“There is nothing linking you to your father,” Wolf angrily replies. “His name isn’t even on your birth certificate.”
“Are you willing to take that chance?” I argue. “Maybe he don’t know about Cain but, we can’t assume that. We also can’t assume that when we put this ball in motion and I go in there with Rocco’s guy, he won’t know who I am. You said it yourself, this guy knows everything about the Satan’s Knights. He knows shit we don’t even know and you gotta wonder why. You gotta ask yourself how.”
Swiping a hand down his face he draws in a deep breath.
“I brought the four of you here,” he mutters, dropping his hand. Leaning forward, I wait for him to elaborate on the thought but, he doesn’t. Instead, he shakes his head and meets my curious stare with a grim expression. “Maybe you’re right but, now isn’t the time to tell everyone. I need to think.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” I ask, outraged. “How long are we going to wait?”
“Until I decide the time is right,” he shouts, rising from the chair. “Jack is teetering on the edge of a motherfucking breakdown. We got Brantley looking to dig up Blackie’s wife, Pipe off in the woods grieving his dead wife, and a million other things that require our attention. Things, we need our president to be able to take care of.”
“He deserves to know. Everyone deserves to know, Wolf,” I argue.
“You don’t get it, kid,” he says. “Jack ain’t going to take you being Cain’s son with a grain of salt and if what you’re saying turns out to be true, we’ll be digging up a past this club has spent years trying to bury. I’m telling you, dredging those days up for Jack, will be the end of him. We stay quiet until I give it some more thought. In the meantime, get your ass up and work on getting the fuck out of the chair.”
I shake my head.
There are things you know for certain.
Things you feel in your bones.
This ain’t the end for Jack Parrish.
This is the end of the Satan’s Knights and we’re the ones digging our own grave.
-Twenty-five-
LINC
Not much changed in a week. I was still getting my ass handed to me daily by my physical therapist. After our discussion, Wolf was crazier than usual and still insisting we keep things hush hush until he figured the right time to drop the bomb. The timing would never be right but, me being the idiot I am, agreed to remain silent. The shit with Yankovich was at a standstill as we waited on Rocco to come through with a plan. Every day that passed without word, was another day spent guessing Yankovich’s next move. Predicting the mind of a psychopath was becoming quite the task for the Satan’s Knights and Jack wasn’t the only one questioning his sanity.
Aside from all the club drama, Kelly was still here avoiding me at all costs. If I wasn’t so determined to get the fuck out of this chair and into the thick of this Yankovich mess, I would’ve taunted her a bit but when I wasn’t working with the therapist, I was pushing myself at Riggs’ brother-in-law’s gym. Anthony Bianci was a former hitman for the late Victor Pastore and aside from being Lauren’s brother, he was a good friend of Jack’s. Anthony went legit after marrying Victor’s daughter and opened a boxing gym called Xonerated. In the recent months, he opened a second location that wasn’t limited to boxing. It had an Olympic sized swimming pool, and I spent my off time there, strengthening my legs.
Riggs being my chauffeur today, picked me up from my therapy session and we were now on our way to Staten Island where Anthony’s new facility was located. Unusually quiet, I study Riggs as he drives the cage with one hand.
“You okay, man?” I question as his knuckles turn white around the steering wheel.
“Son of a bitch thinks he’s going to make a jerkoff out of me,” he mumbles.
“Who?” I ask, drawing my eyebrows together in confusion.
“Pipe,” he shouts. “I caught that bastard red-handed.”
“Pipe is back?” The idea of him being back and no one having the decency to tell me burns my ass as I wait for him to explain.
“No, he’s not and I get his wife died and all that but, the club needs him. So, I decided to take a ride up to the woods where he’s been hiding out.”
“Wolf said he’s got a cabin.”
“Yeah, he’s got a cabin alright and a nice piece of ass living next door that he’s banging too,” he seethes.
“He told you that?” I question, raising an eyebrow. It’s hard to picture Pipe with anyone but Oksana mainly because their relationship was unique. Unlike the other brothers who have settled down, Pipe didn’t go around wearing his heart on his sleeve. To be honest, I was taken back by how bad he took her death. It goes to show you, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors.
“No, I watched from the woods. The guy dropped us like a hot potato and got himself a ready-made family in the sticks. I’m talking kids and all.”
“Wait, so you went to see Pipe and then spied on him?”
“Well, when you put it like that, I sound like a perv. I didn’t watch him fuck her or anything like that. I just went up there to see what was more important than us.”
“You don’t sound like a perv, you sound like an abandoned child,” I correct.
“Fuck you too,” he spats. “Excuse me for giving a damn about all you idiots. Let’s be honest, Pipe somehow always managed to keep Jack sane. Now, Wolf is trying his hardest and all but, he’s no Pipe. I don’t know what it is, but he gets Jack’s crazy like no one else. He understands his maker and knows how put that bitch down when she starts her shit.”
Being a manic depressive has proved to be trying for our president. It sometimes affects the whole club and I think at times, Jack’s maker is our number one enemy.
“Was he always this bad?” I ask. “I mean, it makes you wonder how anyone voted him to take Cain’s chair.”
It’s the first time I’ve mentioned my father to anyone other than Wolf and I keep my eyes glued to him as he turns to me. He doesn’t react, making me wonder if we’re keeping this secret just for Jack’s benefit.
“I don’t know, I wasn’t around back then,” he admits.
“Still, you gotta wonder why they elected Jack to take the gavel and not Pipe or Wolf for that matter.”
I purposely leave out Blackie’s name because it’s a known fact he was in no condition to rule anything. He was a junkie back then and all that mattered was where his next fix was coming from. It makes you think about the logistics of it all. The club wasn’t willing to elect a man crippled by drugs as their president but, they selected a man who was crippled by his mind.
“I’m thinking Cain had a hand in Jack taking the throne,” he says pointedly. “We all know when the time comes Blackie is going to take Jack’s place at the head of the table. We don’t even have to vote on that shit. Maybe it was the same back then.”
“Maybe,” I agree, turning to glance out the window. Noticing we’re nowhere near the gym, I turn back to Riggs. “Where are we going?”
“Can you keep a secret?”
I refrain from laughing in his face. He should only know how good I am at deceiving everyone including him.
“Sure,” I say as the truck comes to slow stop. Pushing his shades onto the top of his head, he leans over the console and points out the window. Following the direction of his finger, I turn my head and peer up at the rustic looking house.
“What am I looking at?”
Raking my eyes over the white building, I take in the sign that hangs in front. The name is covered by a board and all that is visible is the word bar.
“You’re looking at our new clubhouse,” Riggs announces proudly.
“Come again?” Tearing my gaze away from the bar, I look at him as if he’s lost his mind. Apparently, everyone’s got a maker.
“I bought this place,” he says. Acting like it’s no big deal, he shrugs his shoulders. It isn’t a big deal for him to buy a bar or anything for that matter. The guy is loaded. His father ow
ns some oil company in Texas and Riggs’ inheritance has helped bail the club out of quite a few jams in the past.
“Yeah, I get that,” I tell him. “What I don’t get is how this place is going to be our clubhouse.”
“Alright, so it needs some work but, it’s actually much bigger than it looks. I’m figuring we keep the bar open since the club needs a legit business that brings in cash and we close the back rooms off and use them as our chapel. There is also an apartment upstairs that we can use in case a brother needs to crash and all that. I close next week and once I get the keys, I’ll tell the rest of the club.”
“What about the compound? Wolf mention Jack was waiting on the insurance check and eventually planned to rebuild.”
“Man, we don’t got the money to piss away on rebuilding that shit and to be fair, I don’t think any of us want to go back there. Too much bad shit. We can build Trump Palace on that land and at the end of the day we’ll all still remember what used to stand in its place and how we lost it.”
He’s got a point.
That place is as cursed as me.
“Jack will probably give me some shit at first but, once our books are in the black and we’re not drowning, the club can pay me back and take ownership,” he continues to explain.
“Doesn’t our clubhouse have to be in Brooklyn though?”
“Fuck that, all the people on Staten Island are originally from Brooklyn anyway,” he pauses. “At least that’s what my mother-in-law says. Speaking of which, I hired her as our chef.”
“Our chef?”
“If Wolf can sell tomatoes with a tire, I can sell sausage and peppers with a shot of whiskey,” he argues.
“You were really selling me until you got your mother-in-law involved,” I reply. “Didn’t she beat you with a frying pan?”
“Beat me is a little harsh. She hit me over the head with it but, we’re all good now. Mama Leone loves me.”
“I bet,” I mutter.
“She’d love me more if I actually married her daughter but, that’s a story for another book,” he says, shifting the truck back into drive. “Now, keep your lips sealed. I’m going to unveil this bad boy when the timing is right.”
Of course he is.
The rest of the ride to Xonerated is uneventful and when we arrive Anthony Bianci is there to greet us. He takes us into the locker room and while I change into my swimming trunks, he fills us in on yet another fucking secret.
“Still no word on Yankovich?” Bianci questions, crossing his arms against his chest. His brooding blue eyes pierce Riggs with a steady look and I see why he was feared by so many. I bet he broke a lot of kneecaps in his day.
“Nah, the motherfucker is probably off playing roulette somewhere.”
Anthony sweeps his gaze to me and we both shake our heads, silently agreeing there is no use explaining what Russian Roulette truly is. Let the poor bastard think it’s a game only Russians play.
Sighing, Anthony cups the back of his neck.
“I’ve been working with Rocco,” he confesses, causing Riggs’ eyes to go wide.
“Adrianna is going to fucking kill you,” Riggs admonishes.
“She’s not going to find out because you’re going to keep your mouth shut,” he growls, pointing a finger at him. “I mean it, Riggs. I don’t want you telling my sister either.” Turning his stone-cold gaze to me, he narrows his eyes and continues. “The same goes for you. I’ll break your fucking legs all over again.”
“I believe you, man,” I say sincerely.
“We’ll keep quite but, you got some splaining to do Lucy,” Riggs says, wagging a finger in his face as he attempts to imitate Ricky Ricardo.
“He’s navigating through unknown waters looking for a mule to get you guys in with Yankovich. Not too many people are willing to cooperate with him because they were all looking to take over Victor’s empire,” Anthony explains.
“Where do you fit in?”
“I know all of Victor’s connections and everyone who was ever indebted to him. It’s time to collect,” he offers simply.
“So, you’re helping Rocco find someone to front me for this illusive card game,” I interject.
“Well, you’re not going to get in on your good looks,” he argues. “You need someone with a bank roll, someone powerful enough that Yankovich is going to trust.”
“Alright,” Riggs interrupts. “How’s the list looking?”
“It’s not that long but, with any luck in a couple of weeks we might have a bite. A gangster from Chicago is coming up to New York to meet with the five families.”
“The five families,” Riggs repeats, chuckling. “I swear sometimes I feel like I’m a guest star in a lost episode of the Sopranos.”
More like a blooper reel but, maybe that’s just my opinion.
“Yeah, and sometimes I feel like I’m watching a cartoon when I look at you,” Anthony retorts.
“Just call me the Tasmanian Tiger,” Riggs replies cheekily.
“If you two are done, I’m going to head to the pool,” I interrupt, gripping the wheels of my chair.
“Wait,” Riggs says, rising off the bench. “Don’t you need swimmies or a tube? Something, you need something. I’m fucking cool as fuck but I’m no lifeguard.”
Go on, laugh.
You know you want to.
-Twenty-six-
KELLY
Nothing knocks you down a few pegs like looking through the classified ads and realizing the only job you qualify for is a dog walker. Apparently, there isn’t a dire need for female mechanics in the city…who knew? With no other choice, I draw a fat black circle around the dog walker ad before continuing to peruse the others. There is a ton of waitress jobs but that seems a tad bit dangerous. I mean, picture someone gets an attitude with me because the cook forgot to put a pickle on their hamburger. I can’t guarantee I won’t spit in their food and tell them to choke on their pickle. Yeah, maybe the dog walker thing is perfect for me.
Tossing the newspaper on the couch beside me, I reach for the plate of tacos on the coffee table. Setting it down on my lap, I point the remote straight ahead and turn on the television. Another Saturday night in New York City spent sitting on my uncle’s couch watching re-runs of the Golden Girls—not.
My phone rings beside me and I refrain from throwing it across the room when I see it’s my mother calling. It’s the sixth time she’s tried to reach me today and every time I ignore the call, figuring the only reason she’s calling is because she wants something. Usually, it’s money, sometimes it’s a ride to get booze but, it's never just to say hello or ask me how I’ve been. On occasion, she’ll lead by asking me if I’m seeing anyone and always manages to insert a dig about me still being hung up on Linc.
I wish I could say my mother was there for me during my heartbreak but all she did was add insult to injury. She didn’t try pushing me on Shady anymore but that didn’t stop her from trying to push me into the arms of any Knight with a ranking after Linc left. It never made sense why it was so important to her. No matter how badly she fucked up, Sin never cut her loose. There was no reason for me to date within the club unless she planned on offing her man but that was a stretch—even for her.
The phone rings again and this time, I slide the ringer to off. Making myself comfortable I lift a taco to my mouth and take a giant bite just as the front door opens. Turning my head, I look to see who it is and, my stomach drops at the sight of Linc. Closing the door behind him, he wheels himself into the living room and our eyes meet for the first time in a week.
The morning after Coney Island, I woke up feeling the onset of an anxiety attack. Realizing it only took spending one night with him to make me want to spend every day going forward the same way, was enough to scare the shit out of me. I hated that it was so easy to forget how I felt when he left or the tears I cried long after he was gone. The pieces of us that were missing, somehow found their way back together and for one night everything was just as it should be
.
For one night we were whole.
Making my way to his room, I promised myself I wouldn’t get swept away by Linc’s charms and the past we shared. He had his life, and I had mine. Our pieces didn’t fit anymore.
His reluctance to agree with me was a shocker. For someone who so easily walked away from me, he was sure putting up a fight when I tried to do the same. It made me question why he left in the first place and if my cousin was right about him never truly getting over me.
The thing about questions, is that the answers aren’t always what we want to hear. I think sometimes we don’t allow ourselves to ask what we wonder and conjure our own explanations in our head because it’s safer. After all, a heart can’t be broken on speculation alone.
Finally, he agreed to leave me alone. I thought I would feel some sense of victory but as the door closed behind me all I felt was hollow. Regret filled me as I made my way back to my room and I started wondering if there was a middle ground to be found. We couldn’t go back to being together but, maybe we could be friends. Whoever advised to fall in love with your best friend was an idiot who clearly fell in love with someone who was not their best friend. Losing love hurts but losing a friend sucks too.
I’ve always internally debated which was a bigger loss for me. Some people fall in love more than once in a lifetime but not everyone finds a friend who understands them the way Linc, and I understood one another. That was rare. It was a gift and here I was being handed that gift once again. How do I throw that away knowing I may never find that again? I spent so many days wishing I could pick up the phone and call Linc. I wanted to share every detail of my day. The good and the bad. I wanted him to make sense of my thoughts. I wanted to laugh with him and I wanted to cry with him. I wanted my person back.
By the time I reached my room, I decided I had changed my mind. I wanted my best friend in my life again even if it was only for a short while. Hurrying down the stairs, I made my way back to Linc’s room but paused when I overheard him and my uncle arguing.
The Nomad Series-Collectors Edition Page 116
