Page 6 of Stone
“Hold up. Wait for us,” War called, walking in with Locks and Baron.
Stone let them get settled, then tried to figure out how he could tell them. He’d been okay telling Rascal, Roam, and his brothers, but Locks was related to Naomi.
Stone took a deep breath, staring at each man in turn. “This never goes any farther than us,” he warned, his tone flat and unyielding.
Slice walked out of the kitchen and flipped the open sign to closed, locking the front door. Stone waited while he walked to the back door and did the same. Stone hadn’t realized the last customer that wasn’t an MC member had left.
“Goes without saying but if you need the words, this stays between us,” Roam interjected, his gaze steady.
“Last night, I got home late from the gym, and Naomi was standing in the field near my house, singing and drinking. She was celebrating her divorce,” Stone explained, pausing as he felt the anger bubbling up again. He opened his eyes at Ben’s hand on his shoulder.
“We’re with you. You’re not alone,” Ben promised.
Stone nodded but wished he didn’t have to be the one to share this in front of Locks.
“She was tipsy, heading toward drunk, so I asked her to sit on my porch with me. I figured we’d hang out. I’d get her to drink some water and then walk her back to her room. She was tipsier than I thought. She started talking about everything, but when she turned her back to me and raised her dress to ask me if I could tattoo over the correction marks her asshole husband gave her, it took everything in me to keep my voice calm,” Stone revealed out, his jaw tight.
“Are you saying her husband hit her?” Locks gritted out.
Stone nodded. “The marks look like they were made with a switch. Even and multiple times. She wants to wear shorts and doesn’t want her girls to see.”
“Friggin’ mothertrucking waste of space,” Locks spat.
“Could she not ask her dad to help her leave?” Baron asked.
Stone stared at Baron, shaking his head. “She did. He told her it was her job to not make her husband upset.”
“Are you friggin’ kidding me?!” Locks yelled, standing up and throwing his cup across the room. “My brother, who thought he was too good for us, knowingly allowed his daughter to be abused in her marriage and didn’t help,” Locks choked out, tears tracking down his face.
Baron stood, hugging Locks. “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of this.”
Locks pulled back a little. “I want to ruin them both.”
“Hey, I’m sorry, Stone. I can’t imagine how hard it was to keep calm when all you wanted to do was teach her ex-husband a lesson,” Roam acknowledged.
Stone nodded. He wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t want to make it worse for Naomi with her daughters. Did Jared get partial custody of the girls? Would he hurt them like he hurt Naomi?
“It was, but sitting here, I’m wondering what their agreement was for custody. If a man will hit his wife, he’ll have no problem hitting his kids. Does he have partial custody of the girls? They are too sweet to see that side of a man,” Stone said.
“I know we promised to keep it with just us, but I think that unless you want to talk to Naomi about her custody agreement, then we’ll need to have Scoop or Sarah do some digging,” War pointed out.
Stone thought through what Naomi had said. He’d left her the note, but he needed to make sure she knew that he didn’t think less of her.
“Let me talk to Naomi. She’s an adult, and I don’t want her to feel like I am taking over,” Stone insisted.
The men around the table grinned at him. “Does this mean what I think it does?” Rascal teased.
“Does what mean what you think it does?” Stone asked.
“It sounds like you’re claiming Naomi,” War smirked.
“No one is claiming Naomi. She gets to choose for herself,” Stone replied, staring at each man to make his point.
“Awesome. Then I think I’ll ask her if she wants to go on a date. She deserves a real man,” Finn chimed in.
Stone saw red and turned to his brother, grabbing his neck. “You will stay away from her. Got it?” Stone directed.
“Umm, Stone, he’s turning red. I think he’s got your point,” Rascal said.
