Chapter Twenty-Nine

Wrath

Today"s just been a day filled with normal, boring shit. I haven"t seen Flame all day. He"s been doing his job while I"ve been busy doing mine. Leaving my office, I see him coming towards me. I can"t resist shoving him up against the wall and kissing the hell out of him as soon as he"s within reach. The kiss is full of promises of what"s to come. Both of us are clearly ready to take this home and carry on in a more private setting with a lot fewer clothes.

However, we're brought out of our kiss when there's a loud shriek behind us. I pull back from the kiss, groaning quietly. Dropping my head to Flame's shoulder. I recognize that shriek; Ella's here. Flame just pats my shoulder and chuckles quietly. We both know this means we aren"t going home to get naked anytime soon. No, I have Ella to deal with first.

Spinning around to face her, standing directly in front of Flame. Hoping to shield him from whatever she's about to say. I know her well enough to know she was going to try and start something with him, and I'm not going to let that happen if I can help it.

"Ella, what're you doing here?"I ask in the most normal tone I can manage.

Come on, I was making out with Flame. Talking normally after that isn"t an easy task.

"WHAT AM I DOING HERE? I JUST GOT BACK! I THOUGHT I"D COME SEE MY BOYFRIEND! ONLY TO FIND HIM SHOVING HIS BEST FRIEND AGAINST A WALL KISSING HIM! WHAT THE FUCK WRATH?!"She shouts angrily.

I"m not impressed. My face loses all the looks of being kind and friendly; becoming hard.

"I'm going to say this once, Ella. Listen very fucking closely. I'm not your boyfriend; I"ve never been your boyfriend. You're a chick that I stuck my dick in a few times. You were told it meant nothing; it was just sex. You didn"t listen. That"s not on me; that"s on you."I say with a deadly voice, she doesn"t heed the warning that my voice gives, though, and continues to carry on.

"NO, YOU"VE BEEN SLEEPING WITH ME AND ONLY ME FOR YEARS! THAT MEANS SOMETHING; STOP PRETENDING IT DOESN"T BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON YOU"VE LOST YOUR GODDAMN MIND AND WERE OVER THERE KISSING FLAME!"

Heads start popping out of the offices going down the corridor; everyone wants to know what"s going down, no doubt. Nosey fuckers.

"Ella, shut your fucking mouth. I slept with you a few times over the years, but do you know something? Every damn time I did, the only reason I was fucking hard and could fuck you was because I was thinking of the man behind me. I"M GAY!"I shout the last part.

I"m not hiding anymore. Everyone"s accepted the change between me and Flame with no issues.

Her face shows her shock. Then the waterworks begin. I should feel bad, but I just can"t. If she"d listened, we wouldn"t be here right now.

Shaking her head constantly, she says, "No, that"s not right. I know that"s not right; you"re lying."

Pointing at Flame over my shoulder, her eyes flashing with pure hatred, she continues, "He"s done something to you. You love me; I know you do."

Shadow"s stepped out of his office now, standing close by.

"He"s not lying; he"s gay, Ella. Always has been, always will be. You need to turn around and leave. Stop embarrassing yourself."He tells her.

I know he"s trying to save her some dignity because she"s absolutely making a fool of herself right now.

"NO!"she shouts while stomping her foot. "Wrath"s mine! I won"t give up that easily!"

I just shake my head no.

She reaches out to try and grab me, but Flame"s watching over my shoulder. He must see the move she"s about to make because he suddenly spins me behind him and snarls in Ella's face, "DO. NOT. TOUCH. HIM."

She jumps back in shock. Flame"s never spoken to her that way, even though I have a feeling he"s always wanted to. Watching me with her couldn"t have been easy for him. God, I feel like a dick for putting him through that. I can hear laughter from down the corridor, fucking assholes the lot of them. This doesn"t require a reaction from the peanut gallery.

"Excuse me, but I can touch him all I want. Flame, didn"t you hear me? HE"S MINE! You"ve just fucked with his head somehow, but I"m back now, and I"ll fucking fix it. Get away from him."She shouts back at him while trying to get around him to me.

"He"s told you he isn"t yours; now let me tell you. He's not yours; he's mine; he's always been mine. He may have stuck his dick in you a few times, but that"s it. I"m the one he goes home with every night; I was the one he went home with every night even when he was fucking you, and I"m now the one who wakes up next to him every morning. Now save yourself any further embarrassment, turn the fuck around, and leave."

Opening her mouth to speak, but she doesn"t get the chance. Wreck"s appeared out of nowhere and has clamped his hand over her mouth. Thank fuck.

"Nope, that"s enough of you. Time to leave. Want me to make sure everyone working the gate knows to not let her back in, Prez?"Wreck asks me while keeping hold of Ella, who"s trying to move his hand.

"Yeah, thanks, Wreck,"I say with relief.

He just nods his head, throws her over his shoulder, and turns around, carrying Ella away while she"s shrieking, "Put me down" and "Wrath save me."

I just shake my head at her got a few loose screws—that one.

Stepping out from behind Flame, I address everyone who decided to watch the Ella show.

"Go on shows over, back to whatever you were doing. You all got a good laugh, I"m sure. Fucking bunch of nosy assholes."

They all go back to what they were doing. I grab Flame's hand, pulling him towards the exit. I want some alone time with my man. I rather enjoyed him staking claim to me.

The rest of the night I spent showing him just how much I enjoyed it too. We don"t get much sleep, but it's so worth it.

∞∞∞

I can"t help but shake my head when I think about last night. I knew Ella was always going to cause an issue when she got back, but fucking hell, talk about making a scene.

Shaking off thoughts of that, I look up at the building we"ve just gotten the keys to—our new location for Devil"s Ink. I"m waiting for Wreck, as this is his baby; he"s our resident tattoo artist. This is his domain. He built the business from the ground up. Hearing a bike coming down the street, I look and see Wreck's bike pulling up next to mine.

"Morning Prez."He says as he pulls his helmet off and dismounts.

"Morning Wreck.You ready to check out your new baby?" I ask excitedly.

"I can"t fucking wait; we"ve needed a bigger shop for ages now. In a way, we were lucky I was away for so long, or there wouldn"t have been enough space for us all after hiring the new artists."

"I agree, man. I think you"ll be happy with the space you"ve got to play with here. It"s massive compared to the old place."I say as I walk towards the door and unlock it.

Walking in, I stay back by the reception area and watch Wreck for his reaction. His face lights up. I had a feeling he"d like this place.

"Fuck, Prez, it's amazing; it"s massive and has so much natural light."He exclaims, checking the place out.

"Yep, and its two floors both have the same layout. You have your main reception area here, and then down the corridor are all decent-sized private rooms, so instead of having you all in an open space, you will all have a private room. I think that will appeal to customers, I know a lot don"t like being on display when they"re having work done."I start to explain to him what we were thinking when we bought the building.

"Yeah, that'll work out for us. How many rooms are there for us to fill?"He asks practically, jumping up and down with excitement.

"Well, if you take out a room down here for an office and the massive room in the back for a store room, there are four empty rooms down here and six upstairs. My idea was that in the other large room upstairs, you could make the piercing room."

"Sounds like a good plan. I like the thought of having a separate space for piercings. We're going to need more artists, with nine rooms to fill. We only have five of us, including me, at the moment."He says thoughtfully.

"I"m aware of that, and there"s no rush to fill all the rooms. There"s someone I think you should meet at The Clubhouse who has just qualified as a tattoo artist."

"Really? Who?"He asks with excitement in his eyes, he loves getting artists who are new to the business and can help mold.

"My son"s Aunt Jasmine; she"s staying at The Clubhouse for protection right now, but she does have some stuff with her to show you what she can do."

"I"ll have to search her out; if she"s any good, I"ll offer her a trial and see how she fits in. Just because of who she is doesn"t mean I"ll just give her a shot; she needs some talent. I"ll deal with that later, though. I want to have a look around and make a list of what extra stuff we"re going to need because there isn"t going to be enough to move over from the old shop to fill this place."He explains to me with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"That"s fine; Devil"s Ink is yours; I play no part in the hiring; that"s all on you. Just let me know if you decide to hire her or not. Here are the keys. Make your list and get it to Rock and Ink so they can get it ordered."I start passing him the keys. "I"m going to leave you to it. Enjoy." I say before turning around and leaving.

I"m sure he"s going to spend the rest of the day in there, planning out every little detail. He doesn"t do anything by halves, that"s for sure. I"m just relieved he approves of the new space; fuck knows what we would have done if he didn"t think it would work.

After getting back to The Clubhouse, I grab a quick lunch and go to check in with Tech. He"s been working his ass off for weeks trying to find where Claire"s run off too. I"m hoping he has some good news for me. I want her found and dealt with. She"s like a black cloud hanging over my head at this point.

"Anything Tech?"I ask as I enter his cave.

"Nothing definitive as of yet, Prez. I think I"m getting close. She"s got a hidden bank account I"ve managed to find. I"m trying to hack into it now to see if it will give us any information. I"m hoping, as she hasn"t touched the other accounts that we know about, that she"s been using this one and I will get something from it."He explains to me while typing away.

"Okay, let me know if you get anything. I want this over with; I"m sick of her hanging over my head."I reply before turning around and walking towards my office.

I want Claire's head on a fucking platter after everything. She deserves everything she has coming to her after what she's done to Cam for years and for what she's done to Flame recently. I"m not going to just let her get away with it all because she"s a woman, and we don"t harm women. She"s pure evil and doesn"t deserve to keep breathing, that I"m 100% sure of.