Wrath (Dirty Soul MC: Long Beach #2)

Chapter 19

I sit on my deck and watch Peyton lying in the sun with my sister. They’re just a few yards in front of me so I know they’re safe, and they look so happy. Despite what being back here must be dragging up for her, Eden keeps breaking into hysterical fits of laughter. It gives me hope that she can move on from what happened, I wanna believe that we all can.

It’s been over twenty-four hours since I heard anything from Wrath. I know it’s a long drive but he must have got to the place by now, even if he didn’t spend a night at our Colorado charter.

“I’m heading back to my place for a shower,” Eden announces as she steps back toward the chair beside me and lifts up her bag.

“You comin’ back for dinner, later?” I ask.

“No, you can’t have me here every night of the week playing the third wheel.” She smiles as Peyton joins us. My girl’s wearing that blue bikini with the frills on that drives me wild, and I can’t help tilting my head and looking for any notable changes in her figure.

“Well, you know you're always welcome,” she reminds Eden, who places a kiss on both our cheeks and heads back off toward the clubhouse.

“It’s good to hear her laughing,” I admit as Peyton sits in the chair beside me and lifts her head up toward the sun. It’s bugging the fuck outta me that she still hasn’t told me she’s pregnant, it also makes me certain that she’s feeling unsure about it.

“I thought maybe we could eat out tonight, there's that new steak house that's opened a few miles away on the front” She suggests, sliding her sunshades down from her hair to cover her eyes.

“You feelin’ like you could eat a steak?” I question her. I’ve been questioning everything she’s said or done these past two days.

“Is that a crime?” She slides her shades down her nose as she turns her head toward me.

“No, just me tryin’ to give you what ya need. You know that’s what I’m always gonna do, right?” I take the opportunity to assure her, still waiting for her to mention the fact she’s carrying my goddamn child.

“Yeah, and it’s real sweet.” She smiles cutely before getting back to enjoying the sun. It infuriates me so much I have to get up and go inside.

“Where are you going?” She asks five minutes later when I step back out on the deck wearing my jeans and sliding into my cut.

“I got shit to do.” I shake my head, taking a seat so I can lace up my boots.

“Raze, you said you were taking today off.” She suddenly looks upset and I swear, if she wasn't in such a delicate condition, I’d shake the girl by her shoulders and try and make some sense out of what’s going on here.

“Yeah, well, somethin’ came up. I can’t be takin’ days off while there's so much goin’ on around here.” I stand back up and step onto the sand.

“There's always gonna be something going on around here.” Peyton gets up too, “It’s not good for you to stress about the club all the time, you need to unwind.” I can feel myself getting more and more frustrated. I don’t know what hurts more, the fact she could be doubting that our relationship could handle us having a kid or the fact she might not want it. When I asked her to marry me last week she was so happy, what the fuck is holding her back from telling me she’s pregnant?

“Raze, what’s wrong with you? You’ve been off with me since we got back from New Mexico. I know your dad hur–”

“When were you gonna tell me?” I interrupt, unable to keep it in a second longer.

“Tell you about what?” She stares at me like she’s the one who’s fuckin’ confused.

“About the baby, we're havin’.” I stare back at her, trying my best not to explode.

“The baby we’re having?” The little giggle she makes does nothing to calm me down and when I take the test out my cut and hold it up in front of her, her expression suddenly changes.

“Oh.” She bites her lip, looking real fuckin’ guilty, and so she fuckin’ should, she knows how I feel about secrets, and ones that involve babies that are mine are big fuckin’ secrets. “Raze, I think you’ve got the wrong idea.” She takes the stick from my hand and places it down on the chair. “That test isn’t mine,” she assures me.

“‘Course, it’s fuckin’ yours, it was in our bathroom trash.”

“Raze, don’t you think that if it was mine, I would have told you by now?” She stares back at me as if I’m crazy.

“I don’t know what I’ve been thinkin’.” I shake my head suddenly feeling exhausted. I haven’t slept for days.

“Well, for the record, if it was mine, you’d be the first to know about it.” She steps up to me and wraps her arms around my neck. Then she gets me feeling all disappointed that it isn’t when she goes to kiss me.

“Wait.” I pull my head back. “If it ain’t yours, whose is it?” I look down at her suspiciously.

“I can’t tell you that.” She does that lip-biting thing again, and now that I know she’s not growing my child inside her, there’s nothing stopping me slamming her against the wall and fuckin’ the answer outta her.

“Sure ya can. You can tell me anythin’.” I make that point very fuckin’ clear, I never wanna feel the way I have the past few days, ever again.

“Raze, don’t do this, it’s not my business to tell. I’m sure once she’s come to terms with it–”

“It’s Eden, ain’t it?” I slide my hand over her face, “She’s knocked up by that asshole fiancé. This is gonna complicate things.” I could really do without this stress right now. I need Wrath to have his head in the game and this is gonna make him lose it.

“Relax, it’s not Eden,” Peyton assures me, and my shoulders sag as I breathe out a long sigh of relief.

“So, whose the hell is it?” I’m still invested, even if it doesn’t involve the two most important people in my life.

“You have to promise not to tell anyone.” Peyton sighs in defeat. She gives in far too easily these days.

“You got my word.” I take her hand in mine and kiss her knuckles.

“It’s Alicia.” She smiles up at me sadly.

“Griller’s?” I check, scrubbing my face with my hand and wondering how Saul’s gonna take this.

“Yep, and she’s feeling really torn about it. I don’t know how to help her.” My girl looks worried, so I grab her shoulders and drag her closer.

“She’ll be fine, she’s got you, ain’t she?” Peyton’s a good friend, I’ve seen that even more clearly since Eden’s been here.

“She’s having a dead man's baby, Raze. That's a lot to deal with, she’s not even sure if she’s gonna keep it,” she tells me.

“You can help her, by lettin’ her know that no matter what she decides, everyone here is gonna take care of her.” I rest my chin on the top of her head and hold her in my arms.

“Raze?” She pulls away so she can look up at me. “What would you have thought if the test was mine?” Her eyes narrow curiously.

“I’d have thought I was the luckiest guy in the whole world,” I admit, “Now, cover up what’s mine, and let’s go get a drink. After that, I fuckin’ need one.” I slap her ass and make her giggle before she rushes inside to grab herself a shirt. Then I look down at the positive test that’s still on the chair and smile to myself because I just decided that next time I see one, I’m making sure that it belongs to my old lady.

There’s a good vibe at the club when we get there, even Polly seems cheerful as she wipes over the bar. When I see Alicia sitting at one of the tables talking to her brother, I wonder if she’s spoken to him about her situation now that she’s back from visiting their folks.

“I thought you were havin’ the day off?” Ruckus looks surprised to see me.

“Yeah, well, I'm not very good at the whole relaxation thing. You heard from Wrath?” I called a meeting yesterday to bring everyone up to speed with our plan. I don’t know what this Anita woman is gonna tell him, but I’m hoping it can give us some clue on how to push his buttons. I’m sick and tired of constantly looking over my shoulder.

“Not a thing, I don’t even think he stopped off in Colorado. Tawk spoke to Troj yesterday and he never mentioned anythin’ about seeing him,” Ruck informs me.

It doesn't surprise me when Wrath left here the other day he wasn’t in the mood for dealing with people. Half the reason he wanted to make the trip was so he could have some time to himself.

“Prez.” Dev’s younger brother, Corey tips his chin at me as he joins us at the bar.

“Your brother know you're here?” Ruckus spins the cap, the kids wearing, so the peak’s at the front.

“I’m allowed to hang out.”

“Oh, so you a big boy now?” Ruckus teases while Corey shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

“Raze, if it’s possible, I really wanna talk to you. I know that for some time you’ve all seen me as a ki–”

“What the fuck?” Saul’s voice drags my attention away from him, and when I turn my head and see Wrath standing by the door with a middle-aged woman beside him, I pray to God she ain’t who I think she is.

“Anita, this is Raze, he’s the Long Beach president.” My VP looks nervous as he moves the petrified woman closer to me, and the huge, friendly smile she gives me takes me by surprise. It appears that this woman is here of her own free will.

“Hello, it’s lovely to meet you.” Her white-gloved hand reaches out for mine.

“Corey, why don’t ya see this nice lady into my office?” I instruct, keeping my eyes on Wrath and letting him know I ain’t happy.

“Follow me.” Corey takes Anita and leads her through while myself and the rest of the club wait for Wrath to give us some kinda explanation.

“Why are ya lookin’ at me like I just strangled a puppy?” he asks.

“Because ya just stole a crazy person and brought her to our clubhouse!” Ruckus beats me to the answer.

“She’s not that kinda crazy.” Wrath tries making this sound like it ain’t a big deal. “I had to do somethin’, the woman was livin’ on her nerves in that place, she’s convinced that Cliff’s watchin’ her somehow. I figured if he was, knowin’ that we had her here would ruffle his feathers.” He smiles as if he’s pleased with himself.

“You're gonna get arrested for this.” I shake my head.

“She knows stuff, Raze, I can tell, and there was no way she was gonna talk to me while she was in there. She’s paranoid as hell.”

“Were ya seen?” I check, thinking of all the ways this could come back and bite us.

“I spent some time speaking to the woman on reception when I first arrived, I checked the place for CCTV on my way in, and out, and I couldn’t see anythin’,” he assures me.

“Hang on, you’re sayin’ there’s no CCTV at a mental hospital?” Saul steps over to intervene, looking unconvinced.

“That's the strangest part of all this, Forestbank ain’t like any hospital I’ve ever been to. It’s some huge luxury mansion split into apartments, whoever’s been keepin’ Anita Carter there has been keeping her damn fuckin’ well.” He raises one of his eyebrows.

“We need to speak to her, and you are gonna take full responsibility for makin’ sure she feels safe here.” I point my finger at him.

“Where’s Eden?” he asks, looking around the barroom as if he was expecting to find her here.

“You can deal with her later, right now you're comin’ with me.” I lead Wrath toward my office, stopping to instruct Polly to make up one of the rooms at the motel for our new guest.

We both enter the room and find Anita leaning forward and staring at the Newton’s cradle on my desk. Her eyes follow the balls as they swing and she giggles with excitement like a child.

“Anita.” I approach her with caution, taking a seat in my chair on the opposite side of the desk.

“Yes, Mr President.” She sits up straight and instantly turns serious, and the look I throw at Wrath should tell him how ridiculous I think this is.

“I know it’s gonna be hard, but I really need you to tell me everythin’ ya know about Cliff Adams.” I’m hoping to make this as quick as possible, but as I watch her eyes drop to the balls again, I see there's no excitement or fascination inside them anymore.

“I loved him once.” She shows a faint trace of a smile.

“And he loved you?” I question, thinking back to what Vex told me. Way he told the story, Cliff was obsessed with this woman.

“No, Cliff doesn’t love anyone, people to him are just possessions.” She uses her finger to set the balls swinging again.

“How did you end up at Forest Bank?” I lean forward and cross my hands on my desk.

“Richie took me there, he didn’t want to, it was a very hard thing for him to do, but it was the right choice.” She whispers, as her pupils move back and forth with the balls. “He knows what I did, he pretends that he doesn’t, but he’s not stupid. I guess he needed to protect me.” The tiny laugh she makes sounds sad.

“Protect you from who, Cliff?” I glance up at Wrath and see he’s every bit as intrigued as I am.

“No! Richie doesn’t know about Cliff, he can never know about Cliff.” She shakes her head sternly. “What I meant was that he was protecting me from myself.” Her eyes slowly build with tears as they fix on one spot.

“Anita, Cliff’s really dangerous, we need to find him. Do you know how we can do that?” I know she must be tired and confused, but we have to get her talking.

“I had to kill him, he was hurting those women and he wouldn’t have stopped.” She shakes her head and frowns as if her memories are catching up with her. “Richie knew too, and he knew what I did. He made it go away.” I get a feeling we're not talking about Cliff anymore. “He’s a good boy. He visits me every other Sunday.” She smiles proudly then looks up at me with wide, bright eyes. “I need to call him and tell him where I am, if the staff call him and tell him I’ve left he’ll be worried. Here…” She opens her purse and digs around, pulling out an old, worn pocketbook and sliding a picture from under the plastic.

“I keep his number on the back of this because I tend to forget things. People, places I’ve been. I once forgot I’d left the bathtub running.” She laughs at herself before her face turns serious. “I never want to forget about him.” She looks dreamily at the photo in her hand. “It’s a special number, I’m only to use it for emergencies.” She smiles over her shoulder at Wrath before she hands it to him. “Richie is very busy with his work and he’s smart. He knows nothing about Cliff Adams or this club, and he mustn’t. He’s been through too much already.” I see the guilt she’s holding onto as she lowers her eyes onto my desk.

“Emmm, Raze, can I speak to you outside for a minute?” I look up from her toward my VP when he speaks, and don’t like the worried stare he’s givin’ me.

“Wait here, I’ll have someone bring ya some food,” I assure the woman, who now seems as bright and cheery as she was when she arrived. Not even Sinner and Saint can switch it up that fast.

“That's very kind.” She nods her head at me before I follow Wrath out the door.

“You're wrong, she is that kinda crazy,” I scold him after I shut her inside my office.

“We got a fuckin’ problem, boss.” Aaron ignores my question and that worried look on his face seems to have gotten worse.

“What kinda problem?”

He closes his eyes as he hands over the photo in his hand and when I look down at it I almost fuckin’ choke.

“That’s…”

“I know who it fuckin’ is!” Wrath drops his head into his hand.

“You need to call Colorado,” I tell him, looking back down at the picture at the sharp, cold eyes that stare back up at me. Sharp, cold eyes that belong to one of our club brothers. “Good luck telling Grimm that ya just busted out his mother.” I tap him firmly on the shoulder and go to get myself a fuckin’ drink.