Man of the House: A Dark Bad Boy Romance(162)
“Get dressed,” I said. “We should leave soon. Longer we wait, stranger it seems.”
“Okay.” She shut her laptop lid and disappeared back into her bedroom.
Fucking girl drove me nuts. I put my clothes back on, shaking my head. Last night she had thrown herself at me, and now she was holding back. Not that I blamed her, but I was getting tired of the f*cking whiplash. If she wanted it, she should just give in to it, consequences be damned.
We rode over to the clubhouse, not talking much. It was an uneventful ride, though the weather was nice. We parked, and the place was mostly empty, especially since it was around eight in the morning.
Larkin’s bike was there though, as always. The man seemed like he never left the clubhouse, and maybe he didn’t.
“Come on,” I said, walking into the place. She followed closely. “We’ll tell him together.”
“Wish we didn’t have to tell him at all.”
“He needs to know,” I said. “It’s important.”
“I know,” she said softly.
I caught sight of Stonewall sitting at the bar and headed toward him. “Morning, Stonewall,” I said.
“Clutch,” he replied. “You’re early.”
“Prez in today?”
“Yeah, he is,” Stonewall said. “But you might want to wait.”
“Why?”
“Jetter’s with him.”
I frowned. “Shit,” I said.
“Why? What do you need him for?”
“Something went down last night.” I glanced at Janine. “I’ll tell Larkin about it.”
Stonewall shrugged. “Do what you want.”
I didn’t exactly want to go talk to both Larkin and Jetter, but I couldn’t put it off any longer. As it stood, I should have gotten in touch with the club the second I rode off from that gas station.
I didn’t know how I was going to explain that. I couldn’t come up with something useful that would actually work, and so I was resigned to getting my ass chewed out by Larkin for my oversight.
I couldn’t tell him the truth, which was I wanted to f*ck his adopted daughter before I reported everything.
That wouldn’t go over too well.
I headed off toward the back office and knocked. I heard some faint talking, and finally Larkin called us in.
I glanced at Janine and gave her a quick nod before pushing the door open.
Larkin was sitting behind his desk while Jetter stood, leaning up against the wall, his arms crossed.
“Clutch, Janine,” Larkin said. “We’re busy. What do you guys need?”
“Larkin, it’s important,” I said.
“How important?” Jetter asked.
I gave him a cold look. “Not for you to decide.” I looked back at Larkin. “Something happened last night.”
He sat up straight. “Are you two okay?”
“We’re fine, because of Clutch,” Janine said quickly.
“Have a seat,” Larkin said.
Janine walked in and sat down while I shut the door behind us. I hovered to her right, as far away from Jetter as I could get, not because I was afraid of the f*cking scumbag, but because I was afraid I’d try to f*cking strangle him to death while looking right in his * f*ck eyes.
Which surprised me. Everyone in the Demons hated Jetter for a bunch of reasons, and I was no exception. Hating Jetter wasn’t the surprise.
No, it was that I thought it was personal. Before, I’d hated him for what he’d done to our club in the past, and for what his * club was doing to us in the present. It was never really about him the man before.
Suddenly, though, hating Jetter felt personal. I hated who he was and what he was doing. I hated him because Janine was claimed by him, and that pissed me off.
The thought hit me like a hammer, and I realized everyone was staring at me.
“Clutch?” Larkin asked. “I said, what happened?”
“Right,” I grunted, gathering myself together. This was not the time to look like a f*cking idiot. “Some Snakes followed us last night,” I said. “I led them out to this old gas station out on the desert highway.”
“And?” Larkin asked.
“And I killed them, paid off the owner. He’ll keep his mouth shut.”
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me sooner?” Larkin asked, nearly yelling.
“Dad.” Janine held her hands up.
“You wait, sweetie,” he said. “Clutch, why the hell didn’t you get in touch with us until now? This is serious. We might need to do some f*cking damage control.”
“Dad,” Janine said, more forcefully. “I asked him not to.”
There was a short silence. “Why?” he asked finally.
“I was afraid,” she said.
“Why would you be afraid?” he asked softly. “We can protect you.”
“I know that, but I was worried you’d call everything off.”
Larkin nodded slowly.
“Nothing is getting called off,” Jetter said suddenly. “You don’t need to worry about that.”
Larkin gave him a look of undisguised disgust.
“Oh,” Janine said. “Good.”
“And you listened to her?” Larkin asked, looking at me.