Unlawfully Yours (Lawless MC #1)

32

Ray leaves the room, leaving Allie and I alone. I was sixteen when her dad was murdered, and I don’t remember it as well as Ray does, which is why I needed him here to help fill in the blanks.

All the anger I had when I first found out the truth of who she was faded the second realisation settled over her face and tears filled her beautiful eyes. I thought she was lying to me, hiding who she was and I hated it. I’ve been lied to and took for a fool one to many times, put my trust in the wrong people, and the thought that the woman I was falling for was doing exactly that, had white hot rage coursing through me. I thought she lied about not working for Grimes. As it turns out, she was just as in the dark as me.

“Does Grimes know who I am? Does he know I’m here?” she asks.

I sink down into the chair in front of her, resting a hand on her knee. “He was the one who told me who you were. I thought he was talking bullshit just to rile me up, but then it all made sense.”

“I can’t believe this…” she breathes out, burying her face in her hands. “God, my head is spinning.”

I squeeze her knee comfortingly. “It’s a lot to take in, baby. But just know that I’m here for you, okay?”

She looks up at me, her eyes glassy as she gives me a small smile.

“What did you mean earlier when you said I was a liar?” I ask.

“Oh yeah, right. I’d forgotten about that.” She straightens her spine. “A few weeks ago, you swore to me you didn’t kill Brad Levins.”

“And I told you the truth.” Where the fuck is this going?

“Then why does his body have an indentation in his temple made by a signet ring owned by your Sergeant-at-Arms?”

What the fuck?

“Allie, what are you talking about?”

“Vaughn’s ring? It has a snake on it, right? The shape of it is embedded into Brad’s skin like a brand. We got photos earlier, he was dead before he even entered the water. Vaughn killed him.”

I sit back in my chair and blow out a long breath.

That lying bastard.

“How could you lie to me like that?” she asks.

“I didn’t have anything to do with this, pix. We got hold of Levins, roughed him up a little to shake some information out of him, find out what The Cobras were up to. He didn’t know anything so I let him go. Venom didn’t like it, he wanted him dead but I told him to leave him alone. After you told me Levins was dead, I asked him and he swore it wasn’t him.” I lean forward, cupping her cheek, “I swear to you, baby, I didn’t give the order to kill him. Venom clearly acted on his own,” I explain. “I wouldn’t lie to you.”

She melts into my touch, her eyes fluttering closed as I bring my lips to hers.

“Please believe me,” I whisper against her lips.

She kisses me back. “I do, I’m sorry.” She pulls away. “Why would he want him dead anyway? Who was he to Vaughn?”

“I have no idea. He’s been pretending to work with The Cobras for a couple of weeks, infiltrating the club but Grimes found out what we were up to. He fed him false information he knew would get back to us and Grimes was waiting for us earlier. It was a set up.”

“Could Vaughn actually be working for The Cobras?”

I shake my head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“It’s a bit of a coincidence, don’t you think? Why kill Levins unless he knew something Vaughn didn’t want anyone else to know? Why would he ignore a direct order from you?”

I think on it a moment. “He has been acting strange lately. I was surprised when you mentioned seeing him at The Snake Pit, he never told me he was going that night.”

“So, if he has switched sides, isn’t it possible that Levins saw Vaughn with The Cobras? And then recognised him when you interrogated him? Wouldn’t Vaughn want to silence him to keep his relationship with Grimes a secret? What better way than to silence him permanently?”

My mind returns to the day at the garage, how reluctant Venom was to get in on the interrogation when in the past, he’s always been at my side, no questions asked. How Brad’s eyes flashed with recognition when he saw him. How Venom warned him to think carefully about what he said next.

Shit . Maybe Allie’s right.

You better watch your back, Lawson, might find a knife sticking out of it one of these days… Grimes’ words from outside the hospital that day ring through my mind.

Could Venom have turned on me? On the club?

A thought pops into my head. “Hold up. How do you know he has a ring with a snake on it?” I ask. She’s only seen him a couple of times. How could she possibly know that?

“I uh, I saw it at The Cobras’ club that night. Vaughn was there and he was wearing it when he…” she trails off, swallowing thickly like she’s said too much, her hand reaching up to scratch her throat.

Wait… “Was he the one who gave you the mark on your neck?” I can feel my body growing hotter as my heart thunders in my chest.

She slams her hand back down, her mouth opening and closing without a single sound coming out, and it’s the only answer I need.

“I’ll fucking kill him!” I roar, pushing off my chair so fast it scrapes across the floor and tips backwards.

“No!” Allie tugs at my arm, halting my movements. “Myles, don’t. Please .”

“That piece of shit hurt you,” I grit out, my body vibrating with rage as the image of a thick red mark around her neck invades my mind.

“I know you’re angry, but you need to be smart about this. Vaughn will get what’s coming to him, but not like this.”

“What do you suggest? Handing him in to the cops? You gonna march him to the station yourself?”

She reaches for my hands, taking them in both of hers. “No, because then I’d be implicating you too, and Jett and Killian… everyone . They won’t see it as someone acting alone, he’s your right-hand man, they’ll bring the whole club down along with him. Walker’s superiors are already watching out for criminal activity in the town, gang activity, they’d jump at the chance to make an example out of you and I don’t want that.”

“Says the woman who hates motorcycle clubs,” I say with a smirk.

She sighs. “Well, as of about half an hour ago, I’m part of one. I’m Lawless now too.”

“No, you’ve always been Lawless, you just didn’t know it.”

As much as I want to put a bullet in Venom’s head, knowing he’s sitting out there on the other side of that door as if he’s done nothing, I can’t ignore the plea in Allie’s eyes.

I trace her neck with my thumb. “He will pay for what he’s done. For what he did to you .”

“You don’t have to worry about me, I can handle myself just fine.”

I tuck a stray hair behind her ear. “Oh, I have no doubt. You’re the first person to have ever gone up against Venom, twice , and survived.”

“Well, if I end up at the bottom of a lake, you’ll know who the prime suspect is. Will you avenge me?”

I reach up and brush my thumb across her cheek with the barest of touches. “I’ll burn the world down to the fucking ground.” There’s not a truer word I’ve ever spoken.

“I’ll hold you to that.” She smiles up at me, and fuck if she isn’t the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.

I back her up against the table, lifting her by the knees and sitting her on the edge as I claim her mouth, slipping my tongue between her lips to get a taste of her.

“One day,” I begin, hooking my finger around the metal handcuffs attached to her belt, “I’m gonna get you into these handcuffs, tie you to my bed, and I’m gonna fuck you until you can’t remember you’re own name, pixie.”

She hums and the sound goes straight to my cock. “I’m looking forward to it.”

We kiss some more, our mouths growing hungrier for each other by the second, but all too soon she’s peeling herself away from me, hopping off the table. “I have to get back to work.”

I groan. “Damn, and I was just getting started.”

“It’ll have to wait. You’re a big boy, I’m sure you can manage,” she giggles, her eyes finding me over her shoulder as she disappears out the door.

I can’t bring myself to so much as look in Venom’s direction as I leave the Chapel because I know as soon as I do, I’ll break the vow I made to Allie to not put a bullet between his eyes.

“Is it true, Prez? About Allie?” Kill asks.

“Yeah. She’s Tom Strong’s daughter and as of now she’s one of us.”

Venom scoffs. He’s sat on one of the bar stools. “That jumped-up prissy little bitch will never be one of us.”

“Don’t you fucking dare talk about her like that,” I snap.

“You gonna make her your old lady?” He barks out a laugh. “You’ll be buried in her pussy, spilling all our secrets and she’ll frog march you down to the station in cuffs before her cunt has time to dry.”

I march across the room and drag him to his feet by his jacket. “One more word out of your goddamn mouth and I’ll rip your fucking tongue out. Far as I’m concerned, she is my old lady and you will treat her with some goddamn respect.”

“You’re our fucking leader, Myles. You should be setting an example not sleeping with the enemy, because that’s what she is. Where’s your loyalty to the club? To us ?”

I’d laugh if I wasn’t so fucking angry. “You’re in no position to talk to me about loyalty.”

He recoils. “The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, I think you know.” Something passes between us and the room falls deathly silent as Venom and I stare at one another. He can take whatever meaning he wants from my words, but he knows as well as I do, his loyalty no longer lies with Lawless.

I shove him away from me. “Get out of my sight.”

“Fuck this!” he booms before storming towards the door. It bangs back on its hinges against the wall, and a minute later, the rumble of his bike vibrates through the room as he tears off out of the complex.

“What was that all about?” Jett asks.

I turn to find half a dozen sets of stunned and confused eyes on me. “We all need to have a little chat about Venom, but what I have to say goes no further and under no circumstances gets back to him. Understood?”

They all nod as I usher them into the Chapel. We have a lot to discuss, and I need my guys on my side. I’m not about to let one weak link destroy everything my father and his three best friends built all those years ago.

I won’t let him destroy my club.