Chapter 29

29

Piston – Two Days Later

I tap the oak table impatiently as Acid goes over Huntsmen Grub finances.

“Shane admitted to stealing from the tills after Piston found the proof we needed,” he states.

Fuck, it feels like months since Acid asked me to look into the diner’s financials when it’s only been a few fucking weeks. So much has happened since then.

Steal’s face grows stoic with each word Acid says as he demands, “And what was his excuse?”

This is the thing about this club, or Steal, after his fuck up with Cassidy; he gets the story first instead of jumping the gun.

To this day, no one knows what really happened to Brute. Faith is the only one telling stories, while Cassidy shutdown as soon as Steal placed that gun to her head, breaking her trust and her love for him. And Brute’s dead, so he can’t fucking talk.

Though I have my suspicions, Cass won’t confirm or deny them.

“His wife has cancer.” Steal sighs at Acid’s words, slumping back in his seat, and Acid nods. “Yeah. Piston looked into it, and it’s legit. According to her medical file, she has roughly five months left to live, but there’s a new study, and he wants in on it. It’s groundbreaking, and if she gets the meds—basically using his wife as a test subject, it could save her.”

“How much?” Cannon asks, raising a dark brow.

“Thirty-thousand,” I answer him, and he whistles.

Steal shakes his head, and mumbles, “Men under fucking pressure to keep the women they love.” He looks around the room. “All in favor of Shane losing his job?”

One by one, we all put our hands up.

The reason doesn’t matter; he stole and lost our trust. He should have come to us, plain and fucking simple.

Steal nods and bangs the gavel on the table, then looks around again, and asks, “All in favor of funding his wife’s treatment?”

One by one, we all put our hands up again.

Steal smiles, bangs the gavel again, and looks at Acid. "After church, contact him and let him know of our decisions. I know he probably thinks his life is on the line.” Acid nods, and Steal looks my way. “How’s security looking?” he asks.

I answer, “Everything is in order. There have been no breaches, so the Killers are laying low to regroup. As soon as they try to breach it, I’ll know.”

He nods. “And the club funds?”

I open my folder, look at the club’s accounts, and read, "The diner is still doing well despite the setback from Shane, the bar continues to bring in people; no concerns, same with Huntsmen Angels and Huntsmen Arts.” My eyes go over the spreadsheet sheet. “Money is up by 38.5%. Even without the thirty thousand for Shane, the clubhouse fund is still stocked and ready for the in-house garage, and the brothers' pay can go up by 3%.”

I look at Steal, and he nods, while the brothers bang on the table in celebration.

“Good. We have a fun run next month, so we need to start going to local shops and trying to raise funds for the children’s hospice downtown, and the sister one in Texas. The Devils and the Untamed are also taking part,” Steal announces, and we all nod.

I speak up, “Natalie has connections in the school, so she can get the word out.”

Steal grins. “Perfect.”

His smile drops when I say, “She can also get Cass to get people from the hospital involved.…”

He mumbles, “Fucking perfect,” and we all chuckle. He gives us all the finger before asking, “How is Natalie doing, brother?”

Everyone looks my way, and I sigh, running a hand through my hair, and admit, “She’s gone to Adam’s gravesite the past two days in a row. Cam sent me their location on her first day back at school.”

Anchor speaks up, "The girl wears her heart on her sleeve. She feels guilty, but she has nothing to be guilty for. It could have been any one of us in that guard house, and we all would have left the safety of it to get to her. She’s family, brother.”

I smile. “I know, and deep down, she does as well. She’s just struggling a little, and going to his grave, talking to him, it helps….”

“Was it just me, or did she look like she had glitter in her hair this morning?” Pitbull asks, and I grin wide.

“Ah fuck, what did you do, brother?” Acid asks with a groan, and I put my hands up.

“Nothing! She came home two days ago, fed up. The kids were extra excited after summer break, and she was covered in glitter, and couldn’t get the stuff off. It turns out she knocked into the shelf, and the whole fucking tub of glitter fell on her, and I’m not talking about a small tub either, I’m talking about a paint bucket size tub,” I confess with a laugh, and the brothers all chuckle.

“Fucking woman is clumsy as shit,” Steal mumbles, and I nod in agreement.

I wouldn’t have her any other way. I knew she was clumsy within two days of meeting her, but it didn’t put me off, instead it pulled me further into her orbit.

Shaking his head, Steal looks down. "Alright, that is everything on the agenda money-wise.” He looks up and makes eye contact with me. “Ready?”

I sigh but nod and stand. Everyone looks at me with a furrowed brow, and I clear my throat, my eyes briefly go to a confused-looking Acid.

He’s going to start throwing shit….

“Two days ago, my wife messaged Steal,” I look at my prez, “something I’m still fucked off over, by the way, especially the two kisses at the end.” Steal grins, not at all bothered. I clear my throat and look at Acid. “Perrie doesn’t want you involved.”

He sits up straight and demands, “Involved with what?”

I wince. “Involved with the person that left her a threatening note on her car.” He stands in anger, and Pitbull quickly moves toward him, moving his chair, learning from our last outburst. I put my hand up before Acid can speak, and state, “If you get involved, she’s threatened to buy a gun and shoot the fucker herself. You need to sit this one out.”

He growls, “Like fuck am I sitting this one out, Elijah!”

Fuck, I don’t want to do this, but….

“Andrea told Perrie you got her pregnant,” I admit, and his face pales. I nod. “As I said, you need to sit this one out.” I look around the room. “I found CCTV footage of the area near where her car was parked outside the grocery store. A man placed the note on her window, and then left. He was a prostitute who was paid to put it there. He thought it was a love note when, in reality,” I look at Acid, “he’s threatened to kill you if you keep sniffing around her. It’s the only reason she went to Nat about the note. I hoped to investigate it without the club, but that’s obviously impossible.”

His face reddens. "She hates me that much that she doesn’t want me to get involved, yet she’s trying to protect me?”

Anchor chimes in, “She doesn’t hate you, Oliver. She’s loved you since she was thirteen, something you knew. You fucked her, and she thought she finally had her happily ever after, but instead, you broke her heart and fucked her friend, the same friend who has now declared she’s pregnant with your baby.”

Acid flinches and Steal states, “Andrea saw how Piston made Nat his old lady, unwilling to allow his unborn child to be born in a broken home. Are you sure she’s pregnant?”

Acid runs his hand through his shaggy blond hair, frustration rolling from him, and he confirms, “Pretty sure. She showed me a sonogram and claimed the baby was mine.”

I scoff, “So what was your plan, brother? String Perrie along and make her your mistress, while the woman you fucked, hurting Perrie, has your child, and you make Perrie watch you bring it up together.”

He growls, “No, Elijah. I don’t even know if the baby is mine. She says it is, yet she won’t do a DNA test.”

The brothers all shake their heads at his stupidity. “What am I, Ollie? Chopped liver?” He furrows his brows, and I sigh. “I can hack her medical records, you idiot.”

He flinches, then admits, “Fuck, I didn’t want you to be disappointed in me.”

I snort. “Ollie, it's not my disappointment you need to be concerned about. It’s the woman who you want to win back around, the woman you have loved since you were fucking sixteen.” He winces. I sit forward. “You’re my big brother, and yeah, at times, I resented you being able to leave home as soon as you did, but I was also happy because it meant you were safe. I love you, Ollie, but you are a fucking idiot. Perrie doesn’t deserve this shit.” I shake my head. “Not only did Andrea seek you out, claiming to have argued with Perrie and encouraged you to fuck her, but she also went to her so-called best friend and gloated about being pregnant. How sure are you she is, brother?”

His jaw ticks. “I saw the sonogram, Eli….”

I huff and grab the sonogram image Cass printed off for Nat and me yesterday after we went for a checkup, and throw it on the table.

“Did it look like that?” I ask.

He frowns, picks the picture up, tilts his head, and says, “Not really. It didn’t have any of this writing on it, and the baby was bigger. Which is why I didn’t believe her claims. I just needed proof she was lying,” he admits, and I sigh, turning in my seat.

The fucking idiot could had gotten this sorted weeks ago, if he’d just come to me.

I grab my laptop bag and get the thing out, turning it on.

Everyone stays quiet as I sign in, then load up the web browser I created, and find Memorial Hospital.

I use several different codes, and after five minutes, I sign on as Dr. Crow before searching their database for Andrea Philips.

Her name pops up, and I lean forward, bringing up her medical records before chuckling and shaking my head.

Fucking bitch….

With a smirk, I turn the laptop and show Acid while the brothers lean to get a good look, their eyes widening.

Acid face reddens, and I ask, “So, big brother, what was that about not wanting to ask for my help?” He glares at me, anger rolling off him, but I shake my head. “Perrie doesn’t want anything to do with you, and this is one of the reasons why. Andrea has ensured she’ll never want you in her life again, and honestly, brother, you’ve only got yourself to blame for fucking that bitch.”

He scoffs. “So what am I supposed to do, leave her be? Walk away?”

I smirk. “I didn’t say that, brother.”

Steal cuts in, “What he’s trying to say is that you have one hell of a battle on your hands, because this shit is fucked up.”

Acid goes to speak but is interrupted by a knock on the door, which swings open a few seconds later, and we all look as Cam’s head pops into the room.

Steal groans, “Fuck’s sake, what did the Untamed women send this time?”

Cam winces. “Thankfully, nothing, not after the dildos we received yesterday.” I grin, but it soon disappears when he says, “A woman at the gate got past Killen after hitting him on the head with a large stick, and is currently having a standoff with, uh, Natalie, who may be holding a stool, ready to swing. I tried to stop her, but she threatened my balls, and I like my balls….”

Fuck!

I stand, my chair knocking back, and I run to the door as Cam quickly opens it for me.

The brothers all trail out of church behind me, but we all stand back in shock as Christy lies on the floor holding her head as my woman stands above her, the stool in the air, ready to hit her again.

Cam groans, “Dammit, we missed it….”

I roll my eyes and run over to my woman, who’s going to be the fucking death of me.