Slasher: Devil's Rose #10

Chapter 31: Jax Easton

I feel a soft hand on my back and know that it's Iris. I could hear the cadence of her steps down the hall, so I wasn't surprised that she was touching me. I turn my body around to face her, pressing a light kiss to her lips. She pulls away, smiling, and I know that she's happy. It's radiating off of her, and I couldn't be more fucking glad that she's happy.

"I have so much to catch you up on, Slasher. It's been a crazy three hours. And I'm hungry."

I run my fingers through the ends of her beautiful hair, staring into her gorgeous blue eyes.

"Do you want to grab a snack real quick? Carbon has some in his desk that you can take."

"Yes, I'm gonna go crash his party drawer!"

She runs down the hall, and I can hear her burst into his office, he screams, throwing a pen at her right as I turn the corner to see the two of them. I'm so glad that they get along. Carbon has been my closest friend here. 

We are all close with one another, but he's been the one by my side for a lot of my time as a prospect and official member. We sort of clicked right away even though we are pretty much the opposite. 

I got along with him really well, and he pushed me out of my shell bit by bit until I got to know all the official members much more closely. I mean, I was here while a few of them were going through their prospect days, but I wasn't part of the club at all yet, so it's not like I spent a ton of time with them.

Carbon waves at me as I pass his office door, and I wave back, taking Iris with me to my office. She starts telling me about her day, including getting the job with Javier which she already had told me, and quitting being a stripper which surprised me a little bit. 

It would be a good time to tell her about Max now, but she's so happy. I don't want to tell her when she's so happy, but I'm making excuses and I shouldn't. But she needs to know at some point, right? She's going to find out, it's just a matter of time, but I don't want that time to be now.

"You quit?"

Iris nods her head.

"Yeah, it seemed like the best thing to do," she admits, sitting down on the couch in the space that I share with Vegas and Bear.

None of us wanted an office for ourselves, so Alpha let us share a space that was supposed to be a lounge area and now it's our office.

"What do you mean by that?" I question, wanting to know more about her decision.

"Well, I wouldn't be able to work often because I would be working with Javier or want to be with you. I would rather he hire someone that can be there, you know? I also was so tired of working in that place."

"Have you told Caterina?"

"No, but it won't make much of a friendship difference. She quit like ten minutes ago too."

Max is going to be fucking pissed. He knows that Iris and I are hanging out, well, that's the last thing he knew about us. It's more than that between us now, but he doesn't know. 

And he has to know that Iris and Caterina are close friends. It would only make sense to direct that back at me and Devil's Rose MC as a whole. I would do the same thing, so I'm not blaming him, but I know that he fucking hurt right about now. 

If we decide to go after him anytime soon, he's going to raise hell, that much is true.

She crunches on her salt and vinegar chips.

"What?" Iris defends herself, a slight sass in her voice.

"You usually give me more details. Why did Caterina quit?"

"I honestly don't know. She didn't tell me, but I think she was done with it too."

I let her finish eating because I can tell that she's getting hangry, so I turn back to my work while she scrolls on her phone. 

About another thirty minutes later, it's time for us to leave to get to Alpha and Persephone's on time, so we get onto my motorcycle and head up to their place. Persephone and Hunter, their son, take us on a tour around their house while Octavia keeps the other official members preoccupied with her rendition of Dynamite by Taio Cruz. 

After the tour, we all sit down to eat. With Vegas to my right and Iris to my left, who is sitting next to Dakota, we eat a good dinner and talk so much that my throat hurts. 

Iris gets to know everybody as we drink cocktails, and Alpha and Persephone even add the touch of providing virgin cocktails for the kids.

Alpha pulls me to the side when the meal is over, saying he needs to have a quick chat with me about something. We step into his home office which is much larger than his office in headquarters. 

I've only been in here once a while ago but now it's filled with children's toys and books. It's a good look for him. Not anytime soon but one day, I would fucking love to have this in my life. 

A home with Iris, our children around, their toys, books, and random shit around too. I think it would so fucking inviting and precious. One of these days, Iris and I will both get that.

"I just wanted to say that I'm so proud of you, Slasher. I know I said it before, but it was over the phone and definitely not detailed enough. I want you to know that I'm so grateful that we've been able to move past me watching over your shoulder. All I want is for you to be happy, for you to be comfortable here. I'm finally seeing it after all this time. We are lucky to have you."

"Thank you, Alpha. I appreciate it, and I'm sorry for being such an ass. I think I've been in pain for a long time. I've been battling the past, but with Iris, I'm finally moving forward. I know what I want, and it's a life here with her. I finally have something to look forward to. That's made all the difference."

"It's funny how the women we love can do that. It's such a special feeling to love someone that much. I know what that's like, I live it every day, and I'm happy that you know what it's like too."

He pulls me into a hug before we step back into the hallway. I see Iris standing there, looking like she's about to cry. 

I fucking hate that look, and all I can think about is who fucking made her feel that way. Alpha lays a hand on my shoulder before I can lash out, but he's not mad at me for reacting, he's trying to calm me.

"How could you do this to me, Slasher?" Iris questions softly.

Alpha takes that as his signal to leave. Iris and I stand at two separate ends of the hallway, but I can hear her loud and clear. Her voice rings through the fast beats of my heart.

"You found out about Max."

"You were with me just for that. All you wanted was an in. The minute you take him down, I'm fucking out of your life," she grunts out in anger, tears streaming along her precious cheeks.

"No, I wasn't. I may have started that way, but it's not like that now, I promise you. It took one night for me to decide that it was more than that," I protest, shaking my head.

"Were you ever going to tell me? If I didn't find out tonight, would you have said something?"

"Eventually, Iris, but I didn't know when to tell you. What would I have said?"

"The truth, Slasher. You would have been honest. You would have told me the truth."

"You couldn't have known anyway. I couldn't tell you."

"Stop giving me that excuse. I've been understanding. But you are messing with my heart here. Sometimes love and care mean more than MC rules. It's happening right now for us. I'm not even your Old Lady, and I'm here. You could have asked Alpha. You were not confined by rules. You did what was good for you because it was too hard to tell me the truth."

"Of course, it was too hard. Now, I'm fucking losing you," I assert.

"But that's on you and not your MC. It was your choice to hide the truth from me."

She storms out of the house and gets into Caterina's car. She doesn't even look back.

Oh, shit. What the fuck have I done?