Chapter 7

RiffRaff

"Where the fuck is she?" I storm into the kitchen and see Grit and Hailey eating some food at the table. Trigger is sitting at the counter drinking coffee, and others are just milling about, coming and going. But I don't see my JoeJoe. She hasn't come back yet.

"Dude, can you bring it down a notch?" Trigger turns and I can see he's nursing quite the hangover of his own. Mine had to take a fucking back seat for the moment because the only thing I'm focused on is finding my girl and telling her once and for all exactly what she means to me. I checked the entire clubhouse, and then I discovered that her car isn't even here. I should have checked the lot first, but I was still trying to make sure my girl didn't end up in any of my brothers' beds last night because my parents fucked me over good, and now I have some major trust issues, apparently.

"She went away for a few days," Grit grits out the words like he's pissed at me about something. I don't have time to deal with his grievances right now. I just want to find my angel.

"Why? Where'd she go?" What the hell happened while I was passed out last night? Did something happen with her sister, and she had to take off? Why wouldn't she tell me she was leaving? The alarm bells are starting to go off, but I'm trying not to freak the fuck out until I know what's going on.

"I'm not saying shit, but I will tell you this, Riff, you're fucking lucky I'm not kicking your ass right now."

Seriously? What the hell? What did I do to my brother to make him want to beat the shit out of me? If this has to do with club business, then he's going to have to put that shit on the back burner for now.

"Care to enlighten me on what I did to piss you off? You're acting like I pissed in those damn Cheerios you're eating."

He shakes his head. "You don't remember? Mandy? You hurt her, dude. And now she's gone."

"What the hell?" I hurt Mandy? I know I shoved her away from me when she started kissing me, but she didn't act hurt, not physically at least. After that, I went to bed and don't remember anything else. "Dude, what happened? What the fuck did I do?"

Fuck!

A gasp comes from Grit's girl, and I turn toward Hailey. Her eyes are wide with shock. Yeah, I feel the same fucking way. I'd never lay a finger on a woman. I'd cut my own hand off before I ever did something like that. So I'm not sure where the hell this is all coming from.

"Goddammit, Riff. You that fucking clueless?" Grit once again is looking at me like I'm a complete bastard. "Joe saw you making out with Mandy. She's the one you hurt, you dipshit."

Fuck! NO! She saw. Fuck! That's why she left. She thinks I'm a cheating bastard like my dad. She probably thinks the apple didn't fall far from the tree and now wants to have nothing to do with me. Dammit. Now all the pieces of the damn puzzle are coming together, except it's not a pretty picture coming into view. It's a damn horror scene.

"It's not what she thinks." I frantically shake my head as the panic sets in. "I was so fucking drunk. I went outside and saw her with Shiv and thought they were… Fuck!" I shout at the ceiling. "I came in and got shit-faced, and when Mandy climbed on, it took me a minute to figure out where I was and what was happening because I was drowning in the fucking pain of my wrong fucking assumption." I grip my hair and pull hard. I messed up so fucking bad.

"I shoved Mandy away, but Joe obviously didn't see that part. Goddammit. I need to tell her. I need to see her. Grit, if you know where she is, you have to fucking tell me." I'm pleading with him, but at the moment, I'm not above getting down on my knees and begging if I have to. I have to get my girl back and explain. I have to tell her I love her. And I have to tell her I'm so fucking sorry for not trusting her.

"She's at her sister's," Hailey says, and Grit narrows his eyes on his woman. She turns her head toward him, clearly sensing his frustration. "I suffered a lot of pain from making wrongful assumptions, Grit. I don't want anyone else suffering, too. They love each other. And I don't want this misconstrued moment to stand in their way from having what we have."

Damn, I hope Hailey's right. I know I love my Joe with all my heart, but after what I did last night, I'm not sure she'll ever be able to forgive me for this. I know what her dad did. He was a bastard like mine. He cheated on his wife with his assistant, watched the woman he vowed to love until death, the mother of his children, deteriorate into nothing, and not even a month after her passing, after she took her own life because she couldn't handle the pain anymore, he showed up to his daughters' high school graduation with that mistress on his arm. Yeah, I'm not the only one with trust issues in this relationship, and I know I'm going to have to fight like hell to get her back. To get her to believe me.

I turn toward Hailey. "Thank you for telling me." I reach for her hand and squeeze, hearing a rumbling growl from her fiancé. "I love her. And I'm going to go and fight like hell to win her back." I look up toward Grit. "Tell Axe I'm going away for a few days. And tell the guys I've made my claim."

He nods and finally cracks those firm lips of his into a fraction of a grin. "Good to hear. Now, you better hightail it out of here before she hardens that heart of hers. Because once that thing gets put on ice, you've got limited time to get it beating again." Don't I fucking know it.

I thank them both for being good friends and then run back to my room. I find the package Joe's sister recently sent her that still hasn't been opened yet, and make a mental note of the address. Then I'm in the shower and getting ready to go get my girl. I have a couple of stops to make along the way because I'm not showing up empty-handed.