Trench
Flex was a strong-willed son-of-a-bitch, but it seemed for all his extensive training, the DEA had failed to provide him with an ounce of common sense. Every man had their weakness. We just had to find his source and then exploit the shit out of it until he broke.
My knuckles were cracked and bleeding from the effort it took to try and make him talk. So far, I had jack shit and I wondered if the fucker was delusional enough that he wanted to die. Clutch and Lo stayed with him after I received a call from Reap. He was in the club office and had some information on Tori’s mother for me. His tone concerned me. I could tell the news wasn’t going to be anything I wanted to hear before I even stepped through the side door and inside the kitchen.
I heard Stryker arguing with someone around the corner, but that was nothing unusual. If Stryker was being bitched out in the kitchen then Tori and Aimee made it back safe. Aimee and I argued whether the girls should go into town, so I compromised and sent Stryker to tag along. She just didn’t know it until they left. Stryker had been texting me every half hour to check in and I could tell he was not happy with the assignment. Now this. I should feel bad for him, but his luck with the ladies lately was amusing.
I shook my head and chuckled as I grabbed a clean rag from the countertop and laid it next to the sink to clean my cuts. I turned on the faucet when I heard the shrill female voice as it berated Stryker. Brother had fucked up something.
“Move out of my way, Stryker. I’m not fucking playing around,” she warned loudly and I stopped the flow of water to listen closer. What the hell did he do now and how much was it going to cost me to fix the damage?
“Jinx, wait. Talk to me damn it.” Stryker’s voice was uncharacteristically concerned, which gave me pause.
Jinx stomped through the kitchen doorway and froze in place when she saw me standing by the sink. She clearly hadn’t been expecting an audience. Her face went pale and her eyes found the floor before she abruptly turned for the door and slammed it closed on her way out. Stryker cursed under his breath, following quickly behind. He stopped the same way she had upon seeing me, minus the look of humiliation and defeat.
“Want to tell me what the hell that was about, brother?” I leaned against the countertop, tossed the dish towel aside and crossed my arms to hide the bruised knuckles as much as possible from questions. Tori would notice later and I’d have to come up with some excuse. I just didn’t feel like sharing more than necessary.
“Not really.”
“Okay. I’ll leave it alone for now, but if Jinx quits, I’m looking to you for answers first. Feel me?”
“Yeah.”
“How’d things go with the girls this afternoon?” I couldn’t hide the sarcastic smile as I asked.
“Just peachy. Did you know that Tori has a cute little dragon tattooed just above her -,” he began and I straightened, begging the motherfucker to finish that sentence so I could reopen the cuts on my fists? Stryker held his palms out in surrender. “Just fucking around, Pres. Don’t hit me again. The girls were talking about ink on the ride back. I caught the ass end of their conversation.” I relaxed my stance a little.
“No trouble then?”
“Didn’t see any sign of the Disciples while we were out. We stuck to the main strip like you asked and I took Tori by the Diner to see Sadie. I think it made her day, man. Sadie’s too.”
“Good. Appreciate it, brother. Now, if you’re done chasing Jinx’s tail, I need you to check on the boys in the garage and get me an update on the up-fit for those extra bikes. I think we’re making a smart move taking a couple extra.”
“On it. Still on schedule?”
“Tomorrow morning. I need you to hang back on this one.” I didn’t miss the deflated look on Stryker’s face when I asked him to stay behind, but he was one of the few I trusted to handle things here in my absence. “Should only take a couple days. One there and one back, but I can’t risk taking Tori along for the exchange. She’s already on too many radars. I need someone I can trust to keep things together here. You good with that?”
“Not going to lie, Pres. I was hoping to be on this run, but I’m down for whatever you need. Always have been.”
“That’s why I trust you. Alexei’s delivery is supposed to come in tonight. I’m putting you in charge of accepting the shipment and getting the boys to help load that shit up.”
“Where’s Lo and Clutch?”
“Handling some business for me out back. We’ll need you to keep our company on ice until we return.”
“Doesn’t look like that will be too hard.” Stryker’s eyes peered down at my angry red knuckles.
“Should be quiet as a church mouse by then.”
I patted Stryker on the shoulder, walked out of the kitchen and down the hall where Reaper studied the computer screen with an intense stare. He looked up, hearing me enter, and waved me over.
“I got a few things you should see, Trench.”
I leaned down, resting one hand on the desktop and the other on the back of the chair for support as I tried to decipher what Reaper had pulled up.
“Right there.” He pointed at an old picture I’d never seen before of Pops in his Army greens. One arm draped over another soldier’s shoulder while they each held up a beer in their hands for the camera.
“What or who the hell am I looking at exactly? Other than Pops?”
“The guy with him. Check out the last name on the uniform.”
I squinted a bit before Reaper zoomed in on the image to make it more legible. Just above his left front pocket was the last name Donohue stitched into the material.
“Donohue? Any relation to Carmen?”
“From what I could dig up, he was Carmen’s older brother. Your father was stationed with him in North Carolina for four years back in the early 80’s. Donohue graduated from high school with Pops too. As far as I can tell, they enlisted together.”
“Well that explains how Carmen knew Pops. They all went to school together.”
“There’s more. I’m betting Tori never met her uncle. She may not even know she had one.” Stryker pulled up another screen with an old Sparrow Creek newspaper article. The article was dated November 13, 1985. “Old boy Donohue was killed in a training accident on base. They brought him home and buried him in the local cemetery. That’s your father.”
Reaper pointed to the only pall bearer wearing a military dress uniform. Unlike the first picture, my father looked dead inside. His back was ramrod straight and his eyes were devoid of emotion. He and Donohue must have been close, more like brothers.
“Shit. Pops never talked about his time in the service. I guess I know why now. He lost his fucking brother.” I stood up straight again.
“One more thing that might pull this all together for you and Tori.” Reaper pulled up a screen with multiple account codes. Christ, it looked like he had hacked into a bank from all the numbers flashing across the screen, but he highlighted one specific entry for me to look over. “Your dad was wiring money to a C. Donohue for nearly five years, brother. Nothing major, but it would have covered cost of living for sure.”
“The fuck? You think they were sleeping together?”
“I considered it at first. Why else would he be keeping her account plush, unless they shared a bed or a kid together? Then, I found this saved to an old archive. I can’t even believe this worked on your ancient piece of shit computer. We seriously need to get you an upgrade my friend.”
“Done. You can go shopping after this run if it makes you happy, brother, but tell me what the hell you got.”
Reaper opened the old email and leaned back in the chair to give me room to read. It was addressed to Pops from Tommy Donohue. He was worried about retaliation from one of the guys in their platoon. Tommy was having an affair with the soldier’s wife and they were planning to skip town together. He knew Pops wasn’t reenlisting after his four-year contract and would be heading home. Tommy asked him to look after his baby sister, Carmen, keep her safe, and steer her away from that piece-of-shit boyfriend of hers, Paul Jensen.
“He asked Pops to protect Carmen from Preacher, the fucking devil himself.”
“Pops was a good man, Trench. If he was as close to Tommy as it seems, then he would have easily stepped in to help Carmen. Not sure he knew what big shoes he’d be filling by dealing with Jensen, but I think he tried to bring her into the family to keep her away from his sorry ass after her brother died.”
“Nice job, man. I appreciate it. I know Tori will too.”
“How are things with the rat problem?” Reaper leaned back further and waited for a response. He knew I gave him this project as a distraction from the shed, but that didn’t mean he had forgotten.
“Either he’s good at what he does or he’s juiced up and taking the pain like a champ. I have a feeling we aren’t going to get much out of him.”
“Just say the word, brother, and I’ll even clean up after myself.”
“You’ll have your chance, but right now he’s more valuable to me alive than dead.”
Reaper grunted, but nodded his head in agreement. The glint in his eye told me he was ready to take care of the bastard now, regardless of what Flex could offer us. I didn’t blame him. I wanted him gone too, but I needed more information before we wrote Flex off for good.
“We just need leverage to make him sing. Got any ideas?”
“I do,” Reaper’s eyes narrowed and a chill ran up my spine. “Katie.”
“What?”
“His sister.”
“Your Katie?” My eyes widened in disbelief.
“My ex-Katie. I’ve been keeping tabs on her since I left. She knows too much to let her slip off the radar. I can’t kill her, but pay back is going to be a bitch, and his name is Flex.”
***
By dinnertime, Reaper and I had a solid plan in place to make Flex talk. Clutch said our guest was sleeping it off for a while so I had Clutch and Lo meeting with Stryker and Alexei’s men to see that everything was ready to go for tomorrow’s run.
The laundry list of emails had been addressed and I was pushing back from the desk when my phone rang. I peered at the display screen, met with a local number I didn’t recognize and no caller identification.
“Hello.”
“Hello yourself.” Her sweet tone swept through the phone line and straight to my dick.
“Tori? Everything okay, sweetheart?”
“Fuck, brother. You’re done for.” Reaper started laughing in front of my desk before grabbing his beer and heading for the door. He turned around long enough to make a whipping motion, earning him a finger from me in return.
“Trench? Are you still there?”
“Still here. Since you have the phone I guess Stryker did what I asked. Everything else alright?” I sounded like a prepubescent teen for Christ’s sake.
“I’m great actually. Thank you by the way.”
“For?”
“The new phone, the clothes…you.” Her usually strong voice dropped to a seductive whisper and my dick responded in kind, always ready.
“Where are you?”
“Close.” I could hear familiar voices talking in the background and something shuffling on her end.
“Not close enough, sweetheart.” I leaned back in my chair and squeezed my dick through the denim to relieve the ache that she was creating with her voice alone.
“How about now?”
Tori was louder this time and my phone beeped to tell me the call had ended. When I looked up, she was leaning against the doorframe to the office in a yellow sundress that hugged her breasts perfectly and flared slightly at the waist, golden sandals that framed her beautifully manicured feet, and a wicked smile. She was a fucking ray of sunshine. I set the phone on my desktop and motioned for her to shut the door.
“You know you’re becoming my favorite distraction. Come here.”
A hint of blush painted her cheeks a rosy pink, reminding me that she was inexperienced in receiving affection. Tori stopped beside the desk and I took another moment to memorize the way she looked. The way her blonde hair landed beyond her shoulders with the slightest hint of curl at the ends, the way she fidgeted with her arms and hands under my perusal as if she had no clue where to rest them.
I held out my hand to her and rolled the chair back, allowing her enough room to stand in the space between me and the desk. She moved quietly, accepting my guidance and subconsciously placing her trust in me. I noticed something missing from earlier. My gun. She wasn’t holding it this time and my blood heated. Her actions spoke louder than any words. Trust was worth more in my world than money. I wouldn’t let her down.
I leaned forward, my nose pressing against her sex, pulling in the heady scent of her arousal through the thin cotton dress. I felt like a drowning man receiving oxygen for the first time since being pulled under the riptide. She moaned in response, her fingers already running through my short hair. I ran my hands up the back of her tan calves, slowly tracing a line with my fingertips to the bottom hem of her dress and higher still as I took the material with me and found her pert ass, squeezing both sides to pull her closer still.
“You smell so fucking good,” I glanced up to find Tori biting her bottom lip. “I’m loving this dress, babe. Easy access.” I inched it up and over her hips. She wore simple white lace panties underneath, the transparency of the material making me groan from the physical effort it took to be slow with her. I reached behind her and pushed the few papers atop the desk to the side before smacking her ass teasingly.
“Hop up, babe.”
“In here?”
“Why not? Don’t get shy on me now, beautiful.”
Tori glanced over her shoulder, checking that she had closed the door before settling onto the desk. I held back a laugh. My vixen wasn’t an exhibitionist like most of the women that graced Pandemonium. That was good because I wasn’t about to share her with anyone.
“You won’t be needing these anymore, sweetheart. In fact, feel free to skip them altogether when I’m around. It’ll save me from having to replace them.”
Tori’s eyes widened as my fingers dipped beneath the top of her lacy apparel and pulled apart, shredding it in two. And just like before, when Tori gasped, my dick jumped. Her sounds were like commands, every muscle in my body reacting to her.
I pushed the material to either side and gave Tori one last look before my tongue took over.