Bash (Diablo Disciples MC #6)

THIRTY-TWO

Bash

It had been a mellow couple of weeks, but Bash couldn’t unwind knowing that scumbag was still out there, living his life after trying to harm his old lady.

He had been contemplating something for a while now.

It wasn’t something he could spontaneously surprise Charlotte with.

A vote had to be taken. He’d brought it up at the latest meeting, and it was unanimous.

Then, he had to put in a special order. It came in this morning.

What felt like fate was Ruin striding through the club entryway, and his eyes sought Bash, who was meeting with Axel about next week’s appointments.

“You’re back.” Greeted Axel.

Ruin had been gone several days. The last they heard, he was in Arizona on Thorn’s trail. He wore his traveling leather jacket and slipped off the shades to pocket them. Reno must have had a twin sense that his brother was around because he came in from the garage. The pair were like bookends in looks and solar systems apart in personalities, but they were closer than blood brothers could be.

Ruin’s soulless eyes met Bash’s. “Tell your old lady she doesn’t have to worry now.”

“Thorn?” Bash jumped to his feet. “You found him?”

“Found and eliminated him.”

“Fucking A.” crowed a grinning Reno, smacking his brother on the back.

“Well done, Ruin,” half smirked Axel. “Did you have any trouble?”

“None. It wasn’t like Thorn was smart. I caught him so easily, even I was bored. I met up with Atom halfway. He’s a demonic motherfucker, cold as ice.”

“Coming from you, I don’t know how to gauge that.” laughed Axel.

“Did you know he makes this homemade solution that melts human remains? Nothing is left behind. Fucking wild.” Remarked Ruin, looking impressed by another murderer’s tactics. “You should ask him to quit being a nomad and make his base here.”

Everyone gaped at Ruin.

In all the years they’d known the quiet enforcer, he could go months without grunting at someone. And it was unheard of that he’d ever be proactive by inviting someone to the club.

It was Reno who spoke. “You want Atom to become a full-time member? Here?” he spoke slowly, like they’d all collectively heard Ruin wrong.

“If there’s someone else to share the enforcer mantle so I can spend more time building my furniture and being with my old lady.” He shrugged. “I’m open to it.”

Whenever Ruin said over two monosyllabic words at once, everyone listened.

“Well, fuck me,” chuffed Chains.

Ruin wasn’t one for standing around gossiping, and he turned on his heels to leave by the way he came in. Bash quickly shouted Ruin’s name. He looked back.

“Thanks, brother.”

It wasn’t quite a smile, but Ruin did something with his face to reply. As he walked off, he called back. “Put me as absent for a few days, secretary. I’m spending it with my old lady.”

“Was that Ruin saying whole sentences?” Asked Devil, coming from the kitchen, holding a sandwich.

“You should have heard him.” Chains said, brushing an imaginary tear from his eye. “Our puppet is becoming a real boy.”

Bash laughed along with the others, but his mind was whirling. Thorn was dealt with. He hoped he felt unspeakable pain at the end.

Today felt like destiny, more so than ever before.

When one bad chapter ended, a better one began.

Bash made the call, and he did it smiling.

He was at the entryway, waiting like a loyal fucking puppy, when Charlotte’s car pulled in next to his bike. Bash was already at her door before she even turned off the engine. He quickly unbuckled her seatbelt.

“Hello to you, too,” she chuckled and stepped straight into his arms. “Your call sounded ominous. Is something wrong?”

“Nothing, baby. Happy to see you.”

She had confessed to him she had never been in a relationship, nor felt this obsessed chemistry with anyone except him. She was unsure about her skills at being a girlfriend and if she could handle the emotional side of it.

Bash wished she could see herself through his eyes.

How easily she walked into his arms for affection without being prompted. Or how she sought him out in bed while she was sleeping. How many times a day she texted him with simple things or to say hi, and she missed him. She was the backbone and beating heart for a biker like him.

There was no other girlfriend better than Charlotte.

And he revered the woman.

Right down to the soul, he adored her.

Every smile and piece of her heart he got from Charlotte, he held on like she’d given him treasure.

“Come inside, baby. I’ll get you a drink.”

“Oh, a big one, please. It’s been a day.”

She meant a full-sugar soda. She’d sworn off alcohol for right now.

“Did you kill anyone?” he joked, and she jabbed him before winding her arm around his waist. Bliss followed.

“It came close. Someone came in with a chest infection and threw up on my Crocs! I’m lucky to have five spare pairs.” His girl was addicted to buying Crocs in all colors and patterns.

It was a relaxed night. Most of his brothers were around with their old ladies. More arrived after they found out what Bash was planning.

If Charlotte noticed the old ladies wearing their property cuts, she said nothing. Partway through the next hour, Charlotte skipped to the bar where Scarlett had set up her iPad with Rory on a Facetime call. When Rory didn’t feel up to leaving the house, she still joined club events through technology.

While she was away from his lap, he had a prospect bring over his surprise.

Bash felt oddly nervous.

He knew Charlotte loved him.

It was something she didn’t hide now, and he felt it every day.

They were a partnership and were creating the foundations of something long-lasting.

“I need to talk to you, baby.”

“Oh?” an eyebrow climbed.

“You know already I’m fucking wild about you. You’re my world, Charlotte.”

Her face beamed.

“You’re someone I want to share my secrets with, confide in, and have you be a sounding board. And I want to be that for you, too. I’m the person who will shield you or stand at your side when you need it. I’ll fight any demons to keep you, Charlotte. You’re it for me. One day soon, I will put a ring on your finger—make us legal.” She had so much emotion in her eyes. People laughed as he confidently declared that marriage was on the horizon.

“The first thing I want to give you will make you mine in the Diablo law, Charlotte.”

She exclaimed, wide-eyed. “Do I have to get a tattoo? I don’t want those big skulls you guys have, Bash.”

Something loosened in his chest, and he chuckled, tagging a hand around her neck and drawing her closer so he could rub her nose with his.

“If you get some ink, you’ll be sitting on my lap while you do. But that’s for another day. Tonight, I wanna give you this.” He brought out the cut. “Will you wear my property cut, little darling?”

The time seemed to go on forever.

It was a big moment for Bash.

It meant something to every biker in the clubhouse. No man gave his property patch to just anyone.

This was a forever kind of declaration. He was telling Charlotte and his patched brotherhood that this was his woman. And he was hers.

Bash watched her fingering the white leather, custom-made for her body frame. The old ladies’ property cuts weren’t boxy like the men’s. They were tailored to a female frame and looked sexy as fuck. He couldn’t wait to see Charlotte in hers.

If only she’d answer.

But he knew to have patience.

It had taken him a long time to get his girl to look at him as something other than a dangerous biker and a friend.

And then his Charlotte smiled.

“I get to be an old lady?” she smiled bigger. “I’m an old lady now?” her voice soared, and everyone around them laughed at her excitement. She glanced at the iPad on the bar and shouted. “Oh, my god, Rory Kidd, look!” Bash’s arms were full seconds later as she leaped into them, kissing him all over his face, half crying and laughing.

“I’m Bash’s old lady. Put it on, put it on me, please.” She slid down his body and whipped around. Her grin was infectious.

Bash couldn’t take his eyes off her when the white leather was on her back.

White for his pure little darling.

The woman with her big empathetic heart.

His innocent light in this world.

“Fucking beautiful.” He remarked and ran his fingers over the markings, declaring her his woman. “Now you’re mine.” He said with emotion.

She turned the sweetest eyes on him and stroked a finger over his goatee. “I was yours even before I knew it.”

Damn straight.

Everyone started hollering and congratulating them as he lifted her into his arms and took the kiss he was craving.

Something occurred to Bash when a pair of perfect lips were on his.

He might have been the architect of their relationship. He built the foundations, but those walls were just that, until his Charlotte brought the color and the joy. She brought a reason to his life he hadn’t honestly had before.

If he were the architect, Charlotte was the light source. The beating heart. The very soul of the foundations.

“My old lady.” He murmured against her sweet lips.

“Does that make you my old man? Because…” she poked her tongue into the side of her cheek, teasing about their age difference that neither of them gave a fuck about.

“I’m anything you want me to be.”

Once the onlookers dispersed and Bash was alone with Charlotte, he told her in a ragged whisper. “I’m gonna fuck you in only your property cut later.”

“Okay.” she gasped, her eyes already filled with lust. He loved that look.

Charlotte was aware of some of the Diablos’ regime now, but if she needed an up-close look, something unpredictable came not long later while sitting on his lap.

“What the fuck?” They heard, and everyone turned to see Diamond shooting forward in his chair. His stare was like a bomb had gone off on the TV.

The local news report showed amateur footage of someone being arrested. The woman was fuller figured and dressed in every rainbow color, but her purple hair was the standout feature. She was being handcuffed, and Diamond cursed.

“Fucking hell, Joelle, what have you done?”

Everyone shared confused glances, and Diamond wasn’t answering how he knew the purple-haired bohemian.

It got weirder.

The reporter announced the woman was Joelle Snow, and her father was the renowned Judge Snow.

That guy was not renowned for anything but being a shady motherfucker whose prestige could be bought. The Diablos knew this well. He’d been on their payroll for a while.

Diamond quickly stood up as the news shifted to another story, grabbing his jacket. “ Where the fuck is my son, Joelle ?” he growled. And then he took off at a fast run, out of the door.

“Does Diamond have a son?” asked his girl.

“Not that we know of.”

“What the fuck is going on? Did he say a son? Since when?” asked Devil.

All fine questions no one had the answers to.

Diamond wasn’t a closed book, nor was he secretive.

But maybe he was.

Bash nuzzled Charlotte’s neck, kissing over her pulse.

“Don’t let this scare you off, darling. We don’t all have secret babies.”

She turned her head, her lips brushed his beard. “If a woman came in here now and claimed she had your baby, I’d have to punch her in the nose.” God, she was spectacular. “Then, with my nurse’s oath, I’d probably have to hand her a tissue, but she’d get the message, Bash. You belong to me. And all your future babies belong to me. I’ll be the baby mama.”

It was like she set a rocket underneath him.

His heart burst out of his chest.

She was giving him something Bash didn’t even know he’d wanted.

“Nothing will scare me away. I’m a Diablos old lady now. That means something.” She whispered the last part against his cheek and then nuzzled around to find his waiting mouth. “I love you to infinity, Ben.”

Falling in love hadn’t changed Bash’s life.

But meeting Charlotte had.

She’d turned what he’d always known on its head.

Focused him.

Gave him a greater purpose.

Love served as a powerful driving force.

But Charlotte was the whole reason.

For everything.

“Ah, my little darling.” he grinned, kissing the tip of her nose. “I got you in the end, didn’t I?”

She laughed, pushing her face into his chest.

Yeah, he’d gotten his perfect old lady into his property patch.

But it was far from the end for them.