Page 99 of Hendrix

My SAA grinned. “You sure know how to turn a boy on.”

I started to descend the knoll leading down toward the river, saying absent-mindedly, “It’s the hair and muscles, brother. It’s my sex power.”

Slowly, we scrambled down the grassy incline. The sound of running water, along with soft murmurs, got closer. My ears pricked up as I heard a child’s giggle along with Ace’s booming laughter, followed by some other deep chuckles.

“Addie’s with him,” Diablo muttered. “And he’s got backup.”

“Of course he has,” I concurred as we reached the bottom of the slope. “But then, so have we.” I looked around, trying to catch sight of Addison.

Ace’s voice called, “We’re over by the lighthouse.”

My feet began to carry me toward the sound of the chatter. The pulse in my neck throbbed with the force of the adrenaline shooting through my bloodstream. A rushing sound filled my ears, and then everything went quiet as I began to zone in on the sight that came into my view.

Ace and Addie were sitting on a patch of grass by an old, abandoned outbuilding that had been fenced off. With him were two of the ex-brothers who’d left with him when everything went south. They stood as sentries with their hands shoved inside their black leather jackets, their fingers resting on their weapons.

My stare frantically checked over Addie, who clutched a doll in each hand and had a carton of juice situated on the ground next to her. She was laughing up at Ace who was in the process of pulling silly faces at her.

She was fine.

Ace’s eyes veered toward me, and he grinned. “At last,” he called over. “Thought you would’ve gotten here an hour ago. You’re losin’ your touch, brother.”

He hadn’t changed in the year since I’d last seen him. He was tall with cropped light hair and built, though not as built as me. He was a good-looking guy in a straight-backed military kind of way. Some soldiers you could tell had served purely by the way they walked and talked, and Ace was one of them, a soldier through and through.

Except something must have fucked with him in the military, and to my detriment, I’d discovered the hard way that he’d lost himself. He joined the club as my VP but instead of working as part of a team, he’d wanted absolute power.

Ambition and jealousy had reared its ugly head, and he’d betrayed me.

“You okay, Addison?” I called out.

The little girl’s blonde hair bounced as she jumped to her feet. “Hendrix!” she cried happily, holding her dolls in the air. “Look. Uncle Ace bought me Barbies, and he gave me ice cream.”

I forced a reassuring smile onto my face. “That’s great, sweetheart, but it’s time to go home now. Your dad misses you, and Anna wants to help you put away your new clothes.”

“I heard your Anna was back on the scene. Happy for ya, brother, though I’m sorry she came with baggage. Good for you, though, seeing as you’ll never be able to get her in the family way.” Ace smirked. “At least you can play daddy to her kid now her husband’s been taken out by thatstreet gangand all.”

My chest twisted.

He’d obviously kept his ear close to the ground if he knew about Anna, the baby, and the Lis brothers. However, it wasn’t a secret she was at the hotel and that she was pregnant. Back in the day, I’d confided in Ace about my infection and how it took away my ability to have kids, so he knew Anna’s baby couldn’t biologically be mine, though he was right when he said I had every intention of being the boy’s father in every other sense of the word.

What worried me was his insinuation about the death of Antoni Lis. Ace knew too much, which meant somebody close to me had been talking.

“Come on, Addie,” I called, walking toward her with my hand outstretched. “Time to go, sweetheart.”

She turned and beamed at Ace as she moved toward me. “Thanks for the Barbies,” she called over her shoulder.

“You’re welcome, Addie.” He raised a hand, pressing his fingers against his ear, the motion giving away that he was wearing a listening device. He pointed up the slope in the direction of the cars. “Uncle Trick’s parked up there. Get your tush to the car. I need a quick chat with Hendrix.”

She smiled and gave him a wave, then began to scramble up a dirt track leading toward the road.

My jaw clenched as I watched her go. The relief was indescribable, but still, a part of me knew she was never in danger with him. He’d used a kid to get to me for dramatic effect when, really, if he wanted a meet, all he had to do was ask.

That wasn’t his style, though, because asking for a meet wouldn’t put me in a tailspin and fuck with my head the way he seemed to enjoy doing so much. Not for the first time, I wondered what I ever did to make him hate me. We used to be like brothers, now I wondered if he’d always been a manipulative bastard but just hidden it well.

Ace became my rival when he betrayed me, but he became a target when he fucked with what belonged to my club, but for old time’s sake, I kept my shit locked down when Ace staged a coup and poached my clients along with my men. It was business, and I knew I could rebuild, even though his betrayal personally fucked me up at the time.

Initially, he thrived while I spiraled over what he did, along with the pain and self-recriminations I felt for screwing things up with Anna. It was what stopped me from initially going to her. I’d lost my self-respect and confidence, and I needed to get myself right again before I approached her. Except in holding back, I left it too late and broke both our hearts in the process.

Eventually, things got better. I got Blade on board and Colt helped in securing the government contracts so vital to our business. I recruited new brothers and slowly began to build a new team from the ground up, except that time, I made sure I didn’t repeat the same mistakes.

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