolve in his eyes I’d never seen before
Around the table, brothers shifted in their seats. Low murmurs of disbelief. This wasn’t how it was done. Presidents didn’t just… quit. They died. Usually bloody.
Jake held up a hand, silencing the whispers, then looked at Talon. “All in favor of my VP taking the gavel. He’s got the experience. The respect. The iron fucking will we’re gonna need to see this through.”
My father didn’t look surprised. He gave him a single, slow nod. Like he’d been expecting this. Waiting for it. “If the club will have me,” he replied calmly. Like he was taking over a kid’s newspaper route or some shit.
The club would have him. There was no question. The vote was a formality.
A chorus of “ayes” around the table, mine included. Unanimous.
Then Talon stood up. The room’s focus shifted to him. Our new president.
“If I’m taking this seat,” he said, “then I want my son as my VP.”
All the eyes landed on me.
This wasn’t a given. Not after my little performance a few hours ago. I saw the doubt on a bunch of faces. A few of them looked down at the tabletop.
They had all just watched me lose my shit. Tear the clubhouse apart over a woman.
Talon’s eyes swept over them. Challenging. “He’s a goddamn wrecking ball. I know that. You know that. But that’s what we need… especially right now. And I know how to keep a leash on him. So. Logan has the fire. I’ll be the anvil.”
The logic was brutal. But it worked. The “ayes” this time were slower. More reluctant. But they came, Unanimous again.
The gavel was passed. The chairs shifted, Jake moved down the table, taking my old seat while I stood and moved to the left- hand seat. The VP’s chair. Still warm from Talon’s ass.
Talon took his new place at the head of the table. He didn’t sit. He planted his hands on the wood and leaned forward The new president, and his first act was to turn his head and pin me with a look that about cracked my skull in half
“Alr
e heav
s in or
pho
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
