“I’ve got something I’ve gotta take care of,” he said, his voice as hard as his eyes.
“Will you be back?”
“I don’t know, but Braden will finish the gutters.”
“I’m not worried about the gutters, Kick. What I want to know is when will I see you again? We were kind of in the middle of something there.”
“I’ll call you,” he said, and I felt like I was being dismissed.
What the hell?
He’d already started to leave before I could get my wits together and challenge him. However, he stopped and turned back to me. “Don’t go to see your father. I’m gonna sort that out, okay?”
“What the hell is going on?” I demanded, growing more frustrated.
His hard look intensified and he stalked back to me. “Promise me you won’t go to your father, that you won’t try to fix his shit for him. I went to see him and I told him I would help him with it.”
I stared at him in shock. A minute ago he’d been telling me he loved me and now he was talking to me as if none of that had been said.
“Promise me, Evie,” he barked.
I jumped, and was instantly pissed off. “You better go and sort your shit out, Kick, and then you’d better come find me and explain to me what the fuck is going on! Because something has happened here that I don’t know about, and I’ll be damned if I’ll put up with this shit.”
His eyes bore into mine for another moment and then he nodded. “I’ll see you later,” he promised, and turned and left.
I stood completely stunned and didn’t hear Braden come up behind me. “He needs you, you know.”
I jumped again and turned to face him. “Fuck, Braden...” I muttered.
He held his hands up. “Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“What do you mean, he needs me?”
“I don’t know exactly what shit Kick’s involved in with his club, but he’s struggling. Actually, I think he’s drowning in it, whatever it is. He doesn’t spend much time with us anymore and when we do see him, he’s this moody, angry fuck who none of us really want to be around.”
“Really? ‘Cause he hasn’t really been that moody with me.”
“See? He needs you because you take it away for him. He’s never stopped loving you, Evie. He hasn’t even dated anyone since you two broke up.”
“I never knew that,” I said, surprised again. God, today was a day of discovery.
“Give him a chance. But know that it might take some time for him to change his ways. Yeah?”
It was almost as if he was pleading with me. Braden was a big guy. Way over six feet and built with muscles that looked like they took hours in the gym to achieve. He stood in front of me, his dark, wavy hair sweaty from being outside, his muscles tensed and a demanding look on his face, telling me he how much he wanted me to do what he asked. But it was his eyes that said the most. They gazed at me through pain; Braden was hurting from watching Kick struggle. Nodding, I said, “I don’t intend to give up on him, but he’s gonna have to step up, too.”
He smiled. “I’ll give him a kick up the ass for you.”
It seemed like Kick might need more than that. I just hoped he had it in him to be the man I needed him to be.
Chapter Ten
Kick
I strode into the clubhouse, looking for Hyde. The motherfucker had called and demanded I get down to here straight away. Right when I was finally starting to get my shit together with Evie. Pulling me away from my woman had not fucking pleased me, and I was about to give him a piece of my mind.
“Kick!”
I spun around to find Hyde coming up behind me, a hard glare in place. Walking towards him, I asked, “What the fuck is going on, Hyde? What was so fuckin’ important that I had to get here right fuckin’ now?”
“Did you go and see Jonathon Gambarro?”
“No.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You sure about that, Kick?”
“Yes, I’m fuckin’ sure about that, motherfucker. Why?”
“Well, it seems someone from Black Deeds got in his face and he’s gone fucking psycho on them, so I wanted to make sure you weren’t thinking of taking him on. I told you, the last thing we need is a problem with Gambarro.”
He wasn’t fucking serious? “You dragged me all the way here when I was in the middle of something to tell me that?”
I watched his eyes flash with rage. “It’d pay for you to remember who you’re talking to,” he said, his fury rising fast.
“I never forget who I’m talking to, VP. And you know my loyalty to this club, so don’t come in here and insinuate that I am anything but fuckin’ loyal.” I shook my head in anger. “The shit I’ve done for you, for King and for Storm, go above and fuckin’ beyond. If you ever imply it hasn’t or doesn’t again, you might just find out what it’s like to be on the end of my anger.”
“Are you fucking threatening me?”
I moved closer to him so we were almost nose-to-nose, my anger rolling off me. “Yeah, I’m fuckin’ threatening you.”
Hyde looked like he wanted to punch me, and I had no doubt the thought was running through his head, but I could fucking care less. If he wanted a fight, I’d give him a fight. In the end, though, he turned and stalked out of the room.
Fuck.
I was between a rock and a fucking hard place. And I still had no idea what the fuck I was going to do about it.