Shadowing Me
Page 17

“Here is how this is going to go. Braxxon, and yes, I called you Braxxon, not Godfather. You will have to earn that title back because you sure as hell don’t deserve it right now. You can be pissed at your wife all you want, but you cannot, and I can’t stress this enough, you cannot order your brother to shoot her! What in the hell were you thinking?” She stares at Braxxon, waiting for his response, but he lowers his gaze to the floor in shame, and doesn’t speak.
“That’s right. You’re ashamed of yourself too, now, aren’t ya? Well, you should be.” She takes a deep breath before continuing. “You will let yourself cool down, and when you can rationally talk to your wife again, you may leave this room, and not a moment sooner than that. I’ll be watching you.”
She turns to Sniper and hits his shoulder. “And don’t even get me started on you, Sniper. Yeah, you lost the uncle shit, too. You were actually going to shoot her! I have half a mind to tell Grandma Berry, so she can poison you for a month straight! You think Pop is proud, looking down on the lot of you right now?” A look of disgust covers her face. “He’s probably looking down with pity and shame that his sons would even think about shooting a woman, let alone a woman carrying his grandchild!”
“Y’all may be grown ass men, but that shit that just happened,” she gestures around the room, “is childish behavior, and since y’all want to act like children, I am going to treat y’all like that. Timeout until your shit is cooled.”
Tatiana sighs now that she’s finished chastising the adults for their wrong behavior. It is ironic how I kept calling her a child, and now, she is the only reasonable adult in the room. And fuck if she doesn’t look stunning in my eyes.
“I am tired, so damn tired of the drama and the violence. I get that you’re in an MC. I do. But don’t ever turn your back on family again. This isn’t how we function. Take all this hate and direct it towards the people who deserve it, not on the people who love you more than life itself.” She shakes her head back and forth a few times before turning her attention to me.
Oh, shit. I didn’t do anything!
“Shadow, if you want to get off my shit list, you can sit outside those doors and hand the guns back when people leave this room, calm—”
I don’t even let her finish before my ass is out of the chair and over to the door, grabbing the trashcan filled with guns on my way. This is my easy out and I’m not stupid. My brain is screaming, “take the offer,” before she even finishes issuing it.
She looks around the room one more time and shakes her head in disgust before opening the door to leave. When it shuts behind her, I swear I can hear crickets in the silence that lingers.
“Did we fucking get smacked down by my daughter,” ZZ asks in disbelief, his voice echoing in the quiet room.
“The Chinese didn’t even bust my balls like that,” Prez says as he walks over and kicks the shattered pieces of his chair. “What in the fuck?”
They can talk all they want about what happened, but I will not be a part of it. I came dangerously close to ripping off my patch when this shit started. Shooting a woman? The Prez has a lot of respect to earn back from a few of us. I say nothing as I let myself out the door.
“Tatiana gave me strict orders, and she was in fucking tears when she went flying out of here.” Piper looks up as she rolls a chair over to me. “You guys fucked with her head so hard with that shit.”
Pain slices through my chest as I try to imagine everything Tea has to be feeling. Not only did we get into it, but she also lashed out at her entire family. With good reason, of course, but shit, she has to be drained. “Go to her. Please, Piper. I won’t move from this chair until everything is good. I swear to god.”
Piper studies me and considers my answer before she gives me hers. “I’ll go to her, but if even a drop of blood is spilled while I’m gone…”
I nod. She doesn’t have to finish.
“Okay, Storm and Winter are cleaning out the office if anyone asks. Make sure they’re calm enough, though, before you tell them where they are.”
Again, I nod.
What a fucking day. I have not only spoken down to Tatiana by pure accident, but I have lost almost all the respect I had for my President. Today is one of those days I wish I could take back and do over, so I could stop to fix things before they escalate.
***
Chapter Nine
Shadow
After about two hours, I have given weapons back to everyone, so I step outside to get some fresh air. As I light up my smoke, I see items flying out of the office doorway. Winter’s curses travel through the open window, and Storm leans against the building, shaking her head. I’m no pregnancy expert, but I am almost positive Winter shouldn’t be lifting all that stuff. I mouth, “what the fuck,” to Storm, and her head continues to shake back and forth in a “don’t bother” manner.
“This place is a mess. How in the hell did they ever keep track of their work!” Winter huffs as she tosses an empty filing cabinet out of the office.
Everyone has finally cooled off, but if Prez sees her lifting and throwing office furniture, all hell will break loose. I groan, sidestepping the cast out items, and make my way to the door.
“Winter. I don’t think you’re supposed to be doing that. Prez would probably get pissed.”
I duck as a folding chair soars above my head, narrowly missing me. “Christ! You could’ve knocked me out!”