“God, that would be even hotter,” Kadence fans herself, making Hunter groan. “I swear the further along I get in this pregnancy, the hornier I become,” she continues, not fazed Hunter is sitting with us. I laugh, but it’s forced, because I can’t get out of my head that what the boys have gone to do is a mistake. I just hope it doesn’t blow back on us.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Sy

“You want to do this?” Nix asks me again as we take the elevator up to the fifteenth floor to the office of Barton Associates‬, Inc‬. After making a phone call to Jesse, he got us the details we needed to pay the golden child, Chad Morre, a not so friendly visit. The entire ride over to Redwick, I could feel my temper rising. Between the visit from the sheriff’s department three weeks ago, the bar being questioned with its licensing last week and being fucked around numerous times with traffic violations, I know this fucker is messing with us.

“The fucker marked my woman, Nix. I’m gonna do this,” I declare, not giving a shit who is around when we walk through those doors. When I walked into Happy Chef and saw the finger marks on Holly’s arm, I saw red. It took everything in me not to blow my top in the diner. Who the hell does this asshole think he is? Knowing she also had a panic attack as a result of it pushed me over the edge. I couldn’t even talk to her; couldn’t calm myself down enough to comfort her the way she needed.

“Excuse me, do you have an appointment?” The young receptionist behind the desk stands as we walk out of the elevator and straight past her.

“Don’t need one. Chad is expecting us.”

“He’s not taking any visitors at the moment,” she calls out but it doesn’t stop us.

“Open up, motherfucker,” Nix shouts, pounding on the locked door. He doesn’t give him a chance to reply before kicking the door in.

“What the fuck,” Chad stands from behind his desk. “Kathy, call the police,” he orders, looking past us to the woman who followed us in.

“Don’t call the police, Kathy,” I tell her calmly. “Go sit down there.” I point to the sofa along the wall outside the office. “And don’t move.” She looks between the two of us, then must realize the right decision and obeys without a fuss.

“What the hell do you want, Knight?” he finally asks, knowing he has to deal with us without hiding behind his father or the law.

“Got your message,” Nix informs him, walking in and taking a seat in front of his big fancy-ass table. The office is a decent size for someone with Chad's experience. Two deep burgundy leather sofas sit either side of a glass coffee table in the center of the room and the far wall is lined with a glass bookshelf. Chad stays behind his desk, his jaw ticking as he assesses his options. I stay at the door, nowhere near as calm as Nix. I swear if I move a muscle right now, I'll fucking kill him.

“Yes, well, I hope you take it seriously.” The asshole swallows, trying to stay composed. Not so tough now, fucker.

“The only thing I’m taking seriously right now is you. You and your hands that were on my woman, motherfucker,” I say, stepping farther into the room. I want to go to him, smash his face down on his expensive fucking desk but this needs to be played out carefully.

“Listen, your woman has a mouth on her. I can’t be held responsible if she doesn’t know when to shut it.” His smug smile is all it takes to push me over the edge. So much for staying calm. I stalk toward him, watching as he retreats back at my approach. I’ll teach him how to shut it.

“You touch me and I’ll have you locked up.” He backs himself into the wall and tries to throw his weight around, but his threats mean nothing to me.

“I don’t think he gives a fuck, Chad,” Nix says behind me. My hand comes out fast, grabbing him around the throat and pulling him closer.

“You want to put your hands on anyone, you put them on me, asshole,” I sneer and smash his head back into the wall. He grabs his head in pain, which opens him up for an attack to the side. My fist connects with his ribs, doubling him over in pain. The hit doesn't make me feel better when my woman's arm is holding his mark, but it slows some of the anger speeding through my veins.

“This is your warning, Chad,” Nix says when I pull him up by the neck again, pinning him to the wall. His fist comes out, connecting with my kidney, but not hard enough to have me doubling over. He starts screaming so I shut him up with my forehead down on the bridge of his nose. Blood gushes out everywhere, with what I assume is now a broken nose.

“Let me try again. This is your final warning, Chad. You need to forget about your wife, about the Knights Rebels and you need to forget we were even here. Because if you fuck with us again, fuck with our places of work, or if one hair on my wife or Sy’s woman’s head is touched, the next visit will end differently. Do you understand?” Nix asks, still sitting casually in the chair, arms crossed and looking like he’s enjoying Chad’s position.

Chad holds my gaze as his blood pours from his nose.

“I will find my wife. Fuck you both.” It’s official. The motherfucker is a dumb fuck.

My mind doesn’t think. Dragging him forward by the scruff of his shirt, I spin and use all my power, throwing him through the glass bookshelf against the wall.

“Wrong answer, asshole,” I spit out as he looks up at me, dazed. My boot comes to his throat and digs in a little bit harder. “Do you fucking understand?” I repeat Nix’s question.

“Yes,” he spurts out.

“I didn’t fucking hear you.”

“Yes!” he shouts louder and I release my boot.

“Good, glad we could come to an agreement,” Nix says, standing.

“We’ll see ourselves out,” I state, leaving him in a puddle of his own blood. We walk out, past the poor woman on the sofa.

“Is he dead?” she asks nervously.

“No, he just had a fall. Just clean him up and he’ll sort the rest out,” I say, leaving her with the mess. I don’t know if what we just did was wise, but the fucker touched my woman. I don’t give a fuck who he is. He’s going to deal with me.

“You okay, Sy?” Nix asks, watching me closely when we get downstairs and mount our rides to head back to the girls. He's never seen me lose my cool before. He missed the day I put a bullet through Zane's head. I might not have been able to stop Zane from hurting my girl, but I'll be damned if I let it happen again. No one is taking my sunshine.

“Never felt better,” I reply.

***

“So, next order of business is we need to vote on patchin’ in Hunter. We keep putting that shit off and he’s getting antsy,” Nix says the next afternoon in our church meeting. After Nix and I paid Chad a visit, we came back to the girls. Holly was keeping her shit together, and by the time I got back, there was no sign of the earlier panic. That didn't stop me from throwing her over my shoulder and taking her to my room to make sure she was okay. She was more concerned for the club and what Chad would do. So far there has been no retaliation from it. I hope Chad took the warning and realized he was messing with the wrong people, but something tells me he isn't smart enough. I saw it in his eyes when he was looking up at me with my boot pressed into his throat. The man is desperate, and angry men like that are dangerous.

“We knew this was coming, been talking about it for months, but with everything going on we haven’t had a chance to vote on it. Does anyone have any objections?” he asks the table.

“As long as he stops fucking feeding my woman alcohol to get her to flirt with him, I have no problem,” I joke. Fuck, again with the jokes. The boys look at me like I’ve grown a second head. Whether because I just cracked a joke or that I don’t have a problem with Hunter, I don’t know. But as much as the fucker pisses me off and I give him shit about it, I like him and trust his commitment to the club. He’s been a prospect for the last two years and he’s family. The boy grew up in the club. His family still lives and breathes the brotherhood so he knows the score.