The One I Need (Snakes Henchmen MC 2)

I push the sack of crap away from me and get to my feet. I shouldn't have done this here. I should have lured him to a quiet location and took my time killing him.

But I don't have time. I need to get back to the clubhouse and check on Tank. He's not going to be happy with at all. His pride will have been dented, his brothers will know by now that I was the one who knocked him out, and they won't let him live it down. Believe me, men are all children inside until the day they die.

I breathe deeply. Now I'm finally free. Every last cunt who hurt me is now dead. Not one motherfucker can now chase me, invade my daughter's life. She will never know how she came to be, that's my secret and mine alone.

God, I feel good inside!

“I need you.”

“Again? Jesus, Nova, what the hell have you done now? I've only just finished cleaning up the last guy you offed.”

I roll my eyes. “I don't have time for this, Marlon. Just get over here and deal with this mess.”

“Who was it this time?”

Not that he needs to know, but I'll tell him. “Dodger, president of the Devil's Hornets. The scum you cleaned away earlier was his brother. Now if you're done being a nosey fuck, get to the address I'm about to text you and clean up.”

“Yes, boss.”

I end the call and tear off my bloodied gloves. I climb on my bike and ride home. I shower and change in less than three minutes. My blooded clothes bagged and ready to be burned tucked away in my closet until I have time to deal with them.

Now to get back to the clubhouse and check on Tank.

My fuckin' head is banging like there's an army of kids inside it mercilessly banging drums for fun. Fuck! I can't believe I even gave her the chance to pistol whip me. Of all the fuckin' things, a woman, my woman! I couldn't even shake off the fuzz to get up and help her. I watched through hazy vision as she cold-bloodedly killed a man.

I couldn't make out what she was saying to him, it was as if my hearing failed me for a while there. I saw the flashes of bullets leaving the gun she stole from me, then I passed out cold. I woke up a couple minutes ago here in a room at the clubhouse. Hammer and Roman with me.

Hammer said I'd been out for half an hour. Fuckin' half an hour?! I must have passed out there for a while. Roman said Doc had been in to check on me and told them I'd be fine.

“Fuck!” I curse when sitting up, hands pressed to my temples.

“You all right, brother?”

“Do I look all right?!” I snap at Hammer, then wince at the pain in my head.

“Packs a punch for such a little girl.”

“Fuck off, Roman!” I could really do without his gloating right now. I imagine the whole fuckin' MC is laughing at the fact big bad Tank got taken down by a woman, and not just any woman, his own.

How much do my men know about what happened in that alleyway?

Do they know my girl killed a man?

And, are the fuckin' cops coming for her?

Shit!

No, they're not coming for her. No one here would call them. If the boys did their jobs properly the body will have been taken to the woods and buried in a deep hole, the alleyway cleaned up.

Okay, I can calm my damn racing heart. She's the Prez's daughter, everyone will do everything in their power to clean up the mess she made.

I groan to myself. She's going to be the death of me if I can't keep her under control.

“Where is she?”

“I'm here.” How did I not see her standing there? “Can you guys give us a minute?”

“Why?” Roman folds his arms over his big body and laughs. The look in Nova's eyes tells me she does not like being the brunt of his jokes. “So you can kill him this time?”

She nods with a sadistic smile on her face. Great. This should be fun. “If you don't get out of this room right now, Roman, it'll be you I kill. Now get. The. Fuck. Out!”

I cringe.

Christ, why when your head hurts do things sound so much louder?

Why does it fuckin' hurt like hell?

With a chuckle, Hammer tells me, “We'll be outside.”

I nod without looking at either of them. I just grab the pills from the desk beside the bed I'm sitting along with the bottle of water Hammer placed there when I woke up. I throw the pills in my mouth and swallow them with a long chug of water.

“I know you're mad at me,”

“I'm not mad at you, Nova.” I'm not. I'm mad at myself for not standing up for her the way I should have.

“I've dented your pride.” It's not a question.

And she's right, she has dented my pride. No woman has ever taken charge of a situation like that, and one has certainly never knocked me the fuck out with my own gun. Has she dented my pride? Of course, she fuckin' has, I'm the man for fuck’s sake, it's my job to take care of her, not the other way around!

“How many people know what happened out there? And I don't mean what you did to me.” Which I'm never gonna live down. Oh, these fuckers will thrive on it for fuckin' years to come!

“Just Jett and Red. I swore them to secrecy. I told my dad I thought I was protecting you, that's why I did what I did. Jett took the blame for the kill, said he pulled the trigger when he saw the guy come toward me. Red backed him up.”

“Wanna tell me just how you know how to fight and kill like that?” She sighs dramatically while folding her arms around herself. “Answer me!” She doesn't even jump when I raise my voice. She's a tough woman is Nova, nothing scares her. Not that I’m trying to scare her, but some recognition that she gives a shit would be nice.

“Don't raise your voice to me, Tank, I'm not one your whores.”

“I don't have any whores, just a stupid old lady who goes around killin' men three times her size.” Her eyebrow raises sarcastically. “Now tell me the goddamned truth.”

“It was a fluke, Tank. I shot his hand. I was going to leave it at that but he went for his gun. I just did what I had to do to protect us.”

“Protect us? I should have protected us!” I'm now on my feet. I'm more pissed at her than I first realized.

“I'm not a weak little girl who needs a man to protect her. I've been doing that myself my whole life. I won't have you repressing who I am just so you don't look weak in front of your brothers!”

She's driving me insane! I don't wanna yell at her, but she's infuriating. Standing there laughing at me like this is some big fuckin' joke. She killed a man like it was nothing to her!

I know I've killed in the past, and I did it with ease because I had to. And if I think about it she did the same thing. But she didn't have to. That's the damn point. She could've stayed behind that dumpster and let me deal with it.

Don't get me wrong, I love that she's so strong, that she's not afraid to do what needs to be done in order to save her own life, even my life.

But what she did today was unnecessary.

Simple as that.

She put herself in danger with no thought of what would happen to Ember should she have been killed. She was reckless and she needs to own up to that.

“I'm not repressing who you are, Nova, but what you did out there was stupid and unnecessary! What the fuck kind of point were you trying to prove?”

She rolls her eyes. “Fuck that. Get over it, Tank. I hurt your pride, the men of this club will crack jokes about what I did to you for a while, but they'll soon find something else to waste their time on.”

“You just don't get it!”

“What don't I get, Tank? Jesus Christ!”

“You don't even realize how reckless you were out there!” I grab her upper arms and force her to look at me. “What if he'd killed you?”

“He didn't.”

“He could have. What about Ember? Did you even think about her when you were taking that man's life?”

Something flashes in her eyes, but I can't read it.

What the hell is going on inside her head right now? Nothing I say to her is going to sink into he

r brain. I'm talking to a brick wall!