Page 13 of The Crowing of Hell
“So, Phoe is in on this too,” I concluded and saw Rooster’s curiosity.
I didn’t want to explain and risk rejection. I had the ass and tits men dreamed of, and my skin was soft and glowed healthily. Honestly, I suppose I was attractive, and my hair was styled into a sleek bob. Although today, it was a halo of curls.
“Okay, you ready?” Rooster asked, clearly not bothered by what was going on. I guess he had more important things to worry about.
“Sure,” I said, grabbing a couple of bags.
“Is all this yours?” Rooster inquired, looking around.
“Yeah, sorry, Lindsey and Casey brought it yesterday,” I admitted sheepishly.
“New plan. I’ll take most of this down and then come back and get you,” Rooster replied, gathering my stuff, and before I could offer help, he’d gone.
When he returned minutes later, he was with a nurse pushing a wheelchair.
“Rooster, I can walk!” I exclaimed.
“Sorry, it’s policy. Nobody is to walk out. You’ve already signed your discharge papers, haven’t you?” the nurse asked as I nodded. “Okay, honey, just hop in here.” She patted the wheelchair.
Rooster chuckled as I gave it a dirty glare and then sat down. The nurse seemed determined to captureRooster’s attention as she chatted constantly, not put off by his one-word answers.
Rooster caught my gaze and rolled his eyes at me. He bent close to my ear and whispered, “How interested would she be if she realised my jeans hid a cripple?”
My outraged gasp caused the nurse to stop her endless jabbering for a few moments before she continued again.
Did Rooster really just whisper that? I looked at the hard planes of his face and knew he had indeed uttered those vile words. Shit, did Rooster look at himself as a handicap? That was bad.
He was nothing but the strong, virile guy who walked beside me. I’d listened to gossip he’d lost a leg in the explosion that had hit Hellfire. Rooster’s limp was barely noticeable; you had to be looking for it to detect it.
I was attracted to him but had no time to deal with his fragile ego. And Rooster clearly needed someone who’d be able to give him time to bolster him. That was not me. I didn’t have pretty words in my head. Hell, I was straight up and sometimes too blunt. Lucy, my closest friend, had often chided me for my bluntness.
My lips dipped downwards at the thought of my kind and gentle friend. Lucy had been kidnapped, abused, and ended up dying to save her son. It was the reason I’d do exactly the same for Blue.
Blue deserved to grow up with love and laughter and a good moral basis. While many probablydisagree that an MC has a strong moral basis, I didn’t. I saw their values and ethics and agreed wholeheartedly with them.
Rage MC prioritised family over individual needs. Of course, they would do anything to back a brother up, but they’d make sure their families were safe before taking action. It was something I had grown to respect about Rage. Their dedication to their family and the way they viewed the world. It amazed me at how they all thought similar. I’d heard whispers and gossip about Hellfire, how Chance had led them into breaking out of the shit they had all lived, and then helped Rage get clean.
And with Hellfire and Rage leading the way and earning a good life, the other local MCs followed and formed alliances. It was those allies and the other bonds they’d made, RCPD, Hawthorne’s, the Juno Group, etcetera, who were now working together to form a defence against Fury. This was such a high-level threat the President had apparently been informed. The Venomous Fangs intended to commit home grown terrorism and try to take Rapid City and the surrounding area for itself.
From what I understood from listening to the old ladies, Fury was on an ego binge the likes we’d never seen before. He desired the Rage MC presidency back and wanted to grind all other MCs under his heel and rule them all. The man was eighty and clearly delusional. It was a terrifying thought. Fury was this tremendous threat, and the number of men he could throw at us had caused the alliances to strengthen andnot weaken.
The allies had eliminated some of his soldiers, but for every one that fell, ten more took his place. Rapid City was a dangerous area right now, as were the outlying towns. Nobody knew whether Fury would attack one of them and use it as a base to strike out from. There was little information coming from Fury’s side, and Drake mentioned their spy must have been caught.
There was also a slight uproar at the moment because Irish had disappeared, and obviously, my accident was distracting them from looking for Irish. Perhaps the old ladies weren’t matchmaking. Possibly, they’d discovered something about Irish that needed their attention.
“Thanks for this,” I said as Rooster helped me into the SUV.
“No probs,” he replied with a dismissive head tilt towards the nurse. Rooster hauled himself up into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“She liked you,” I murmured.
“Yeah, well, they all like what they see on the outside, Kendara. But when they learn about the stump and realise I’m not a full man, they soon leave,” he replied.
“That’s bullshit, Rooster!” I blurted. “You lost part of your leg. Any woman worth her weight wouldn’t let that affect her. There’re plenty of men out there who are injured, but their old ladies still love them.”
“Really? I must pick the wrong women,” Rooster sneered.
His bitterness came through clearly. Rooster hadn’t recovered from losing his leg, and it would probably be a long time before he did.