Page 32 of Sparrow

She’d been around the Roughneck Riders far too long to believe they’d conform to anything that quickly or smoothly. They weren’t that organized. Everything with them was done haphazardly and with disorganization. She couldn’t trust things were in order yet. That’d be too convenient.

Chapter 20

Romeo

Joining his brothers, Romeo followed them into the clubhouse with his head down after he’d smoked two more cigarettes. They did nothing to ease his racing mind. Running his left hand over his right knuckles accomplished the same. Pain throbbed through his hand from his unproductive assault on the wall.

Thankfully, it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it had when he’d punched the hospital wall two years ago. His hand hadn’t swelled nearly as quickly as it had back then. Nor did his wrists roll like last time. He was pretty sure he’d just gotten some mild annoying injuries. He could ride.

Walking in the shit show of a clubhouse, he scanned it for the curly-haired, freckled woman. He needed to see her for himself. It didn’t matter the complication of Pipes, and the claiming, and the Ol’ Lady shit. Right now he had to see her and make sure this accusation of her being “fucked up” was an exaggeration. Once that was sorted, he could move on to the other bullshit.

The idea of someone laying a hand on her had a new surge of agitation taking root. He wasn’t sure how it was possible, but this had his vision tinging red. If he saw one hair harmed on her head, he would lose his goddamn shit.

He had to put it out of his mind. He had to think about something else. There was no way he could be sane if he kept thinking about her in any other state than the one he left her in.

Fucking Ohio!

Nothing about this night went the way he’d wanted it to. The only good thing that ever happened in Ohio was meeting Sparrow. Yet, that had been what set him on this course. He wasn’t ready for this shit. An Ol’ Lady, he was too young for that noise, but he wasn’t about to let that jack off have her either.

“You need a band-aid or something?” Dash half teased.

Romeo looked up and shot him a glare. “Fuck off,” he snapped at his sponsor. The younger biker flopped down on one of the couches, stewing. Somehow he’d wound up with the starring role in a shit show, and he didn’t know what the next move should be. Running his index finger along his brow, he tried to work out the tension that just wouldn’t leave him.

An image of Sparrow holding her face, hiding it from him flashed in his mind. He blinked, trying to rid it from his view. He couldn’t focus on that right now. He needed to be clear and level headed. He needed to stop being impulsive. He couldn’t be a stupid kid. He was a fucking officer now.

The brothers from other chapters dwindled as they returned to their home states. The crowd had already gotten smaller since that morning. The men from Florida and New York had mostly left, leaving one or two behind to see things through. It made sense; they had business to attend to. The clubhouse still had a lot of original Odin’s Fury patches, which gave it a steady hum of whispered conversations.

All of which halted when Sparrow exited the hallway. Romeo turned at the silence to see her wild brown hair shielding her face.

Heart stopping when it leaped into his throat, he jumped to his feet. Desperate to find out if she was okay, he stalked toward her. “Sparrow,” he called out. She quickened her steps in response.

The fuck?

“Don’t think she wants to talk to you, brother,” the SAA from Florida said, putting himself between Romeo and Sparrow.

“That’s none of yourfuckingbusiness,” Romeo snapped as he tried to walk around the bodybuilder of a man. Heneededto see her for himself. He had to check on her. She couldn’t just run away from him.

The Floridian blocked him again. “Makin’ it my business,” he declared.

“Not the time.” Balling his fists, heaving breaths through his nose, Romeo narrowed his eyes at the taller man. Rationally, he understood. Odin’s Fury’s stance on women was clear: not without permission. Sparrow wasn’t sending off very permissive vibes when she took off, ignoring him.

The problem was, Romeo wasn’t feeling too rational. Someone had possibly done something to her and he had to make sure she was okay.

“Back off,son,” Tex drawled from beside him at the bar, holding a glass of tequila to his lips.Son. His father had saidson. In the father tone. Not in the brother tone.

Sparing him a glance, Romeo nodded before stepping back. In doing so, he got a better view of the swing door into the club kitchen. Craning his neck, he did his best to see what he could. Through the small window, he saw her turn. Every muscle in his body tensed at the sight.

Her swollen bottom lip had a black line of dried blood down the side. The entire right half of her face was a blend of red, purple, and yellow bruising. Swollen to the point only her left eye was open. She kept her gaze lowered and brought a towel filled with ice to her face. He couldn’t see more, and he didn’t want to.

The world tinged red, and the feral growl that came from Romeo through gritted teeth didn’t sound human. Flexing his fingers, his murderous tendencies pulsed through him. Vibrating with the need to hit someone, he scanned the room.

“Who the fuck did that?” he shouted. Eyeing each of the men lingering in the clubhouse, he watched as they peered at one another questioningly.

The mix of out of state men and newly patched brothers kept quiet with only a few murmuring to one another. Someone did it. She didn’t do it to her damn self. Grinding his teeth, he could feel veins bulging in his neck and on his forearms.

“Son,” his father warned, but it would take more than using his “dad” tone to calm Romeo down now that he’d seen her face.

No one came forward. Not that he had expected anyone to come out and say that they had beaten her, beaten a woman who belonged to the club. Brother or not, hurting a club daughter wasn’t fucking tolerated. That’d be suicide.

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