Healing Gabe (Last Hangman MC Book 3) (13 page)

“A true Brother.” Ray nods along with the rest of us.

“We’re going to have to rely on what your man inside can tell us about what’s going to happen and when they are going to strike.” Ant says to Sanders. “We need to have the upper hand for this to work out in our favor, and when I say our, I mean all three clubs. Despite some of you not approving of the alliance, I’m glad it went down without any trouble. We need to stay focused and keep it together to make sure we can overpower them.”

“In the meantime, I’ll keep you guys updated as much as I can, both from my man on the inside and from the station. I know most of the cops are corrupt, but a few are trying to shut the Kings’ down too, but the local authorities are fucking careful with what they do and how they do it. The Kings’ use wannabes or prospects to do their dirty jobs so it never falls on them. They are smart but we need to be smarter about the way we take them down. Y’all should keep a close eye on your women. It’s what they do. Their major play will be to attack our women to weaken us and make us lose focus.” Sanders says and a few grunts are heard.

I can’t help myself and have to speak my mind. “We need to make sure we are a tight group. If anyone wants to back out of this alliance after today, then do it now or you’re in for the long haul.” Ant, Ray and Ric nod in my direction. Now, I’m not the Prez but it feels good that they all validate my opinion. A few look at each other, gauging what each other’s reactions will be but in the end, they all stay true to their club.

Ant hits the gavel and we all leave the Chapel, heading straight to the bar. I want to go check on Viv but I need to come down from the high I’m experiencing after killing a bunch of fucking assholes.

After a few hours of chilling and drinking, I’m heading out to my bike to head to Viv’s place when my phone rings. I answer my phone and am instantly transported back twelve years.
Fucking hell!

CHAPTER 15

Viv

I wake up to an empty bed and sigh. I don't know what I was expecting. Clearly, we weren’t thinking about the same thing when I agreed to his friends with benefits thing. I lamely cuddle his pillow and breathe in deeply. He smells of pure man mixed with something spicy.
So freaking good.
I don't know where he went but I'm guessing he's not coming back, seeing as all his stuff is gone and the house is eerily quiet.

I grab my phone from the nightstand and find a piece of paper under it with his handwriting on it. I chuckle to myself seeing that he used last night’s receipt to write me a note. The note is so Gabe, straight to the point.

Doll,

Got shit to do. Will see you later or tomorrow. Stay safe. Bennett is staying with you to make sure you’re safe. Don't even think about escaping him.

G.

I wonder what's going on with the club that would make him ask one of his brothers to babysit me.
Whatever it is,
it can't be good.
I hope that it’s safe and that it has nothing to do with the Kings. I don't want anything to happen to him. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself because it would be my fault for coming back in the first place.

I get up and freshen up in the bathroom before heading downstairs to make coffee. I’ve never met Bennett but I'm not going to be a bitch to him. Well, unless he is being a dick to me, of course. I start on the coffee and head out the door.

“Viv?” I jump slightly. I look around and see someone sitting on his bike on the side of the driveway that's hidden by rose bushes. “Sorry, didn't mean to startle you.” He chuckles.

“Good to know. Yes it's me, you’re Bennett I take it?”

“That'd be me.” He grins widely at me and walks towards me.

“How can I be sure though?” I raise my eyebrow at him.

“Wanna see some ID?” He raises his eyebrow back at me, clearly amused by this situation. I’m too tired to find it amusing, I need some coffee in me.

“How can I be sure it's a real one?” I cross my arms over my chest.

“Gabe mentioned you would bust my balls.” He chuckles.

“That's me, Viv the ball buster.” I say dramatically and we both chuckle.

“Nice to meet you, I'm Bennett, the guy who’s going to get his ass kicked by Gabe if you don't let me in to keep you safe.”

“That's one hell of a name, and we wouldn’t want that now would we?” I smirk playfully.

“No, we wouldn’t.” He chuckles, shaking his head.

“Care for some coffee?”

“Always” He smiles. “I brought breakfast too.” He pulls a pastry paper bag out of his saddle bags and hands it to me. I peek inside and nearly drool.

“Red Velvet donuts. You do know the way to a woman’s heart Bennett” I grin and walk in the house, cradling the bag to my chest.

“I do know a thing or two.” He chuckles, following me inside.

“Smart ass.” I grin, practically running to the kitchen, setting the donuts on a plate and pouring us two mugs of coffee. “How do you take your coffee?”

“One sugar, please.” He brings the plate over to the bar table and sits down waiting for me.

“Coming up.” I fix our coffees. His with a sugar, mine with hazelnut creamer and bring them to the table, taking the seat across from him.

“How have you been?” He looks at me as if we know each other.

“Uh, good? Do we know each other?” I look at him and he starts fidgeting.

“Kinda.”

“Do tell.”

He sighs “Our parents used to be friends. We used to play together when we were babies.”

“Seriously?” I look at him dumbfounded.

“Yes, I was five when we moved away to Texas. I came back here three years ago.”

“Wow, I can't believe I don't remember you.” I pout and he chuckles.

“That was over twenty years ago, so don't feel too bad about it. No one else knows it besides Cabe.”

“How come Ant doesn't know?” I say before taking a big bite of Red Velvet goodness.

“I don't know, I didn't want to bother him with that. Things ended well when my parents moved. They joined one of the Hangman’s charters, so stayed within the family but I don't know. I didn’t want him to think differently of me being in another charter.”

“I don’t see why he would think of you differently. You were in one of the Hangman’s charters. He must know anyway and if he had a problem with it, you’d either be six feet under or never have made it into the club.”

“Probably, I'll talk to him about it one of these days.”

“You should.” I grin and think around a mouthful of donut. “I need to hunt for pictures from when we were little.”

“You share them and things won't go well between us.” He glares at me.

“Ha, whatever, you don't scare me.” I shrug and grin.

“Damn women.”

“Damn right! So, why did Gabe leave you to keep an eye on me?”

“Can't tell you, Gorgeous.”

“Why not?” I pout giving him my best puppy dog eyes.

“Not working and you know damn well why I can't tell you.”

“You suck!” I stick my tongue at him, very childish, I know.

“Nah, you do the sucking. I do the licking” He waggles his eyebrows, I nearly choke on my coffee.

“Dickhead!”

“And proud!” I glare at him and take an angry bite of my donut. “So, what are you planning to do? Stick around and find a job or move away again?” I look at him, stunned by his bluntness.

“Gabe put you up to this?”

“No, I'm just curious.” He shrugs.

“Well, I'm still debating. I'm not sure if it's a good idea for me to stay, but if I do, I want to open my own bar.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it's been a dream of mine and my dad’s for as long as I can remember.”

“I remember we used to play bar all the time!” He shouts and I look at him, realizing I do remember him.

“Oh my God! Yes, I remember that!”

“Finally!” He chuckles

“Sorry! Been a while and a lot has happened.”

“I know.” he says sadly. “Is that why you are not sure of staying?”

“No, well, maybe a little but I don’t know where I stand with Gabe and with the memories in this house, with Annie and my parents.” I sigh.

“I don't know what happened, but what I do know is that Gabe is scared shitless of losing you and doesn't want to take any chances on losing you. No matter how much of a dickhead he can be, he loves you, he's just too chicken shit to admit it.”

“Amen to that.” I grin softly.

“He’ll come around, don’t worry.”

“I hope so.”

“Enough of the moping around, how about we go on a little adventure?” He grins at me like a tit.

“What kind of adventure and where?” I look at him, not sure if I trust him or not.

“Bar hunting. I know a couple of places for sale that could be used to make a cool ass bar.”

“Are you serious?” I look at him surprised.

“Yeah! I don't want to spend the day sitting around and I'm sure you don't either, so why not go on a road trip and look around. I'll have you home before Gabe shows up, pinky promise.” He holds up his pinky finger and I burst out laughing slapping his hand away “You’re crazy, you know that, right?”

“That's why all the ladies love me.” He grins.

“Cocky much?”

“Very much” He smirks.

“Dickhead.” I grin innocently “Yeah, driving around sounds fun, but I'm not getting on your bike.”

“Why not?” He frowns.

“Well, I don't think you want to mess up that pretty face of yours. If Gabe knows I was on the back of your bike, he'll beat you to a pulp.”

“Damnit, you’re right.” He sighs.

“Aren't I always?” I smirk and hop off my stool as someone rings the doorbell. I walk to the door and take a step backward as I open it, a fucking Rottweiler jumps on me followed by a Corgi, Ayden and Nicole. “What the fuck?” I giggle nervously, trying to escape the onslaught of love from the Rottweiler and Corgi. I’m more of a cat person, I don't mind dogs, love the small ones but am scared shitless of the big ones and I have a huge one trying to lick my face off.

“Kayla! Be nice!” Ayd says to the Rottweiler and I shudder when it gets on his hind legs and licks my face.

“Eewww, that's gross!” I frown

“She's still a puppy and very playful, she won't hurt you.” Ayd reassures me.

“Won't hurt you my ass.” Bennett mutters, before he and Kayla have a stare down, with the puppy snorting and strutting away to the kitchen.

“Ah, Bennett, she loves you, really.” Ayd and Nicole burst out laughing.

“Yeah, yeah, bite me.” Bennett mumbles.

“What's the story?” I ask needing to know.

“Not worth telling.” He glares at Ayd.

“I wanna know too,” Nicole chimes in.

“Sorry, but majority rules. This little one chased him down our street, not that long ago.” Ayd grins clearly proud of her dog. Bennett swears under his breath as Nicole and I burst into fits of laughter until tears stream down our faces. Bennett is really tall with huge muscles, a beard and the sexiest ass ever. He could literally crush Kayla, but he’s scared of her.

“Aww man, I would have come back home sooner to see that!” I pout.

“Careful.” He glares at me and smirks.

“You two know each other?” Ayd looks curiously at the two of us.

“We did when we were little, before I moved away, you and Ant were too young to remember me.” he says looking nervous, expecting a bad reaction from Ayd.

“That’s awesome!” she exclaims grinning wide. “I can’t wait to see the baby pictures.”

“That’s my mission tomorrow, come back here and hunt the pictures down. Talking about babies, where is your little man?” I ask Ayd.

“My Mom is watching him. Why tomorrow?” She looks at me confused.

“This one right here, offered to take me on a bar hunt.”

“Bar hunt?” Nicole is the one looking confused.

“I’ve always wanted to open up my own bar. He offered to take me around town to see available places.” I grin.

“Ohhhh, can we come?” Nicole grins excited.

“Oh, fuck me!” Bennett groans.

“Sorry, Ben, you’re not my type,” Nic says dramatically.

“Thank God! Gabe’s already going to be busting my balls about Viv, I don’t want him to want to break my neck because of you!”

“I wouldn’t be worried about Gabe, you couldn’t handle me!” Nicole retorts.

“How about we find the pictures and then go on the bar hunt?”

“Good idea. That way he can’t come back later and hide or sneak them all out.” I glare at him.

“Busted.” He grins innocently. “I actually do want to see those pictures. It’s been so long.”

“It has.” I smile softly and we all head upstairs, looking in all the rooms for any photo album or boxes.

After finding the pictures and another round of coffee and finishing the donuts, we all get on the road, Ben and I in my car. Nic, Ayd and the puppies follow in Ayd’s car. I’m glad that we’ll be out of the house for a while. I could use the distraction instead of driving myself crazy worrying about Gabe and what he’s doing, I don’t need the added stress.

I should have thought about the MC lifestyle before getting involved in any kind of relationship with Gabe. Sure, there are a lot of positives, you have a huge ass family, everybody loves each other and helps each other out, like a big community. When we all hang out together, we always have a good time and when the whole club goes out for rides with the women, it’s even more fun. But the bad aspects can sometime overwhelm the good. Never knowing if your man is going to come back to you alive and in one piece, if he’s going to be arrested or framed and be locked up for years and then there’s the emotional stress. The taking lives and having to do things they might not agree with. I know the Last Hangman are not as bad as most clubs but after a while, it’s bound to have an effect on the members.

A part of me wishes I had thought hard about the problems with being with a biker, but the other part is embracing this life with arms wide open. I guess only time will tell, but I have a feeling that I’m not the only one who’s going to end up getting hurt.