The Henchmen MC: Renny Part 16

I felt my lips tease up slightly, shaking my head. "I can't think clearly enough to do that," I admitted.

He let out a low chuckle. "Halle-f.u.c.king-lujah," he said, slowly standing and sliding behind me onto the bed. "Come on," he demanded as I slowly turned and went to reach for the tee I had been wearing. He folded up quickly, yanking it out of my hand, and tossing it hard enough for it to land halfway across the bathroom floor. "You won't need that."

I let out a half-laugh, suddenly feeling the urge to wrap my arm across my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, but fighting it. "I get cold at night," I tried, shaking my head at him.

"Ninety-eight point six degrees over here," he said, c.o.c.king one arm behind his neck, the other hand patting his chest. "I'll keep you warm and toasty and if that isn't quite enough, I can think of other ways to warm you up."

I scooted up the bed and over the covers and moved toward him, shaking my head. "I think I'm good for a week. Or month," I said, letting out a yawn as I settled on his chest.

"Hate to break it to you, but now that the lid is off the honey pot, I got a taste for the goods. You might want to start power napping because I plan to f.u.c.k you silly at least twice a day from here until eternity."

There was an undercurrent of seriousness to that that I felt thrill through my body, but I let out a small, quiet laugh as his arms slid around me. His lips pressed into the top of my head as he gave me a squeeze.

"Sounds good," I admitted, smiling a little at the idea.

"Rest up," he warned and my eyes slowly drifted closed, body beat, and mind, for once, not racing around and making it impossible to sleep.

But I was startled awake all of an hour later, completely unsure what had caused my heart to slam into my throat as I shot up off Renny who shot up into a seated position.

"The f.u.c.k was that?"

"What was what?" I asked, hand over my heart that was slamming so hard it was starting to worry me.

"Loud bang, honey," he said, scooting away from me and grabbing his pajama pants off the floor then moving across the room to grab a tee out of his dresser. "Get dressed," he said as he went into another drawer and pulled out a gun.

I shot off the bed, more alert than I had ever been over the course of maybe ten seconds as I dragged the shirt onto my body and grabbed the leggings I had discarded earlier, yanking them up my legs as I went to my bag and found my own gun.

When I turned back, Renny was pulling the door open, looking out into the hall and I could hear Lo's voice. "It's not here," she said, making my belly stop doing the twisting it had been. I put my gun on the bed and followed Renny into the hall as everyone seemed to be convening in the common room.

Lo's phone rang as Repo flicked on the TV. Everyone was in various stages of dress- all the men in pajama pants and nothing else. Lo had on one of Cash's shirts and a pair of panties. Penny was in short shorts and a shirt that had obviously been hastily thrown on because it was backward and inside out. Summer and Maze were, I imagined, quieting whatever kids might have been woken from the sound.

"s.h.i.t," Repo said as the news station reported an explosion. There wasn't anything for a long couple of minutes other than that report as the news, I imagined, scrambled to get someone on the scene. But the reporter in the studio held a finger to her ear as she claimed the police reported it was a controlled explosion in a residential neighborhood.

"What, Mina?" Renny asked and I hadn't even noticed he had been staring at me.

My gaze slid to his as it finally clicked, what Alex had said at Hailstorm, about how we all had agreed to keep Janie out of the loop.

She, however, obviously had her own ideas on the matter.

Because, though I had not the smallest bit of proof, I knew, I just knew who was behind the explosion.

"I guess Janie found out about the Abruzzos," I told him and heard the conversation around us fall off at my declaration.

"No f.u.c.king way," Reign said, shaking his head. "We all agreed."

"Well, someone must not have," Lo said, waving her phone. "Digger said Jstorm disappeared earlier under the guise of Malcolm needing her for something and just came back about fifteen minutes ago and told him to tell me that she didn't appreciate being left out of the loop."

"s.h.i.t," Reign said, shaking his head. "Anyone got a cup? Something to protect my b.a.l.l.s? Bet she plans to f.u.c.king roast them on a hibachi."

It was a weird, tense moment, but almost in unison, we all felt smiles pull at our lips, knowing it was the d.a.m.n truth.

Lo's phone started screaming again and she lifted it up to her ear. "Yeah? What did she... okay... yeah," she said, looking at Cash and then Reign. "Address? Got it."

"Who was that?" Cash asked.

"L. He said he got an email from Janie. It had Little Ricky's name and an address."

Reign visibly tensed, prepared. It was the moment they had all been waiting for for months, but now that it was here, it was clear the weight of the meaning was pressing on them all- most especially Reign and Repo who had pregnant women to think of. But it didn't change anything. At the end of the day, they had a business and life to protect.

They had to do what they had to do.

"Me, Repo, Cash," he said, rattling off who he knew he could never keep at the compound even if he commanded it.

"I have personal stake here," Duke reminded him, meaning the G.o.d-awful beating Penny had gone through.

Reign looked around, torn, not wanting to leave the women and kids. "I'll take care of them," Renny said, voice firm. "And Mina is here and Lo. We can have half of Hailstorm here in half an hour too. Besides," he reasoned, "They won't even know who the so-called victims are for hours or even days. There's no way Ricky will even know what happened. And even if he did, there's no way he could get guys here faster than you can get there and take care of him once and for all. Don't worry about here. Worry about making those f.u.c.kers pay for what they did to us."

I had never really gotten to see Renny the hot kind of angry. When he was lost in his head, it was a cold, detached sort of rage. This was not that. This was what it was like to see him enraged over the loss of his men, to be wild with the thirst for retribution, for blood. Even if he couldn't have it on his own hands.

He didn't want to stay behind any more than the others did. But there was no way Reign would leave the compound without at least one of the men there. And he also knew that Duke had a grudge to settle and, perhaps, a better skill set for the job as well.

I looked over at Lo, seeing something in her eyes that was all but foreign to her- worry. She had been running Hailstorm for a long time. She sent people off onto dangerous missions all the time, knowing d.a.m.n well there was always a chance that someone might not come back.

But this was different.

She was watching Cash go on such a mission.

And as hard as Lo could be at times, everyone knew that Cash was her sun and moon and universe. He was her happily ever after, her alpha hero from all the romances she had been devouring for ages.

Even the chance of losing him was scaring the h.e.l.l out of her.

As if sensing that, Cash moved forward, snagging her arms and backing her up against the wall, dipping his head down toward her ear and whispering something.

Reign and Repo shared a knowing look, the two being the only ones with pregnant women and young kids to worry about, then they moved almost in unison down into the hallway to give their wives the news.

Penny slid down from her perch on the arm of the couch and onto Duke's lap, tucking her head under his chin as his arms wrapped her up tight.

It was a heady mix of emotions in the room- the strong, vibrating adrenaline, the thirst for revenge, and the almost oppressive weight of sadness and worry.

My gaze slid to Renny to find him already looking at me, his eyes knowing, like he knew exactly what I was feeling.

There was a strong, almost overpowering urge to go to him, to feel his arms slide around me. He wasn't leaving and we were new, but I could only imagine how Summer, Lo, Maze, and Penny felt. And my heart hurt for them.

But just when the urge was almost too overpowering to fight anymore, there was a loud slamming sound from the back of the building.

Renny's lips quirked up. "Puppies got spooked," he said, sounding amused. "Guess we gotta go let them out so they don't pee the floor."

With that, he moved to go to do just that.

Feeling like I was intruding on private moments going on in the common room, I followed him, stepping inside the room as he did.

"What's going on?" Reeve asked.

"What's with the gun?" Cyrus said almost at the same time.

"What do you need from us?" was what came from Lazarus, making my gaze slide to him, finding him a little more tense than usual, his hands curled into fists at his side- ready, prepared. It must have been how he looked right before a fight.

"There was an explosion across town. We're fine here. No threats. Go back to bed."

"Renny," I said, raising a brow at him. From what I understood, probates were the low men on the totem pole and subject to crazy or demeaning jobs, but they were still members of the club for all intents and purposes. They were supposed to be in the loop.

He looked at me, likely reading all that on my face and sighing.

"Fine," he said, shaking his head at me. "Apparently my woman here thinks you need to be in the loop."

My woman.

I felt my belly go a little liquid at that.

Granted, I was supposed to be his woman in front of the probates, to keep up appearances and keep them from realizing we were vetting them, but it was more than that now. I was, in a way, his.

Normally, I would recoil from that.

Fear of intimacy was my thing after all.

But somehow, it almost felt right to be claimed. Back in that bed, he had claimed my body. And whether I fought it or not, prolonging the process, I knew it was only a matter of time before he claimed other parts of me- most notably, my heart.

"We'd appreciate that," Reeve said carefully, his eyes unreadable and I realized again how much we needed to look deeper into him.

"We figured out who the threat is and Reign, Cash, Repo, and Duke are heading to deal with it once and for all. Me, Mina, Lo, the women, kids, and a huge army of men and women from Hailstorm will be by to keep an eye on things around here. That means that Laz will be on kitchen duty and all of you better put your thinking caps on and come up with ideas on how to keep the kids occupied and the women calm. It's going to be a long couple of days. Get dressed and come out."

With that, he reached his free hand down to take mine and pull me with him out of the room and down the hall to our room.

He slammed the door, put his gun down, and turned to me, his hand going behind my neck. "You alright?"

I felt my brows draw together. "I think that's my line in this situation. None of my people are going off to exact vengeance and leaving the whole safety of the club on my shoulders."

"Who are you kidding," he asked, smiling a little humorlessly. "I might be the last standing Henchmen here, but as soon as Lo is done yelling at Janie about going off without her, she's going to be back here and barking orders. She's more of a leader than I am. I'm just here to keep an eye on the probies and be a familiar face for the kids."

"I think you underestimate yourself," I said, not liking that he somehow thought he was less than the rest of them. From my understanding, he had taken out a threat the night that Shredder and Vin were killed, saving Duke's life. That was no small thing.

His head c.o.c.ked to the side, watching me. "Think I like having a woman trying to defend my honor," he said, moving to grab clothes then kissing me on my cheek as he made his way to the bathroom.

I took a deep breath, going into the closet and digging for some clothes, settling on the jeans Ash had packed and slipping into a bra, but throwing Renny's shirt back on over it. He came back out a minute later in jeans, a black tee, and his leather cut, his hair a little damp from where he must have wet it to get it back in order.

I scooted in while he sat down to slip into socks and boots, quickly brushing my teeth and tying my hair up.

When I came back out, he was still sitting off the edge of the bed. He looked up and held an arm out in invitation. I didn't overthink it. In fact, I didn't think about it at all. I just went to him. As soon as I was close, he grabbed my hips and pulled me down until I moved to straddle him.

"You alright?" I asked when he said nothing and I couldn't read anything from his expression.

His smile curved slowly upward, meeting his eyes and making his whole face look devilish. "I didn't get my breakfast."

"What?" I asked, confused. "Laz hasn't even made it yet."

"Not what I meant, sweetheart."

"What did you... oh," I said, feeling my cheeks heat as I remember what he said he wanted to have for breakfast every morning- me. "Well," I said, my own smile moving to match his, "you know they generally recommend three meals a day and two snacks..."

"Meet you for lunch then. Can't say that lunch won't roll into dinner... and maybe dessert," he said, his hand going behind my head and pulling me to him, kissing me long and hard and deep until my lips felt electric.

Then, before I could even fully open my eyes, he was standing, an arm around my lower back. "I'd be happy to walk out there like this sugarlips, but I don't know if you want the new puppies to see you clinging to me," he offered and I finally snapped out of it, realizing he was walking across the room with me wrapped around him, and settling my feet on the ground.

"Right," I agreed, reaching down to make sure my clothes were straightened.

"Hey Mina," he called, stopping half in the hall.

"Yeah?"

"Have I mentioned how f.u.c.king worth the wait this was?" he asked, turning and walking away without waiting for a response.

I followed behind him agreeing whole-heartedly.

Except, unlike him, the wait hadn't just been a couple months.

I had been waiting to open up for my entire freaking life.

And I had the gut feeling that he was absolutely right; it was so worth the wait.

THIRTEEN.

Renny Lo left shortly after the guys filed out, no doubt going to see what was going on with Janie, how much she was going to suffer for keeping the notoriously mercurial and volatile Janie out of the loop.

Two of the Hailstorm guys were with Summer, Maze, and Penny along with Cyrus in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Cyrus was apparently a big hit once he brought the guitar out and luckily had the laid-back, fun-loving personality to be able to handle children without getting fl.u.s.tered, something that was bound to get him a seal of approval from the women. Fact of the matter was, the kids were a very present part of the group suddenly and that wasn't something that was going to change until the numbers were bolstered and the members trustworthy.

Things would be too up in the air for a while.

Even if Lazarus, Reeve, and Cyrus worked out and became patched, the process was just starting. Three new men would hardly be enough. We needed a dozen new men within two years if we wanted to survive. And knowing Reign, he would continue to be as selective as he had always been. He wanted men with their own particular skill sets, men who would be loyal, and men who would respect the way he ran his club.

"d.a.m.n it," Mina hissed, snapping my attention back to where she was standing next to Laz at the stove. Reeve was making a pot of coffee, looking over at her exclamation as well.

"The first two always come out like s.h.i.t," Laz consoled as she swiped the very pale, very doughy-looking pancakes into the garbage.