by Karen Renee
I whispered, “He didn’t do anything. He’s got a new baby on the way. Very soon, he’s not gonna have time to fuck up my life.”
“Wrong,” Vamp all but snarled at me.
My head tilted in bewilderment. How could he possibly know that was wrong? Vamp saw the confusion in my eyes, and he didn’t waste any time filling in the blanks for me.
“His half-sister is a psycho-bitch named Starla. Anybody tell you that?”
Trixie had been keeping her head down during this pow-wow, but she piped up with, “Oh, yeah. We filled her in about Starla and Mallory’s debacle earlier this afternoon.”
Vamp’s eyes cut to her and then right back to me. “Well, the reason I was held so much longer for questioning is two-fold. Stillman has a rock-solid alibi for when his sister-in-law got beaten. He was holding his wife’s hand during her thirty-hour labor and delivery over at St. Vincent’s.”
That’s not good, I thought to myself.
“The second reason my questioning went so long is that I have a prior aggravated assault on my record from my early days as a prospect. It didn’t help that I was in between your place and Daytona when Emily was assaulted. The only reason they let me go was that Emily woke up round five o’clock, and one of the uniformed officers watching her room showed her a picture of me and she adamantly denied it was me who beat her. In fact, she told them she knew who beat her, and Winston and DeMarco had to get over to Baptist to get her statement.”
The waitress chose that inopportune moment to deliver our beverages. When she unloaded her tray, she asked for our orders, so we all hastily gave her our selections and she scurried away. I took a sip of my Sprite, letting all of this new information settle in my brain.
“But why would they suspect you to begin with? You don’t even know Emily.” I asked.
Vamp put his coffee cup down with a thunk. “No, but that friend of hers knew that you and she had met on Tuesday. The friend also knew Emily wanted you to talk to her sister about Stillman taking his hands to you. Had I not been the one to drop you at your place, I might not have been questioned, but then again you might not have had the club’s lawyer at your service either. They made you on the back of my bike. When I didn’t immediately drop you off, they followed and they ran the plates on my bike before coming into Starbuck’s. Biker with a prior assault on his record, and a pretty thing like you on the back of his bike. It’s not good to make assumptions, but at the same time with their job and an unconscious victim, they have to ask anyone who might know something about it.”
While listening to Vamp tell me about why the JSO would want to question him, I was spinning my glass around on the table. I stopped doing this, looked up at Vamp and said, “Well, back to the issue that has upset you and Cal –”
“And me,” Tucker put in from behind Vamp, where he was sitting sideways in his booth. “I’m pretty damn pissed-off you didn’t tell me while you were arguing with me about seeing all three pairs of shoes you had me tote over to this side of town for you. I would have hunted that bastard down and still hauled the three of us to the Metro in time for fun.”
With a shake of my head, I said, “Ok! I fucked up. But like I said, he didn’t do anything tonight. He’s got a newborn infant. C’mon.”
Cal, who was off the phone, put an elbow on the table, leaned on it and pointed his finger at me. “No. You c’mon. It’s been a while, but you know the drill. I know you do. That asshole doesn’t get to do shit around you anymore. That’s why you needed Riot at your back tonight. He wouldn’t have even walked in that fuckin’ joint. Now. We need to know, did he leave immediately after talking to you and your boss? Or did he stop and make a phone call or something?”
I closed my eyes before I even tried to respond, but that gave my answer away and I heard Vamp hiss out, “Shit! Goddamn motherfucker.”
The next words I heard were Cal speaking into his cell phone, “Yo, Prez. Just got more info from Rainey. Asshole apparently made a call on his cell before he left the restaurant she was at with her boss. Yeah. If they can do that, it’d be good, though it’s not cool to owe those bastards a marker.”
There was a pause from Cal and then he gave a series of grunts or ‘Um-hmms’ to Henry. His finger poked the end call button on the screen of his phone with an unnecessary force and I knew he was thoroughly pissed with me.
Before I could say anything, Mallory asked, “Owe who a marker?”
His gaze cut to her momentarily while he said, “The Leathernecks. They’ve been trying to track down Starla lately. Guess she’s been tryin’ to screw them over. They had eyes on her up until a couple weeks ago, when she went off the grid. They had ears on her cell phone, but they’re thinking she’s using a different burner. Volt gave them info on Stillman, thinking they might find her that way.”
“Oh-kay,” I drawled.
Vamp grabbed my hand that was resting on the table. “They’re tryin’ to figure out if Stillman has been in contact with Starla tonight.”
“Or at all in the past week or more,” Cal put into the conversation.
I had no idea how they could possibly figure that shit out, but it had been quite some time since I had been in the MC lifestyle. I knew these guys were not above using their fists if information was needed; how they’d get what they needed from cell phone numbers and shit, I had no idea.
I scowled down at the table and then looked back up the guys, “I don’t mean to be dense, really I don’t, but what difference does it make if the two of them have been in contact? I didn’t do anything to this woman, and I don’t have any family members who owe her father a debt. What could she possibly want from me?”
Mallory mumbled, “Vamp. For herself.”
I tilted my head her way with an eyebrow arched. “You can’t be serious. She’s got to know the score with MC guys. A woman doesn’t get to have a biker unless that biker wants to be had by a woman.”
“Coulda fooled me,” Vamp muttered under his breath.
I whipped my gaze to him, “You know what I mean. A woman approaches you when you’re unwilling to have a woman approach, you shut that shit down. Any of your available brothers would. Hell, it doesn’t just apply to women. A biker wants to be left the fuck alone, the biker gets left the fuck alone. She doesn’t get that, then she's all kinds of stupid.”
Vamp and Cal weren’t looking at me any longer. Their gaze had shifted up and to their left as two men wearing jeans and dress shirts walked past and toward the restrooms, which were just beyond the other table with Tucker, Reggie and Jim. After the two men walked by, I realized the wine I drank earlier and the Sprite I was drinking now were putting a toll on my bladder.
I nudged Trixie with my shoulder, “I gotta go to the restroom. Let me out please, Trixie.”
“I gotta go too, girl. So, let’s hit it.”
Cal, Vamp, and even Tucker were giving me the side-eye as Trixie and I left the booth to make our way to the women’s restroom. There were two stalls in the cramped bathroom, and Trixie and I both took care of business quickly. I washed my hands in the main vestibule while Trixie had the handicap stall with a sink inside it. Trixie preceded me out of the restroom, and when she opened the door to the dining area of the restaurant, I could hear male voices sneering, at the table with Reggie and Tucker.
“Would’ve thought people like them could make their own damn fab-you-lass waffles in their own damn homes.”
Vamp and Cal had turned to face the two men, who were standing with their backs to us. Fury coated their faces, and I knew Vamp was barely keeping a hold on his temper.
“Get back to your fuckin’ table, asswipe. Otherwise, I’ll pull your head, which is clearly up your own ass, out through your fuckin’ throat.”
The taller of the two men turned to Vamp, and I could see his profile. He had dark short-cropped hair that was styled like a yuppie hipster. He gave Vamp a sneer and said, “Hard to be scared of someone who obviously identifies with a pin-cushion as their spirit animal.”
Trixie was ahead of me and she shoved the dark-haired man, “Don’t fuck with him. It’ll be hard to live it down when I beat your ass before he can pull your head out of your ass. Go! You dumb-ass motherfuckers.”
The two men slowly walked away, but I could still hear them say, “Fuckin’ tramps and gays.”
I grabbed Trixie by the shoulders before she could pounce on the two assholes from behind. She had the spunk and cat-fighting skills to take on either one of them, but in no way was she was prepared to take on two at one time in a Waffle House.
“Ignore them,” I whispered to Trixie as she shot daggers at me with her eyes. After a few moments she gave me a chin-lift to indicate that she was cool, and I scooted into the booth ahead of her.
Our waitress showed up with a huge round tray which was mounded with our various plates. She quickly doled out the greasy and sugary goodness, tucked her tray under her arm and asked if anyone needed anything else. When we all indicated we were set, she turned on her heel and left us to our food.
*** ***
I nearly spit out my last bite of French toast when Reggie turned around to tell Trixie, “You ever want to make the turn, there were a bunch of butch women eyeing you up, sweetie.”
Mallory let out a slight giggle, and asked, “Trixie?”
Reggie nodded, but since Mallory couldn’t see him directly, he added an emphatic, “Mmm-hmmm.”
Trixie put her fork down on her plate. “No, I just can’t do it, y’all. It would serve a certain someone right for me to do just that, but I’m all about big burly bikers.”
Once our plates were cleared away from us and our respective bills were paid, Mallory made a quick trip to the restroom, and Reggie and Tucker did the same.
Cal gave me a pointed look. “So, you remember that bikers don’t take random approaches from strangers, male or female, without repercussions, but for whatever reason you seem to have forgotten that our old ladies always and I mean always breathe easy? No more mistakes, Rainey. Straight up, Starla is one-hundred percent insane in the membrane. She wants my brother, here, and she always has. After her sick-ass stunt with Mallory, it was made abundantly clear that would never happen, but there was something in her eyes that day. Fuck. I’ll never forget that shit. She’s whacked, and I knew that our message hadn’t fully sunk in. We got rid of her ass, and she’s been layin’ low, but obviously not that low.”
“I’m not –” I started to say, but surprisingly, Trixie interrupted me.
With a sharp stab of her acrylic-tip manicured finger to my chest, she said, “You are, too. You are Vamp’s old lady even if you don’t have a cut yet or if you don’t have a ring on your finger. You’re his and always have been. You should be breathin’ easy. Especially after what that asshole did to your face, hand, and ribs. So don’t you dare say you’re not, because you’re wrong.”
I sighed, nodded and said to her, “Okay. I got it.”
Vamp got up and waited for Trixie to let me out of the booth. Once I was standing, he put an arm around my waist and said, “Damn right, you got it. Now, let’s go. I got a bed at the clubhouse callin’ our names.”
We all ambled out of the restaurant and approached our vehicles. We had all managed to park close to one another. Reggie and Tucker were approaching Reggie’s electric-blue Audi A4, when suddenly the dark-haired asshole who had been hurling insults at them came around the opposite side of the vehicle. There were three other guys with him, and to my dismay one of them was Cheater Number Ten, Bradley. The dark-haired asshole punched Reggie in the gut, and the other three laid into Tucker. A three-on-one sneak attack was the only way those douchebags would have been able to even remotely take Tucker.
Vamp immediately released my waist and I heard Cal call out, “You get asshole one, the prospect and I will get those other three fuckers.”
I couldn’t decide where to focus as all of this went down, I was just as worried about Tucker as I was about Reggie, and as I tried to decide I realized Reggie had just trudged by me back into the restaurant. I looked to where he had been standing and saw Vamp stooped over the dark-haired asshole, pounding into his face. Blood was gushing from the guy’s nose and his hands were clawing at Vamp’s wrist where he held the asshole down to the ground. I chanced a look over to where Cal, and Jim, the prospect, had pulled two of the three men off of Tucker. With only one-on-one action, Tucker had the other attacker well in hand.
Reggie came out of the restaurant holding a wad of napkins to his nose and tilting his head backward. A male body thudded in front of Trixie, Mallory, and me, and Bradley’s beady blue eyes glared up at us. A look crossed his face and a lousy feeling clenched my stomach. He slowly regained his feet and took a step directly toward me. He darted his hand out and grabbed me by my throat. I reflexively put my hands to his wrist, but a blur shot through my peripheral vision and I heard a dull crack. Bradley dropped his hand immediately, then shot his gaze toward Mallory, who was standing on my right side.
With both hands at his jaw, Bradley said, “What the fuck, you faggot-loving bitch!”
I noticed that Mallory had a startled look in her eyes, and I remembered I was wearing my four-inch-high heels, so I kicked him in the nuts as hard as I possibly could. He doubled over in agony, and I was tempted to kick him again in the head. I was too much of a soft touch, though, and I didn’t have it in me to follow through. Luckily, I didn’t need to follow through because Reggie got in on the act. As Bradley started to straighten himself, Reggie grabbed him behind the head and pulled Bradley’s head to his upward-surging knee. The crack of Bradley’s nose breaking was a gruesome sound, and I had to deep-breathe in order to keep my French toast and eggs down. Reggie shoved Bradley away, and Bradley collapsed in a heap in the middle of the parking lot. Cal was suddenly at Mallory’s side, and Trixie was following behind them as fast as she could in her four-inch heeled boots.
Vamp came to me and got in my space, but he said to Reggie, “Get in your car, let Tucker drive. Go. Now. Cops’ll be here in no time, and you two need to be out of here.”
Next thing I knew, Vamp dragged me to my SUV. I fumbled around to get my keys out, and as soon as he saw them, Vamp snatched them from my hand. He bleeped my locks and opened my door for me.
“You gonna be able to drive? Can put you on the back of my bike, or I can leave my bike around the block or something. Either way, I gotta know, right now, baby.”
I nodded to Vamp that I would be able to drive, and he firmly put my keys back in my hand. He took three strides to his bike, slung a leg over it and nodded to me to get in my SUV. I stepped up into the cab, and I thanked my lucky stars that I had the push-button ignition, because with my violently-shaking hands, it would have taken three tries to get a key into a standard ignition slot. I pulled out of my parking space once Tucker and Cal had passed by me. We all motored out of the parking lot and wove our way through the residential roads to a traffic light to get back onto Highway 17 southbound. The light turned green and our little convoy turned left onto the road. I took the turn a touch too fast, but all four wheels stayed on the ground, so all was good. We had driven four blocks south of the restaurant when three JSO squad cars zipped in the opposite direction toward the Waffle House with their lights swirling.
CHAPTER 23
I parked my SUV behind the clubhouse, and Vamp pulled his bike up directly behind my vehicle. Guess he wasn’t taking any chances of me trying to sneak off again. Before I powered off my SUV, I noticed it was two-fifteen according to the digital clock. I climbed out of the SUV and Vamp was right there, closing my door for me. He pinned me against the vehicle, and there was just enough moonlight for me to see the determined glint in his brilliant blue eyes.
“You ain’t goin’ anywhere else this morning, but if I have anything to do with it, you’ll do plenty of comin’.”
I tossed my head back and to the side at his corny remark. When I looked back to him, I said, “Really? That line sounds so well-practiced that I can’t h
elp but feel extra special to you.”
Vamp’s face was coming closer to mine, “You’re right. You’re not the first chick I’ve used that on, but one damn thing’s for sure: you’re the last one I’ll say it to anymore. Let’s get somethin’ else straight, you gotta stop throwing my past in my face. We’ve both fucked up in different ways, but this is a fresh start. Not sure what kind of shit my brothers got up to tonight, but since it’s a three day weekend, there’s a good possibility they might still be at it. You ready to call it a night?”
I was tired, but at the same time I knew I needed to get a feel for Vamp’s brethren when they were letting it all loose. To answer Vamp’s question, I just shrugged one shoulder.
Vamp leaned his face away from me a touch. “You’re up for more tonight? You’re sure?”
I shrugged both shoulders this time, and said, “Won’t get reacquainted with your brothers if I wait until the sun’s up. We’ll give it a go, and if I’m not down with it…well, there’s always your room, right?”
Vamp gave me a sly grin and said, “Right.”
Vamp tugged me into the clubhouse through the back door and straight to the common room. Alternative rock was blaring from a stereo and a couple was making out on one of the couches directly in front of us. The woman was astride the man and his hands were buried in her shorts ‒and underwear, if she was actually wearing any. He broke his kiss with her and moved his mouth to her ear. She peeked behind her at Vamp and a small smile spread across her lips.
The man leaned away from the woman on his lap and his baritone voice barked out to Vamp, “Brother, Samantha here is more than willing to have a threesome. You want in on this action? Ass or pussy, call it and it’s yours.”
