“I’ll keep Brooks and bring him over later,” a dark-haired woman who looked in her late twenties told Anastasia. She seemed to belong to the Sweetwater chapter and she had the other baby boy about Brooks age who was being passed around.
“The rest of you women keep at this and earn your keep,” Stella barked as the four of us headed for the clubhouse doors.
“She can ride with me,” Anastasia said as we reached the outside of the clubhouse to the throngs of men. I searched for the few faces I was introduced to. It seemed the bride and groom were no longer around, but Houston was standing amongst a crowd of men who all seemed to wear a different chapter patch.
Stella stopped and kissed a man who had a Sweetwater patch. It must be her husband, Eric, Fabio’s father.
“She rides with me,” Kristy finally answered. Houston caught my eye and tried to make his way to me as Kristy stopped and pulled my bag from Houston’s bike.
“Yes ma’am,” I answered and took my bag from the woman.
“Houston. Get your uncles and get to Fabio’s. Where the hell is your sister?” Kristy called to her nephew.
“Fabio and Destiny went for a ride. They will make the rehearsal don’t worry about it,” Houston answered his aunt.
Kristy looked worried. Terrified, as if they would run off and not make their own wedding.
“Auntie, they will make it. While I am sure they would love to disappear and elope, both to are terrified of you and Aunt Stella to disappoint,” he paused for a moment. “Amelia.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Houston.”
“Have fun.”
Before I could think of a reply Kristy had headed for her SUV and I struggled to catch up with her pace. Kristy was muttering as they climbed in.
“I don’t know why they think I’m so terrifying. This insane wedding, I knew I was asking for too much. I just thought she would like to have something lady like for once in her life. Something nice and wonderful and pretend that they have a life outside of this damn clubhouse. Damn children.”
I didn’t mean to laugh, but I did. Kristy glared at me as she threw her car in reverse. Oh, boy.
“Of course, they are terrified of you. I could only imagine having raised them would force your hand on occasion. Someone had to try to keep them in line.”
“I could like you. Course showing up at his sister’s wedding was a little presumptuous,” Kristy said, and I sighed with a slight desperate tone. “The boy never told you what he was dragging you into did he?”
“Not exactly. He said a wedding, but he lumped it in with ‘Bastard business’. Never bothered to mention it was family event. A blood and club family affair.”
“Damn boy. Never knew how to do much of anything right. He thinks you’re something special you know? He’s my son same as if he was my flesh and blood. I thought when Destiny decided that she was in love with Stephan and agreed to marry him that it was my one chance at seeing my babies happy.
“Houston’s been lost for so long. He was once the most carefree and happy boy one could know, even compared to Stephan. Since we lost Austin though… I lost both my sons that day. Even in high school Houston never brought a girl home to meet me, to meet us before. Oh sure, being at the clubhouse I’ve seen his playthings come and go and I’ve known some of them but not for his introduction.”
“I hate to disappoint you Mrs. Vandergriffen,” I started, and Kristy laughed.
“Kristy. Mrs. Vandergriffen is my horrid mother-in-law, not me. We are not that proper.”
“Fine. Kristy. There is nothing that serious between Houston and me. I came looking for my brother as I desperately needed him back on the ranch to help deal with the cattle rustling. Tate was not available and so Houston surprised me by showing up to help, saying that to him, Tate was a brother and by that extension, Homeland was family too.
“Said cattle rustling wasn’t much different than the kind of security he had provided in the past and I didn’t question it. There has been… tension between us but I know better. As does he and he’s vocalize it several times. We aren’t unrealistic Kristy, I’m a cowgirl trying to save her ranch and I have no intentions of leaving it. Houston has no intentions of settling down and leaving the club. The biker and the cowgirl don’t get that something special you’re hoping for him.”
“Whatever happens between you is between you. In the end of it though, leaving you will hurt my son, even if he doesn’t show it in any way but by crawling into the bottle and into the sheets with some two-bit tramp. Nonetheless, I see that you are something special by the way he looks at you, presents you. You’re important to him.”
Chapter Eighteen
Houston
“You have done good to remember to keep the club business minimal this weekend.”
“Alec, what would I do without having you to tell me how to do my job?” I asked my uncle as we walked towards our bikes and away from the rest of the men.
“You’re doing just fine. I’ve just not taken to retirement as well as I had hoped,” the older man said as he slid onto his bike.
“You spent months traveling.”
“I spent months listening to your aunt plan this wedding.”
“They weren’t even engaged when you left the first time.”
Alec glared back at me. “Exactly. This girl you brought home. Tate’s sister. It’s will give your aunt ideas if it hasn’t already. Thoughts of a second wedding to plan and the shot at more grandbabies to spoil.”
“It’s nothing like that I can assure you.”
“You brought her home. You either care a great deal about her or despise her to serve her up to the women in this crew.”
“Amelia is a firecracker to say the least. She’s strong and excellent at working cattle and horses. She’s got something to prove and she seems to enjoy doing so. A different life, a separate set of circumstances perhaps…”
“You only get this one life son. We all know that far too well. Our circumstances can change but we don’t get a do over. It wouldn’t be the end of the world to slow down, get a permanent mailing address.”
The nagging was making me feel like a child, so I fired up my back and yelled over the noise, “I can’t hear you!”
Alec was right, I should be worried, at least slightly for Amelia. I had essentially fed her to the wolves. My aunts could be… overbearing when they were at their best and this wedding was defiantly stretching their nerves. Hell, Amelia had felt overwhelmed at Tommy’s Dead End Saloon, whether she would admit it, and that was nothing compared to the fiasco that was over half of the Bastards in one spot.
For the millionth time I wondered why I had brought the little cowgirl along. Surely, she would have been fine on the ranch, she had been fine dealing with the rustlers on her own before I came along. She could have managed three days without me especially with my crew to have her back.
Maybe a part of me was a little jealous about what Destiny and Fabio had together. Speaking of the bride and groom where the hell were they? I had gone straight to the church, by-passing Fabio’s since the groom wasn’t there. Alec was on my tail end and Eric already present and accounted for. Anastasia pulled in when we did along with Stella but not Kristy and Amelia. And no happy couple.
I pulled out my cell phone and called Fabio’s number first. No answer. I dialed Destiny. Same thing. Damn them. Somehow, this was going to get me in trouble.
The priest, Father Scott, had been with the church for as long as I could remember. He had buried both my parents, and later Austin. He had confirmed all three of the Callaghan children plus Fabio when we were young. The women believed strongly in the matters of the church. It had been years since I stood at the front steps to the massive stone building. I hadn’t been here or seen Father Scott since Austin’s funeral.
The catholic church was what one would expect. Filled with beautiful stain glass windows and the unnerving sense of guilt. God was omnipresent as the Father had taught us when we were young. If th
at was the case, I had a lot of explaining to do if I didn’t get a one-way pass on the highway to hell.
“Houston my child,” Father Scott said as I dismounted my bike and walked to where the old priest stood with Eric and Alec. “It has been too long since you have been back in the arms of the church. Or do you make another place of worship your home now?”
There was no sense in lying and racking up another sin to my glorious record. “This is the only place of home for me,” I told Father Scott, trying to sugarcoat it just a touch.
We watched Kristy’s SUV pull into the lot and her and Amelia climb out and I dared to wonder what they talked about on the ride over. Amelia didn’t run straight down the road when her feet hit the ground though so that was a start. Of course, if Kristy ruled Amelia unfit for the likes of me, she could have the girl cleared out and turned off me with a lasting impression that would take only seconds to make.
Maybe that would be for the best. For both Amelia and me.
“Your sister,” Kristy warned as she walked to us before taking the Father’s hand in hers as a greeting.
“She will be here shortly,” I promised/prayed/hoped.
Amelia stood two steps down and to the side of the small cluster of people and I moved to her side and casually draped my arm around her shoulder.
“You have no idea where Destiny and Fabio, are do you?” she hissed.
“Not a clue. I’m hoping to bluff it until they get here, or I can find them,” I whispered into her ear as I wrapped her tighter and spontaneously kissed the top of her head. “Tell me the women, especially my aunts, didn’t scare you away?”
“Not entirely but, I have a long list of questions and concerns. Fortunately for you a house of worship isn’t the place to speak of such things.”
“Lucky me.”
The sound of a bike coming up the side road to the church saved us and Fabio pulled into view, parking in front of the church. His fiancée curled into his back looking very happy and free.
Destiny climbed off the bike, removed the helmet she wore, kissed Fabio for a moment and waited for him so they could climb the stairs to the church hand in hand. They were without their cuts, something Destiny took off even less than I did, and they looked like nothing more than two lovebirds.
“They look happy,” Amelia told him softly.
“They are. Extremely and disgustingly happy. In a way that only people could be so lucky to find,” my voice trailed off as images of our parents came to mind. I had been small when Mom died. Barely six but I could remember how my parents laughed together and how they would dance in the kitchen late at night when we kids were supposed to be sleeping. How Wes would wrap his arms around Breanna’s waist and kiss her neck as she made the morning coffee, brushing him off her with a laugh as she had things to do.
I had long wished that Austin had known that kind of love before he died. Maybe he had, maybe Austin had found someone to give his heart to even so fleetingly. Perhaps he had known that feeling. Lord knows I never had. Never one for lies I never whispered those three little words to women to get what I wanted from them. Never needed to either.
Father Scott opened the door to the church for them all to go inside, practice what little we needed to practice and get a jump start on signing the marriage license for the following day.
I turned to head inside but Amelia cleared her throat and caught my hand. “What?” I asked her.
She motioned to my cut and I glanced back at my uncles who also were without their leather. “I’ll take loving care of it,” she promised me as she pushed it back over my shoulders. I let it fall down my arms and she carefully folded it in half and draped it over her arm, bringing it to her chest.
“You better,” I warned, my voice low and gravely as I pulled her to him quickly and kissed her on the mouth for a second before stepping away.
Fabio was waiting at the door for me as everyone else had already went inside the church. “Want to talk about it?”
“Not a chance in hell. Let’s just focus on getting you married.”
We all knew our positions. Fabio would come through a side door and stand at the altar, Eric and Stella would come in first and sit on the right side of the aisle, Bryant, a long-time member of the Sweetwater chapter, would escort Kristy to her seat on the left of the alter. Then Anastasia would make her way up the aisle as the maid of honor and then Alec and I would walk Destiny down to her groom. Once she was delivered I would take my spot behind Fabio as best man.
Destiny had requested the shortened version of the catholic wedding and Father Scott had agreed to such. The church needed a new roof and the Callaghan/Vandergriffen/Ames family was footing a large enough donation to see that happen. This wedding would be whatever in the world that Destiny and the aunts wanted it to be. Fabio at this point was just happy that he had convinced Destiny to slow down and come home to him.
Alec had informed me that his tux was hanging up at their house, where he also added that was where Amelia and I would be staying. Boarding was tight with everyone in town and as much as I wanted my own space there was little that could be done about it. We had hopped out of the frying pans and into the fire when it came to families and lack of private space.
Every so often during the rehearsal I tossed a glance to the back of the church where Amelia sat in the last pew, watching the show. She clutched my cut her chest, taking her promise to my very seriously.
Although Devil’s Bastards didn’t typically allow young prospects there were exceptions made on the cases of boys who were raised within the fold and Austin, Fabio and I had all donned our prospect leather as soon as we got our high school diplomas.
For almost ten years now I had been wearing that cut as a full-fledged Bastard. Over the years the patches had changed but the cut hadn’t. I took excellent care of it and while it was starting to show its age I had hoped to get another ten years before having to replace it… if I got another ten years.
Since I put that cut on at nineteen I couldn’t remember anyone taking it off me. Not even a woman when we were starting extra-curricular affairs. Rarely did I ever let anyone hold my leather, doing so was the sign of upmost trust, respect and more often than not love. I had known I wasn’t allowed to wear the cut inside the church. Tomorrow the wedding goers would likely wear theirs, but his aunts had banned the family from it.
I could have taken it off myself. I could have protested when Amelia had removed it from me and clutched it tightly to her. But I hadn’t. Because I hadn’t given it a second thought when she had. It felt natural…
“We are all done here,” Kristy said walking up to me. “Amelia can ride back with you to the clubhouse. She will likely want to be under your wing when she gets there. It will be the safest place for her unless you want her to run. A few of the club playthings mouths could not be kept closed when we prepared the meal. Keeping her close is the only way she won’t find out things you aren’t ready to share with her.”
Great. The clubs’ playthings. My playthings. I knew better than to essentially fuck where I ate, but there were always a few club whores around. Women who were more than happy to be passed around by the willing and unattached men. They floated around from chapter to chapter as they felt like it, hoping to find an old man to claim them or give birth to a club child that would ensure their wellbeing. I had never given a thought to any issues with women I bedded still being around. I wasn’t used to having to care but I was damn sure that those women were on the list of points Amelia wanted to make during our next conversation.
Fuck.
Amelia followed me outside and they were at my bike before she handed the cut back and I shrugged it on. “Kristy took your bag, is it still in the car?”
She shook her head. “No, we dropped it off at her and Alec’s. Apparently, that’s where we will be staying.”
“I’ve been informed of that myself. There isn’t much else available in town but I’m sure I can throw some weight around and make arrangement
s if you want the privacy,” I stared down at her, wishing we had our own space.
Alec and Kristy had a spacious three-bedroom house, but it was still a three-bedroom house under my godparents’ roof. I wanted to be inside Amelia bad enough it didn’t matter if I felt like I was sixteen and trying to quietly screw Amanda Drogster in my full-sized bed in a room I had shared with Austin until just a few months before.
Back then I had to stifle and smother the sounds Amanda made that were fake because I was sixteen and didn’t know what the fuck I was doing and because we had watched just enough porn that she thought moaning loudly was what she was supposed to do. Instead it meant that I spent the whole time quieting her while worrying about if Kristy was going to open the door at any given time.
I didn’t want that with Amelia, I wanted to take my time with her. Hear the sexy sounds she would make that would be genuine as I brought her to ecstasy over and over again.
Amelia was chewing on her bottom lip and my heart sank just a bit. “You’re having second thoughts, aren’t you? About things under Kristy’s roof or about things in general?”
She nodded. “Things in general. Look I know, I came in with what I thought was my eyes wide open, and despite anything that those women have said I know what’s between us is a business relationship and pure attraction…”
“Get on.”
“What?”
“Get on the bike and let’s ride.”
“Okay…” she trailed off, strapped her helmet on and swung up behind me.
Chapter Nineteen
Amelia
We rode for quite a while. Making it to the outskirts of Sweetwater, past a shop that sported the same logo from the T-shirt I had put on that morning. The daylight was near gone when we had left the church and so Houston’s headlights shown the way for us as we pulled up into a small park at the edge of town.
Houston Callaghan: The Devil's Bastards MC Page 12
