Smiley

by LeAnn Ashers

  I have officially moved in with Smiley. After everything in my apartment was ruined, I just hired someone to clean everything out, and that was it.

  I don’t miss my old apartment, that is for sure. That was a place where I slept, but my home is here with Smiley. Here I feel safe and at peace.

  I am deep in my thoughts, and it feels like only seconds have passed when we pull up outside the store.

  I scoot out the driver’s side, so Smiley doesn’t have to walk around to the passenger’s side. He holds my hand, and we walk into the store.

  The owner runs the store every single day. He usually greets everyone who comes through the door. But this time he doesn’t. I look over to where he usually sits, and he is there—but something is not right.

  I pull Smiley with me as I move closer. The owner’s eyes are closed, and blood covers his stomach and legs.

  “Smiley,” I whisper in pure disbelief at what I am seeing.

  Smiley tightens his grip on me and turns us around and, at the same time, we see a man pointing a gun at us.

  Smiley pulls me more tightly against his body. He runs with me until we are behind the counter. I can hear bullets hitting nearby. Smiley pushes me to the ground, his body in front of mine. He takes out his gun, looks over the counter, and shoots.

  I hear a large thump—I guess the gunman hit the ground. I am shivering hard. We almost just got shot.

  Smiley’s free hand touches my shoulder, like he is trying to comfort me. He takes out his phone. “Lane, someone just tried to fucking kill us at the shop.”

  Someone just shot at us—I can’t wrap my head around that—and without Smiley’s quick thinking I would be dead, because I just froze. And to think that I was planning on coming here by myself. I could have died, and Noah would have been without a mother.

  All of my babies. I just cannot imagine. If you’d asked me a year ago if I would have cared if my life ended, I would have said no instantly. Now I have so much to live for.

  “Sit here, baby, I am going to make sure this fucker is dead.”

  I nod, but I peer over the counter so I can watch. Smiley slowly walks over with his gun drawn. I want to go home and snuggle with my baby and Smiley. Smiley kicks the shooter in the foot, and the guy groans and touches his shoulder. “Turn your head, sweet girl.”

  But I don’t. Smiley kicks him hard in the face, knocking him out again. That is when I hear the roar of motorcycles.

  Smiley bends down and takes something out of the guy’s pocket. There is a picture of me.

  Of me.

  “Fuck!” Smiley yells, and the guys file into the room. I come out of hiding. Smiley holds out his arms, and I go to him instantly. Safety. I close my eyes for a second, collecting myself. I am shaking so hard that my knees are buckling.

  “What the hell happened?” Walker asks, taking in the sight of the guy on the ground.

  That is something I want to know. Smiley holds up the picture of me, showing the guys.

  “Wait,” Travis says. He puts his hand in the gunman’s pocket. There are more pictures, but they aren’t just of me. I gasp at the sight of Alisha; Brittany and her mom, Sharon; Shaylin; Bailey; and Lane’s woman, Amelia.

  They are after all of us, but who?

  Smiley tightens his grip on me. “We need to do a lockdown. Tell our tech guy to be on full alert and have the prospects stationed at the gates. Travis, tell some of the brothers to come here and get him and take him to an IT room. We have to question him.” Smiley is shouting out orders. He used to be a president, so I guess it’s second nature. I see so much of Smiley in Lane at moments like these.

  “Come on, baby, let’s get to the truck.” Smiley pulls me to his side, and we walk outside just as gunshots start up again. Walker runs to my exposed side, and both of them rush me to the truck. Smiley throws open the driver’s door and lifts me inside. Walker runs to his bike, and Smiley climbs in beside me. I watch in horror as the bullets hit the passenger-side window; they would have hit me in the head if the glass weren't bullet proof.

  “Smiley, I don’t understand how someone can want to hurt us.” I am so confused. Smiley takes out his phone. “Kyle, shit has hit the fan. A man just tried to kill Adeline, and in his pockets are pictures of the women from both clubs. They have a hit on their heads.” Smiley throws the truck in reverse, and we are out of the parking lot.

  I see a man run from behind the store, chasing us and trying to shoot. Travis tackles him to the ground, takes his gun, and hits him hard in the face, knocking him out.

  That is all I see before we rush to the house. “We have them both alive, and we are going to question them,” Smiley says into the phone. “Eight is good.”

  He calls someone else next. “Lock down all of the women’s houses. Code red.”

  He hangs up and throws his phone down in his lap. We sit in silence. I guess both of us are trying to wrap our heads around what is happening.

  The gate opens, and Lane is standing on the porch waiting for us. “What happened, Dad?” Lane pulls the door open as soon as we are in park.

  “Someone tried to kill Adeline, and inside his pocket were pictures of the women in the clubs. They have a hit on their heads.”

  FUCK!” Lane yells. He takes out his phone and calls someone. “Baby, it’s lockdown. I am locking the house down.” He clicks some stuff on his phone. “I am heading home right now.” Lane runs over to his bike.

  “We have both of the guys alive, eight o’clock.” Smiley smiles and Lane grins right back, looking a lot like his dad in that moment.

  Derek is standing at the entrance to the house, and he runs down the driveway. “I am going to Brittany.’

  “Told you the fucker wasn’t that sick,” Smiley mutters under his breath, and I laugh. I can’t believe I just laughed at a moment like this.

  But in a way, I feel like none of it can touch me with Smiley around. We walk inside, and I hear Noah whining, waking from his nap. I walk up the stairs and pick up Noah from his crib. “Did my sleepy baby wake up?” I rub his back.

  I hear buzzing around the house. The windows are being covered with shutters that make the house completely safe; basically, no one can get in. This is lockdown. The Devil Souls MC has the same set-up at their houses, but my apartment did not because, obviously, the building didn't belong to me, so I usually stayed at the club.

  “How is my son?” Smiley walks into his nursery. I kiss Noah on his forehead, closing my eyes, and I bask in holding him. It’s horrible to think that I might not have been here; I wouldn’t have gotten to see him grow up.

  Smiley wraps his arms around both of us. “You okay, sweet girl?” he says softly, hugging me.

  I nod. “I’m fine. I think it’s the shock of someone having a hit out on all of us. That is what I don’t understand.” It truly is hard to grasp the idea that, somewhere out there, people are planning to hurt us—only the women.

  Then it hits me: they are trying to hit the men where it hurts. There are truly sick and horrible people in this world.

  “We will fucking find out who’s behind this, that’s for sure.” Smiley kisses the side of my neck.

  I close my eyes, once again, to calm my racing heart and stop the shaking in my limbs, because my anxiety is horrible.

  “What do we do next?” I ask.

  “Stop worrying, this shit will be over before you know it.” He stands in front of me and touches my chin, lifting my face until he is looking me in the eye. “This guy tried to hurt you, and they are trying to hurt the women in the MC, and that includes the Devil Souls MC. That is the most unforgivable sin, never fuck with ours.”

  The power behind his words sends a chill up my back. He is pissed. “I’m okay.” I can tell it’s affecting him and, honestly, if he hadn’t been there, I would be dead. I am so glad he wanted to go with me.

  Noah starts crying in my arms. “I think someone’s hungry.”

  Smiley takes him from
me, tucking him against his chest. Smiley’s hand is about the size of Noah. Smiley takes his little blanket from the crib and carries him down the stairs. I follow them, my heart fluttering. I will never grow tired of seeing him with Noah.

  Smiley walks into the living room, and I fix Noah a bottle while Smiley rubs his little back. I hand Smiley the bottle. He takes it and raises his arm for me. I curl into his side, closing my eyes. I go to sleep, letting this horrible day be over with, as Smiley’s fingers run through my hair and down my arm.

  “Baby.” My eyes drift open. Smiley is on his knees in front of me. “It’s eight o’clock, go back to sleep if you want. Noah is asleep, the baby monitor is on the coffee table. A prospect is at the gate, and I am going to fortify the house.”

  I nod, closing my eyes. “Be careful, love you.” He puts a blanket over me, and I smile at his thoughtfulness. I will never get used to the little things he does for me. Sometimes it’s like I am in “The Twilight Zone” because he is unbelievably amazing.

  Smiley

  I hate leaving her home alone, but the house is completely locked down and no one can get in but me or the guys. Plus I have a prospect at the gate for good measure. It would take a hell of a lot to get into the house or over the gate. It’s electrified.

  I walk into the interrogation room. This one is huge because today it’s not just the Grim Sinners; the Devil Souls MC is also here because it involves them just as much.

  “Ready?” Lane asks me and I nod. I take my place at the front of the room. All of the women may have hits on them, but Adeline is the one they tried to kill today. I will never forget my panic at the sight of the gun pointed at her. The thought of losing her was unbearable. I am not sure I could have gone on. That is something I will never fucking know.

  I go to the far wall, where we have all the fucking toys we need to get the information we need. I grab the torch off the wall. I look at Torch, a brother to the Devils, and he smirks in acknowledgement.

  This is his specialty, and my daughter’s husband is named Butcher for a reason. Liam has been trained in the art of torture, and he is someone I would never want to cross. He was trained in how to keep them alive for months. He is vicious.

  He is standing right beside the fuckers, staring them down. Paisley is one of the girls with a hit on her head. She is pregnant, and she is Torch’s daughter as well as Liam’s woman.

  This shit is personal on a different level, because we are all affected. They threatened the thing that means the most to all of us, our worlds, our women, and that is the stupidest thing you can ever do.

  I face the fucker who put the gun to Adeline.“We can do this two ways. We can make you suffer for months, or I can torture you a bit and then we will call it a day.”

  He shakes his head. Okay then.

  That is when I notice the tattoo on his neck. I take my knife out of my pocket and cut his shirt off. I point to the fucking tattoo. “The Radevos,” I hiss. The fucking crime boss from Hawaii.

  “Ahh.” Kyle moves to stand by me.

  “In Hawaii, someone tried to kidnap Adeline right in front of my fucking face, and I killed him. Come to find out he was the son of the crime boss.”

  “I think we should send a message, don’t you?” Lane grins.

  Kyle turns around. “Butcher, I think this is your specialty. Right hand.”

  We three back up, and Butcher walks over to the wall and gets what he needs: a huge knife. He walks to the guy on the left, the one who wasn’t in the store but was stationed on top of it. Butcher grips his right hand and cuts it off, right at the wrist. The guy holds up his arm, screaming. Kyle steps up and shoots him in the head, ending him.

  Lane walks over to the last guy standing and grips his face. “You will tell us everything we want to know.”

  The guy looks around the room—then at his friend, on the ground, dead. The crime boss of the Radevos gave us a list and the price of twenty-five thousand dollars for every woman in the club and fifty thousand for the kids.”

  Hold the fuck up.

  The kids?

  Our babies.

  That shit is something that I never dreamed of. What kind of pieces of shit want to hurt babies?

  “They wanted to get you guys where it hurt the most then leave you with nothing, because you killed his son.”

  What the fuck was I supposed to do? Let him take her?

  “His son tried to take Gigi,” Kyle says. Everyone in this place is pissed.

  “Just end him,” Lane says. I take out my gun because this is my right. I shoot him and his body goes limp.

  “We need to get out of town,” Kyle tells everyone. Lane looks at me and I nod.

  “We have a house two hours from here, there is more than enough room for everyone,” Lane says. We have this house for moments like this; it looks like an ordinary house but it’s extremely well protected. “Let’s go to the conference room, we have a video of the house.” Lane walks out of the room.

  I am so fucking proud of him. He is a better president than I was; he has done nothing but make the club stronger. It’s hard to believe, at moments like this, that this is my son. The son I raised by myself, who ran around the house in his underwear with a cape around his neck.

  As the club grew, more people wanted to take that away from us. We had a huge problem with a club that dealt with sex trafficking and drugs. We did everything legally, and they were threatened by that. There was a war for years, until we become the most feared club in Texas.

  Then the Devil Souls MC came into the picture, and they had the same goals we had. They become a part of our club in ways. My daughter married a member of the Devil Souls MC, and Adeline is the mother of an ole lady to the Devils. It’s all fucking connected, and it feels like a family. That is all I ever wanted: to have a brotherhood that is a family.

  I never had a family growing up. I was in foster care and then, at the age of eighteen, I went into the Marines. I got a taste of the brotherhood and then, when I was out, I was fucking lost, so I started the club with my military brothers. Then it grew, and we fought, killed, and did everything we could to make it what it is today, and I am fucking proud of the outcome. I am fucking happy. I have my woman and my sons, Noah and Lane, and my baby girl, Shaylin.

  Lane is showing us pictures of the property. It’s fucking huge. Everyone, including the kids, will have their own bedroom, and there is a huge armory in the basement. “We need to move everyone tonight. I don’t want to take any chances with the women and kids.”

  Kyle agrees, and Lane takes out his phone and calls some prospects to get supplies for the house. All the guys in the room have their phones out. I guess they are telling the women what is going on.

  “I am going to head home and pack, and I will be back here by eleven,” I tell the guys and walk out to the truck.

  “Baby, wake up.” Smiley kisses my cheek, and I smile and open my eyes. “We have to pack. The Devils and the Grim Sinners are going to a safe house two hours away.” Smiley looks exhausted. I look at the clock; it is nine thirty. Something really bad must have happened for the clubs to go to the safe house together.

  “What happened, Smiley?” I ask him, watching his every move.

  He looks at the ceiling, his hands clenched at his sides. He finally looks at me, and I can see how deeply pissed he is. Something is different; I can see him shaking.

  “They didn’t just put a hit on the women, but also the kids.” His voice is rough with emotion.

  I cover my mouth in disbelief. “Smiley, how could someone do that?” This is just sick!

  “Both clubs are going to a safe house in the country until all of this dies down. The prospects will be taking orders for everything we need when we get there, and they will deliver it.”

  “Let me go pack, can you gather up the bottle and formula?” I ask him. He nods and I hurry up the stairs, the hair on the back of my neck standing up.

  I am so mad. I
f I have a chance to face the person who did this, I will kill them. You can do a lot and I will let it go, but mess with my babies? That is something I will kill you for, and I won’t think twice about it. I just can’t believe all of this is happening.

  I know everything will be okay; I won’t accept less anymore. I have so much to fight for.

  I fill a large duffel bag with Noah’s clothes and blankets. I take out the box of diapers I bought a couple of days ago, which hasn’t been opened yet, and set a box of wipes on top of it. I fill another bag with his other necessities. Smiley comes up the stairs and helps me fold up the bassinet.

  Then I have to pack for myself while Smiley packs his own bag. Well, it’s a huge suitcase, and we stuff it full. I put our toiletries in a small travel bag. By the time we are finished, an hour has passed. Smiley grabs the car seat and gently, trying not to wake Noah, he buckles him up.

  “Ready, sweet girl?” He holds out his hand for me to take.

  “As long as I am with you, always.” I kiss the back of his hand.

  He gives me that smile. “I love you, baby.”

  “And I love you.” I smile back. Smiley picks up Noah, and we walk out of the house. Smiley has already loaded all the stuff into the truck. I tried to help him, but he wanted me to stay inside the house.

  “Let’s do this.”

  Adeline

  The Grim Sinners’ clubhouse parking lot is filled with trucks. The truck next to mine is Alisha’s.

  “Let’s roll!” Lane yells, and he takes off in front of the line. Smiley follows him and everyone falls into formation.

  I roll up the window, and Smiley takes my hand, holding it in his lap. It’s an amazing sight: the huge line of people following us.

  People are standing outside their houses watching us drive down the road. I’m sure they know something is going on.

  It’s just not safe for everyone to be separated anymore, and it will make me feel better to have all of my babies in the same place.

  “What will you guys do about the Radevos?” I ask.

  “Kill them.” Okay then, I guess that settles that. “Sweet girl, I don’t want you to worry, because this shit isn’t going to touch you and the women. We will come out standing, and they will be buried six feet under. There is no other outcome.”