Chapter 10

10

Piston – The Next Day

I bounce my knee beneath the black oak table in church while tapping my finger on the armrest of the black chair I’m slumped in, my eyes focusing on the sword in the tree carved in the middle of the table, while waiting for the rest of the brothers to show.

Steal called for an emergency church this morning, throwing off everyone’s fucking day.

I still need to audit Huntsmen’s and the Huntsmen’s Angel’s books, but before that, I need to try and find out which fucker knocked into my bike last night, scratching up the whole fucking side.

I was loading the camera footage when I received Steal’s text.

Anger shoots through me again when I remember walking outside this morning, deciding to stay in my room here instead of going home, to find my Harley lying on its fucking side. Cam walked past with his head down, not looking at me.

It’s my fucking punishment, I just know it, for watching Angel and Desiree fuck again last night while I rubbed myself, willing my dick to get hard.

I won’t touch them, but I’ll watch, a part of me trying to punish Natalie for making me fall for her, and then I’d feel guilty because I am emotionally cheating, even though we’re just married on paper.

That doesn’t mean I’m not madly in fucking love with her, and that my heart is not broken over our situation, and I’m just trying to hide it.

Also, whoever knocked my bike over is fucking dead!

The door to church shuts after the last brother takes his seat, making me look up.

Only council brothers are part of church; if it’s something that the whole brotherhood needs to be aware of, then the meeting will take place in the common room.

Steal bangs the gavel and looks around the table, staring at Anchor, who raises his brow, showing he also doesn’t know what this is about.

Steal’s eyes go to Bulldozer, our secretary, and then to our sergeant-at-arms, Cannon. Our blood cousin on our father’s side, Axe, wanted the job, and is sour about not getting it, especially since he is the same age as me, and I’m an officer.

One by one, Steal looks at each brother sitting around the table before his eyes settle on me, and I furrow my brows, tilting my head at him when they don’t move.

What the fuck is going on?

He clears his throat and says, “Cannon, Pitbull, I need you both to stand behind Piston.”

Now, why would my prez want our SaA and enforcer to stand behind me?

“Steal, what’s going on?” Acid demands, his eyes going to the two brothers who’re doing as they were told. Steal doesn’t answer, only keeping eye contact with me, and my pulse starts to race at the blank look he’s giving me.

“Grip his shoulders,” Steal demands, and Cannon and Pitbull do as they are told, but I don’t flinch or move.

Something big has happened, and it has to do with me, but I don’t know what; though, there’s only one person who can make me lose my cool, but surely this isn’t about her….

He looks around the room again, but every brother is looking my way in confusion as I keep my eyes on my prez.

He swallows hard, makes eye contact with me again, and admits, “Natalie came to see you yesterday….”

My blood starts to boil.

So, this is about my wife.

I haven’t seen her in three days, since our family meal, since I fucking saw her wearing another man’s shirt.

I watch two clubwhores fuck and feel like I cheated, and yet she was wearing another guy’s clothing.

Fucking perfect….

“What did she need, Steal?” Bulldozer asks with concern when I don’t speak up.

Steal doesn’t break eye contact as he admits, “She revealed something last night, and fuck, she’s going to have my balls for this….” I furrow my brows and go to lean forward, to give him my whole attention, but the brothers behind me tighten their grip my shoulders, and I roll my eyes as Steal clears his throat. “I promised her I wouldn’t get you involved, Piston. She didn’t want you to know, but, in my defense, when I promised, I had my fingers crossed behind my back.”

The brothers chuckle, and I raise a brow despite my confusion and warn, “My wife, Steal, is clumsy as hell. She’ll use it as an excuse to hurt you….”

He winces. “Yeah, I’m aware of how clumsy your wife is, brother; I saw it firsthand last night….”

I tilt my head at his meaning before it hits. “Seriously? She knocked over my fucking bike?”

He chuckles a little. “Yeah, and fuck, it was hilarious. All she did was back up a little, not noticing it behind her, and when it fell, I tell yah, brother, I have never heard your wife swear so much, and she even said something about changing her name and having plastic surgery when she realized it was your bike.”

The brothers all laugh, and I shake my head, dropping my head and mumbling, “Always so fucking clumsy….”

Yeah, her knocking over my bike is definitely my punishment for allowing?—

My thoughts halt, and I look at Steal sharply.

Please, fuck no….

He gives me a sympathetic look and confirms, “She saw everything in the common room.” The brothers wince, knowing how rowdy it can get get. “Including you watching the whores.” He clears his throat. “She, uh, she was crying, brother, and she admitted she loved you….”

I slump back, Cannon and Pitbull both relaxing their hold on me.

She loves me….

But I fuck, I pushed her away.

“Elijah….” I look up at Steal calling my given name, and he admits, “Two years ago, a Killer cornered her, slamming her against her car, demanding she get all the information on the club after hearing she was your old lady….”

Fury takes me, and I stand with force, knocking my chair into the brothers behind me, but they don’t let go. Both grab my arms, and though they keep me from wrecking church, Steal forgets one other person in this room who would get pissed where family is concerned.

Acid stands, and instead of knocking over his chair, he throws it against the wall, causing several photos to rattle. He shouts, “What the fuck do you mean a Killer threatened my sister-in-law, and why in the fuck are we only just finding out now!”

Steal winces, looking between me and Acid, who Anchor is now holding back.

“Fuck’s sake, I forgot about his tempter,” Steal mumbles.

“Explain, Steal,” I demand, the urge to hit something taking over.

He sighs, running a hand through his graying hair. The guy is in his early thirties and yet he’s already going gray at the sides.

“She didn’t think he’d show up again after she told him she was just a hindrance to you.”

I flinch at his words. She doesn’t really believe that, does she?

I spent three years fucking her, giving her more time that I didn’t even have to every fucking day, including the weeks she had her period. I was showing us both my feelings without realizing it.

“Brother, the Killer attacked her again last night. She has a small scratch on her neck from the knife he held against it. He wanted your security information.” My palms begin to sweat. “Now, I did tell her she needs to stay on club grounds until we find the fucker, but well, you know your wife, Elijah….”

“Yeah, stubborn and fucking clumsy,” I utter, and he nods.

“I thought you had a right to know. I did promise her, but like I said, I crossed my fingers, so she can’t be pissed….”

I put my hands on my hips, breathing heavy. “You and I both know she’s going to skin you alive.” He winces, and I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “I’ll head to her house now and get a description from her, and see if any of her neighbors have door cams.”

He nods and looks around the room. “The Killers are getting cockier. We’ve left them alone over the years, but since this new fucker took over, who’s a pathetic wimp, hiding his identity, they’ve upped their shit on our territory, and enough is enough now. Stay vigilant; you see a Killer, then fucking kill them.”

The brothers nod when a knock sounds at the door before Cam pops his head in and says, “I…uh, think Annalise is playing games again, Prez….”

Steal groans. “What has she done now?”

Cam winces, horror etching his features, and I frown until he says, “She’s sent a stripper…with glitter cannons….”

I snort as Steal glares my way before he says, “Alright, church over. I’ll call Axel. I swear, we’re going to go to war if this shit carries on. It’s bad enough the Devil’s women are getting involved, we don’t need ours to as well.” He looks my way. “Imagine a clumsy Natalie trying to play pranks.”

My mouth parts, my eyes widen, and the brothers all talk over each other about sorting these fucking women out, and I’m right with them.

Natalie causes enough havoc on a good day. Fuck, in college, she dropped a whole pail of red paint on the professor, and nearly got kicked out of his class. I had to use the club's name to ensure she didn’t.

“Fucking Annalise,” I mutter and walk toward the door, grabbing my phone from a stricken-looking Cam.

The Untamed Hell Fire’s MC prez, Axel, fell for his girl Annalise after her mother and grandmother set them up.

He fucked up with his woman, believing a clubwhore’s lies. Even though Annie forgave him and gave birth to his kids, she’s been punishing him since by playing pranks on the club, you know, the innocent ones, spray painting the common room, redecorating the brother’s bikes, putting hair dye in the clubwhores’ shampoo bottles, but then it escalated when more brothers settled down. She got women involved, and then the Devil’s MC women also got involved, and now all clubs affiliated with those two clubs are getting punished.

This isn’t the first time we’ve received something from them, claiming to be from the brothers.

Last year we received a box of vibrators and fluffy pink handcuffs, which the women loved.

Sighing, I enter the common room where women are screaming and jumping for joy, and I wince seeing some ripped dude turning so his back is to us, bending slightly and lowering his bright pink hot pants, showing his ass, before tearing the fabric.

The brothers all groan as he turns, showing everyone his manhood.

Fuck’s sake….

Shaking my head, I move toward the front door but bump into Katie.

She grins, pushing her tits up, arching her back a little, her red blouse unbuttoned low. “Hey baby,” she says.

I roll my eyes and move around her, stating, “Fuck off, Katie, and find someone who isn’t married; this shit is just pathetic.”

I hear her growl over the music, but I ignore her.

Suddenly, a bang echoes, and glitter flies everywhere, including all over me.

The women laugh and giggle while the brothers curse, and I pause, slowly closing my eyes.

Could this day get any fucking worse?

“Piston, Aurora called. She’s struggling with math again,” Taylor, Cannon’s old lady, shouts over the music, and I groan.

Dammit.

Aurora is part of the club. Acid and I have known her since he joined at eighteen. She was only eleven and a cutie who latched onto us, but the girl sucks at math.

Her father is deployed quite often, and is due to leave again soon, so we look out for her, you know, being the sister we never wanted, and all that.

Giving Taylor a nod, not looking her way, I continue my path to the front door, only breathing a sigh of relief when I close it, the music quieting.

I look down and see the glitter and groan, quickly trying to remove as much as possible before grabbing my phone from my cut, finding the number I need, and pressing the call button.

She answers within a few rings, but instead of saying hello, she demands, “Solve n2-6n+8=0.”

I snort, as I try to wipe the glitter off my face. " Hello to you too, sunshine….”

She groans. “I’m sorry, Piston, but I’m really struggling. Please help me. It’s been two hours, and I still can’t solve it….”

I grin and walk over to my bike, my eyes catching the scratch marks on the side of the gas tank, which makes me shake my head.

My fucking clumsy Diamond….

Wait, I mean?—

Fuck’s sake….

“Alright, Aurora, let’s break it down,” I say as I climb on my bike, trying to ignore my thoughts. “It’s already in standard form, so you need to factor the quadratic expression.”

She answers, “The factor is (x+4) (x-2) right?”

I grin, feeling proud. “That’s right….”

I spend the next ten minutes reviewing the equation with Aurora, happy for the little breathing room before I head to my wife’s house.

Aurora tells me all about school and, of course, asks about my wife before she hangs up to finish her work, and I leave the club grounds, looking like a fucking glitter ball.

I’m just glad Aurora wasn’t around for the show; the little terror would have recorded it.

I pull up outside Natalie’s place fifteen minutes later and sigh, climbing off my bike and walking over to her front door.

My palms sweat as I eye the doorbell, before manning up, and pressing the fucking thing.

It doesn’t take long before the door swings open, and my eyes widen at the person standing there.

The boy grins, his light green eyes taking me in as he says, “Hey, I know you, you’re my sister’s husband.”

Sister….

The kid cannot be no older than eight or nine, but he doesn’t look much like Natalie, maybe only the black hair.

“Does that mean you are my brother…if you two are married?” he asks, not taking notice of my shocked silence.

“Cooper, who you talking to, bud?” I hear Natalie ask before she enters my sight, and I swallow my tongue.

Her hair is up in a clip, and her leggings hug her legs just right, but what has me swallowing my own tongue is the plain white tee she’s wearing that covers her ass, my fucking tee from college.

Fuck me, was she wearing that the other night when I went and sulked and watched?—

Oh fuck.

Natalie swallows hard as she takes me in before a frown mares her beautiful face. “Is that glitter?”

The boy, Cooper, looks at me and starts laughing, and I silently groan.

Fucking Annalise….