Blade (Silver Shadows MC #1)

Chapter Thirteen

Blade

The clubhouse was quiet this morning, with only a few brothers lounging around. Sitting at the bar, I found myself re-evaluating every decision I’d made after returning from the dead.

I shouldn’t have given up.

I should have fought for us.

Instead, I walked away with my tail between my legs. Letting go of the one person who meant everything to me.

“Mornin’, brother,” Jack chirped, slapping me on the back as he sat down next to me.

I grumbled, “Morning.”

“Is Beck ok?”

I looked over at Jack. I didn’t ask him about what happened with Grant last night. We’d talk about that in church later.

My priority was Becca.

Did she have a nightmare?

Did she sleep at all?

Did she dream about that kiss?

Cause I fucking did. It’s all I’d thought about just running away from her last night.

The Mother Chapter was riding in today, and we had the run tomorrow. There would be an officer only meeting this afternoon before they got here.

“She was ok when I dropped her off last night. Wouldn’t tell me what happened.”

I could speculate, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions until I knew for sure.

“Hey, Blade.”

I turned toward Navigator, Nav for short. Our resident tech geek. When he prospected, someone made a comment saying they had never seen someone navigate the dark web the way he could and it just kind of stuck.

“What’s up, Nav?”

“Sheriff’s here.”

I looked at Jack and then back at Nav.

“You fix the cameras?”

“Yup,” he answered, then turned and went back to his office. A minute later, Archie, the prospect on gate duty, walked in, followed by the sheriff.

We had a mostly open-door policy with the sheriff. A lot of clubs hated all law enforcement. We didn’t have that option with the sheriff. He wasn’t dirty, and he wasn’t on our payroll, either, but he knew we skirted the line and did his best to keep us on the right side of it.

We didn’t tell him everything, though. And most of what we did tell him was after the fact.

“Morning, Sheriff, to what do we owe the pleasure?” I asked, walking over to the local law official.

“Cut the shit, Blade. You know why I’m here.”

“Sorry, man, I really don’t. It’s too early for us to have done anything yet.”

Jack sat quietly, facing us with his elbows resting on the bar as we waited for the sheriff to tell us why he was here.

“You wanna tell me why I have Grant Nicholson in the ICU and why he’s saying you beat the shit out of him?” he asked, with one eyebrow cocked like he knew I wouldn’t tell him the truth.

Of course, I wouldn’t.

I watched from the corner of my eye as Ghost strolled down the hall yelling.

“YO, KING, SHERIFF’S HERE!”

The sheriff and I eyed each other, waiting for my president to arrive.

“It is too fuckin’ early for this shit, Dec.”

Sheriff Declan O’Rourke looked over as King joined us, followed by Cash, our VP.

Yep, that’s right.

The sheriff was none other than the older brother to our president. Which was why the door was mostly open to him.

“I agree, but I have a man in the ICU ranting and raving about how Blade and the Silver Shadows beat the shit out of him all because he went out with a girl last night. Please tell me that isn’t true.”

The sheriff turned back to me and sighed. “Please tell me you can prove it wasn’t you. Otherwise, you’re tying my hands on this. I’ll have to take you in.”

I glanced over at King, waiting to see how my president wanted to handle this.

“He’s still alive? Shit, I guess whoever beat his ass didn’t know what they were doing.”

Jack snorted from his place at the bar. If there was one man in this club that knew what he was doing, it was Jack.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? I don’t need this shit, little brother.”

I guess we pissed off Dec.

He only pulled out the little brother card when he got mad.

Sighing, the sheriff asked, “What the hell happened and how much damage control do I have to do?”

“Calm down, big brother, we have it handled.” King stood toe to toe with his brother. Both men were a force to be reckoned with, and I knew if someone didn’t step in fast, they would come to blows. Both men were cursed, or blessed, depending on how anyone looked at it, with their hot Irish temper.

“Dec.” Jack quickly stepped forward to wedge between our president and his brother. “Grant went out last night with Willow’s granddaughter. She called me from outside the restaurant when he left her there.”

“I went and picked her up and took her home,” I swiftly added, waiting for the questions.

“If she called Jack, why did you pick her up?”

Turning to Jack, he asked, “And where did you go?”

That was when King stepped back in.

He always had our backs.

“Jack and the rest of the guys all stayed here.”

King cocked his eyebrow at the sheriff, the same way he did to me earlier, challenging him to say otherwise.

“We have video and a timestamp showing when Blade left and what time he came back. Just long enough to drive to the steakhouse, pick her up, and take her home.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the sheriff let out an exasperated sigh and said, “Please tell me you didn’t beat this guy to shit, because he went out on a date with a woman one of you has a thing for.”

At that, Cash stepped forward. “Give us a little credit, Sheriff. She’ll be here in a few minutes, and you can talk to her yourself.”

Letting out a long breath, Sheriff O’Rourke sat at the bar with his brother and waited.

I didn’t know Becca was coming to the clubhouse this morning.

She hadn’t told me.

“Hey, Cash, why’s she coming here?”

“Her and Rachel are going out shopping this morning. Rach forgot her purse, and they’re stopping by to grab it. I swear the woman would forget her head if it didn’t sit on her shoulders.”

“Excuse me?”

Shit, that was bad timing.

Cash looked over sheepishly at his old lady.

“Hey, Doll, didn’t see you come in!”

“Clearly.” Holding out her hand, she demanded, “Card.”

“Fuck,” Cash grumbled, pulling his wallet from his back pocket before handing it over to Rachel. “Please go easy on it.”

“You should have thought about that before.” Turning to Becca, she stressed, “I just have to grab my purse. I’ll be right back.” Then she ran down the hall, heading to their room.

King walked over to Becca and took her chin in his hand. He checked out the large bruise on her chin.

“How you doin’ this morning, sweetheart?”

“You know?” She fumed, glaring at me.

“I do. I need you to talk to the sheriff.”

“What, why?”

She looked around, noticing the sheriff for the first time, sitting at the bar.

“I didn’t go back inside the restaurant because I didn’t want to report it. I thought bikers and cops didn’t get along. Why did you call him?”

Taking her hand in mine, I informed, “We didn’t call him, babe. He came out here. Grant is in the hospital saying—”

Dec cut me off before I could say more.

“Blade, I need to hear it from her before you say anything more.” Dec strolled over from the bar. “Morning, we haven’t met. I am Sheriff Declan O’Rourke,” he introduced, holding out his hand.

Becca tentatively took it, looking back at King.

He knew what she asked. Nodding his head, he confirmed, “Yes, the Sheriff is my older brother.”

“Well, I didn’t see that coming.”

“Beck, is it?” Nodding her head, he continued, “I really need to get a statement from you.”

King, Cash, Jack, and I all sat with our backs to the bar.

She looked at us hesitantly.

“Can we speak in private?” she asked, looking back at the sheriff.

“Absolutely. King, can we use your office?” Dec inquired.

“Fuck no. You can use the church, though.”

King knew his brother would always protect him, the rest of us only so much and by association. His office could have incriminating documents, but church was strictly for meetings.

It also had a camera that included sound, which only the officers knew about. The sheriff led Becca into church, closing the doors just as Rachel came back to the bar.

“What’s going on?” Rachel asked, standing between Cash’s legs as he wrapped his arms around her middle.

“The sheriff is getting a statement from Beck about what happened last night.”

Rachel turned to Cash. “But she didn’t want to report it.”

“She has to, Doll. Grant’s in the hospital, and he’s accusing Blade of putting him there.”

“Shit,” Rachel whispered, her eyes trailing back to the double wooden doors that led into church.

“She tell you what happened?”

Rachel swung around, glaring at King.

“Yes.”

“Need to hear it,” King advised.

“No.”

King stood from his stool, towering over Rachel. “What did you say?”

“Did I stutter? I said no.”

Straightening her back to gather all of her five-foot four-inch frame, she crossed her arms over her chest and continued, “What Beck told me in confidence stays in the vault. It is her choice if she wants to tell you.”

“Rachel—”

“Got to stop you right there, Prez.” Cash growled.

King narrowed his eyes at Cash.

“My woman’s right. This isn’t about the club.” Cash held his hand up before King could say more. “She is giving her statement to Dec, and that will clear Blade. Anything beyond that is her business, and I will not make my old lady break that trust. You will understand one day when you have an old lady of your own.”

“Fuck that,” King hissed, falling back on the stool in defeat.

It wasn’t often someone got the better of King, and less so that it was a woman.

A little while later, the church doors opened, and Beck walked out, followed by the sheriff. They stopped in front of us, and Rachel reached out to wrap Becca in a hug.

“King, in about an hour I will be over at the steakhouse getting the footage from the parking lot.”

Shit, there’s a video.

I was so consumed with her last night I didn’t even think about the fact a fancy place like that would have cameras.

Dec was giving us an hour to get a hold of it before he took it in for evidence. That wouldn’t be an issue for Nav.

“Miss Washington, I will keep you updated on how things are going. Once I have that video, Grant Nicholson will be in cuffs. He won’t be getting out of the hospital for a bit, but I will handcuff him to the bed.”

King stood up, giving his brother a hug. “Thanks.”

“Next time, call me first.”

King nodded confirming he heard him.

Once the sheriff left, King started barking orders, “Get Nav on that video, now. I want to see it.”

Becca turned to me. “Why is Grant in the hospital?”

Before I could answer, King responded, “Club business, sweetheart.”

Turning away from me, she grabbed his arm and gave him a look I had only ever seen her use on her mother.

“I am not club business. This has nothing to do with you. I want you to stay out of it,” she lectured. “If I wanted any of you to know what happened, I would have told you myself.”

King hardened his look, clearly not affected by her outburst and explained to her, “The minute you called Jack, hiding in the shadows of that parking lot, terrified of going back inside to safety, you made it my business, little girl.”

“Little girl?” Becca sneered as her eyes narrowed. “Who beat the crap out of him?”

I reached over, taking her elbow. “Babe, we can’t tell you that.”

Suddenly, she realized the truth.

I picked her up even though she called Jack. My girl was always smart. She figured things out quick. She marched over and stood directly in front of Jack, who had been suspiciously quiet before now.

“Tell them,” she demanded, her fists on her hips. “Tell them what shape he was in when you found him!”

We all turned our eyes on Jack and waited. It was late last night when he got back. Jack told us it was done, and he would fill us in at church.

Sighing, Jack relayed what he hadn’t told us yet, “We found him at home, of all places. I think he honestly thought nothing would happen to him. Dumbass. When we got there, he was on his couch with a bag of ice on his dick, his face scratched to hell and his eye swollen shut.”

We all looked over at Becca. She stood there, fucking pride on her scowling face. Stomping back over to King, she shouted, “Does that sound like something a little girl would do?”

Without waiting for an answer, she did an about-face and bolted from the clubhouse, slamming the door on her way out.

Rachel and I looked at each other, smiling.

Pointing at the front door, I exclaimed loudly, “That is the fucking Becca I fell in love with!”

King, Cash, and Jack all stood there with their mouths open in disbelief as Rachel ran out the door to catch up with her friend.