“Everyone finds their way to the club for a reason,” he murmurs.
I rub my palms over my leggings and wiggle my aching jaw. “Yeah, well. I was done. I wanted to get the hell away from him. He was behaving so erratically by that point, I suspected he had something to do with Sway’s shooting—”
“And you didn’t tell Z?”
Is he nuts? “Hell no. Accuse the VP of shooting the old president? Z was nice to me, but I’m not crazy.”
He sighs. “Yeah. I get it. What was your plan?”
“Finish school. Focus on getting healthy.” I tap the side of my head and then over my heart. “In mind and spirit. I stayed with Emily for a while. She’d been through her own situation. And we have similar goals. She was someone way outside of club life. I didn’t even tell Amanda where I was. God love her, but she’ll sing like a canary if a man pays her enough attention.”
I swipe a stray tear off my cheek. “Eventually, I heard about the fight Shadow and Z got into. And that Shadow had ‘gone nomad.’ Nomad my ass. I figured Z had taken him out and I thanked the Lord.” I glare at him. “And, no, I’d never express my suspicion to anyone but you.”
He squeezes me tight. “I know that, buttercup.”
“That’s it.”
He rests his hand over my stomach, rubbing gently. The motion soothes and hurts at the same time. Losing my baby on top of all the other horrible things that happened still haunts me.
“Don’t.” I rest my hand over his, stopping him.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
I could take that question a thousand different ways. Mentally okay? I thought I was, until tonight.
Physically? Again, I was until tonight.
Can I still have children? According to my doctor, yes.
“No. I’m not okay.” I release a long breath, freeing some of my anger. “But I will be.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Grinder
Armed with more information, I return to the war room. The door’s open. Wrath, Z, and Rock are still at the table. Rooster and Jigsaw are lingering in the living room but follow me inside.
“She all right?” Z asks.
“We’ll see. When’s everyone getting here?”
“On their way,” Rooster says.
I shift my chair closer to Wrath. “Got an answer to your question.”
He lifts one blond eyebrow.
“She doesn’t trust cops. They did her dirty in the past.”
He nods slowly. “Not a surprise.”
I catch Z’s eye. “You said Shadow betrayed the club in a lot of ways. He responsible for shooting Sway?”
Z doesn’t look away or get cute with me. “Yeah, he admitted it at the end. He was trying to work out some bullshit deal with Vipers MC that Sway wouldn’t agree to.”
“Hope you’re doing a better job vetting brothers than Sway did,” I mutter.
“Easy, Grinder.” Rock’s quick to defend Z. “Z walked into a pile of shit.”
“Z worked hard to fix things,” Rooster adds. “Fast. He worked with us too. Didn’t come in and steamroll over everyone.”
“He could’ve told us to fall in line or else,” Jigsaw says. “He had Priest to back him up. But he still worked to earn our respect.”
“You’re making me blush, guys.” Z grins and waves his hands in front of his face.
Rooster lifts his wide shoulders and stares at the ceiling. “He’s insufferable, but we love him anyway.”
“I’ve been saying that for years.” Wrath nods at Rock. “It’s nice to be validated.”
The front door slams open and feet stomp over the hardwood floors. Teller appears in the doorway a few seconds later, wet hair plastered to his forehead and a scowl embedded in his face.
Rock watches Teller make his way to the opposite side of the table. “What do you have for me?”
“Mud all over my truck.”
“You chose the life.” Rock smirks. “You don’t like running down leads in bad weather, maybe you should apply to law school or something.”
“Hilarious.” Teller throws himself into a chair and shakes his head, sending raindrops splattering everywhere. He lifts his chin and focuses on me. “How’s Serena doing?”
“All right for now.”
“Brave girl.” Teller shakes his head again, pushing his hair off his forehead. “Held up under questioning. Never uttered your name.” He tosses a wet, wrinkled piece of paper on the table. “Police report makes it sound like a simple mugging attempt.”
Rock plucks the paper off the table, smooths it out, and scans the contents.
“I emailed you a copy,” Teller says to him.
Over the next hour, all the brothers make their way to the table. Upstate and Downstate.
It’s a full house and a bunch of the younger guys cluster together on a leather sectional at the back of the room.
Rock gives everyone a moment to catch up before banging his gavel on the table.
“Tonight’s not a social call. We have serious business to discuss. One of our women was attacked earlier.”
Murmurs of what the fuck and other questions circulate around the table.