Chapter 7
Emily
“…and then he just left.”
My best friend, Jessica, nodded sympathetically from her corner in our booth at the Mackay Mocha House. Somehow I’d thought that talking out my situation would make me feel better, but it hadn’t. Although that might’ve had something to do with seeing those dead flowers strewn all over the parking lot before I’d gotten into my car. Reb’s disposal method hadn’t involved much forethought. I’d looked around, but I hadn’t been able to find the card. If I had that much to take to the police, it would’ve helped. Maybe they could’ve done a writing analysis or something. But no.
I had a feeling Reb had done something to the card, given the creative way he “got rid” of the flowers.
“I don’t see the problem.”
Jessica’s flat voice tore me from my irate thoughts. “Are you kidding me? Don’t you get it? He’s gonna”—I leaned closer and lowered my voice—“ ‘take care of’ the problem. What do you think it means when a biker like him says that?”
“It means that you won’t have to worry about it anymore. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about. That dickhead will be out of your life and you won’t have to waste another second thinking about him.”
“But—”
“But nothing. It’s not like you can talk the prez out of it. I’ve seen him when he’s on a warpath. You do not want to get in his way.”
I noticed how Jessica was careful not to use any names. I looked around the coffee shop but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Most of the tables were empty and the staff busy filling drive-through orders. Aside from the sixtyish woman on the sofa on the other side of the room, we might as well have been alone.
“But still, I don’t get it. I’ve only known him for a day. Why would he care what happens to me? We didn’t even…You know.”
Jessica smirked. “Oh, I know. And if he’s ready to take care of this, like you say, you guys will…‘you know.’ Not that you even need to you know. That’s the kinda guy he is. He’d give you the shirt off his back. No one fucks with a Brother’s girl. Especially the kinda head games dickhead is into.”
“Okay, first of all—I’m not his girl. We had one kiss, one amazing kiss—wait, maybe it was two…” My voice trailed off as I tried to remember how many times I’d kissed Reb. After a beat, I was remembering the feel of his hands on other parts of me. How he pressed me against my car and the feel of his hips grinding into me. I shook my head and tried to pick up my original line of thought. “But still. And second of all—who are you and what have you done to Jess? This is not the same girl I knew way back in grade school. Since when are you okay with this?”
“Since last year’s Street Vibrations.”
That was all it took to shut me up. Because I knew the hell Jessica had gone through at last year’s annual biker rally. Her gunshot wound had been so horrific we’d all been afraid she wouldn’t pull through. And I don’t think anyone had any doubts about what had happened to the shooter. His mysterious “disappearance” hadn’t fooled anyone. Because like Reb had said, he didn’t leave any witnesses.
The thought filled my veins with ice. When the disappearance had happened to my best friend’s attacker, it’d been easy to block out. Honestly, it’d been a nonissue. But this now—with me—wasn’t something I could ignore. The law should take care of Michael. Even if they hadn’t been all that effective up to now. But still, I didn’t want Reb to get into trouble. Not for me. I couldn’t handle the guilt.
I would’ve loved to get the opinion of our other best friend, Nicole, but she was away at an annual work-conference thingy and wouldn’t be back for at least a week.
I sighed heavily and let my head drop onto the table with a loud thunk.
Jessica huffed. “It’s not as bad as all that.”
I lifted my head to stare at my friend incredulously. “But Jess, I don’t think I could live with myself, knowing what he’s going to do. For me. It’s…It’s…It’s not normal is what it is.”
“You’d be surprised what you can live with.”
My eyes widened in shock, but Jessica just blinked placidly back at me.
“Hey, I warned you when you called me from the clubhouse last night.” Jessica’s smile clashed with the hard expression I saw in her eyes. “These guys are hard-core. It’s not a life you screw around with. Either you’re in or you’re out. And right now, for better or worse, you’re in.”
“Wait, what? Just like that? Don’t I get a choice?” The only relationship I’d ever been in had been with Michael. To say that I wasn’t eager to jump back into one—without any say-so—was an understatement. I could take care of myself. Had been taking care of myself for as long as I could remember—with a few notable exceptions. The clusterfuck of my relationship with Michael being one of them.
Jessica shrugged. “Not really.”
The lack of control in this situation made my skin itch. I wanted to run to the bathroom and scrub my hands. But I resisted the urge. Instead I put on my brave face and meticulously stacked the sugar packets at our table. I would definitely have a conversation with Reb later about being “in.”
“Awesome.” I smiled wryly at her. “So is there a secret handshake or something?”
“Nope. Although if you stick around long enough, you’ll pick up some amazing blow-job tips.”
My mind flashed back to the clubhouse and the girls under the table in the bar. “So that’s a regular thing? The girls just…”
“Yup.”
“In front of everyone?”
“Uh-huh.”
I digested that particular piece of information. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not a prude, but I’m not an exhibitionist, either. “Do you and Zag—”
“Hell no. We only you know in private. And he doesn’t partake of the skanks, either. He knows exactly what’ll happen to his dick if he does.”
I laughed heartily at that. Jess would like to pretend that she was hard-core, but she really was a pussycat. Or maybe not. I’d noticed she’d developed a harder shell since Zag. Was that what would happen to me? I was dying to ask but afraid to know the answer.
Instead I asked her something else that had been bugging me all morning.
“Can I trust him?”
“What?” Jessica blinked as if she was shocked by the question. “Of course you can. Did you hear the part I said about him giving you the shirt off his back? And you’ve seen him with his son.”
“Yeah, but…” I avoided her eyes and took a long slurp of my now cold caramel cappuccino, then made a face. “I dunno. There was a point last night when I was worried about my own safety.”
Jessica leaned close to me and lowered her voice. “With Reb? You were worried about your safety with Reb? Really?”
I nodded as tears blurred my vision. “When I was with him in his office and told him what was going on with Rhonda and Tuck…he hit the wall.”
“And?”
“He hit it hard, Jess. Like bashed a hole in it and everything.”
Jessica leaned back in her chair, her brow wrinkled. “And that’s it? That’s all he did?”
I looked at her in disbelief. “What more does he have to do? He broke the wall. Sheetrock rained down on my head.”
“Do you remember that year and a half you lived with my family?”
I nodded.
“Do you remember how my brothers were? Half the time they were trying to kill one another and the other half they were taking their aggression out on the walls, doors, or anything else in their path. It’s a guy thing. Some of them grow out of it, but not guys like the prez. Not guys in the club. They’re built for fight, not flight.”
“You’re not exactly selling him very well, Jess.”
“Yeah, but he takes out his aggression on things. Or on scumbags who deserve it. Assholes who I’m not gonna shed a tear over. But not women or children or random strangers. He’s not built that way. Plus my guy told me some stuff about the prez’s past…” Jessica trailed off when the door jingled as someone entered the coffee shop.
I waited until they passed by our table. “And? Are you seriously gonna leave me hanging? Spill!”
“Okay, but you can’t tell him you heard this from me. It’s just…I guess, like you, he had a shitty childhood. His dad knocked around his mom, and him, too. It got bad. Real bad. His old man came back from ’Nam kinda screwed up and took it out on everyone around him.”
I leaned back into the booth and tried to process Jess’s bombshell. It was hard to merge the two very different versions of this man in my mind. I honestly couldn’t picture him as a child. Come to think of it, I couldn’t remember seeing any pictures of a young Reb at his house. But maybe there was a reason for that. Maybe, like me, he had a past he didn’t want to remember.
If his childhood was half as dysfunctional as mine, this was a match made for some screwed-up reality show. Or a therapist’s wet dream, at the very least.
“You know, now that I think of it, you guys would make an awesome couple.”
I blinked at Jessica in disbelief. “What are you smoking? You just told me that he’s every bit as screwed-up as me. And considering my history, how is this ever gonna end well?”
“If he could go through all that shit with Rhonda and not fuck her up, you don’t have anything to worry about. Believe me, if that bitch had something like that to use against him, she would. But she doesn’t because he’s not that kinda guy. That man would die before hurting one hair on your head. You’ve seen him with Tucker—you know what he’s capable of, and it’s not anything you’ve gotta worry about.”
I gave a shuddering sigh. “It’s not easy for me to trust.”
“And I’m not saying you have to. Just give him a chance. He’s worth it.”
I nodded slightly and gave her a pained smile. “I’ll try.”
“Good. Now can we enjoy my first outing sans baby? For the first time in a month I’m out of the house without someone attached to my boob.”
I cracked up. Okay, clearly Jess had changed some. She never would’ve said that before Zag. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good.” She grinned at me. “Now can we circle back to the part where my soon-to-be husband said you had to blow the guy at the gate?”
Reb
He finally ran the twitchy bastard to ground in the last place he looked. But now that he thought about it, it should’ve been the first place he looked. Emily’s ex, Michael, had apparently moved back in with his parents. Pansy-ass bitch.
Sitting on his bike across the street from the very average, two-story house with large leafy trees and a fucking tire swing out front, Reb wasn’t surprised that someone so fucked-up came from such a normal place. That was what happened when spoiled little fucks thought that they deserved anything they wanted. That the world owed them something.
Reb was eager to give Michael his something.
Unfortunately he had to wait for the punk to come outside. Until the divorce was final, he couldn’t afford any bogus charges like breaking and entering. Rhonda was impatient for him to fuck up so she could finally get the upper hand in their divorce.
After thirty minutes, he had his break. A pudgy guy in his late twenties stepped out the front door and started to fiddle with the hose. As Reb crossed the street toward him, he had a hard time seeing what exactly had attracted his beautifully sweet Emily to this fat little fuck. He had asshole vibes coming off him that Reb could spot miles away. And clueless, too. Reb was two feet behind him before the fat fuck turned around.
“You Michael? Michael Duvall?” Reb loomed almost a foot above him.
Michael swallowed audibly as he looked up. “Uh, maybe…”
Reb ripped the hose out of his hand and had him up against the house by his throat before he could blink. “Oh, I know it’s you, you good-for-nothin’ sorry shit. Me and you need to have a few words.”
“Arrg. Mmm. Humpf!”
“That’s okay. I’ll do all the talking. You can just nod your little head to show you’re following along. You got me?”
“Mmm gerrrpt.”
Reb tightened his grip on the punk’s throat. “I said, you got me?”
Michael nodded dumbly.
“I’ve got a little problem with the way you’re trying to romance my lady. Dead flowers and little love notes that say ‘whore’ don’t cut it in my world. Not to mention the fact that She’s…My…Woman. I don’t take kindly to shit like that. You hear me, boy?”
His face turning a bright shade of red, Michael nodded again.
“And if I ever hear of you coming anywhere near Emily, me and you are gonna dance. For real this time.” Reb gave him one last shake, then threw him to the ground, where he belonged.
Michael’s doughy body wracked with his coughs. Reb stood over him a moment, enjoying the sound. Once he’d had his fill, Reb turned and made for his bike. He’d only gotten a few steps away when Michael’s gasping words stopped him in his tracks.
“I didn’t send that crazy bitch anything!”
With a grim smile, Reb turned back and picked up the hose. He towered over Michael, following him as the punk crab-walked backward. Reb kicked one of Michael’s hands out from under him and the puss sprawled out on his back. Lifting a booted foot, Reb put it down on Michael’s throat.
“That ‘crazy bitch’ is my woman. You don’t know her. She’s not a part of your fucked-up little fantasies anymore. We clear?” Reb pressed his boot down harder. “Boy?”
By now Reb was enjoying the purple shade the punk’s face was turning. But it wasn’t enough. He needed to inflict a little more pain before he felt like the message was received. Aiming the nozzle, Reb pressed the back of the spray attachment and hosed off the piece of shit.
“Emily has a problem with you, you’ve got a problem with the whole True Brothers Motorcycle Club. We clear, asshole?”
Instead of agreeing, Michael made gasping, drowning sounds that Reb took as his message getting across. With a grunt of satisfaction, Reb flung the hose down on the grass and made for his bike.
This time the dipshit didn’t say a word.
Three hours later, Reb was in his lawyer’s office staring at him in disbelief. “I have to give him back? How the hell does that make sense? She left him. Alone.”
“I’ve filed for an emergency hearing, but Rhonda’s attorney beat us to the punch. They filed this morning. And with the court’s backlog it’ll take a few weeks before we get this in front of a judge.”
“Tough shit. I’ll just keep him. At least then I’ll know that he’s being taken care of. Being fed, for Christ’s sake.”
“I would advise against that. Any change in custody without a written agreement could be seen by the court as a breech, and could result in your not getting custody. What would be ideal is for you and Rhonda to sit down and hash out custody in mediation. That way your…colorful past won’t become an issue.”
“Come on, Harry. You know mediation is a fucking pipe dream. That crazy bitch is holding out until she drains every goddamn penny from me. She won’t be happy until there’s nothing left, ’cause she’s got it all.” Reb mentally winced as he repeated the dipshit’s phrase about his own ex. But in his case it was true—Rhonda was a crazy bitch. “Can’t we use her insane declaration last year that Tucker isn’t mine against her? She said it in front of him, for crying out loud.”
“Yes, but it’ll only go so far. Especially since you refuse to do DNA testing. If we could prove she said it maliciously—that it wasn’t true—it would help. But none of this fixes the situation you’re in now. You’re gonna have to give him back. As soon as you can arrange it with Rhonda.”
Reb sighed as he sagged back into the leather chair. If he was honest with himself, he didn’t want to have the test done because he wasn’t sure of the outcome. He had his doubts, and he didn’t want to hurt Tucker any more than he was hurting right now.
There was something seriously fucking wrong with the world when shit like this went down. It made him want to take matters into his own hands. But when it came to Rhonda, he couldn’t. No matter how much she hurt him, she was still Tuck’s mom. She was still the woman his kid loved. The one he called Mom. Reb couldn’t be the one who made her disappear. Or even the one who ordered it.
No two ways about it—he was fucked.
“So what the hell am I paying you for, Harry? Not one goddamn thing has changed since I kicked her out almost a year ago. We’re still married. She’s still draining my fucking savings accounts. And my kid is still miserable.”
“You know as well as I do that until you two come to terms on custody, your divorce won’t be finalized. It’s just the way it’s done in Nevada, so you two need to agree on custody. Again, preferably in mediation. In the meantime, you have to return Tucker as soon as possible.”
Reb’s head dangled off the back of the chair as he contemplated the ceiling. And the seven fifty an hour he was paying this prick. More than anything, he wanted to smash his fist in the guy’s face and demand that he get results. But being the mature adult he was, he knew that wouldn’t fix anything. Aside from making him feel really damned good.
Fuck it. Maybe he should pay Michael another visit and work some of this aggression out.
Thinking of Michael reminded him of Emily. If he had to give his kid back, there was only one person he wanted by his side. Reb thumbed through his phone until he found the contact number he wanted. Giving a nod to his attorney and ignoring the displeased look in the uptight bastard’s eyes, Reb made for the door and put his phone to his ear.
She answered after a few rings. “Hello?”
“Sunshine?” The door closed behind him with a loud thunk. Or slammed, same difference.
Empty air crackled on the line as reply.
His small amount of remaining patience dwindling, Reb gritted his teeth and reminded himself that he had to play it cool with this one. Emily had been through hell with that douche, and Reb had already scared her one too many times. He really didn’t want this filly to spook. This time he spoke a little softer. “Sunshine? You there?”
“Yeah. Um…” She paused and cleared her throat. “What’s up?”
Reb cut to the chase. “Do you have to work today?”
“I’m supposed to be at work at two. Why? What did you do?”
“Nothing you need to worry about, but any chance you can call in? There are a few things I need to talk to you about. Tuck…” It was his turn to pause and clear his throat against the emotion building inside. “Some shit is going down with Tuck, and I’d like to have you with me.”
Also he had a bad feeling about Michael. Something about that piece of shit didn’t sit right. He should’ve just ended the asshole and then he’d have one less headache to worry about. Another example of Rhonda’s fucking influence on his everyday decisions.
“I, uh, I guess I can. There are a few people who owe me a favor. Do you want me to come to you?”
Reb leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes with a groan. Did she not know what saying shit like that did to him?
“Reb? You still there?”
Evidently not. “Yeah, I’m still here,” he answered with a croak. “Are you at your place?”
“Yeah.”
“Alone?” He didn’t wait for her to reply. He already knew the answer. “Fuck me, sunshine. Looks like we’ll have lots to discuss when I get there.”
“I’m an adult, Reb. You can’t just swoop in and start bossing me around.”
Reb huffed a laugh as he walked down the hall. “Saying sassy shit like that will only earn you a spanking, babe.”
The receptionist looked up from her computer with a gasp. Reb tossed her a smile and a wink as he walked by.
“Yeah, well, saying chauvinistic stuff like that will only earn you a tongue-lashing.”
Reb laughed out loud. “Promises, promises.”
“Wh— Ugh. You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Thanks for the laugh, sunshine. I really needed it.”
The pause on her end of the line was deeper than any conversation he’d had with Rhonda. He could almost hear Emily’s mind whirling miles away.
“What’s going on, Reb?”
“I’ll tell you when I get there. See you in thirty.”
He ended the call, then thumbed through his contacts to the name he fucking hated almost as much as the fucking prez of the Saddletramps MC—a name he couldn’t even think, let alone say.
“It’s me. You gonna be at your place in an hour? I’ll drop Tucker off then.” He swallowed hard, then said through gritted teeth, “If that’s okay with you, Rhonda.”