Page 7 of Ruthless Reign

Bless Alba and her friendly disposition.

Julia gave me a hesitant glance before following KC’s old lady to the bar with the other MC princesses.

Just as I was heading toward the back room, one of the hang-arounds I used to fuck, Amber, saddled up next to me.

“Hiya, prez,” she said, smiling with her sexiest grin. “How have you been?”

“Oh, just fine,” I said. I hadn’t meant it to be an invitation to flirt, but ever the opportunist, she took it as one.

“Ya know.” She pressed her hands to my chest before sliding them to my neck. “If your bed is still cold after marrying the frigid Caputi bitch, I can warm it just as good as I used to.”

I bit back the insult to my wife and grabbed her wrists, forcing them down. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

She deepened her smirk. “Good. Maybe I’ll see you later.”

I didn’t respond because I wasn’t interested, even if I hadn’t signed a marital contract with a firm infidelity clause. I pushed past her and into the meeting space.

“How’s it going?” KC asked, seemingly holding back a grin at Amber’s blatant invitation. “With Julia, I mean?”

“I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t murder me in my sleep.” I rounded the SRMC table and sat in the president’s chair at the head, gazing over the logo burned into the wood: a rose with a blade going down the center. My father had occupied this seat for over twenty years, and I prayed I could fill his jumbo-size shoes.

“I’m not so sure about that,” Hollywood said, barking out a laugh as he took the road captain’s seat on the left. KC lowered himself into the VP seat on the right, lighting a cigarette as Hollywood continued. “I saw the way she looked at you when Leo announced your ‘arrangement.’”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. “She hates me, then and now. This isn’t a love match.”

These two fuckers were my best friends in the entire world, and I trusted them with my life. If I could confide in anyone, it would be them first…even if Hollywood had been known to be a gossip worthy of a flock of clucking hens.

“I don’t know, man.” Hollywood huffed a teasing breath. “The way she got up in your face? I’ve never seen a girl with balls that big. She’s the only one who would dare talk to you like that.”

KC raised his eyebrows and blew out a lungful of cigarette smoke. “You know Bear likes ’em rowdy.”

“Shut up,” I said, rubbing my fingers over my eyes at the memory. The first time I’d met Julia, she’d given me a raft of shit for the way her brother had been held captive for months. She’d banged on my chest and shoved at my shoulders, and I was man enough to admit, Ididlike a woman with passion. Even if she was a Caputi.

“How’d the wedding ceremony go?” KC asked. “Sign your life away?”

“Leo wants a child within a year.” I leaned back in the seat and glanced between them.

Both Hollywood and KC went silent. I had evidently gasted their flabbers.

“A child?” Hollywood said with disbelief.

“He demands too much,” KC said. “I told you he’d try to steamroll you.”

“She agreed,” I said.

Hollywood slammed his hand down on the table and leaned his head back to howl with amusement, causing me to glare at him. If looks could kill…

“Within a year?” He guffawed. “I bet you’re pregnant before winter.”

“I’ll take that action,” KC said, holding a hand out across the table.

“Can you two knock it the fuck off?” I growled.

“Two shifts at the garage,” Hollywood said, taking KC’s palm, ignoring me. “AND a security shift at the Beacon.”

I sighed at the mention of the club-owned BDSM club where my sister liked to take her flogger to my best friend’s ass and tried to push the mental image away.

“You’re on,” KC agreed, giving Hollywood’s hand a firm shake before a few of the other officers filed into the room.

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