Nickel
“You’ve been a busy boy, Jeffy.”
“The name is Jeff,” he bit off.
This prick was tied up with his arms behind his back, and he was still acting like a royal asshole.
Clash grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head back. “It’s Jeffy now,” he growled.
Slayer and Maniac were sprawled out on chairs behind me, and they snickered. “I didn’t know this was going to be so entertaining,” Maniac chuckled.
It hadn’t taken much to subdue Jeff. He was still asleep when we had broken down the door, and Clash had managed to get to him before he had his wits about him.
Once we had him tied up, Jeffy seemed to wake up and not shut up.
“I don’t even know why the hell you guys are here. I haven’t done anything to piss off the Fallen Lords,” he rambled.
“Oh, but you have, Jeffy boy,” Clash gloated, releasing his head. “You’re fucking with one of our own, and we came to pay a visit to find out why.”
Jeffy’s eyes darted around the room. “Look, I honestly have no idea what the hell you guys are talking about. This is bullshit,” he spit out.
Clash tsked at him. “Why are they always so stupid?” he asked us.
I grabbed a chair from the kitchen table and spun it around in front of Jeffy. I sat down, straddling the chair, and rested my arms on the back. “Do you have a girlfriend, Jeffy?”
He shook his head. “No. Is this what this is about? Did I hit on your girlfriend or something? Was it the blonde at the bar the other night?”
Clash looked down at me. “Can’t we just beat it out of him? All of this talking is boring.”
I shook my head. I needed to get Morski’s location first, and then Clash could have his way with him. “No, this has nothing to do with the blonde. This has to do with Fritz and Karmen Handel.”
Jeffy’s face paled, and he gulped. “Um, I have no idea who that is.”
I shook my head. “You’re a horrible liar, Jeffy. If you’re going to be a scheming, no good prison guard, you’re going to have to learn how to lie. Watch this.” I winked at Jeffy and turned to Slayer. “What job did your dad do?”
Slayer didn’t even blink. “He was the forty-second president of a small island off the coast of Belgium. He was assassinated right after I was born and the island was in turmoil, so my mother decided to burn the island and move to the US.”
“What?” Jeffy tilted his head. “Does Belgium even have a coast?
“I haven’t a fucking clue, but you fucking believed me, didn’t you?” Slayer laughed.
Maniac elbowed Slayer and shook his head. “Belgium does have a coast, you dumbass.”
I turned back to Jeffy. “If you’re gonna be a prick and do shitty things, you’re going to need to lie a hell of a lot better than that. You know exactly who Fritz and Karmen are because I know you’re a guard at Winchester.”
I didn’t think it was possible, but Jeffy paled even more. “I didn’t know what he had planned. I thought he just wanted me to get him put in solitary because he wanted to make his life hell. I had no idea he had other plans.”
“Who had other plans?” Clash demanded.
Jeffy looked over his shoulder at Clash. “Um, Ryan.”
Clash grabbed his hair again and yanked his head back. “Ryan who?”
“Morski. Ryan Morski,” Jeffy rambled. “I went to school with him. He dropped out before graduation, but we were friends. I hadn’t heard from him for a few years, and then he called me about six months ago. He said he just wanted me to find out some info on Handel. I knew his family had been killed by the guy.”
“So you thought you would just feed him all the information he wanted, right? What was in it for you?” I asked.
“He, uh, said if I told him shit, he would deposit ten thousand dollars into my checking account.”
Clash whistled low and released his hair. “That’s a pretty fucking penny for just gathering a bit of information that is all public knowledge, huh Jeffy?”
I rubbed my chin and squinted at Jeffy. “Something tells me you helped more than just telling him about Handel. I think you got Handel thrown in the hole so he couldn’t get word to his daughter that Morski was coming after her. But you wouldn’t do something like that, would you Jeffy? I mean, you’re a man of the law. That would go against your moral code.”
Jeffy squirmed in his chair, tugging on the binds around his wrists. “Look, I had no idea he was going to go after his daughter. Ryan just told me bare minimum details. He said he just needs Handel quiet and unable to reach out. That’s all I knew. I fucking swear. I’d never help someone hurt a woman.”
“But you’re okay helping hurt Handel?”
He kept squirming but tried to talk his way out of getting his ass kicked. “He’s a piece of shit that killed a bunch of people. Did it really matter what happened to him?”
“I see where you’re coming from, but I also see that you helping Morski is in return fucking with my woman.”
It finally hit Jeffy why we were here. “Karmen is yours,” he mumbled.
“Ding, ding. Tell him what he’s won, Slayer,” Clash rang out.
Slay cleared his throat and gave it his best talk show host impersonation. “Well, Clash, he’s won an all-expense paid ass-kicking, but not before he spills his guts and tells us where Morski is.”
I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest. “Tell me where to find Morski, get Handel out of solitary, and maybe I’ll tell Clash to go gentle on you.”
He looked over his shoulder at Clash who was cracking knuckles and gulped. “I only have his phone number. When I met him in person, it was at a bar near the prison. I’m not sure where he is staying, but I think it’s somewhere near.”
“Name of the bar,” I demanded.
“Locke’s. It’s on Cram street. We met there a few times.”
“You two planning on meeting up soon?” If we could set up a meeting between Jeffy and Morski, we could get the jump on Morski and finish this shit quick.
Jeffy shook his head. “He hasn’t mentioned anything lately. He said I would get paid after he takes care of Handel.”
Maniac chuckled. “I hate to break it to you, fucker. But you ain’t getting shit from Morski after we finish with him.”
I stood up and pushed the chair out of the way. “Get the phone number from him. We can see if we can get anything off of it, but it’s doubtful.” Clash nodded. I crouched down in front of Jeffy. “Oh, and if you tell Morski anything about what happened here tonight, what happens to Morski will be nothing compared to what we do to you.” I slapped his cheek and tipped my chin to Clash.
Slayer slid up next to me. “You’re not going to stay and have a little fun with us?”
I watched as Slayer reared back and punched the hell out of Jeffy. Poor fucker. “I'm gonna head back to the clubhouse and check up on Karmen. She's probably hiding out in my room wondering what the hell is going on.”
Clash landed another punch to Jeffy’s gut, and his chair rocked back. “I’ll make sure Clash doesn’t kill this fucker. We might still need if him we aren’t able to find Morski.”
Maniac moved behind Jeffy and untied his hands. Clash yanked him from the chair and pinned him to the wall. “That’ll probably be a good idea.” I clapped Slayer on the back and ducked out the door.
We were a little bit closer to finding Morski and, hopefully, would have him on the next day or two.
I swung my leg over my bike and cranked it up.
Now I needed to get back to the clubhouse and make sure Pipe and Wrecker hadn’t terrified her and sent her running.
**********
Karmen
“One more.”
“Hell no. Nickel is going to kill me when he gets back. I’ll never be able to talk to you again.”
I giggled and waved my glass in Pipe’s face. “This is all his fault anyway.” At least, I think it was. I wasn’t even sure why I was still drinking. I had moved way past tipsy and had two feet firmly planted in drunk land.
Pipe hung his head and grabbed the glass from my hand. “Fill it up, Boink.” He set the glass on the bar, and Boink filled it with rum and cola.
I reached out and petted Pipe’s head. “That’s a good boy.”
Yup, totally drunk. We had managed to finish the Wapatui an hour ago, and I had moved on to rum. “We are totally living the pirate life,” I hiccupped.
Pipe finished his beer and tossed it in the garbage can. “Nickel know how crazy you are?”
I shrugged. “He appears to like it.” I twirled the tiny straw in my glass. “That’ll change soon.” Oh Jesus. That was another thing that happened when I drank. I talked…a lot.
“Don’t know why, babe. You got everything he wants and probably more. He’d be a fool to let a girl like you go.”
I propped my arm on the bar and rested my head on my hand. “That’s so sweet you to say.” Sweet hell, I knew what I wanted to say, but it wasn’t coming out right. “I have rum tongue.”
Pipe smirked and shook his head. “I’m not going there, babe. I’d be sitting here dead if Nickel heard me talking about your tongue.”
“Too fucking late.”
My eyes focused over Pipe’s shoulder and saw Nickel standing there, pissed off but hot as hell. “Nickel is behind you,” I informed Pipe.
“No shit, babe.” Pipe stood up and moved away from Nickel with his hands in the air. “I was just keeping an eye on her, brother.”
“Your way of keeping an eye on my woman is getting her drunk and talking about what she can do with her tongue?” Nickel boomed.
“Hey,” I protested. I slid from my stool and stood on wobbly legs. I held onto the stool Pipe had just left and pointed at Nickel with the other hand. “I am my own woman, so I decided to get my woman drunk.” I quirked my eyebrow and ran through my head what I just said. “Fiddle sticks,” I mumbled. “That wasn’t right.”
“You couldn’t have just shown her my room? You had to get her drunk?”
“Hey again.” I pointed my finger over my shoulder at Boink. “This was all his idea. He gave me his waptilatomy thing-a-ma-bob.”
Nickel crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Boink. “You gave her what?”
“Wapatui, man. She liked it,” Boink explained.
“Seriously, I am never leaving my woman with you guys again. I was gone for two fucking hours.”
Huh, it had felt way longer than two hours. I fell back onto my stool and braced my arm on the bar. “I don’t know how to say this, but I think I might puke.” Yup, I was totally going to call some dinosaurs on the porcelain phone. “I hate puking,” I whined.
Pipe and Boink scattered, not wanting anything to do with the aftereffects of too much Wapatui and being a pirate.
Nickel lifted me off my stool and cradled me in his arms. “Time for bed.”
I patted his chest and rested my head on his shoulder. “I’m not cut out to be a pirate, Nickel,” I mumbled.
“That’s good to know, baby girl.” The gruff in his voice had disappeared as he moved through the clubhouse.
“Are we going to have to share the bed with Cora?” Yes, I knew who Cora was, and I was more confused than ever.
“What do you know about Cora?”
I hummed and closed my eyes. The walls passing by were making my effort to not puke nonexistent. “She’s staying in your room, and you have to keep her safe.” At least, that was the condensed version. Boink had spilled the beans about Cora, and I had insisted he tell me everything he knew. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough for me to start wondering where I fit into Nickel’s world.
“She’s club business that I had no choice in.” He turned down a hallway then set me down so he could dig in his pocket for a key. “Telling the chick I just made my ol’ lady that I have another chick staying in my room isn’t really something I wanted to do.” He opened the door and gently pulled me in.
My head was swimming, and I was struggling to keep up with Nickel was saying. “So, if I wasn’t here here, would you have ever told me? There was too many here’s in there, I think,” I mumbled. Maybe getting drunk wasn’t my best idea.
Nickel emptied his pockets onto a small table next to his bed. “Honestly? No, I wouldn’t have told you. She means nothing to me and is just something I need to do for the club.”
“But you’re not doing her.” Oh hell, did I really just ask that? I never would have said that if I were sober.
Nickel chuckled. “No, not at all. The only time I saw her was when she walked out of the River Valley clubhouse and got on the back of Pipe’s bike.”
“Boink made it sound like she rode on the back of your bike.”
Nickel looked over his shoulder at me. “Did he now?” His eyes were dark, and he was back to being pissed.
Uh oh. I might have just gotten Boink into a whole load of trouble. “He didn’t say those words exactly.” I felt Boink and I were pretty close, and here I was, throwing him under the bus. “Please don’t hit him for me.”
He shook his head and moved toward me. “You trying to make me laugh, baby girl, so I don’t put you over my knee for getting drunk?”
That wasn't my intention, but if it was working, I wasn’t going to stop. “If I were doing that, the thing you just said, would I be able to go to sleep? Like, now-ish?” Now-ish. Good lord.
“No, because we need to talk.” He rested his hands on my hips, and I tilted my head back to look at him.
“You’re tall.” Where in the hell did my filter go? These were the things I normally thought but never said out loud.
“Have been all my life.”
“Even when you were younger?”
“Yes. That okay? Probably means when we have kids, they’re going to be tall.”
I blinked slowly. “Say what?” Kids? With Nickel? I looked around, trying to figure out if we had fallen into the twilight zone when we had walked into Nickel’s room.
He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. “Kids. As in with me and more than one.”
“Uh…um…okay.” Had the thought of having kids with Nickel crossed my mind? Yes, it had. But as soon as I had thought it, it had flitted away because how do you raise a kid in an MC? More importantly, I had no idea how to be a mom since the example I had as a mom left before I could even know her.
“Tell me where you are in your head right now.”
My eyes focused on Nickel, and I gulped. “You wanna have kids with me? I don’t know how to do that. I can’t even figure out how to be a pirate.”
Nickel chuckled. “We can figure it out together, baby girl. I’m not sure about the pirate thing, though.”
I sighed and face-planted into his shoulder. “Why does it seem like being a pirate would be easier than having a baby?”
“Well, I’m sure they both involve the same amount of alcohol.”
My arms wrapped around his waist. “I’m supposed to be mad at you for not telling me about Cora, not talking about babies and pirates,” I mumbled.
“You can be mad at me as long as you agree to have babies with me.”
I leaned back and pressed my finger to his lips. “And since neither of us are going to remember this tomorrow morning, I can tell you that I’m falling in love with you and I’m terrified that I won’t fit into your world.”
He swept me up in his arms and tossed me on the bed. The world swayed as I bounced up and down. Nickel threw his cut on the dresser and pulled his shirt over his head. “How drunk are you?”
The world stopped spinning, and I laid my head on the bed. “Um, I think if I don’t move, I should be good.”
“Guess I’m going to have to do all of the work.”
I closed my eyes and heard the zipper on Nickel’s pants go down. Thank God, I wasn’t going to remember this in the morning. The bed moved under Nickel’s weight, and he laid next to me. “Shh, my pirate isn’t ready to come out and play.”
Nickel chuckled and brushed my hair from my face. “Baby girl, I ever tell you how much you make me laugh?”
I cracked open one eye. “You smirk and rumble.” That’s exactly what he had just done.
“Well, I can tell you right now, I don’t do that much when you aren’t around.”
I closed my eye, realizing dark was better for me right now. “Glad to be the source of your smirk and rumble.” I tossed my arm over my eyes. “You think we could kill the lights. I’m past the fun part of being drunk.” Gah, I couldn’t remember the last time I had drank so much and felt like crap.
“I’m gonna have to move.”
“Ugh, you’re going to rock the bed like a ship. Try not to shiver me timbers, Captain Outlaw.”
Nickel buried his face in my neck and busted up. I was apparently better at bringing out the smirk and rumble when I was drunk.
“I promise not to shiver your timbers until you sober up.”
“Much obliged,” I muttered.
Nickel gently rocked the bed as he rolled off. I heard him move around the room, shuffle through papers for a second, and then the room went dark. “Thank you, sweet baby Jesus.” I opened my eyes, and it was pitch dark in the room except for Nickel who was standing by the desk with his face lit up by the glow of his phone. “What are you doing?” I asked.
“Turning the alarm off on my phone.”
I tsked and closed my eyes. “Bikers do not use alarms.” That was absurd. Almost as absurd as bikers having bad days.
The bed shifted as Nickel climbed back in and gathered me in his arms. “Baby girl, where the hell did you get your ideas about bikers?”
“You know, around.” I rested my head on his shoulder and trailed my fingers up and down his chest. “But you seem to be smashing all my preconceived notions lately.”
“Is that why you ran scared every time I tried to talk to you before?”
I slightly nodded my head and instantly regretted it. “Yeah,” I winced.
A rumble rolled from Nickel’s chest, and he gave me a quick squeeze. “I had planned on having my way with you tonight, but obviously, the motion of the ocean might be too much for you.”
I groaned at his corny pun. “Only I get to make lame jokes in this relationship. You handle the badassness.”
“What the hell am I going to do with you?”
“Let me sleep. Sleep sounds perfect right now.” I snuggled into him and pressed a kiss to his bare chest.
“Sleep now, we talk in the morning,” he grunted.
Ugh, something to look forward to.
I slowly drifted off to sleep tucked into Nickel’s side, hoping and praying he would forget every word I said tonight.
**********