Chapter 1

Static

”Get ready for a war.”

It”s been coming, so Lockout”s statement didn”t surprise me. We all knew it, but fuck me—I hadn”t been expecting it to arrive on my face and ribs. I got jumped this morning when I went to the office, and ended up having all this shit kick off now because of it. Lockout was pissed. Fremont had finally fucked up badly enough that we were making him our main focus. And now I”d killed one of his officers. Not that I knew who he was when he was trying to brain me with a fucking tire iron. That type of approach tended to give you a little bit of tunnel vision. Consequences were an afterthought.

It was self-defense. I couldn”t argue that in court though. None of this would see the light of day if we had anything to say about it.

”What about him?” I asked, nodding down to where the dead body was.

We were all circled around the trunk of my car. There were too many women and children around here at any given time to not care that it was in full view. Not to mention Fremont. The fucking district attorney had been hounding us for long enough. There were just too many things that had trumped him in importance, but all those things were taken care of now. I wondered if he knew the shit storm he”d just unleashed on himself. I also wondered if he had sanctioned this attack on me. I couldn”t imagine the fuckwits this cop was hanging around with—they certainly weren”t police officers—were smart enough to make a move like that on their own. Fremont was sending a message. He was finished waiting, too.

”Butcher, Toxic, Hell, dump the body,” Lock told them. His eyes met mine. ”You need to see Crash Cart?”

Butcher swore low under his breath at the old Army Medic”s name. ”Better not. He”ll end up amputating a leg without your permission.”

Crash wasn”t that bad. A bit odd. But he was a damn good surgeon and he kept us from having to go to the hospital when we were injured. ”No,” I replied. ”I”m fine. I can help get rid of the body-” I broke off as Lock shook his head.

”No. You better go get cleaned up before-” He stopped, then swore. ”Too late,” he muttered. ”Church tonight at five. We”re coming up with a way to finish this.” One side of his mouth tipped up into a wry grin. ”Good luck.”

”Huh?” I asked, having no idea what he was talking about. The cryptic fucker just chuckled and walked off.

Toxic appeared next to me in that creepy silent way of his. He was holding his fist out and slowly waving it around my face. ”What the fuck are you doing?” I swatted it away.

”Seeing if your face is a magnet for fists. Since, you know…”

”Fuck off.”

Hellfire shut the trunk of my car with a bang. ”Keys?”

Sighing, I cast a sad glance at my car. It was a birthday gift to myself a few years ago. The Jaguar was crunched and mangled on one side, the paint job beyond saving where those assholes had scraped their vehicle down the side to try to force me off the road. I handed my keys over to him, then shot him a serious look. ”Don”t let those two assholes drive.” We both looked over at Butcher and Toxic.

Toxic”s brows shot upward. ”Seriously? Looks like your fucking car got into it with a bulldozer and you still won”t let me drive her?” I shrugged and shot him a smirk. ”I flew helicopters, you know,” he added. ”Machines worth millions of dollars apiece and the military trusted me enough for that.”

”Didn”t you tell a story about crashing one once?” Ricochet asked.

Toxic sputtered. ”That wasn”t my fault. It was-”

”Get goin”” Hush interrupted, his deep voice filled with amusement. ”Don”t need that body here any longer than it has to be.”

Everyone started to scatter, going their own ways. I watched as my brutalized car drove away. I was less angry about my own damn bruises than my car”s.

Hush cleared his throat.

I looked over at him. ”What”s up?”

He nodded to something behind me, gave me an empathetic look, then walked away.

Turning, I froze when I found Gwen standing there. She”d been waiting for me, a pretty smile on her face. The minute she caught sight of me, the smile slipped off her lips and fear crashed over her expression. She wrapped her arms around her son, Sean, and pulled her daughter, Grace, closer to her side.

Shit.

”Gwen,” I called out. I looked like hell. The men hadn”t done any permanent damage. Not like I had to them, but I had enough bruises and cuts to know I”d been in a fight. Not to mention my damn suit was all ripped up and dirty.

She shook her head, the sunlight glinting off her dark blonde hair. I started toward her, knowing she was upset. She”d been jumpy, and had every right to be, since everything had gone down with her ex. Trent, that fucker, had hurt her badly. Seeing her in the hospital for a week afterward made me want to go kill him a second time even though her brother, Ricochet, had already taken care of it by getting Fremont involved. Things seemed to be slowly getting better, and then we had the run in with the mafia at the Expo Center.

Now that time I”d gotten the shit kicked out of me. It was a lot harder to fight when I had my brothers” old ladies there by my side and in danger. One wrong move could have made those assholes go after the women instead of me. I”d taken the beating to stall. Though I”d done my damndest to fight back I was severely outnumbered.

Ever since, Gwen had been keeping her distance. I sighed as I watched her hurry toward the clubhouse, her kids in tow. Sean was asking, loudly, if he could come talk to me, but Gwen wasn”t having any of it. Ricochet met her at the door, confusion written all over his face. He was just as worried about his sister as I was. He shot me an indiscernible look before he followed them through the door.

”Fuck.” It wasn”t like I went looking for trouble. I was just trying to take some fucking time off work since Fremont told us outright at that party a week ago that shit was going to hit the fan. I needed to be available for the club right now. I raked a hand through my hair, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.

I was so torn up about Gwen I didn”t know which way was right side up. I couldn”t get her out of my mind. She invaded my thoughts all day long. And seeing that horror and fear on her face a few minutes ago was a punch to the damn balls. I wanted her to feel safe. To know that nothing would ever happen to her here with us. With me.

”You could go talk to her.”

Turning, I found Priest standing there, arms crossed over his chest, studying me. He”d wandered off with the rest to check the perimeter fence. Made me wonder how long I”d been standing there staring at the fucking clubhouse, thinking. I hadn”t admitted to any of my brothers my feelings for Gwen. Somehow it was common knowledge. Not that I confirmed it whenever they started harassing me. Ricochet and I had yet to talk about it either. It was like the fucking elephant in the room we were both trying to ignore. I didn”t know how he”d feel about me being with his sister. And I wasn”t ready to find out.

”Not sure what you”re talking about,” I muttered.

”Hmmm, fine. Keep lying to yourself.”

”Fuck off,” I sighed, suddenly too tired to deal with him. There was no heat behind my words. I wasn”t lying to myself. Everyone else? Fuck yeah, I was lying to them. But not to myself. I just didn”t know what the best move was. Or rather, I did, but wasn”t willing to do it. I should leave Gwen alone. She had enough fucking trauma in her damn life thanks to Trent. The last thing she needed was me and the drama I”d bring. Every damn time I turned around lately I was getting a fist to the fucking face. She needed some nice, soft, squared away man who would treat her like a queen.

Just the thought of some asshole getting to live with her made me see red. He”d be the one to hold her. Love her. And be a father to those kids. Sucking in a breath to calm myself, I left Priest behind and made my way up to my room to clean out the cuts on my skin. I”d track Gwen down later, after she had time to decompress, and apologize. Wasn”t sure what I was apologizing for, but it was usually the best way to get back onto a woman”s good side. And though I wanted every side of Gwen, I liked it better when she smiled at me rather than stared at me with that haunted look. I”d fucking eradicate that look if I could.

I”d do anything to keep her and her kids safe. Those kids. Jesus. I think I fell in love with them even before I fell for Gwen. My boot tripped on the stair as I bounded up, nearly sending me sprawling. I caught myself just in time. I wasn”t normally a clumsy man, but that”s what Gwen did to me. She set me off kilter. Had me on edge. I just couldn”t seem to do anything right around her. I fucking hated it. I was a successful, rich lawyer. Even before that, my time in the military had been a success. Not everyone could be Special Forces.

None of that mattered when she set those blue eyes on me. Everything disappeared. Every thought. Every action. Fuck, I was even losing the ability to stand upright. This woman was killing me.

”You okay?”

The deep, rough voice was unexpected. I hadn”t heard the door open and close. I turned and found Idaho leaning against the wall with an amused smile on his face. He”d been my best friend since we were kids. And he was pretty new to the club. If I was going to confide in anyone, it was him. But I still wasn”t ready.

”Fine.”

”Glad to see you haven”t lost your touch,” he commented.

I narrowed my eyes as I straightened and walked past him. ”What do you mean?”

”Those assholes who came after you.”

”Oh.” Them. ”Right. Yeah. You fought them before. They weren”t that impressive.”

”What else would I be talking about?” he asked, fighting back a smirk. Asshole knew exactly what was on my mind. He”d always had an uncanny ability to figure me out.

”Nothing.”

The grin slipped off his face. ”You can talk to me, Static. You know that, right?”

”Of course I do.” We knew everything about each other. When he and Lock had gotten in that explosive fight that pretty much had Lock kicking Idaho out of his life, he”d come to me. When my disaster of a previous marriage failed, I went to him. It was what we did. But only when we were ready. I needed to wrap my head around the thought of something serious with Gwen before I spoke about it to anyone. Mostly I”d been avoiding thinking about it. But shit was escalating. I couldn”t walk around my own fucking motorcycle clubhouse without seeing the woman every day. And I couldn”t see her without getting rock hard. ”I”m going to go take a shower,” I told him, opening the door to my room, then shutting it in his face.

His chuckle wasn”t blocked by the wooden door and it made me shake my head. He was happy with Eva, and I was damn glad to see it, but that didn”t mean I wanted him hounding me about settling down. I”d done that once. Never planned to get married again. And that was the kind of woman Gwen was. The marriage kind. The forever kind. But she had people other than herself to think about, those kids namely, and I needed to consider them too.

I loved them more than fucking anything, but I wasn”t the best thing for them. If I was a good man, I”d help her find some schmuck who would wife her up, adopt her kids, and give her five more fat happy babies. Someone who had no choice but to be the safe option because his name was Dale and he worked in accounting. That was who she needed in her life.

The problem was I wasn”t a good man. And I wasn”t sure I could hand her over to a man like that.