Page 31 of Stone
Ashley picks Caleb up and asks, “What, sweetheart? Did you have a good time in New York?”
New York…
I look at Dirty sharply, and he gives me a hesitant smile.
My wife has been in New York all this fucking time, a twenty fucking hour drive away!
“I saw Nurse Rose!” Caleb gloats, and honestly, I’m beginning to really dislike the kid right now.
Ashley looks at me with wide eyes while the brothers tense. My jaw ticks when I hear, “Fuck,” from Doc in the corner of the common room.
He’s having a meeting with his dad over the senator's daughter, who gives Elsie a run for her fucking money where brothers and having a luxury life are concerned.
Cynthia Smith is a spoiled daddy’s girl who gets everything she wants, and what she wants is the president of the Rebels, who's also a fucking doctor. And daddy is trying his hardest to make that happen. What better way than an arranged marriage, using having the senator's office as a bargaining chip while his dad tries to push for it.
Doc marries Cynthia, we get their backing, and not one brother will be pulled over or arrested. As far as I’m concerned, the fucker is an idiot for even considering it. His dad isn’t Pres anymore, he doesn’t run the club. Maybe Doc needs to stop thinking he needs to make him proud because he’s done that.
He became a doctor, he’s taken over the club and brought in more cash flow. He’s done, and he needs to see that because right now, Canine is taking advantage of his son wanting to still make him proud. He’s wanted an alliance with the senator's office for fucking years and could never manage the deal. It pissed him off because once a judge on our payroll had granted bail for a brother, the fucking senator would try to overrule it.
Canine wants to finish what he started, to get one up on Senator Smith, even if it means using his own son.
“Brother, before you kill me, I need you to let me explain,” Dirty tries and I fist my hands, trying my fucking hardest not to grab my gun as I growl at him.
“Explain what exactly, Dirty?” I ask, “That you fucking lied to me about not finding my wife,” I hear several gasps, most likely from the women who were not aware I married Rose, but Iignore them and growl, “Or the fact you went to see her without even fucking telling me?”
He winces and admits, “She needed time brother,” and I narrow my eyes but he holds his hand up and reminds me, “She had just found out you were married to Elsie –”
I cut him off, “I divorced Elsie a week after meeting Rose, fucker, and you know it!”
He ignores me and continues, “She saw Elsie hanging off your arm and because of your loyalty to your dad, to the club, you allowed it and she took it the wrong way. Not that you can blame her and honestly brother, I wasn’t even going to let Caleb say anything, I thought after my conversation with Rose she was going to call you, allow you to explain about Elsie and about your role within the club but uh…”
His words tail off as he looks around the room, then clears his throat.
“But what, brother?” I prompt with force, my stomach tightening.
He’s about to piss me the fuck off…
“She went out on a date two nights ago,” he admits, and I take a step forward as I growl. He winces just as a hand grabs my arm and Doc says, “Don’t kill the messenger, brother,” and I glare his way and remind him, “He wouldn’t have been the messenger if he had told me he found my fucking wife to begin with. He watched me tear the town apart trying to find out where she went!”
“She needed time, brother, needed to leave. She only has three and a half weeks left of her course in New York before she returns and continues it here,” Dirty says, and I sneer at the fucker, causing Doc to hold me tighter, knowing I won’t hit my Pres.
Though I would hit my best friend…
“Don’t even think about it, I’m still your Pres,” Doc murmurs, seeing where my mind's gone, and I snap, “That fucker lied to me, you lied to me. You said you had no idea where Rose went!”
“And I didn’t, until three weeks ago when Sally finally let up and explained Rose had taken the course to help her gain the qualifications to go towards her cardiology certification with children, something, mind you, brother, she put off for five months because of you,” Doc says, and I swallow hard.
Kimmy explained that Rose had put things off, that she chose me every time her career was brought up, not just by her supervisor but also by her parents. I lost it because she never told me, never gave me a chance to support her.
I trashed my room here at the club, and several brothers had to hold me back, which was probably the second time since Rose left that it had happened, the first was when I found the note.
They don’t call me Stone for no reason, okay, that’s a lie. I originally got the name because I threw a stone at a school fair and it accidentally hit a nun in the head, knocking her out.
I was nine…
But since then, my name became clear because of how hard I would lose it. My dad mentioned I throw a punch harder than a stone hits a wall or something like that.
“Brother,” Dirty says, and we lock eyes as he states, “she didn’t want to go on the date, I could see it clear as day, and she couldn’t even admit it when I point-blank asked her. She’s doing it to make herself move on, now, you need to go to her, tell her the truth about everything,” he nods to my left hand, “Then after she finally hears you out, come home and let her finish the remainder of her course,” I narrow my eyes but he puts his hand up and states, “It will show her you are willing to allow her to breathe, that you won’t go all alpha male while she’s processing everything you’ve told her.”
