Sinner's Revenge (Sinner's Creed MC #2)(50)

I am proud.

I am powerful.

I am his legacy.

I am Sinner’s Creed Nomad National, Shady.


*

I hadn’t given much thought to how being a Nomad would affect my time with Diem. I like her—a lot. But I love my club. There will never be a time I put her first. This is my life. If she wants a place in it, she’ll have to settle for second.

Even though she’s not my top priority, she’s never far from my mind. I think about her every day. I miss her more than I should. I haven’t been apart from her long enough for my absence to be questioned, but I know that’s all fixing to change.

It’s time for me to start making my presence known. Today, I’m in Los Angeles, where things are different. The brothers here are different too. They don’t trust easily, and they don’t take well to change. Dirk didn’t care about their trust. It was his respect they had to earn, not the other way around. But I’m not Dirk. And they’re not letting me forget it. I start to call Jimbo and ask him for a little advice on how to bring them down to size. But it’s Diem’s number that I dial instead.

“Well hello, stranger,” she greets, and I smile.

“Where are you?” My first job as a Nomad isn’t going as well as planned. Because of this, I find myself wishing I was at home and she was on her way over.

“I’m out of town on a business trip. Won’t be back for a couple of days. Where are you?”

“Same. Meeting with some clients out west.” I light a cigarette, listening to her vent about some work colleagues that can’t seem to do their job, which means that she is called out to pick up their slack. Then about how she doesn’t get the respect she deserves because everyone thinks they are in charge.

“I know the feeling. Sometimes, there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians,” I say, stubbing out my cigarette and digging deep to find the courage to go back inside the Los Angeles chapter’s clubhouse.

“True, but what they don’t know is that I’m not a chief or an Indian. I’m a wolf . . . the one everybody should fear.” She doesn’t know it, but her words were just the kick in the ass I needed. It sounds just like something Dirk would say.

“Go be a wolf, pretty girl, and call me when you get home.” I hang up and walk inside with a newfound confidence. This place is swarming with chiefs, but just like Diem, today I’m a motherf*cking wolf.


*

“You did what?” Jimbo is pissed. The president of the Los Angeles chapter is in the hospital. And I’m at a gas station on my way back home.

“With all due respect, Jimbo, what the hell did you expect me to do? They didn’t want to listen to me, and if I’m here to represent you and Sinner’s Creed, then that means they disrespected all of us. Me, the patch, and Nationals. Now, if you want me to go back, apologize, and renege on everything I did, I will. But if what you want is an army you can trust and soldiers that know their place, then I suggest you back the f*ck up off me.”

I’m breathing hard. I’m beyond pissed. With every word, I became angrier. I didn’t mean any disrespect toward Nationals, but they sent me to do a job and I did it. If my methods were too harsh for their sensitive little Los Angeles chapter, then next time they could send someone else to do it.

Jimbo’s breathing is all I can hear on the line. I don’t know if he’s trying to calm down or preparing to tell me to come back so he can kill me. What I do know is that I’m in the right on this one. And I ain’t backing down.

“If I didn’t witness his burial with my own eyes, I’d swear I was talking to Dirk,” he murmurs, more to himself than to me. “Get on down to Phoenix. And this time, try not to break any bones.”

I don’t make any promises.

“When are you coming home?” Diem asks a week later. She sounds like she’s tired. And lonely. And missing me.

“Soon, pretty girl. Real soon,” I lie. The truth is, I don’t know when I’ll be home. I’m starting to like the feeling of power that courses its way through my veins with every chapter I visit. I like the way my brothers look at me with a twinkle of respect in their eyes. I like it more than *, but I can’t deny that I miss Diem.

“Well hurry the hell up. I’m starting to rethink this whole ‘I’m yours’ and ‘you’re mine’ monogamous talk we had.”

“So, if you’re that desperate, then why are you still waiting on me?” I know her answer will probably be something about her giving her word. But what I want her to say is that I’m the only man she wants. That with me, it’s different than it is with anyone else. That she has feelings for me that run deeper than sex. But, as always, she surprises me with words of truth.

“Because I know you’d kill them.”

Damn right I would.


*

I’d been gone for twelve days. Not one day had passed that I didn’t talk to Diem. It was nice to hear her voice, but it was never enough. I wanted to see her. Touch her. Sleep with her. At this point, I don’t even care about the sex—I just miss her.

My club wanted me to start making my presence known all around the country. First was Los Angeles, then Phoenix and Albuquerque. The days were exhausting, the nights long, and by the time I make it back, I’m so tired mentally and physically that all I want to do is sleep. I’m sunburned, my ass hurts, and my nuts are still vibrating from the endless hours on my bike. But I’m home, and she’s here—waiting on me naked and in my bed. It’s a welcome-home present I didn’t realize I needed until this moment.