Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

RYANN

I never expected the guys to wolf down the food I made for dinner. I knew Maverick and Viking liked my cooking. They had it before. Fawn and Viking had come over a couple of times when I cooked. Maverick, of course, lived with Nevaeh and me before he even got with Vaeh, so he's had my cooking plenty of times.

I love cooking. I find it relaxing, especially when people stay out of my way and let me do my thing. It's why I don't mind working at the restaurant for the club. Sure, I started out as a waitress, but I find myself in the kitchen more often than not. Sometimes, I help out wherever they need me, like the night the people called out sick.

That night, I learned a lot about cooking in a kitchen. Always have your prep work done if you can. Think about what you're cooking and what needs to go into it. Make sure that you have everything before you start. If you're missing an ingredient, make sure to get it. You don't want to screw it up. Though there are some instances you can substitute, and it'll be okay. Other times, it could be great, or it could be horrible. One wrong thing, and poof, you're eating dog food.

"Meal was delicious," Maverick mutters, scooting the plate in front of him away. "Think that beats your meatloaf and baked beans."

"Gotta admit, it's good," Viking agrees. "But doesn't beat her fried chicken."

"Her cakes are even better," Nevaeh pipes in, giggling. "The pineapple upside down is my favorite."

I roll my eyes and look at Sabotage to find him staring. Not at me or anyone else, but rather the plate in front of him. He's glaring down at it.

"Sabotage," I whisper for only him to hear. He lifts his gaze slowly at his name, eyes coming to mine. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He nods, straightening in his seat a bit. "Just some shit on my mind."

A part of me feels he's lying or holding back. What that is, though, I'm not sure.

"Wanna talk about it?" I ask, twisting to give him my full attention.

"Gorgeous, I'm good," he remarks, moving in to press a kiss to my lips. "Food was good. Real good." Sabotage gets to his feet and straightens. "I've got some shit to do before my brothers and I leave to see to other shit."

"Oh." I nod. "Um, okay."

What else could I say? From the expression on his face, I could tell he's shutting down on me. But why? Did I do something to upset him? He seemed fine in the kitchen. Or I thought he was okay. Maybe he wasn't, and he was just hiding it.

Sabotage leans at the waist, hand curling in my hair, and kisses me deep and longingly before stepping away. "I'll be in the garage. Gonna make sure shit's ready."

"I'll help ya," Pirate mutters, getting to his feet. He looks pissed, and I'm not sure about what. Since I've known him, I've known he's easygoing and pretty laid back. I don't think I've ever seen him pissed.

Without anyone protesting or asking them to stay, the two of them leave. In fact, Rock, Hydra, Mayhem, and Dice follow after them, leaving their empty plates on the tables.

I straighten in my seat, eyes on my plate. I was still working on my first one, and honestly, I don't think I can eat any more. Something about the way Sabotage is acting doesn't sit well with me. Not in the least. It's like he was sending me mixed signals.

In the kitchen, he said and acted one way. Then, during dinner, a complete and totally different one. I don't know what's up with him or how I should go about figuring it out.

"Ry," Maverick calls my name from across the table. I glance up and see him studying me. His arm wrapped around my best friend. Her, Peyton, and Fawn are my best friends. Even Shyann and Apricot are good friends, but I don't know them as well as I do the others. They didn't go through the hell we did.

"Yeah?" I don't need to know what he's going to say, but I'll let him get it out all the same. He's like a big brother, an annoying one. Sometimes, before he came back into my life, Maverick would remind me of Warrant. I inwardly cringe at the name my brother earned, but I know it's the one he goes by now, not Ryland.

"Don't let it bug you, babe. He wants this stuff taken care of and needs his head right. Trust me, when it's done and over with, the cold look in eyes will be gone. Just let him be for now, and after this shit is over, then talk to him," Maverick advises.

"If you say so, oh wise one," I mutter, rolling my eyes and scooting my seat back, getting to my feet. "I'm gonna go clean up the kitchen."

"Let the torpedoes clean up," Viking orders. "You did all the work cooking. They can clean up."

"Right." I nod and make my way into the kitchen, not wanting to have those skanky hoes in here.

I scrape my plate off in the trash and put it in the sink. With nothing else to do, I head for Sabotage's room. I don't feel like being around the others right now. I need to get my head together, and I can't be worrying about anything else right now. From what I've heard, and the way Sabotage and even Maverick spoke, something is happening this evening. Whatever that is, it has Sabotage on edge.

Or is it something else altogether, and he's using this as a way to keep his distance?

In Sabotage's room, I barely make it a step inside before I hear it—the moans of women.

Narrowing my gaze, I flip on the light to find two of the tor-pe-da-hoes going at each other in Sabotage's bed. Great, just what I need to see, skanky hoes in a bed that I sleep in.

"What the hell is going on here?" I demand, yelling loud enough to get both bitches' attention.

"What's it look like?" The skeezy blonde from earlier in the kitchen snaps. "Sabotage asked us to come up and get the party started."

I highly doubt that.

Then again, he was acting weird.

A part of me wants to let those words affect me, but another part, the reasonable part of me, tells me Sabotage wouldn't say that to them. I can trust him.

"Then where is he?" I snap on a huff, completely pissed.

"He'll be here any moment. How about you leave so we can enjoy a party before he has to leave for club business," the other one, I think she's called Muff or something like that, says snidely.

The door behind me opens, and in steps Sabotage as if on cue. My heart feels like a sledgehammer just came down on it when he looks at his bed, seeing them first before looking at me.

Holding my head high, I glare. I know what I said in the kitchen about not sharing. I don't. I even threatened to cut his cock off if I found him with another woman.

Right now, though, all I want to do is run and hide.

"Go ahead and have your fun," I snap and step around him, getting to the door before he can stop me. What was I thinking?

"Ryann," he growls, following me, but I don't let him get his hands on me.

I run down the hall, down the stairs, and turn in the opposite direction of the main room, heading toward the back. I don't want to face anyone else.

Denial is screaming in my head alongside the hurt, and I don't pay attention to anything other than finding somewhere to hide away and let myself go down the pity rabbit hole.

I push through a set of doors that lead outside. The sun is already down, and there's no light on this side of the clubhouse.

Suddenly, my arm is grabbed, and I'm spun around to face an enraged Sabotage.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?" he snarls, dipping down to get in my face.

"I'm leaving you to have the fun you evidently wanted to have up in your room," I snap back, shoving at him with my free hand while yanking uselessly at the one he's holding tight.

"So, all that shit you spewed in the kitchen was all talk?" Even in the dark, I can see his lip curl in a sneer, his brow cocking.

"Way I figure it, if you need two women who are skanky hoes, then you don't need me. You clearly intended to fuck them, considering you looked at the bed expectantly when you came into the room," I shout and shove against his chest once again. "Now, let me go. You can go ahead and go about doing your thing ‘cause, clearly, it has nothing to do with me."

I find myself turning once more. My back is being pressed into the side of the clubhouse.

"Don't test me, Ryann," he snarls, dipping down to get right in my face our noses touching.

"I'm not doing anything," I scream. "Now, let me go, Sabotage."

"Not letting you go. Told you more than once, I'm never letting you go." On this last part, he moves in, closing any breath of distance we had between us. "You're mine, Ryann, and I'm not going to let you play games with me."

"I'm not the one playing games with you," I scream once again, tears steadily streaming down my cheeks.

"Woman, what I walked in on in my room, that test in there was a fuckin' game, and you damn well know it," he grinds out. "You texted me that you needed me upstairs."

"I did not," I snap, my breath hitching, and I shake my head. "I didn't text you. I'd just gone upstairs and walked in on your fuckfest getting started without you like you told them to."

Sabotage stays silent for a minute and pulls away slightly, a look coming over his face. One, I don't know how to read.

"They say anything to you?" he demands. His voice losing the sharp bite to it, but not the harsh anger.

"Just that you were wanting them before going to deal with club business."

"I didn't want them," Sabotage grits out. "I was out in the garage just like I told you I was fuckin' going."

"Right," I mutter, turning my head to the side so I don't have to look at him.

"Gorgeous, look at me," he commands, sliding a hand up my side, until he's cupping the side of my face, forcing me to do as he wants. When I meet his gaze, he strokes my cheek. "There's only one woman I want. Just as I told you. Seems I'm gonna have to keep telling you ‘til it sinks in."

Sabotage presses into me, his cock hard and bulging behind his zipper.

"You're gonna have to trust me, Ryann. Know that I won't fuck you over. I'm not going to cheat on you."

My breath hitches, and I squeeze my eyes closed. I want to believe him. I need to believe him, but the sight of those women in his bed is screwing with my head still.

"I don't want to stay in your room," I whisper.

"And I'm not gonna make you," he says just as softly. "Tonight, you'll go to bed in another room. When I get back, I'll join you there. Tomorrow, we go to the house. The prospects can throw out my bed and pick up a new one."

"You don't have to do all that," I protest weakly.

"Gorgeous, no way am I fuckin' you on a bed where some other cunt's been."

"You've fucked other women on that bed before me," I tell him. I don't want him to think I'm accusing him because I'm not. He's older than me, way more experienced, and he's surely no choir boy. I also know I'd seen him go off with more than one skanky hoe over the time I've known him.

"Yeah, but when I brought you home, it was to clean sheets. New ones that ain't ever been slept on before," he states.

"Wouldn't it be cheaper just to buy new sheets then?" I blurt.

"Could, but that's not what I'm doing."

Something about the way he says this melts my insides.

Or it starts to.

"Now, let's get you back inside," he states, dropping his hand at my cheek to grab my hand. "I've still got shit to do before we have to leave later."

"Okay." I nod. Not feeling a hundred percent, but him coming after me and talking with me, it helps.

Sabotage guides me away from the wall and toward the clubhouse. We make it two steps before all hell rains down upon us. The last thing I see before everything goes black is Sabotage going to his knees.