Withstanding Me (2 page)

She drives me fucking crazy!

“ZZ, quit harassing my manager,” Winter interrupts our little tirade, and I can’t get pissed because my President is right beside her as they walk up.

“You seen Pyro?” Braxxon asks.

“Naw Prez sorry,” I say truthfully. Pyro has been MIA since the woman he loved was killed a few weeks ago. Her name was Lana, and she was the sweetest fucking thing to walk this earth. She was also Winter’s best friend.

“Shit I can’t even locate my fucking VP,” Braxxon curses. “I’m gathering a few of the brothers to collect from the pipeline. You’re coming too. We need more. Angel here has some more businesses she wants to open.”

I don’t know why we need to go dig up more gold. Angel, which is Winter’s nickname, is a fucking millionaire too. She’s inherited one hundred and twelve million dollars that her mother has left her, and her mother ain’t even dead. She’s just hiding from Winter’s mafia family. She’s Russian and just so happens to be a mafia princess and her mother’s bloodline is of royalty. And about these businesses, what’s she trying to do? Become too busy?

“More businesses?” I ask.

“Yep,” Winter answers. “I’m gonna own what you guys don’t own of this town. You know why? Because then we will own every single fucking inch of it. The next person to cross us won’t have shit left when we’re done with them. And then I’ll move on to the next town over too.”

And there she is. Braxxon’s hell’s Angel. She’s went through so much shit, she’s bound and determined to control every aspect of her life, and I can’t blame her.

“Ain’t she fucking perfect,” Braxxon smiles as he yanks her to him and kissing her hard. “So anyways, we need lots more money. I ain’t having Angel pay for fucking everything when we’ve got the means too.”

How the hell could they go through one hundred and twelve million dollars?

“That’s a lot of money to have plans for.” I frown.

“Don’t be silly ZZ, what I have planned won’t use a tenth of my money. Braxx here just has a complex about helping me do it,” Winter laughs.

“Of course I have a fucking complex about it. You’re doing this to better our family so why the fuck would I want you doing that without the club’s help? We are all family,” Braxxon growls getting upset.

“Do I need to take you to my office?” Winter coos at him.

“Yes, ma’am,” he obviously answers.

“Ma’am!” She yells shoving him away. Winter hates being called ma’am because she’s only twenty-two. Braxxon picks her up, throws her over his shoulder, and takes off without a goodbye.

“I know now that staying was the right decision.” Storm laughs beside me.

She has my full attention now. “You were planning on leaving? Why?”

“I don’t know. I just was. I only planned on staying until Winter could heal up emotionally and then I planned on leaving. But she offered me friendship, family, a secure job and to pay for my schooling. I could never leave her now. I would feel like I’ve lost something. I belong here,” she finishes in a hushed whisper like she didn’t want me hearing that last part.

But she’s right. Storm does belong here. Fuck does she.

“How much longer are you gonna keep withstanding me, darlin?”

Storm stands up straight and grabs the clipboard off the bar before answering me. And what she says blows my fucking mind wide open.

“Just until you fall in love with me,” she says seriously.

Love? “I don’t fall in love, baby.”

She slowly backs away smiling. “Oh, but you will and it’ll be with me,” she says with a wink.

Fuck Me.

Chapter Two

ZZ

Six Weeks Later

Fuck if I ain’t pissed off. Since Pyro’s been off on his healing quest shit, I’ve been stuck doing VP shit. Don’t get me wrong, I’d do anything for my brothers. But I’m worn the hell out. Between monitoring gold digging, Tatiana’s college shit, and Ma still grieving over dad’s death, I feel like I’m an eighty-year-old man. I mean for fucks sake, I can’t even get my dick up. Every time I try fucking a woman I see Storm’s face, and it ruins it when I remember I’m about to stick my cock into someone other than her. I don’t know why she just doesn’t put us both outta our fucking misery and just give that pussy up already. I mean a few sweet fucks, and it’ll be over.

“Jesus I need to get laid,” I groan sitting on the couch in the community room watching Bom Bom play on the pole. If I haven’t tapped that shit so many times, it might’ve worked to clear my head of Storm. But Bom Bom’s pussy is old pussy, which makes it boring pussy. She can sure suck a cock though and just when I’m about to order her down to do just that, my damn daughter comes stomping into the clubhouse followed by a very pissed off Shadow.

“Dad call off your brother,” she seethes.

Dammit, I’m not in the mood for this shit. She’s going to kill me, that daughter of mine. Tatiana flops down in front of me. Shadow stands beside the couch with his arms crossed looking like he might burst at any damn moment.

“Baby… I’m not in the mood for any bullshit.”

“Don’t baby me daddy… he’s ruining my damn life!” She screeches.

“Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on without all the damn dramatics? I’ve got a splittin’ headache,” I groan rubbing my temples.

“Get this shit, brother. I was out running club errands when I stop at a stop sign, and I just so happen to look inside that damn ma and pop restaurant and see your daughter dining with none other than Travis,” Shadow says quirking his brow at Tatiana.

“THE FUCK!” I roar standing up. “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!”

Shit. Fuck. Damn. Son of a bitch.

“Daddy what’s the big deal?” She cries.

“The big deal?” Fuck this day just keeps getting better and better. “The big deal, my fuckin’ irresponsible daughter, is that Travis is the new president for the Gunners!” Jesus Christ, Braxxon is going to kill me. The Gunners are one of our many rival clubs, and the old President raped Winter.

“He wasn’t wearing a cut,” she exclaims. “I didn’t know!”

Motherfucker! He’s set his sights on my daughter. This is the same fucker who said he wanted peace after he took Snake’s position in the club. I knew it wouldn’t be quiet for very long. Looks like Travis is turning into a man just like Snake. A sneaky little bastard.

“Stay the fuck far away from him Tatiana. I ain’t playin’ god dammit! And shit baby, even if he wasn’t our rival, he’s your daddy’s age. Not cool baby girl,” I say trying to calm myself down as her eyes tear up. Breaks my heart making her cry, but damn if she isn’t going to give me a heart attack.

She nods an okay as she wipes a lone tear running down her cheek. I motion for Shadow to follow me into the Chapel outta my daughter’s hearing range.

“Stay on her Shadow. I don’t trust the prospects; she’ll lose them if she wants and take off to god knows where. She’s done it before. I’m trusting you, brother.”

Shadow smirks and nods before walking back out to my daughter. I have so many damn problems with that child right now. First, her and Shadow have this built up bullshit, and I know he’s fighting his attraction towards my daughter because he knows he’ll get his ass kicked. Secondly, my baby is enrolling into business management too, following Storm’s lead.

Instead of going off to college to be a doctor or a nurse, she’s fucking staying here for business management. Thirdly, her mother is back after eighteen years and lastly, now I gotta worry about a fucking rival bein’ interested in my kid. Hell to the god damn no.

I dig out my prepay and quickly dial Braxxon. This shit is too big to put on hold.

“Breaker,” he snaps into the other end of the phone.

“Prez, we gotta fucking problem, brother.”

“Fuck, it doesn’t stay quiet for long. Lemme’ hear it,” he growls.

“Shadow caught Tatiana at the ma and pop restaurant with Travis, and he wasn’t wearing his cut. She didn’t know who he was man.”

“Jesus Christ!” He roars before quieting down. “Is she alright?”

I take a deep breath. “Yeah but he wasn’t wearing his cut, brother,” I repeat.

“Ain’t no more sunshine for them. Fuckin’ riptide them motherfuckers. They wanted peace and fluffy fuckin’ clouds, rainbows and sunshine and shit my ass,” he cackles.

When Braxxon cackles like that, bastards should run far, far away, but put us together, times that fear by a fuckin’ hundred cuz’ we didn’t grow up together not learnin’ nothin’.

“Well shit… Angel and I are headed that way. Get one of the prospects to call in the brothers. We’ll discuss this in the Chapel. Angel be sittin’ in with us. We got shit to discuss with ya’ll.”

“Prez,” I acknowledge and wait for the sound of the click. You always wait for that damn click; if not you’re disrespecting your prez if you hang up first. We may have grew up in diapers together and learned how to fuck women together, but that don’t mean shit when it comes to respecting the patch.

I hear the click and walk back out to the community room, and let Rap know to call in the brothers. I also tell him to lock Tatiana in my apartment so she can’t sneak away while Shadow’s in Chapel with us.

“Pyro!” Creamy screams. Creamy is another one of the damn muffler bunnies that hang out. The bitch is practically family; she’s been around with all the brothers. I look up, and sure enough, it’s the missing fucking VP.

“Chapel,” I growl. Yeah he’s my VP, but damn I’m worn the fuck out from doing his job. Pyro grabs a bottle of whiskey off the bar, completely ignores Creamy, and walks right into the Chapel without a word. I’m sure when the son of a bitch gets his wits back, he’s gonna check my ass for that barking order.

“Rap,” I point to Tatiana while he calls in the brothers on his prepay. He snags my protesting daughter up by the arm and starts dragging her off, and I chuckle as she tries prying away from him.

“Your damn daughter’s gonna kill me,” Shadow murmurs walking past me.

I groan as I rub my hands down my face. I don’t need him gettin’ all damn attached to her. Shit ain’t right. I put those thoughts in the back of my mind for another day.

***

I wait as Winter sits on Braxxon’s lap with a bunch of plans rolled up, and the other brothers start sitting. Once everyone is in the Chapel and the doors close, Braxxon slams down the gavel as the guys look back and forth between Winter and Braxxon. We’ve never had a woman in one of our church meetings before so this should be interesting.

“Angel is only in here for the first bit. She needs us to vote on something; after that, she’ll leave,” Braxxon smirks running his hands through her hair.

Winter unravels tubes of plans and starts passing them around the table.

“These are plans for a new club,” she says simply.

“THE FUCK,” I roar while yanking my copy from her.

“ZZ,” Braxxon warns.

“No, no I want to build a bigger clubhouse with more room. Get the families above ground when on lockdown. See here,” she points to a spot on the plans. “That will be made outta concrete and steel. No bullets getting through that shit. The windows will be bulletproof as well. There will also be a built in fire extinguishing system. I bought the surrounding lots and they start demolishing them this weekend. They won’t start building until you vote it in. The main clubhouse we’re in won’t be touched other than putting in bulletproof glass. The other building with the quad in the middle is for the families. They hate being on lockdown and this way they’ll be safe and still be able to get fresh air in the quad. Basically, it’s just heavy duty expanding,” she explains.

Pyro sits up straight, and it’s the first time he looks like he’s actually paying attention to what’s going on around him. “You have my vote. Maybe if we had this shit Lana would still be alive,” he says.

Winter pats Pyro’s hand. “I know,” she agrees.

“This shit looks expensive prez,” Max grumbles.

“Angel and I are getting married. Our funds are our own to do with what we want. We have plenty of money, hell maybe even an unlimited supply. Our gold is still coming up strong, and Angel wants to do this for her family. Are you gonna deny my Angel the peace of mind she’s begging us for?” He asks tipping his head with a silent warning.

“Look guys,” she says getting serious. “I’m not trying to overstep any of you. We’ve all been through hell the last couple of months and I hate sending the family away when shit gets heated. A number of things can go wrong while they travel or while they’re gone. This building will be worth it,” she chuckles shaking her head before her next words. “Ya’ll can still have your clubhouse, your man space; this new building is for peace of mind and the family.”

“How much is this gonna cost?” I ask while looking at these plans. I admit they’re badass. Winter snaps her fingers to gain my attention to hers.

“Money is nothing; family is everything,” she says. Well fuck if that doesn’t get my vote when she puts it that way.

“Votes,” Braxxon says. And the brothers all put in their votes with no hesitation.

“Alright I got phone calls to make to get this shit rollin’. Thanks babes,” Winter says before kissing Braxxon and taking her copy of the plans with her. She stops at the door. “Plans get locked into the safe before y’all leave this room,” she points.