Nickel
“Where’s Captain?”
Boink choked on his beer, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “She’s hanging out with Cora and her girl.”
Pipe nodded. “Her girl got a name?”
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my legs in front of me. “Nikki. She works with Karmen.” After Karmen and I had our talk, we did a different kind of talking. The kind where when she comes around my dick and tosses her head back because it’s so fucking good.
“Maybe I’ll swing by and see what they are up to.”
I shook my head. “Nope, that ain’t fucking happening.”
“What? Why the hell not? We’re fucking brothers. You should be hooking me up with her.”
That shit was not going to happen. At least, not with me pushing them together. I didn’t need Pipe fucking over Nikki, and then I had to deal with the aftermath with Karmen. “You want her, then you make it happen, brother. I’m not going to be held responsible when you crash and burn.” And crash and burn he would. I had never seen Pipe with the same girl more than twice.
He tilted his head to the side. “We’ll see. She might be too much of a hassle if she’s anything like your ol’ lady. She came with a suitcase full of baggage.”
She had, but it wasn’t her fault. “Karmen is worth it.” She worth a hell of a lot more than the time I had put in so far. Even when she was driving me crazy overthinking and trying to run from me, I still wanted her more than anything. “Now, how about we stop talking about my woman and figure out what the hell we are going to do about Morski.”
“Well, since Wrecker let you stay in your room with your woman today instead of coming to church, I guess I better update you on everything that’s going on.”
“Although, it ain’t much,” Boink muttered.
“Jeffy didn’t give you any more information?” I asked. Jeffy had said that he didn’t know where Morski was, but I figured he was lying and Clash would have been able to beat it out of him.
“Fucker really didn’t know any more than what he told you. Morski is playing this smart and only feeding people need-to-know information. He’s not ready to be found yet.” Pipe pulled a cigarette from his pocket and held it between his fingers. “We don’t even know if he knows where Karmen lives. I’ve had Snapper sitting on her house, and he said he hasn’t seen anything out of the normal.”
“He’s had time to figure it out. We have to assume that he’s going to make a move. We just don’t know when or what it is going to be.” This was going to drive me absolutely insane.
“So we go back to Jeffy. Have him somehow get word to Morski that Handel is out of solitary. That’ll put a fire under his ass and tip his hand. Force the asshole out, and he’s guaranteed to fuck up.” I crossed my arms over my chest. Until we found Morski, Jeffy was the only connection we had to him.
“Did we try talking to his old MC? If he had a falling out with them, then maybe they’ll be more than willing to help us find him,” Boink suggested.
I clapped him on the back. “Even though you have the most ridiculous road name, you definitely got a brain up there, Boink.”
He flipped me off and shrugged off my hand. “Y’all are asses,” he mumbled under his breath. Boink was one of the youngest members and had only been part of the club for three years. At the young age of twenty-one, he earned the name Boink because he couldn’t seem to keep it in his pants. Now at twenty-three, he appears to have his head on his shoulders and thought with that head a little bit more.
Pipe pushed away from the table and stood. “I’ll talk to Wrecker and see who he wants to send over to the Hell Captains. You wanna be in on that, or you wanna stick around here?” he asked me.
I wanted to go with, but I also didn’t want to be too far from Karmen. “I’m good either way. Wrecker can decide.” If Wrecker decided I should go, maybe I could bring Karmen with and get a hotel for overnight. Have a little escape from all the shit swirling around in Weston.
Boink nodded to something over my shoulder. “Your chick just walked into the kitchen.”
I looked behind me and saw not only Karmen in the kitchen but Nikki and Cora were with her. “Baby girl,” I called. “What are you up to?”
“We’re hungry,” she answered.
I glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was half-past seven. “You’re not going to find anything worth eating in there.”
The sound of cupboards opening and closing mixed with all three girls grumbling about men and having only beer and condiments to eat.
Karmen stood in the doorway of the kitchen and braced her hand on her hip. “What have you been feeding Cora if there is nothing in the fridge?” she demanded.
I shrugged. “I’ve been with you since she got here.”
“But you’re the one who is supposed to be taking care of her. That isn’t very cool.”
What in the hell was going on? Karmen was looking at me like she was ready to rip my head off, and so was Nikki. Cora was just peeking at us over Karmen’s shoulder with a smirk on her lips. I knew Cora had grown up with the River Valley Fallen Lords and wasn’t surprised by the fact there wasn’t any food in the fridge. “I’ll take you shopping if you want.” I had no idea what was going to make her happy or set her off.
“Going shopping isn’t going to help the fact that I’m hungry right now. If we grocery shop while I’m hungry, we’re going to end up buying all of aisle three through nine.”
Shopping wasn’t the answer she wanted, apparently.
“I’ll leave you to figuring out your woman while I talk to Wrecker,” Pipe chuckled. He walked past the kitchen, his eyes lingering on Nikki as he mumbled “Ladies,” to them. From the looks of it, I wasn’t going to have to do anything to get those two together. I was going to have to have a talk with Karmen to warn her girl that messing with a guy like Pipe wasn’t like being with any other guy. Pipe had shit hidden away that no one knew about.
“Can we order something?” Karmen asked.
“Yeah. Just tell me what you want, and we can get it delivered, or Boink can go and get it.”
Boink glared at me, but he knew he couldn’t tell me no. He may be a full-patched member, but he still was the low man on the totem pole.
“Chinese,” Karmen called
“Pizza,” Nikki disagreed.
“Burgers,” Cora added.
Hell, Boink was going to have to run to get the burgers, but we could have the Chinese and pizza delivered, at least. There was no way in hell I was going to tell two of these chicks that they weren’t going to get what they want.
“I could go for a burger, too,” Karmen said turning around to look at Cora.
“Get ‘em both. I could go for some egg drop soup, too.”
Nikki clapped her hands together and bounced on the balls of her feet. “It can be a tour of China and Italy ending in America.”
Boink and I looked at each other, both of us confused as hell. “Say what?”
Karmen high-fived her and made her way over to me. “It’s like a food smorgasbord of the world.” She tapped her chin with her finger. “Is there any other place in town we can order from?”
“Baby girl, you want me to order from three places for dinner. I think that is more than enough.” I would do anything to make her happy, but I really doubted these three women were going to be able to eat a shit-ton of food from three places.
She pouted out her bottom lip but nodded. “Fine. But I get to order whatever I want.”
Boink grabbed a pad of paper off of the bar. “Hit me with it.”
The girls rattled off what they wanted, and the list was the whole length of the page.
“You want anything, Nickel?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Just from what Karmen ordered, I know I’ll be able to eat off of hers.”
“Now, wait a minute. I’m still recovering from being a pirate last night. I need all of the sustenance that I can get right now.”
Cora and Nikki looked at each other. “You were a pirate last night?” Cora asked.
Nikki rubbed her hands together. “Here comes the kinky sex stories with Nickel. I totally thought I was going to have to wait a couple of months before she started spilling everything to me.”
Jesus. If Karmen was quiet and shy, Nikki was the complete opposite.
“Yeah, totally not what you’re thinking. I was with Boink and Pipe.” Karmen walked right into this one.
Nikki’s eyes bugged out, and even Cora’s interest piqued.
Nikki eyed up Boink then turned back to Karmen. “Both of them? At one time?”
“Oh hell! That is so not what I meant,” Karmen gasped.
I had to believe that this kind of misunderstanding happened often between Nikki and Karmen. “Yeah, that shit ain’t never going to happen,” I put in.
Nikki just shrugged. “Hey, I don’t know how you bikers are. Plus, with what his name is, you can’t be too surprised that I went there.”
“No, no, no. Nickel had something to take care of last night, and he left me here. Boink and Pipe helped to entertain me. I drank all of the Wapatui and moved onto rum and coke.”
Nikki nodded. “I totally get it now, but what I was thinking in my head was way better.”
“I’ll get this shit ordered,” Boink mumbled. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and walked out the front door.
“Is he dating anyone?” Nikki asked, plopping down in the seat Pipe had abandoned.
“Bikers don’t date, darlin’.”
Her eyes watched Karmen as I grabbed her hand and pulled her into my lap. “Then what the hell would you call it that you and Karmen are doing?”
Karmen wrapped her arms around my neck, and her smile beamed at me. “Hi,” she chirped.
“We’re together.”
Nikki rolled her eyes. “Which also means you are dating. Boyfriend and girlfriend.”
Yeah, hell no. “I’m not thirteen, and I’m not trying to catch a glimpse under Karmen’s skirt. I don’t date, and I damn sure don’t do boyfriend/girlfriend shit.”
Nikki looked over at Cora. “I can see why you’re turned off by bikers. They can be asses sometimes.” Nikki smiled at me. “Although, that assiness is damn hot.” She threw a wink at Karmen, and a giggle bubbled from her lips.
“Anyone want to play pool while we wait for the food?” Cora asked.
Nikki jumped at the chance and ran over to the table with Cora following behind her.
Karmen laid her head on my shoulder.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
“You gonna talk to me?” I looked down at her and saw a smile spread across her lips.
“Nikki kind of talked me out,” she laughed. “And our little talk this morning didn’t help, either.”
I brushed her hair from her face and tilted her head back. “It’s been pretty hectic for a girl who likes to fade into the background and disappear, huh?”
She face-planted into my chest. “Ugh, I hate that you somehow know me so well.”
“If you want, when the food gets here, we can sneak back to my room with a couple plates full and just chill for the rest of the night.” I knew Karmen didn’t have a chance to process everything we had talked about this morning. As soon as she had woken up from a nap after I had my way with her, Nikki was on the phone saying she was on the way over, and Karmen had to scramble to get ready.
She lifted her head. “No, I can’t leave Nikki out here like that. Besides, I like hanging out with Cora, too. She’s really nice, Nickel.”
Well, that was relief. I had spent barely any time with her and was a little nervous about Karmen wanting to hang out with her before. “Good.”
“Did you find out anything more about Morski?”
I shook my head. “No. We’re going to follow a couple of leads and see what they turn up.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Nope. Just go to work and stick with me. I just need you to stay safe.”
She sighed and cringed. “Nickel, how am I supposed to work with you following me around?”
I chuckled. “I’ll just stay in the parking lot or with my grandma while you’re working. I’d like to think that Morski wouldn’t try anything at a nursing home, but we really don’t know what this guy is thinking.”
She sighed, sat up, and put an arm around my shoulders. “But we’re safe right now, right?”
“Yeah, baby girl. There is no way in hell Morski could get in here right now.”
She smiled and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Then, let’s not worry about it right now. There’s always tomorrow to freak out and worry about Morski, right?”
I lifted her up and had her swing her leg over and straddle my lap. “Are you trying to tell me to stop thinking right now?”
She tilted her head and smirked. “Yeah, just something I heard before.”
I wrapped my arms around her, pulled her close, and couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re going to drive me crazy, woman.”
“There is that smirk and rumble I’ve come to love,” she giggled.
“There’s a lot more where that came from,” I whispered in her ear.
She pressed her forehead to mine and looked me in the eye. “I think I’ll stick around to see that.”
Hell yeah.
She was mine.
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