by K. A. Ware
The ride was over before I knew it and when we pulled into a large forecourt, my heart sunk a little bit at the fact that I had to give up my motorcycle chauffeur. Baz backed up into a line of bikes and killed the engine.
“Wow, this place is bigger than I remembered,” I said, pulling off my helmet and looking around. We’d parked facing the garage with three large bay doors and what seemed like an attached office. Behind and to the left of us was an L-shaped concrete building that I knew served as their clubhouse.
Baz had taken me there, more specifically to his room in the clubhouse, three years ago. It was still dark when I had snuck out the next morning before he woke up, so I didn’t get a good look at the place. The compound-like set up looked massive in the daylight. It had to take up at least an entire city block.
“Never really thought about it, come on,” he said, guiding me toward the glass door of the office. “Oh, one thing. My sister is kind of hard of hearing, so make sure you talk really loud and speak clearly.”
“Got it,” I said as he held the door open for me. It took a second for my eyes to adjust from the brightness of the sun to the dim room. Two folding chairs next to the door and a reception counter were the only furniture in the room.
A giant man leaning against the counter looked up when we walked in, lifting his chin in greeting. I recognized him as the guy from Moonlight, the one that had been staring down Delilah like he wanted to swallow her whole. He looked even scarier up close, standing at least six and a half feet tall with wild black hair and a massive beard.
“This is Jester,” Baz offered, gesturing to the giant before turning his attention to the petite brunette behind the counter. “And this is my sister Risa.”
“I’M FINLEY, NICE TO MEET YOU,” I shouted, reaching out to shake her hand.
Jester, Baz, and Risa all burst out laughing at the same time. I looked around for whatever I’d missed, but I couldn’t figure out what was so funny. Even the giant was smacking his hand against the countertop as he tried to catch his breath.
When everyone recovered, the woman started rapidly waving her hands around, and it took me half a second to realize she was signing at Baz.
That motherfucker.
Quickly shifting her focus to me, she signed and mouthed the words as Baz interpreted behind to me.
“I’m deaf, and he’s an asshole,” he said, chuckling.
I didn’t even think, I just let my elbow fly, connecting with his stomach. He let out a satisfying Oomph. “You son of a bitch!” I yelled, turning to shove him for good measure.
“Did someone call my name?” a woman’s voice asked on my other side.
I spun around to see a gorgeous brunette walking into the office. She wore a chunky gray sweater with skinny jeans and a pair of sky-high leather booties. Her painted red lips were smiling, but her eyes held suspicion.
“Hey Ma,” Baz said, leaning around me to kiss the woman on the cheek.
That’s his mother?
I blinked, shocked that a woman who didn’t look a day over forty could be the mother of a grown man. She looked like she’d stepped off the pages of a magazine and I suddenly felt self-conscious of the leggings and hoodie that were my typical uniform outside of work.
“Hey, Honey. Who’s this?” she asked, her eyes never leaving my face.
Shit.
I wasn’t prepared to meet his sister, let alone his mother.
“This is Finley. She’s picking up her car. Rabbit, this is my mom, Candy.”
Clearing my throat, I offered her a smile and weak wave. “Nice to meet you.”
Why didn’t you try to shake her hand? What the fuck, she’s going to think you’re a manner-less whore.
Why did I care what Baz’s mom thought about me? It wasn’t as if we were dating, no, we were just…friends?
“How do you know my son?” she asked, signing the words as she spoke.
Panicked, my eyes darted to where Risa and Jester were now leaning against the counter, watching the entire awkward exchange go down with rapt attention. “I—ah, well, we…”
Baz placed a hand on my shoulder, and a wave of relief crashed over me. He was going to save me from my social awkwardness.
“Rabbit’s my girlfriend,” he said casually as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
“What?” I screeched, spinning around to glare at him. “I am not your girlfriend.”
“You’re right. You’re not my girlfriend. You’re my woman.”
My eyes bugged out, and I momentarily forgot we had an audience. “I’m not your anything you fucking stalker!”
He shrugged, motherfucking smirk firmly in place. That little upturn at the corners of his mouth made me irrationally angry every damn time. “You call it stalking. I call it courting. Don’t you just love our little inside jokes?”
I knew he was baiting me, but I couldn’t help myself, bickering with Baz had become second nature.
“I’m going to murder you in your sleep.”
Wrapping his arms around my waist, he pulled me to his chest. “Kinky, I like it.”
Pushing him away, I pretended to gag. “You’re a heathen.”
“You love it.”
“And you’re delusional too,” I muttered, turning back around to see everyone staring at us, including his mother.
Damn it.
Candy didn’t look angry though. She was smiling at us. Apparently, I hadn’t completely offended her by berating her son.
“I’m pretty sure his father dropped him on his head when he was a baby, that’s probably why he’s such a jackass,” she said, signing again while she spoke.
My stomach dropped, and my gaze darted to Risa, she probably hadn’t caught any of our conversation. I was such an inconsiderate twat.
Seeing my panicked face, Risa waved a hand at me and signed something to Baz.
“Don’t worry, Risa can read lips.”
“Right, of course,” I breathed.
“I’ll pull your car around,” Jester said, taking pity on me. He snagged a set of keys on the pegboard behind the counter and disappeared through a side door that I assumed led to the garage.
Ignoring Baz because he was officially dead to me for setting me up and embarrassing me in front of his sister, I took a step closer to the counter and—in a normal voice—asked Risa how much I owed.
She held up a hand and lifted a chin in Baz’s direction.
“No charge,” he said coming up behind me. “Just another perk of being my woman, I guess.”
“Absolutely not. I’m paying,” I argued, even though I knew it was a losing battle.
“No one here is going to take your money, Sugar. Might as well accept it. As aggravating as he is, my son usually gets what he wants,” Candy offered, voicing my thoughts.
“So his pain in the ass status is a chronic condition?”
Candy grinned, her bright white teeth a stark contrast to her blood red lips. “’Fraid so, sweetie. Doctor says there’s no cure.”
“Maybe we should tase him. Shock therapy might work,” I offered, enjoying turning the tables on Baz for a change.
Risa barked out a laugh behind me, and I looked over to see that Baz had been relaying the exchange I’d had with Candy to her. I took ASL in high school, but I was going to need to brush up on my skills for the next time I saw Risa.
Next time?
At what point, had it become a foregone conclusion that I’d be meeting Baz’s family again? I was getting too comfortable with him. I needed to tread lightly. My guard was already dangerously low, and if I wasn’t careful, I was going to slip up, again. I’d nearly blown it all the night before, by almost telling Baz my mother had been a club whore. I’d managed to catch myself, but it was a close call.
Jester strolled in, making his way behind the counter. “Car’s out front. Keys are inside.”
“Thanks, I don’t suppose you’ll let me pay for the tire and tow either, huh?”
He thumbed through a
pile of papers and responded without looking up. “Tires, we replaced all four, the other three were bald as fuck. And no, I’m not taking your money.”
All four? With the damaged wheel, they had to be eating over a grand without labor costs. How the hell did they stay in business?
Throwing my hands in the air, I groaned, there was no sense in fighting it. “This is ridiculous.”
Baz winked at me. “I’m sure we can work out an alternative payment plan.”
I growled, actually fucking growled at him, and shifted my attention to the other three in the room. “Well, thank you, I appreciate it. It was nice meeting all of you.”
Jester and Risa each offered a chin lift, and Candy pulled me into an unexpected hug. “Good to meet you, Sugar.”
“You too,” I mumbled against her shoulder, awkwardly patting her back. Her perfume was as sweet as her hug was warm, but the gleam in her eyes when I pulled away told me she’d just as soon lace that sweetness with arsenic if I messed with her baby boy.
Once I’d untangled myself from his mother, Baz walked me out to my car.
Opening the driver’s side door, I turned on him. “I can’t believe you did that to me,” I hissed.
He reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, and I batted his hand away, not ready to let him be sweet, I was too pissed. “Oh come on, it was funny, admit it.”
My eyes narrowed on him, and I hoped like hell he felt my fury. “It was fucking embarrassing.”
Taking a step forward, he placed a hand on either side of my head, caging me against the car. “Now you’re just being dramatic, Risa knew I was fucking with you.”
“Telling a woman she’s being dramatic is like telling her to calm down, it generally ends with getting your balls kicked in.”
“You’re not going to kick me in the balls. It would definitely affect my dick, and you like what it does to you too much for that.”
Closing my eyes, I let my head fall back against the frame of the car. “What the hell am I going to do with you?”
“Blow me in your back seat?”
I opened one eye to glare at him. “Ugh, could you not be an ass for like two seconds?”
He shrugged. “Can’t blame me for trying.”
And that was my cue.
“Jesus, I’ve got to go,” I said, moving to slip into the driver’s seat.
Baz stopped me with a hand on my arm. “You’re forgetting something.”
“What?”
“This,” he whispered, leaning into my space.
I didn’t hesitate to return the kiss. Letting my brain shut off and my body take over, I gripped his cut and pulled him even closer. Baz palmed my ass, pressing the quickly forming bulge in his pants against my stomach. I groaned into his mouth, completely forgetting we were in public and the fact that he had just humiliated me in front of his family. A single kiss from Baz did more to turn me on than anything any other man had ever done.
Baz broke the kiss first but didn’t pull away. He rested his forehead against mine as we caught our breath.
Uncomfortable with the intimacy of the moment, I tried to inject some of the banter that had become our default, but it fell flat. “You didn’t have to replace all the tires.”
Unlike me, he didn’t take the bait. Crooking a finger under my chin, he brought my eyes to his. “Yes, I did. What kind of man would I be if I let my girl drive around on bald tires?”
The way he was looking at me, all pretenses from before stripped away, it was like he was seeing past all my bullshit to my very core. As uneasy as it made me feel, I couldn’t look away or even bring myself to rebuke his ‘my girl’ comment.
“Thank you,” I whispered. I didn’t want to ruin the moment, but I couldn’t think with the scent of leather and motor oil that always followed him surrounding me.
Baz must’ve sensed my need to run because he kissed me again. It was just a quick, chaste kiss, but it still made my knees weak. “Just so you know, babe, that shit you pulled last night with that suit, was strike two and three. We’re playing this my way now,” he said softly against my lips.
My head jerked back, and I looked up at him as he started to move away. “Wait, what are you talking about?”
He smirked as he walked backward toward the garage. “Drive safe, text me when you get home, yeah?”
“I…guess,” I said, watching him as he slipped back into the garage office.
What the hell did playing things his way mean?
I replayed the entire scene at the garage in my head a hundred times on the drive back home. The sense that something had shifted between Baz and me that I felt earlier was even more apparent. He’d wormed his way under my skin without my permission, and I wasn’t sure I wanted him to leave.
Thirteen
BAZ
“We all set for Thursday?” I asked, taking a seat at the bar next to Jester.
It was Sunday afternoon, so the club was quiet, most of the guys were either still sleeping off the night before or at home with their families.
Butter silently offered me a beer from behind the bar, but I waved him off. I didn’t want to show up to dinner at Rabbit’s house smelling like alcohol.
Jester spun a paper coaster on the scarred wood bar top. “Yeah, everything’s ready to go. The Sacramento boys will meet us in Grants Pass Friday afternoon, and we’ll drive the product up to Olympia where the brothers from Spokane will take it off our hands and deliver it to Johnny’s guys at the Canadian border.”
Our brothers in Cali would be picking up the first shipment of heroin for the Chinese from the docks in Long Beach in three days. As far as we knew, the Sinners were still in the dark about being cut out of the deal, but I didn’t want to take any chances. “You make those calls?”
Jester glared at me from the corner of his eye. “No, I’ve been playing with my dick instead.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me.”
He ignored my jab and kept on staring at the surface of the bar like it had secrets to tell. “Nomads are ready. We’ll have four extra guys in place at each of our handoffs.”
Jester was like my right hand. He’d be my first pick for VP if—when—the gavel came my way, but I was still in the dark about what went on in his head most of the time. I knew he’d seen some shit when he was overseas as a Marine, but he didn’t talk about it.
Nate, my childhood friend, and Harley’s high school boyfriend, had been in the same unit as Jester, that’s how we’d met the big bastard. Nate brought Jester home with him while they were on leave between tours. When Nate was killed in action, Jester was the one to bring his body back and notify Nate’s family. When he got out of the military six years ago, he didn’t have anywhere else to go, so he came to Portland and started prospecting for the Knights of Mayhem.
I nudged him with my shoulder. “Thanks for handling it, we need this shit to go smoothly.”
He slid his eyes my way. “No shit, the old-timers are chomping at the bit for something to go sideways with this arrangement. The divide from the table is bleeding out into the whole club, Baz. If change is coming, it needs to happen soon. This limbo shit is killin’ us.”
Sighing, I let my eyes fall closed. He wasn’t wrong. Tensions were at an all-time high between old and new school. If we didn’t get a handle on it, the entire club was at risk of imploding. “I know. Tides are changin’, brother, we’ll be ready when it comes our way.”
“Sure about that?”
“What? No faith?” I joked. If anyone had my back, it was Jester.
He grunted, turning his attention back to his beer. “Fuck you.”
I stood, clapping him on the shoulder. “Alright, I’m out. Let me know if anything comes up.”
“Yep,” he said, lifting his bottle in salute.
I noticed my mom’s SUV in the forecourt as I headed out of the clubhouse. She was probably working. She was always doing something for the club. The woman never stopped moving.
Switching direction,
I jogged to the garage office.
Stepping through the door, I saw my mother sorting stacks of paper. “What’s up?”
She looked up, offering me a smile. “Oh just trying to make sense of these invoices. There’s a reason I don’t do this shit.”
“Where’s Blondie?” I asked, looking around for Chains’ wife. The two of them were never far apart, and Blondie usually handled the paperwork for the garage.
“At home, she’s taking a couple of days off. I wanted to get a head start, so I’m not swamped tomorrow.”
Blondie was almost as bad as my mother, taking a couple of days off wasn’t exactly her MO. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s fine, she just needs some time. They’re telling Harley Mae tonight.” Her smile turned strained, and I could tell she was trying to be strong. Mom, of course, knew about Chains’ cancer. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d known even before my dad.
“Shit.”
“Yeah, it’s gonna hit her hard. That girl doesn’t exactly take bad news well. She’s going to need all of us to get through it.”
“Yeah, if she’ll let us in,” I said, looking down at my feet. Harley and I had been close growing up. She was one of my best friends. But when Nate died, she’d gone downhill fast. His death did a number on her, and even seven years later she wasn’t the same person she’d been before.
“She’s a fighter. She’ll manage. Anyway, enough about that, what did you need?” She asked as she continued to sort through invoices.
“Not gonna make dinner tonight, I’ve got plans.”
She put down the stack of papers and sat back in her seat, her eyes narrowing on my face. “With the redhead?”
I sighed and leaned against the counter. As much as I didn’t want to get into it, my mom didn’t exactly take no for an answer. “Yeah, dinner with her and her sister.”
One brow arched and she smirked. “Kinky, I like it.”
“Jesus, Mom what the fuck? No, I’m just meeting her sister, not everyone’s a deviant like you and dad.”
Snorting, she shook her head. “You don’t even know the half of it,” she said wistfully. It made my stomach turn.
