Page 115 of Chains
“I wonder if your parents know about Bret’s addiction. I’m still reeling over that.”
“Nah—they think he’s perfect, especially my old man. If they ever found out, they’d twist it so it’d somehow be my fault.” He laughed.
“So you’re not going to tell your mom? I think you should. I know you think she doesn’t care about you, but deep down she does. She was thrilled you came to the brunch and upset when you left early.”
“I guess she’sokay, she’s just not loyal to anyone but my dad. If the old man turned against Bret, she’d be on his side. And that kind of shit, isn’t what I want. If I told her about Bret, what would be gained from it? She’d just worry and my old man would talk her out of believing it, and then she’d think I was lying because I wanted to get back at my brother for some dumb reason.”
“Well, you know your family better than I do, but I hope for his sake, he gets help. That guy was not joking around. If Bret’s not careful, he’s going to wind up seriously hurt or killed.”
“I’m sure he knows the risks—it’s up to him to make the right decision. I can have a talk with him. I want him to know the shit he caused tonight.”
“And I better file a quitclaim tomorrow. I want him off the deed to the property.”
“Agreed.”
“I do think it would be good if you talked to him. Even though he put me in danger, I don’t want anything bad to happen to him. He really needs some therapy.” She patted his hand. “I wish our house was already done. I can’t wait to break ground in the spring. It’s going to be beautiful.”
“It’ll kickass.”
“Oh, Breanna called me the other day and asked me to join their old ladies’ night out.” Autumn giggled. “It sounds so funny calling myself anold lady.”
He chuckled. “You’ll have a good time with them. It’s important to build a strong bond with the other old ladies ’cause you’ll be spending a lot of time with them. You may not like all of them, but after time, they’ll grow on you.”
“So far, they all seem pretty nice except for Shannon. I don’t think she likes me.”
Chains shook his head. “Rooster’s her old man, and she and Sam—Tattoo Mike’s old lady—had a run of the club for years. They got bumped down when Steel got hitched to Breanna and then our vice president—Paco, you met him, hooked up with Chelsea, pushing those two further down the ladder. Shannon’s also pissed because Rooster sometimes has some fun with the club girls.”
Autumn looked away. “Do you think that’s okay?”
“I think it’stheirbusiness. If you’re asking if I’m cool with having fun on the side, the answer is—no fucking way. We’re a team, and loyalty and respect mean everything.”
Picking up his hand, she kissed it. “I knew that, it’s just nice to hear.”
“You’re it for me, darlin’. I’ll be right back.”
Autumn stretched her legs out and petted Cinder while she watched the flames flicker.
“Here you go,” Chains said as he handed her a wrapped box.
“What is it?” she asked, untying the silver ribbon.
“You’ll see.”
With her heart beating a mile a minute and her stomach fluttering like crazy, she opened the lid on the blue velvet box. Inside was a sparkling solitaire diamond ring with emerald baguettes on each side of the stone. She picked it up.
“It’s gorgeous,” she murmured.
Chains took it from her and slipped it on her left ring finger. “I thought you’d like a citizen’s symbol of our engagement.”
Her lips quirked up. “Was the vest—I meancut—the biker symbol?”
“Yeah—it tells bikers’ to back the fuck off, and now this ring will tell citizens the same.”
“You’re so cute, really.” Autumn looped her arms around his neck. “I love you too much.”
“There’s never too much when it comes to our love, woman.”
“We’re going to have a wonderful life.” She nestled closer to him, then held up her hand, admiring the engagement ring.
