“I can’t be what they want me to be.” She says with tears in her eyes.

“You already are.” I laugh. “Lauren, why are you so scared?”

“Are you forgetting that not too long ago what a bitch I was? I can’t be a role model to all these girls! I don’t want them to turn out like me.”

She looks really panicked and I squeeze onto her hand. “Lauren, I didn’t know that girl and I never will. She’s long gone and you’re an amazing person. These girls would be so lucky to be anything like you. You want to know why?” I ask her.

“Why?” She sniffles and I have to hide my smile. She doesn’t even know how adorable she looks right now. She has no idea how strong she is, these bratty teenagers would be lucky to anything like her!

“Lauren, you’re one of the best people I know. You’ve been through the worst crap and come out amazingly. You have to see that.” I plead. Lauren gives me a sad smile and then leaps into my arms. After a couple of minutes we begin to laugh.

“Thank you.” She wipes her tears.

“For what?” I ask, wiping my own tears.

“For being my best friend.” She simply answers.

“Exactly, if I was the same person I was before I met you, you wouldn’t have wanted me as your best friend.” I joke. At that we both burst out laughing however, when Devlin walks by with a few more club members, I stop. Devlin doesn’t see me, he’s too busy talking quickly amongst the men as they hurriedly walk by, but Lauren notices that I am no longer laughing along with her and that my attention is elsewhere.

“So, you and Devlin.” Lauren wiggles her eyebrows. I take my eyes from Devlin and look at Lauren. “There is no me and Devlin.”

“Ok then.” Lauren mocks me.

I’m about to reply, when Devlin’s laugh erupts through the whole room as he walks out. That sound does crazy shit to me, I can’t even explain it. When Devlin has left, I look back to Lauren and see her smug face grinning at me and I roll my eyes. She may be right, but she doesn’t have to know that.

“Hello ladies!” Drew practically skips over with a big smile on her face.

“Hi.” I eagerly talk to her, trying to take Laurens focus from Devlin.

“What are you two up to?” Asks Drew.

“Catching up with the old ladies.” Lauren answers and I’m worried she’ll drop Devlin’s name in.

“You seem pretty happy.” I observe.

“Do I?” Drew asks, but I know it’s no shock I pointed this out as she smiles and flicks her hair around. “I’ve had a chat with dad.”

“About your tattoos?” Lauren asks.

Drew nods. “I took Devlins advice. Dad wasn’t happy that I’ve been lying but he’s better now that I’ve spoken to him. He’s even going to help me break the news to mum.”

“That’s great!” I answer.

“What do you think she’s going to say?” Lauren asks.

“I really don’t know.” Drew sighs. “She doesn’t care about my brothers, just me. She’s made it pretty clear she thinks tattoos are more of a man’s thing than a woman’s.”

“You’ll be fine.” I wrap my arm around her.

“She just has to understand you are your own person.” Lauren adds.

There’s a couple of minutes of silence and I know Drew’s good mood is falling from her chat with her dad. I need to cheer her up.

“I’ve been thinking about the idea of us working together.” I begin.

As soon as I speak the words she jumps up and smiles broadly. “Oh my god me too!”

“I’ve even found the perfect spot.” I quickly add. “It’s just around the corner, and not too expensive.”

“That’s great, because I spoke to my dad about it and him and Devlin think it’s an amazing idea!” Drew claps.

“Devlin?” I ask.

“Yeah, he was with me when I was speaking to my dad. They don’t like me working in the bar, so I’m not surprised but what shocked me was that they said the club will pay!” She squeals.

“No!” I gasp.

“Yes!” She screams. “Devlin said it would be a great addition to the other businesses they own. We would be in charge of course, my dad just said we need to sort the money situation out.”

“Money situation?” I ask.

“Yeah, they don’t want anything back, but just said to sort how to split the earnings.” Drew explains.

“That’s amazing.” I can’t believe the club would do this for us. I’m not used to this kind of kindness.

“Congratulations girls.” Lauren smiles.

“I say we need another celebration night.” Drew grins.

“I agree to that. What about you Tash?” Lauren smirks in my direction. The sneaky bitch.

“Count me in.” I smile to Drew because the smug look on Lauren’s face is annoying to look at. She’s lucky I love her so much.

After Drew left my father’s office, we spoke in great detail about what happened at the house we found the Devil Spawn hiding. We needed payback for what they did to Lauren, Natasha and Elise. These girls are family and all mean a lot to us. Lauren is not only my brothers’ old lady, but she’s the woman of the clubs Vice President. That makes it even more important to us. Elise is my cousin and is therefore family by blood and Natasha is a whole other story. I want revenge for the three of them as much as everyone else. Grim is busy, so I have the joy to deliver the news to our dear dad.

“Do you have Strike?” He asks me.

I have to answer him honestly. “No.”

His face is furious. “What the fuck Dev?”

“He got away!” I shout back.

“I don’t give a shit! He needs to pay for what he did to our girls!” He kicks the table, making it fall over with everything on top of it.

“We got three of his men.” I say, hoping to calm him.

My dad stills, heavily breathing as he takes in my news. “That will do for now.”

“Grim is seeing to them now.” I let him know, hoping he understands what I’m not admitting out loud.

With a heavy sigh he gives me a small smile. “Make sure your brother doesn’t kill them all. We need some info before he does.”

I go to turn around and join Grim with the captured Devils, but my dad stops me. “The Devil Spawn need to pay for what they did. All of them will die.”

With a quick nod I leave his office. Something doesn’t feel right to me, I don’t know what it is but I can feel it. Why did Strike know to make a run for it?

He couldn’t have been that lucky to get out that fast. We had the shitty little house surrounded. When we stormed in he was my main focus. I need to end Strike, Natasha hasn’t exactly told me what went on while she was in the Devils hands but Elise has. She gave me few details after I begged and what she told me I didn’t like. Strike seemed to like Natasha as his little play thing, even more so before Lauren showed up and they shared his fucked up desires. Just thinking about it boils my blood.

What men were left in the house had a beating from me and the rest of the club. God it felt good to kick them to the ground. It turned dirty as expected and shots were fired, some Devils members died but thankfully no Kings were harmed. The only surviving Devil members were brought back to the clubhouse with us for information. We won’t relax until every last Devil is dead. No Kings woman will be touched and that needs to be made crystal clear. If it was up to me every last Devil member would be dead but my dad wanted some men for questioning because we desperately need to put an end to Strike. That’s why my dad is president because he thinks, and that’s why Grim is second in line because not only is he the oldest but his brain works the same as dads and that’s what we need in a club president.

As I’m walking towards the warehouse where the Devils members are waiting with Grim and the others, Spliff and Menace chase me down and walk together. We quietly talk as we go through the clubhouse and I spot Natasha at the corner of my eye as she sits with the girls but I can’t let her distract me right now. I’m in business mode and I will chase her down when I’ve done.