Blacktop Freedom (Kings of Vengeance MC Book 7)

by Winter Travers

"You just did," Dyno countered.

  "You do know that your girlfriend is my best friend and that best friends override boyfriends, right?" Kimber growled. "I can make your life miserable without having to lift a finger."

  "I don't know if pregnancy is agreeing with your woman," Dyno mumbled.

  "Fancy," Kimber called.

  Dyno's jaw dropped.

  "Keep it up," she threatened him.

  Dyno pointed at Quinn. "Quinn is trying to give detective Kaye the slip, and Brick used to bump uglies with Kaye."

  Kimber's eyes widened, and she gasped loudly.

  "You fucking traitor," Quinn spat.

  "Bro, she was going to fuck with me, and I had to distract her." Dyno slapped Quinn on the back. "I figured you could take one for me, brother."

  "You can't put the slip on Kaye," Kimber shouted.

  "Give the slip," I corrected Kimber. "He's not trying to dress Kaye."

  Kimber pointed her finger at me. "You're next. I figured you and Kaye had something going on from things I have heard, but Dyno just confirmed everything."

  "We hooked up for a while, and then, we stopped." Yeah, I was more than likely going to kick Dyno's ass. But I didn't need Quinn's ol' lady giving me the third degree about Kaye.

  "Right," Kimber drawled. "I'm sure it was cut and dry like that, too."

  As far as she was going to know, it was.

  Kimber turned back to Quinn. "What is it that Kaye wants to know?"

  "Nothing, because there isn't anything to know."

  Kimber stared at Quinn.

  "Don't look at me like that, woman," he warned. "You know I'm not going to discuss any of this with you."

  Kimber continued to stare at him but pouted out her bottom lip.

  "No, Kimber," he thundered.

  "If there isn't anything for her to know, then why are you putting the slip on her?" Kimber asked.

  "Giving," I mumbled. If Kimber was going to be an ol' lady, she was going to have to start learning the lingo.

  "Whatever," Kimber mumbled.

  "We're not going to talk about this, Kimber. It has nothing to do with you." Quinn lifted her and set her feet on the floor.

  "You just lifted me off of you," Kimber gasped. She folded her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. "You know what I said I could do to Dyno? I can do the same thing to you."

  Quinn's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't even think about it," he growled.

  Kimber smirked. "Watch me, Quinn." Kimber turned on her heel and flounced down the hallway toward the bedrooms.

  "And that right there is why I say ol' ladies are nothing but trouble." I reached over the bar and dropped my empty glass into the sink.

  "Hey, it's your ol' lady who is trying to give us problems right now."

  I leaned my elbows on the bar and sighed. "Kaye is not my ol' lady. Never was."

  "Being with the same chick for a year seems like a good definition of an ol' lady."

  "I don't want to fucking talk about this, Quinn."

  "You never want to talk about it."'

  "Because I don't have a fucking think to say about it. It's in the fucking past, and that is where it is going to stay."

  Quinn sat back on his chair and folded his arms over his chest. "You can't put something behind you until you deal with it, Brick."

  "I thought Lynn was the fucking shrink, not you."

  Quinn shrugged. "I don't have to have a fucking degree to know that you got a whole lot of fucking baggage that you need to work through."

  "And you think you're the person to help me sort through that shit?"

  Quinn leaned toward me. A smirk spread across his lips. "I think I'm the best option you have right now. That is, unless you want me to call Zephyr and see if Lynn can fit you into her schedule."

  "Do it and I fucking walk right out of here." The Kings of Vengeance were my family now, but I could easily walk away if they pushed me on things I didn’t want to talk about. If I wanted to discuss Kaye, I would. But not until I was ready to.

  Which was more than likely going to be never.

  "We've been through some shit, Brick. But you ain't gonna walk away from the club and me."

  If I had to, I would. "Kaye is more than likely swinging by today. We need to figure out what we're going to say and do."

  We weren't going to talk about my past with Kaye right now. We had bigger fish to fry.

  "And what do you think we should do?" Quinn asked.

  I shrugged. "I know she is persistent as hell, brother. You're not going to be able to simply brush her under the rug." I had been with Kaye for a year. I knew how she operated. She was like a dog with a bone when she was on a case trying to figure shit out.

  "You really think letting the cops in on what we are doing is a good idea?"

  "Or we send her on a wild goose chase on shit that has nothing to do with what we're actually doing," I suggested. "She wants to know why I was sitting outside of Steph's house. So, we give her a bogus reason and send her off on some tangent that ain't got shit to do with what’s really going on."

  "She's gonna find out really quick that we sent her on a wild goose chase, though."

  I tipped my head to the side. "Well, she would if what we tell her is an outright lie."

  "I'm not following what you are trying to say right now."

  I wasn't sure what I was trying to say, either. It was an idea that had just popped into my head. "What else is going on with the club? Something that we could use help with but wouldn't get anyone in hot water with the cops?"

  I had only been with the Kings for a couple of weeks. Though I felt that I was pretty much caught up with everything going on with the club, but there might be something I haven’t been let in on yet.

  "We got this shit with the Devil's Rebels and the strip club build happening. I'm waiting for the Royal Bastards to start breathing down my neck for their cut from the strip club, but that isn't anything I want Kaye sniffing around."

  We were on the good side of the Royal Bastards, and that was where we needed to stay. Even in prison, I knew who they were and what they were capable of.

  "Nothing we can keep her busy with."

  I blew out a sigh and crossed my arms over my chest. "I'll take care of her."

  Quinn swiveled his head to look at me. "Uh, say what? You'll take care of her? What the hell does that even mean?"

  I wasn't sure what I meant by it, either, but I could figure out ways to distract Kaye and keep her out of club business. "I mean, I'll take care of it. I can give her the run-around to make sure she keeps her nose out of the shit going down with the Devil's Rebels."

  "Pretty sure you are the last person who should be giving the cops the run-around. You haven't even been out of prison for very long, Brick. So, you're gonna fuck with your parole and get thrown right back into the slammer," Quinn worried. "I went five years without my best friend. I'm not doing that shit again."

  "I'm not going back to prison, Quinn. You can get that fucked up thought out of your head." I would die before I was hauled back to that place. "Just leave Kaye to me."

  It was the least I could do for the club. They had welcomed me with open arms when I was fresh out of prison and no one knew me but Quinn, so now it was time for me to pay them back.

  “You're fucking nuts. You just told me you don't even want to talk about Kaye, and now, you're telling me you're going to be the one to keep her out of our hair?” Quinn shook his head. "I think prison might have fucked with your head, brother."

  Prison hadn't done a damn thing to my head. If anything, it had given me the time I needed to get my head right. "I'll make sure she doesn't stick her nose anywhere we don't want her to be."

  “Why don’t we find out what it is she actually wants, and then we’ll decide if you need to take one for the club, yeah?”

  I rolled my eyes. “She was keeping tabs on me, Quinn, and I can damn sure tell you that if she is following me, she is following everyone else in the club.”
<
br />   “Well, let’s find out why.” Quinn smirked. “As of right now, we don’t really know what we are up to other than trying to follow the trail of the drugs in Whitmore.”

  I shook my head. “Which is probably what Kaye is trying to do, but she’s not getting very far because she’s a cop.”

  Quinn stood and clapped me on the shoulder. “Well, you’re probably right, but I think we’ll just wait to see if Detective Kaye decides to pay a visit or not.”

  He sauntered down the hallway while whistling.

  How the hell could the guy be whistling right now?

  Not only was his ol’ lady pissed off at him, but we also had a cop who was more than likely going to come knocking on our door.

  I was more than okay with being the one to take care of Kaye, but I didn’t think Quinn understood just how persistent that woman was. I could keep her occupied for a while, but I wasn’t sure I could hold her off forever.

  Kaye Crew was a rare breed who I was sure was matched well against the Kings of Vengeance.

  If she did show up today, it was going to be interesting.

  Things always were when Kaye was around.

  *

  Chapter Three

  The arrangement…

  Kaye

  “You need to eat.”

  I rolled my eyes and grabbed a protein bar from my desk drawer. “Happy?”

  After tearing it open, I ripped off a bite with my teeth.

  “Not really. I’m sure that thing tastes like stale cardboard.” Clint held up his sub. “You can have half of this, if you want.”

  I wrinkled my nose and shook my head. “I’m sure that thing is loaded down with onions. I will spare you having to smell that all afternoon.”

  Clint frowned at his sandwich. “Of course, it is loaded with onions. Is a sub really a sub if it doesn’t have loads of onions on it?”

  I didn’t normally have anything against onions, but when I was going to be shut away in a car or meeting with people, I figured onions were not the best choice. “I have mints.”

  Clint shook his head. “I don’t like your mints. They’re too minty.”

  I tipped my head to the side. “Uh, isn’t that the whole point of eating a mint? You want it to be minty?”

  Somedays, I wondered if Clint might have a few screws loose or something. Thankfully, he always came through when we were in a pinch. I had a few partners in my time with the force, and Clint really was the best so far.

  “I don’t like your mint. I like that wintery mint.”

  I closed my eyes and sighed. “Maybe I should just go talk to the Kings by myself?” I volunteered.

  Clint shook his head. “Nope. I’m coming with. The past you have with Jax could really mess up this case for us.”

  “I don’t have a past with Jax,” I insisted.

  Clint scoffed. “Bull-fucking-shit.”

  “Well, I don’t have a past that could affect this case,” I grumbled.

  “And what case would that be?” Clint laughed. “I don’t think we really have a case yet. Right now, we’re trying to fucking find one.”

  And we were getting close to having one. I could feel it.

  Jax wasn’t watching Steph as a favor for Zephyr or Lynn. He was waiting for something to happen.

  “You think you can eat that in the car?” I asked Clint.

  “We’re going already?” he whined. “I was hoping to eat this at my desk and watch an episode of my show.”

  “The fact that you openly admit to watching soap operas is highly amusing to me, Clint.” Every day, like clockwork, Clint could be found watching his soap opera for an hour, and you better not interrupt him unless someone was dead.

  “They’re entertaining, and I watch them so I can tell Mom about them.”

  That was his excuse for watching them. He always told me he struggled to find things to talk about with his mom, and he had discovered that she loved to talk about her shows. To each their own, I guess. Whatever made Clint happy.

  “We’ll leave when your show is over. Not a minute later,” I growled. I tried to be a hardass and be the boss, but with Clint, it wasn’t so easy.

  I was the lead detective, but I wanted everyone to feel like I was equal to them. Good most of the time, but when I needed to be the boss, it was hard.

  Clint pasted a huge smile on his face and headed over to his desk.

  “One hour,” I called after him.

  Clint raised his onion-laden sub in the air. “You got it!”

  I shuffled through the papers on my desk until I found what I wanted.

  Jax’s face stared back at me on the white piece of paper. Why did he have to be back in my life?

  Of all the motorcycle clubs he could have joined, it had to be the one right here in Whitmore.

  Jax and I were both from the area, but I had hoped when he was released from prison that he would have gotten the hell out of here.

  I hadn’t been lucky at all.

  Now drugs were overrunning the streets of Whitmore, and from what I could tell, the Kings of Vengeance had something to do with it.

  They likely weren’t the one supplying the drugs, but they were somehow involved with it. It was too much of a coincidence for one of Deedra’s informants to die. I couldn’t believe that the Kings were just going to let it go and not do anything about it.

  I loved being a detective, but sometimes, it was hard to get any information because of my job. Talking to Jax was my chance to figure out what he was doing at Steph’s house, but he had clammed up and played dumb.

  He had been watching her for a reason, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Was she somehow connected to the drugs that were flowing through Whitmore? I had to believe that if that were true at all, Lynn would nip that shit in the butt. A drug counselor having her own family doing drugs seemed like a tall order to swallow.

  Though I had seen crazier things.

  Like a detective’s boyfriend being arrested for drug possession with the intent to sell. That was the craziest thing I had ever seen.

  I thought I had really known Jax. We’d shared a bed for a year and I never once thought he was the type of person I put in jail.

  Then, two months into an undercover operation, Jax walked right into the middle of a drug deal as the Seller. I was in the van listening to the deal, and my mind whirled with disbelief as I listened to him call the shots.

  I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t haul ass out of the van and yell at Jax for being there. All I could do was sit there and know I was going to have to arrest the man I loved.

  At least, the man I thought he was who I loved.

  Now, five and a half years later, my life was what I had always wanted it to be. But Jax was right back in in it.

  Forty-five minutes later, Clint walked back into my office with his coat tossed over his shoulder and smirk on his lips. “You ready to hit it?”

  “You get your fill of your show?” I laughed.

  “So much to talk about with Ma when I get home.”

  I shook my head, grabbed my jacket, shrugged it on, and pulled my hair out from under my coat. “I think this might be the reason why you don’t have a girlfriend, Clint.”

  “And I am more than okay with that. I tried the whole girlfriend thing. They never understand why I work so much and instead want me to be home so we can go pumpkin picking and stare at each other.”

  “Stare at each other?” I laughed. “Dating must have really changed, huh?”

  “You dated in the stone age, Kaye. I can’t keep up with all the apps and lingo they have going these days. I am more than okay with watching my shows and talking about them with Ma over dinner.”

  “Another reason why you might not have a girlfriend is the fact that you live next door to your mom.” While I thought it was endearing and sweet that Clint had a close relationship with her, I was sure there were women out there who wouldn’t be too keen about it.

  “I don’t drop that bombshell on the la
dies until I know they might stay around.”

  I tipped my head to the side. “So, you haven’t told any of them?”

  Clint flipped me off. “Why don’t you get your ass up and we can go talk to your ex who so happens to also be the last man you were with.”

  I rolled my eyes and stepped around my desk. “You can bet your ass that I will never be going to the bar with you again.”

  Clint and I walked out of the station and over to my unmarked car.

  “You really think we are going to get anything out of these guys?” Clint asked.

  I opened my door and slipped behind the wheel. “The only thing I know is I won’t get anything if we don’t talk to them.” I started the car and backed out of my parking spot. “Maybe Quinn will be a bit more rational than Jax was last night.”

  “We calling him Jax or Brick?” Cling asked. “Shit is going to get confusing.”

  He would always be Jax to me. At least, the man I used to know was Jax. “We can call him Brick.” That might help me be able to separate our past from what I was trying to do now.

  “You ever wonder what your road name would be if you were part of a motorcycle club?” Clint asked. “You know, it’s kind of cool to be able to get a new name. Especially if the one that your parents gave you was shit.”

  I shook my head. “I’m nowhere near interesting enough to be able to get a road name.”

  Mine would more than likely be Snitch if you were to ask Jax. Maybe even Traitor since I didn’t give him a heads up before he was arrested.

  “I would think mine would be something cool like Outlaw or Thunder.”

  I glanced over at Clint. “The detective thinks that his road name would be Outlaw?” I laughed. Talk about irony.

  “I never said I would be a cop if I was in a motorcycle club. Pretty sure that’s a huge contradiction.” Clint scoffed. “You don’t know anything about these motorcycle guys, Kaye.”

  “Maybe not,” I mused. “Just because you are a biker doesn’t mean that you’re some badass breaking the law at every turn. There are quite a few clubs that are good and even raise money and awareness for charities.”

  Before Jax had been arrested, we had gone on a few runs for various charities. They had been a fun time, and in the process, we raised money for kids and people in need. Those memories were good ones I had with Jax. Most of my memories were good with him, they just all seemed to be overshadowed by the last couple of bad ones.