51
I rode into South Dakota with Catch. Today was his daughter’s birthday, and Jill was having a party for her at Catch’s mother’s house. After the party cleared out, Catch would have his daddy time with Becca. I dropped him off in Rapid to hang with a friend of his from high school until the birthday party was over. Nina would be at the party, being a friend of Jill’s.
I eyed him one last time as I backed out of the friend’s driveway.
“I’ll be right here until Tania calls me giving me the all clear to come over,” Catch said. “I swear.”
“You call me.”
“Will do.”
I headed over to the Jacks in Meager to find Butler and discuss a few details he needed to be aware of for a meeting I’d set up for him with one of my transport connections in Idaho. He wanted business from me, he was going to get it. But he was also going to get me staying in his face keeping his feet hopping and him guessing. Once I was done with him, I planned on seeing Lenore.
Butler came out of “Eagle Wings,” the club’s former auto and bike repair center that had now been transformed, under Lock’s direction and ownership, into a top tier refurb and custom design shop.
“Hey,” Butler greeted me. “You came with Catch to make sure today is all about daddy and his little girl?”
I took off my heated gloves, flexing my fingers. “That’s right.”
He shot me a look. “You gonna go over and have some cake and juice, too?”
The man had it real bad for Tania.
“I’ve got other shit to do while he visits. Let’s discuss this meeting. They’ve been wanting to meet you for a while now. Press is a brother from Idaho and I want him to work with you on a new route headed West using some of your tried and true and some of mine.”
Nina showed up at the club in her small SUV and waved a plastic bag in the air at Butler. He gestured toward the clubhouse, and she nodded at him, heading inside. Within a few minutes, she came back out and joined us.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she murmured, glancing at me then back at Butler.
“No problem,” he said.
“I left the change of clothes you wanted for your trip in your room on the bed.”
“Thanks.”
“Sure. I’m off to the party.”
“I’ll walk you to your car.” Butler threw an arm around his old lady’s shoulders as they crossed the yard to her RAV4. They gave a show that they were a happy couple with a hug and a kiss, and she slid into the driver’s seat.
He strode back toward me, pushing his blond hair behind his ears.
“She settled her ass down?” I asked.
“She’s fine.”
She was burning for Catch is what she was doing. I’d caught him texting with her the other day. I couldn’t blame him. But I’d made it clear there was to be no physical contact until she and Butler had officially broken up.
A grin pushed at the edges of my mouth as I shoved my gloves back on. This was almost comical. “I’m off.”
Jump pulled in the courtyard in an SUV, braking alongside Nina’s car. Her head was bent over the steering wheel. She got out of her car, a scowl on her face, talking to Jump as she gestured at her RAV4.
“Looks like your woman’s got car trouble. You gonna fly to her rescue?” I asked Butler.
Jump got down from his vehicle and got into the RAV4, settling in the driver’s seat.
“Jump seems to be handling it,” Butler said.
“Yeah.” Jump was a regular hero.
Butler and I tagged fists, giving each other a nod. I swung a leg over my chopper, adjusting myself in my saddle. “Call me, let me know how the meet goes.”
“Will do.”
Suddenly, Jump propelled himself from the car, his long braid flying, shoving Nina back as he went.
Boom.
I launched off my bike, the ground shuddering underneath me. Nina’s car burst into flames, shaking like a toy. Orange fireballs rolled and unfurled in the air. Nina’s car had been bombed.
Butler was frozen to the spot. I grabbed hold of his arm, and we sprang behind a row of bikes, our hands flying over our heads. Charred debris soared in the air and rained down on us, crashing to the ground.
He shot up. “Nina!”
Women screamed, men shouted, alarms blared. Thick black billows of smoke blocked any trace of Nina or Jump.
Butler hurtled toward the burning car, me at his heels.
Nina lay facedown at the other end of the car, her one arm twisted awkwardly, blood splattered along the side of her face.
“Ambulance is on its way!” Boner’s yell cut through the air.
Jump was sprawled on the ground in a heap on the other end within the black mushroom cloud of smoke. I crouched over his lifeless body. Was he dead? I hoped to fuck he was.
“I don’t give a shit what you need. Can’t help you.” Jump’s words from two decades ago were like a snake rattling its tail at me. “Why should I take a risk for you? No fucking way,” he’d sneered while me and Serena were on the run, bleeding, in pain.
I’d never forgotten it. That was the last time I’d ever asked anyone for a favor, ever begged or pleaded for anything.
Now that me and the Jacks were finding a rhythm between us, Jump still hadn’t dropped his pent up spite with me and my club. He’d bottled it up like old wine over the centuries, releasing the cork and setting off odorous fumes whenever he felt like it. I needed Butler to function in high gear, not be stuck in stop-start traffic. Once I finally dealt with the Broken Blades and their territory was all mine to restructure, I’d need the Jacks one hundred per cent cooperative, not defensive or wary.
I leaned over Jump sprawled on the ground, and a straggly wheezing filled my ear. My pulse picked up speed at his struggling to breathe. He was still alive; there was hope.
My father’s words roared back to me: “Patience, planning, and precise calculating. And many times you need to improvise at the last minute. You gotta be ready for anything at any time.”
Anything at any time.
I was ready.
I pressed one gloved hand onto Jump’s chest, the other pinching his nostrils closed.
His wheezing intensified for a moment, his eyes jerking open, eyebrows flinching. He recognized me. Yes, he knew. He held my gaze for a split second, a choking sound erupting in his throat, and in that second the pressure I exerted on him sapped him of his shitty life. That feeling of a good, just kill never got old. Clean, bright, fucking enthralling.
Die, motherfucker.
“How’s Jump?” Butler shouted out at me through the dense smoke.
I leveled my gaze at him, and Butler’s mouth dropped open, eyes wide. He could see what I was doing. He froze.
I would crush him if he dared fuck with me.
“Butler!” Boner came up behind him. “How is she?”
Butler returned his focus to Nina. “She’s out, but she’s alive.”
I rose from Jump’s lifeless corpse and retreated. One-Eyed Jacks darted past me, wielding fire extinguishers. Shouts and foam flew over the smoldering vehicle. Kicker, their VP, pounded on Jump’s chest, giving him CPR. Sirens wailed louder and louder in the distance, getting closer and closer.
“Jump’s gone,” Kicker hollered over the chaos. “He’s gone!”
The burn of rubber, the singe of metal filled my lungs.
Fucking enthralling.
I wanted to get out of there, but I had to play along. We all followed the ambulance to the hospital in Rapid, and Tania arrived soon after with a bunch of the old ladies who’d been with her at the birthday party. She was relieved to see me, and we stood together waiting with everyone else to hear from the surgeon who was working on Nina. I’d called Catch and told him to stay put, not to dare show his face at the hospital, that I’d let him know how the girl was doing.
Butler was motionless, in a daze. He’d had a wife years back who’d gotten killed in a bike accident, and she’d died in his arms on the road. I don’t think he’d ever forgiven himself for it, and it showed now.
The surgeon showed up and reported on Nina’s condition and how she’d be okay. He adjusted the tablet in his grip. “And the baby is doing fine.”
Tania froze at my side.
“Baby?” screeched one of the old ladies.
Tania slumped against me, and I wrapped a hand around her arm, steadying her. Her eyes were glued to Butler.
Oh, babe, I know that slice of hurt.
I let out a heavy breath, my lips twisting. There was no guarantee this baby was Butler’s. It could be Catch’s. This shit only got better and better.
Tania made a noise in the back of her throat and pushed back from me and went to him, talking to him in low tones. He took out a cell phone from a handbag. Nina’s? He tapped on the screen and handed it to Tania who then tapped on it herself. She was looking for something, someone. Her face tightened, her lips parting. Her thumb swished once, twice, three, four times. She’d found something interesting. She took in a tiny breath and glanced around, catching my eye.
I slanted my head at her.
Tania only chewed on her lips and went back to the phone, finally holding it to the side of her face. She spoke briefly and handed the phone to Butler. She returned to my side, her mouth pinched, her large dark eyes cold. She was pissed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“I just saw Catch and Nina’s hot little love texts and selfies all over her phone—in full high resolution color. The phone Butler is using right now to talk to her sister.”
I pressed my back against the wall. “Your brother’s got it bad for her.”
“Yeah, he told me, but newsflash, she’s also been sexting with that Flame who brought her to Meager. Led, was it?”
I grit my teeth. Nina was cozy with Led, Reich’s right hand man? This soap opera just got more interesting. Maybe Nina was really working for Reich undercover, setting up Butler and in turn, me?
“Good for Goldilocks,” I said.
I had to blow this shit open. Now with Nina in the hospital, I was positive that Reich would get his ass down here any day, making accusations, and I had to be ready.
Tania shook her dark hair from her face. “Where does she find the time?”
“Keep your voice down.”
“Oh please,” Tania seethed.
Jesus, she had it bad too. She needed to be patient just a little while longer. I leaned in to her, my mouth at her ear. “Her relationship with Butler is as solid as the wind, Tania.”
“What?”
“Butler and Nina—it’s fake.”
“No,” she breathed.
“Yes. Pure business between clubs.”
“What is this?” she said loudly. “The fucking eighteenth century?”
I clamped a hand around her upper arm and dragged her down the hallway away from the Jacks, who were already staring at us. I pulled her in close to me against a wall.
Her face was red. “Did you hear what the doctor just said? Butler’s going to be a daddy.”
“What makes you think that kid is Butler’s? Could be Catch’s.”
Her mouth fell open. “Oh, shit.” She glanced over at Butler still talking on the phone. She was worried about him.
Her hand tugged on the edge of my leather jacket. “We can’t tell Catch about this baby until we’re sure. Nina’s family is going to be pissed about her getting hurt, aren’t they? You think they’ll come here and make trouble for the Jacks and for Butler? They’ll blame him? Come after him?”
“Sounds right,” I replied.
“Is there any way you can help him? Do you know who did this? Jump is dead. The president of a club has been murdered. All hell is going to break loose now, right?”
“You’re worried?”
“Of course I’m worried. They’re my friends. This is my hometown we’re talking about.”
“I meant, you’re worried about Butler?” I asked.
She leveled her gaze at me. “Yes, I am. He’s a good guy.”
I’d help her make it happen, if that’s what she wanted. If she really wanted him. I let out a huff of air. “Good, bad—it’s all relative at the end of the day.”
“It can’t be,” she said, her jaw tight. “Some things simply cannot be relative. For you, they probably are. But I don’t live that way.”
Some things were relative for me, yes, but the vein pulsing in my heart for Serena and the one for my club—they were absolute.
I pulled Tania in closer. “Shit’s either real, or it isn’t,” I whispered, squeezing the back of her neck. I planted a kiss on her forehead. “Relax. I’m going to see what I can do. You make sure the pics on Nina’s phone don’t get erased.”
“Okay,” she murmured, taking in a breath.
I loved how Tania could rise above the mire immediately after feeling her shit out. Her loyalty, her concern for what was just—even in the face of the ultimate rejection—always compelled her forward.
My hand stroked the side of her jaw. “You go support your guy over there. He could use it.”
She made a face at me. “He’s not my guy.”
I let out a laugh. I loved teasing her. “Baby, you haven’t been able to tear your eyes away from him. You went to him in his hour of need, then jumped up and down in the man’s defense like you just did? He’s your guy.”