Nickel
“Where are you headed off to?”
I swung my leg over my bike and rested my hands on the handlebars. It was half past six, and I was itching to get over to Karmen’s. She had gotten off of work over two hours ago, and I knew she was getting lost in her head again. I had texted her around noon, and she had only responded with one-word answers and hadn’t answered the phone when I had called. She said she was swamped with work, but I knew she was too busy thinking of all of the ways we weren’t going to work.
“Someone I need to see.”
“Wouldn’t happen to be the brunette I heard about, would it?” Pipe asked. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the truck that was parked next to me.
“Does it matter?”
“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to have a little chat about shit that I’ve been hearing, but if you’ve got better things to do, I’ll just keep listening to the rumors.”
I bowed my head and knew I was going to be late getting to Karmen’s. “And what rumors have you been hearing, Pipe?”
He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and put it in the corner of his mouth. “There are a few rumors going around, but the one with you is that you’re leaving.”
Slayer had a big fucking mouth. “Who you hear that from?”
Pipe smirked and pulled his lighter out of his pocket. He cupped his hand around the cigarette and quickly lit the end. “You already know the answer to that,” he mumbled on an exhale of smoke. “What I want to know is if there is any truth behind it?”
“You know I’m not happy around here. This is not what I signed up for all of those years ago.” I had been a part of the Fallen Lords for over fifteen years, and lately, it had started feeling longer than that. “Putting my ass on the line for something I don’t wanna do isn’t my idea of brotherhood.”
Pipe took a drag off his cig and ran his other hand through his hair. “You’re not the only one feeling this way. Hell, Wrecker regrets the decision to let the muling in every day.”
“Then why in the hell are we still doing it?” I asked, fed up. If the damn president of the club didn’t want to do this shit anymore, then why in the hell were we?
“Because you can’t just tell Jenkins you want out. This was pushed onto Wrecker from up above, Nickel. I know you think you know everything that went down, but you don’t. Wrecker is feeling pressure from all around, not just from us.”
While Wrecker was my president and who I reported to, he also had someone above him he had to answer to. The Fallen Lords had twelve different chapters in a five-state radius. The River Valley chapter was the mother chapter where everything started and where all of the orders came down from. Ninety percent of the time, each chapter had say of what went down, but there were times where they had to do what River Valley wanted. “Why the hell would River Valley push this shit onto us?”
Pipe shrugged. “Because that’s what they wanted. You think if you branch off and open your own chapter that you aren’t going to have to deal with that shit? River Valley has their fingers in each of these chapters. We’re lucky that we are the furthest away from them that they forget about us sometimes.”
I scowled and shook my head. “They sure didn’t forget about us when it came to this muling shit.”
“They didn’t, but I’ve heard from other chapters that they are in much deeper than muling.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“Yeah, it is, but where do you think the drugs are coming from? They need someone cooking them. And if you don’t be careful and think before you open your mouth, you might get roped into being their next club to start cooking. I’m assuming you want to go further south in the state, and from where I’m standing, River Valley would see that as prime opportunity to expand their already torrid path.”
Son of a bitch. Pipe was more than right, especially if what he was saying was the truth about the muling being pushed on us. “So, we just sit here like good little errand boys and more than likely take the fall? How the fuck are we going along with this?”
“Because right now, we don’t have a choice, Nickel.”
“Why don’t we bring this shit up in a meeting and band together to get the hell out?”
Pipe looked around and tossed his cigarette on the pavement. “Because not everyone is who you think they are.”
“Why do I feel like you’re about to start spouting some shit about conspiracy theories, and how we’re really not alone?”
Pipe rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’d just be careful of who you open your mouth to, Nickel.” He nodded and disappeared back into the clubhouse.
I hung my head and gripped the handlebars. Why the hell did shit have to be so fucking complicated? To find out that no one in Weston actually wanted the muling but had no way of getting out of it was a fucking kick to the nuts.
Everyone always had a choice, it was just figuring out if it was worth the loss to get what you want. For me, it was getting out of muling for the Weston chapter, but if I spearheaded my own chapter, I might find myself in even deeper shit.
“Fucking shit,” I cursed.
All along, I thought I had the answer, but come to find out, I wasn’t anymore ahead than I was when this shit all started.
I started my bike and revved the engine. I may be back to square one on getting out of Weston, but at least I had one thing going for me.
Karmen.
**********
Karmen
White wine?
Wine cooler?
Bottle of Jack Daniels?
I needed to take the edge off of my nerves, and while I didn’t actually drink often, alcohol seemed to be the answer to my problem.
Nickel had texted me ten minutes ago that he was on the way over, and I swear to God, I was even more nervous than I was last night.
Last night, I had figured Nickel would get bored of me after half an hour and drop me back at my place. Now I knew that wasn’t going to happen, and I somehow had to figure out how to entertain a big ol’ biker in my tiny apartment.
I poured a shot of the Jack and quickly tossed it back. It burned down my throat and warmed the pit of my stomach. Well, that just might do the trick.
Three shots later, I was leaning heavily against the door as I opened it to Nickel, and a hiccup escaped from my lips. I might have gone one shot too many. “Hey,” I whispered, my free hand saluting him.
Yeah, I just saluted Nickel. Kill me now.
He pushed his way into my apartment, his arm circling my waist, and he pulled me to his side as he closed the door behind us. “Baby girl, did you start the party without me?” His face nuzzled my neck, and his lips brushed against my skin.
My arms instinctively wrapped around his neck, and I closed my eyes, breathing in his scent. “You smell good,” I sighed. I needed to bottle him up and put him on my dresser. His scent, that is, although, I actually wouldn’t be opposed to having Nickel in my room whenever I wanted him. “We should go to my room. It has a lock on the door.” I was tipsy enough to turn the lock on my bedroom door and never let him out.
A wonky smile spread across my lips, and Nickel leaned back to look down at me. “My girl is half in the bag and goofy as shit.”
Horny more than goofy, but I wasn’t going to point that out. I had gone from nervous as hell to putty in this man hands. “I might have had a drink or four.”
Nickel walked us over to the living room and pulled me down onto the couch with him. He grabbed my legs and swung them over his lap, and I leaned against the arm of the couch. “I confess, it was four.”
Nickel smiled, and I thanked God I wasn’t standing because I’m pretty sure I would have ended up on the floor. His eyes fell on the open bottle on the coffee table and the single shot glass. “I guess I’ll just have to catch up to you.”
“You can’t get drunk just by staring at the bottle,” I hiccupped. I leaned toward the bottle and almost fell out of Nickel’s lap and onto the floor. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me back onto the couch.
“I’ll get a drink in just a minute.”
I sighed and leaned against the couch. Nickel looked as handsome as always, but he didn’t look as relaxed as I felt. I reached up, brushing his temple with my fingertips. “How was your day?”
He leaned into my touch and closed his eyes. “Better now.”
“Bad ass bikers have bad days?”
A smirk spread across his lips. “Yeah. I just found out something I thought was a good idea turned out to be a bad one.”
I hummed and ran my fingers through his hair. “Then come up with a new one.”
His eyes popped open, and the corners of them crinkled from the huge grin on his face. “If only it were that easy.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
He shook his head. “Just keep doing what you’re doing, baby girl.”
“I’m tipsy and petting you, Nickel. How is this helping?”
He grabbed me around the waist, slid me onto his lap, turned my body towards him, and I straddled his waist. “You make me forget all the shit I don’t want to deal with.”
That sounded nice. I liked being able to do that for him. “You do the same for me,” I whispered.
“So, we both give each other amnesia when we’re together, huh?” His hands rested on my thighs, and I rested my arms on his shoulders.
“Hmm, more like you help make the world fade away. I forget how nervous I should be or how you are way out of my league.”
He shook his head. “I think you got that backward. You are leaps and bounds out of my league, but I’m not gentleman enough to let you go. I’ll take any and everything you’re willing to give me.” His hands traveled up my body, blazing a trail to my head where he delved his fingers into my hair. “You tipsy enough to kiss me?”
A sly smile spread across my lips. “I don’t have to be tipsy to kiss you, just breathing. I can’t seem to resist you anymore, Nickel.”
“One less thing to worry about then,” he whispered against my lips. “Now I just have to keep you.”
His lips claimed mine, and this kiss was great. Nickel knew exactly what he was doing, and all I had to do was wrap my arms around him and hold the hell on. I pressed my body into him, needing to get more of him and well, everything. My fingers slid into his windblown hair, raking it between my fingers. “Nickel,” I moaned as his lips traveled over my skin and down my neck.
Our bodies were entwined, and I didn’t know where I ended and where Nickel started. I never wanted this feeling to end. I was free and careless when I was in Nickel’s arms. I could feel and say whatever I wanted.
Nickel pulled my arms from his head, resting them at my sides, then delved his fingers into my hair all while his mouth possessed mine again. Did I mention the man could kiss? Holy freakin’ hell.
I shivered against him and made a small noise in the back of my throat. Nickel’s eyes darkened, and the atmosphere of the room shifted. My hands moved, exploring his back as the kiss became unbridled and hurried. He twisted, knocking me over onto the couch, and his body covered me. “It’s amazing how I can miss something so much when it’s only been hours since I last had you.”
“You missed me?” I asked meekly.
“You’re about to find out just how much I missed you.”
**********