Obsession (Sons of Judah MC Book 2) (6 page)

Chapter Six

Marco had known that trouble would come, but he wasn’t sure of the direction. What faced him now was more bizarre than anything he ever experienced before. He stared at Brandon and Simon, as they paced the floor in the office.

“All seven men are in jail?” he questioned again.

“They were waiting for us. The moment our men stepped inside the warehouse, they called the police, and they were hauled away for attempted theft. Shit. How could I not have seen this?” said Brandon.

Marco resisted the urge to tell him that he’d warned him against such foolhardy actions. If Brandon used his common sense, he would have known that the Romans were prepared for trouble. Perhaps they even hoped that the Sons of Judah would do something so stupid. Basically, they played right in the hands of their enemies. Seven men in jail was a big blow to the club. Not only did they lose face, but they also would suffer a lot in the future if the men didn’t come out soon.

“What the hell are we going to do?” he asked.

“Our first priority has to be to get the men out of the jail,” said Simon.

“That’s the easy part. The hard part is recovering the respect we’ve lost. Those bastards. They bloody ambushed us. First, they steal stuff from our warehouse, and then they send our men to jail. This is crazy, insane.”

It was real, and if Brandon had thought about it beforehand, this wouldn’t have happened. Marco bit his lips in an attempt to not say anything.  He was more than disappointed with the man’s crazy schemes. He wasn’t acting rational. Sure, they never had such trouble before, and Brandon didn’t have to deal with such a situation, but Marco had expected more from a guy who led the entire club. Perhaps he wasn’t the man Marco wanted him to be. Now the bad deed was done, and they would all have to pay the consequences of it.

“What is the plan?” he asked.

“We’re going to hit those bastards again, and this time they won’t be so smart. We’re going to do some serious damage.” Brandon banged his hand on the table. “I want to teach them a lesson they won’t forget in a hurry.”

“That would be silly,” he said. Marco was at the end of his patience. “We have already acted recklessly and look where it landed us. Seven men are in jail and right now we should be thinking about getting them out.”

Simon raised his hand, but Brandon beat him to it. “Don’t talk to me like that. I am still the boss of this club. Do you think I haven’t taken measures to get these men out? Ned will be here soon. He’ll find a way to get them out of this mess.”

Marco stood. “Ned?”

He didn’t really want to be here if the other guy was headed this way. There was an awful lot of friction between him and Ned, and he didn’t want that to adversely affect the prospects of those men who were paying the price for Brandon’s stupid plan. “What’s wrong with you?” asked Simon.”

“I should go,” he said. “Just remembered I have some work to do.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You need to stay here and talk to Ned. We need you.”

The time when he should have listened to Marco’s suggestion, Brandon didn’t pay any attention to him. Now, what was the point of keeping him here when he didn’t want to be here? “I…have to be elsewhere.”

“Your priorities are way out of whack. What’s more important than this?” Brandon barked.

“My wife, it seems,” said Ned, as he walked into the room. Looking every inch the expensive lawyer that he was, he wore a black suit and carried a handmade leather briefcase, which he placed on the desk as he took a chair and studied Marco. “Our dear friend Marco has been stabbing me behind the back while I’ve been busy busting my ass for you.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” said Brandon.

Ned waved a hand. The Rolex that gleamed on his wrist was far more expensive than anything Marco owned. How could Stacy find him attractive when she had been with Ned? But at least he cared about her and wouldn’t ever cheat on her. “Ask him. He has been dating my wife, and while I have told him to back off, he hasn’t listened to a word I said.”

“Stop following us around.” Marco realized that Ned didn’t stop shadowing them. The thought of him watching while they strolled about town and spent time with each other made him sick. He wanted to walk over and beat the crap out of this guy, but of course, there wasn’t much he could do right in front of his boss. He would have to swallow this humiliation and pretend these barbs didn’t make him miserable. “And she isn’t your wife. You’ve been divorced for six months.”

“I want her back,” said Ned. “The divorce was a mistake. It shouldn’t have happened. I only agreed to it to make her happy, but really, I never wanted to leave her. She is the love of my life.”

Marco didn’t think that statement was true. If he truly believed that Ned cared for her, then he might have made an effort to step away and give them another chance. After all, he couldn’t give her all the amenities that Ned could shower on her. She deserved the good things in life, and Marco wouldn’t ever be in a position to give them to her. But he knew Ned and was quite aware that the man wouldn’t change his ways for Stacy. He would cheat on her again and break her heart.

“You don’t deserve her.”

“Neither do you. If you don’t step away from her, I am going to break your fucking legs.”

Marco strode over. For a moment, he forget where he was and what they were doing here. All he saw was the man who was trying to break-up his relationship, and he didn’t like that. “Just try, you fucker. I would like to see you attempt that.”

Simon came in between them before Marco could get to Ned. “Hey, hey, hey. What’s going on here? We’re not here to fight like kids.”

“It isn’t often that someone manages to rile up Marco. Usually he is calm as a cucumber,” said Brandon in an amused voice.

“I haven’t done anything to him. He is the one poaching on my territory,” said Ned.

“Shut up, you asshole. Show some respect,” thundered Marco. He was really pissed off. The man was talking about Stacy as if she was a piece of property.

“Oh dear, someone has it bad.” Ned stood. “Listen, jerk, I don’t care if you have wet dreams about her every night. I don’t care if you’re hot for her. I want you to keep your big ass far away from her.”

“I’m going to break his nose,” muttered Marco as he pushed Simon so that he could get to Ned. “Let me go.”

“Calm down, man,” whispered Simon. “He is a jerk, but you’re not. Don’t give him more ammunition against you.”

Seeing the expression on his friend’s face, Marco felt a little ashamed. Sure, Ned was a bastard, but Marco was better than him. He took a deep breath and stepped away. “I am fine. I am fine.”

Turning his back on them, he looked at the wall. Marco forced himself to relax. He didn’t want to make trouble. Simon was right. Anything he said or did would be used by Ned against him in some way or the other. The man was a snake, and it was better to stay far away from him. Feeling more in control of his emotions, he turned to look at them. There was an exchange of glances between Brandon and Ned, some kind of a silent communication that he didn’t understand. For a moment, he was taken aback by it. After all, Brandon was his boss. His loyalty should be towards Marco, but then Ned was needed, and everyone damn-well knew it.

“I should go. This is not the time or the place for this conversation, and in any case, this is my personal business.”

“It’s my personal business, actually. You’re the one who is interfering in my life.”

He ignored Ned’s attempt to goad him. “I’ll take off.”

Brandon didn’t say anything. Marco was sure that he would get the entire dirt from Ned after Marco left the building, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He exchanged a glance with Simon who was looking miserable. At least his friend was in his corner. That was something he could count on. Marco walked out and made his way out of the building. He walked all the way to Stacy’s apartment. They didn’t have a plan to meet tonight, but she’d given him a key to her apartment just the night before, and he intended to use it. If she wasn’t around, he would lounge about and wait for her. Their relationship was moving at a breakneck speed. Already, they had exchanged keys, and he was sure the day wasn’t far when they would live together. A few weeks ago, he couldn’t have imagined that one day he would meet a woman who would matter so much, but now he couldn’t imagine a life without her.

She was important.

She mattered.

And there wasn’t a damn thing Ned or anyone could do to drive them apart. He wouldn’t allow them to have their way. If it ever came to that, he would choose Stacy over the Sons of Judah any day. In any case, he wasn’t happy with the choices Brandon had been making lately. Maybe this was the perfect time to step away and do something else.

Just as he reached her building, his cell phone rang. It was Simon. After a brief moment of pause, Marco picked up the phone. After all, Simon didn’t do anything to hurt him. Instead, he stopped Marco from making a bigger fool of himself. “Hi.”

“Dude, what the hell is going on?”

Marco took a deep breath. Although this was his personal business, he was now sure that he would have to discuss it. Ned would force him to do so. If he didn’t talk to people about it, they would only hear one version—and that would be Ned’s. He would have to tell his side of the story. “I’m in love with Stacy. Yes, she was married to Ned and I met her at his house after the divorce. They weren’t even married when we met the first time. I don’t think he gives a shit about her. You know the kind of guy he is, and he hasn’t been faithful to a single woman for as long as we’ve known him.”

“But he claims that he was resolving his differences with her when you stepped in.”

“Bullshit.” His blood boiled at Ned’s blatant lies. The man had no ethics, no morals. He was definitely a swine. “Someone should ask Stacy. She isn’t even remotely interested in going back to him.”

“Not according to him. He claims that you’ve frightened her with threats. Apparently, you’ve told her that you would change the geography of her face if she even thinks about breaking up with you. He says that she would love to get rid of you, but you’re making it hard for her.”

Marco couldn’t stop the laughter that sputtered out of his mouth. “You’ve known me for how long?”

“Five years now. And I bloody well know that it’s not your style to force women to stay with you. For God’s sake, you’ve never had problem getting a new one if one left, and in any case, they don’t leave you. You’re the one who decides when the game is over, and even then they are falling all over themselves to please you.”

“I enjoy women, but I respect them,” he said simply. “Stacy is different thought. What we have together…it’s special.”

There was a brief pause. “I’ve never heard you say that.”

“I mean it.”

“Shit. This is far more complicated than I imagined.” Simon breathed deeply. “Ned is spinning some other tale. He has made it clear that he would be willing to mediate between us and the police and sort out the issue with the seven men who are languishing in jail. He would even talk to the Romans and find some kind of a solution, but nothing will happen until he gets his wife back.”

“Bastard,” said Marco. “Why the fuck is he bringing her in this matter? She has nothing to do with all this.”

“He is making damn sure that he keeps Stacy right in the middle of this severe problem,” said Simon. “The man sure has moves. Right now we need him, and he knows that damn fact.”

Marco bit his lip as he thought of a solution. By making this a matter that concerned the whole club, he’d put Marco in a very difficult position. And that was of course a deliberate move. He was quite aware that if Marco didn’t do anything, he risked losing his friends. Even if anyone didn’t say anything, Marco would feel guilty if the club members suffered because of him. And, of course, the alternative was for him to give up Stacy. If Brandon gave Marco a choice to choose between Stacy and the club, he would pick her any day, but he couldn’t allow the club and his friends to suffer because of him. Those seven men who were in jail expected their help, and it was important to give it.