What I’m not tellin’ her is how I feel like I’m close to bein’ done with fuckin’ around. Every day I’m gettin’ older, and much like Dixon, Kade and the others, I do want to settle down.
There’s only one thing I haven’t had the courage to tell her just yet. I don’t want an ordinary relationship. I desire an extraordinary one, and she deserves just that. I’ve never been the type who’s happy with one partner. Fuck, look at my aunt Roxy. She has three men.
I fuckin’ love women, but fuck, I love men too . . . and even if I have to keep the latter part a secret from my club, I will. I just want a . . . throuple, if that’s even a word. I want two. I now have a woman, one I’ll be bound to by the state of Montana soon. The only thing I’m missin’ is a man.
Just wonderin’ if she’ll let me have what I want.
“Wow, I didn’t—”
“We should get goin’ back to the club.” I interrupt her, ready to get a move on it. I have some shit to talk out with Kade when I get back, and we have a fuckin’ flight to catch.
Chapter Fourteen
“Life itself is a privilege, but to live life to the fullest — well, that is a choice.”
~ Andy Andrews
Octavia
He shut down on me. It was apparent with the way he cut me off and practically bolted out the door. I’m not sure why, though I do hope I’ll figure that out. Immediately I thought of Inc, and if the fact I was previously in a long-term relationship is scaring the shit out of him.
It shouldn’t because at the end of the day Inc and I won’t ever be anything. At least not anymore. I can have my hopes and dreams about the things Zane has implied without flat out saying it. But I know Inc, and he would never go for it. To my knowledge, Inc isn’t bisexual . . . and Zane wants someone who is. Erm. No, he needs someone who is. Shit, what the hell am I even doing? Zane hasn’t flat out said to me that he wants a man too. I’m overthinking, or maybe I’m simply dreaming about having Inc back in some manner and this was the only feasible option to having him back in my life.
Regardless, that door has closed and now my only option is to move on and look forward. No more glancing back at what once was for me.
I drove back to the club and Zane went back into his brother and sister-in-law’s house. He asked me to wait outside, so I am, leaning up against their trailer. I see a small sedan pull down the driveway. They’re going so fast the brakes screech as they come to a stop.
Four women exit the vehicle. One immediately catches my eye with a short pink bob, while the one who exited the car across from her is tan and has jet black, long wavy hair. An Asian looking woman came out of the back next to a tall, skinny blonde.
I don’t think they’re clubwhores . . . because they look a lot nicer. What I mean by that is they dress nicer, more upper class and less skank. “You’re a new face we haven’t seen before,” The tall blonde one says. Her accent is thick, but I can’t place it.
“I’m here with Zane,” I explain, knowing if they’re clubwhores they’ll either try to get in his pants or immediately back off.
“Uh, who?” The black-haired one asks.
They’ve got to be joking, right? “The National Charter Prez for the Reapers. You know, the head honcho. Who are you ladies?” I cross my arms while I’m leaning against the trailer.
The Asian one comes up and extends her hand, “Hi, I’m Yami. This is Tatiana,” She points to the blonde one, “This is Esme,” Now she’s pointing to the one with black hair, “and lastly this is Mirage.” She says, leaving only the pink haired woman.
“How about you tell us who the fuck you are,” Mirage barks, cocking a brow like a sassy little shit.
I blink a couple of times, trying to figure out what I want to do. I haven’t gotten in a fight with a sweet butt, club bunny, clubwhore, or whatever the hell you wanna call them in eons. It’s about time I crack the skin on my knuckles.
“I’m Octavia, Zane’s girl. I’ll be real with you though, baby girl. No one talks to me like that and gets away with it. I don’t tolerate being disrespected. Now what exactly is your role here?” Being Zane’s woman so to speak will automatically give me seniority over these bitches. The three of them seem nice, but this Mirage character has some serious attitude problems. If I have to lay into her to set an example, I won’t have any problem doing so. Back home I knocked out teeth for even looking at me the wrong way.
Then again, the clubwhores who got my wrath belonged to my father. Dusty, Midnight and Lexi. The rudest, most naïve bitches if I’ve ever met any. All of them told me the same shit, how my father was going to make her his ol’ lady. The three of them were friends, and yet they each thought they were gonna be an ol’ lady. I’m not a mathematician or anything, but it didn’t add up. Though, I should be grateful. Dusty ran off a couple years back. Actually, make it more like six or seven. It’s been a bit. She did get a replacement. I never paid enough attention to catch the new third wheel’s name.
Soles hitting the ground below us cause me to shift my gaze to one of the only actual homes here. A woman with dark hair is approaching. Since the sun still hasn’t fully come up I can’t tell if it’s chocolate brown or black as a raven’s feathers. “These girls work in the brothel. I’m sure they’re getting off work and that’s why they’re up so early. Right, ladies?” Whoever this new chick is, I like her.
“Don’t slut shame us, Cheyenne.” Mirage grumbles.
“I wasn’t slut shaming anyone.” Cheyenne states, looking to the group of women.
Yami clears her throat, “It kinda sounded like you were. I’m sorry, but it did.”
“Ladies, you’re reading into too much shit again. She asked what your role was, and none of you told her, so, I did.” Cheyenne shrugs, pulling a cigarette up she takes a puff.
“Oh no. Sorry!” Yami says, pouting.
“You should get going and go see Damon, right?” Cheyenne suggests, and Tatiana grabs one of Mirage’s hands. Meanwhile, Yami and Esme strut off behind them.
“Are they normally like that?” I don’t have to know the answer. I’m only curious.
“No, not typically. They’re just a bit cautious of new people. If you put them all together, they’ve had one hell of a life. I’m Cheyenne,” Cheyenne extends her hand and I shake it.
“Octavia,” I reply.
She laughs lowly, “I know. I heard you before.”
“Oh yeah, sorry. You one of the ol’ ladies’ here?”
Cheyenne busts out into laughter. “Hell no. I’m just a . . . I’m a Nurse Practitioner.” A lot of MCs usually have someone trained in the medical field at their club. We have one back home too.
“The MC doc, huh?” I joke.
Cheyenne’s face falters, “No, that would be Sakura. I’m the back up, I guess. It’s a long story.”
“Ah, okay.” I know when to catch a hint about being too nosey, so I bug off.
“Hopefully they won’t try to give you shit anymore. They’ve never met Zane, and honestly, those girls’ only look to Sakura and Damon as their bosses. They don’t understand the club hierarchy or any of it.” Cheyenne states.
Now this is interesting. She knows about how the inner workings of a club go down. “You’re part of a biker family too, aren’t you?” I question.
Cheyenne lets out a short laugh, but it’s not funny to her. It reminds me more like an ‘oh shit’. Nodding, she answers. “Yeah, my brother’s in a club back home.”
“I knew it. I—” The door to Kade’s trailer comes flying open, so hard in fact it hits the exterior wall. Zane is charging out. His face is blood red and I know this couldn’t have been good.
“C’mon Octavia, we’re getting out of here!” He bellows, heading toward the rental car. I catch Grim running up to us in the background. With every passing moment I can tell Zane is growing more and more furious, so I hop in the passenger seat and shut the door.
I don’t know what the fuck just happened, but do I wanna know?
Ch
apter Fifteen
A saint was asked “what is anger”. He gave a beautiful answer, “It’s punishment that we give ourselves, for someone else’s mistake.”
~ Unknown
Zane
In all of my years on this Earth, I have yet to be this furious. My brother. Actually, scratch that. My idiot brother decided to tell our sister what I just learned last night. While she’s pregnant. She passed out from the shock and fell, and now she’s at the hospital and we don’t know if the baby’s okay.
Of course, Kade didn’t tell me that until now. I could fucking kill him.
As soon as he told me what happened I got on the phone to call Blackjack and check in. Of course he didn’t answer, but I don’t blame him. If what Kade said is true, I wouldn’t be answerin’ my fuckin’ phone.
I started to drive toward the airport with everyone when my phone started ringin’ obnoxiously. So, I pulled this shitty little car over and answered. “This is Zane,” I grumble out, not botherin’ to look and see who was callin’ in the first place.
“Uncle Zane,” Dex called. Okay. He wouldn’t have called me if it was bad.
“Hey kid, how’s Ash?” I question, heart pounding intensely in my chest as I await his answer.
“She’s okay. The baby is okay too. The fall happened, then her water broke like ten minutes later. It was fucking disgusting, look like she pissed herself. Dad told me to call you and give you a heads up. Said something about Uncle Kade prolly telling you and you freaking out. He’s on the phone with him now, so he told me to call you.”
“God, you have no idea how glad I am to hear they’re okay. How’s the lil’ man?”
“Good, I guess. I dunno. He sure has a mouth on him. Makes me miss Noelle. She was quiet as a mouse when she was this little.”
I can’t hold back my chortle at hearing that. “He’s your lil’ brother, Dex. You always watch out for him. You hear me?”
“Yeah, yeah.” I can practically see him rollin’ his eyes.
“You tell Ash I’ll come see her tonight when I get home.”
“Alright. When are you flying out?” Dex asks.
“‘Bout an hour.”
“Oh, okay. You seen Chaz yet? He had surgery yesterday. I heard he’s been a little . . . agitated.” Dex is one smart cookie. One who knows how to be subtle as fuck.
“I may end up gettin’ home late tonight. So, just tell Ash I’ll actually see her tomorrow. Alright?”
“You got it. Safe travels. Love you.”
“Love ya too, kid.” I end the call and throw my cell back on the dash.
“Is everything okay?” Octavia asks, brows raised, obviously concerned. Shit, I didn’t even tell her what happened.
“Yeah. Kade told my sister about . . . what he told me. She’s pregnant, she ended up takin’ a fall and her water broke.”
“Oh my God!!”
“She’s okay, and the baby is too. They’re both perfectly fine.” I tell her.
“Shit, Kade should count his lucky stars. Blackjack would rip him a new asshole.” Grim mutters, and I nod in agreement.
“Blackjack?” Octavia says his name. Ah, yeah, she doesn’t know everyone.
“He’s my VP,” I state.
“Interim, you haven’t made it official.” Grim speaks up.
I turn back and look at him, narrowing my eyes in confusion ‘cause I could’ve sworn I did . . . but maybe he’s right. Maybe I didn’t and was meanin’ to. “Shit, we gotta vote on that soon.”
“About damn time! Thought the poor man was gonna croak before you gave him the title.” Grim says, and I shoot a glare to him, “What? Too soon?”
“Uh, yeah.” I roll my eyes, pull the vehicle out of park and drive down the interstate.
Kade did end up tellin’ me which hospital Chaz is at. He’s about five miles away from the airport, so I decide we’ll miss our flight and get on a new one later. One of my guys needs some guidance right now, so I’ll be there for him. It’s the least I can do considerin’ I never even knew he was there until last night.
We’re at the hospital in no time, walk inside and halt at the visitor’s station. I end up lyin’ to the nice lady behind the desk because she told me only family could come see him. Then another woman came up. The new one must’ve been like nineteen or twenty. She thought I was Kade and I ended up gettin’ up to see Chaz pretty damn quick. She didn’t even question how I didn’t know his room number. I told her I had so much on my mind and couldn’t remember it.
He’s on the third floor, so we all go upstairs. Grim and Octavia wait in the waiting room while I head back to room 368. When I get there, I immediately see gauze wrapped around his hands. But, it’s not just gauze. There are so many rods stickin’ outta his hand I’m wonderin’ how a sledgehammer did that. The bandages go up to the middle of his forearm. At that point his skin is a combination of blue, purple and red. Most likely from bruising.
I see a woman I haven’t met before sitting beside him. She seems concerned at first, but the moment her eyes land on my cut, she immediately calms. “The docs either gave me some hella good shit, or Zane’s here.” Chaz chuckles, soundin’ like a damn hyena like always.
“He’s here,” The woman beside him states calmly, rising. “I believe this is the first time we’ve met. I’m Sakura,”
“It’s nice to finally put the face to the name. I’ve heard amazing things about you.”
“I wish I could say the same, but I haven’t heard much about you.” She admits honestly, which I appreciate.
“That’s alright. Your Mouser’s girl, yeah?”
Her expression shifts from stoic to brightly smiling, “Yes, I am.”
“From what I hear he’s one of the good ones.”
“He is. He loves this club more than anything.”
“Good. That’s what I like to hear.” I tell her, moving my attention to Chaz. “How you holdin’ up man?”
“Not doin’ bad. Just got cast as the new Cyborg.” He snickers.
“Damn, crackin’ jokes already?” I chuckle.
“You have no idea. He’s insufferable,” Sakura dramatically says.
“He’s insufferable when he’s not on pain meds,” I poke fun at him, gettin’ a laugh out of both of ‘em. “Say, you need a break darlin’?”
Sakura shifts on her feet, “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to go grab a green tea.”
I wave my hand, already signaling she can go. “Do what you gotta do. It’ll give us some time to be alone.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.” Sakura rushes off and I look to Chaz, partially here because I wanna see how he’s doing . . . but that’s not the only reason.
I wanna know what really happened that night. Most importantly, I wanna know if I’m bein’ lied to.
The sooner I figure everythin’ out, the sooner we can find Amara. We’ve already wasted so much precious time.
I just hope and pray the woman isn’t dead.
Chapter Sixteen
Ends are fleeting. Every sunset leads to a new beginning
~ Vic
Octavia
The last twenty something hours have flown by. Grim and I stayed at the hospital with Zane for a bit while he visited his hurt member, Chaz I believe. He had surgery the day before, so Zane wanted to go show him some support. After his visit was over with Zane took me to some strip mall sort of thing where I could get some new clothes.
We ended up discovering my father or brother cancelled my debit card. I had them both on my account with me in case something did happen to me. Well, I don’t know how in the world they were able to do this. Actually, that’s a lie. They did it because they were on my account. They had the access.
Their reasoning behind it is the only thing I don’t know. Was it my brother, or was it my father? Did they figure out someone was tapping into our bank accounts, tracking us that way? Is that how my sisters were all murdered? I have no idea. The questions are slowly killing me, running rapidly through my mind.
We got in late yesterday, a little before midnight. Now I find myself in Zane’s childhood home. Photographs of his father and mother are all over the living room and the hallway that leads upstairs. One sticks out more so than the others. It must’ve been Halloween because they’re all dressed up in costumes. Fist appears to be a cowboy, while his wife is matching in theme, looking like a done-up cowgirl. I can’t tell which boy is Zane and which one’s Kade, but one is in a Darth Vader outfit while the other is Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. Meanwhile, the younger girl with golden curls down to her shoulders is in a bright blue dress with a tiara. I’ll go ahead and bet she was Cinderella.
I woke up before Zane, surprisingly sleeping in the same bed with him. It’s a little past eight in the morning, and I’m standing on the wooden staircase, really taking a look at these photos. They start with the couple, and then shift down through the years. The last photo of them as a family, though. It guts me.
Their mother has some sort of bandana type material wrapped around her head. Her cheekbones are sunken in and she’s sitting down. Though, even with her obvious state of suffering she smiles widely, holding onto her boys’ hands as they stand beside her. While her eyes beam up at her daughter.
All it takes is one glance at this photo to know how much Mrs. Monroe loved her family, how her children were her entire world.
“What’re you doin’?” Zane asks, causing me to jump. I end up going down a couple steps, crashing the right side of my body into the wall on the landing. “Shit!”
Zane shuffles down from the top of the stairs to see if I’m alright. Sliding down to the floor, I crack up with laughter. “I’m fine. You should take up a job in the horror movie biz though. I think you’d be great at it.”
Mayhem: A Reapers MC Boxset Page 22
