Unbeautifully

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Scrubbing a hand across his face, exhausted from spending the night at the hospital, Deuce, followed by ZZ and Tap, stalked inside the clubhouse and found Blue, Mick, Adriana, Cox, and Kami sitting at the bar, sharing a bottle of whiskey.

He headed their way and slipped onto the stool beside Kami. Tap took the seat beside him and ZZ headed for the hallway, for Danny he guessed. He’d seen her Jeep out front when they’d pulled up.

“How’s Dorothy?” Kami asked. “And the baby?”

He sighed. “Baby’s fine, healthy little boy. And D just got out of surgery. They got the bullet out and now they’re keepin’ her in a fuckin’ coma, somethin’ to do with swellin’.”

“Jase?” Cox asked. “He okay?”

No. Jase was a fucking wreck. Between Dorothy getting shot, almost losing his newborn son, Chrissy getting hauled off to jail and the club being questioned by the police, Jase was definitely not okay. Nobody was. Dorothy, Deuce considered one of his boys; she’d sure as fuck been around long enough, and Chrissy was Jase’s old lady, which meant she too was family.

Nothing about this was okay.

Christ, he was fucking exhausted.

“He’ll manage,” he said.

The small group fell silent. Nobody needed to speak, everyone already knew what the other was thinking.

“Did anyone call Tegen?” Adriana whispered tearfully. “To tell her…that…th—” She broke off and covered her mouth with her hands. Mick pulled her barstool closer to him and folded his arms around her.

“Far as I know, Cage called her last night,” Deuce said. “Girl’s probably on her way here as we speak.”

Adriana nodded jerkily.

Speaking of Tegen…

“Where are my kids?” he asked no one in particular, feeling a sudden overwhelming need to see each of their faces. “And Eva? Is she home?”

At first it looked like no one was going to answer him.

Finally, Kami said quietly, “Eva’s home. With Ivy.”

“Cage?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at the odd expressions being exchanged around the bar.

“Sleepin’,” Cox said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. “He got in about an hour before you.”

“Okay,” Deuce said slowly, carefully studying the somber faces around him. Something wasn’t right and it had nothing to do with Dorothy and Jase.

“Yo,” ZZ called out, walking from the hallway into the main room. “Anyone seen Danny? I can’t find her anywhere.”

Yeah, something sure as fuck wasn’t right.

Deuce swiveled around on his stool. “What the fuck you mean ‘anyone seen Danny?’ Her Jeep’s out front, you’re her man, so I’m thinkin’ that means you should know where the fuck she is.”

ZZ put his palms up. “Prez, chill, I just got back too, okay? And she ain’t in her room. Or mine.”

Feeling what he knew was unnecessary panic stemming from what had just happened to D, but also knowing you can never be too fucking careful when it came to your family, Deuce jumped off his stool and stalked off toward the hallway, yelling Danny’s name.

“Wait!” Kami yelled, running after him. She dodged past him and came skidding to a stop a few feet in front of him. “I’ll call her,” she said breathlessly, holding up her cell phone.

He stared at her. What the fuck?

“What’s goin’ on?” he demanded, looking back toward the bar at Cox. “Where’s my fuckin’ daughter?”

Instead of answering him, Cox looked at his wife. “Kam,” he said quietly. “Don’t.”

Kami waved him off. “It’s ringing,” she said, her cell phone pressed to her ear.

Fuck this shit. Grabbing the cell phone from Kami, he put it up against his ear and continued down the hallway.

Three seconds later he heard Danny’s ringtone. A song by Lady Foo-Foo, or some such shit.

He stopped walking and turned to his right, staring in disbelief at the door in front of him.

“Shit,” Kami whispered from behind him.

“You’re the one who fuckin’ called her,” Cox muttered.

Deuce glanced over his shoulder and found all of them, Kami, Cox, Mick, Adriana, and ZZ standing there. Even Blue had left the bar to join them in the hallway. Which was pretty much unheard of. Blue didn’t leave the bar for much. He wasn’t even sure the old asshole even slept.

“What the fuck is goin’ on?” ZZ asked, grabbing the phone out of Deuce’s hand. The guy shoved the phone in Kami’s face. “Dial her again,” he demanded.

Looking nervous, Kami took her phone and glanced up at Cox.

Cox shook his head. “Fuckin’ do it,” he said. “Brother deserves to know.”

While the short exchange took place, Deuce had been frozen, in a state of shock. Danny was in Ripper’s room? What the motherfuck?

The minute Danny’s phone began ringing again, he snapped back to attention and watched as ZZ turned toward Ripper’s door, his expression quickly shifting from confused anger to outright shock.

And Deuce felt for him. He really did. As much as he hated Danny being with one of his boys, ZZ was a decent man who loved the fuck out of his daughter.

“What the fuck!” ZZ roared, lunging for Ripper’s door.

Deuce caught him, grabbed him by his neck, and slammed him into the opposite wall.

“Prez!” ZZ bellowed, trying to get free. “LET GO OF ME!”

“Why?” he asked calmly, feeling anything but. “What are you gonna do? Storm in there, guns ready? I know she’s your girl, but she was my girl way before your sorry ass, and I ain’t gonna let you do somethin’ stupid that could get her hurt.”

He turned to the peanut gallery. “I know you assholes know somethin’, so someone better start fuckin’ talkin’.”

“Sorry, Prez,” Mick said, stepping forward when no one else would. Curling his hand into a fist, his VP pounded on Ripper’s door.

“We don’t know much, just that Ripper and Danny got some deep-rooted shit between ’em.”

Deuce’s eyebrows shot up. They did?

ZZ, hearing this, struggled harder and he was forced to tighten his grip on his boy’s throat. “Reel it in,” he growled.

“Fuck you,” ZZ spat. “You reel it the fuck in, that ain’t your old lady in there with motherfuckin’ Ripper!”

No shit. But it was his daughter in there with motherfucking Ripper and he wasn’t much happier than ZZ was at the moment. The only difference between him and ZZ was Deuce was attempting to stay calm. What had gone down yesterday had done enough damage. The club, his family, didn’t need any more tragedy.

“Ripper!” Mick bellowed, pounding harder on the door. “Get your fuckin’ ass out here!”

Deuce took a deep breath and tried to ready himself for whatever mess that door was going to reveal, but all he kept seeing was Danny in bed with Ripper and…

The door swung open and in the entranceway stood Ripper, wearing only his leathers, in the midst of pulling on a white T-shirt. He took one look at the people standing in the hallway, their expressions varying from pity to disgust, and froze.

“Where is she?” ZZ yelled, struggling harder in Deuce’s grip.

“Aw, fuck,” Ripper muttered. Crossing his arms over his chest, the guy leaned back against the doorjamb. “Danny,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. “Shit just got real, baby.”

ZZ visibly shook in Deuce’s grip and, fuck, yeah, he felt for his boy, but he was too fucking busy trying to keep his own shit reeled in.

Ripper had broken code. Took another brother’s old lady…to bed. Took his daughter to bed. In an attempt not to toss ZZ aside and beat Ripper into the fucking floor, he gripped ZZ even tighter and held his ground.

It wasn’t easy.

Wrapped in only a sheet, Danny appeared beside Ripper, her lips quivering and her eyes filled with tears and, Jesus, his chest went tight.

Fuck him. Ripper…Danny…

Fuck him.

He didn’t know what the fuck to do. His daughter, two of his boys…

What the fuck did he do?

“WHAT THE FUCK!” ZZ raged.

Ripper immediately moved forward, positioning himself in front of Danny. It was a protective maneuver. One he often caught himself doing with Eva even when there was no threat.

“YOU’RE FUCKIN’ DEAD, ASSHOLE!” ZZ roared. “YOU HEAR ME, RIPPER? YOU’RE FUCKIN’ DEAD!”

“I hear you, brother,” Ripper said evenly. “The whole damn world hears you.”

“Brother?” ZZ yelled. “You don’t know what the word means!”

“Mickey,” Adriana whispered, tugging on Mick’s hand. “We should go.”

His VP’s gaze caught his and Deuce gave a slight shake of his head. Things were going to get ugly. He might need help.

Mick stayed but moved his old lady a few feet away and Cox did the same with Kami. Meanwhile, Blue lit up a cigarette.

“You don’t understand,” Danny whispered as two tears slipped down her cheek. “I love him, Z.”

ZZ went rigid. “What?” he asked hoarsely and Deuce could feel the guy’s throat working overtime beneath his palm. “Since fuckin’ when do you love Ripper?”

Deuce stared at his daughter. He too wanted to know since-fucking-when she loved Ripper. And then he wanted to kill Ripper. Slowly.

“It happened a long time ago,” Danny whispered. “Before you, Z. It was—”

“He’s the fuckin’ reason,” ZZ spat. “He’s why you were so fuckin’ messed up! And you’re the reason he left, aren’t you!”

Danny’s eyes dropped to her bare feet. “Yes,” she whispered and Deuce’s lungs collapsed. He was such a fucking idiot. How had he not put this shit together? It had been staring him in the face, for how long now?

Ripper leaving.

Danny losing her shit.

Ripper and Danny staring each other down at his wedding.

…And fuck, Danny’s violent mood swings always coinciding with Ripper’s drop-ins.

Ah, Christ. He was such a shit father. A shit president. A shit everything. He’d been so wrapped up in his own crap, he hadn’t even seen what was happening right under his fucking nose. In his club.

Self-disgust switched instantly back to anger. Ripper, his goddamn sergeant at arms, hadn’t just disrespected him by doing whatever the fuck he’d been doing with Danny, he’d kept it a secret. That shit didn’t fly in his club. His boys knew that.

You patch in, you become family. Brothers.

You don’t disrespect your brothers.

“You ain’t never been straight with me,” ZZ rasped. “I don’t even… Fuck, I don’t even know you!”

Danny’s head snapped up. “No,” she whispered. “You did, you knew—”

ZZ’s upper lip curled into a snarl. “Don’t, Danny, you just fucked another guy with my ring on your finger, so do not fuckin’ patronize me.”

“We didn’t fuck,” Ripper spat angrily. “So you can stop shittin’ on her.”

ZZ’s eyes shot to him and filled with hate. “Oh yeah?” he sneered. “So what, you were just talkin’ and decided talkin’ would be a whole lot better without clothes on?”

“I think talkin’ is better without clothes,” Cox called out. “Just sayin’.”

Deuce added Cox to the list of hits he would soon be putting out.

“I didn’t say that,” Ripper gritted out. “I said we didn’t fuck, never said I didn’t try.”

If he wasn’t busy holding on to ZZ, Deuce would have smashed Ripper’s head through the wall. Then his own. That had been a visual he could have gone five lifetimes without ever getting a glimpse of.

His entire body now trembling with built-up rage, ZZ turned back to Danny. “You are a fuck-ing whore,” he said quietly, purposely punctuating every syllable with a hard, venomous edge.

Deuce saw red and just reacted. With his hand still wrapped around ZZ’s neck, he pulled him forward then slammed him back against the wall. “That’s once,” he growled. “Next time you call my kid a whore, I will end you, you fuckin’ feel me?”

“She ain’t a whore, Prez?” ZZ yelled, glaring at him. “So what the fuck do you call a bitch who agrees to marry a man and a couple hours later is in his brother’s bed?”

“She ain’t a whore,” Ripper growled, his expression one Deuce was very familiar with. It was the same one Ripper had before he took a fucker out, cut him to pieces, and sent him straight to meet his maker. Lethal was the only way to describe it.

His two boys stared at each other, ZZ’s chest heaving, ready to throw down the second Deuce let him go, and Ripper, stretching his neck side to side, cracking his knuckles, impatiently waiting for it. Wanting it.

Right. Shit was going to go south real quick if he didn’t get these two assholes far, far away from each other. Then he needed Danny to put some fucking clothes on.

Then…him and Eva were goin’ to have a serious talk about allowing Ivy access to the club. By the time Ivy was Danny’s age, he’d be way too old to be holding his boys back from fighting over his daughter. And god knows they would. Ivy looked like a cross between Danny and Eva. As beautiful as both his wife and eldest daughter were, Ivy was going to surpass both of them. Not good.

Jesus. Why couldn’t he have had boys? All boys. Little fucking shits like Cage. A whole slew of ’em he could throw condoms at and be done with it.

“Oh Jesus,” Mick whispered, and Deuce’s eyes shot to him, following his gaze to the end of the hallway. Jase stood there, his white T-shirt and jeans still stained with Dorothy’s blood, tears streaming down his cheeks, holding a gun in his hand.

“Jase,” Cox breathed. “Broth—”

Jase’s arm shot forward and he aimed the gun at Cox. “Don’t fuckin’ move,” he whispered hoarsely. “Don’t fuckin’ speak.”

Nobody moved. Nobody said a word.

And Jase fell to his knees. His hand shaking, he brought the barrel of his gun to his temple.

Deuce dropped his hand from ZZ’s throat and stepped away from him.

“Jase,” Deuce said quietly, trying to keep his cool. “You got four kids who need you, brother, don’t fuckin’ do this.”

Jase let out a choking sob. “I was gonna leave, Prez, I was gonna leave that bitch a million times, but I felt so guilty ’cause of the kids and I tried to do right by both of ’em and instead I fucked it all up. All I do is fuck everything up.

“I love her,” Jase whispered. “She made shit real good, you know? They don’t know if she’s gonna make it, Prez, and…and I don’t wanna be here without her.”

Using his thumb, Jase pulled back the hammer.

“JASON!” Cox roared, taking off down the hallway. “Don’t you dare!”

The echoing boom of a bullet discharging rattled throughout the hallway as Cox fought Jase for the gun and won. He tossed the piece away and pulled Jase into his arms.

“No, motherfucker,” Cox rasped, holding tight to Jase. “You do not fuckin’ die. Do you get me? You. Do. Not. Die.”

All three women were crying, Danny was wrapped tightly in Ripper’s arms, Adriana and Kami were wrapped around each other, and both Blue and Mick were staring down the hallway at Cox and Jase, their expressions a mix between stunned and pained.

He looked around the hallway for ZZ and couldn’t find him. He should have cared where ZZ had gone, should have cared that his boy was messed up.

But he was too fucking tired.

Deuce’s back hit the wall and he slid slowly down the plaster until his ass met floor.

“Mickey,” he whispered. Moving his way, Mick bent down in front of him.

“I got this covered, Prez,” Mick said. “Just sit tight.”

Right. Like he was going somewhere. Pulling his phone out of his cut, he called his wife.

“Hey, baby,” Eva sniffled. “You okay?”

“No,” he said softly. “I fuckin’ need you.”

“Five minutes,” she said without hesitation. “And you got me.”