Chapter 42: Chapter Forty Two

Ron’s Point of View:

I just stayed sat in my chair while everyone left the room. I kept my eyes firmly on Alexander. As much as I fucking hate it, I knew he was probably the only other person right now who knew how I felt.

His relationship with Harley is wrong. On so many levels, the age gap, the fact he’s my best friend... but most of all, the fact that he was married to her mother, I just couldn’t get over it, but right now, that wasn’t the biggest problem.

The biggest problem is because no matter what, I knew the demands the CK had made were just so completely impossible. Even if we considered killing a fellow member, which we couldn’t, we just didn’t have the money.

Even with all of mine and Jemma’s personal savings, the money from the garage, the club money, it still wasn’t enough. Even if the guys ‘chipped’ in, we wouldn’t even be close.

For the first time, I didn’t know what I was going to do to solve this problem, and that scared me. It scared me a lot.

I watched as he stood, clearly debating what to do before he turned and walked out of the club. I wanted to call him back and talk to him, but I couldn’t. My pride wouldn’t allow me to. I wasn’t going to forgive him. I was NEVER going to forgive him, but for now, and until Harley was home safely, I’d forget about his betrayal and work with him to get her back.

Right now, I needed my friend.

Standing up, I walked out, ignoring the other guys who seemed to be talking amongst themselves and headed in the direction Alexander had gone.

As I rounded the corner, it became obvious where he had gone and swallowed my anger and annoyance as I made my way to Harley's room and knocked on the door. There was no answer and at first, I wondered if he had come in here after all, but after a second knock, the door opened and there he was.

He looked more than surprised to see me.

‘What’s up?’ He asked, his voice void of any emotion.

‘Look, I’m willing to put our shit to the side for now. Until we get her back, can you?’ He just studied my face for a minute, probably wondering if I was being serious. I was.

Yeah. I can’. I nodded.

‘Good. I’ll see you tomorrow’. And with that, I turned and walked away. I felt like I said what I needed to say and there was no point hanging around, having an awkward and forced conversation.

Walking through the club, I ignored everyone who spoke to me and headed outside. The warm air hit me in the face as I made a beeline to the office to find Jemma. I just wanted to go home.

I stood in the doorway and watched as she faffed around with some paperwork. When she realized I was there, she stopped and looked at me with her big, brown eyes.

‘Hey honey, are you ok?’ I shook my head honestly. ‘It will be ok, we’ll get her back you know.’

‘I hope so’. I knew I could always be honest with Jemma. We've been through a lot together, I didn’t see the point in lying to her anymore... She always found out anyway.

‘We will. YOU will’. I loved that she had the confidence in me because I didn’t have any in myself.

‘Can we go home?’ She nodded and logged off the computer.

‘I’ll come in early and finish the car reports’. I just said ’Ok’ and we left. She took my hand as we walked back across the lot. I decided to leave my bike there and catch a ride with Jemma in her car. I didn’t want to ride right now.

The drive home was quiet. I knew she wanted to say something, to comfort me, but I also knew that at a time like this... what could someone actually say?

Walking into the house, I went to head to my office, but Jemma grabbed my hand and pulled me back.

‘Jem, I'm not in the mood to talk right now’. Her expression softened and she sighed sadly.

‘Then let's not talk, just come and sit with me’. I just wanted to be alone, but I knew she was trying, so I just let her pull me to the sofa and we sat down. ‘We’re in the comfort of our own home now. Allow yourself to feel.’

At first, I wasn’t exactly sure what she was expecting me to do, but as soon as she wrapped her arms around me, I laid down on her lap and wrapped my arms around her waist. She started stroking my head and all of my emotions hit me at once.

‘I don’t know what to do this time Jem’. I admitted honestly.

‘You’ll figure it out, baby’. I didn’t respond, I didn’t know what to say to her.

We just laid there, Me, cuddled into her lap as she held me, for a very, very long time, while every scenario possible played out in my mind, and none ended well.

What was I going to do?!