Animal (Royal Bastards MC 1)

I don’t know what to say. I fucking hate Mitch for what he did, but he was still her dad, and now she’s going to hate me. I can’t bear for that to happen, but there’s no getting away from it. What the fuck am I supposed to do? The body was never supposed to be found. My old man told me he would be buried and just go down as missing. How has his body already been found?

“Who did it?” She looks up at me, wiping her mouth clean.

“Did what?” I ask, knowing I’m a cunt. She’s on her feet in an instant, pummeling her fists against my chest.

“How dare you! How fucking dare you! Who did it? Who killed him?” she bellows, hysterical, tears leaking from her eyes, her palm slapping me across the cheek with such force, my head whips to the side. I grab her hand as she goes in for another slap and pull her against my chest.

“He was talking to the feds,” I whisper against her hair. I don’t add that he fucking killed my mom. She doesn’t need to know he was capable of that.

Hiccupping, she pulls away, utter destruction pouring off her in waves. I know what it feels like. I’ve been where she is. The agony of losing my mom is raw, and learning she was murdered was like having salt poured into the wound. She stares at my patch, shaking her head. “Oh my God, it was you, wasn’t it?” She stumbles away from me, her eyes wide.

“Drew,” I say, edging forward.

Her arms wrap around her waist as she bends over, retching, a horrific sob ripping from her body. My fucking heart breaks. I’ve never seen her like this before. She’s tough—my rock. Fuck. I want to help her, but I don’t know how.

“We’re done,” she states so calmly, it’s haunting. She rises to stand, her hands dropping to her sides. Every emotion wipes clean from her face. She’s morphing right in front of me, turning it all off, numbing the pain. “We’re so fucking done,” she adds, turning away from me.

“Drew, don’t! Let me explain shit.”

She ignores me and begins walking away. I grab her phone and follow behind her.

“It’s not what you think. Let me explain.”

Her strides become faster and faster, until she’s at a flat-out run.

“I have your phone. Please wait, let me explain.”

When she passes the entrance, Mason’s waiting there. He watches her run past him and jumps out to stop me. “Let her go, man.”

“Get the fuck off me.” I shove him to the ground.

“Alec, let her have tonight to deal. Go see her tomorrow. You owe her that much,” he barks up at me from where he landed.

My heart races. Her conviction when saying we were done was like being hit with a sledgehammer. “What the fuck are you even doing here?” I spit out, pain and anger coursing through me, conflicting with each other, leaving me exhausted.

“She called me. Asked me to be here in case it was a setup.”

“What the fuck?” She didn’t trust me.

“She didn’t know if your dad sent the text.”

She doesn’t even like Mason, that’s how desperate she felt.

“What the hell would you have been able to do if it was him?” I throw my arms in the air, fuming.

“Tell you what happened if it was him and she ended up in the lake.” He gets to his feet, brushing off his legs. “Dick,” he adds.

“I can’t leave it like this…leave her the way she was.” I run my hands through my hair. “Fuck.”

“Just give her some time.”

“How the fuck did this happen?”

“I only know what I heard and saw from you two.” Mason shrugs.

Blazing through the clubhouse, I barge into my old man’s office. All eyes look over at me, Jimmy’s hand on his weapon.

“What the hell?” I bark.

“Start again,” my old man growls.

“Drew’s aunt called her. They found the body.”

“Wasn’t hard. We left it on her lawn.” Kai smirks.

Motherfucker. I fly at him, catching him with a closed fist to his jaw. His chair falls back, knocking him to the floor. Jimmy has me in an arm lock within seconds, face planting me on my old man’s desk.

“You have a nasty temper, boy.”

Kai is on his feet, his knife unsheathed. “Fucker.” He glares.

“Let him up,” my old man instructs. I’m pulled up and shoved away.

“Mitch was a fucking rat. A message has to be received when a brother betrays his own. He deserved more than what he got. He killed your fucking mother—the woman who brought you into this world. His Prez’s fucking wife.”

“But Drew…you said…”

“Fuck Drew. She’s lucky she got her claws in you young. It’s only because you love her that she isn’t naked and leashed to my fucking desk. Anyone else would have been.” He points his meaty finger at me. “I’m giving you her. Don’t ask me for more. There’s nothing to give.”