Chapter 7
Diesel
“So, we got their help or not?” Rock asked.
“Bullshit. You know damn good and well we don’t have their help now,” Brewer said.
“You guys need to shut the fuck up,” Knox said. “Diesel’s going through some shit right now.”
“Yeah, and so are we,” Grave said. “Monroe’s three weeks away from giving birth and Everly’s turned over into her third trimester. This shit’s gotta get wrapped up.”
“If you guys are trying to whisper, you’re doing a piss poor job,” I said.
All the guys turned their eyes to me as I gazed out the window. It’d been a couple of days since we’d met with Dean and the Black Hornets. Two days since I’d figured out the love of my high school world wasn’t dead. I still couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t digest it.
There were so many questions I still had about the shooting. But now that I understood that Rex had assaulted Brynn, it all started to make sense. Had I been a father, it would’ve been the exact move I’d have made if my daughter was almost raped by a blood-lustful asshole.
“Diesel, none of us expect you to go through with that shit,” Knox said. “We can figure another way out of this mess with Rex.”
“I know,” I said. “No matter what, I will find a way to protect Brynn. But we still have the whole RICO case to worry about as well. What is the latest from Monroe on it?”
Knox let out a long sigh. I could tell even without him starting to talk that things were still moving forward with the case.
“Monroe found out that the feds have an informant. Of course, they aren’t saying who that informant is, but I think we all can agree that it was most likely Rex.”
“Fuck,” Grave said. “The second Rex ended up in jail, he probably offered up anything the feds wanted to save his own skin.”
“And, my guess is that he was using the info from Mick to point everything on our club instead of his,” I said.
Rock nodded in agreement. “With Mick meeting his maker, Rex has no more ammo for the feds. He won’t have anything new to give them.”
I let out a heavy sigh before I turned my sights to them.
“At least that is good. Monroe have any ideas on how to get the RICO case dropped?”
“Besides putting Rex in the ground?” Grave asked.
“Well she won’t come out and exactly say that,” Knox let out a slight laugh. “But yeah, we get rid of the informant, the feds have no one else for the case and it fades away. They haven’t been able to move on the shit that he has already told him, so they will probably still need more dirt.”
“Problem is, Rex still has the Black Saddles,” Brewer said. “While I don’t doubt Grave’s ability to fuck people up, we need more bodies.”
I clenched my jaw. I knew where the conversation was headed again. Our entire club hinged on this fucking deal with Dean. I either had to somehow convince Dean to alter it, or convince Brynn to go along with it.
And neither option sounded like it would work.
“You good?” Knox asked me.
“It’s been a couple of days. Brynn has had some time to think. We need protection and Dean isn’t going to back down from his deal. He is as stubborn as they come. That’s how he is,” I said.
“So, you’re really gonna marry her?” Knox said.
“Hell, none of us have even gotten married yet,” Brewer said with a grin.
“I’ve got an idea to pass by Brynn that’ll give everyone what they want,” I said. “But it’ll take some sit down time with her.”
“What plan?” Knox asked.
“With all due respect, that’s between her and I. It affects our futures,” I said. I needed to talk to Brynn first. I didn’t want to get the guys hopes up if she wasn’t on board.
“Sorry to bust your taint, but it affects us as well,” Rock said.
“It affects your protection in the moment. It affects our lives for good. If Brynn goes for it, I’ll call church and fill you guys in,” I said.
I heard grumbles of dissention as I turned to look back out the window. I mindlessly pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed Dean’s number. I needed to talk to Brynn. The phone rang in my ear, and with each ring my shoulders tensed a little more every time.
“Hello?”
I furrowed my brow at the sound of her voice.
“Brynn?” I asked.
The guys all looked at me and I could see them staring at me in the reflection of the window.
“My father is busy. He told me to pick up the phone if it was you,” she said.
“And you listened?” I asked.
“Don’t sound so shocked,” she said flatly.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it came out.”
All the guys rolled their eyes and Knox even smacked his damn forehead. Like I didn’t know how to treat women or get them on a damn date.
“We need to talk,” I said.
“We do.”
“Will you let me take you out for dinner tonight?” I asked.
“Like a date?”
“Yes,” I said. “Like a date.”
The silence on the other end of the line was treacherous.
“Where are we eating?” Brynn asked.
“Anywhere that gets me sat in front of you,” I said.
“Because I’ve been craving that wing place in Redding for a little while now. The one with those flavored beers?”
“I never could get you into the rundown bars I frequented.”
“Because they smell like cat piss.”
“You never told me that before,” I said with a laugh.
“I was seventeen and exploring a boy for the first time. So, sue me.”
“Not exploring boys anymore?” I asked with a grin.
“I prefer my boys as men.”
I drew in a deep breath as my eyes narrowed.
“Meet me there around eight?” I asked.
I turned around and looked at the eyes as they eyed me carefully.
“I’ll see you then, Diesel.”
I nodded my head and they all silently cheered and high-fived as a grin spread across my cheeks.
“Looking forward to it,” I said.
***
I drove to the bar thirty minutes early and got us a booth in the back. I didn’t want anyone to overhear what the hell we were going to be discussing. I especially wanted to keep an eye out for Rex or any of his men. But luckily this place was on the other side of town, away from the Black Saddle’s normal haunts.
I ordered us some potato skins for the table and her favorite beer from the place. At least, the beer I thought she might want. When we were together, she was obsessed with everything blackberry. So, I ordered her a nice lager made with blackberries.
“Something smells good in this corner. I see you put on some cologne for me.”
I looked up and watched the most beautiful woman I could ever imagine approach. Her legs were long and she stood tall. Almost my height, to be exact. Brynn was all legs when we were kids, but now her curves blew me away. Thick thighs that dipped into a slim waist before blossoming into tits I wanted to bury my face in. I stood at a height of six-three, and she sat just under 5”10. Her hips sashayed while she walked, and as she slid into the booth in front of me she smiled with the same smile I had memorized all the way back in high school.
It was nice to know some things hadn’t changed.
“You look good,” I said.
“So do you,” she said.
I reached out and took her hand, smoothing my thumb over her skin. Her warm, slightly tanned, pulsing skin. It heated underneath my touch and her fingers twitched at my every movement. She curled her fingers around my hand as life rushed through her veins.
She was alive.
My Brynn was actually alive.
“What the fuck did they fill your coffin with?” I blurted before I could catch myself.
She threw her head back and laughed as her hand gripped mine tighter. Clinging to me, like she always did in the stairwell of our high school.
“No, seriously. I carried your damn casket. Did they fill it with bricks?” I asked.
Her laughter slowed and she pulled her hand away from mine.
“I think they did,” She said as she dropped her eyes down to our hands. “I remember my father double checking how much I weighed at the hospital so they could put the right amount in.”
Our eyes connected, and as I gazed into her beautiful hazel stare I rewrote my version of her in my head. She was no longer the vibrant, excited, wonder-eyed seventeen-year old girl I knew. Instead, she had grown into a sultry, mysterious, doe-eyed woman with strength behind her fluid form and a headstrong attitude that matched any of the men I surrounded myself with on a daily basis.
“I’m sorry, Diesel.”
“Not your fault,” I said.
“I should’ve told --”
“Your father did what was best to protect his daughter. I’ll never fault him for that,” I said.
She nodded her head slowly as a waitress approached us to take our order. I wasn’t shocked when she ordered twenty hot wings and fries all to herself. I matched her order before I grinned at her, then handed our menus off to the waitress.
Then she grabbed her beer and took a long, generous pull.
“Blackberries,” she said. “You remembered.”
“How could I forget? I fed you so many times from the blackberry bushes that grew on the edge of your property,” I said. “You got sick on them once.”
“And you held back my hair while aimlessly yelling for my father like a teenage boy does,” she said with a grin.
“Your father thought I’d gotten you pregnant.”
“I’ve never seen him so close to killing someone in my life,” she said with a giggle.
So many good memories. And all of them, alive in her eyes.
It was still hard for me to process.
“Do you want to talk now? Or after we eat?” I asked.
The light in Brynn’s eyes dimmed and she leaned back into her cushioned seat.
“We can do it now,” she said. “Because once I start eating, it’s going to look like a murder scene.”
“Not one of those women that eat wings with a fork?”
Her face flattened and a chuckle fell from my lips.
“You never were dainty.”
“And don’t you forget it,” she said. “But before you begin, let me start. Because I want to say to you what I said to my father.”
“I wondered where that mushroom cloud in the distance came from.”
“Ha. Ha,” she said mockingly. “But seriously, just listen. I get where my father’s coming from, and I get you need something he can provide. But I’m not property to exchange. That isn’t how this works.”
“I know,” I said.
“I won’t marry out of anything other than love,” she said.
“I know.”
“Which means you might not get the protection you want from my father’s club.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
I grinned at her as her brows furrowed in confusion.
“Ready for me to talk?” I asked.
“I’m curious enough to hear what you have to say.”
“My club is in a bind and we reached out to Dean.”
“What kind of bind are you in?”
I let out a long sigh. A lot of shit had happened since Brynn left. I knew she understood what her father was a part of, but I still didn’t want to bring her into everything completely.
“We just got into some trouble,” I said flatly and I looked down. I could feel her glare on my face.
“You can’t do that Diesel. I refuse to be left in the dark or cut off for my own safety. You said you wanted to talk, so spill.”
I let out a slight laugh. I had forgotten how strong willed she was.
“Ok, you’re right. You deserve to know the whole truth. Everything started a several months ago. A new club, the Black Saddles, was pushing its way into town, and they were causing a lot of problems for our operations.”
“What kind of operations?”
“Cleaning money,” I said quickly. I saw her eyes widen. “It’s not as bad as it seems,” I assured her. “We have been working to clean up our act the last few years. Take a lot of the risk out of our operations. But we still had a few things happening that the Black Saddles were fucking with.”
She slowly nodded.
“We tried to reason with them at a party they were hosting, but shit hit the fan pretty quickly and one of my guys ended up in jail, framed for a murder he didn’t commit.”
“Rex was involved, wasn’t he?” she asked quietly.
“He was,” I said. “And we have been working to clean up the whole mess caused by him since. A lot more shit has happened, but Rex has now threated the women of our club and some of the guys have kids –”
“I get it,” she said. “You guys need the muscle from the Black Hornets to take care of Rex.”
I nodded. “I knew reaching out to Dean would come with a price. But we were desperate. But honestly? It’s not a price I’m willing to pay either. If there’s one thing I don’t take lightly, it’s a commitment to a woman. I made sure to drill that into my club’s head, so going through with a marriage of some sort out of nothing more than a deal goes against everything I raised my fucking club with.”
“Then it’s settled. We won’t get married,” she said.
“Date me,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed as she leaned her forearms onto the table.
“How does that help you?” she asked.
“If you and I give the appearance that things are going smoothly and progressing towards becoming family, then your father will help us. Then, once all this shit is settled, a fight breaks out or something and the wedding’s off.”
“You want to fake a relationship.”
“I want to fake an engagement,” I said.
“But you just said--”
“If I don’t put a ring on your finger, your father doesn’t help us. Plain and simple. So, we get you a ring, and in the meantime, we date and make it look like it’s real. Spend time with one another. Go shopping. You know, all the boring relationship shit.”
“Ah, boring shit. Got it,” she said.
“Then when all of this is said and done--because no one wants to plan a real wedding amidst all the drama--then we find a way to break it off. Something that looks just as real as the engagement.”
Brynn drew in a deep breath and I let those words simmer on the stove for a bit. I knew it was asking a lot, but it got everyone what they wanted. Neither of us had to get married, she got protection from both of our clubs, and we got protection from her father’s.
But most importantly, I got to spend time with Brynn.
“What goes along with faking an engagement?” she asked.
“The usual stuff. Holding hands. Maybe a slap on the ass--”
“You didn’t do that in high school and you won’t do it now.”
“Then, let’s make it like high school again,” I said.
Her eyes flared with something akin to fire, and I slid my foot underneath the table to rest against hers.
“How much high school are we talking?” she asked.
Though I heard her clear her throat a bit as my ankle pressed against hers.
“Any part of it you want,” I said with a grin.
I wasn’t going to deny how much I wanted Brynn. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to force her to marry me. I wanted her body underneath mine again. I wanted to play with her body the way I had in high school. I wanted to explore the mind, heart, soul, and curves of the woman she had grown into.
But only if she wanted it. I would never force her into anything she didn’t want to do.
I watched her closely as her mind turned. I could tell that she was weighing her options. And if I was correct on how much she wanted to stay in Redding, then she would agree to my plan.
“I want a nice ring,” she finally said with a grin.
“I’ll get you the best,” I said.
“And I want to take rides on the back of your bike again.”
“Trust me, for a few days that’s where I’ll keep you. I’ll be protecting you as well, remember?”
The smile slowly faded from her face as our food touched down in front of us.
“Rex really is just as bad as he was, isn’t he?” Brynn asked.
“He’s worse. Look, Dean told me what happened the night –”
She held up her hand and stopped me.
“I don’t want to go into what happened. Rex is an asshole and lets just leave it at that.”
“He’s more than just an asshole Brynn. He hurt you, and I want to make him pay for it. But he has a the whole Black Saddles MC backing him, which is bigger than his gang was back in high school.” I watched as she wrapped her arms around her chest. I was making her nervous and that was the last thing I wanted to do.
“But you don’t have to worry about that,” I quickly said. “You’ve got me, my club, your father, and his club looking out for you. No one will get to you unless you get stubborn.”
“Define ‘stubborn’.”
“Running off without someone with you,” I said. She rolled her eyes.
“So, what if I wanted to go to the beach.”
“Then you’ll be on the back of my bike while we travel.”
“What if I wanted to have a bonfire?”
“Then my men will bring their women and we’ll have a good time,” I said.
“What if I wanted to go hiking in the mountains?”
“They got bike trails?” I asked.
She giggled and shook her head as she let out a heavy sigh.
“I really can’t believe I’m about to say this,” she said.
“Oh, please say it. Because I’ve got some gaudy rings in mind to make you wear,” I said.
“Hey, I said a nice ring.”
“They’re nice! Just… different.”
She playfully glared at me before a smile spread across her cheeks.
“You’ve got yourself a fake fiancé then.”