by L. Wilder
“I’ve had a lot of practice,” I scoffed.
“Well, it paid off,” Shelley replied. She was Cindy’s best friend and also had an adorable toddler. “You really put him in his place.”
“I hope so.”
“So, what about this new guy he’s talking about?” Tracy, another one of the young mothers asked. “How come we haven’t heard anything about him yet?”
“We’ve just started talking.” I could feel my cheeks start to blush as I told them, “But I think he’s pretty great.”
Cindy pulled back a chair and said, “Well, get over here and tell us all about him.”
I was a little hesitant at first. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to talk about my personal life with them, but they’d never had any problem sharing their lives with me. It seemed they always had some story to share, so I took a quick glance around, and when I saw there were no customers in line, I sat down and told them all about my last few weeks with Roman. The more I talked about him, the more I found myself missing him. It had been almost a week since I’d last heard from him. He’d told me to be patient, but it wasn’t easy when I missed him so much. That in itself was enough for me to know he was worth waiting for.
I’d given up on many things in my life—one of them being love. A real, undeniable love. Now that I’d found it, I had every intention of holding onto it. I just prayed there was still something left to hold onto.
Chapter 17
Widow
I won’t lie. I was pretty shaken by the fact that the asshole who had his gun to my president’s head knew my name, but I didn’t have time to think about that. I needed to end this motherfucker before he had a chance to pull that trigger. I stepped over to him, and as I placed the barrel of my gun at the back of his head, I commanded, “Drop it.”
“I see some things never change.” There was something eerily familiar about his voice, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to place it. “You’re still trying to control things beyond your capabilities.”
I turned and looked at the two-way mirror, and my blood ran cold when I saw those piercing green eyes staring back at me. I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t seen him in over ten years, but he looked exactly the same. I was still trying to make sense of what I was seeing when Shotgun asked, “You remember Talan, don’t ya?”
“Yeah, I remember him. I remember him well.”
Talan had prospected for the Sinners, and not only that, I was his fucking sponsor. He was ex-military, strong and determined, and a man we thought had a real future with the club. I’d busted my ass trying to get him through prospecting, but the guy ended up being a loose cannon. Dude was unpredictable and lost his shit at the drop of a fucking hat. He’d fight anyone at any time, but that wasn’t the issue. We wanted brothers who could hold their own, but Talan had a bad habit of taking shit too far. Almost killed a teenage kid for cutting him off at a red light, knocked a guy’s teeth out with a beer bottle when he’d accidently bumped into Viper, and that was just the beginning. The outbursts started piling up, and I soon realized he didn’t just have an issue with his temper. The guy was off—like killing kittens kind of off. When he beat the hell out of his pregnant girlfriend and kicked her so hard he killed their unborn child, we all knew he had to go. The club cut him and never looked back. Certainly, never thought he’d come back after ten fucking years.
“Nice to know I made such a strong impression on you.” I didn’t respond. I had nothing to say to the crazy motherfucker, so I just stood there with my gun to his head, waiting on the moment when I’d finally pull the trigger—ending this bullshit once and for all. “I know your finger is just itching to pull that trigger, but you gotta remember, it only takes a fraction of a second for me to do the same and your precious president’s brains will go flying all over this fucking room.”
“Just tell us what you fucking want, Talan.”
“The name’s Skitz, and you aren’t in a position to be dishing out orders, now are you?” He didn’t wait for my response. Instead, he pressed his gun harder against Viper’s head and snarled, “You know there was a time when I would’ve given my left nut to be a part of this club of yours. I thought it was my only shot of something real but turned out I was wrong. I was never meant to be a Sinner. I found my place with my own boys. Never needed yours.”
“A group of boys you have to intimidate and threaten to stay by your side? Sounds like a hell of a group you got there, Skitz,” Viper scoffed.
“I see Grant was mouthing off.” Skitz shook his head. “He was always such a fucking pussy.”
“You know what they say, ‘you’re only as strong as your weakest link’.”
“Well, as you can see, that’s no longer an issue.”
I was done listening to his bullshit. “You gotta know, you can’t win here. You’ve got two guns pointed at your thick fucking head. No matter how this goes, you’re dead.”
“Don’t you see?” he snickered. “I’ve already won. I’m standing here with a gun to the almighty Ruthless Sinners’ president’s head. Your precious club is a shambles, your brothers are wounded, others are dead, and you, the infamous Widow, couldn’t do a damn thing to stop me. None of you could.”
“You haven’t won a damn thing,” Viper snarled. “The clubhouse will be repaired. We’ll add on and make it better than ever. Our wounded will heal, and even if you are stupid enough to pull that trigger, there’s not a brother in this club who couldn’t step up and fill my shoes. That’s the kind of loyalty we have, so you’re wrong. You haven’t left the Ruthless Sinners in ruin. You’ve only helped make us stronger.”
“Always such the blowhard. I could’ve been an asset to this club. I could’ve shown you what war is really all about...”
He’d gotten mad and started to rant. I knew this was my chance to end this. He was so distracted by his own tirade, he didn’t notice when I looked over to Shotgun and gave him a nod, signaling I was about to make my move. When he nodded back, I aimed my barrel at the base of his skull—a place I knew would render him useless, and I fired. Viper jolted at the sound of the shot, pushing himself free as Talan’s lifeless body dropped to the ground. Viper looked down at Talan, then over to me. “That was a risky move there, brother.”
“It was a risk that had to be taken, Prez.”
“That it was.” He reached over and patted me on the shoulder. “Thanks, brother.”
Shotgun stepped over to me as he asked, “What about the others?”
“Pretty sure we got ‘em all, but we better get out there and find out.”
“Agreed.”
We’d barely made it out of the room when Lynch came rushing up to us and exclaimed, “That was some insane shit in there! Are you okay, Prez?”
“I’m fine. I’ll be even better when I find out how the others are.”
“We’re good here,” Hawk answered as he made his way down the hall. “Rafe and Menace are doing a walkthrough to make sure no one was missed, and Country is in the bar finishing off his little buddy with the gauges in his ears...but we still don’t know anything about Danny.”
“I haven’t forgotten. We’re gonna have to get over to their place in Brookshire and see if he’s there.”
“And what about things here? You want us to handle the mess, or should we call in Billy?”
Billy was the club’s cleaner, and the man was unbelievable. In a matter of hours, he could make a mess like this disappear, so I wasn’t surprised when Viper said, “I’ll call Billy. We’ve got enough to manage with finding Danny.” As he took out his burner to call Billy, he turned to me and ordered, “You and Hawk take Shotgun and Lynch with you to go check it out. Don’t take any chances. Menace and I will be here with the others waiting on Billy, so just let me know if you need backup.”
“You got it.”
I hated leaving Viper and the others when there was so much that needed to be done, but I had no choice. Danny’s life was on the line. It took us some maneuvering to g
et through all the wreckage, but we managed to make it out to one of the SUVs. Once we were loaded up, Hawk eased through the busted gate and out onto the main road. None of us spoke as we drove towards Brookshire Hill. We were too lost in our own heads to speak. I couldn’t stop thinking about the state we’d found Badger in. The poor guy had been through hell and didn’t make it out the other side. I prayed the same wouldn’t hold true for Danny. Even though he’d had a rough start, he’d proven himself to be a good kid with a good head on his shoulders. If given the chance, he’d make a hell of a brother. I had no doubt Hawk was just as concerned about Danny as I was. Even more so. If Danny was dead, he’d have to find a way to tell his ol’ lady that her brother was gone, and that wasn’t something I’d wish on my worst enemy.
When we got to the house, I was surprised to find that it didn’t look all that different from my own. In fact, it might’ve been a bit nicer. It was an all brick, two-story home with well-maintained landscaping and even had a fucking swing on the front porch. Concerned we might be at the wrong place, I leaned up to the front seat and asked Shotgun, “Are you sure this is the right place?”
“It’s the address Grant gave me.” As he opened the door, he turned back to me and said, “Figure we gotta at least check it out.”
Without any further hesitation, Lynch and I got out of the truck and followed Hawk and Shotgun up to the house. There were no cars in the drive or lights on in the house, so we all assumed no one was home and went to find a way in around back. After checking all the windows, Shotgun decided to pick the lock on the back door. We all stood behind him as he knelt down and used his utility knife to pry the lock. When he got it opened, we followed him inside. Once again we were stunned by what we found. Shotgun shook his head as he looked around the living room. “This can’t be right.”
“Maybe this was Talan’s place before he lost his shit,” Lynch suggested.
“It could be any one of their houses.” Hawk was growing impatient and left the living room in search of Danny. When I saw that he’d gone off to check one of the bedrooms downstairs, I turned to Lynch and said, “Let’s go look around upstairs.”
He nodded, then followed me up to one of the smaller bedrooms. It was pretty basic—just a full bed and a dresser. No TV or pictures on the wall. When we were certain it was empty, we’d just started across the hall when we heard Shotgun shout, “Hey! Down here! He’s in the basement!”
Lynch and I raced down the steps and into the kitchen. There was a door open with a set of steps that led to the concrete basement below. Lynch followed me down to the lower floor and to my relief, we found Shotgun and Hawk standing next to Danny. They were working together to remove the restraints that held Danny’s hands over his head. The poor kid was busted up pretty good. His eyes were swollen shut, and his body was covered in bruises. They’d done a real number on him, but he was alive. That’s all that mattered. He was barely able to hold his head up as he muttered, “You came. You really came.”
“Of course we did, brother.” Hawk’s voice was strained as he told him, “Never leave a man behind, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.” Once Shotgun got Danny down, he scooped him up and started carrying him up the stairs. Danny’s voice quivered as he mumbled, “Badger.”
“We know, Danny.” Shotgun continued up the steps. “We know.”
“They made me watch. It was horrible. They just kept at him. Beat him unconscious, then beat him some more. Then, they burned him...Fuck. I don’t think I’ll ever get those screams out of my head.” It was difficult to listen to him relive the experience, but we knew talking about it was the only way he was going to keep his sanity. “Told me they were gonna do the same shit to me.”
“Not gonna happen, brother. We got ‘em. We got every last one of them.”
Sounding like he was on the brink of tears, he asked, “You sure?”
“Yeah,” Hawk answered. “We’re sure.”
We got him in the truck and rushed him back to the clubhouse. We were about to carry him down to the infirmary when I remembered Badger was there. As we started down the hall, I said, “Maybe we should take him on to his room. Doc can check him out there.”
“Good idea, brother.”
Shotgun took Danny down the hall to his room, and it wasn’t long before Doc arrived. While Lynch, Shotgun, and I went to go join the others, Hawk stayed to give Doc a hand with Danny. By the time we got back to the bar, my adrenaline had worn off, and I was feeling the fatigue creeping over me. Unfortunately, there would be no time for rest. The place really was a fucking mess. Along with all the casualties, there were busted bricks, splintered two-by fours, and broken tables and chairs that would have to be dealt with. And not only that. There was still the issue of the fucking dump truck that was still parked inches away from the giant fucking hole it’d made in the wall. It was hard to see our clubhouse in such a shambles, but I hadn’t forgotten what Viper told Skitz. We’d rebuild and make this place even better than before.
I was trying to catch my breath when Country stepped over to me and said, “Thanks for saving gauges for me. Wasn’t much left of him, but it felt good as hell to finish the motherfucker off.”
“No problem.” I gave him a pat on the back. “Good to have you back, brother.”
“Good to be back. Really fucking good.” Remorse filled his eyes as he said, “Sure sorry to hear about Badger.”
“Yeah, it was tough to lose him like that.”
Before I could say anything more, Billy and his crew arrived. When he stepped into the bar, I wasn’t surprised to see that he was wearing his usual freshly-pressed white button down with a pair of black slacks. His dark hair was combed back, his horn-rimmed glasses were on the tip of his nose, and he was carrying his same oversized duffle-bag. His brows furrowed as he looked around at the mayhem in front of him. “You boys really know how to throw a party.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing you can’t handle.”
“No, but like always, it’s gonna cost ya.”
“I’m sure it will.”
Billy dropped his duffle bag to the floor and pulled out his Hazmat suit. As he stepped into the suit, he asked, “What about the truck?”
“We’re gonna need it to get gone.”
“Good.” He zipped up his suit as he announced, “We’re going to need at least four hours.”
We took that as our cue to get out of Billy’s way and quickly dispersed. The next few hours and even days were an utter blur. Between the cleanup and preparing for Badger’s funeral, I’d barely had time to catch my breath, but we’d made progress. The wall was back up, along with the front gate, and we’d made some adjustments to the roof staircase, making it easier to access. We’d also taken care of Badger. Even though we’d proceeded with his memorial service, we’d decided to hold off on the last ride to spread his ashes until the following Sunday. Danny and Country wanted to be there to show their respects, so we gave them the extra time they needed to heal. It would also give us time to plan out the perfect ride for our fallen brother.
It had been just over a week since all the chaos ensued, but the families had returned home, and things were finally starting to settle down. When I’d left Frankie’s place, I knew it would be a while before I was able to get back to her. I just had no idea it would take as long as it had. I’d sent her a few messages here and there, letting her know I was still around, but I knew it wasn’t enough. I just hoped I’d be able to make it up to her.
By the time I made it over to her place, it was after ten. I was worried I might wake the boys up, so I went over to the side of the house and tapped on her bedroom window. Seconds later, the blinds shifted to the side and Frankie gasped, “Roman!”
I motioned my hand towards the front of the house. She nodded, then quickly disappeared from the window. By the time I made it back around to the front porch, she was standing there waiting for me. “I didn’t know you were coming by.”
“I wasn’t exactly planning on
it, but I got some time, and I needed to lay my eyes on you.”
Damn. She looked so damn incredible standing there in her nightgown with the moonlight shimmering in her hair. A smile swept across her beautiful face as she asked, “So, you missed me a little, huh?”
“More than a little.” I stepped towards her as I admitted, “Can’t remember ever missing anyone so much.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I missed you, too.” She placed her palm on my chest as she whispered, “It was hard not getting to see you, but I know a way you can make it up to me.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Um-hmm.”
She eased up on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth against mine. As soon as our lips touched, sparks flew and the world just seemed to fade away. There were no thoughts of ambushes or wounded brothers. It was just me and her, and I never wanted the moment to end. We’d barely gotten started when Frankie pulled back, and with lust-filled eyes asked, “How long can you stay?”
“As long as you want me to.”
Her smile returned as she reached down and took my hand in hers, leading me into the house. Once she closed and locked the door, we crept into her bedroom. She’d barely closed the door when our mouths met once again. Her lips were warm and soft, and each swirl of her tongue made the blood rush straight to my cock. I’d been AWOL for days. I needed to take it slow and show her how much I’d missed having her in my arms, but damn. I wanted her so fucking bad it hurt and having her hands on me wasn’t helping matters.
Thankfully, Frankie was feeling the same burning need I was feeling. Her eyes never left mine as she reached for the hem of my shirt and eased it over my head. Knowing the boys were in the house, I looked down at her and asked, “You sure about this?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m sure.” She pulled her nightgown over her head, exposing her perfect, round breasts, and that’s all it took. I was done. I had to have her. I lifted her into my arms and carried her over to the bed, carefully lowering her down onto the mattress. As I lay down next to her, she whispered, “We have to be quiet.”
