Hammer's Pride by E.C. Land (brene brown rising strong TXT) 📕

Stiffening, I turn from Avery, grab my cut and pull it on over my shoulders. I pick up my gun and put it in the back of my jeans. Last, I grab my phone off the dresser and shove it in my front pocket and start for the door.

“Get changed. I’ll be back with your food when it gets here,” I growl, needing to get away from her. Storming out of my room, I slam the door and stalk off toward my office. Inside, I round my desk and throw myself into my chair. I let out a heavy breath, pull open the bottom drawer, and lift a bottle of Wild Turkey hundred proof. I don’t normally drink Wild Turkey, preferring to stick to Jack or Makers.

The only time I pull it out is when memories of that night are brought to mind, and I need to get rid of them. Though the only way to do that really is to get the moonshine out that Colt makes. That shit will make you forget your own name if need be.

Pulling the lid off the bottle, I lift it to my lips while I dig into my pocket and snag my phone out. I shoot a text to Tap and tell him to give the food to Malice. I also shoot a text to Malice tellin’ him to take the food to my room and order Avery to eat. I didn’t even care if he had to wake her up first.

Right now, I need to wipe the memory of my brother’s death from my mind without thinking of the bullshit storm I’ve walked into with Avery. Why I decided to say she’s mine is beyond me at this point, but I know one thing for certain. I’m not takin’ it back. In my gut, I know I gotta see it through. Something tells me she needs me, and my brother used to tell me when it came to his ol’ lady, my sister-in-law, his gut told him he had to pull her out of the hell she’d been living in. He didn’t understand it at first, but then he got it when she gave him the good that was all her.

Maybe that’s what this is. Or maybe it’s not. All I know is come tomorrow; I’ll start to find out. The rest of tonight, however, I’m erasing the world and crashing without anyone fuckin’ with me.

Between the Supreme Masters, Simone, this gang bullshit, the club possibly having a rat, and now Avery’s drama, I’m hitting my limit. Something’s got to give, and it needs to do it sooner rather than later.

Chapter Seven

Avery

Last night had been a complete and utter disaster. From the moment Hammer put me on the back of his motorcycle to him pulling me into his room. Okay, so I’m somewhat freaked by everything going on right now. I have a right to be that way, but I’m not going to let it stand in my way of what all I’ve got to do.

I have a business to run and no time to do much of anything else. Shoot, I didn’t even sleep worth crap last night. I honestly didn’t sleep any. Which means I’m running on empty right now.

After Hammer stormed out the way he did last night, slamming the door behind him, I’d quickly done what he’d said about changing and then went to lay on the couch he had on the far side of his room.

I’d been surprised by how spacious the room is, considering it’s in a clubhouse, but it’s twice as big as my room with a king-size bed in the middle. He’d had a dresser near the door upon entering, another dresser against the wall directly in front of the bed with a TV mounted on the wall above it, a little further over on the other side of the door leading to the bathroom, he has a desk sitting there littered with a lot of papers scattered everywhere. On the far side of the room, that’s where he had a comfortable couch sitting, and that’s where I’d laid down after coming out of the bathroom. Wanting to give Hammer his space when he came back.

He didn’t, though, come back. Instead, Malice, the guy who’d stood with me, came into the room holding a container of food that smelled divine, my mouth watered immediately, and my stomach growled. Malice shoved the food at me and ordered me to eat as he stayed in the room without speaking another word until I finished. I’d been nervous and scared by the way the man glared at me that I even ate the stuff in the container I hated, like fried okra and sprouts. It took everything in me not to throw those up in the process.

Now with it being morning, I need to get out of here and get to Rise-N-Shine. I figured with it being so early in the morning, there wouldn’t be anyone I could ask to take me and that I’d have to walk. On the ride here, I took in how long it would take me to get to town just in case. I’m still new to the area, but I knew it would take me a minute to get to work from here. I didn’t want to walk, but I had no choice.

Leaving the shirt Hammer tossed at me on, I pulled my jeans up and figured I’d change everything at the shop. I keep extra clothes there, just in case. Working with fluids, you never know what can happen, and I’ve spilled enough coffees on myself by accident to learn to always have backups. Not only in jeans but panties and bras too.

I quietly step out of the room, making sure to stay quiet in the process in order to not wake anyone. I hadn’t heard a peep in hours, so I figured everyone was asleep. I