Chapter Two
For an entire week Gunner stopped by John’s house, where he went through the accounts. They had started two ledgers. One was for each of the businesses where they took an end of day reading, and then the next morning, they took a morning reading of the money that was taken.
He noticed that there were only three places that were showing losses of up to three thousand dollars. The strip club, the sex shop, and the florist shop, which he didn’t get. The club had their hands in a lot of pies. Each of his men got an equal share of the profits. He invested his own money in property and shares while the boys tended to waste it. These legitimate businesses were also a good way of cleaning their own money as well. Their businesses were successful and helped them to invest right back into their pockets, even in the stock markets but only in small quantities. He didn’t like drawing attention to the club, especially that on the right side of the law.
Each night that he went to John’s the tension in the house was getting out of control. Last night Scarlett didn’t even share dinner with them, and he didn’t like it. One of the reasons he loved to visit his friend was to see her smiling face. Only now, she wasn’t smiling all the time.
Not having a baby, John’s inability to give her children, was causing a rift between the two. He loved both of them and didn’t want either of them to be hurt. Their marriage had always been strong.
Staring across at Cherry, he glared at his ex-wife, who was demanding he take his sons full-time.
“I’m sick of their shit. They don’t listen to me. I tell them not to party, and they do it for longer and more often. No girls in the house, and they’ve got the place looking like a porn studio.”
Kent had seen her, and now he wanted to shoot his VP. It was moments like this that he wished he’d not organized the vote. The previous Prez was pretty gun-happy and would shoot anyone who got in his way. No one was safe. Gunner’s way meant all club members were safe until proven guilty.
“What do you want, Cherry? You’ve raised the boys to take what they want. It’s exactly what you do.”
“Fuck you, Gunner.”
“I’d be careful how you speak to me, Cherry. You may have been my old lady, worn my patch, but that doesn’t give you any fucking right to mouth off at me. Don’t for a second do that shit again.” His voice was hard as he spoke to her. He’d already had enough of her while married to her. Now divorced, he still had to take that shit? Not happening.
Bennie and Carlos were his two sons. He didn’t have the chance to name them himself. Cherry had done it out of spite because he’d not been there on time for the births, not that he needed to. She spent most of the two pregnancies complaining about being fat and how awful it was having brats inside her.
“You don’t want to deal with our boys anymore, I can take care of them.”
Cherry looked relieved. She stood up to leave.
“The money stops,” Gunner said. He’d been paying her two thousand a week plus extra so that his boys had a good life.
“What? Gunner, you can’t.”
“I don’t have to pay you shit. You cheated on me, remember.”
“You had skanks riding your dick all the way across the fucking state lines.” She gritted her teeth.
“Yeah, well, you’re the one that decided to go public after screwing the wrong woman’s husband, Cherry. I don’t have to pay you anything. That money is for Bennie and Carlos. Send them in.”
“Let’s talk about this.”
He’d been wanting to get rid of her for some time but hadn’t found a good enough reason to get her out of town and out of his life. He should have known the boys would wear her down eventually.
They were so getting a raise, and he’d pay for whatever their hearts desired. They had done in a couple of years what he’d been trying to do for two decades.
“Leave and send them right in.”
Cherry’s face had gone pale, and he sat back with a huge smile on his face.
Ben was eighteen, Carlos sixteen. Both were large men, bulky, and spoiled brats. They were hard-working though. He’d seen them in the club, and when someone needed help, they were there.
“Sit down.”
They sat.
“Your mother said you’ve been causing trouble.”
Neither of them said anything.
He looked between them, expecting to get lip.
He got nothing.
“You’ll be moving into my home tonight. You will be attending school every single fucking day, and I better not get a single call from the principal. We go way back, and if I have to hear that bastard gloat, I will personally shove each of your heads up the other’s ass, understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. No parties at my place. No bitches, no whores. You disobey my instructions, we’ll start with privileges. I will make your lives a misery. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” He stood up, moved around the table, shook both of their hands, and then pulled them each in for a hug. He slapped them on the back. “Go on, get out of here. Get your shit moved in.”
He handed Ben the keys to his car and the house. “If there’s a scratch I’ll make you earn me a new ride.”
“I won’t damage it.”
“Go on then, take care of your brother.” He watched his two boys leave. Both of them were excited, and he smirked.
That had been easy.
He wished everything in his life was that easy, but of course, it wasn’t. Nope, he still had the issue of theft within the club. Standing by his office door, he looked out, seeing Kent with another woman. He rarely had the same one every single night, not that he could blame him. Kent was the kind of man that had a pretty face and knew what to say to have the women fawning all over him.
“You okay, Prez?” Billy asked.
Billy was a tough cookie, weird as fuck as he liked to watch multiple men fuck his wife. It was all consenting, of course. He himself had actually caught them doing it in the club, and Billy’s wife had been begging for more.
They were a fucked-up crew, but within the club they all had a place.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“People are talking a lot about you spending so much time with John and his wife?”
“They do?”
“They’re wondering if John’s going to try for Prospect?”
Gunner burst out laughing. “Nah, John’s not going to do that. I’m just spending time, catching up.” He didn’t mention what he had John looking into or that he liked staring at Scarlett. That was his own business.
“You noticed anything going on around the club? Any new faces? Anything out of place?”
“Nope. Other than the free pussy that comes in and the regulars from town, nothing new. It’s all just running smooth. To be honest, the boys are getting restless. They want a ride so bad, they can taste it.”
Closing his office door, Gunner flicked the lock. He’d always been doing this for as long as he became Prez.
“I’m heading out. Call if you need anything.”
“Will do.”
He left the guys in the club, heading out to his bike. Once outside he looked up at the building. Nothing seemed out of place, but he had this feeling someone was taking not just from him but from the club. The only problem he had was proving who it was.
Installing security cameras sounded easy enough, but he’d have to do it when the boys were away, or else try for discretion. He didn’t want anyone else to know.
If he tried to bring this to the table right now, without any proof, they could vote him out, and he wasn’t having any of that shit. Whoever it was, they were being sneaky about it, and he wanted to know why.
Now he just needed to head back to John’s house and see how he could help his friend.
****
It was a warm night, and John had set up the barbeque for them to have some grilled steaks.
Scarlett wasn’t home yet. She’d called that she had to stay behind at the day care center to help clean up after chatting with some of the parents. He had to wonder if she was avoiding coming home.
The past week he’d been watching Gunner and his wife. Scarlett didn’t have the first clue that Gunner was interested in her. She smiled, joked, and was polite, but in no way tried to lure him.
John had seen women try to seduce his friend. He’d watched some of them, and they were true masters of their craft. His wife wasn’t like that. She didn’t seduce.
Gunner came out with a bottle of beer.
When Gunner had called to say that he was heading over, he let him know the door was open and that he should just come through.
“My two boys are now living with me,” he said.
“They are? I thought you’d agreed for Cherry to have them?”
“I did, and now I’ve saved myself a fucking fortune. You should have seen her face, John. It was priceless. The only downside is the fact I’m not going to see it again myself.”
“You really don’t like your wife, do you?”
“She’s my ex-wife for a reason. It felt good.”
“Are you sure you want those boys at your house? I’ve heard from town gossip that they destroy everything.”
Gunner laughed. “They’ll be fine. They’re damn good boys, and they won’t test me on this. I know.”
“You gave them the old daddy warning type thing.”
“Yep, and it worked.”
He nodded. “Must be nice.”
Silence fell between them, and he checked on the coals. There were still a few minutes before he’d be able to cook over them. He didn’t like having those modern gas grills. They were useless anyway. He loved food that he could taste had been cooked over a grill. All the other fancy stuff was for people who wanted to change shit.
“What the fuck is going on with you?” Gunner asked. “I know you can’t have kids, but believe me, it’s not the end of the world.”
“You had two kids with a woman you can’t even stand,” John said.
“So.”
“I can’t even give my wife one, and I love her more than fucking anything in the world, Gunner. That’s my problem, okay? I see the way she looks at those babies she takes care of, and I know I can’t put a baby inside her. Her tits are not going to swell because of me, nor is she going to have a nice big, fat stomach, swollen with our kid, and it’s all because of me, because I’m firing fucking blanks.” He took several deep breaths, trying to gain control of his anger. Staring at his friend, he’d been planning something for a week, and he didn’t see any reason to wait. “But you could.”
Time seemed to freeze as Gunner stared at him. They’d been best friends all of their lives. They had done a lot of shit together, fought beside each other. Gunner had been best man at his wedding, just as he’d stood beside him, even though he’d tried to talk Gunner out of marrying Cherry.
Gunner had done the right thing though.
“What the fuck did you say?” Gunner asked.
“I can’t give my wife what she wants, but … you can. You can get her pregnant for me. You can give her what I can’t.”
“Dude, you’re so not thinking straight right now.” Gunner held his hands up as if to ward him off.
“I’ve done nothing but think clearly for weeks, Gunner. I’ve seen the way you look at my wife. You want her. I bet you’ve even imagined her completely naked, taking your cock.”
“John, enough,” Gunner said.
“She wants a kid. She likes you, and I know that I want this too,” John said.
“I said fucking enough.” Gunner stood up and glared at John. “I’m not going to spit my stuff into a damn cup to be inseminated into your wife.”
John smiled. “I didn’t say anything about going to the hospital and having treatment, Gunner.”
“What?”
“I want you to fuck my wife.”
He didn’t want Scarlett to go through the pains of having IVF or the drawn-out process of adopting. He’d done his research into everything. All of it came with problems.
“You’re crazy,” Gunner said.
“Crazy? No, I’m not crazy. What I am is desperate. I want to give my wife everything.”
“Then do this the proper way. Get the medicine or whatnot. Go to a donor, I don’t care.”
“You’re my best friend, Gunner. I can’t … I won’t put her through this. Our association with your club will cause problems for adopting. IVF is not easy either. It can also be very painful. There’s no one else I’d have to help me with this. Just you.”
“You do realize you’re asking me to knock your woman up with my kid. You think I’m just going to walk away from that, John? I married Cherry because she was pregnant with my kid.”
John knew this. He knew that Gunner wasn’t always a good man, but he had a list of priorities. He’d fought in the fucking military to defend his country.
He’s not the kind to just leave. John didn’t want him to, and he didn’t expect it either.
“You want Scarlett. I know you do.”
“For fuck’s sake, I’ve got to go.”
“No, you don’t need to leave,” John said.
“You’ve just asked me to fuck your wife. To get her pregnant. You don’t think that needs to put some distance between us?”
“No, I don’t. All you’ve got to do is think about it. We can work everything out.” John watched his friend shake his head and cuss.
“You ask a fucking lot, John.”
“Just think about it.” John ran fingers through his hair. He’d been thinking about it for an entire week. Each time he stared at his wife and remembered the way Gunner looked at her, it had gotten him hard as fuck.
The thought of his best friend touching Scarlett made him damn hard. They had fucked women in the military, shared women, taken turns, but like this, with Scarlett, it felt … right.
Before Gunner could leave, they both heard the sound of the door opening and closing, following by Scarlett’s greeting.
“Does she know?”
He shook his head. “No. I didn’t want to tell her yet in case you reacted like you did.”
“Can you blame me?” Gunner asked.
They stopped arguing as Scarlett came to the door. “You’re grilling?”
“I will be. Coals are ready. You want to grab the steaks? We can use up those leftovers from the other day,” he said.
“Yep, sure will.”
She left them alone and headed inside.
He and Gunner didn’t talk.
Scarlett came out with her hands full. He grabbed the steaks, and Gunner was there to help her with the rest of the food.
“Sorry, had a completely lazy moment there,” she said with a giggle. “That would teach me to make a couple of trips.”
“Long day at work?” John asked, gripping her hip and kissing her cheek. He glanced at Gunner, who was watching him.
See, I’d let you touch her like this, to feel how good she is against you.
“It was. We had to have some training on how to spot and deal with abuse cases. It was horrible. They gave examples, and it was just awful.”
John held her close. “I know, baby.”
“Anyway, I’m home now. What did I miss?” She removed her jacket. It was still warm, one of the last days of summer that they got to enjoy.
“I finally got my boys,” Gunner said, filling in the silence.
“From Cherry? She just handed them over to you? Aren’t they teenagers?”
“It would seem they have no respect for her at all, and she couldn’t handle them. I’ve just saved myself a fortune by taking them back.”
“Well, congratulations, I guess.” She chuckled. “What about you?”
“Just the regular day at the office.”
The smile dropped from her eyes.
They were really struggling with this.
“I’ll serve us something up.”
She pulled out of his arms and went to the table. He watched her, aware of Gunner watching him.
Finally, when he couldn’t handle the scrutiny anymore, he grabbed the steaks and began to grill them.
Gunner talked with Scarlett, and he listened to them get along great.
John had never seen this coming. Not being able to give his wife something that she wanted more than anything else in the world.
Fortunately, it wasn’t brought up again. They sat, enjoyed food, talking about some of the stuff that was on the news. Scarlett yawned and excused herself, leaving him alone with Gunner, who was sipping his beer.
“You’ll think about it?” he asked.
“Yes, I said I would.”
“Good.”
****
Scarlett had been making excuses not to go home for a few days now. It wasn’t that she was afraid of John. She hated this stalemate. She’d tried to approach other options, like IVF or adopting, and he shut them down, telling her that it wasn’t going to happen.
She truly believed he didn’t want kids at all.
Why wouldn’t he just tell her that? She’d rather have him than any kids. There were times she’d wish for them, but she had her job, and her life with him. It was more than good.
Sitting out in the cold, wrapped in a jacket, she sipped her coffee and stared up at the night sky. It had been a long day, and she told John she’d walk home, and pick up some Chinese food, which she still had to order.
Cracking her neck from side to side, she wondered how she’d gotten to be in this position right now, not wanting to go home.
He didn’t make love to her like he used to. When he touched her, she felt him holding back. The other night he was talking with Gunner and they’d been having heated words. The moment she appeared, nothing.
Was he having an affair?
Was that why he didn’t want to touch her?
It wasn’t the first time that she’d thought about it since last night. All day she’d been wondering if there had been any telltale signs. She’d even looked online for advice on how to be sure your spouse was cheating. Nothing helped her.
She was thoroughly miserable, and if she asked him, she didn’t know if he’d tell her the truth. Then of course there was the trouble that if it came out he wasn’t and she thought it, and everything was a mess.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Scarlett looked up, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes. She never wore makeup, so she had no worries about smearing it.
“Gunner, hi,” she said. “I thought you’d be with John.”
“I’m heading over there now. I had some business to take care of.” Gunner moved to sit beside her.
She liked him. A lot of the women at the day care center didn’t like the local MC, but she didn’t mind it. Satan’s Demons MC wasn’t a bad place to be.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Then why are you sitting on a bench drinking whatever it is you’re drinking?”
“It’s not alcohol. It’s just coffee. Extra cream and sugar.” She’d wanted the calories tonight and the comfort. Screw diets or healthy eating. They were all overrated anyway. Pushing some of her hair off her face, she blew out a breath. “I’m going to get some Chinese food. I’ll be home in a minute.”
“You’re avoiding.”
“I’m…” She was about to lie, but the look on his face forced her to keep the lie in. “Yes. I was avoiding. Do you—no, it doesn’t matter.” She looked down at her drink, wishing all the bad stuff could just get wrapped up in a box, and thrown away somewhere. She was tired of dealing with it.
“Do I what?” he asked.
“It’s fine.”
“A problem shared is a problem halved?”
“Do you think John is having an affair? Is that why you’re coming around a lot more?” She laughed. “Wow, I don’t sound like the paranoid girlfriend at all, do I? I’ve gone a step up and now the complete crazy one.”
Gunner took her hand. “John is not having an affair.”
“You know that?”
“There’s no way he’d ever do anything to harm you. He loves you more than anything.”
She took a deep breath. “You’re sure?”
“The moment he saw you, I even remember the phone call. He told me that he’d found the world’s only angel and that she was going to marry him.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I do love him so much, and now I feel just awful for thinking this. Ugh, what is wrong with me? I’m sorry. John deserves better, way better. It’s just this thing with the kids and everything. It’s not fair. I don’t want to lose him, and I feel like he’s slipping away, and I don’t know what to do to make everything better. We’re not close like we used to be, and I’m scared.”
“You won’t lose him. John will do whatever it takes to make you happy, Scarlett. That I can guarantee.”
“Thank you.”
“Now, how about we pick up that Chinese food and I take you home?”
“Okay.”
“No more hiding.”
She nodded. Finishing her drink, she threw the cup into the trash before linking arms with him. She ordered all of John’s favorites from the Chinese place, waiting as Gunner got his bike.
He secured the food on the back of his bike. The man serving them had been happy to put it in a box for them so they could ride home.
“I don’t like bikes,” she said.
“I’ll go slow. I didn’t expect to make a collection. Hold onto me. Don’t let go.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and gave a little gasp as he pulled away. The vibrations of the bike shocked her. She held on tightly to Gunner, and she tried not to think about how big and firm he was.
Gunner was a catch. She wasn’t blind to that. Even though the women were quick to judge the club, they had no problem saying who’d they’d love to be with. Gunner was at the top of the list.
She didn’t think of him like that.
John was her husband.
He’d been the only man she’d ever slept with. John knew her better than she knew herself, and she missed him so much.
Gunner parked in the driveway, and she climbed off. Her legs were a little wobbly, but she kept herself upright, which as far as she concerned was a huge bonus.
She grabbed the food that he handed to her and was about to go in.
“He’s not,” Gunner said.
“I know. Thank you. It was silly of me to think it.” She gave him a quick hug. “I’ll go and prepare dinner.”
Pushing her doubts out of her mind, she focused on food. Baby steps.