Devil’s Vengeance (Devil’s Disciples MC #6)

Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

MARIAH

I kind of expected to wake up alone. Even fantastic sex wasn’t enough to get Chase’s head out of his ass. It was disappointing, but I wasn’t going to get all worked up over it. One night did not a relationship make. Instead of wallowing, I ordered a rideshare and got dressed, preparing myself mentally for the walk of shame. I might not have spent the night in Chase’s bed, but it was probably obvious I didn't go to bed alone. I probably should’ve taken the prospect up on his offer of a ride home.

Thankfully, the clubhouse was quiet when I came downstairs. And I definitely wasn’t the only one sneaking out in the morning. A few of the sweetbutts I’d met the night before looked disheveled as they headed for the door, smirking at me conspiratorially when I fell in step with them.

“You look like you had fun last night,” a sweetbutt named Anika teased, bumping her hip against mine.

“Really? With who?” Another, Harmoni, asked curiously. “Was it Bear? I thought I saw you two chatting at one point.”

Anika shook her head, answering before I could. “No. Aero told me she and Chase were all over each other in the hallway.”

Harmoni’s brows shot up, surprised. “Wait. Seriously?”

I frowned, looking between them. “What?”

Anika shrugged. “He’s notoriously uninterested in hookups. Aside from his initiation night, he hasn’t touched a single one of us. The First Lady said something about him having too much respect for women, but I don’t know. I honestly thought he might be gay or something.”

Well, after last night, I could definitely say that wasn’t it. Still, it made me curious. “Do all the guys sleep around with sweetbutts except for him?”

“All but the ones with claims,” Harmoni agreed with a bob of her head. “Some have preferences and favorites, but that doesn’t mean they won’t look elsewhere if their favorites aren’t around.”

Huh. That was… interesting. And despite me telling myself not to overthink it, I couldn’t help getting my hopes up about Chase. Somehow, I managed to get his attention enough for us to end up in bed together, something none of the other sweetbutts could do. Did that mean we had a shot? Or was it just one drunken night?

I probably needed to do some deep thinking later on about why I cared so much. The crush came from the hero worship after he saved me, but he was obviously not that guy now. And I wasn’t going to put up with his attitude just because of a crush.

My phone beeped, alerting me of my rideshare approaching. It parked across the street, and the man driving looked uncomfortable getting any closer. I didn’t judge them for that. I was uncomfortable too when I first showed up. Now that I knew them a little better, they weren’t so scary. Dangerous, sure. I wasn’t that na?ve. But I wasn’t afraid they were going to kidnap me and sell me, and no one even made an attempt to sneak into my room. They had plenty of women available to keep them happy.

“That’s my ride,” I told the others, waving my hand toward the car.

“Will we see you again? I’m going to read that book you recommended and if it’s any good, I’ll want more recs,” Anika demanded.

Laughing, I nodded. “I’ll be back. Lacey promised to teach me some self defense. And if you’re in a hurry, you can always find me at the library. That’s where I work.”

Harmoni spluttered, eyes wide. “Holy shit. Do not tell any of the guys that unless you want to be hounded at every damn party. I don’t even want to guess how many of them would salivate over the hot librarian kink.”

My gaze flicked back to the clubhouse for a second. Was Chase one of them?

I barely got into work the next day before Chase showed up. And purposely ignored me. Seriously, I wasn’t expecting a marriage proposal, but was it so wrong to say hello? I’d even take a chin jut of recognition. But he walked past me like he didn’t see me and went straight to the computers, picking one on the end and doing his usual glaring thing whenever anyone got too close.

It felt strange that he didn’t wear his cut whenever he was here. He wore it at the clubhouse. He wore it the night we met. But never here. Why? Did he do something during the day that required him to play like he was an average guy? I didn't think any of the Devil’s Disciples worked normal jobs. Or if they did, they were probably a front for something else. I didn’t know what Chase did, aside from him being in the crew, and I doubted he’d answer if I asked. Still, I was curious, and while I was considering my options, I guess I stared too long. He must’ve felt it, because he looked up and narrowed his eyes at me until I felt self conscious enough to look away.

We did the same song and dance for about a week. He showed up bright and early, stayed an hour or two, then left without a word. Always without acknowledging me or even looking my way. I wanted to take offense, but that didn’t seem fair. I might have had a little hero worship after our traumatic evening together, and I might’ve wished it’d go somewhere, but he obviously wasn’t interested and I wasn’t the type of woman to wait around for him to change his mind. So I was going to stow the stupid crush and move on. Maybe if I met someone, I’d stop thinking about him so much.

“Doing anything fun this weekend?” Regina asked as I packed up my things. It was her turn to work late, while I got to sneak out early. We closed at eight, but Sam contacted me the night before about a girls’ night with some of her friends. Lacey was going too, and I enjoyed spending time with them, so I accepted. Since my bestie Marisol moved to Seattle for work, I didn’t go out as much as I used to, and I missed it. It would be nice to make some new friends .

“Girls’ night,” I answered with a shrug. “A friend is introducing me to her friends. That kind of thing.”

“That sounds nice,” she said with a smile. “It’s hard to make new friends in such a small town. I’m lucky to have Greta and Judith. We’ve been friends since we were little. I meet with them every weekend.”

I knew all about Regina’s friends. Greta and Judith were part of the book club. They were older than most of the other members, but still giggled like school girls whenever discussing the smutty scenes. Regina didn’t read smut, she was more of a regency romance kind of woman, but she did chat with her friends when the club was through. They were a tight-knit group, and I was glad she had them. It was surprisingly lonely sometimes in our small town.

Bolstering myself, I waved goodbye to Regina and headed out. Sam sent me an address to meet her at her place so we could all head out together. I went home long enough to get ready for the night, dealt with another overbearing phone call from my mom, and headed out to the other side of town. Close to the clubhouse, but not too close. I wondered for a minute if we’d have girls’ night at the clubhouse itself, but Sam didn’t mention it. If that was the plan, I probably would’ve headed straight there.

Instead, I drove into a quiet neighborhood that I automatically knew belonged to the crew just from the sheer amount of bikes parked in driveways and along the street. Sam’s place was on the corner, Spanish style, like the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. Except the one at the end. That one was massive, with more of a French style, and more than half the bikes on the street congregated in front of that one.

“That’s Riley and Croy’s place,” Sam said, making me jump.

“Jesus. You scared me.”

She grinned, giving me that same unrepentant look she’d given her old man the other night. I got the feeling she was something of a troublemaker. Which made sense, considering the stories I heard the other night about her old man. He was a wild one, and Sam had to match his energy to keep up with him. She wasn’t as bad as the stories about someone named Allie, who I hadn’t met yet, and I heard Riley was right up there with her, but they supposedly butted heads with the bikers a lot instead of pulling pranks or anything like that .

“So I forgot to mention. You’ll meet Riley tonight. She’s the First Lady. Since she’s coming along, we’ll have a few guards with us. I hope you’re okay with that.

I shrugged. “Protection that will stay in the background and not get in the way? Sounds like a deal to me.”

Sam’s smile widened. “Ah. The guys are going to like you. Riley and Allie argue almost constantly about their security. They only started agreeing when Croy made one of the guys designated driver so they could have fun without worrying about someone missing out.”

That was a nice perk too. Honestly, I liked the idea of security. I hadn’t gone out like this since I was taken, and I could admit I was a little nervous. I probably would’ve only had one drink just to keep my head on straight and watched over the others. I’d already been planning on volunteering to be a designated driver. With a few crew members there to watch over us, I felt a lot safer.

“Come on. We’ll head over to Riley’s and then get out of here. I’ve had a long week and I’m looking forward to a break.” She beckoned me and together we walked down the block to the massive house at the end. Lacey joined us, as well as someone named Quinn who I was introduced to. They walked into Riley’s place without knocking and all of them cringed when they heard shouting coming from upstairs.

My brow furrowed. “Is everything alright?”

Lacey rolled her eyes. “Yep. That’s normal for those two. They’re smitten and happy one minute, and screaming at each other the next. It’s exhausting.”

Quinn frowned, putting a hand on the little swell of her belly. She was pregnant, a few weeks ahead of Lacey. “They’d gotten a lot better since moving here. I wonder what’s wrong.”

“I said no, Croy!” A woman with light brown hair and a determined expression stomped down the stairs, ignoring the growls of the man behind her. She wasn’t trying to outrun him, she didn't look scared, but she did look pissed off and unwilling to deal with him anymore.

“Riley!”

“I’m not taking extra security. I compromised enough with two. I’m not a prisoner, and I’m not someone famous enough to warrant what you want. I don’t need bodyguards. We’re leaving, and if I find out you sent more than those two, you’ll be sleeping on the couch!”

The final woman joining us, Allie, who had already been at Riley’s house, snorted, rolling her lips between her teeth when the angry man whipped his head around to glare at her. He looked close to losing it and when his furious gaze landed on me and I saw the patch on his chest, I felt my blood turn icy cold. The president of the Devil’s Disciples was standing less than a hundred feet from our little group. And all his angry attention was now on me.