Reign (Riders of Apollo #1)

Chapter 30: Roman Hayes

I get congratulated alongside Peyton for settling down with an Old Lady. They mock me as well, of course, their excuse being: why stick to one woman when you can have them all?

That makes sense to me because they don't have their own Peyton.

They don't have their own woman to go home to everyday; to talk about your problems with and have no judgements; to find someone that just knows you. Having someone who is intelligent, sweet, caring, ferocious and outright vicious is just a plus.

I'm sure they'll find one one day but they won't measure up to her, at least not in my eyes. I don't deserve her but fuck me I'm so happy that she chose me to call home.

I look over at her wearing her leather and lounging, knowing she belongs here. She's more relaxed than usual with a breathtaking smile on her face and my chest hurts with happiness. I've never really thought about finding an Old Lady, settling down, maybe having a few kids but now I can't think of anything better.

I want everything with her. I fucking love her for Apollo's sakes.

-------

"I best go and get ready to meet Matías. Runner you can't wear the cut." He regrettably slides off his cut and hands it to Romeo, who takes it gently, understanding the meaning of it. Peyton takes her jacket off and passes it to me, "Safely with that." Her hand squeezes my arm as I take it from her.

We do the secret hand shake that she made up at three this morning. She actually woke me up with the excitement of a seven year old, I couldn't deny her with those puppy dog eyes and the brilliant smile. 

Even now her excitement from doing the handshake just makes me love her more.

"Come on, Runner. Gotta negotiate and have some fun. We'll be back tomorrow." Peyton grabs Runner's hand and pulls him out of the room, while I turn to Bear knowing he has plans for the rest of us while they're gone.

We have a gun run tonight, since our business has been thriving with the Niners being pushed back into their own territory and our standing peace with the Fire Demons allows us to contact more people. The only thing we're worried about is that we don't have much protection left here when we're gone, especially with our best fighter and one of our best sharpshooters out negotiating.

"Lexie, you are staying in the room while I'm gone. I'm not arguing about this anymore. You're safe here."

"Bear, please. This is ridiculous, I'm not staying in that room for ten minutes let alone four hours."

"Alexiana, get your ass back in that room before I lock you in. Peyton is not here to protect you and I won't be either. I won't risk you."

"Fine." She throws her hands into the air, screeches real loud and then slams the door behind her once she reaches the room.

"Sometimes I forget that I'm ten years older than her but moments like that sure do remind me." Bear drags his hands down his face in exasperation, "Be thankful you're only four years older than your lady, Reign." I roll my eyes before checking the magazine on my gun and slipping it into my holster.

"Be thankful your woman hasn't walked into a Mexican bar with an attractive latino guy surrounded by gang members who aren't on our side." Everyone nods in agreement to my statement, knowing how much trouble Saviour is in right now. I don't like the fact that I couldn't go with her, it feels weird, like I'm missing a limb or something.

I've hardly been away from her since we met.

"Come on, we've gotta go." We follow Prez out, kicking off and speeding towards our target. Thankfully it won't be a long run, at least if it happens effectively with no attacks or emergency.

It was too good to be true. 

The hand off with our neighbouring chapter went surprisingly well, they will take the run the rest of the way, splitting the profits with us 50/50. We're under too much heat to spend too much time away from the club so for now we've gotta make sacrifices.

We get back to the club and park up, letting Lexie out of her room is probably the most risky thing we've done today. She storms out, completely ignoring Bear and demands that all of us head to our bar just to chill and have a few drinks to celebrate the success.

When we get there the bouncer let's us skip the queue considering we own the place and we take our seats on the plush couches pushed up in the corner. Most of the men go on the prowl for some women while the rest of us sit with our feet up and drink whatever we can get our hands on. I stick to whiskey.

Unfortunately, for our chill evening some hang arounds - men that want to be part of the club but have been rejected and refuse to leave - decide to start a fight with a few of our men. Causing all of us to get involved.

Just as the fight gets good - with two men wrapped under my arms in headlocks while I kick another guy in the stomach - the cops walk in brandishing weapons and demand for us to stop the fighting. I roll my eyes as a cop points a gun straight at me, petulantly I smash their heads together and drop them like a child drops a toy.

They put me, Bear, Romeo and a few others in cuffs which makes me chuckle. "What are you laughing at, convict?" The cop demands, tightening his grip on my arms like I couldn't snap him in two even with my hands locked together.

"Just thinking about my woman's love for the cuffs." The other guys laugh with me as the cop gives me a look of pure confusion and disgust.

"Like any smart girl would choose you." He spits, I sharpen my glare enough to freak him out as he puts me in the back of his Subaru POS.

He even turns the sirens on and speeds back to the fucking station like we're gonna escape between the club and there. It's not like we have any reason to, I doubt they'll pass charges. We own the town and even with HR involved there'll be too many questions.

We all get put in the same shitty cell and I take my normal seat on the bench, resting my head against the wall. The others taking similar positions, not unfamiliar with prison cells. A lot of us have done time for the club, either that or we've been arrested for street brawls or break ins. Romeo - despite being the tech guy - has spent more time in here than any of us. 

Little shit, I swear.

Just as we all get comfortable, a man that can only be a Captain, with the posh blue uniform and the hat, comes into the room. He has a stern face, with broad shoulders and I can tell this is not a man to be fucked with. "Rodrigo!" He shouts as soon as he lays eyes on us. The man who locked me in the cuffs stands from his seat to react to the Captain's demand.

"Yes, Captain?"

"I specifically told you the Riders of Apollo are strictly off limits, Peyton demanded it of us. Why can't you listen to the simplest of orders?" I look to Bear in surprise, of course my woman would've arranged some sort of protection for us since she has an in with the cops. 

Thank God for her.

I'm definitely gonna prove my gratefulness when I get my hands on her. Maybe I should ask if I could keep the cuffs.

"Who the fuck is Peyton and why does she dictate who we arrest?"

"Peyton is the bounty hunter that's helping us bring down a corrupt organisation and taming gang feuds in the area. She's done more than you could ever do, now let them the fuck out or I'll send you back to beat."

Rodrigo mumbles a few expletives that I hadn't even heard before and releases us from the cage. I manage to keep the cuffs and we all head out, it's not a long walk back to the club thankfully because that's where our fucking bikes are.

"Damn, that's gotta be the seventh time that woman has saved our asses." Bear announces halfway back to the club, I think he must've been trying to work out how many times she's actually saved our asses otherwise he would've said this earlier.

"Thank God." Romeo swiftly replies, he's been whining for the last ten minutes about his feet hurting and his face hurting because he got hit.

This is why he's the computer guy.