Chapter 20
Do you want to tell me what happened?” Tash asked as she sat at the end of my bed. I stared off into space around her and didn’t answer for the longest time.
“I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the girl from his past,” I told her.
“The skank who was banned from the club?”
“No, the other one. The one my dad said he might have gotten serious with for a while. The one he had a chance to be with.”
“You don’t know that,” she started to say.
“Actually, I saw her name pop up on his phone at least once while we were on our honeymoon, and that was a miracle, because unlike before, he wouldn’t let the damn thing out of his presence. I even looked one night to see if I could take a peek,” I admitted guiltily as she waited patiently for me to get to my point. “He had it in his hand under his pillow.”
“You don’t think he’s cheating do you?”
“No, not really, but honestly, what am I supposed to think? That’s weird behavior, right? Plus he kept looking guilty, or just flat out basically running away from me whenever his phone would go off. What kind of honeymoon is that? It was ruined. Outside of our first night and part of the first day, I didn’t actually get to spend any time with him where he wasn’t preoccupied with whatever was going on with his phone.
“I think maybe things with her weren’t quite as over as he made them seem. I don’t know if she’s just trying to get him back, or causing drama, or what’s going on. I do know that Sweet has lied about it though, and he was most definitely hiding something. When he wouldn’t get off the phone I checked in with Quickshot who informed me all was quiet at home. When I asked Sweet what had him so preoccupied he told me club business.” I swiped at the hot tear that managed to leak free. “He lied. I knew he lied. He knew that I knew, but he refused to tell me what was really going on until I left him in Hawaii and we got back here. Now, suddenly it’s okay to tell me?”
“Honey, I wish I had advice for you, but honestly, the only thing I can tell you at this point is that the two of you need to communicate before history repeats itself again.”
I sighed. “I know this and, at the same time, I’m afraid to hear what he has to say. What if he’s leaving me for her already? What if…”
“Stop right there. ‘What if’ got you in a lot of trouble last time. You believed someone’s lies and, while your life turned out okay as a result, it is vastly different than what you thought it would be. There were consequences I know you wish you hadn’t suffered. Now, it’s not someone else’s words interring. It’s your own imagination, which is something you could put to rest if only you’d just talk to him. I know it’s hard. I realize you’re scared, and with good reason considering your past, but honey, you said ‘I do’ and in taking those vows, you made yourself a promise. Forget him for a moment. This is about you. Do you want to go back on a promise you made to yourself?”
“I hate when you’re right, because it means I need to suck it up and go do something I don’t want to do.”
“I’ll be here. No matter what you find out. If you decide I need to bring a shovel and a buzz saw, I will. Things work out, and I will be happy for you too. Either way, I’ve got your back like always.”
“That is why I love you,” I told her.
“I know. Well, that and because I’m freaking awesome.” We both laughed, though it was honestly the truth. Tash was the best person I knew. “Oh, and don’t think we aren’t going to have a conversation about how you treated JoJo at your wedding reception.” I just hung my head in shame, because I had used the time while my husband was ignoring me to talk to another woman during my honeymoon to think about that. Hell, I had even thought that maybe his behavior was my punishment for being a complete to cunt to someone.
“I know. I owe her an apology.”
“You owe her more than that. You’ve had your own shit to deal with so she hasn’t burdened you with her issues, but she has them, and the way you spoke to her wasn’t very sisterly or understanding at all.”
“I really do know that, Tash. I’ll make it right, I swear.”
“I hope so, because I’m not about to lose her in S.H.E. because you ran her off. What exactly is your problem with her anyway? She’s always been good to you.”
“Aside from refusing to be in my wedding, you mean?” I asked. She just cocked her hip out and gave me her ‘attitude’ face. “Fine, so she supposedly had a reason she couldn’t be in the wedding. We’ll talk. The thing is, and I just realized this recently, she is a dead ringer for Marisol.”
“The twat that said she fucked Sweet all those years ago?”
“The same. I’m serious, I could put them side-by-side and you’d swear they were sisters. Twins almost. I can’t believe I didn’t realize why she rubbed me the wrong way sooner. I think just seeing my dad, Sweet, and Quickshot finally dragged loose the reason why I always felt off around her.”
“I get it. It’s something that happened without you really even realizing it until recently. Still, she’s our JoJo, not your Marisol. They aren’t the same person. Fix it. After you fix your marriage.” Tash shook her head. “So many things I never thought I would find myself saying to you,” she offered up with a chuckle. “Jesus, shit has turned on its head around here. I’m thinking we were right to worry about the Aces High MC moving in and changing things, even if we were wrong about how that change would be affecting us.”
“I know. We also need to figure out what we’re going to do about getting Katherine back now that we’re one step closer.”
“Do you think she’s still alive?”
“If she is, I don’t envy her experience,” I admitted. “I wish she had been up front with us about her situation.”
“No kidding. I guess she didn’t realize that we are more than just owners of Paramour?” It was a question, not a statement, because I was the one who had brought Katherine on when she came looking for a job.
“I didn’t go into the details about Redemption Inc. or Product Testers with her, but everyone knows we’re an MC.”
“Too bad even other women don’t always take that seriously since we’re a bunch of chicks,” Tash lamented.
“True. I bet if we were a bunch of dudes she would have told us about her troubles thinking she could get protection,” I thought out loud.
“I don’t know about that. I think she thought she could hide because we were women. Sometimes staying hidden is more protection than running to a man, especially since her last man was someone to run from.”
“I see your point.”
It was then that the other women started trickling in and entering the conversation. Keys gave me a lopsided smile, and I realized I hadn’t really asked her about what was going on with Quickshot and herself. I was beginning to think I’d had my head stuffed so far up my own ass with all the things going on in my personal life that I had been a shitty friend to more than just JoJo.
“Anything new?” I asked her. She just shook her head.
“Not yet, but we’re running everything down we can think of. Now that we have both of their full names and a few of his holdings in our sights I’m hoping it won’t be long before we track down some property that can be searched.”
“You don’t think he’d be dumb enough to hold her somewhere that has either of their names on it do you? He’s managed to stay under the radar all this time.”
She just shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. People do crazy stuff, but even if he doesn’t have her anywhere like that, maybe we’ll find something at one of those locations that will lead us to where he does have her.” She sighed. “I have to hope for the best on this one, because what else have we got? I’m worried about Katherine, and not so sure her little boy will ever get his mom back. It’s been too long already.” She shivered then. “You saw what they did to Trix, and it’s clear that she was definitely working with them.”
“I will never understand why a woman would d
o that,” Tash interjected. “Seriously, she had a great job, an awesome man, and a whole MC at her back. Why would you go and knowingly help men who used, abused, and sold women? It just doesn’t make sense.”
“That’s what I meant by the fact that it was clear she was working for them,” Keys explained. “She was married to Curtis The Snake.”
“What the hell? We ran a thorough background check on her.” I remembered doing it when I put her in charge at Paramour.
“Yes, well, they got hitched after you took her on. I found the records in Towns County. They definitely got married.” Again I watched as she visibly shivered while delivering the news. “God only knows why though. Who marries a monster like that? It doesn’t matter now, we all saw what happens to a person when she loses her ever-lovin’ mind and goes and does something terminally stupid.” Key’s southern drawl was far more pronounced when she was on a tear about something, and despite the seriousness of the situation I nearly laughed for that reason.
“You’re country is showing again, sweetie,” Tash told her, and I did laugh then.
“Crap,” Keys called out. “I can’t help it when I get worked up into a tizzy. You know this.”
“So, I think the most pressing issue we have right now is that Kat’s son needs to be somewhere stable. The dancers have been great about taking care of him, but now that MiMi is on her feet and feeling better, I think it’s time to transition him to her house until we can bring his mom home.”
“I agree, plus it will be easier to keep him hidden if he’s not being shifted between different places. We don’t want this asshole to figure out that it’s his kid and come back for him too,” I added, because that was one of the concerns I’d had all along.
“What are we going to do if,” Keys swallowed and then continued. “If she can’t be recovered, what do we do with her kid? There are going to be all sorts of questions from the cops along the way if we have to bring them into this.”
“MiMi has agreed to take him on permanently if that comes to pass. We’ll just get you to make up a nice little family history for them.” When everyone just stared at me, I shrugged. “We talked about it. MiMi can’t have kids of her own after what the WRs did to her. He’s possibly going to be an orphan as a result of the same people who took her ability to have her own children. I think she’s sees it as a balance. They can both be there for one another despite what was taken from each of them.”
I heard Keys sniffle, but I refused to look her way because I didn’t want to become a ball of tears too. I understood, probably better than anyone else, what MiMi’s rationale was. I was looking at a future without being able to have my own children as well. I had thought about taking the boy on for that very reason, but decided against it, because I knew I’d become too attached and if his mom was found alive it would cause me immense heartache to have to let him go. Yeah, that was selfish, but there was a better option for him so we were going with that. Besides, MiMi had her own place and I was still living out of the clubhouse.
“Give me just a minute to get myself ready, and we’ll head on over there and make sure everyone gets settled in okay,” I told everyone. The girls got up to leave and before Tash could make it out the door she glanced back and smiled at me.
“Everything is going to work itself out the way it’s supposed to. Believe that. For that kid’s sake and your own,” she tacked on getting to the heart of the matter on both counts.
“MiMi, how are you feeling?” I asked while moving through her front door and into her living room.
“Much better, though my pride is still bruised. I’m really sorry I went off half-cocked like that. I couldn’t see past my own bullshit. I just wanted to get to him.”
“Well, you’re still here with us and you got your justice in the end, and that is all that matters, right?” MiMi had definitely gotten her justice too. As soon as she was healed enough her brother and Dane took her to the place where we were holding Curtis - her supreme tormentor during the time she was held captive - and she took her time making him regret every last thing he’d done to her.
She nodded and then led us inside. “Where’s the little squirt?” Her lighthearted change of topic was welcome for everyone.
“Keys will be bringing him by momentarily. She went to collect him from Brandi. I just wanted a few minutes first to make sure you’re still up for this.”
“Of course I am. I’ve been going over and hanging out with him so he’d already know me when he got here. I didn’t want him thrown in with just another stranger.” And that was why she was perfect for this. “I hope like hell you guys can find his mom and bring her home to him, because that will be the best, but I was serious. If it doesn’t work out that way I will do everything in my power to make sure that kid is taken care of and loved until my last day on this earth. It’s not fair what he has to go through at such a young age. It’s not fair that she tried to get out of a horrible situation to save him and now she’s missing and God only knows what is happening to her.”
“Okay, I just wanted to make sure. It’s a lot to ask of someone.”
She waved my words away as if batting flies in the hot Georgia sun. “It’s nothing, but it will be everything to him to have some stability and a sense of belonging while he’s worried about why his mommy hasn’t come back home yet. Do you know what the girls have been telling him?”
“They just told him that his mommy is lost right now, but she’s trying really hard to get back to him.”
“That poor baby,” MiMi choked out before taking a minute to get herself together. “Sorry, I told myself I wasn’t going to get emotional. He doesn’t need to see an emotional mess when he gets here.”
Just as she spoke those words the front door flew open and a rambunctious little four-year-old came barreling into the room. “MiMi!” He ran straight for her and jumped into her lap giving her the fiercest hug I’d ever seen. That sealed the deal for me. Apparently, all of MiMi’s visits to the kid had been well thought out.
“Hi, Grant. Are you ready to see your new room?”
“I gets to stay here until mommy gets home?”
“Yeah, buddy, you get to stay until your mommy gets back. No more moving around.”
The little boy cheered, and any trepidation I had about this whole situation dissipated immediately. Now, if only the knots in my belly regarding my own situation would loosen.
Chapter 21
Pacing back and forth in the clubhouse wasn’t helping my situation, but it had become a habit since Jamie had kicked me out of her place and pretty much demanded I give her space. Sending messages to her hadn’t helped either, and I’d be damned if I was going to tell her my news through a text. Still, I was at a breaking point. I couldn’t lose her, and no matter what, that’s all I saw happening. I’d fucked up, but I fucked up thinking it was the only way to hang on to her long enough to be able to explain the situation and get her to stand with me instead of leaving me for it.
“What the hell am I supposed to do? You’re her best friend, why don’t you have an answer for me?”
“My answer, if you’d legitimately asked me before you said ‘I do’ instead of lying to my face, would have been to tell her right then. She deserved to know even if that meant postponing your wedding. Hell, I’m not even sure she would have postponed it anyway. I think you overthought her reaction and, instead of trusting her to lead with her heart, you hid it from her and that’s going to take a lot for her to overcome. It shows you didn’t trust her reaction and that she can’t trust you.”
“Thanks, that isn’t at all what I wanted to hear. I can’t change the past now that it’s done.”
“No, you can’t. I’m also not going to sugarcoat it for you. That’s exactly what she’s going to think and you know it.”
“I don’t want to rain on your parade, man, but Quick is right. I’m not that in the know about Angel Girl, but I think you keeping it from her is going to be the larger issue. I don’t see that girl
turning away a kid just because it’s not hers,” Spike interjected.
“You don’t understand,” I growled out. “She says she was told it will be damn near impossible to have a child of her own after losing her last one. How do you think she’ll take the news that an ex of mine - no matter how serious we were or weren’t - is carrying my baby?”
“I’m not arguing it’s a rough situation, but I think she’ll be just fine with it once she gets over you hiding it,” Spike explained.
“Fuck!” I yelled out. “I can’t even get her to talk to me right now to explain.”
Quickshot grabbed hold of my shoulder and gave me a squeeze before heading to the bar. “She’ll come around. She just needs time.”
“I don’t have much more time,” I called back feeling another gut punch as I realized exactly how little time I did have when I got a text from Becca telling me that her checkup went well and everything was on track. I had weeks before my daughter would be here. Weeks, and my wife still didn’t know.
“This a bad time?” A gruff voice called from over by the door. Shit, I had forgotten about Steel coming in today from the Dakota Chapter.
“No man, come on in,” I called out as he sauntered over. His head was clean-shaven while his face held enough stubble it might as well be a beard. The real kicker was when he got closer and I was able to see that his eyes were seriously the color of shiny new steel. I was guessing the clubwomen were going to love him. Both the women we kept around and the ones from my wife’s club. “Steel,” I held my hand out to pound his close fist that was aimed toward me and then turned to my boys. “This is Quickshot, who you already know, he’s my VP here.” I tipped my head to Spike, “and this asshole is Spike, one of our enforcers.”
“Good to meet ya,” Steel called out with a tip of his chin to Spike before he turned his attention to Quickshot. “I need a fuckin’ garage, stat. Bike had a shit-ton of shimmy in it. Rode the last couple miles in here with a fuckin’ death wobble starting up.”
Angel Girl (S.H.E. Book 1) Page 27
