Wild Like the Wind (Chaos #5)(123)

“But more,” I went on, pushing up from the table and stabbing a finger in his direction, “you owe Hound this, and you know that too.”

A muscle ticked in High’s cheek.

He knew that.

Oh yeah he did.

“I love him and he loves me,” I said softly. “He makes me happy. I haven’t been happy, truly happy, since I lost Black. Now I am. And I make him happy too. I make your brother happy, High. When was the last time you knew down to your bones your brother was happy?”

I waited for a response to that question.

None came.

So I kept at him.

“He’ll withstand whatever you force him to do and he’ll do that because he loves me. He’ll do that because he loved Black. And he’ll do that because he loves you. Now how much love do you have for him, High? That’s the question. You’ve known the man standing at my side for decades and you know the loyalty he has. The depth of love in his heart. The lengths he’ll go to for his brothers. You know all of that. What he’s going to learn is how deep all that flows back to him. And when he learns, I’ll learn it too, and if you take that in the wrong direction, I’ll never forget, High. I’ll do my duty as an old lady and I’ll find a way to forgive. But I will not ever forget.”

I watched High’s jaw flex through his thick salt and pepper stubble then I turned to my man.

I lifted a hand and curled it around the side of his neck, getting his attention as he dropped his gaze to look at me.

There was determination there still, I could see.

That was mingled with the love he had for me that was always right there, at the surface, all for me.

“You do what you need to do, baby,” I told him. “If we’re having dinner, I’ll get on that. If we’re not and it comes time you need me, I’ll be there. Or when you come home, I’ll be waiting.”

He nodded.

I gave him a squeeze, got up on my toes, touched my lips to his then rocked back and let him go.

I turned, snatched up my wineglass and walked to Millie.

She took her hand from High’s chest and turned to me.

“Wish we had more time to catch up, but we will, babe,” I said. “Just know I’m glad to have you back.”

I bent in, touched my lips to her cheek, pulled away, slid my glance through High and then walked out of my kitchen, to the stairs and up to my room.

Sitting in my sheepskin chair, I waited and I hoped. The hope part was hoping that Hound would come up, tell me we were having dinner with my sons, meaning both he and I would have time to prepare for what was to come.

I heard nothing except doors closing.

I waited some more.

When Hound didn’t come up, I went down.

My heart clenched then warmed when I saw that all the groceries had been put away.

My man, my biker, my Hound … always so good to me.

My heart just clenched when I saw the note on the kitchen table.

I went to it and picked it up.

In Hound’s messy scrawl it read,

Hitting the Compound, Keekee. Be home soon’s I can.

I closed my eyes, pressed the note to my chest and took in a huge breath.

Then I opened my eyes, dropped the note to the table and went to my phone.

First, I called Dutch.

After that, I called Jag.

And after that, I called Bev.





Gold-Plated Love

Hound

“This is bullshit and I’ll have no fuckin’ part of it,” Rush Allen spat at his father.

All the brothers were in the meeting room of the Compound, most of them sitting around the table with the Plexiglas in the middle, under which the first Chaos flag ever stitched lay.

Hound was not at the table.

Hound was where Hound usually was during meetings.

Standing at the back against the wall, one boot up against it, his arms crossed on his chest.

Standing down from him was Boz, and down from Boz was Brick.

The rest of the men sat at the table.

“Rush, you weren’t—” Tack, at the head of the table, started to say to his son.

“If you say I wasn’t a brother when Black got whacked, you know that don’t mean dick. He wasn’t like my favorite uncle. He was like my second father, and you fuckin’ know that shit so you know I sit here havin’ earned my patch and I sit here as a man who lost Black same’s the rest of you,” Rush fired back.

“Then maybe we’ll listen to you when you got a woman you give a shit about,” Arlo put in heatedly.

Rush’s attention turned to Arlo. “Is that what it takes, Arlo? ’Cause if you know how that goes, you show me the woman you gave a shit about for more than it took to find some new pussy to sink into.”

Arlo’s mouth got tight because Arlo had an old lady and had had her for a while. He’d also had his share of other pussy, before her, and since.

Rush looked back to his father. “Coulda gone a lotta ways, you walked through that gunfire to get to Tyra. Blood leakin’ out of her, ten more minutes, she’d have been gone. Would you keep your dick to yourself for the rest of your life if you lost the love of your life?”

“That’s not what we’re talkin’ about here,” Tack growled.

“So that happened, time passed and Lanie rubbed up against you, you wouldn’t think about it?” Rush pushed.