Page 76 of Keys

We sat around talking about not much of anything with June and Jack for a while before Keys stood and told them that she needed to get back to work. I walked out with her and waited while she asked the girl sitting at the reception desk to see her family to the room they’d been assigned.

“Can you get me out of here? I don’t want to go back to the clubhouse either. I know the girls there will have too many fucking questions, and I don’t feel like being everyone’s sideshow tonight.”

“Do you want to head back to mine? We can bypass all the assholes and go straight back to my room.”

The easy smile I was used to seeing on her face made a resurgence as she teased me. “Back to your room, huh? You trying to make sure you end the night satisfied?”

“Just having you with me is satisfying after the time we had to spend apart. Anything else is a fucking bonus.”

“Shit,” she hissed before grabbing my hand and practically dragging me out of the Redemption Inc. offices.

It was disappointing when Keys took her own motorcycle to the clubhouse. Even though she had only been on the back of my bike a couple of times, I missed having her there when she couldn’t be.

“Just in case I need to leave, and you’re caught up in something,” she’d said before we left.

“The only thing I’ll be caught up in is you,” had been my reply. While she offered me a gorgeous smile in return, she still hopped on her own damn Harley and that left me following behind her with the wind on my back instead of her perfect fucking tits.

~*~

When we got to my clubhouse, I ushered Keys through the main area and straight back to my room. There was something I needed to do before she was able to hang out with the guys too.

“I’m going to grab us some drinks and shit. Make yourself comfortable and I’ll be right back.”

I didn’t wait for her response, instead I hightailed it out my bedroom like my ass was lit up with Fourth of July fireworks waiting to explode. Behind the bar, I grabbed a few drinks, dropped them in a bucket we used for ice, and then raided the snack bin that was back there too. When I glanced up from that, it was to see half my damn club staring me down.

“What?”

“You gonna tell us about your girl’s connection to the fucking human trafficking ring our Tallahassee boys are dealing with too?”

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to like that?” I asked the asshole, whose snidely asked question was about to earn him a beatdown. “Unless you want a fucking transfer to Upton Park, you need to check yourself, Block.”

“Where?” He asked, and it hit me then that I wasn’t in Cedar Falls, where the men would understand that I meant one of the local cemeteries. Fucking hell.

“Dead, Block, you’ll end up Dead.” Sweet was the one to answer for me. “That’s your VP you’re talking to.”

“Sorry, but I think we have a right to know what the hell is going on.”

“You have family in the joint?” I asked Block instead because I already knew the answer to this question. He blanched, obviously seeing where I was about to go with this. Instead of a verbal answer, he tipped his chin up in response. “Your Uncle Harvey doing time for diddling kids?” I asked again, throwing his family’s dirty laundry out there for the whole club too.

Block growled as his face started turning red. I didn’t care if he got angry. “You diddle kids just because your uncle does?”

“Fuck no, I don’t mess around with kids!” Block ground out through teeth gnashed so tightly, I was shocked he was able to make annunciate well enough to be understood.

“Did anyone else here need to know about your connection to a fucking child molester?”

He shook his head back and forth twice, the movement looked painful.

“You think I don’t know every single one of you has your own demons rattling around in the dark recesses of your past? You think I don’t know what drove you to seek out the brotherhood? You think I don’t know about the Uncle Harveys in each and every one of your families?” My voice was raised, and I let all my frustrations out on the men of my club. “I fucking know everything!” I shouted at them before pointing a finger back over my shoulder toward where I had left Keys in my room.

“That woman’s business – her club business – is none of your concern. If you don’t think she’s been vetted, then you’re questioning whether your VP and President have done their fucking jobs. Are you questioning us? You want to throw down a fucking challenge?”

My questions were met with silence. “Keys is my woman! She’ll wear my fucking patch, just like I’ll wear hers. You will all respect her the same as you would anyone else’s old lady, and then you’ll go a step further because she also belongs to her own club, so you’ll respect her as a fellow rider, and an ally of Aces High MC. And if that’s too fucking much for you to handle, I’ll let her deal with your asses because she’ll do far more damage than I would in retribution. You feel me?”

“My mother was trafficked.” Her voice sent shivers up my spine as she spoke from somewhere behind me. Every in the place turned to her.

“Keys, you don’t have to-” I started to tell her, but she shook her head, silencing me. I wouldn’t stop her from doing this, if it was what she needed.

“My mother was a victim of my father and his family’s trafficking ring. So, maybe that clarifies where I stand. I’m here – alive today – because my mother was one of those slaves. She was kept in a prettier prison than most, but it was still a prison. She was forced to live under another name and stay in line in order to keep me safe.” She glanced away, seemingly looking at the wall for help then, but not getting any, she turned back to my men, squared her shoulders and continued to tell them her truth.

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