48
“I’m sorry. I must be bothering you or interrupting.” Tania’s shaky voice, her tight and shallow breaths set me on edge.
“Talk to me.” Holding my phone, I charged out of the gas station store, pocketing my change for the energy drink I’d sucked down while waiting in line to pay for it.
She said, “I’m at the One-Eyed Jacks in Meager. You need to come here—quick.”
“Tania, what’s wrong?”
“I need you.”
My chest tightened at those words, the pleading tone in her voice, the raw emotion seeping through. In all the years that we’d known each other, she’d never once called me for a favor, and now she was in emergency mode late at night at the One-Eyed Jacks?
“I’ll be there in less than an hour. I’m not too far away.”
“Hurry.”
Christ.
I tried calling Catch, but he didn’t answer his phone. Little shit. He was supposed to be with his daughter at his mother’s house while Jill and Tania were out tonight at a Jacks party. This had to be Catch-related for Tania to call me and ask me to come to their clubhouse, for fuck’s sake. What the hell did he do now?
Getting on my bike, I called Drac and Slade to drop everything and meet me in Meager. I lit out of the parking lot and made it there in record time. My bros waited for me at the turn off for the Jacks’ property. We rode up to the gate together, and the lone prospect there froze at the sight of us.
Only one prospect at the gate?
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
His mouth opened, but no sounds, no words came out.
“So we’re clear,” I said, shifting in my saddle. “I got a call from someone in there that I’m needed, and you aren’t gonna stop us from going inside.”
“Uh...there was a p-party,” said the prospect.
“What fucking happened?” I said through gritted teeth.
“It’s Catch,” he spit out. “Catch showed up uninvited.”
“Fuck, not again,” muttered Drac behind me.
“Open up,” I said, my fingers flexing around my handlebars.
The prospect opened the gate, and we followed the gravel path to the wide expansive driveway of what used to be an old go-kart factory. In the field in the middle of the racing track, white and silver balloons bobbed like a sea of moons over empty chairs. Two long tables were covered in platters of picked over food along with a mess of dishes and plastic cups and bottles, abandoned and forgotten. The tablecloths fluttered and snapped in the warm night breeze. An ominous welcome.
My mind ticked through the possibilities. I doubted Catch was here over his ex. That shit was done. Jill was an official Jack’s old lady now, and he’d been good about visiting his kid without any incidents for the past few months. In fact, he’d been taking extra time off recently to come to Meager and spend more time with his daughter. But during that time, Catch had disappeared early at three different parties back in Nebraska, and I’d noticed he’d been ignoring the girls he usually favored. I figured it had to be a new woman, but one he didn’t want to bring around to the club.
This smelled familiar.
My body pressing through the battering, icy wind, my pulse beating hot and wild at the sight of the “Welcome To Illinois The Land of Lincoln” sign.
Staring at her profile in a movie theater, her hand in the popcorn, mine between her legs.
Breathless kisses in musty hotel room beds, desperate poundings against bathroom tile.
Urgent whispers sweeping away nightmares.
Every chance I got I’d run off to Chicago to be with Serena. Had Catch found a woman here in Meager? If he was keeping her a secret from us, was it some woman connected to the Jacks?
Me, Drac, and Slade headed into the Jack’s clubhouse. We passed through a dimly lit hallway and reached a noisy main room filled with men and women. All eyes turned to me, and the noise instantly died down. My appearance was obviously a total surprise and not a good one. Their shock, uneasiness, irritation was another rush of caffeine in my blood. I took in a breath, savoring the pulse.
“Where the fuck is Jump, and don’t make me wait.” My voice boomed through the space.
People scattered, others froze. Across the room, I zeroed in on Tania standing next to Grace, and I raised my chin at her. Tania’s shoulders dropped a fraction, but her body visibly tensed. She was relieved to see me yet remained anxious as hell.
Jump moved toward me, a hard smirk on his face. The host of tonight’s festivities was clearly enjoying himself.
I didn’t give him a chance to open his mouth. I didn’t want explanations just yet. I wanted to make sure my bro was okay.
“Where’s Catch?” I said. A demand, not a question. The room cleared quickly.
“You don’t teach your boys any manners?” One side of Jump’s thick lips curled under that full beard and mustache. Still the arrogant prick.
Fuck, I hate this asshole.
Time hadn’t erased the venom seeping through my blood at the sight of him, the sound of his voice, his inciting turns of phrase. For now though, I would be the diplomat.
“This is unfortunate,” I said.
“Unfortunate?” Jump said on a growl, shooting Butler a smug you-hearing-this-shit-I-told-you-so look.
The party was over between those two.
I eyed Butler. “I need to see Catch. Take me to him.”
I also wanted to get Butler alone to drill his ass about all this.
Jump let out a rumbly grunt at my dismissal of him. With a sharp slant of his head, Butler led the way, taking me to a basement holding cell where Catch was being held. On the metal stairwell leading underground, Butler slowed his pace.
“How’d you know he was here? Who told you?” he asked.
“Tania.”
He stopped on the bottom stair, his stark blue eyes round. “Tania?”
Ah, he didn’t like that very much. “She was concerned about her brother’s fate at your hands.”
“He’s been fucking my old lady.”
“And I’m guessing, she’s been fucking him right back. Your honeymoon phase is over already?”
Butler’s jaw clenched, his face tightening. The big show was over, and he knew it. And now he had a problem on his hands—business, not personal.
I’d sent Butler Reich’s way to do some digging for me, and he’d ended up doing a dangerous job for Reich and doing it well. Then Butler had told me Reich had warmed up to him and trusted him with another job, but he’d never gotten back to me on the details. I knew Butler was driven to get back in with his club as if the dogs of hell were biting at his ass cheeks, he’d told me so himself. So when I’d heard he’d hooked up formally with Reich’s young sister-in-law and brought her to Meager, I’d had my doubts that true love was the reason.
Why go this far? Was he more ambitious than I’d given him credit for?
Butler had ended his exile and scored major points with his club when he’d given the Jacks their wanted criminal, Creeper. He’d scored more points by bringing a new money-making project to the Jacks, in the form of a job for me. Had Butler hooked up with Reich’s sister-in-law to have access to more business opportunities through Reich? Had he been playing both sides to win big all along? He’d set his pretty Baked Alaska aflame. But with his “old lady” stepping out on him, he now had a melted soggy mess on his hands.
Tonight, the curtain had been pulled back on the blond wizard. Nina’s adultery was going to attract Reich’s attention—the girl wasn’t happy and causing problems between brothers, and even worse, between two clubs. And once again, my boy had gotten himself in the thick of a clusterfuck.
Good times were ahead.
Butler said nothing at my honeymoon remark, only a muscle pulsed along his jaw.
No, he didn’t seem torn up about his old lady getting it from someone else as much as he seemed inconvenienced. Yeah, that was the word for it. I’d seen plenty of men find out about being cheated on. They’d slam into and wreck everything in sight—objects, people, often their women, and especially the other men their women had played with.
And here was Butler being the responsible albeit tense host, showing me to his enemy’s holding cell. Was he going to offer me a choice of flavored coffee next to make my visit as comfortable as possible?
Butler only took in a tense breath and continued down the metal stairs, headed down a short hallway, and finally unlocked a thick metal door, gesturing inside. I stepped into the room. Catch was slumped over, head in hands, a bottle at his side, blood and bruises marring his visible skin, jeans torn and bloodied. They’d had a field day with him. Probably every single Jack.
Butler closed the door behind me, leaving me alone with him.
I planted my feet in front of Catch. “You fucked up. Again.”
A bruised and swollen eye slowly blinked up at me, a muffled groan rising from his torn lips. His one hand gripped the bottle as if he were steadying himself on it.
I crouched down in front of him. “What am I going to do with you, Catch? You’re acting like some young pup, I can’t—”
“I love her,” slid from his lips along with a small stream of whisky, blood, and saliva.
I stilled.
I’d never heard such an effortless and candid confession out of Catch before. He usually hemmed and hawed, shifted his eyes, his body, tried every verbal angle to shimmy and shade and sway his way out of a definitive black and white reply.
He loved her. Rock hard truth.
I dragged my teeth across my bottom lip. “That’s what you got for me? For fucking with an old lady from another club? Butler’s old lady? He’s a friend of mine, we work together. You know this.”
“I know. I know how stupid it was to cross that thick red line.”
“Glad to hear it.”
His bloodshot eyes gleamed. “But I couldn’t help myself. I love her. And knowing she’s here, with him, but wanting me makes me fucking crazy.”
The raw, haunted passion in his voice stabbed at my chest. I’d never allowed myself to wallow in feeling. I’d never given in to that particular throbbing torment or I’d have never gotten up on my feet again and faced another day.
But here was my boy, trying to make sense of it all.
“Are you sure it’s you she wants and not just some adventure, some playtime?” I asked.
“I’m sure.” He let out a ragged exhale. He was exhausted. “And before you say it, she isn’t just another girl to me. From the beginning, I knew that it was wrong. I knew what was at stake, but I couldn’t stay away from her. I can’t.” He brought the bottle to his chest and closed his eyes again, his head sinking back against the wall. “I’m sorry, Prez. I’m sorry you had to come save my ass, clean up my fucking mess, yet again. You don’t deserve that. You’ve been nothing but good to me—” he coughed thickly, wiping at his mouth. “—and I’ve disappointed you.”
Catch had disappointed me, but he’d also impressed me.
I stood up. “You’re going to make this up to your club, and you’re not going to like it.”
“I know.” He slumped over on the floor, the bottle wrapped up in his arms. “Whatever it takes. I’ll do it.”
A knock on the door and Butler opened up, lifting his chin at me. I followed him back upstairs, neither of us speaking. In the lounge, Jump and I made small talk. People around us relaxed again.
“Catch ruined your party?” I asked.
“We were having a family celebration,” he replied, his voice a sneer.
“I was on the road, heading home when I found out. Came straight here,” I said.
Butler shot Tania a look, and she shot one right back, her face streaked red. Why would he give a shit that Tania and I knew each other? That she’d called me? Because he gave a shit about Tania, that’s why. And she seemed to give a shit what he thought.
“You and your men will stay,” said Butler. “We’ve got plenty of food and drink and room for you all to spend the night.”
My eyes darted at Jump who only shifted his weight, his lips pressed together. He still refused to be even a bit hospitable.
I was going to make this a memorable night. “Will do,” I replied.
Butler motioned to one of the girls. “A bottle of Jack.”
The old ladies hustled and brought out food for me, Drac, and Slade. I stuck to the liquor, my eyes sticking on Tania. She looked good. More than good. I wanted to test my theory about her and Butler. I also wanted to make sure that Tania, who’d called me in, the sister to the Flame who kept fucking up with the Jacks, was not going to be fucked with by them. Not ever.
Lock, Boner, and Kicker, their VP, came over for an official greeting and welcome. They explained that tonight had been the christening party for Lock and Grace’s new baby boy.
“Ah, congratulations. Great news.” I shook Lock’s hand. “Could I congratulate your old lady?”
“Of course.” Lock gestured at Grace, who stood with Tania, to come over.
“This here your old lady?” I asked, taking in Grace. Gone was the sad, hollow-eyed girl I’d seen in that Harley Davidson store in Colorado years ago. In her place was a very attractive and confident woman at ease in her own skin.
“Yes, this is Grace,” said Lock, his hands on his wife’s shoulders.
I offered her my hand. “We met once. Long time ago.” Centuries ago, with Dig at a charity run in Iowa.
She shook my hand firmly. “Yes, we did.”
We spoke for a bit, and I glanced at Tania who was suddenly keeping very quiet. “You and Tania are good friends?”
“Since forever,” replied Grace, a wide grin warming her hazel eyes.
“She’s a good friend to have.” I rolled the liquor in my glass. “Congratulations on the baby.” I raised my glass at Lock. “I apologize for Catch ruining your night.”
“Thank you,” murmured Grace, pressing into her old man’s side.
Jump gestured at someone behind me, and two girls appeared and settled suggestively on either side of my chair.
“Anything you need, Finger, you let me know,” Jump said.
I ignored him, I ignored the women. My eyes snagged on Tania’s as I drank. I held the empty glass out to her. “Pour me another, would you, Tania?”
She shot up from her seat, bumping into Butler in the process. He stiffened, she got a bottle and poured the refill, and I grabbed her by the arm, pulling her to sit on my lap. The air suddenly got thick, a charge of electricity zapping around us as if the room were under threat of an impending thunderstorm. Everyone stilled, watching us, waiting for the black sky to break open. Butler’s face hardened even more.
Jump rattled on and on about Catch, complaining, and I listened with one ear.
“Butler, your old lady is Reich’s sister-in-law?” I asked, handing Tania my drink, and he and I both watched her take a long sip, her face reddening.
Butler cleared his throat. “That’s right.” His intent gaze darted to me then back to Tania.
Oh yeah.
“Reich is the VP of my club’s national.” I leaned back in the chair, my one hand moving down Tania’s side. “If he asks me how this night went down, I’ll be letting him know.”
“So will I,” replied Butler tightly, his eyes following my hand stroking Tania. “If he asks.”
Were Butler and Reich close now? Or was Butler simply taking advantage of an opportunity as usual?
I shot Butler another look and he shot an equally fierce one right back. My tongue enjoyed the sweet heat of the liquor as my gaze flicked around the room. And again.
There he is. Tricky.
I had Lenore investigated after Drac had put her poster up on my club wall. She’d never gotten involved in another relationship after her divorce. She got laid here and there like the rest of us, but didn’t linger very long over the pickings. Word was she and Tricky had been seeing each other a couple of months now. It hadn’t stopped her from going out with other men, or him from seeing other women. Their thing was loose and easy, but busy.
Had she been here at the party tonight? There was no sign of her now. Jacket on, Tricky tagged fists with another Jack and headed out down that dimly lit hallway which led to the exit. He had somewhere he’d rather be.
I dug my fingertips into Tania’s side.
“Close, but no cigar,” my dad used to say.
“I’ve been riding all day,” I said. “Could use a shower and that bed.”
Tania slid quickly from my lap as I rose to my feet. She took the glass from my hand and set it on the table. She was eager to leave.
Not so fast, baby.
Gripping her arm, I kept her close. Butler winced at the move, and I wrapped my other hand around her neck. Yeah, he had a thing for Tania, meanwhile Tania was Catch’s sister, and at this moment every Jack despised him.
“What are you doing?” Tania whispered, her hand clamping onto my wrist.
“I won’t have them fucking with you, Tania. You hear? They need to know you’re under my protection.”
“Am I?”
“Always have been. From the very beginning.” My thumb rubbed the back of her neck. “Now that you’re back in Meager, I want Jump and the rest of them to respect you, not take any shit about your brother or me out on you after tonight. I won’t have that fucker or any of them playing with you.”
“But—”
“I’m glad you got Grace, but that ain’t enough.”
“I know them, Finger. It isn’t like that.”
“You’re talking nostalgia. I’m talking here and now. Cold, hard reality.”
Her teeth dragged across her lip. She was considering everything I’d said. Deciding. She slid an arm around my middle and pulled herself close against me.
She’d made the right decision.
Tania reached up and touched her lips to mine. My hand tightened around her neck and my tongue drove her lips apart, sliding against hers. Her fingertips dug into my arms as a noise escaped her throat.
I released her, a hand at the side of her face. “Good girl,” I whispered, my lips brushing her forehead. My arm wound over her shoulders, and she leaned into me. We were going to play this for all it was worth.
Everyone stared at us, Butler glared at us, and that electrical charge buzzed in the air again. The storm had just been upgraded to a Category 4.
Jump had his old lady escort us to the guest suite at the One-Eyed Jacks resort.
“Is this really necessary?” Tania asked once we were alone in the small room.
I’d kissed Tania in front of the Jacks, and she’d kissed me back. We played it like we had a thing. History, which we did. And a present, which we did not.
What the hell.
I locked the bedroom door, locking out the bullshit grandstanding and everyone’s startled faces. Especially Butler’s. Bro had it bad.
I eyed her. “Come here.”
Tania came over to me, letting out a breath. My hands slid around her neck, and I kissed her again. That familiar taste of booze, comfort, impulsiveness, gratification filled me.
“Finger...”
“You want to fuck?” I said against her warm lips, a small dark laugh under my words.
She laughed back. A nervous laugh, a relieved laugh. It was good to be alone with her after the parade of fools the past hour.
We relaxed on the bed together, kicking off our shoes.
“I guess I’m spending the night, huh?” she asked, letting out a sigh.
“You guessed right.” I folded my arms under my head.
“I had to call you in. I was really worried about my brother and the new shitstorm he’s brewed up,” said Tania. “You were going to find out anyway, but I couldn’t take the chance that they’d—”
“You did right. Better I handle this now, as it’s happening, rather than later when shit blows up and gets out of control, according to every dumb fuck’s perception of events.”
I turned on my side, my hand roaming over her abdomen, sliding under her shirt. Her smooth skin was warm under my touch.
She let out a small gasp. “Well, after tonight, everyone will think differently of me.”
“That was the point.”
“I imagine the men will keep at least a five-mile distance from me from now on.”
“You sound disappointed. Were you after Jack cock tonight?”
She laughed. “Well, that aspiration is shot to shit now, isn’t it?” She pressed her lips together, her eyes on the ceiling.
She had it bad for Butler. But there was nothing to be done there.
My hand cupped a breast, and her breath caught as I stroked over the material of her bra. “Who’s the lucky asshole?” I squeezed a nipple between my thumb and forefinger, and she whimpered at the sensation I’d provoked.
Her eyes met mine. “Forget it. I’m trying to.”
You got that right.
I unzipped the side of her skirt.
“Finger,” she whispered.
“Tania,” I whispered back.
“You could’ve had one of those women in there, if not two or three, no problem, to service your needs. I cut into your action tonight.”
“Yeah, what a fucking shame. Make it up to me.”
I slid her silky top up her torso and pushing her bra out of the way, palmed a breast. Kneading it, I took a nipple in my mouth, and her body stiffened. I kept sucking, and she let out a groan, her back arching. She wanted this too, but she was fighting it.
“Have I ever said no to you before?” she said.
“Never.” I glanced at her, unsure of where she was heading with this as I licked, sucked, stroked. “Have I ever forced you?”
“Never,” she replied, squirming underneath me.
“After you got hitched and I didn’t hear from you again, I didn’t call you no more, did I?” I asked.
“I missed you,” she murmured, “Missed this.”
So had I.
My hand skimmed over her smooth panties, down between her legs. “You been faithful to your husband all these years?”
Her eyes held mine. “Yes.”
“Still married?”
“Getting a divorce.”
What a waste. “Fuck him.”
My hand slid inside her panty, my fingers hitting wet flesh, dragging through her, and she cried out. Grunting, I ripped the panty off her body and got up from the bed, snapping off my dirty leathers.
“All these years later, Tania, and you still fucking do it for me.”
A lazy grin curled her lips. “Hallelujah.”
My clothes fell to the floor.
She sat up on her elbows, her mouth dry. “Finger—”
Tania always flew on instinct then immediately assessed the potential damages. Sometimes you just had to say fuck it all. Like right now.
My hand pumped my cock. “You want it?”
Her eyes went to my cock, her eyebrows lifting, her lips parting. No words.
I nudged her legs open with one of mine and leaned down and kissed her, our eyes still on each other, my hard length rubbing down her middle.
She gripped my arms. “We can’t do this. Not now. Not anymore. We had our time, you and me, and I liked it. I fucking loved it. But we shouldn’t go back there.”
Can’t? Shouldn’t? Since when?
I lifted from the bed and sat up on the edge. She took my hands in hers, kissing one then the other just above where the middle fingers were missing.
“I don’t want to go backward with you,” she said. “I want you in my life—you are. You will always be in my life—but I need to keep moving forward. We both do.”
Moving forward.
I pulled my hands from hers. I wanted this. I needed this now from Tania. She looked good, and I’d liked being with her tonight. I’d certainly enjoyed the show we’d given the Jacks a fuck of a lot. I’d missed enjoying a lot of things lately.
She tugged her bra back into place, pulling her shirt down. “You know she’s here, don’t you? I saw her. Talked to her. She’s good friends with Grace now. She has a business here in town. She’s—”
“I know.”
Her dark eyes flared. “Of course you know.”
“I’ve always known.” Maybe not always, but long enough, long enough that it felt like forever. And now Tania and Lenore were buddies again? Let’s all be fucking best friends. “Were you going to say anything?”
“I saw her for the first time a few weeks ago when Grace introduced us. Lenore, as she’s called now, pulled me aside and asked me not to say anything to anybody.” Tania sat up straighter on the bed. “Hell, I don’t know what to say when it comes to you two. You had it all, and you both let it go.”
“You call that having it all?”
“From where I’m standing today? Right now? You bet I do.”
Loss, disappointment, disillusionment, regret. Fuck that.
“You called me to come here, knowing she was here?”
She shot to her feet. “I had to call you. My brother’s life was on the line.”
“You did good, babe.”
Still fiddling with her bra, she let out a sigh, her shoulders dropping. “Everything’s different now, Finger. Tell me it isn’t.”
Yeah, everything for her was different now—a divorce, a crush on Butler—but were things different for me? I’d made plenty of good and bad choices over the years and, for the most part, remained unrepentant. Those few regrets my stubbornness had kicked over my shoulder created a messy pile at my back that I’d only ignored. Could I change anything about that now?
Did I want to?
We stared at each other in silence, reality sinking in, cooling the temperature of our blood, easing the pace of our pulses. I’d gotten Tania into bed again, but we both knew it wasn’t about her and me, not really, never had been, and that wasn’t enough for her anymore.
Maybe it shouldn’t be for me either.
I pulled the tie out of my hair, ripped off my bandana.
Tania wasn’t someone who cowered or lit up in the shadow cast by my name, my title, my reputation, my scars. She was right, and I knew it the minute she’d hesitated.
I cupped her chin, brushing her lips with mine and planted a kiss on her forehead. I left her on the bed and headed into the small adjoining bathroom, stripped off and got into the shower. A cold shower.
Catch and Tania had shown me their true colors tonight. Catch flying off the handle, going full throttle on pure emotion, pure feeling. And Tania putting it all on the line and asking me to help her, knowing what that meant. Brother and sister did not hold back in the face of what they felt was right or just, and did it with an overwhelming passion.
The cool water streamed over my head, down my hair, my skin. I pushed my hands against the tile wall and took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, and turned the water to full on hot. My skin reddened under the assault of the steaming, needling spray. I knew what I had to do. What I’d been wanting to do for years, but holding back. There was no reason to any longer. Here I was in the same general latitude and longitude as her.
Tomorrow morning, first thing, I would stop holding back.
Category 5.