White Heat (Lost Kings MC #5) (36 page)

“Need anything, bro?” Z asks Wrath.

“Nope. All good.”

Z pulls me in for a quick hug and pounds on my back. “Missed you. Glad you’re back.”

“Same.”

Z leaves and shuts the door behind him, which is fine because I need a moment alone with Wrath.

“What’s on your mind, prez?”

My mouth curves into a grin. Brother already knows I got a few questions for him. “Be honest now. Hope did okay?”

“Yeah. I mean, she was sad, no doubt about it. But she kept busy. Looked after all of us. Harassed Glassman in her polite lawyer way when the rest of us wanted to rip his head off. Didn’t give us any grief.”

“This thing with Izzard?”

“Rock. I’m so sorry. You don’t—”

“I know what a fuckin’ dick he is. I don’t blame you and I’m not mad at you.”

“Lying to you fuckin’ killed me. But I knew—”

“Yeah. You did the right thing.”

“She shook it off. But I don’t know.”

“I’ll talk to her. Now, Hope mentioned Trinity had a hard time?”

Wrath runs his hand through his hair, which automatically makes me think it was bad. “Yeah, you know with her dad—”

“You realize I’m not even ten years older than her and only two years older than you, right?”

I get a hint of a smile out of him. “What can I say? You’re a father figure to everyone. It’s all that wisdom of experience.”

“Whatever. Go on.”

“Nothing. She struggled and because I was busy watching over Hope, I didn’t realize how hard she was taking it at first.”

Now it’s my turn to run my hands over my head. “Fuck, man. I’m so sorry. Once those cuffs snapped on my wrists, I panicked. I didn’t know what the fuck might be coming for the club. I trust you more than anyone, but I didn’t mean you had to—”

“It’s fine. We worked it out. Hope set me straight,” he chuckles and shakes his head.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Come on, man. You know what type of club Trinity grew up in. What do you think their solution was for an ‘ol lady when her man was locked up?”

It takes a second for me to puzzle out and when I do my face must turn murderous because Wrath backs up a step. “Trust me, Hope thought the idea was disgusting. She told me to quit bugging her and take care of Trinity.”

That’s my girl.

“And?”

Wrath runs his hands through his hair and seems to be considering what he wants to share with me. “Having Mariella here has brought up some stuff for Trin.”

“I can imagine,” I answer quietly.

“She went through a rough patch. But we’re working through it.”

“You need anything?”

“Yeah, introduce me to your contractor.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“I think getting her out of the clubhouse will help.”

“Yeah, I can understand that. You ain’t building next door to us though.” I follow it up with a grin, so he knows I’m messing with him.

“Please. I don’t want to be within screaming distance of you two sex-crazed monkeys.”

I huff a laugh out. “Same.”

“No, seriously, I know it’s gonna take a while, and you need to get yours finished before the wedding—”

“Ah, fuck. Can you have Z call Jasper? Get him and his crew up here as soon as possible.”

He nods. Then pins me with a thoughtful expression.

“Spit it out.”

“I won’t lie, Rock. Z and I expected her to bolt at first. Never figured she’d tough something like this out when I first met her. But she kept throwing herself into the club in her own way.”

“Good. That’s good.”

“Her faith was stronger than her fear. Kept planning your wedding. Held her head up high. After that bullshit hearing, she was spitting mad when she came out of the courtroom. Judge said some fucked up shit to her, but she shook it off. Let Glassman have it when she thought he was disrespecting your relationship. She never doubted you.”

I’m having a hard time swallowing over the lump in my throat. There’s so much catching up Hope and I have to do.

“She may not be a typical old lady, but she’s a good one,” Wrath finishes.

“Thank you.”

“You got it.” Wrath turns and springs his cabinet open.

I watch as he pulls out Trinity’s vest with his
Property of Wrath
patch on the back and all our officers’ patches on the side. Finally. “Ready to go claim your own ‘ol lady?”

“Fuck yes. God damn.”

Can’t help chuckling at that. “She’s not a typical ‘ol lady either.” And I’m not referring to her club girl days.

“Nope. But we’re not exactly typical bikers either.”

“Amen to that, brother.”

I’m twitchy as a motherfucker when Rock and I step out of the war room. My gaze darts around the room taking in my brothers, the prospects, couple club girls. Then my eyes lock onto Trinity. Laughing in the corner with Hope. Love seeing her more at ease and not running around fetching drinks and shit.

“Can you fuckers all pipe down for a second?” I shout over the noise. Silence descends on the room. Turning, I curl a finger at Trinity and motion her to me. She hurries over with a big smile, until she sees what’s in my hand.

Then she stops dead in her tracks. That’s fine. Took so fucking long, she probably figured I was full of shit.

I take the last few steps to her, curling my hand around her hip in case she decides to bolt and sink down to my knees in front of her.

“Wyatt—” she protests, looking around the room. “Everyone’s—”

“Everyone’s gonna hear me claim you and patch you,” I answer. I raise my voice so the whole clubhouse hears. “You all might have heard I claimed Trinity as my old lady.”

I get a lot of whistles, shouting and catcalls in return.

“And everyone knows when Kings claim a woman, the officers vote on her too.” I hold out the cut to Trinity and her honey eyes meet mine. The corner of her mouth trembles and her eyes gloss over.

“So I got the votes and my girl’s getting my patch, and you’re all here to witness it.”

The room erupts into sounds of congratulations as I stand, pick her up and kiss the fuck out of her. “Will you wear my patch, baby?”

“You know I will.”

I set her down and help her into the vest. “Thought I was full of shit, didn’t you?”

“No. I knew there was a lot—”

I cut her off with another kiss, lifting her into my arms where she belongs, not giving a fuck about the noise around us.

“Finally!” Rock shouts and I can hear Hope shushing him.

When I set Trin down, my hand squeezes her hip where my star’s inked into her skin. “My tat, my patch, now you just need a ring.”

“Whatever you want.”

“Oh, in that case—”

She slaps my chest, throwing off the uncertainty that seemed to settle over her. “You know what Wrath wants, Wrath gets,” she says with a sweet laugh.

“That true?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Kiss me.”

She doesn’t hesitate, throws her arms around my neck and plants one on my cheek. “I’m so proud to officially be yours,” she whispers and I think it’s the sweetest thing she’s ever said.

“Someone throw a bucket of ice water on those two!” Murphy shouts and I turn to see, yes, the little fucker’s talking about Trin and me.

“You got a death wish, bro?”

He tilts his head toward the door. Toward the garage. Fuck. “Yeah, okay.”

I glance over to where Rock’s got Hope basically pinned to the wall. Ain’t paying attention to anything except his woman. “Looks like that bucket of ice water’s needed somewhere else,” I grumble.

Trinity chuckles. “Leave them alone.”

“He wanted to hit the road, and it’s getting late. Murphy’s got a surprise for them.”

“Oh, okay.”

She rushes over and yanks Hope away, making me laugh my ass off at the expression on Rock’s face.

“Murphy needs you outside, prez.”

His gaze shoots to the door where Murphy’s waiting and he nods. When he reaches Hope, he bends down and tosses her over his shoulder like the caveman we all know he is. She kicks and squeals as we follow him out the door. “Put me down before you hurt yourself.”

Trinity snickers. “Now she did it.”

Rock pops her on the ass and she yelps. “I can
not
believe you did that in front of everyone!”

“I’ll do it again, sass-mouth.”

Everyone else is waiting in the garage, so not as many people witnessed it as Hope thinks. Still funny as fuck.

Trinity slides her hand into mine and I glance down at her. “You want some of that?”

She peeks up at me. “Later.”

“Later you’re gonna wear that vest and nothing else for me while I fuck the hell out of you.”

“Oooh. If you’re nice I might add something else you’ll like,” she teases, while batting her lashes at me.

Hmmm. Maybe I can see the bike when Rock and Hope get back.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Trinity scolds, yanking my hand and dragging me into the garage.

Rock’s so stunned, he almost drops Hope when he sets her down inside the garage. “Murphy, what—?”

Yeah, the kid did good.

“Oh my God. Murphy, it’s beautiful,” I blurt out.

Rock still seems to be forming an opinion. Murphy’s tense as he waits for Rock’s approval and I worry what will happen if he doesn’t get it.

“Sweet tourer. You’ll be the coolest old man in the retirement community,” Z jokes and punches Rock’s arm.

“Fuck off,” Rock growls.

Murphy folds his arms over his chest, but not before giving Z the finger.

“He’s been working on it all summer, Rock,” Wrath says.

I trace my hand over the raised back seat. “I love it.”

Murphy grins and relaxes a notch.

“You do the paint?” Rock asks.

“No. Bricks helped with it.”

My eyes seek Bricks out. “I love the color. It’s so pretty.”

The guys hassle Rock over that. But it
is
pretty. A deep, sparkling forest green. No LOKI logos anywhere, and I kind of miss the ever-present skull wearing its crown.

The guys discuss a bunch of mechanical-bike stuff that goes right over my head. All I care about is the back rest with the cushier seat and the passenger floor boards. My poor ass had not been looking forward to a long trip on Rock’s bike.

After it seems they go over every single last shock, air filter, and fender, Murphy skirts the edge of the group and makes his way to me. “Do you really like it?”

Somehow I sense he’s seeking my approval more than Rock’s over this project and a dull ache flashes through my chest. Because I’m the touchy-feely type, I wrap my arms around him. While he hugs me back, I meet Rock’s eyes across the room. His nod and half-smile reassure me. He knows I care for Murphy the way I would a younger brother and isn’t concerned about the display of affection.

“Yes. My ass thanks you, too.”

He chuckles and runs his hand over his chin. “There’s some gear inside for you too.”

“Thank you.”

The guys walk the bike out of the garage, into the driveway and turn it over. The rumble is much more polite and refined than Rock’s regular ride. He smirks at Murphy, then lifts his gaze to me. “Guess we’re just two civilians out to enjoy the freedom of the road, babe.”

“Fine by me.”

The guys think that’s hysterical. 

Trinity wraps me in a hug. “I’ll miss you. Have fun and take care of your man.”

“Oh, I plan to.”

Murphy overhears that and snickers then joins his brothers. Rock motions Murphy to his side and together they adjust pegs, bars and other parts. Z adds his two cents about some of the changes and the three of them go back and forth.

Trinity lets out a whoop and squeezes me again. “They’ll mess around with that bike all night if you let them, Hope.”

“Good God, I know.” I turn and run my hand over the vest Wrath just gave her. “I’m so happy he finally gave this to you. He was planning to do it at the engagement party. Right before—” Even thinking of speaking the words sends my heart into my stomach.

Her face softens and her gaze darts to Wrath. “Really? You were okay with that?”

“Of course. It seemed really important to him to do it in front of the whole club.” Given the nature of their relationship and their past…relationships with other…members of the club, I understand Wrath’s reasoning.