Jesus. You dumbfuck.

“Suit yourself. Go gather some more Russians, cause your ass is gonna need them here real soon.” He points to the door. “Now get your fuckin’ ass outta my wife’s club.”

They don’t move until they hear Smokey and Sniper cocking their guns. Prez lets out a roar of laughter when Alec flinches. “You pussy, take your bodyguards and get the fuck outta here before I let my brothers rain fire on your dumbass!”

When they attempt to be casual and stroll out the way they came in, it shows a sign of weakness to us. Even with four of them, they are scared of the four of us. They should be. We’ve killed close to thirty people in the last year alone. That should make the motherfuckers piss themselves in cowardice.

“Angel is gonna be fuckin’ pissed that the Russians are back. I thought we had handled them fuckers. Someone in the mob is still holdin’ a damn grudge, because they wouldn’t be here if not. More importantly, he got that info from somewhere other than the papers.”

I agree. He couldn’t get in contact with our enemies from reading a newspaper clipping. He got that information from someone else.

“Keep one patched member on each woman that leaves the compound. I don’t think they’ll go after them because of what happened the last time, but just to be safe.”

Motherfucking Christ. Tatiana is already pissed off, and this shit is just going to make it worse. She isn’t speaking to me, and once she hears this news, she is going to be extra bitchy. She hates, and I mean hates, being escorted, but the words that come out of my mouth are still… “I’ll watch Tea.”

Dammit!

“I figured as much,” Prez says as we gear up and leave.

***

Chapter Seventeen

Tatiana

I can’t believe I’m stuck with Shadow as my Patch escort. After what happened between us, I don’t know how I feel about him watching my every move, and me knowing he’s doing it. It is different when I can’t see him, but when he is right there in my face, all up in my shit, how am I supposed to get over what happened between us? I think my Godfather hates me. That is the only explanation I have. He said Braxxon ordered him to keep watch on me, and if I know my Godfather, that is only partial truth. If he knew I didn’t want Shadow around me right now, then he wouldn’t be. And I have half a mind to fucking let him know I don’t want Shadow within a hundred miles of me. I was supposed to meet Haden for lunch today, but no, as soon as I get up this morning, here comes Shadow with a grin on his face.

A fucking grin! As if this shit is at all funny, and to top it off, Winter is whispering about Russians.

But even though I have this fine ass, southern guy following my every move, it isn’t going to stop me from seeing Haden. He needs a friend right now, and I am that friend for him. If I am being honest with myself, I need him just as much. I love my family, and I hate to admit, I even love Shadow, but I need a friend that doesn’t know half of what is going on so I can get it off my mind.

When I smirk and let Shadow know where we are headed, I expect a pissed off look. Instead, he eyes the shit out of that ho, Sabine. It infuriates me because, even though I understand him pretty well, I can’t read what the hell he’s thinking when he does this shit in front of me. It proves that I made the right call to ignore his it was a mistake speech the other morning. I am so glad I didn’t put myself through all that shit. A person can only take so much rejection and hurt. I am young, beautiful, and open to trying new things. He’d be lucky to have me. So with my blood on fire and my even more new determination, I plan to leave this fucker in his own shadow.

As he drives to Ma and Pop’s, I refuse to speak to him for two reasons. First, he didn’t hide the fact that he was checking out Sabine, and that is fucking bullshit. And two, instead of allowing me the freedom to walk down the street to the restaurant, he insisted he drive my damn car.

The vehicle isn’t even in park when I throw open my door and rush inside. He knows better than to yell for me to stop. The confusion I’m feeling over the bullshit between us makes me furious, and the fact that it bothers me so much makes me even angrier. I deserve better than this bullshit.

So what does a girl do when she wants to get out from under a guy? I’ll tell you what. She gets under another one. And what better way to do that than fuck an ex she’s already been with.

I have never been more excited to see Haden waiting on me than I am in this moment. A chair screeches behind me as Shadow takes a seat, and I hurry towards my glorious ex-boyfriend. When he stands like a gentleman to greet me, it makes me even more dead set to fuck him while Shadow is around. I grab Haden’s hand in mine and take off towards the women’s bathroom with a protesting Haden dragging behind me.

“Woah, babe, what’s going on?”

I jerk him through the door, shut it behind us, and move a big metal trashcan in front. It won’t stop anyone from entering, but it sure as shit will alert me if someone tries.

“I need to fuck,” I growl as I grab his shirt and push him into the nearest stall. “I need it so bad, it hurts.” Okay, it really doesn’t, but I wish it did. God, I wish I hurt right now.

“This isn’t like you,” he mumbles as my lips descend on his. “Dammit, babe!” he shouts and pushes me away. “Tell me what the fuck is going on, and I won’t mind helping you with your little problem. But only if you tell me the damn truth right now!”