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

heard Gunner and I talking about Hammer’s woman, he claimed, and you got pissed about it. Now tell the fuckin’ truth,” Rogue sneers, stepping forward and crossing his arms over his chest.

“We . . .” I stop her by holding a hand up in a stop motion, not wanting to hear any of her bullshit excuses.

“You know what, I don’t give a damn about what you have to say. Except for one thing, what were you doing in my fuckin’ clubhouse when we told all of you to motherfuckin’ stay gone for the night?” Fury clings to me, and I’m pissed I’m having to deal with this first rather than going after Avery.

“We didn’t think you were serious, and besides, Cheeks and I don’t have anywhere else to go. When we saw her coming out of your room, we decided to play with her and figured she’d leave if she thought you were fuckin’ us. You were in your office,” Bunny stammers, fiddling with her hands in front of her.

“That true about them not having a place to go, Cy?” I ask, tilting my head to my brother.

“Yeah, Prez, from what I know of these two, they don’t got shit we don’t give them. However, we did pay for a hotel room for them to stay at,” Cy says, lip curling up in disgust.

Nodding, I turn back to the two clubwhores. “Tellin’ you now and hear me when I say it because this is the only fuckin’ time I’m gonna say it. Probation, you’re both on a month’s probation. You fuck up even minimally in that time; you two cunts are out of here. You’re damn lucky I don’t put you out right now, but I ain’t got time for it. Now stay the fuck away from Avery and me,” I snarl and wait for their response.

Fake tears spill down their cheeks, and I’m not in the mood for that shit. I need to get out of here.

“I’m heading to town,” I declare and stalk toward the doors with several of my brothers following.

Pulling up to Rise-N-Shine Coffee, I push the kickstand down and shut my bike off, then I’m storming into the shop even more pissed to find Avery is handling customers, smile in place with dark circles under her eyes.

“You have got to be fuckin’ kidding me.” I stalk to the counter next to where the customer at the front of the line is getting ready to place their order.

“Um, I’m sorry; if you can give me a few minutes to help my customers, I’ll get you some coffee,” Avery says quietly and goes back to what she’s doing.

“Uh, holy crap, is that your boyfriend?” the customer standing next to me asks in a hushed whisper.

“No,” my woman says just as quietly, causing me to narrow my gaze on her. She’ll learn here soon what I am to her, and it ain’t puny, runt boyfriend. No, I’m her man.

Shit, what the hell am I thinking?

Finally, the last of the customers leave the shop, and I nod to Gunner to lock the door to keep anyone else from getting in. At the same time, Avery pisses me off even more. “Does anyone need coffee?” she asks sweetly to the room as a whole.

“Woman, we don’t want coffee, and you’re not gonna make any. As of now, the shop’s closed for the rest of the fuckin’ day. Your ass is getting back to the clubhouse and sleepin’ so we can discuss some shit,” I state, my voice harsh and demanding.

“I . . . I can’t leave. I put an order in to be delivered since my car is out of commission, and it should be here this afternoon after closing,” she protests.

“I’ll get one of the prospects to handle it.”

“No, you can’t. I have to do it. This is my place, and I know where everything goes, and then I need to get things ready for in the morning. You don’t know what it takes to run this place. Now leave me alone and go away. I don’t need to go to the clubhouse and go to sleep. I’ll sleep on my couch in the office when I’m ready to.” Avery did not just say that shit.

Seeing red, I reach out over the counter and snag her by the waist; with her weighing absolutely nothing, I pluck her up over the damn thing and throw her over my shoulder. With her kicking and screaming, I stalk past my brothers as Gunner unlocks and opens the door for me.

“We’ll take care of the shop, Prez,” he mutters as I pass him.

Grunting, I take the short strides to my bike. I swing a leg over it to straddle my girl and drop Avery down in front of me. I’m gonna make sure she can’t get away from me by keeping her in front until I get us to the clubhouse. There I’ll handle the rest of the shit once we’re in my room.

It may have only been a day since I met this woman and having set eyes on her days before, but it’s time I do what my gut tells me, and I’ve always listened to it. Making Avery mine is exactly what it’s telling me to do, and so that’s what the hell I’m gonna do.

Come hell or high water, Avery will know who she fuckin’ belongs to.

Chapter Nine

Avery

The first thing to come to my mind when it comes to this man is something I shouldn’t even be thinking. For one, he’s older than me. A lot older, not just three or four years, no he has to be in his late thirties, early forties. So yeah, that shouldn’t happen.

Only I can’t help but think these thoughts that cause my panties to dampen. I want him to touch me, but at the same time, I can’t allow myself to do so. I mean, I’ve never had luck with men; granted, it always comes