Page 82 of Petty's Crime

My privacy, which I so fiercely guarded, meant I was happy having no neighbours living close. That now comes back to bite me, as there’s no one to see me being kidnapped and stolen away.

As the car vibrates when the engine starts and we start to pull off, I begin to have serious doubts about surviving the day.

There’s no one who’ll come looking for me. Bart won’t sound the alarm until I don’t appear later tonight.

Will I still be alive then?

Who is this man and what does he want from me?

CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX

Petty

“Ididn’t like your wife.” Angel puts down the tray she’s carrying as she sees me struggling to sit up. Putting her arm around me, she expertly supports me at the same time as she plumps the pillows up.

Ignoring the ignominy of needing her help, I don’t bother asking how she knows my wife or anything about her. It was pretty obvious when I’d earlier arrived at the clubhouse that Britney had been mouthing off. It was also a certainty that once blame was put in the right place, brothers would have been talking about it. It’s a well-known fact the club girls are experts at listening.

“Did you decide that before or after you found out about her?” I indicate she can now place the tray on my lap.

Angel props herself delicately on the bed. “She seemed a bit fake when I met her.” Snorting softly, she adds, “She certainly didn’t like us.”

In itself that’s far from unusual. Citizens don’t normally understand the symbiosis of bikers and club whores, finding the idea that we’ve got women who are here just to service us disgusting. For those who are invested in a particular member, they’ve got good reason. Britney might not care much for me, but she’s possessive enough to want me for herself.

Angel watches as I take a sip of the coffee, and then pick up the sandwich. I hadn’t realised how hungry I was until I started eating, and don’t stop until I’ve polished it all off. When I’ve finished, Angel takes the tray and moves it to the bedside table. Then she comes back to the bed.

“You helped us catch RoseLyn’s ex.” I remember the part she played. While my problem is alive and breathing, I’ve been told RoseLyn’s is now dead. “Gotta thank you for that.”

“It wasn’t a problem.” She shrugs as she minimises the part she played. “All I needed to do was wear a wig.”

It was, nonetheless, a brave thing for her to have done, to have put herself at risk, above and beyond the duties of a club girl. Angel’s been here a long time and has proved herself loyal to the club.

But when her hand rests on my leg and she asks suggestively whether she can do anything else for me, I can’t personally reward her. Even if my balls weren’t still swollen from where Britney kicked them, and right now I’m not sure my dick will ever start working again, it’s not her who I want.

Red’s already spoken to me, has told me what went down in the basement, and how they’ve ensured that RoseLyn will keep her mouth shut. While I appreciate the reason why Red had done what he had, I worry about the effect it will have on RoseLyn.

She’d known she’d been protected by bikers, known my love for the club. But until last night, she’d never stepped foot in the clubhouse, and we’d kept our lives and hers very much apart.

If it hadn’t been one of my brothers, it would have been me taking that shot, and RoseLyn would have been very aware of that. I suppose death comes cheap to us. We serve justice our own way, but knowing it is different to seeing it, and I worry that to RoseLyn the violence must have come as a shock.

RoseLyn had left the clubhouse without coming to say goodbye.

That hurts more than I thought that it would.

Angel sees her work here, for now, is done, and departs with promises that if I change my mind, she’ll come right back. As the door closes behind her, I rest my head back against the pillows.

Yet again I’ve had Red’s reassurance that I’m still part of this club. Although I’m worried how my brothers are going to treat me now they know of my cowardice, and am concerned whether they’ll still trust me to have their backs, or that they’ll think I’ll turn and run at the first sign of danger, I still have my patch. I should be elated—I couldn’t begin to imagine being happy out in the civilian world—but there’s a niggling feeling inside me that being a Devil isn’t enough.

Despite what’s happened since, or maybe because of it, I look back on that evening spent with RoseLyn and her parents as an oasis of peace. It’s been a good few years since I was able to relax and just be myself. And it wasn’t being in the heart of a family, it was RoseLyn herself.

RoseLyn outed me, but she’d had no choice. Had I shown that I forgive her? While all I’d ever wanted to do was keep the secrets about myself under wraps, there’s a weight off my shoulders knowing I can head into the future being whatever kind of man I want. Petty, the ass, or a new improved version that doesn’t need to pretend anymore.

With RoseLyn by my side, metamorphosing from ass to a man worthy of her would be easier. If I lost her as well—goddamn it, I don’t want to think about it. I’ve a chance to be free, but freedom’s worth shit if I lose my chance with the one woman I want. The woman who’s proved to me that not all females are like Britney.

Britney. Well, I’m going to be rid of her completely one way or another. I’m definitely going to be getting that divorce, and if she causes trouble, I’ve no doubt my brothers would help me. If she’s pregnant, well I’ll deal with that too. I never thought of being a single father, but I’ll step up if I have to. Britney isn’t fit to be a mother.

Britney’s reappearance has freed me from the prison I’d built around myself. I don’t have to put a fake front on for the world anymore. I don’t have to force myself to act the asshole. For perhaps the first time, I understand why Joker and Lady’s relationship bothered me so much. It wasn’t that they kept their sexual preferences to themselves, it’s how they’re far happier men now it’s out in the open. I didn’t resent them for being gay, but that they could live with no secrets between them and the club.

Likewise with Rope and Cuff, I really don’t care what they get up to, but it’s their confidence that they don’t give a fuck I envied. If they want each other as sexual partners, they won’t see a reason for hiding that.

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