Page 20 of Pope’s Purgatory

Diamond places both knees on the couch until she’s hovering over me, her hips twisting and rolling in time with the song. Her hands run over her body as she dances, cupping her bare tits and rolling her nipples between her fingers.

I groan as I picture Birdie doing the same thing.

There’s commotion coming from outside the playroom, and I know she’s just found out that I’m in here, so I fall deeper into my new persona and stare up at Diamond as if I’m dying of thirst and just found my oasis.

From the corner of my eye, I see Birdie and Valkyrie shove their way through the wall of people trying to keep them out.

“Show me that pussy,” I order, steadily keeping my eyes away from the devastation I can feel coming from that side of the room.

I lift my hands to anchor her hips, helping guide her to a standing position.

Diamond’s eyes turn glassy, feeling the same thing I am, but she slides off my lap in a sensual move and starts to push her panties over her hips. Birdie orders her to stop, and I see in her eyes that Diamond wants to listen, but she just smirks and continues lowering them.

Birdie stops next to us, her betrayed eyes bouncing back and forth between us. “Never, in all the years I’ve known you, did I think you would ever be the one to rip my heart to shreds. I gave you one boundary, and you swore, fucking swore, to me that you would never break it. You knew how important it was. Despitewhat you obviously think, I’m not stupid, Pope. The moment you started changing, I knew something was going on. I begged you to talk to me. Ideservedfor you to talk to me. So, I know that all of this,” she pauses, waving her hand around, “is merely a show you put on for me. But it doesn’t even matter because even with that being the truth, you betrayed me. You didn’t trust me enough to handle whatever it is that’s going on. There was one thing that I warned you we’d never come back from, and that was touching another woman in the manner that you just have. You destroyed us, Pope. You and only you. You took this beautiful love we had and you turned it to ash, and I hope it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth for the rest of your life.”

I shrug, acting as if her words don’t shred me to pieces. “It’s club life, little mama.”

“Bullshit,” she screams, her voice cracking from the pain building inside her. “It’s you being a goddamn coward. Yeah, this is club life, but it’s notourlife.”

“Birdie,” Valkyrie murmurs, grasping her arm gently, “it’s not worth it.”

There’s a tone in her voice that has me wondering if she’s speaking on something more, but I’m so fucking empty that I don’t have it in me to figure it out.

Birdie carefully slides her arm from her sister’s hold and turns to face the rest of the room. “You all were my family.” She finds Cyanide. “Especially you. You’re my big brother. You’re supposed to protect me from this pain,” she sobs.

Cyanide shrugs. “I love you, B, but this club is my life and you’re not his old lady. You refused that claim each time he tried to make it.”

There’s something about his words that make her pause. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes before opening them again.

And when I see the light no longer there, I know we all have a special place in hell waiting for us.

“I thought this club was built on loyalty. I thought this club meant family. For you all to turn on me like this because I don’t wear that old lady title shows me that everything I thought about this club and all of you is absolute bullshit. I loved every single person in this club, and I would’ve happily given my life for any of you, but right now, I’d happily watch you burn. Congratulations, Saint’s Outlaws, you’re all fucking dead to me. Whatever’s going on, I hope it’s worth it.”

Birdie turns to leave, not even bothering to address Diamond, which tells me just how deep she’s cut because my Birdie would have been the first to put a broad in her place. Valkyrie halts her by grabbing her hand, but Birdie doesn’t turn back around. She continues to face the wall of members standing by the door, and from the way some of them flinch, she’s not hiding the fact we’ve destroyed her.

Valkyrie pins us with eyes shooting murderous intent. “You’re all fucking stupid. I refuse to be associated with people who could hurt someone they claim to love so easily.” She finds Manic, notes the girl on his lap, and smirks. “You’re all the fucking same, and right now, not worth much. Most of you watched the hell we went through when our dad pulled this kind of shit. You knew why loyalty was always so big to us. Especially you,Cyanide,” she sneers. “You can erase us from the club and your lives because you’ll never see us step foot in here again.”

The girls walk out with their heads held high.

Silence fills the room as we all process what we just did.

A loud sob breaks from Diamond, but I can’t move. Can’t really find it in me to comfort her despite what she just did for me and our club. There’s a bit of relief when Malice wraps her in his arms.

Vortex sends me a text letting me know the girls are off club property, and I nod.

There. It’s done. She’s safe. She’s safe because she no longer belongs to me or the club.

Pain fights its way in, but I viciously shove it out. “Get me a bottle,” I bark.

Someone shoves it into my hand, and I bring it to my mouth. It burns going down, but I keep going, needing something to erase the memory of the expression on Birdie’s face when she heard me order Diamond to show me her pussy. Needing something to erase the agony in her words when she laid herself out in front of us and showed us her damage.

My brothers clear the club whores out of the room until I’m left with only them at my side.

I stumble to my feet, needing to feel something. Needing something to anchor me and tell me I did the right thing. “Hit me,” I roar.

No one moves. They’re all staring at me in concern as they watch me lose what little sanity I have left.

Throwing the bottle against the wall, I watch it shatter and the amber liquid trail down the paint. “I said someone fucking hit me,” I scream, grabbing my hair and pulling.

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