Mutt growled as I disturbed him too and I slipped out of bed as footsteps thumped up the stairs. I reached for my gun on the nightstand, but I’d know the sound of those furious footfalls anywhere. Just in case he fancied murdering us, I kept the gun in my grip as I stood up and the door flew open.
Luther took a sweeping look through the room as JJ sat up, bleary eyed and with a pistol in his hand. He was shirtless, in bed with my girl and I was only in my boxers too, so this all looked very fucking strange, but I didn’t need to explain myself to my father.
Luther’s eyes widened and he seemed lost for words for a moment before he regained his composure.
“It’s nearly eleven am,” he barked, his glare flicking onto me. “You missed the Crew meeting at the clubhouse, why the fuck was your phone off?”
I looked around for it, spotting it on the floor where it had died. “Err…” I rubbed a hand over my face, the taste of rum still lingering in the back of my throat from last night.
“Sorry, boss,” JJ tried, stepping out of bed and pulling some sweatpants on while Rogue continued to sleep like the dead. Mutt bounded across the mattress, jumping at Luther with blind faith and he caught him out the air in surprise.
“Get up. All of you,” Luther commanded, scratching Mutt’s ears while the little dog licked him and threw me a side eyed glare. “We need to talk.”
He strode out of the room and I shared a look with JJ where we silently questioned our sanity about sleeping in this bed together. It was what we needed right now though and I guessed it was how we were coping with losing Chase, but if I really analysed it I could possibly come to the conclusion that this was actually a way to hold onto him and never let go.
“Come on, pretty girl. Time to wake up.” JJ shook Rogue, but that didn’t work so I moved over to her other side and patted her cheek.
“Hummingbird,” I tried, patting her cheek a little harder. “Baby?”
She reached out in her sleep, her hand landing right on my cock and squeezing.
“Jesus,” I grunted, pushing her hand away as my dick got overexcited. “Wake up.” I scooped her into my arms and her eyes finally fluttered open.
“Where are we going?” she murmured. “I’m hungry. Was that a footlong sub I just felt? Gimme it. Put it in my mouth.”
“Tempting, baby, but Luther’s here,” I said and she woke up a little more sharply.
She wriggled out of my arms, grabbing a pair of Chase’s sweatpants from his drawer and pulling them on, tying the cord so they yanked tight around her waist. I frowned at her, seeing the stubbornness in her eyes to keep a part of him with her like she feared if she stopped surrounding herself with him, he’d disappear forever. I knew she was conflicted over him, we all were, but none of us had wanted to see him dead and I didn’t wanna let go yet either.
We headed down to the office along the hall and I was reminded of being disciplined in here by my father as a kid. It was my domain now, but as I stepped into the room and found him behind the desk, I didn’t feel much ownership of it. The three of us stood shoulder to shoulder and he regarded us with a pitying look on his face, but quickly schooled it into a hard mask.
“Shut the door,” he ordered even though there was no one else in the house and JJ moved to obey. “I know you’re all grieving,” he said with a frown as his gaze travelled across us. “But it’s time to move on. Our Crew is at war, and I have intelligence that says Shawn is going to make another move against us tonight.”
“Where?” I demanded as Rogue’s spine straightened.
My jaw clenched at that single movement, because I knew my father owned her now and I didn’t have the power to keep her from trying to attack Shawn if that was what he wanted. JJ had been teaching her to shoot while I stubbornly refused to acknowledge the fact that she would ever need to use a gun against Shawn. I hadn’t stopped him all the same though, she needed to be able to protect herself, so I turned a blind eye to