Chapter 41

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Jigsaw

As much as I want to go straight to Margot's place and give her the good news that my club's not gonna murder me, she's busy with a service and I can't leave right away after church. Walking out of the war room with Rooster by my side, I nod to the ol' ladies waiting for their men to come out of the chapel.

"Where's Shelby at?" I ask Rooster.

His lips twist into an amused smirk. "She wanted to do sun salutations out at the stone ruins on the property. Trinity joined her."

"What, the champagne room doesn't have the right vibrations for yoga anymore?"

"She's always liked it out there." He shrugs. "You all right with how things went down?"

"Yeah." I nod quickly. "Surprised Wrath stuck up for her so fast. And Teller wasn't as pissed as I expected."

"I think Z's more annoyed than anyone. We're gonna be feeling the heat of that for a while."

Fuck, just what I need. Our prez pissed off at both of us.

"Shelby liked Margot a lot," he says. "Glad you brought her the other night."

"Yeah." I lower my voice. "Thanks for keeping that to yourself in there."

"Surprised you didn't speed out of here to go give her the good news. Did she know you were doing this today?"

"I mentioned it but not today specifically. She's busy with work, anyway."

He stops in the hallway outside the champagne room. Loud chatter from the dining room drifts toward us from one end, and in the living room, the guys and ol' ladies are laughing and talking. But for the moment, Rooster and I are alone.

"Pine Hollow's a bit of a ride, brother. I assume, because of her job, she must be on call a lot and need to stay close to home. You plannin' to transfer to this charter so you're closer?" he asks.

That had never occurred to me. "Are you planning to transfer here, brother? Because the rule's always been, I go where you go. That's not changing."

His lips roll into a thoughtful line.

"Besides, your place isn't that far from her. And last I knew, Z wanted me handling more things out that way, anyway."

"Yeah, surprised no one brought up the support club today." He tilts his head toward the dining room and we continue walking. "Noticed you didn't jump up and wave your hand around to get picked for a shift at Crystal Ball this time." He snickers.

"She didn't ask me not to, just so you know." I jam my hands in my pockets. "I can't explain why, I just don't feel like it."

"No, I get it."

"If Dex is really desperate, I'll help out." I elbow his side. "Besides, you haven't been there lately. He hired these two new dancers and one is a creepy little bitch."

"The double-P dancers?" He rolls his eyes. "Rav told me all about it. The one who only whispers?"

"Pepper and Porsche," I confirm.

We push our way into the dining room where brothers are standing around in groups, catching up. The dining table hasn't been set up yet, but club girls and prospects are working fast.

Rooster and I grab cups of coffee at the bar. I'm stirring sugar into mine with my back to the rest of the room when I sense movement behind me.

"Ohhh!" Ravage shouts. "Look who it is! The next member of the pussy-whipped club."

"Jesus Christ," I mutter, turning around to face him.

"You've talked a lot of bullshit over the years," Rooster reminds me.

"Yeah, yeah."

Rav's grinning like an asshole, overflowing with jokes, I'm sure.

"You need a hug or a slap?" I whip my hand back and forth in front of Rav's face. "I'm down for either one."

"Brother, are you serious?" Ravage snickers. "No more Crystal Ball. No more muffler bunnies. No more anonymous ass on the road."

Christ, when he puts it that way, it sounds so fucking pathetic, I'm even more confident about my decision.

I bob my head up and down. "Yup, yup. Get it out of your system now." Rooster's right. I've run my mouth a lot. I have this coming, so I'll let them have their fun.

Stash raises his hand like he's waiting for someone to tag him into the conversation. "I thought you enjoyed women of all sizes, shapes, ages?—"

"I do." I cut Stash off. "But I'm not afraid to admit that I now see the value in being a one-woman man."

Rooster snorts. "This should be entertaining."

I side-eye him. "You don't have to join in, motherclucker."

"I can think of one very important reason. You can have sex whenever you want," Ravage says. "Without having to work for it."

I shoot him a withering glare. "You're confusing girlfriend with blow-up doll ."

"Again," Dex adds. "He always gets those confused."

Rooster chuckles and taps Dex's shoulder. "The fuck you doing here with these clowns?"

"Maybe we should buy Rav a blow-up doll for his birthday," Stash suggests.

"Just say you want one," Rav fires back.

"I don't need one." A smug smile stretches over Stash's face. "Got all I can handle."

"Only thing you're handling is your dick and a Fleshlight," I mutter, taking a sip of hot, sweet coffee.

Butcher joins our circle. "Bro, you sure about this? What's the upside?" His eyes widen as he seems to notice Rooster and Dex—two happily non-single brothers next to me. "I mean for you, Jiggy."

It's impossible to put it into words for these guys when I barely understand it myself. "I have someone who actually listens to me."

"Poor Margot." Dex snickers. "I don't even want to know what twisted shit you've subjected her to."

"I know, right?" I grin at him. "Her patience has no limits."

"You mean, she laughs at your shit-tastic jokes," Rooster says. "And she's not faking it. She actually thinks you're funny."

"She doesn't fake anything ." Too late, I realize how dirty that sounded.

"Is she a screamer?" Rav asks. "Because those quiet, nerdy ones are usually some of the dirtiest bitches?—"

I lunge for him. My hand's wrapped around Rav's throat before my coffee cup even splatters against the floor. I squeeze and tighten my grip. "The fuck did you say?"

Rav's eyes widen to the size of frisbees. He grabs my wrist, attempting to pry me off of his windpipe. "Not…her…specific—specifically," he sputters.

"All right, Jiggy, ease up." Dex touches my shoulder, pressing gently. "Rav's just dicking around, he wasn't disrespecting her."

I force a crazed grin onto my face and release Rav. He stumbles backward, holding his throat and coughs.

What's happening to me? Rav and I trade way worse insults all the time. I won't apologize, though. Insulting each other is fine; talking about Margot that way is unacceptable.

"Sorry, Jiggy." Rav backs out of grabbing range. "Just messing around like we always do."

"Yeah, I know," I answer with a gruff bite to my tone. It's as close to an apology as he's gonna get.

"You know, when a mosquito lands on your ball sack, that's when you'll understand you can solve problems without violence," Sparky says.

We all turn and stare at him.

He holds up his hands. "I'm just sayin'."

If anyone else said it, we'd be questioning his membership in the club. For Sparky, it's nothing surprising.

"Thank you, Philosopher Pot Plant," Dex says.

Rooster's staring at me with an expression I can't quite read which is insane since I usually know every thought rolling through his head before he does. "What?" I snap.

"Nothing." His mouth slides into a sly grin. "Does this mean I can reassure Shelby that her mother won't be your date to our wedding?"

I roll my eyes at him but can't come up with a quippy comeback. Margot broke me. I don't even want to joke about nailing Rooster's soon-to-be mother-in-law just to annoy him. One of my favorite pastimes.

"Wow," Dex says, drawing out the word to a dickish extreme. "Is he speechless or is he having a stroke?"

Rooster waves his hand in front of my face. "Dunno. Hard to tell."

I slap his hand away.

"So I had a thought." A devious grin sneaks across Ravage's mouth.

"Well, that must've been a long and lonely journey inside that dusty brain," Dex mutters.

I bump my fist against Dex's arm. "Good one."

Ignoring us, Rav unleashes his big thought of the day. "Are you planning to give Margot the heads-up that you've nailed Shelby's mom?" Rav grins and squeezes his hands together like an excited five-year-old waiting to be handed a lollipop for being a good boy at the doctor's office. "Since, you know, you're all gonna be in each other's lives forever and all?" He waves his hands between Rooster and me.

Oh, fuck. Do I need to share that with Margot?

Is a meteor about to hit the planet? Ravage actually has a point.

Rooster's stare twists into downright hostile.

"Oh, come on," Dex says, slapping Rooster's shoulder. "This isn't news."

I smirk at Rooster, daring him to deny it.

"Asshole," he grumbles.

"Thanks, dick," I grumble at Rav.

"That's what you get for choking me, motherfucker."

I take a quick step toward him and enjoy his flinch.

As the laughter and jabs die down, I catch Rooster watching me again. His eyes narrow like he's puzzling something out. Not a fan of that. "You got something to say?" I snap, more harshly than I intended.

"Nope. Just never thought I'd see this day. I want to soak it all in." He claps my shoulder. "My boy's growing up."

Instead of laughing that off with one of my usual snarky comebacks, I stop and look Rooster dead in the eyes. "Isn't that what Shelby's reading said? The old me has to die to feel truly alive?"

He frowns, as if he can't believe I brought that up. "Cards or no cards, you're headed somewhere good, brother."

His words—and apparent faith in me—plunge deeper than a knife.