Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Havoc

I grab my cut and hurry out. I call a cab and wait for it on the side of the road before heading back to the clubhouse. I should be focused on covering my ass, but instead, I can’t stop thinking about a tiny, cupcake-smelling woman who looked ready to murder me when she realized I was serious.

Part of me thought she was going to chase after me with a knife as I pulled away, but she just stood there in total shock.

As much as I wanted to stay, I knew we had plenty of shit to deal with here. The guys have handled me taking over as president better than I thought they would, but it’ll take time to prove that I’m worthy of the role. Not sure kidnapping Nevaeh was the way to go, but I couldn’t risk her getting away.

I get the driver to drop me off at the turning for the clubhouse. After paying him, I climb out into damp night and slip my cut back on. I walk to the gate, and nod to the prospect as he waves me through before stopping to talk to him for a moment.

“Hoops.”

“Yeah, Hav— I mean Prez.”

I wave him off. “It’ll take a while, and I’m not gonna get pissed if you use my name. I do wanna ask you something, though. You know anyone who might be interested in prospecting? As good as you and Dice are, we need more than two prospects, or we’ll burn you out.”

“There were three of us, but…” His voice trails off, and I’m not sure why. Whatever went down must have happened before I got here. I’ll ask G about it.

“Anyway, yeah, I know a guy who’d be interested. Name’s Kieran Knight. I hadn't seen him since high school until a couple of weeks back when I ran into him at the bar. He enlisted and shipped out the day after graduation, but he’s back now after being medically discharged thanks to a bomb wrecking his knee. He looked fucking lost. And if there’s one thing Raven’s are good at, its collecting lost souls.”

I nod. “Invite him to one of the parties and introduce me. I want to get a feel for him. If I think he’s okay, I’ll let him hang around for a while, see what he thinks, and we’ll take it from there.”

“Will do. Thanks, Prez.”

I slap him on the shoulder before walking up to the warehouse. I spot my bike in its usual place just as Midas stomps in, looking like he’s two seconds away from ripping his hair out.

“Problem?” I ask.

He looks my way and shakes his head. “Women. I swear I’ll never understand them.”

I chuckle. “Not sure we’re supposed to.”

He sighs before walking over to me.

“You see G and Amity today?”

“No. They’re still holed up in their room. But G text me earlier to let me know they were good, and I know he called down and had Dice bring them up some food.”

“Can’t say I blame them for hiding out for a little while. They deserve some fucking peace.”

“Amen to that,” he says as we leave the warehouse and head toward the clubhouse.

“Anything happen while I was gone?”

“Not much. I know the director from the movie called G.”

“What did he want?”

“He didn’t say much about it in his text. Just that he wanted to check on Amity and to let her know that production has been halted for a week, so everything’s been pushed back, including when they’ll film here.”

“Shit I forgot about that.”

“It’s not the film crew that bothers me, but the cockroach reporters that will follow them here.”

“They can follow them all they want, but they won’t be getting through the gate, so it’s a moot point.”

“Moot point?” He grins. “Got a word-of-the-day calendar in prison, Havoc?”

I snort. “With a smart mouth like that, I can’t imagine why you’re having woman trouble.”

“I didn’t say I was having woman trouble. I said I didn’t understand them. Big difference.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” I tell him as we head inside the club.

It’s busy when we walk in, but the music’s low for a change. People are still on edge after what happened. Even though the asshole responsible is dead, the fact that we came so close to losing not just Amity, but G too, doesn’t sit well with any of us.

“Yo, Havoc, where you been?” Circus shouts. I look around and find him at one of the tables with Capone and Kruger.

“Visiting your mom,” I yell back, and Kruger laughs as I make my way over, Midas right behind me.

“Anyone see Blade?” I ask when I reach the table.

“He’s out back. Everything good?” Capone asks, looking at me.

“Yeah, all good, and thank fuck for that. I think we could all sleep for a week.”

“Good luck with that. The movie crew is filming here soon,” Crane tells me.

“Apparently they’ve been delayed. I’ll need to speak to G and find out what’s going on.”

Wrapping my knuckles on the table, I leave Midas with the guys and head out back, finding Blade sitting at one of the tables underneath the large canopy with Sunshine, Inigo, and King.

“Hey, Havoc.”

“Sunshine, looking beautiful as ever,” I say, giving her a wink as I walk over and take a seat.

“I’d really hate to have to kill my new president right after Blade just handed you the crown and all,” Inigo drawls, making me chuckle.

“Are you saying I’m not beautiful, Inigo?” Sunshine asks him, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m saying, if he wants to continue to see beautiful things, then he needs to keep his mouth shut.”

I could pull rank, but I let it go.

“How you doing after yesterday?” Blade asks, ignoring Inigo.

“Wasn’t me that nearly died.”

“Not what I heard,” King says, shocking me. Everyone turns to look at him, but then that’s King for you. There is something about him that just commands attention. It’s what made him such a formidable president back when he ruled over the Kings of Carnage MC. He’s also ex-CIA or FBI, if the rumors are true. He might not be Carnage royalty anymore, and he never officially became a Raven, but both clubs accept him as one of their own, for the most part. He might be getting up there in age, but there’s no denying he’s always one of the deadliest men in the room.

“Seems to me if Amity or G lost their footing, you were probably going over with them.”

There was no probably about it, but I never gave it a thought until afterward. All I cared about was getting them both back on solid ground.

I shrug. “I knew the guys were coming. I wasn’t worried.” Mostly because I refused to consider the alternative and there was no fucking way I was letting that rope go.

“It was still ballsy. I can see why Blade chose you,” King tells me, taking a swig of his beer.

“I’ll take that as a compliment coming from you.” I nod respectfully before turning back to Blade. “You talk to G today?”

“He called at lunch. Told me about what you two got up to last night.” Ah, yes, the slicing and dicing of the traitors who ran Amity and G off the road.

“I figured he would.”

“I’ve gotta stop reading. That sounded way dirtier than it should’ve,” Sunshine mutters, making Inigo growl. King grins, dropping his head to hide it, while Blade just shakes his head..

“And on that note, I gotta pee. Move it before I cause a flood. It’s damp enough out here already.” Sunshine nudges Blade, who stands up to let her out.

I smirk as she leaves, turning back to Blade, who’s watching me clearly expecting more details.

I lean back and cross my arms over my chest. “You do remember I’m the president now, right? I don’t answer to you anymore.”

Inigo leans closer and whispers loudly. “That felt good, didn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“You’re both dicks.” Blade huffs.

“I know.” I look around, making sure no one’s listening, before leaning in and quickly filling them in on what happened.

“I’m surprised you all waited as long as you did to finish them off,” King states when I’m done.

I shrug. “Amity could have been killed because of them. G deserved to finish it himself.”

“I wasn’t sure they’d say anything. Not until they realized no one was coming for them, and that Khan had hung them out to dry” Blade tells him.

“Well, they caved last night. They confirmed that Khan ordered the hit. And apparently, they went after G because they thought he was me. They heard I got tattoos in prison and confused the two of us.”

“Were they fucking drunk?” Inigo asks, making me laugh.

“We pretty much said the same thing. Though I was closer to G’s size the last time they saw me. I bulked up a lot in prison,” I tell him, but he still shakes his head in disbelief.

“I don’t get it,” King says, and I turn to look at him. “Why now? You were inside for five years, thanks to Khan and your dickhead brother. Not to sound like a prick, but why not have someone take you out while you were inside? Grease a few palms, get a man on the inside with nothing left to lose, and none of us would’ve been the wiser.”

“I think he thought I’d go home, and because I was fresh out of prison, I wouldn’t want to rock the boat.”

“Rock the boat? Fuck, I’d be more worried you’d set the boat and the clubhouse on fire.” King chuckles.

“Because you’re thinking logically,” Blade grunts, and Inigo laughs.

“Me becoming president of the mother chapter wasn’t part of whatever he had planned, that’s for damn sure.”

“That might’ve been the trigger,” Inigo points out.

“So, what’s your plan for that chapter?” Blade asks.

“I have an idea in the works, but for right now, I’m going to do nothing. As long as Khan’s playing dumb, so will I. At least on the face of things. Behind the scenes will be a different story, I’ll get G to do some digging. I need a lot more information before I declare war on one of our own fucking clubs. What I will say is Khan has to go. I can’t let him stay in power. Not after this. Problem is, if we take him out, Driller’s the next president. And he’s not fit for the job.”

“You need someone on the inside,” King says, making me look at him.

“No one there’s loyal to me.”

“Maybe not, but everyone here is,” Blade says, and I’ve gotta admit, it feels pretty fucking good to hear.

I rub my chin as an idea pops into my mind.

“You gonna tell us, or do we need to guess?” Blade snaps, making me stare at him.

“Right, fuck. Not the president anymore,” he grumbles, grabbing his beer from the table and downing it.

“One option is sending in a brother in an official capacity— they can’t refuse someone from the mother.”

“If he’s there officially, it’ll offer him some protection because they’ll know he’s gotta check in. I don’t know… I can’t say I’m sold on it, but it’s an option.” Blade sighs.

“And someone like Kruger or Hannibal is crazy enough to volunteer for it,” Inigo points out. “Any other options?”

“I heard you had another prospect up ?til recently.”

“Hicks. We kicked him out after he pulled a gun on Amity and told her to suck him off if she wanted to walk outta here.”

I snarl at the thought. Somehow, in such a short time, Amity’s become like a little sister to me. The prospect’s lucky he’s gone, or I’d rip his fucking head off.

“After the beating me and G gave him, there’s no way he’d help us out. And even if he offered, I wouldn’t trust the bastard,” Blade says.

“You don’t actually need him,” King cuts in, giving me a knowing look. “You just need someone to play him. Someone pissed at this club and looking for a little payback.”

“Exactly. I asked Hoops if he knew anyone who might be interested in prospecting. He says he knows a guy fresh out of the military. He was discharged because of a knee injury.”

“You wanna send him in as Hicks? We don’t even fucking know this guy.” Blade shakes his head.

“Sorry about that. I got hungry on the way back.” I turn and see Sunshine with a bowl in her hand.

“What’d you get?” I stand to take a look and grimace.

She wraps her arms around her bowl and snarls at me. “Mine.”

“Oh, trust me, it’s all yours,” I tell her, sitting back down.

Happy with my answer, she looks at Blade until he moves, then takes her seat. Once she’s settled, King leans over and looks in the bowl.

“What is that?”

“Scrambled eggs, raisins, and hot sauce.” She smiles. “It’s so good. But without the hot sauce, it'd be weird.”

“Sure, that would be weird,” I mutter.

“It’s better than the Brussels sprouts and chocolate syrup she was into last week,” Inigo says.

“You sure she’s carrying humans? Because that shit isn’t normal.” I lean over to ask King.

Sunshine must hear what I said because she turns her head slowly, looking at me like some kind of demonic doll ready to slit my throat.

“You know, I just remembered. I need to take care of a thing.” I get up and leave, ignoring their laughter.

Not many things scare me. I’ve lived through too much, but pregnant women… they’re fucking terrifying.

I wonder what Cupcake’s gonna be like when she’s pregnant.

I stop at the thought. Her getting pregnant right now is a fucking awful idea. But the thought of her round with my baby has my dick ready to punch through my jeans.

For the next couple hours, I hang out with the others, making sure I’m seen even if I’m not mentally here. When midnight strikes, I say my goodnight and head out.

I’m only so strong. As much as Cupcake needs space right now, I need to be close to her. I head back to the cabin, parking my bike next to her car so I can grab her suitcase from the trunk. I pick up her phone and turn it on, sending a message to Amity complaining about the cell service. I tell her I’ve landed safely and that I’ll message her in a few days before turning her phone off again, just in case G gets the wild idea to trace it.

I lock the trunk and strap the bag to my bike before riding the rest of the way back to the cabin. The lights are all off when I pull up. I park farther away than before—just in case she comes running out and slashes my tires.

An ominous rumble followed a few moments later but a flash of lightning tells me the earlier rain was just a preview. This must be the storm that was forecast. I had hoped it had passed us by, but I can think of worse things than being holed up here with Nevaeh. Not sure she’ll feel the same way though.

Another flash of lighting illuminates the sky but the cabin stays dark and quiet. I climb off my bike and unstrap the suitcase before making my way to the front door. I open it and curse. I don’t usually bother locking the place because nobody comes out here—still, there’s always a risk. and I won’t gamble with Nevaeh’s safety. I’ll have to get her a key made for when I have to leave so she can lock it. I sure as hell can’t leave her with a gun—she’s just as likely to shoot me as she is an intruder.

I step inside and close the door behind me, reaching for the light switch as I set the suitcase down on the floor. I flick the light on and freeze. Nevaeh’s standing in front of me, with a carving knife in her hand, pointed at my dick.