Everyone approves the rather large amount Rock suggests, and we break. Guys stream out into the clubhouse.

Rock motions me to sit back down. Before I do that, I walk over and swing the door shut. Judging by the grim look he's wearing, I have a feeling he's going to want privacy for whatever he's about to unload on me.

"This fight have anything to do with why I found Trinity crying in the laundry room yesterday? Did you hurt her?"

Shocked because I had no idea, I bristle at Rock sticking his nose in my business. Especially where Trinity is concerned. "Leave it alone, prez."

His eyes turn violent. "No, you don't listen. I told you to leave her-"

"She said yes."

Rock slams his fist into the table. "Motherfucker, she'll always say yes."

"Good, that's what she's here for, isn't it?" I shoot back.

"You're such an asshole."

I've been holding this back for years, and the words explode out of me as I jump out of my chair and get in his face. "You fucking knew how I felt about her."

Rock has never been intimidated by anyone in his life. He gets right back in my face. "You're lucky I got so much love for you, brother, or I'd knock your fucking head off your shoulders."

I sneer back at him. "Love to see you try, brother." A little calmer, I add, "You knew I didn't want her up here as club ass. Yet you chose her over me."

"Are you serious right now? Do you have any idea what kind of people were after her?"

What? "No! Because no one told me a fucking thing."

"It wasn't my story to tell." He points at my abandoned chair. "Sit the fuck down."

I yank my chair out so hard it bounces off the wall, leaving a dent in the plaster. Rock pulls the chair next to me around and leans on the back of it. "She told you she grew up around an MC, right?"

"Yeah, anyone can tell within five minutes of meeting her."

"Her father was a member of the Silver Saints."

Fuck. Anyone who knew about the Silver Saints knew there was nothing saintly about that crew. A bad feeling crawled over my skin. Whatever he was going to tell me would be horrible.

"Her father-Ryan "Bishop" Hurst-was one scary fuck. Grinder took me out there once when I was a prospect." He raises an eyebrow at me. "Bishop was their sergeant-at-arms." I'm not sure what to do with that information, so I nod for Rock to continue. "Shortly after I met him, he got put away on some bullshit charge. Should have been a three year stint at the most. His 'brothers' kept asking him to do so many 'favors' on the inside, he had years added to his sentence."

That's not an uncommon scenario in our world. "Fuck."

"Yeah. Trinity was eight when her dad went away. Her mother started earning her keep with the Saints on her back the day Bishop went inside." I don't bother asking how Rock knows this. Motherfucker has an uncanny way of collecting information when he wants to. "When Trinity's ten, someone burns down their trailer. Incidentally, this is right around the time her dad carried out his first 'favor.'"

"Payback?"

"Probably, or the mother trying to get insurance money. Her mom's not all there. She Fuck, after the dad went away, her mom started tying Trinity to her bed at night so she didn't accidentally see something she shouldn't."

"Jesus Christ."

"So the fire starts. She can't get out 'cause she's tied to her fucking bed. Someone, I'm assuming the assholes who started the fire, hear her screaming and get her out. I don't think torching a kid was on their agenda."

"Where the fuck was her mother?"

"Oh, she made it out fine. 'Forgot' about Trin."

"Cunt." I may be crude, but that's a word I reserve for special occasions. Women who leave their little girls tied to beds are most definitely cunts.

"Yeah. So the Saints' president takes them in. I'm sure you can guess why. Her dad gets shanked not long after. She's got no protection at all. She's club property."

I shake my head, knowing what he's going to say next.

"They turned her out at sixteen."

All my life, I've lived with a fuckload of rage inside. It's how I got the name Wrath. It's why I indulge in underground fighting. To unleash all that anger I carry with me. But knowing exactly what those words mean, I realize I'd underestimated myself. Because every bit of fury I'd ever experienced up until today was a slight flicker of irritation compared to what races through me hearing the woman I love- "They rape her?" I choke out.

Rock's eyes close and then open. "I don't think that's how she sees it. She went along with things so they didn't hurt her even worse. I think she has it in her head she's at fault somehow? But we both know she wasn't in any way able to consent to that shit."

"How many?" I whisper hoarsely, staring at my best friend.

Rock tilts his head and gives me a sad look. I see it in his face. They made her pull a train. The entire club would have gone at her. At six-motherfucking-teen. She was a kid, for fuck's sake. The same age Teller's mouthy little sister is now.

Christ, the daily beatings I took from my drunken father seem like a trip to Disneyland compared to Trinity's childhood.

"Let me finish. You understand what an MC like Silver Saints is going to do to a beautiful sixteen-year-old girl with no one to protect her?"

I nod because I'm too sick to speak. I've seen adult women pull that shit, and it ain't pretty. And I've been in some fucked-up shit myself. Half those fucked-up things were with the man right in front of me. But never someone unwilling or a kid-just, no.

"She got away at eighteen and worked her way here. You and I both know crews like the Saints don't enjoy losing property, especially property that can go to the cops and spill secrets. She grew up in that clubhouse, hearing and seeing all sorts of shit. Their president wanted her back-bad."

"They put a bounty on her."

"Yes-a big one. I don't think she understood the risk she was taking working the Blue Fox, even if it wasn't Saint's territory."

"Shit."

Rock nods sympathetically. "Yeah. While you were on that run, one of them spotted her in the bar. He threatened her-told her he was taking her back to that hellhole. She knew what was in store for her if she went back. She was terrified. She called and asked for my help." He pins me with a hard stare. "I couldn't let her get hurt. We needed someone to take care of the clubhouse. I offered her the job and our protection. Nothing more. She's the one who made herself available to the club, not me."

Fuck. "Why?"

"You lay claim on her?"

"No. But I told her I'd take care of her."

Rock looks at me in his special Are you stupid? way.

"Where is this sick fuck-"

Anger twists his face and his hands curl into the back of the chair he's leaning against. "Shut up," he spits out. "For once in your fucking life where she's concerned, listen to me. Are you going to step the fuck up and own her ass or not? 'Cause if not, stop wasting my fucking time reliving this shit." He shakes his head, then pins me with another glare. "I'll never forget the look on her face when she told me this story."

"If she'll let me, but Rock, you gotta know it's hard to forget she's been with some of my brothers." What the fuck? Why did I even say that? That's been my go-to excuse for why I'm a dick to her for so long, now the words fucking fly out all on their own.

"If that's all you're worried about after what I just told you, then you don't fucking deserve her, you asshole."

He waits for me to say something, but I shake my head. He's right.

"Trin has watched more girls go down on you over the years than I don't know what, so you'll just have to shut the fuck up about who she's been with. 'Cause it must have hurt her every time."

Every time I did it, I did it to piss her off because she fucking hurt me. Holy fuck. We're so goddamn dysfunctional and twisted. I don't know if I can ever fix us.

But I want to try.

"Tell me the rest."

He shrugs in his dickish manner he's perfected over the years. "What's to tell?"

I grit my teeth, because I know the fucker's going to make me work for every scrap of information.

After a brief staring contest, he finally continues. "That charter of the Silver Saints no longer exists. I put Tyler in the ground to cancel that fucking bounty and then slowly helped Stump's crew dismantle them. She and I haven't spoken about it since the day I told her the bounty was done and she was property of Lost Kings, free and clear."

"Why didn't I know? Why didn't you tell me? I would've wanted a piece of that."

"You were gone all the time, sorting shit out for the club. The club wouldn't have survived without you."

Yeah, and I know Rock was back here cleaning up the mess our last president and VP left. And apparently working side-by-side with Stump. Doesn't matter, I'm still fuckin' pissed.

"When you were here," he continues, "you two were too busy going to war and trying to see who could hurt who the most. I didn't think you gave a fuck."

"That's fucking bullshit and you know it."

"I thought I was protecting her. She'd been through enough." His shoulders lift in a careless shrug, and the urge to knock him the fuck out returns. "You gonna cry about it or move forward?"

"Fuck you."

This time Rock stares me down and I can see the misery on his face. "I've never seen that girl cry once in eight years. Not even when she told me this horrible story."

"You should have told me."

He doesn't react to my raised voice at all. "Can I finish?" he asks with a solemn expression. I know damn well Rock takes responsibility for everything bad that happens to any of us. I'm just so fucking furious and he's the most convenient place to direct my anger.

I nod for him to continue.

"Yesterday I found her crying, so whatever you did-"

"I didn't do anything, we-"

He shakes his head, cutting me off. "I don't want details. I didn't realize she never told you, until yesterday."

"So that's why you're finally coming clean, eight years later?"

"I was trying to protect her the best way I knew how."

He's right, we're a houseful of hustlers and thugs, not psychiatrists. "Fine. What do you suggest?"

He cocks his head in a way that lets me know I'm working his last fucking nerve. "Do I look like Dr. Fucking Phil to you?" he asks, echoing my thoughts.

I stay silent. I can wait him out.

A heavy sigh. "Fine. First of all, wipe that look off your face. She's a survivor. She doesn't need your pity. She sees it, she'll freeze up. Second, stop fucking around, or at least stop doing it in front of her."

"While she keeps fucking my brothers? Sounds legit," I say with a great deal of sarcasm.

One of these days, I should reevaluate my need to flirt with death. Rock cracks his knuckles like he's thinking of knocking me out. "I'll help you however I can. But you're going to have to lay claim on her sometime this century."

Whoa. "One step at a time, brother."

Rock's face turns a little less murderous. "You're going to have to cut her some slack. Understand the only value she thinks she has is for sex. From the time she was eight years old, she watched her mother earn her keep by spreading her legs for the club. And even though Trinity didn't have a choice in the matter, she's been doing the same since she was sixteen. It's the only way she knows how to feel accepted. She doesn't know anything else. You upset her, make her feel like shit, she's gonna jump on the first cock she sees. She thinks you're mad at her, she'll try to fuck you out of it. Try giving her something besides sex to feel good about."

Fuck me. I think of all the things I like about Trinity. Sex is very high on the list, but it's not the only thing. "Thanks for the psychology lesson. Smart move installing someone with her issues as club ass here."

Rock's eyes darken as he throws a scowl at me. "Fuck you. Would it have been better for her to get torn up and killed by the Saints? Let her find her way to some other MC that wouldn't give her an ounce of respect? That's what would have happened."

I think about how much Trinity hates being on her knees. Here, the guys accepted it. Maybe joked about her odd behavior behind her back a little, but another club? She might not be so lucky.

A flashback to the night we met grips me and fills me with disgust. What I thought she'd said as some weird challenge had probably been a result of the abuse she suffered as a kid.

Rock sighs. "At least she's safe here. She can say no if she wants to. Not one guy here will force himself on her, or drug her, or any of the other shit she went through."

I swallow back the tidal wave of guilt threatening to crash over me. "I want to make things work. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing though."

"Do any of us? Think about all the fucked-up shit she's been through. Her parents, the fire, her time with the Saints. Any one of those things would make some people give up. But she didn't. Fought her way out of that cesspool. Think about the person she is-sweet and smart. Loyal to the core. Always has a kind word for everyone. Always eager to help out. Can't imagine what this place would look like without her."

Every word's the truth. We all take Trinity for granted.

Rock raises his voice, in case he doesn't have my full attention. "Somehow she managed to finish high school in that fucked-up place. I know she'd been accepted to college but never got to go." Rock slaps the table to get me to look at him. "When she's testing you, set your massive ego aside and focus on those things."

"I will." And I meant it. We'd wasted too many years already.

From now on, I would do better for Trinity.

There was no other option.

I find Trinity in the downstairs laundry room, folding sheets, towels, and crap like that. It strikes me hard how much I hate she's basically a maid some of us use for sex. The biker thug in me knows that's what a club mama is, but the caveman obsessed with Trinity wants to burn the clubhouse to the ground and carry my woman off into the woods.

Shaking the awful feeling that settled over me after my conversation with Rock has been impossible. I see Trinity in a different light. Not pity. Admiration? I feel like such an asshole for ever being jealous of the way she fawns over the other guys. Fussing over them for their birthdays, the parties for Teller and Murphy when we patched them in. It's her way of showing appreciation for our shelter and protection.

Clearing my throat to get her attention, I relax my jaw and actually think about what I want to say.

"Hey, Wrath."