The Henchmen MC: Renny Part 4

"Oh," she said, clearly surprised at the bluntness. Frankly, I was a little surprised myself.

"Why didn't your mother love you?" I asked, catching her off guard and her eyes went huge for a short second. "She didn't, that much is clear. But why?"

She swallowed a little hard at that and then exhaled slowly. "Because I wasn't a boy and because I couldn't make my father love her."

"Babies never save a bad marriage," I agreed.

"Did your parents beat you?"

"Nah," I said, clicking my tongue. That wasn't their style. "When was the last time you had an o.r.g.a.s.m?"

"What?" she shrieked, clearly thrown off her game.

"o.r.g.a.s.m," I repeated, trying like f.u.c.k to not grin. "You know... when your breathing catches and your body tightens and your p.u.s.s.y..."

"I know what an o.r.g.a.s.m is," she cut me off.

"I was just checking. You know, in case it's been so long that you've forgotten."

She lifted her chin a little, not wanting to seem prudish about the line of questioning. "Self-inflicted or from a partner?"

"Both."

"This wasn't trivial, you don't get a backup question. Pick one."

"Fine. Self," I said, not really giving a f.u.c.k what her s.e.xual history was, but genuinely curious how often she diddled the skittle when between partners.

"I don't know... a month..."

"A month?" I asked, brow raising.

"I live at Hailstorm!" she defended. "I sleep in a barracks."

"Not for nothing, sweetheart, but I don't think a G.o.dd.a.m.n man in that room would have a problem with you taking care of business right then and there."

She laughed at that, giving me a small smile and not asking me to not call her that. I had called her it earlier without her objecting to it. So sweetheart it was. And, somehow, that was a really telling little thing.

"Why do you and Duke hate each other?"

Now there was an interesting question with no simple answer. I didn't hate Duke. I actually had a lot of respect for him until I figured out he was hiding a neo-n.a.z.i upbringing. You can't help what you're born into. I knew that better than anyone. But when I pushed that b.u.t.ton to make sure it didn't create a spark, it set off what had been a ticking time bomb.

"We all have our things," I started, grabbing the beer and popping the top off. "I push b.u.t.tons to see what they do. It's not exactly a habit that makes friends. Especially when you push a man like Duke's b.u.t.tons and he f.u.c.king blows up. It's not a habit I can or even want to break and it's not something Duke can look over or forgive. We fight and we p.i.s.s each other off, but he's my brother. That means something to me. Especially now."

"For what it's worth, Penny likes you. I think she'll bring him around eventually if you could maybe try to stop being a d.i.c.k."

"Yeah, but what are the chances of that?" I asked with a smirk. "Why are you fighting this so hard?" I asked since it was my turn.

"Fighting what?" she asked, knowing d.a.m.n well what I meant.

I took my plate, still mostly-full, and reached up to put it on the top bunk and put my beer on the floor, scooting forward on the mattress until our hips were lined up. My hand rose, gliding across her jaw until it cupped the side of her face. "This," I clarified. "And don't insult both of us by saying there isn't a this, because we both f.u.c.king know there is."

"Renny, it's..."

"Not complicated," I cut in. "So it's what? Scary? I scare you." Her eyes fell from mine, unable to admit that that was the truth. "Because you don't get the luxury of hiding from me. Because I can see past the shields."

"It's not that..."

"You do see that it's the same for me, right? You and me, we're two sides of the same f.u.c.king coin. No one gets to pull me apart and see how I tick. But I am letting you. It's not any easier for me to do it than it is for you to do it. But I'm willing to take the chance and see what happens. I'm just asking you to give it the same shot here. Not asking you to do something that I'm not willing to."

I had her with that.

Her eyes rose to mine, a little less guarded, a little more vulnerable. She had just given me more in ten minutes than she had given me in weeks.

The thing was, I wanted more. I wanted it all.

And judging by the fact that her eyelids were getting heavier as my finger traced up her cheek, yeah, she wanted more too.

My face lowered toward hers, watching for any sign of pulling away. Finding none, my lips pressed down to hers.

"There's someone at the gate," Cash called down the stairs. "Get your a.s.ses up here."

Mina shocked away from me, her lips parted, her eyes wide, realizing what we had been about to do.

"Move," she demanded, pressing a hand into my chest and when I didn't immediately go to comply, she shot off the other side of the bed, rushing around and slamming her feet into her shoes, obviously eager for a chance to create some distance again.

But she was really f.u.c.king underestimating me if she thought we were going to take steps back now that we had finally taken some forward.

I got off the bed, grabbing my beer, and heading upstairs to find everyone standing around save for Summer and Maze and the kids, likely all relegated to one of the rooms.

"Who is it?"

"My guys at the gate said they don't know him. Introduced himself as Laz," Lo supplied, shrugging. "He wants to talk to Reign. They patted him down and are bringing him in."

Repo pulled the door open and in walked Lo's heavily armed guys who were on loan from Hailstorm until we could man our own gates again. Between them was a tall guy with short dark hair, dark eyes that seemed to hold a lot of depth, and a swimmer's-type body in jeans and a black tee.

He seemed completely at ease between the two armed escorts to his sides too.

Which was interesting.

"Who the h.e.l.l are you?" Reign asked, brow raised, body tense, ready to react if need be.

"Lazarus Alexander," he said, his voice deeper than you'd expect.

"Alright, Lazarus Alexander," Reign said, nodding slightly. It was proof of how on-edge he was that he didn't take a second to rib him on a name like that. "What the f.u.c.k are you doing here?"

"Just figured I would give you all a heads-up that some guys were breaking into your gym."

"The f.u.c.k?" Reign asked, head jerking back. "When?"

"Literally right now," Lazarus said, shrugging casually. "Know you guys have been having some, ah, issues lately. Figured you might want to know about that. I was taking a walk, saw them down the side entrance in the alley so I made my way this way."

"Didn't think maybe it'd be faster to call?" Duke suggested, shaking his head. It was a good ten minute walk from the gym to the compound.

"Wow, f.u.c.king stupid on me, huh? I should have picked up the yellow pages and looked under, what? Arms dealers? Bikers? Unappreciative a.s.sholes?" he added, smirking a little.

It wasn't every day a man walked into a biker compound and insulted the men who lived there. The fact that this guy would do it was interesting. And maybe a little bit impressive.

I could tell Reign felt the same way judging by the smirk pulling on his lips. "Alright, smarta.s.s. How many?"

"I only saw two but there could be more."

"Alright. Duke, take our new friend here down to the bas.e.m.e.nt until we get this sorted out. Renny, Mina, you," he said, pointing to one of the guys from the gate. They changed daily. It was impossible to learn names. "Will come with me."

"Reign," Lo tried to cut in, her voice reasoning.

"Tired of sitting behind reinforced walls while our f.u.c.king lives go to s.h.i.t, Lo. I'm going. And I'll take Renny. The rest can stay behind and keep an eye on things here. And I want someone with him," he said, jerking his chin toward Lazarus, "until we get back. Let's move," he declared and we all jumped to action.

Duke led Lazarus toward the hall and bas.e.m.e.nt, the man seeming completely unaffected by becoming, at least temporarily, prisoner in a biker compound. Reign and I grabbed guns from behind the bar. Mina took one off of Lo. Then, as a unit, we all made our way toward the car.

Reign drove, the other Hailstorm guy in the front. Mina and I climbed in the backseat, both tense.

And while she was tense in general, she was doubly so then, her entire body ramrod straight, her hands flat on her thighs as her gaze focused out the window.

I got the distinct impression that, were it not for Reign demanding she come, she would have been much more likely to stay behind at the compound. While I was sure she had training, as all of Lo's people did, she seemed less likely to be someone who liked being in the thick of things.

And, quite frankly, I didn't like the idea of her being in the middle of a dangerous situation either. I wasn't overly protective by nature. I had been raised with a lot of f.u.c.ked ideas, but true gender equality was one of the decent things my parents had instilled in me. And true gender equality acknowledged the fact that women were just as capable of handling themselves as men. Maybe most women didn't have the same amount of brute strength as men did, but with the right training, it could be made so that that didn't matter.

So it wasn't that I didn't know she was no worse off than the rest of us. I just would have preferred her back at the compound was all.

"Mother f.u.c.ker," Reign growled as we pulled up across the street to find red and blue lights flashing outside the gym, two men being led out in handcuffs.

There went our leverage.

FIVE.

Mina Pretty much the last place in the world I wanted to be was in a car with a couple of hot-headed bikers. Our training, it generally taught us that operations were crippled by emotions. That was how you screwed up, got sloppy, made the kind of mistakes that could get you killed.

On top of that, I had extensive training, as Lo demanded, but was nowhere near as much of a natural at it as Lo was. She should have gone with them, been their voice of reason.

I was probably the only one in the car who felt relief when we first saw the police lights flashing.

Of course I also realized that it meant The Henchmen were back at square one. If they couldn't get their hands on the men, they couldn't extract information, and they couldn't find where the rest of them were so they could be taken out.

"You guys hang back," Reign started, reaching for his handle and Mitch reached for his as well.

"You're not going alone. Lo's orders," Mitch said and Reign made a low, growling noise in his chest, clearly not used to not being listened to.

"Fine. We'll see how much this f.u.c.khead will give us," Reign said, gesturing toward the tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed detective.

"Lloyd," Renny said, exhaling hard.

"He's hungry to prove himself," I offered.

"Yeah, but what are the chances that he wants to do that by catching the people who are picking off another organization in the area?" he shot back.

"He wants his cases solved. But these guys will likely plead out to breaking and entering and maybe some weapons charges if they're carrying. They'll probably get little more than time served. They'll be on the street again."

"Yeah, in half a f.u.c.king year," he scoffed. "We could all be dead by then."

I felt my stomach clench hard at those words, realizing for the first time that I would care about that. Death was as big a part of my life as anything else. After a while, you almost become immune to loss. It stops being so Earth-shaking. It doesn't make it any less tragic, but I had long since stopped crying my eyes out every time we lost someone.

But hearing Renny say that they could be dead in six months, that got to me. It shouldn't have. While I genuinely liked all the people I had met within the confines of The Henchmen compound, they weren't exactly friends. If I didn't cry over the loss of people at Hailstorm, how could I feel so worked up over veritable strangers.

I had a gut feeling that the answer had less to do with the MC as a whole and a lot more to do with a certain red-headed, tattoo-covered, blue-eyed biker.

Which was insane.

Truly.

I barely knew him.

I knew less about him than anyone else in The Henchmen compound. Granted, now that I had a full name to go on, I was about to know a h.e.l.l of a lot more.

But somehow, it almost felt wrong and invasive to look into him now.

That wouldn't stop me, of course. My drive to know was perhaps just shy of as obsessive as his own drive to know things. It would drive me half-crazy to try to go to sleep at night without having at least some answers.

Like who were his parents?

What had they done to him to make him run away?

That little line about a rat and the sticky tape was telling. While they may not have beaten him, they had obviously done some kind of irreparable damage, they had left wounds that might never heal.

"What do you think of this Lazarus guy?" he asked suddenly as we both just stared out the window, watching Reign talk to the detectives, shooting a look over at the cop cars every once in a while like he was trying to memorize the faces of the guys they caught.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think his story pans out? He was just taking a f.u.c.king walk and just happened to see a break-in in progress?" he asked, his voice more guarded than the usual, laid-back Renny generally was.

"What? Do you think he was just trying to get inside? Gather more information?"

"Just think the timing is interesting. And I think his lack of concern for the guns and being taken prisoner for a while is..."