Chapter 16

16

Piston

“Come on, come on, show the fucker’s face,” I growl at my computer screen impatiently as I tap my finger on my black desk.

I’m in my room at the clubhouse for the first time since hearing about the fucker who attacked my wife to get to me, not once, but fucking twice .

It’s also been two days since my wife and I reconnected intimately, and I’ve spent as much time as I can inside her since. If I didn’t want to find this fucker so badly, then I’d still be at her place.

It’s a Saturday, which means she’s home going through next week's lesson plan, and fuck, would I prefer to be with her, her feet on my lap while she works.

I didn’t realize how much I missed her, how much I was depriving us over the years.

In college, we just meshed perfectly. She got me, and I got her. It’s one of the reasons I couldn’t walk away from that one-night stand with her.

When we were together, we became one, electric, and I knew she’d become someone I’d rely on, and that thought scared the shit out of me. So, labeling us as a fling for three years was what kept me going back to her without running away.

I narrow my eyes as the computer starts analyzing the image, accepting the new codes I put in.

I found one neighbor with a dash cam that was pointed at my wife’s house last night while she was asleep. They automatically upload their videos to their server, which helps me.

I requested the video from the day of the attack, and they gladly gave it to me. I watch as the video plays, my wife kneeing the fucker in the balls before she runs, making me smirk, but my smirk soon fades when the guy turns in the direction of the car dashcam, a guy I recognize fucking well.

Aiden Fucking Mathews, my father.

My blood boils, anger like no other filling me as I grab my phone and send out a mass text.

Me: Emergency Church 10 minutes.

My own fucking father.

Did she know that’s who he was?

Is that why she wouldn’t give Steal the description of the guy, why she claimed she couldn’t remember?

Fuck. Did she?

I stand, panicking, linking my fingers behind my head as memories of late last night come back to me. The moments after Nat and I fu— No, after we made love. What she admitted….

Gently, I run my fingers up and down Natalie’s naked spine, and playing with her hair from where she’s sprawled out on top of my me after she rode me to orgasm, slowly. My cock is still inside of her.

It was fucking perfect— she’s perfect.

Carefully, the tip of Natalie’s finger glides along the tats on my chest, and I half smile when she tenses, her finger gliding over her name.

How in the fuck, in nearly six years, she’s not noticed it, I’ll never know.

I expect her to question me, but she whispers, “Why, the road name Piston?”

This girl surprises me every fucking day.

I have her name tatted on my skin, and yet she doesn’t question it. I gave her a bank card, she cut it up. I bought an apartment, she rents her own house.

Everything I I told myself about our marriage, about her, is all fucking wrong.

Swallowing hard, I press my lips against her head before admitting, “Steal said, with my brains the tech skills, I’m the glue to the club. Like a motorcycle, I keep pushing fuel to ensure the club keeps running.”

She hums, gently kissing my chest, then whispers, “You need to be safe….”

I didn’t think anything of it at the time. We had sex three more times before she passed out, and I forgot about her words, my mission to find some fucking footage to ID the fucker, because she claimed to not remember what he looked like, that she was too scared. She was still asleep when I left this morning, leaving a note for the first time fucking ever, so I couldn’t ask her more about it.

She was trying to fucking protect me, even after the distance I put between us.

I turn and kick my chair across the room, causing it to crash into the wall with a bang.

She should have fucking told me!

Breathing hard, I quickly upload the video to a memory stick, and shut my computer down. Just as I put my cut on, my door opens, and I turn, thinking maybe it’s Acid, wondering what I found, only to see red.

This cunt has come in at the wrong fucking time. Katie stands in my doorway like a stupid cliche.

She’s wearing a long coat.

I can’t catch a fucking break today, can I?

Slowly, she undoes the belt and opens it, showing she truly is naked underneath, and the red I’m seeing turns into a haze.

“You haven’t been around lately, baby. I thought I’d surprise you while you’re here,” she purrs, biting her bottom lip, and I’m done, so very fucking done.

I storm toward her, and she grins, ready to grab hold of me. But before she can touch me, I grab her hair, yank her behind me, and drag her into the common room.

Every fucking woman knows the rules in this club.

A brother has an old lady and a wife, he’s off fucking limits, whether it’s on paper or not—unless he says otherwise. If you no longer work for the club, then the clubhouse is off limits until party nights.

Katie screams, causing everyone to look our way as we enter the common room, the officer brothers tensing.

“Piston?” Steal questions with confusion.

I throw Katie onto the floor, tempted to grab my knife and slit her throat, but I hold off, knowing we only kill if we have to.

I growl, pointing at the sobbing bitch who is trying to cover herself. “This bitch just entered my room without my permission, and opened her coat to show me she’s fucking naked. She propositioned me, even knowing I’m a married man in the eyes of the law and of the club.”

The club women all start shouting and cursing, knowing this could affect them because we brothers won’t take any shit. Katie sobs louder.

“Enough,” Steal shouts, causing everyone to quiet. He looks at me. “Is this why you called an emergency church?”

I huff out a laugh, and reply, “No, it wasn’t. The emergency church is about my fucking clumsy ass wife keeping a big fucking secret from us.”

Steal freezes as he takes me in, my anger radiating from me, and his eyes wide.

He looks at Cam, and snaps, “Get that bitch outta here. She’s banned from all club properties.”

Cam nods and storms over to her, his face stoic. He grips Katie’s arm, and drags her out as she pleads, but we all ignore her.

Anchor shouts, “Council brothers, church now!”

The brothers head into church, and I try to calm my racing heart, accepting the shot of whiskey from Sapphire, and downing it in one. I hand the glass back to her and she gives me a sympathetic smile, but I ignore it, not giving a shit if I’m being rude. I follow the brothers into church.

As soon as the door closes, everyone looks at me. I don’t take my seat, instead, I look around the room, make eye contact with my president, and state, “Aiden Mathews is the new leader fof The Killers.”

Acid stands angrily and demands, “How do you know that?”

Steal doesn’t say anything, just listens, and I look at my blood brother, who has gone through the same shit as me, and I say, “Because we all agreed the person who attacked my wife had to be the leader to know she was my old lady, to know where she lived.”

He nods. “Yeah, but then that would mean….” His words trail off with realization.

I finish them, “It would mean I’ve found proof of him attacking my fucking wife, a man who beat his own wife, forcing her into drugs and an eventual overdose, a man who beat the shit outta his kids, putting them in the hospital.”

The brothers curse at the danger my girl is in, all knowing what Acid and I went through growing up.

Steal slowly stands as my body vibrates with anger, and he assesses me closely before stating, “Every brother searches for Aiden; Natalie was obviously trying to protect her husband, proving how much she loves him. Acid, take Piston to the ring; he needs to hit something before he confronts his wife, then forces her to move onto club land. She’s not fucking safe where she is.”

The brothers all nod while Acid grips my arm, murmuring, “Come on, brother, kick the shit outta me.”

I don’t say anything to him, but I allow him to take me to the basement, ignoring everyone on our way, all while Steal's words echo through my mind.

She was trying to fucking protect me….

“Why in the fuck didn’t you tell me it was my father who threatened you, Natalie?” I demand as I storm into Natalie’s home two hours later, a home she fucking shouldn’t be in.

Okay, so hitting my brother did not ease my anger….

She jumps up from the couch, her eyes wide in shock, tears coating her cheeks. “Piston, I-I…” she stutters, and I cut her off and point at her.

“No, I don’t want any fucking excuses. My father, Natalie, my fucking father threatened you, not once but twice, to get to me, to my club; my father who, by the looks of things, is the fucking leader of The Killers. You have no idea how fucking dangerous he is and how lucky you are to even be alive. So please, please fucking tell me why you would keep that a secret, huh, why?” I growl.

He could have fucking killed her. She kneed him, for fuck’s sake, and is lucky she got out alive.

I try to pull my anger in, but I just can’t. She’s my wife, my fucking heart, and never mind being forced into a fucking marriage, her trapping me, I could have lost her forever!

Her tears fall, and she brings me to my knees as she sobs, “Because…he hurt me…and I lost our baby….”

I stumble back in shock, my body hitting the wall. She lifts her hand, covering her mouth. My eyes go to the tattoo I never paid much attention to, the date only a few days before she told me about the “false positive.”

Fuck no, please, she didn’t…. Not alone, please….

She shakes her head and admits, “I lied to you, Piston. I lost our baby when he attacked me, and I lied, not wanting to hurt you. I was over nine weeks pregnant when he shoved me against my car. It’s three years to the day I took the test, and I-I….” She sobs. “I’m so sorry I lied, I just didn’t want to hurt you.”

No!

Pain like no other consumes me, and I slide down the wall, my ass hitting the floor. My Diamond cries her heart out.

“Fuck,” I croak, heartbroken, dropping my head. I grip my hair.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she repeats.

My own father killed our baby, and I accused her of being a lying whore who tried to trap me.