Shady: MC Romance (16 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Shady stepped into the main room at the clubhouse and squinted. The lights were still dimmed because it was five in the morning. She was jazzed and the guys were getting ready to do what they had to do today. If she stayed with them, she would demand to go. She needed to get this shit over. The thoughts and dreams she was having was fuckin' with her head.

She walked to the bar and began to make coffee for the club; the rest of the guys would be trickling down soon. Since she had left the third floor of the clubhouse where her old room was, she had not been back. It seemed weird not to live there anymore, mostly because she had a door to her room now. Before, when they all lived on the third floor, everything was open.

Raven was the first to come down the stairs and he paused and then came to her when she was leaning against the bar.

“Hey, girl,” Raven said and kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes, yeah, this is what she missed. Not the sex, but the feeling of connection with all the guys. She wondered briefly if Cajun and Slider would understand that, they would have too.

“Hey,” Shady said, she hadn’t spoken to any of the guys since she had revealed what happened to her when she was young. She had avoided it.

“You doing okay?” Raven asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

She was silent for a few minutes and then looked at him. “No, but I am hoping that we can get this shit sorted. I hate that it has come to the club's doorstep.”

“Sweetheart,” Raven said softly. “If I would have known all this shit had happened, I would have dealt with the prick a long time ago. You know the guys all feel the same, you are family. What fuckin' happens to you happens to us.”

Shady nodded slowly, she heard them all say it, but it wasn’t filtering through her head, at least it hadn’t, for some reason this morning it was. She felt the tears gather in her eyes and she fought it. She wasn’t wasting another tear on that motherfucker.

“Thanks,” she said softly and then she heard Shark and Kink come into the room. Raven turned to the guys and nodded.

“What’s up?” Shark said and went to get his cup of coffee.

“Talking to Shay about shit.” Raven shrugged and Kink kissed her on the forehead too before he got a cup of coffee.

This is what she needed; she needed to be with her friends, feel the family connection they had developed. Since she had stopped sleeping with any of them, they had begun to treat her like a sister. Now she couldn’t even think about them in a sexual way. It was strange but it was what it was. Didn’t matter what happened in the past, it was the present they dealt with.

“Do you need anything?” Shark asked quietly.

“No, I think I just need to get this shit over with, you know. I haven’t moved on, and I am ready to finally,” Shady said and looked at the guys who she loved like brothers.

“Good, I know Cajun and Slider will help you with anything like that. But you know if you need anything, even to fucking go to the range and let off some steam. You ask,” Kink said and the others nodded.

She smiled and kissed them all on the cheek. “I love you, guys.”

“Sweetheart,” Raven said and pointed to the door. “We love you too, but seriously, we want to live to see another day and your guys are looking a little pissed right now.”

Shady turned and saw Slider and Cajun stalking across the large room. When they reached her, Slider pulled her into his arms first and kissed her. His lips were hard and demanding and she wrapped her arms around him and held on as he ravaged her mouth.

She opened her mouth to him and he took advantage, branding her as his. When he released her suddenly, she was a bit off balance but Cajun turned her and kissed her soundly as well. She was out of breath and more than a little turned on at that point.

“Babe,” Cajun said against her lips.

“Yeah?” Shady asked.

“Don’t touch anyone else,” Cajun said and she grinned.

Slider pressed up behind her and whispered into her neck before biting her gently, “You are ours, no one else’s.”

“Not sure I agreed to that yet,” she teased and Slider growled.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Nope,” Cajun agreed. “Next time we see your lips on anyone but ours, you are gonna earn some punishment.”

Shady snorted. “Yeah, not sure that is gonna work out for you.”

“Oh yeah?” Slider said and kissed her neck again.

“Yeah, remember I know how to break a dick.” Shady laughed and all of the men in the room groaned. When the guys released her, Shark was holding his crotch and shaking his head.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Shark said and looked at her with an astonished look.

“She researched it and everything,” Cajun laughed.

“Damn, woman,” Raven shivered.

“Just getting ready for my revenge,” Shady shrugged.

“Well, as long as you use it only on one person that’s okay. But seriously, Shady, that is some mean shit to tease about,” Kink grumbled and then looked around the room as the Bitches walked in. “Hey, did you all do that research too?”

Harmony smiled. “Well, I hadn’t, but the guys came in last night grumbling about it, so I checked it out. It is fucking awesome, good call, Shay. I sent the links to the girls, and we have all read it.”

“Yeah,” Bob said with a gruff voice. “And if you all piss me off on the road again like last time, I will not hesitate to break that shit off.”

“Come on,” Raven whined. “Why did you guys have to learn all that shit?”

Freedom clapped her hands and smiled. “'Cause it was awesome to see the look on my men’s faces when I asked to practice on them. Easy was not a happy camper. Poke told me if I broke it, I wouldn’t get to enjoy it.”

“You women are vicious,” Cajun said.

“And don’t you forget it.” Shady grinned and the guys shook their heads.

Soon everyone from the club was up and moving around. They all had jobs to complete for the day before the shit went down. Shady and the girls were going to Bitches and get everything set up. Their security today was Thick and Tiny, plus three other Prospects were already there, and Kink, Shark, and Poke were going with them.

The mood in the main room was hopeful. Everyone was chatting and drinking their coffee when Creed and Fork walked in. The looks on their faces made the entire room pause and take a deep breath. Shady stood and waited for the blow. There was something wrong.

Creed cleared his throat, held up his hand, and looked around the room.

“Don’t normally do this, but since all the Bitches are here and none of the other women we need to have a joint club meeting. Things are going down fast, Shay, Cajun, and Slider, can you come into the meeting room? I will send for the rest of you when we are ready. No one is to leave or come into the clubhouse until further notice.”

Every looked puzzled but agreed. Harmony walked to her men and whispered something in Fork’s ear. Shady watched closely to see if there was an indication of what was going on. Harmony frowned and then nodded and went back to the table she was sitting at.

They walked down the hallway, Shady walked alone, it was the way she wanted. She was trying to distance herself and brace herself for what was coming. For some reason she knew that whatever it was, it was going to change a lot of shit.

As they entered in the meeting room, she saw two things that made her almost turn around and leave. One was a computer with pictures of her when she was young, she had no idea where the fuck they got them, and the other was Fish, the DA in town. Something was seriously wrong.

“Hey, Fish,” Shady said slowly.

“Shay, honey,” Fish said and stood. He didn’t come out to the club much even though he was a member. They didn’t broadcast that he was one of the original members. Hell, the man was a hellraiser when he wanted to be.

“Slider and Cajun, this is Fish,” Creed said slowly and Slider nodded and shook his hand.

“Met him a few years ago,” Slider said and Cajun stepped up and shook his hand.

“Good to meet you,” Cajun said.

“Why do we need a lawyer here?” Shady asked.

“Because we asked his investigators to look into something for us. We didn’t tell Harmony about it, so no worries,” Fork said quickly and then pushed them all further into the room until they were all seated at the table.

She sat stiffly in her chair with Slider and Cajun on either side of her. The others were across the table looking a tad bit uncomfortable.

“Shay, we need to talk about your parents,” Creed said gently.

“Why?” Shady asked and both of the men put a hand on her legs. She hadn’t noticed she was bouncing them, and apparently, this made everyone in the room nervous.

“Do you know your biological father’s name?” Fish asked curiously.

Shady frowned and looked at the guys across the table. “My biological father? He died, my mother refused to talk about him because she said he left us with nothing. When she met Reyes, I was told he was my father now, because he adopted me.”

Fish was shaking his head. “He didn’t adopt you.”

“I have the papers, when I ran I didn’t have anything to prove who I was. Creed and Fork helped me apply for my birth certificate. When it came, there were adoption papers,” Shady argued and Creed nodded.

“I know what was sent, and yeah they applied for it but it was not legal. The paperwork would never stand up in a court of law. If we had the actual application Reyes and your mother sent in, it says that your father signed his parental rights away. Because your father didn’t die until you were five, a year after Reyes married your mother and adopted you,” Creed explained and Shady leaned back in her chair and was stunned.

“What?” she whispered.

Fish turned the computer further, so Shady and the guys could all see what was on the screen. Her mouth dropped open when she saw the pictures of her when she was a baby. Her mother and a man she had never seen were together, holding her, and they looked happy. The man had blond hair and blue eyes much like her own. The pictures ranged from infant to toddler until suddenly the man disappeared and there were only pictures of her mother looking extremely unhappy. Only a few though, and then Reyes and Dom were there.

“Who is that man?” she whispered and then cleared her throat and spoke louder, “I have never seen him before, my mother never showed me these pictures that I remember.”

“That is your biological father, who yes, passed away, he died from a car accident.” Fish cleared his throat. “It was under suspicious circumstances, the file is still open.”

“What do you mean suspicious?” Cajun growled.

Creed leaned forward and said, “He was a perfectly healthy man. No issues, no problems. Then he had a heart attack. The coroner couldn’t find one good reason why he had a heart attack so he tested further; there was a trace of a drug they couldn’t identify. Because of that they labeled it suspicious.”

Shady frowned and looked at Slider and Cajun then back at the computer. “I don’t get it.”

“What don’t you get?” Fish said.

“Why would they kill him? I mean anyone? Mom was gone apparently, she left him for some reason,” Shady said. She knew they were trying to tell her something, but she wasn’t sure how it pertained to what was going on right now. She also didn’t get why the fuck they were bringing this up now? It wasn’t making sense to her.

Creed, Fork, and Fish looked at each other, and they shifted uncomfortably. It had to be the first time it looked like they didn’t want to tell her something, which made her nervous. They told her crappy news all the time without blinking, about the mine, the club, Bitches, why was this different.

“Spit it out, guys,” she said impatiently.

“Fuck, Shay,” Fork said slowly and finally he is the one who told her what she needed to hear.

“Your father’s name was Richard Styles,” Fork started and she nodded. “He wasn’t your run of the mill dude off the street, Shay. His father was one of the richest men in the world before he died. Owned oil, I mean a fuck of a lot of oil. Your father took over the business when his father died. The business has always been in the family, four generations of Styles have run the company. Your father was an only child. Your mother left your father, but we have no indication of when or why. Suddenly you were gone. Your mom never filed for divorce or separation. No pre-nup was signed, and your father was very clear in his will who the company was going to if he passed away. Your mother was to receive a stipend until she passed away but the bulk of his estate was left to his only child, you.”

Shady sucked in a breath and looked at the screen again. At least she now knew where her blue eyes came from, they were just like her father's. Her dark hair and skin that looked sun kissed came from her mother but Angela had had green eyes. She looked back to the men. She had no idea what to say about this turn of events. First, she hadn’t even known her father, but for some reason the thought of him being alive when she thought he was dead made her feel ill. Second, it also made her more than a little pissed off to think that her mother had somehow thought it was okay to not tell her about her father. The rage was beginning to build and it sky rocketed at Creed's next words.

“From what we could try to piece together, Reyes knows about the will. He knew that you were set to inherit a large sum of money when the trust, which was set up, expired. We are looking into why your mother truly left your father. Some people have actually questioned the timing of him leaving. Also, your father said your mother was very happy and content and then suddenly disappeared. There was no fight or huge issue at the time of her disappearance,” Creed said and Shady narrowed her eyes, because she saw something else in them, something she knew she was so not going to like.

Fork took over the explanation again. “Honey,” he said, drawing her eyes to him and she turned and braced herself for the blow she knew was coming. “We had the investigators send out their trackers. Reyes is holed up in a small town just over the border in Mexico. He has been keeping a low profile, but a man who likes the creature comforts like he does couldn’t stay completely hidden for long. The thing is, your mom hasn't been seen for over a year.”