Adversaries by T.L. Hodel

“Stop pulling my daughter into your crap!”

“Shut the fuck up, Derek,” I snarled into my phone, “I’m not pulling Riley in shit.”

“What do you think she’s going to do when she hears about this?”

“And how’s she going to hear about it?” He was lucky he wasn’t here, or I’d beat the attitude out of him. “The cops have no clue we were even there.”

Something I would’ve thanked Preston for if I didn’t want to knock his teeth in. The only reason I was having this conversation was because Dean Whitley chewed out Derek for his daughter getting shot at, which I assumed Preston told him about.

The fucking Order of Ravens and Wolves. Pompous fucks with their noses stuck in the air. I’d take my club over that bullshit any day.

“Micha goes to that school,” Derek shot back at me.

Speaking of pompous fucks…

Micha Kessler was next in line to lead the Order. Yeah, I kept my eye on them, just like I would any crooked bastard. Probably knew more about them than Riley’s friend Marnie, and she’d dug up some pretty good dirt.

The difference between her investigation and mine was I knew how criminals thought.

I just about hung up on my niece’s stepbrother when he told me my bloodline was part of their society. Why the fuck would I care? Then he informed me that I had a right to vote.

So, Tanner and I rolled back into town. Not to make sure things went the way Riley wanted, but to fuck up their perfect, pristine order. Of course, things didn’t go as planned. I got… distracted…

Tanner and I cocked a brow at the fountain to our left and then the house on the right. Derek’s wife’s house. I wouldn’t call it his house because he didn’t come from shit, and someone who owned a place this big, came from breeding stock better than his low rent ass.

Or they earned it in some unscrupulous manner. In my experience, people who had money didn’t get it selling kittens on a street corner.

While Paisley was the kind of woman who’d rescue stray animals, her first husband was the kind of prick that would watch them burn. Ryker Hudson would’ve poured the gasoline and tossed the match himself, all while making his wife witness her furry friends suffer.

That guy gave new meaning to the term sick fuck.

“Cheer up,” Tanner slapped his hand on my back, “we get to see our girl.”

That was true. I missed my niece, talked to Riley almost every day.

“Should we knock?”

I answered him by throwing the door open. We didn’t need to fucking knock. This was Riley’s house. Besides, seeing me saunter in like I owned the place would piss Derek off, and I was all about that shit.

Tanner’s gaze shifted around as he whistled, “Nice digs.”

“If you say so,” I snorted.

None of this fancy shit impressed me. Hardwood floors were still floors, and marble countertops were nothing more than polished up slabs of stone. Why waste the money when there were rocks outside and trees in the back?

“How many rooms you think they got in this place?”

I headed for the kitchen, where I could hear voices, “Too many.”

One good thing about Derek’s upgrade in social standing was that Riley could now get the education she deserved. I told her to take advantage of that. She whined and complained, but uptight schools like Ashworth had their advantages.

She’d get options other people didn’t simply because she graduated from there. Provided her boyfriend didn’t get in the way. Micha Kessler. I’d like to shove that boy’s nuts down his throat.

The Kesslers were a powerful family and the head of the Order of Ravens and Wolves. I was apparently the last of the wolves side. Whatever the fuck that meant?

That’s why I was here, to cast my vote for some crap initiation bullshit. Not because I gave a fuck about the Order, but because by claiming my right to vote, I’d put a chink in their perfect, pristine chain.

“You have to get her something nice.”

That high-pitched tone caused me to grumble under my breath. Of course, Naomi Prescott was here. How else was fate going to fuck with me?

I couldn’t get that snide little sneer out of my head. Let’s not even get started on how many times I jerked it to the image of her bent over my counter.

A pair of sparkling green eyes met mine as we entered the kitchen.

Speaking of shoving someone’s balls down their throat.

“Nice,” Logan Hudson’s lips curled, “got it.”

His smile spread as the two blondes bitching at him turned and looked at us.

My gaze narrowed on Logan and then Naomi. He was the one that called me here. If this fucker planned this shit, I wasn’t just going to feed him his nuts. I was gonna make him swallow the whole damn package.

“Damn,” Tanner was more focused on the smaller one wearing some fancy jeans and heels. “I’m definitely a fan of the kitchen.”

Her brow rose. “Is that your attempt at flirting?”

“Depends, is it working?”

The blonde sauntered forward, exaggerating the sway in her hips. Tanner was too blinded to notice that the bitch was up to no good. I could’ve knocked some sense into him, but why?

Cocky prick deserved whatever was coming. Fuck, most times, all he had to do was smile, and they were begging at his feet. It’d be nice to see him get shot down.

“Are you gonna give it to me, good, big boy?” she purred while dragging her finger down his chest.

Stupid fuck stepped in closer to her. “Oh yeah, baby, I’ll give it to you good.”

The only warning he got before her fist landed in his gut, was a tiny smirk.

“I’m going to find Logan a suit,” she sang and flipped her hair over her shoulder before strutting out of the room, leaving Tanner behind in a hunched-over heap.

“Fuck,” he coughed. “I think I’m in love.”

“You might want to stay away from that one,” Logan warned, “She’s psycho.”

Tanner beamed back at him. “I like psycho.”

Idiot.

I crossed my arms and glared back at Naomi. She could emphasize the curl in her lip all she wanted, but I saw her checking me out, staring hard at the ridges underneath my t-shirt. When I flexed my pecks just a little, her gaze snapped back up to mine.

“Can I help you?” she snarled.

“Still mouthy, I see.” I took a second to enjoy the red fabric wrapped around her curves. She’d look real good bouncing on my cock. Too bad she was an utter cunt. “Does Daddy know you’re out this late?”

Her only response was to lift her chin and strut out of the room. “I should go help, Ava.”

“You do that,” I growled over my shoulder.

Did she think ignoring me would piss me off? That I’d chase her down? This wasn’t fucking high school.

Logan hunched over, laughing. “That shit was fucking great.”

I couldn’t help but shake my head. Here I was in Derek Adams’s house with two idiots. One bent over in amusement, and the other groaning because a little girl hit him. All this so I could cast my vote for some stupid shit I didn’t give a fuck about.

How did my life turn out this way? I actually kind of missed that prissy bitch Naomi. At least with her, I could appreciate the view.

A thought I’d come to regret later when I got conned into a double date, and I kissed her. I just wanted to shut her the fuck up. Instead, I couldn’t get the way she tasted out of my mind.

Fucking peaches shouldn’t be so erotic.

“You remember Micha? Riley’s boyfriend.”Derek sang, pulling me back from the memory. “Do you know who he is?”

How could I forget? That prick was the whole reason I came back to the club. My niece was kidnapped because some sick fuck wanted to torment Micha and his crew of assholes.

“Yeah, I know who he fucking is. Did you forget who I am?” My criminal enterprise was the whole reason he disowned his sister.

“I know who you were. But you’re not that guy anymore, are you? What does your club have now, fifteen maybe twenty full-fledged members?”

I sighed because he was right.

Once upon a time, the Lost Souls meant something. We ruled this city and these streets. No one, and I mean no one, did anything in Miami without us knowing. On any given night, there’d be fifty to a hundred men in the clubhouse.

Now we were lucky to pull in twenty. The rockers on the back of these cuts should be worn with age, not clean and new, which most were. I could count the number of diamond one percent patches on one hand. It was a sad time for the Lost Souls, and one that was completely my fault.

“Micha’s not going to say anything.”

“You don’t know that,” Derek growled. “He tells her all kinds of shit…”

“Yeah, did he tell her what happened to her mother?”

That shut him up. As it should. Micha had his sights set on my niece at a young age. According to their society laws, he needed a contract signed by Derek to officially claim her, which Derek’s first wife was tortured to get. I may not be a good man.

Fuck, I probably had more blood on hands than Preston did–and that kid should be dripping blood–but if some prick did that shit to my wife, he wouldn’t be around to breathe another day.

‘You talk a big game son,’ my old man chuckled in the back of my head, ‘but your brother is still out there, breathing the same air.’

Rage fisted my hand on the table. His time will come.

‘When? After you’ve completely destroyed my club?’

Jax did that.

‘No, Chase, you did. You abandoned them when they needed you most.’

I swallowed back the guilt welling up in my chest and looked over at Tanner, who was flirting with a couple of sweet butts. In eight years, that kid never left my side. I used to tell him to fuck off and go home. Know what he said? Home was wherever I was.

My gaze swung over to Beast and his old lady playing a game of darts, then to Mannix who was perched across the room watching everyone. The three of them never lost faith in me.

I was dead to two and hiding with another, and what did they do when I called them in for backup? They got on their bikes and rolled into Ashen Springs. No questions or blame, just the bond of brotherhood. They deserved a better leader than me.

“Are you listening to me?” Derek yelled in my ear.

I was so done with this bullshit. The only reason I answered the phone was because I thought something might’ve happened to Riley.

“Don’t you have another kid, now?” I hissed. “Maybe you should go worry about her before she winds up worse than the first daughter you neglected.”

I could feel his hatred pouring in from the other end. “You don’t get to lecture me about parenting. My kid’s still alive.”

Ice poured through my veins as my entire body went completely riged.

“I’m going to do you a favor, Derek, and forget you said that. Now, I suggest you hang up before you open your yap and say something I can’t forget.”

“My sister…”

“I mean it, Derek,” I growled. “Don’t go there. You’re the one that gave up on her, not me.”

There were a lot of things I’d do for my niece, but if he kept pushing me, I’d make her an orphan.

“Fine,” he snarled like the little bitch he was, “but for the record, I never gave up on her. I just knew you’d get her killed.”

With that, he hung up.

I sat there for a second, letting the rage burn through me until I couldn’t take it anymore. With a loud roar, I shot out of my chair and flipped the table over.

The fun around me came to a grinding halt as wide eyes turned my way. I could feel them judging me, heard their thoughts drifting through the air. Has he finally lost it? Maybe this time, he’d actually pull the trigger.

Traitor.

Coward.

Widower.

“Fucking Jax!” I yelled and kicked over another table.

Everybody was staring at me, and it was so quiet I could hear the clink of dishes being washed in the back. That did nothing to calm my mood.

“What the fuck are you all doing, get out there!”

Within seconds they were all bustling to get out the door. All but three. Beast, Mannix, and Tanner.

“I want three Reaper’s heads on my table by midnight,” I called out after them.

Beast crossed his arms. “What are you doing?”

“What you wanted me to do,” I said, looking him right in the eyes. “I’m taking charge.”

If my brother wanted a war, I’d give him a fucking war. Tonight the streets would rain with Reaper blood.