Stone (Knights Corruption MC Series Book 2) (20 page)

“Where the fuck you goin’?” I barked, flipping open the phone and resting it against my ear. Completely ignoring me, I watched her disappear from the room, instantly regretting my choice.

“Stone?” a voice called out over the other end of the small device. “You there, man?” It was Marek.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m here. What’s up?”

“I need you at the clubhouse ASAP. We got some stuff we gotta deal with, that bastard Yanez being first and foremost, and we need all hands on deck.” The urgency in his voice instantly put me on alert. Whatever we needed to do was time sensitive, and for as much as I didn’t want to leave Addy right then, I had no other choice.

“Fuck!” I grumbled, throwing one leg over the side of the bed in a lazy-ass attempt to get up.

“You got somethin’ better to do, brother?” he asked, annoyance strangling his tone. When it came to Yanez, Marek was jumpy, wanting desperately to avenge Sully in the worst way. He’d become somewhat obsessed with disposing of the man who’d raped his wife. If the roles were reversed, I would go to the ends of the earth to exact my revenge and wrath on the prick who’d done that to Addy.

“Nope. Just tired is all,” I answered, hoping my pitiful excuse would fly.

“Then wake the fuck up and get here.” He hung up before saying anything else, which was probably for the best because Addy came strolling back into my bedroom, naked and sexy as hell.

“I have to go,” I said, sitting on the edge of the bed, running my hands through my hair in frustration. “But I’d like to finish what we started.” I grabbed her waist and pulled her in to me, spreading my legs so she could move in closer. My hands snaked around her back and gripped her ass, burying my face in her chest and trying to convince her to give in.

“We need to talk,” she whispered, trying to push me away. I’d meant to make her tell me her news before we fell asleep, but we’d both been so exhausted we passed out before I could push her to open up. And now I had to go handle club business.

“I know. But it’s gonna have to wait until I’m finished.” When she pushed my chest again, I had no choice but to let her go. Rising to my full height, I hooked my fingers under her chin and raised her head. The fire in her eyes confused me. I wasn’t sure if she was upset at me or at the situation. While there wasn’t a damn thing I could do right then, I still felt horrible for leaving her before she’d been able to unload whatever was bothering her.

I wanted to be there for her in every way I could, but there were gonna be times, like this, when I had to put the club first. If we weren’t directly in the middle of a shit storm, I would have told Marek to carry on without me.

But we were.

And I couldn’t.

“Will you wait here for me?”

“No,” she answered quickly. Too quickly.

Something was off, and I pressed even though I knew damn well I didn’t have time to pursue her sudden temper.

“Why not?” I took a step forward, crowding her personal space. Right then it didn’t make a bit of difference that both of us were still naked. We were pushing each other. A battle of wills, so to speak. I loved her sass and spunk, but sometimes I wished she was more submissive, doing as I asked instead of always asserting herself. I knew I probably sounded like a bastard, but I really didn’t care.

“Because I have stuff to do. I can’t wait around for you all day.”

“Do you have to go to work?”

“No.”

“Then what’s the problem?” I prompted, feeling my blood pressure rise because I knew she wasn’t gonna make this easy for me. All I wanted her to do was wait for me until I was done with whatever I needed to do at the club. Then we could talk, discuss whatever was bothering her, maybe have some dinner, and then lose ourselves in hours of pleasure.

Looking more than annoyed, her blue eyes lit up with anger, a hint of sadness splayed underneath, which confused me. “Just because I finally agreed to be with you for real doesn’t mean I’m gonna be waitin’ on your ass whenever you want me to. I have a life, Stone. My own life, with my own friends and a job, which demands a lot of my time. I’m not gonna give all that up because life decided to throw a whopper of a curveball at me, punching me in the face before I even knew it was happening.”

If anyone could have seen the look on my face they probably would’ve laughed their asses off. “What the fuck does all that mean?” I asked, a deep frown of confusion painting my expression. I knew before she answered that it wasn’t gonna be good. She was too worked up for her outburst to be solely about me making a simple request for her to stay back at my house until I returned. Something prickled at me, but I had absolutely no time to delve into it and we both knew it.

Looking a little sheepish, she realized she’d gone overboard in her response. “Nothing,” she lied.

Because I had no time to do anything else, I quickly dressed before pulling her into my embrace. Her body was still, but as I continued to hold her, praying whatever was weighing on her mind would ease up some, she molded herself into me. Wrapping her arms around my waist, she placed her head on my chest and exhaled a strangled breath. I kissed the top of her head before releasing her.

“I’ll call you when I’m done, and if you have time I would love for you to meet me back here.” Every word I spoke was controlled, and as much as I wanted to demand she wait for me, I knew she would tell me to go to hell and storm out of my house. And even
I
realized it wasn’t the smartest thing to do right after she’d agreed to take me back.

Stone

“What’s goin’ on?” I asked, flinging myself into my appointed chair, glancing around the room at all my brothers. It seemed Marek had called everyone in, but for what I wasn’t sure yet. My friend sat at the head of the table, looking quite volatile while he waited for the room to silence. Tripp and Hawke were holding their own sidebar while Ryder and Trigger boisterously laughed about something Jagger had said. Cutter, Breck, and Zip leaned back in their chairs, their eyes half open considering how early in the day it still was.

Another round of laughter erupted, but instead of having my eyes on the brothers scattered around the large oblong table, they were focused on Marek. I saw his jaw tick and his eyes narrow. I didn’t even have to follow his gaze to see who he was intently staring at—Jagger. I’d figured out why he seemed to not like the guy, and under other circumstances Jagger would have been kicked out of the club. But the money he brought in was a nice sum, helping us get away from all the illegal shit which constantly threatened our very lives.

That, plus the kid knew, if he truly stepped out of line, Marek would end him. Prez wasn’t normally an aggressive guy. Some had even said he was rather laid-back, but ever since Sully had come into his life, his temper was short, his protectiveness over the woman off the charts. He rivaled me with the temper and possessiveness traits, and I was only too happy to have the company.

Marek leaned forward, quickly assessing everyone with a simple glance. Running his hands over his face, his expression changed from mere annoyance to self-satisfied, mixed with a hint of rage. His blue eyes blazed, his posture rigid; he just looked pissed-off.

As soon as he began to talk, everyone shut up and paid attention, as if the man were speaking some sort of gospel. “I tasked Zip with keeping tabs on Yanez, which is why this is his first time back with us in a few days. The day that vile fucker and Carrillo walked out of here, I’d been given assurances we were free and clear from the cartel, as well as the fact Carrillo was going to immediately cut the Reapers out of whatever deal they’d had with them. No more supply, which means no more money funneling into that cesspool of a club.”

There was only a small group of men in the club at the time when Yanez and Carrillo visited, so not too many were aware of the chaos that ensued as soon as Marek had learned what Yanez had done to Sully. But word traveled fast, and I had no doubt every member sitting around the table found out what had happened.

“Yanez has to die. Plain and simple,” Marek said, rage blossoming behind his eyes again. If Carrillo’s right-hand man didn’t cease to exist soon, I feared my best friend was gonna go off the deep end.

“You know if we just up and kill him, there will be a shit storm raining down on us faster than we can prepare for it,” Cutter yelled out, slapping his hand against the table.

“Yeah,” a few of the other men grumbled. While they would have the prez’s back, no questions asked, they were looking forward to the days ahead. Days of not having to worry about the DEA knocking down our door. Or our biggest enemy trying to pick us off one by one. Everyone realized breaking free from the cartel, and having them cut the Reapers off, was the best thing to happen to us in a very long time.

Marek had a vision for how he wanted to lead the club, and while some griped about not being able to earn as much without running the cartel’s drugs, they quickly came to realize we would be just fine. Yes, we would have to scale back a bit, but there was no reason we couldn’t indulge now and again. Our businesses would make us enough money to keep us afloat . . . and then some.

Flings was quite prosperous, and the new titty bar would be too. The Underground was sort of a wash, but at least we weren’t losing money there. Marek had talked about getting into other businesses as well. Maybe a few more bars scattered around the local area. Booze and pussy would certainly be our biggest moneymakers.

“I know,” our leader agreed. “That’s why we have to catch him going behind Carrillo’s back. There’s no way that greedy fuck isn’t gonna make some shady-ass deal with the Reapers, and when he does, we’ll be there to catch him. Then I’ll take it to his boss.” Swiping his palms against each other, he said, “And that will be that. The cartel can’t afford to have such disloyal people in their midst. When they find one, they get rid of him. I just have to convince Carrillo to let me have Yanez, with the promise to dispose of him.” Leaning back in his chair, he huffed out a breath before slamming his fist on the table. “But only
after
I make him pay for what he did.”

There was a lot of nodding, everyone in agreement of what was laid out before us.

Turning my attention toward Zip, I asked, “Did you see anything when you were watching Yanez?” I knew if it were anything substantial, we would’ve already been on our way to see Carrillo, but at that point any information we could gather on the bastard would be better than nothing.

“Not too much so far. He’s gone to meet with his boss a few times, as well as some guy I didn’t recognize, but other than that he’s been keeping a rather low profile,” Zip answered. I could tell by the look on the kid’s face, and the way he carried himself, he’d been honored that Marek had appointed him to follow the guy. Zip always went above and beyond to prove his loyalty to the club because his father had turned out to be a rat, and he didn’t want to be known as the same. So tailing someone who was so important to Marek was of the highest honor in Zip’s eyes. His green eyes gleamed proudly, his chest puffing out like a proud peacock. But I couldn’t blame him. Not one bit.

At the same time I asked what the other guy looked like, Zip pulled his phone from his cut and flipped it open. Not long afterward, he shoved his phone toward Marek, showing him a picture of the mystery man.

“Motherfucker!” he shouted. Passing me the phone, I saw immediately who he was referring to.

The man looking pleased as all hell shaking hands with Rico Yanez was none other than Sam Koritz, the DEA agent who’d raided our club a few months back. We knew he was dirty, so I wasn’t sure why we were surprised he was in bed with the cartel. While we could certainly find a way to use this information to our advantage, the real connection we had to make was between Yanez and Psych, the leader of the Reapers. Sully’s father. Only then could we convince Carrillo to hand over his man.

“Fuckin’ Koritz!” Trigger shouted, passing the phone from one person to the next. Every one of the men was onboard with getting rid of the DEA agent for good. He’d caused too much heartache for our club. It was one thing for a man of the law to come after us because we lived on the other side of said law, but for a crooked bastard to do the same was inexcusable.