Carnage (Royal Bastards MC 3)

“Fine. We’ll take their place,” Animal decides.

“Doesn’t hurt to have politicians in your corner.” Koyn raises a brow.

“You can’t trust those motherfuckers.” Rage scrunches up his face like he smells a fart Jameson let go.

“This is business, not family. Trust is offered loosely and with a warning. We need to eliminate this threat. They’ve killed our brothers. It’s war, and we will be the victors,” Animal assures us.

“Copper, can you figure out where we can find them?” Koyn jabs a finger toward the laptop.

“I have contacts who will get what we need.” Copper bobs his head in confirmation.

“Ink, you work on the footage. Jameson and I will talk to the girls,” Animal says, dishing out orders.

“We’ll make the calls to the other club presidents.” Koyn gestures with a stab of his thumb in Loki’s direction.

Loki stands, pushing his chair away. “Unless you want me to talk to PB and Idiot. Might be better having someone outside your club interrogate them,” he offers.

“Let’s wait to see what the surveillance comes up with first. These are patched brothers. We don’t want to hurt on them if it’s not necessary,” Animal tells him.

“We should collect cell phones in. Someone texted my phone. Maybe they haven’t deleted it yet,” I advise.

“Halo,” Animal barks.

Jumping out of his seat, he marches toward the door. “On it, Prez.”

“What do you want from me?” I ask, waiting for an order.

“I want you to rest. We’re going to need you in this and you’re at half health right now.” I’m still lethal at half speed.

“I’ll be ready,” I tell him. Now, I need to see Ruby.

Chapter Nineteen

Ruby

Barging into the kitchen like she owns the place, Lily walks up to where I’m siting and takes my fork, digging into the food on my plate. “Why do these assholes think just because I have a vagina I should be serving them beers and food?” She fake gags, rolling her eyes at me.

“When you’re at the club, you need to muck in and stop complaining,” Jackie tuts, placing bowls of ice cream in front of the kids beside me. A couple of the ol’ ladies using the kitchen nod their heads in agreement, offering Lily a judgemental sneer.

“Ugh, I don’t even want to be here.” Lily throws my fork back on my plate and moves to one of the kids trying to take a cookie from a plate set out by one of the other women.

Leaning in, she whispers, “You see that guy?” She points to Idiot, who I hadn’t even notice enter the kitchen with PB. “He tried to take cookies once and Jackie cut his finger off.” A gasp comes from the kid. His eyes widen as he looks at Idiot’s hand. He catches the conversation and holds up his arm, wiggling the fingers. Sure enough, he’s missing his trigger finger. Not because of Jackie, though. Rage cut it off when Idiot accidently shot my brother while being stupid at a cookout.

Excited screams ring out as Idiot begins chasing the kids around the kitchen counter. PB sidles up to me, sniffing at my plate. “What you got?”

Sliding the plate to him, I slip off the stool and leave the mayhem. I can’t stomach eating anything anyway. Pushing out the door into the hall, my chest seizes. Ezekiel walks toward me, still dressed in Lily’s grandfather’s clothes, hair in disarray from running his fingers through it. There’s more color in his cheeks now. The medicine Melanie gave him is doing its job. Things must have gone okay in the meeting since he’s alone. “Hey,” I breathe, every nerve in my body coming alive, wanting to be stroked. I feel awkward, almost like we’re different people now that reality has checked in. I don’t know what’s happening between us, if he’ll even want to pursue this connection, this chemistry simmering when we’re together.

Coming to a stop before me, his chest rises and falls. A ragged breath leaves him before he captures my face in his giant palms. My eyes expand as he leans in, his full lips consuming mine. Rough. Demanding. Possessive. A moan catches in the back of my throat when his tongue requests entry into my mouth, swiping inside and dancing with mine unapologetically. He lets out a throaty groan as he deepens the kiss. Slipping one of his hands into my hair, he fists it. A sharp sting tightens my core. I can feel him everywhere, and it’s intoxicating. Pulling away, he studies me, breathing deep. His eyes, intrusive and domineering, scan every inch of my face, then he relaxes. “Hey.” He smiles, and it’s beautiful. My stomach explodes with the flapping wings of butterflies. A tingle chases up my spine like a fuse being lit, setting my cheeks on fire.

“That was…”

“Overdue.” He licks his lips, watching mine.

A nervous, giddy giggle trickles up my chest. We’d shared a kiss back at the house, but this…it was everything.