Chapter Twenty-Three
Sledge
Walking into the clubhouse, Sledge could hear laughter coming from the kitchen. He knew those voices. They belonged to the three most important people in his life - his woman, his son, and his sister.
As he stepped closer to the door, he heard Derek say, “I don’t care what you have to do, find me answers.”
“Oh my Lawdy!” Amber exaggerated. “That was the worse impression of your dad that you have done so far,” she laughed.
“I thought it was pretty good,” Sledge said, as he walked through the doorway.
He laughed out loud when all three faces turned in his direction, with guilty looks.
“She made me do it!” Derek shouts, pointing at Amber.
“Snitch,” she mumbles under her breath.
Shaking his head, Sledge made his way over to the counter to make himself something to eat, then joined his family at the table.
“Do you want your seat, Dad?” Derek asked, rising from his position at the head of the table.
“Nope. You stay right there. I am just going to sit right here next to Mom,” Sledge answered.
“Dad?”
Devin looks up from his sandwich. “What’s up, buddy?”
“When you retire from leading the club, do I have to take your place?” he inquired.
Looking between Beth and Amber, Sledge wasn’t sure where or why this question had come up. But he answered his son honestly, “Not necessarily. If you want it, then as the oldest boy, it is yours. If you decide you don’t, then it will either go to a younger sibling or to Uncle Zander.”
Nodding his head, Derek went back to eating. Sledge raised a questioning brow to Amber.
“Beth and I were talking. Derek, of course sitting between us, overheard the conversation,” Amber explained.
“Ah okay.” Sledge thought that made more sense than just popping up out of nowhere.
“Mom, I’m getting tired. Can I go to my room and get ready for bed?” Derek asked.
“Why don’t we wait for dad to finish eating. Then we can all go get ready for bed. Dad and I will tuck you in and tonight, dad can tell you a bedtime story.”
Derek glanced over at Sledge with a hopeful look on his face. “Will you tell me a story tonight, Dad?”
“Absolutely!” Sledge told him around the bite of food in his mouth.
The happiness that spread across Derek’s face did something to Sledge. He knew from that moment that he would spend the rest of his life reading bedtime stories if it meant seeing that look every night. Pure bliss. How something so small could bring someone so much joy, Sledge didn’t understand. But he would take it.
Finishing his meal, he stood up to take his trash to the can. “Come on, buddy. Let’s go get you in bed.”
The group walked out of the door, saying goodnight to Amber. They made their way to Derek’s room. “Go hop in the shower,” Beth told their son, once they were inside.
“Do I have to?” Derek whined.
“Yes,” both Sledge and Beth said in unison.
Watching their son walk into the bathroom, Beth grabbed his pajamas and took them into the room while Sledge folded his covers down.
“Don’t forget to wash your hair,” Beth called as she made her way back into the bedroom.
Laughing, Sledge wrapped his arms around her. He missed holding her, touching her. He didn’t think he would ever get enough of it, even if he lived to be a hundred. This woman was his world.
“How was your meeting?” she asked.
“We’ll talk about that later, after we get Derek to bed. Banjo was able to find out quite a bit, but at the same time, not enough,” he told her, frustrated that so many dots were still not connecting.
“That bad, huh?” she asked.
“Yeah, that bad.”
“Maybe once you tell me, I can help. I hate feeling useless.”
“Baby, you are not useless. You have no idea how much you help to keep me levelheaded,” he told her.
“No, you mean distract you,” she laughed.
“Well, maybe a little of that, too,” he confessed.
Derek came running out of the bathroom and superman jumped into bed, pulling the covers up to his chin. Laughing, Sledge jumped onto the bed next to him and started tickling him.
“Did you wash your hair?” he asked leaning over to smell his son’s hair. It smelled like Beth’s.
“Yes, sir,” Derek answered. “I used mom’s shampoo and conditioner.”
“Okay,” Sledge replied. “Now story time.”
For the next twenty minutes, Sledge told his son the story of how he met his mom. At least the watered down version. Before he could get to the end, Derek was fast asleep, softly snoring.
“Wow, that was quick,” Sledge whispered as he climbed off the bed to see Beth smiling at him.
“He normally falls asleep quick and hard.”
Together Beth and Sledge made their way to the door. Turning, they both looked back at their son. “Thank you,” Sledge told her.
“For?” she asked, confused.
“For Derek. For coming here. For everything. Just, thank you,” Sledge told her, kissing her lightly on the lips.
Walking out of Derek’s room, Sledge gently closed the door and opened theirs. Once in their room, he closed the door and then pinned Beth against it. Kissing her deeply, he encircled her in his arms and pulled her close.
Pulling back, Beth asked, “What was that for?”
“Because I missed you,” he told her honestly.
“Want to tell me what happened at the meeting now?” Beth inquired. “Get it over with so we can spend the rest of the night with just the two of us, and no other distractions.”
Sledge really didn’t want to get into his findings with her. But maybe she could help shine some light on things. After all, many people knew more than they thought they knew. Often, people don’t know that something is important or valuable until something else triggers a memory.
Sledge spent the next half hour explaining the connection her father had to the Henchmen and told her about Rebecca.
“Okay, wait a minute. So, Rebecca dated Zander. She broke up with him while he was in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound to his femoral artery that nearly cost him his leg and his life. A wound he barely survived. And this was after your unit’s location was leaked to the Afghan’s, by someone in the US government with knowledge of your ops?” she reiterated.
“Yes,” Sledge confirmed.
“Devin, could your location have been leaked by my father?” Beth whispered, a look of horror taking over her face.
“Your father was the leak,” he confessed. He and Zander learned that answer a few days ago.
Beth started pacing the room. Sledge could tell she was thinking. Whatever was on her mind was bothering her. Beth normally wasn’t the pacing type. That was Sledge.
“What are you thinking, beautiful?” he needed to know.
“When my father made me end things between us, he made the comment about accidents happening during war. Remember, I told you about it?” Beth said, continuing to pace.
Sledge nodded his head, but realized Beth was still looking at the floor, so he said out loud, “Yeah, I remember. You think he leaked the information even though you dumped me? You do realize that’s called treason, right?”
“I do. If he wanted to make sure there was no chance in us getting back together. If he wanted to ensure that I would go along with his plan, then yes, I honestly believe he would have leaked your location. He was hoping the ambush would kill you,” Beth said the last sentence, finally looking straight at him. He could see the truth in her eyes. She truly believed her father was guilty of treason.
“Now, to figure out where Rebecca comes into play...,” she said out loud but more to herself than Sledge.
“She is now your father’s mistress,” Sledge relayed.
Beth’s head whipped around towards him so fast, he was surprised she didn’t get whiplash. “What?” she barked.
“Yeah. Banjo found evidence that your father and Rebecca have been seeing each other for the last three years. Not only that, but he pays for her condo over in North Richland Hills, along with purchasing her a brand-new BMW every year since the relationship started.”
Beth brought her hands up to her face, rubbing her forehead like she was trying to massage out a headache.
“Okay, what else?” she asked. “Just lay it all out there Devin.”
“Banjo was able to find a link between Rebecca and your father and then to the Henchmen. It seems Candy is Rebecca’s cousin. But other than that, Banjo was coming up blank when I left to come find you. So as of right now, that is all I know,” he explained the rest.
“Candy is Rebecca’s cousin? Are you kidding?” Beth asked.
“Yes and no, I’m not kidding,” Sledge answered.
“Okay. First of all, I want that bitch out of here. Something about her makes my skin crawl. She goes, Devin!” Beth commanded. “Second, Candy is probably the one who is leaking information to my father via Rebecca.”
Sledge listened to Beth, he really did. But after she became forceful in wanting Candy gone, he kind of drifted off. As his woman, Beth had just as much say-so in what happened at the clubhouse as he did. Many MCs didn’t give a shit about women or what they wanted, but in the Devil’s Henchmen, it was the complete opposite. Their women were held in higher regard than club members; meaning, Beth, Amber, and Lo - being the only women that belonged to patch members, either by marriage or in Beth’s current situation by claim, were put on pedestals. This was the first time Beth had pulled rank, and she didn’t even know it.
Sledge pulled his phone from his pocket, “Who are you calling?” Beth asked.
“Diesel,” Sledge replied. “You said you wanted Candy out. So she is out.”
“Just like that?” Beth questioned.
“Honey, you are my woman. Therefore, what you say goes. You want Candy out, so consider her gone,” he said, as he dialed Diesel’s number. He relayed the conversation that he was having with Beth and explained that Candy was to be removed from the property immediately. Diesel assured him that he would handle it and hung up the phone.