Chapter 3

3

ROM

I was in a shit mood after Layla practically ran away from me. I’d almost chased her just to make sure she didn’t break an ankle from walking so fast in her stilettos.

However, I managed to push the urge away long enough to congratulate Karina and Lorelei. Then I stomped off to find my seat and brood, while planning how the fuck I was going to find my woman. I’d scanned the crowd several times but hadn’t been able to spot her.

“Rom, I need you to sit next to Lorelei’s mom,” Grey muttered, startling me since all of my attention had been on searching the crowd again.

“Why?” I asked, narrowing my eyes in suspicion. We all knew her parents hadn’t been happy about Lorelei’s choice of…pretty much everything. I’d only spent less than a minute in her presence when they arrived and already knew she was an obnoxious pain in the ass.

“Because you’re less likely to strangle her if she opens her fucking mouth.” I snorted, and Grey rolled his eyes. “I said less likely.”

“Fine,” I grumbled. I stood and shuffled over to the seat next to Janice. She glanced at me and raised her snobby nose in the air before turning to her husband.

She didn’t say much until Lorelei’s name was called, and she started walking across the stage. Every Silver Saint in the crowd stood, hooting and hollering in support of our girl.

That didn’t stop me from overhearing Janice when she complained. “This is so embarrassing, Steven,” she whispered loudly. Then she dropped her voice. “Our daughter is graduating from high school, and she’s pregnant. And married to that…that…”

“Outlaw?” I supplied with a smirk.

“It’s disgraceful!” she snapped, still ignoring me.

I would have laughed at what happened next, if my ears hadn’t hurt so damn much.

Lorelei pumped her fist in the air and yelled, “Watch out, this graduate has a baby on board!”

Janice’s scream of outrage was mostly drowned out from the noise of the cheering crowd. But since I stood right next to her, and she turned to face me when the wall of sound exited her lungs, my ears were ringing.

Luckily, Lorelei hadn’t heard her mom, and Grey was a few rows down from us. He whipped around, his face a mask of fury. I gave him a look and flicked my eyes toward the stage. The reminder that his attention should be on his old lady did the trick. He shot Janice one more scathing scowl, then climbed out of the row to meet his woman when she reached us and grabbed her up in a big bear hug.

The reaction was much the same—minus an outraged screech, which my ears were supremely grateful for—when Karina crossed the stage.

When the ceremony ended, I walked over to one side of the room and leaned against the wall. I watched intensely as the room emptied, trying to spot my woman. If only everyone’s shoes had been visible. I thought I found her a couple of times, but I couldn’t move through the throngs of people fast enough to get to her before she disappeared through the exit.

Finally, in a last-ditch effort, which I realized should have been my first, I hurried out to hopefully catch her at her car. Just my fucking luck, her vehicle was gone, and because I was a damn idiot, I hadn’t thought to grab her license plate number.

As I stalked to my bike, I comforted myself with the fact that Grey was one of the world’s best hackers. His road name came from his activities as a grey hat hacker. He would find her for me.

Back at the clubhouse, the party was in full swing. I didn’t want to pull Grey away from his woman and the celebration, but I was quickly losing patience.

Finally, a couple of the women, including Lorelei, wandered into the kitchen. Grey was about to follow her, but I blocked his path.

“Need a favor,” I told him gruffly.

Grey raised his brows and flicked his gaze toward the kitchen impatiently.

My eyes narrowed. “You owe me, brother. Lorelei’s mom practically blew out my eardrums, and I didn’t strangle her for the shit she spewed.”

He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest but nodded for me to go on.

“I need you to find someone.”

He studied me for a second, then a slow grin spread across his face. “Found your old lady, huh? She go running from your ugly mug?”

I scowled, irritated at his amusement. Mostly because I knew payback was a bitch and I’d earned it.

“She was in a hurry because her brother was graduating. I only got her first name and a description. Know the car but didn’t get a license plate number.”

Grey rolled his eyes. “Helpful.” Then he shrugged. “I’ve had less to go on. I can tap the cameras to find a trail. Maybe if I can figure out who her brother is, it will lead to her. Text me the details, and I’ll start working on finding her tomorrow.”

My frown deepened, but he matched the expression just as fiercely. “I’m gonna celebrate with my woman tonight,” he told me in a steely voice. “I’ll get on it first thing tomorrow.”

I swallowed the urge to shove him up against the wall and demand that he start right that minute. It wasn’t Grey who had me checking my impulses, though. Lorelei had worked damn hard, and she deserved an uninterrupted celebration with her man.

“Thanks,” I gritted out.

Grey smacked my shoulder. “I get it, brother. I’ll find her.” With a lift of his chin in farewell, he went to find his wife.

Mentally grumbling, I wandered back into the lounge area and over to the bar. Phantom sat on one of the stools, nursing a beer and staring at his phone with his lips curled down. This wasn’t surprising since Phantom’s natural state was frowning. “What’s got you grinning so big?” I joked as I rounded the bar top and walked behind it, intent on making myself a drink.

Phantom looked up, and other than the downward curve of his mouth, his expression gave away nothing. He was the hardest person to read that I’d ever met. However, it didn’t come as a shock since he’d spent fifteen years with the Company.

“Fight tomorrow,” he offered succinctly. He was also a boxer, fighting in an MC underground ring, and he rarely lost.

“What’s the purse?” I queried as I grabbed a glass tumbler and a top-shelf bottle of whiskey.

Phantom shrugged as he set down his phone and took a swig of his brown glass bottle. He didn’t fight for the money or because he was damaged and used it as some kind of therapy. He boxed because he enjoyed it. I suspected that his lack of desperation was why he won nearly every fight. He was steady, methodical, strong, and just bloodthirsty enough to be lethal.

“I didn’t look. We’ve had so much shit going on lately. Haven’t been in a fight for a few months. I’m feeling rusty.”

A chuckle escaped my chest as I poured the smoky liquid into my glass. Phantom’s mouth twitched—the closest he got to a smile. He stayed in perfect condition whether he was fighting or not. I also worked out regularly and kept myself in excellent shape, but I still struggled to keep up with his insane workouts.

“What had your panties in a twist this morning?” he asked, nodding his thanks when I took his empty bottle and handed him a fresh, icy one.

I scowled at him and tossed back half of my drink, enjoying the burn because it helped to stem my growing need for Layla. My glass clinked as I set it back on the gleaming wood surface. My instinct was to keep everything to myself. I didn’t want to share Layla, even if it was a simple conversation with one of my brothers. However, Phantom was my best friend and would help in any way I asked. Same went for me, so I was honest with him. “Found my girl, but she ran off before I could get more than her name. Looked for her in the crowd, but no luck.”

Phantom raised an eyebrow but didn’t make a dig at me. “Grey’ll find her.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, taking another swallow of my whiskey.

My friend’s lips twitched again. Ah, here it comes.

“Weren’t you giving Patriot shit the other day for being pussy-whipped?”

“Yeah,” I muttered. It had been a joke, but the truth was that I never expected to be on the receiving end of this habit—or whatever they want to call it—of falling instantly for the love of my life.

I was going to eat a fuck ton of crow over this.

“You wait,” I grumbled before finishing the liquid in my tumbler and rinsing it out in the small sink.

Phantom snorted. “I’m too fucking cynical for love. The only people who have my trust are my brothers, their old ladies, and my dad.”

“Bullshit,” I argued. “That’s what we all thought.”

It had definitely been my attitude. Until Layla. Now, I would stop at nothing to claim my woman.

It took Grey a couple of days to find out that Layla was a kindergarten teacher in the same town where her brother had graduated from high school. But the flu made the rounds through my staff, and I was stuck playing bartender, server, and manager for the next several days.

The first chance I got once everyone had recovered, I hopped onto my bike and left to go get my girl.