Withstanding Me (18 page)

“You can’t open the club tonight, darlin.”

“I know.”

“See that kid over there with Piper and Storm?” I nod to our booth.

“Yeah?” She says looking over my shoulder.

“He’s my son.”

“What? You’re shitting me, right? Like this is some fucked up way of making a laugh outta the shit we’re in?” Her mouth drops open when she takes a look at my serious face. “Well… I think Sniper might snap if you don’t send him towards another skirt to chase.”

“Right?” I laugh.

It’s only a matter of time before Sniper and Piper realize this shit. They’re like fuckin best friends or some shit. Completely unaware of their attraction towards one another. It’s actually fuckin hilarious.

“So… the Russians?” She’s nervous, and she’s never fucking nervous.

“Call your husband; tell his ass to hurry the fuck back. We need him here. I’ll handle the brothers. I’ll go talk with them now.”

I start to walk away when I remember something. “Where’s Ma?”

“Uh…”

FUCK!

“What now?” It can’t be bad, right? Too much fuckin shit goin on for more bad.

“James is cookin her dinner…”

Well that’s fuckin sweet.

“Awesome.” And I mean it. Ma doesn’t need to be sad for the rest of her life. And James will keep her busy. She loves takin care of men.

“Wait, you’re not mad?” Winter laughs.

“No, why the fuck would I be mad?”

She cocks her hand on her hip like she always does when she’s losing her patience with us, and I find it extra fuckin hilarious.

“Because she’s your ma…?”

I roll my eyes and walk away. “She deserves to be fuckin happy,” I toss over my shoulder.

I place my hand on Storm’s shoulder, grabbing her attention from my son and Piper.

“I gotta go babe. Can you call Tatiana and introduce them two? I know it’s fucked up and I should be here, but we got word about the cockroaches in town.”

I hope she gets it because I don’t wanna say too much in front of Mace. Not yet.

“I can do that for you.” She smiles up at me. Fuck… wish those lips were wrapped around my cock again. Dammit, stay focused.

“Yeah?” I kneel down to the edge of the booth.

“Anything for you.”

That shit does stuff to me. A woman who will do anything for me. Yeah, that fuckin tugs on somethin, what that somethin is, I don’t know yet.

“Keep them two apart, yeah?” I motion with my fingers at Mace and Piper. I don’t need Sniper getting jealous and shit. The motherfucker is scary with a gun, and I don’t need him pointin one at my son.

"Uh…," she says flicking her eyes.

I groan, and looking over my shoulder, I see Sniper coming our way. When the fuck did he get here?

“Piper,” he growls as soon as he walks up. “Who’s your friend?”

Fuckin Christ! “He’s my son, brother.”

“Shit. Really?”

No. I just like makin up shit.

“Yes. I was about to come find your ass. Winter just gave me some shit to chew on with you brothers. ”

I grab Strom by the hair and drag her down, sticking my tongue in her ear. Her body shudders, goose bumps rising on her arms. Yeah, baby. “Tonight… my cock in your mouth.”

She moans low. “Tonight… you’re fuckin my mouth.”

Now I shudder. God dammit. How the fuck am I supposed to leave with those words replayin in my mind? Her fingers grip my cut as they turn into the letter L. I ain’t stupid. I know she’s tellin me she loves me. I just refuse to say it back until I fuckin feel it.

“Bye Mason,” she whispers just low enough no one else can here. Oh, fuck being polite and careful. I turn her head and thrust my tongue into her mouth. She tastes so fucking good. She does this thing where she runs her tongue along mine, and it gets me so damn hard. Every. Single. Time. I pull back with her bottom lip in between my teeth, before letting it go and kissing her lips one more time. I want more fuckin time with her. Right fucking now!

“Bye darlin,” I groan.

I groan because my cock is pressing against my jeans, throbbing to death. Yeah, throbbing, aching, wanting. So many damn words for how my poor cock feels right now.

I point my finger at my son after letting my shades fall back across my eyes. “Stay with Storm.”

“Sure…”

What the fuck. He’s ballsy. Just. Like. I. Was and Am.

“Piper, be fuckin careful,” Sniper growls.

Oh for fucks sake.

“Go away Sniper,” she growls back.

“C’mon brother. We got shit to take care of.” I smack him on the back.

“I just fuckin worry about her,” He grits through his teeth.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.”

It’s no secret that Sniper is all about finding love. He’s the only one in the MC not fuckin scared to admit it, and I think my brother might just be falling…

***

Chapter 24

ZZ

Sniper, Pyro, and I are sitting in the VIP lounge going over this Russian bullshit. It’s so fucked up. I’m not one to admit when I’m all confused. But shit, I’m confused.

“We have two sets of fuckin Russians runnin around our town. One set belonging to Winter’s mother, and the other to her uncle. We have no way of actually knowing who the fuck is who until Winter’s mom gets into town,” I say as I toss back my whiskey. “And where the fuck is our Prez?”

We can handle this shit, but Braxxon is the key to holding this fucking MC together. He knows how to keep his cool while doing it too.

“He’s on his way back,” Pyro murmurs while rolling his joint.

“So what’s with this Travis shit? The Russians hired him to fuck Tatiana or somethin? Still not understandin that,” Sniper pipes in.

Welcome to the fuckin club.

“That’s what fucktard said. Before we killed his ass. It makes sense. Tatiana is good at evading us when on lockdown. Maybe he just hasn’t had the opportunity?” I reply thanking fuck that my daughter is just that fuckin smart.

“Still doesn’t make any goddamn sense as to why it’s been quiet with him.”

And I have to agree with Sniper. It makes no sense, and that’s got my fuckin palms sweatin. If it weren’t my daughter, I can guarantee my palms wouldn’t be sweatin.

“This is what we’re gonna do to keep the fam safe. Club Sated closed until further fuckin notice. Lockdown in the compound. No one, but brothers leave the compound,” Pyro speaks up. He’s acting prez so we’ll do what he says. Just one problem. You ain’t getting Winter, and the rest of the women to agree to that shit. What makes lockdown bearable for them is being able to move in between the two locations.

“Not gonna work,” I laugh.

“Why the fuck not?” Pyro growls at me.

“Winter and the girls ain’t gonna let that slide. She’ll close down the club, but she ain’t gonna be confined, and you fuckin know it.”

It’s just the damn truth.

“Where the fuck is our Prez?” he growls. Braxxon is the only one that can order Winter around.

“So we close the club and pretend to let the ladies move back and forth. Ya know, act like we trust them with this shit. That crazy reverse shit that people do. Let’s do that.”

Pyro contemplates it for a minute, running it through his brain. “That’ll work.”

We end our conversation, start tossing back shots, and smoking our joints. We haven’t had a fuckin party in ages at the club, and I know we’re all fuckin aching to get so blistering fucked up we can’t remember the last 24 hours. We’re in the middle of shooting the shit when I hear my daughter’s voice loud and clear through the club.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE A FUCKIN BROTHER?”

I groan. Dammit!

“Yeah, we forgot to talk about that.” Pyro chuckles.

“Shut the fuck up,” I growl and stand up, popping my knuckles and neck. “Winter got any junk food in the kitchen?”

They both look at me like I’m crazy. “How the fuck would we know?” Sniper says.

I roll my eyes and jog towards the Club kitchen. She’s gotta have some kind of cookies in here. I rifle around the cabinets and spot some sugar cookies. Okay, they’re not chocolate chip, but my baby will understand.

I jog back over to where I left Storm and Mace. I tap Tatiana on the shoulder and she flies around. I hold out the cookies, and she jerks them from me. “Dad… what’s going on?”

I flinch. Fuck do I flinch. She sounds hurt. I fuckin hate that.

“Sit down baby.” I motion towards the booth.

I go on to tell her about how her mother didn’t tell me I had a son, or that she had a twin brother, and tears roll down her face. She’s so fuckin hurt. I fuckin hate when my baby is hurting. And I can’t stop this hurt because I didn’t fuckin cause it. All I can do is make it easier on her.

“I fucking hate her dad; I fucking hate her so bad.”

I blow out a breath, thanking fuck she’s not mad at me. It’s one thing for a parent to be let down by a child, but for a child to be let down by the parent, not fuckin cool. Never wanna let down my kid. Shit. I mean kids.

Which reminds me.

“Tatiana, need to tell ya somethin baby girl.”

The cookie she was about to eat pauses midway to her mouth.

“Storm was pregnant, but she lost our baby in the car accident.”

Strom squeezes my leg underneath the table booth and a small gasp escapes her lips. I don’t think she was expecting me to tell anyone else.

“Storm…,” Tatiana cries like she doesn’t believe me.

“It’s true.” She replies.

“This is a fucked up world.”

And that’s it. Tatiana doesn’t say sorry because she knows it’s not what Storm wants to hear right now. Another reason why my dumbass is finally trying. My daughter loves Storm.

“So Mace… is your name Mace or is it short for Mason?” Tatiana looks at her brother.

“It’s short for Mason.” He answers her.

Damn. I seriously hate that Mira.

“Me and you. We’ll be good as long as you agree that our birth mother is a cunt.”

I choke on my laughter. Leave it to Tatiana to leave an ultimatum.

“Well, we good then.”

I shake my head. This is fuckin nuts. I have twin kids. Yeah, fuckin nuts.

“Awesome and oh… don’t be hitting on Storm. She’s gonna be our step-mommy soon.”

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Storm starts choking on her drink. I start patting her on the back because I feel the same fuckin way about that sentence.

“Seriously? She’s almost our age.” Mace laughs.

“Tatiana, baby girl, you’re getting ahead of yourself here.”

God damn if Storm isn’t red in the face.

“Babe, your dad and I are dating, and you’re grown, so I’m just gonna say it how it is. We’re fucking. Right now, that’s all this is.” Storm gestures between us.

That pisses me off. We’re fuckin, and that’s all this is? Why the hell does that make me mad? I repeat her words over and over again in my head. Trying to make sense of them. We’re fucking. Right now that’s all this is. What the fuck? I don’t like that shit. It’s weighing on my mind something heavy. Goddammit! I said I would try. I would try at a relationship. Doesn’t that mean more than fucking? I don’t understand.

I excuse myself to look for Piper who’s no longer at our table. She’ll tell me what this means. She’s all wise and shit. I locate her doing a crossword puzzle at the bar. I take a seat on the barstool and rip the puzzle outta her grasp.

“What the fuck ZZ!”

I toss the puzzle down the bar. I need her focus. Like right now. “Storm just said we’re fucking.” And I do that quotation thing with my hands. “Right now, that’s all this is. What the fuck does that mean?”

Piper’s a smart girl. She reaches for a bottle of whiskey, pours me a shot, and slides it to me, setting the bottle on the bar top.

“It means you’re both just fucking. She means you both are just fuckin one another, no one else.”

I still don’t get it. Am I fuckin stupid here?

“Still lost, Piper.” I guzzle down my shot.

She sighs. “Look ZZ. She’s scared to fuckin death if she gets too clingy, you’re gonna run the other way.”

I still don’t get it. I said I would try. Like with the whole relationship bullshit. Right on cue, I feel a small hand on my shoulder and Storm is at my side. I watch as Piper walks away, leaving us alone.

“Hey… you okay?”

How to answer that?

“No.”

Yeah, that does it.

“Did I do something?” Her voice comes out hurt.

“We’re just fuckin. Right now, that’s all this is,” I mimic her words with a growl while I pour myself another shot.

“Mason,” she whispers. “We are just fucking one another right now. I don’t want to push you into something you don’t wanna be in.”

That’s just the thing. I said I’d fuckin try. Fuckin try means more than just fucking.