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

Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

MARIAH

Chase was acting… off. He’d been all sweet after Trick tried to hurt me. Let me use his shower to wash off any remnants of Trick touching me and made sure I was okay after I laid down to sleep. He was nice when we woke up too, teasing me about the books I read and being playful. But after he went to church with his crew, he came back in a mood and the nice Chase was gone again. He wasn’t outwardly rude. He took me back to my place to pick up some things and get ready for work, and stuck around after dropping me off to watch over me. But he was back to barely looking at me and all his responses were short and to the point. No more chatting, no more playful banter. Nothing.

“How’d your date go?” Regina asked. We’d been busy since I arrived at work with weekend club meetings and such, and hadn’t had time to catch up before now. I didn’t want to explain everything that happened, it would only freak her out, but I wasn’t going to ignore her either.

“Awful. You were right. He was putting on a show. He wanted me to put out before we even went out and was pissed when I told him no.”

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “It’s so hard to find a decent man nowadays. They all want the milk for free without putting any effort into it.”

My gaze flicked to Chase. He was hard to read, but he hadn’t once mentioned doing anything more with each other. Even last night, when I slept next to him in his bed, he didn’t touch me. He only cared about protecting me. If he stayed that guy who softly apologized when I was upset and held my hands so sweetly in his, I’d think maybe he was one of the good ones. But his constant mood changes were giving me whiplash. And I was starting to regret agreeing to let him guard me for who knows how long until he dealt with Trick.

The rest of my shift passed without issue or any visit from Trick. I found myself eyeing the silent alarm sometimes, wondering if it really did work, but Trick never showed up and Chase never left. And when the day was over, he met me outside, his hands shoved into his pockets.

“I’ll shadow you back to the clubhouse. We can drop off your stuff before you go hang out with Sam. Still good for that?”

“Like I have much of a choice,” I grumbled to myself. He went over the plan with me that morning. He would take me to work, would bring me to one of the girls’ places to hang out, and then he would pick me up on his lunch break and bring me back to the clubhouse to sleep. He said it was the best way he could figure out right now to keep me safe. And while I missed my bed and my privacy, I wasn’t stupid. I heard Trick’s warning. He was targeting me to get to Chase.

I was starting to regret going to that party to thank Lacey in person.

I wasn’t willing to leave my car behind, so after we stopped at my place that morning, I put my stuff in my car and Chase drove behind me. He did the same thing on the way to Sam’s. I was closer with Lacey, but Lacey was working and I wasn’t going to hang out at a strip club all night until Chase took me home.

When we pulled up out front, Sam was on the porch with a lanky man with long brown hair pulled back in a bun. She waved at me, smiling brightly, and I felt myself relax a little. Maybe hanging out with a friend was a good idea. It’d be a nice distraction.

I thought Chase would leave right away, but he called me over to him before I went to join Sam. I backtracked, shooting him a questioning look.

“I need you not to talk to Sam about Trick. I don’t want her spilling to Clink about my business. Alright?”

My mood soured even more. Now I had to filter myself around my friends because of him? This was getting ridiculous .

“If you’re so worried about it, why even bring me here? You could’ve just locked me in your room like a toddler,” I snapped.

In the last few weeks, if I would’ve argued with him, he always got irritated with me and lashed out with something cruel to say about how I didn’t belong. I prepared myself for something similar, especially after he’d been so cold all day, so it took me off guard when a smile tugged at his lips and he shook his head.

“I’m not that stupid. I’ve seen what happens to women when they’re locked in a small space. I’ll come back to a pissed off female ready to shred me to pieces. I’m not saying you can’t talk to her. Just leave out the part about Trick and his crew. I’m handling it. She doesn’t need to know. Think of it as club business, but between you and me. Please, Mariah. Just give me a chance to fix this.”

There it was again. The nice guy routine that had been stubbornly absent all day. It irritated me that he could flip like that so easily. I wanted to call him out on it, but his eyes kept flicking down the street, like he had somewhere better to be. Which, technically, he did. He had to work. Pursing my lips, I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Fine. I’ll do it. But we’re talking about this later. You’re giving me whiplash, Chase. I don’t know which version of you I’m going to be talking to at a moment’s notice. It’s getting exhausting.”

A flicker of a grimace flashed across his face, but he didn’t stick around long enough to explain himself. He just nodded and sped off, leaving me standing on the sidewalk staring after him like an idiot.

With a frustrated growl, I spun around and knocked directly into Sam, almost sending us both to the ground. She yelped, surprised, and we had to latch onto each other to stay upright.

“Holy crap, Sam. Way to sneak up on a person.”

She grimaced and huffed out a laugh. “Sorry. It looked like you two were arguing. Is he still being an ass to you?”

She’d seen how he acted around me before now, and she knew we didn’t get along. It was going to get hard to explain why we were suddenly hanging out all the time without bringing up Trick. Unless…

“Not technically. We hooked up, and now he’s getting all possessive and annoying. ”

Not a complete lie. We did hook up, and he was annoying. Just the P word was wrong. Protective, not possessive. Though, the results were similar enough.

Her eyebrows flew up, and her mouth fell open. “How’d that happen?”

“Drunken mistake,” I answered blandly. “Can we order food? I’m hungry.”

She waved away my pout, leading me towards the house. “Don’t worry about that. Tyson always feeds me when he comes to visit. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

After introductions with her long-time friend, she led the way inside. I’d been here before, but we didn’t normally stick around. Most of the time, whenever I came over, we hung out at Lacey’s, since she had a baby to care for. And we usually didn’t stay long because no one wanted to be trapped in the house.

Tyson got to work on dinner and gave me the salad to prep when I offered to help. He shot Sam an amused look when she scowled at him, and when I raised an eyebrow, he chuckled.

“She’s a terror in the kitchen. I don’t trust her to help me. Clink makes all her meals.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Clink can cook?”

They both laughed. Of all the club members, Clink was the last person I expected to be able to cook. He was a goofball the few times I met him. Easily distracted. I kind of figured if he was let loose in a kitchen, he’d burn the place down.

“So tell me more about this drunken mistake. How’d it happen?”

Since the only thing Chase told me was not to bring up Trick and his crew, I figured I was okay to stick to the truth. I told her how Chase was on his high horse again, ranting at me about how I didn’t belong, and how we ended up pressed against each other during the argument. Which, now that I was sober, I knew was definitely where we went wrong. I couldn’t even remember half of what he said that night. I was too busy looking at his mouth to remember what came out of it.

“So you hooked up, woke up, and he decided to claim you?” she snickered, taking the plate from Tyson when he offered it .

“Sort of? He still tried to push me away for a while after. He thinks because I’m a librarian, I’m too soft to be around you guys.”

We moved to the table to eat, and Tyson handed out sodas. He was a recovering addict and sponsor for NA, so he didn’t touch alcohol. He didn't want to cloud his judgment and risk relapse. I didn’t mind skipping out on alcohol. I only ever drank when I went out with my friends. And maybe a glass of wine in the bathtub if I had a long week.

“He’s not wrong to be worried,” Tyson said smoothly. “They are dangerous. The only reason I interact with them at all is because of Sam. She refused to listen to reason and steer clear.”

She sighed, like this was a conversation she’d had before. “They’re loyal, Ty. Something my family never was. And they keep all the bad stuff away from me. We rarely even go to the clubhouse anymore, because Riley’s place is sweetbutt free while still being a fun place to hang out.”

That made me frown. If they were so loyal, why was Chase going so far out of his way to keep his crew out of his issues with Trick. Trick didn’t have a problem bringing his crew into it. Was it a pride thing? Was Chase too stubborn to admit he needed help? How far would he go before he finally caved? And why the hell did I care so much? We weren’t together. He was protecting me, but that didn’t make us an item. And as much as I’d liked that idea before I got to know him, his constantly shifting attitude was a heavy deterrent. I didn’t want that. Unless he stopped acting like a jerk, I was going to steer clear of him the minute this Trick issue was dealt with.