Shep

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“I cannot believe the mother fucker got away,” Kade whispered amongst the half dozen or so Saints gathered in the hallway of the ICU.

“He better keep running,” Domino spoke up. The sentiment was shared by every single one of us. E.Z. was a dead man. He might have survived betraying us, maybe, but he shot Bear, in the chest. So E.Z. was as good as dead.

Several members were out looking for him at this very moment. I wondered how good of an escape plan E.Z. had. It kept me from thinking about my Dad. Bear was hooked up to a million machines and for the first time ever, looking vulnerable.

Domino, Zig, Chase, Maddox, Kade, Axle, and Benz were with me. Sarge, Maddox’s Dad, and a former Prez of the MC had also shown up. A handful more of us had been kicked into another room. The rest of The Saints were trying to find E.Z.

Mama Bear was holding a vigil by Dad’s bed. She was every inch the combat nurse now. She asked pointed questions, she monitored every machine, and she carefully questioned the doctors about aspect of Bear’s care at Port Az General.

Maddox’s wife Tracy had just shown up from the clubhouse.

“Hey, is JJ okay?”

“I wouldn’t have left her if there was a doubt. She’s fine, though I imagine she’s traumatized.”

Tracy had been Mama Bear’s right-hand woman since she’d finished nursing school. She had a lot of knowledge and a gift for fixing up roughed up bikers, but I knew my mother’s war experience was something that came into play more than any class Tracy would have taken in school. Before today, anyway. Mama Bear had seen it all.

“Hey, here, this is for your Mom. Why don’t you take it in to her?”

Tracy handed me a Styrofoam cup of hot coffee.

“Thank you. And thank you for earlier.”

“I’m learning how to ‘old lady’ from the best of them,” Tracy said and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Yep.”

Tracy turned and went to sit with Maddox and Sarge. Her own Dark Saint household.

I walked into the room. Bear – my Dad, the man who was invincible, strong, and tougher than anyone I’d ever seen – was clinging to life. It was that simple. He’d been shot in the chest and lost a load of blood. The bullet missed the heart, that was the one good thing. Well, the second good thing. My Mom was there, and she was going to pull him out of this with her bare knuckles.

While Bear and his bed dominated the room, my mother was like a glowing star, an energy source that fed everything in her powerful orbit.

“Here,” I put a hand on her shoulder and she took the coffee.

“The next twelve hours, Shep, that’s the key. The next twelve hours.”

“What has to happen?”

“He breathes on his own, his blood pressure stabilizes; those two are big. By tomorrow I’ll have a good idea what we’re facing.”

She took a sip of the coffee and then stood up to read one of the monitors. She was talking to me, but it was clear her head was completely with Bear, with making sure she had every aspect of his care under control.

“I suppose there’s no convincing you to come home at some point and rest?”

“I’ll sleep here if I need to sleep,” she said and then turned to me. She let down her combat vet armor for one second and was my Mom. She let me give her a hug. She let me be the one she leaned on. If only for a second. It was a big step for her because Papa Bear and Mama Bear were our rocks. Our solid ground. We all counted on them and never expected them to need a moment or to show weakness. It was a part of the deal, leading this MC, this family. You put the family before yourself. Both my parents had always done that.

I kissed the top of her head.

“He’s going to be okay. The last thing he wants to do is piss you off by dying.”

She let a small laugh escape, and then stood back to look at me with the eyes that offered no debate. They were always truthful, there was never any bullshit taken or given with my Mama. And they were always filled with love, for her Dark Saints.

“You know, he’s so proud of you, and the place you’ve made in this club.”

“Yes, thank you, but I should have seen that E.Z. would do something like this, that he was going to go out swinging, I just…”

I felt guilt wash over me that I’d pushed E.Z. and my Dad had taken the bullet for it.

“No, this is on E.Z. only. And he’ll get his, I have no doubt about that. The wife and mother in me want to tell you to go after the bastard. But you know what your role is now, don’t you?”

The duty and selflessness were what she meant. I wanted to hunt E.Z. and pay him the fuck back, immediately for what he had done to Bear.

“Listen to me. E.Z. has provided you all with a big juicy distraction,” Mama said, but I didn’t follow.

“If this club turns itself inside out hunting Ezekiel, we’ll be spread thin, we’ll be looking in the wrong direction.”

“War with the Hawks, that’s what you’re talking about?”

“Yes. You have to step in and be the one who points the MC to The Hawks, to ensuring they don’t get any further into our territory. You have to protect Port Az, not avenge your father.”

I let it sink in. Mama was right. We were more vulnerable now than ever with Bear down and E.Z. gone rogue. We could separate, diffuse focus, and our weakness would be too easy for The Hawks to exploit.

“But I can’t let this stand,” I said, even though I already knew what Mama said was right, and important. Even as my father lay fighting to live thanks to that traitorous fucking rat, E.Z.

“The best revenge is a strong MC. Now, get everyone out of here.”

“You’re right, but I’m leaving a couple guards, at all times. We’re at war with The Hawks. You two are the heart and soul. I’m not going to risk it.”

“Just like your Dad. Fine, just tell them to stay out of my way. I’m working here.”

“Got it.” And that was exactly it. She was going to pull my Dad through this with her own two hands. She’d harangue doctors and double check nurses.

I squeezed her shoulder and walked into the lobby.

“Sarge, you staying here for a while?”

“Yep.”

Sarge was old, grizzled, and couldn’t walk well, but he was tough as fuck. And he’d be perfectly happy to shoot anyone who tried any bullshit. He was all the guard we needed but I didn’t care. I wanted more. This was Bear, after all.

“Domino, Zig, Chase? We need a 24-hour post here at the hospital. Can you three put the schedule together?”

“Yep, we’ll all take a shift and pull in the younger Probies,” Domino said and it was all I needed to know. No one would go in or out of the waiting area that we didn’t have eyes on.

“Mama Bear’s right. We need to take care of club business while Papa Bear gets well.” If anyone had reason to stay there, to sit by the bed, to forget the fact we were in a war, it was me. Bear was my Dad. But Momma was right. The Saints needed to ride.

Maddox, Kade, Axle, Benz, and I were headed back to business.

We all rode routes in Port Az throughout the night. By this time The Hawks had to be aware that we were ripped apart by a bloody fight in our own meeting room. And they probably loved it. We couldn’t let our guard down. We couldn’t. I was worried that I’d made this happen at the exact wrong time. So I kept my eyes open for trouble all night in our town, Port Az. Let the Hawks fucking trying anything. I was in the mood to kill.

By the time I finally got back to the MC, I was exhausted, but wired at the same time. A new wave of Saints set out, to keep making our presence known in town.

We had to stay visible because there was just no way to know when The Hawk’s would make their next move.

I had no idea what time it was as I rode my Harley up the road to the MC. When I saw a dark-haired woman walking alone toward the MC, I knew right away who it was. I was also wide awake again and pissed off.

I pulled up next to her and cut the engine.

“What the hell are you doing, walking alone, out here?”

JJ stopped in her tracks and threw a fiery look right back at me.

“I’m headed to work. Unless I’m fired for, I don’t know, getting in the way of a bullet?”

“No, of course you’re not fired. I’m just saying this is fucking dangerous.”

“Walking along the road here is probably the least dangerous thing I’ve had happen to me in the last day or so.”

“Why would you do this?”

I had no right to question her, to be pissed at her, to insist on anything but a drink from her, but my brain wasn’t in charge. Some other instinct had taken over when it came to our new bartender.

“Walk to work? I don’t have a car, and the bus stop is up at the main road, so, TADA, walking.”

She turned away from me and resumed walking toward the MC.

“No.”

“What?”

“Get on my bike, I’ll drive you up.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to do it.”

She softened at that and I swear nearly smiled. Maybe I didn’t deserve a full-on sexy smile from her, but damn it, I wanted to earn one.

JJ walked the few steps back to my bike. She winced, and I realized she was feeling the pain from the bullet grazing. What an asshole I was. I hadn’t even asked how she was. I’d seen her and yelled at her. And then I’d started ordering her around.

I picked her up in my arms and set her down on my bike.

“That’s twice now,” she said, and I got on. She settled in behind me.

“What?”

“You picked me after that E.Z. situation too. Maybe I’ll just call you for my next shift and you can carry me to work?”

“You’re mouthy,” I said and revved my engine, though I was careful to give her a smooth ride. She was banged up and it was our fault, the club, and yet here she was walking to work, taking her next shift.

She was gorgeous but what I found even more fucking appealing was her toughness. She’d handled herself during a hail of bullets yesterday and she was handling herself against my gruff personality. Not many women were like that. JJ was different. A kind of different that I wanted to know more about.

I felt her lean in and I wished I had a hell of a lot more road to travel to get where we were going. But we were at the MC all too quick. I parked the bike and cut the engine.

I got off and offered her a hand.

“I’m not soft, you know,” she said and got off the bike herself. I’d seen the bullet grazing and knew it was probably sore.

“I need to apologize. What happened here, how you were in the line of that shit… I had no idea that was going to go down.”

“Look, I knew I wasn’t working at a pre-school. Shit happens. How’s Bear, he’s your Dad I heard?”

“He’s hanging in there.”

“Good, well, thanks for the ride.”

She turned to walk into the club. I watched. She was tough, sexy, she knew how to handle herself, that was clear, but there was something about her that made me want to pull her to me and shelter her from the shit she’d just walked into with this job.

I couldn’t do that but there was one thing I could do. Instead of heading into the MC for a belt, I had another mission.

It took me about an hour to find what I needed and assure myself it was safe. But I wasn’t going to have her walking anymore. And the club owed her.

I walked into the bar. There were three Probies standing at the end, drooling over JJ, I was fucking sure.

“We’re on lockdown. You three need check in with all the members on the road. Find Deacon and check to be sure.”

Lockdown meant that it was important that all The Saints knew the danger, but it was also important to me that no one touched JJ. What the fuck, man? Where was this coming from? I had a million things to think about with The Hawks, my Dad, and shit, but I wasn’t going to be able to focus until I knew this girl was safe. Or as safe as I could make her without being her old man.

“You’re chasing away my tips,” JJ said. I watched her mouth when she talked. I was quickly losing my mind over this chic.

“You got a minute?”

“From what I hear, you’re the boss of me. So, if you say I do, I do.”

She said I was the boss, but I swear she was challenging me, daring me to test her about who was in charge.

“Well, then, you have a minute. Come with me.”

I put out my hand. She looked at me and narrowed her eyes. She knew I was fucking into her, way into her. Hell, if I wanted her safe, I should fire her. But I wanted her with me. That was the bottom line.

She put her hand in mine. It sent a current of something from my palm on down. Shit. Just that amount of skin to skin contact and I wanted to slide those jeans off her. I wanted to sink my fingers into those hips. My brain was imagining all sorts of things I wanted to do with her. But I put the pause on that shit.

I pulled her along out from behind the bar and outside.

“Can I ask?”

“You’re not walking, waiting at a bus stop, or any other bullshit that I think’s unsafe.”

“I think you might have the wrong impression that I’m some sort of princess. I’m not.”

“Do what I tell you and don’t argue.”

We’d gotten to the car.

“What is this?”

“It’s one of the four cars that Bear has. He’s unable to chew solid food right now, much less drive any of his cars.”

“What?”

“Here’s the keys, it’s a stick. Do you need me to teach you how?”

“No, I know what to do with a gear shift.”

“Damn.”

“But that’s not the point. I don’t take charity.”

I walked close to her. Her back was now to the car.

“I said, no fucking argument.”

I leaned in. She didn’t try to squirm away. That was the green light I needed.

I took her sweet lips with mine and they were sweeter and hotter than I’d imagined them. I put her face in my hands and deepened that fucking kiss. She tasted so good, and her body rose to mine. Shit. I was hard as a fucking rock and ready to pull the car door open and fuck her brains out in the back seat. This was not what I had planned when I brought JJ out here, but it was impossible for me to keep my hands, and lips, off her.

She pulled back a fraction of an inch and looked up at me.

“This isn’t some sort of thank you for, for the car. I…”

“You’re fucking taking this car. And it has nothing to do with anything else. Except we’re in a war with The Hawks and out of fucking nowhere you were dropped into it. And already fucking scared the shit out of me. It’s my job to keep Saints safe. So that’s it.”

“I’m no Saint.”

She tiptoed up and put her lips on mine. This time she kissed me, and I felt her breasts rub against my chest. Fuck it all. She had me on fire. She grabbed the keys from my hands and pulled away.

“No arguments.”

“I’ve got drinks to pour. Thanks for the wheels. And only until I can buy my own and only because if I argue, you’ll lose, and you’re already having a rough day.”

She turned and walked back to the bar.

I loved watching her walk.