Page 11 of Crush's Fall

The next day… Crush

In joint-church, Crush let Axle address his club first. She just stared down at the tabletop in front of her. She was sitting at the opposite end of the long table from Axle. Her club was sitting and lined up on her right across the table from where the Howlers were doing the same. Crush was not about to try to make eye contact with anyone. She was still too raw for that. And what she was about to do would only make her even more on edge.

“In normal circumstances,” Axle began, his president voice in full effect, “we would end this guy without hesitation, now that we know everything he knows. And ending him is still an option, but normally, we wouldn’t be dealing with such complications. Lucifer is not only a new member of the Hell’s Dogs MC, having only patched in yesterday, but he is also the mate of the Tiger’s Claw MC president.” A deep breath. “Because of that, I feel it’s important that we are all on record with how we feel. First, we will vote on whether you feel this is something that should be decided by vote or by me.”

The Howlers didn’t wait for Axle to ask. They just started talking, and the consensus was not one of them wanted to have to make that decision. The only one who hesitated in telling Axle to make the decision was Bullet. Crush could feel his stare on her for a long while, making her anxiety and frustration grow, before she heard her brother say, “You make it, Pres.”

Axle didn’t take much time to think before he declared he wouldn’t be ordering Lucifer’s death, but if it was decided that Lucifer needed to die, he was offering the service of the Howlers.

Relief coursed through Crush, followed by a good amount of shame at wanting an enemy of their clubs to be saved. Shouldering the responsibility of keeping several people safe and trying to justify keeping her mate alive had her nearly at her limit. Feeling as if they were all scrutinizing her every movement, she cleared her throat and addressed the room. “With his connection to me, I feel… unqualified to make this decision. I couldn’t do it without bias. I need my sisters to decide what we do.” She lifted her gaze and looked over her club. “We’ll vote. Know I will not hold your vote against you. Pinky?”

“I can’t vote to kill your mate, so no,” Pinky said, and shook her head.

“Same,” Nails said, standing behind Pinky.

“I fucking can,” Vixen growled. “His club did a lot of fucking horrible things to our family.”

And so, it went. Most of the Claws voted to keep Lucifer alive, but Ginger and Foxy agreed with Vixen. The only member left to vote was Pumps. Her connection to the Hell’s Dogs would no doubt make it a difficult decision for her. Yes, they did bad stuff to Pumps, but she knew some of them from childhood.

Nervous and feeling claustrophobic in the overly filled room, Crush looked down the table at Pumps, along with everyone else. She blew a breath out and up, making her blond bangs flutter. Worry creased her forehead. “If he was a member I was familiar with, it would make this an easier decision. But there wasn’t a member named Lucifer when I was connected to the club. I can’t just say kill him, though, because it’s a small town, and they could have recruited someone I know, so…”

“I say,” Ginger began, her eyes studying Pumps, “let Pumps see him. If she cares for him, let him live. If she doesn’t, or if she says he’s a bad dude, we can re-vote.”

Crush shrugged. “Sounds fine to me.”

Axle ordered Pike and Dragon to retrieve their prisoner. The two men stood and headed out of the room. While they waited for Pike and Dragon to return, Crush made it a point not to make eye contact with anyone. She wasn’t sure why she felt so damn ashamed, though. It wasn’t as if she chose to have Lucifer as her mate. She didn’t have much say in the matter. She didn’t really know what or who made the decision about the pairings, but it sure as hell wasn’t her.

Less than ten minutes later, they escorted Lucifer into the room. His hands were cuffed in front of him, but he looked unharmed. With Dragon, you never knew. Lucifer could have come in with a broken arm, and Dragon would have shrugged and said Lucifer slipped.

Crush was surprised when tears filled Pumps’s eyes, and she started laughing. She didn’t ask Lucifer any questions. She just said, “He’s good.”

Lucifer was standing near the end of the table, with shock all over the man’s face. “Chrissy?You’rethe Christel they were talking about? Well, shit, it’s been forever!”

After some questions from Axle and Crush, Pumps explained that she went to middle school and part of high school with Lucifer, who she referred to as ‘Mav,’ and they met because he beat the shit out of a boy who pulled her hair on the bus.

Lucifer jumped in with some more information at that point. Apparently, he moved and lived in Chicago for the rest of his high school years. He tried college, but decided it wasn’t for him after a couple of years. Then he moved back to Reichart.

By then, Pumps had already lived through her experience with the Hell’s Dogs and had escaped to Michigan. Childhood friends reunited.

With his friendship with Pumps and the pull he was obviously feeling toward Crush, Lucifer wouldn’t be losing his life yet. Crush wouldn’t say Warden’s pass would be a carefree place for Lucifer, not for a long time. He’d have to prove himself, and the clubs weren’t going to make it easy. With what was coming their way, he’d have opportunities to step up to the plate. She only hoped he would. Otherwise, she would have to end him, and Crush wasn’t sure she would make it through that.

CHAPTER FIVE

Three months later… Lucifer

Luciferwatchedherfromacross the room. Crush was wearing her typical jeans, tight black V-neck tee, cut, and black biker boots with the silver accents. Even in her casual attire, she was the prettiest woman in the room. Her dark brown hair was shiny and straight, with a fresh dye job of her purple tips. They were more of a burgundy when they first met, but he liked the purple. Hell, he would like it no matter what she did with her hair.

Her eyes were intriguing, intense. The way the brown and green swirled together made him want to stare into them for hours,days. The green popped when she was angry, which only made him want to piss her off as often as possible. It also made him wonder what color would pop when she was coming on his hand or his cock. He knew it would happen someday, but he hadn’t quite earned the pleasure to witness it yet.

Lucifer liked that she was tall, only a couple of inches short of six feet and thick. She was muscular, strong, and fit, but she had thighs and an ass, both of which he wanted to grip in his hands while she rode him. A desire to storm across the room, take her hand, and pull her out of the clubhouse was strong. He wanted to take her to the nearest bedroom and do all the things that had been rolling through his head for months. Lucifer had respect for her and her need to make him work for it, though, so he didn’t do anything to push her on that… yet.

When she stepped away from Pinky and Kitty, and headed for the front door, he took another drink of his beer and set it down on the bar top. Then he followed her.

Picking up his pace, he caught up with her as she rounded the front corner of the strip mall across the street. Lucifer knew she was headed for her personal apartment, where she could lock him out, and his hopes for any kind of connection would be dashed.

“Crush,” he said as he came up next to her and matched her pace.

She huffed out a deep sigh. “I’m not in the mood for your bullshit, Lucy.”

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