Unleashing Hound

by Harley Stone

  “Yes. HTML. I’ve forgotten more than I remember, though.”

  He waved off my concern. “Doesn’t matter. You learned it as a kid, you can relearn it. And I need the help now. I was gonna offer the job to Stocks, but my computers are too valuable for that loose cannon.”

  Apparently, Stocks had lost his shit at an office job and destroyed his company issued computer, landing his ass in jail for destruction of property. All the guys flicked him non-stop shit about it.

  “Besides, Stocks has his hands full helping Monica run that halfway house now. You need a job, you’re a brother, which means the club already vetted you, and I need someone who can start today. I don’t have time to dick around with interviews and references and bullshit. If you want the position, it’s yours.”

  He was hiring me on the spot.

  I couldn’t believe it. I must have applied for at least thirty jobs after the Navy sent me home. A few of them called me in for interviews, but I didn’t get one goddamn call back. Nobody wanted to hire a cripple who couldn’t lift shit or sit still for too long. And I couldn’t blame them since my body was unreliable as hell. I knew Link had shared my limitations with Morse, and the brother was taking a chance on me anyway. Gratitude threatened to choke me up. Clearing my throat, I answered quickly before he came to his senses and changed his mind. “Yes. I want the job. Thank you. I’ll… I’ll make sure you don’t regret it.”

  Morse waved me off again. “Like I said, it’s not like you’ll be saving lives. Most days, you’ll probably be bored out of your ever-lovin’ mind, but the work is steady and the hours and pay are good. I can’t offer benefits yet, but you have access to the VA anyway.”

  Still struggling to accept what was happening, I nodded.

  Morse met my gaze and his expression grew somber. “Listen, I’m sure after your injury and your stint in the slammer and rehab, you have plenty of doubts about yourself, but I don’t. The minute you put on that vest, you became my brother. This club is the only fuckin’ family I have, and I refuse to let any of my brothers fail. Not if I can help. I wasn’t physically injured, but I have some experience with what you’re facing.” He grabbed my shoulders and gave me a gentle shake, mindful of my back. “You’re more than a fuckin’ injury, a record, and an addiction, Hound. You’re a Dead President now, and we’re gonna help you get through this.”

  The conviction and faith in his words choked me up. Swallowing around the sudden lump in my throat, I croaked out, “Thanks, brother.”

  Brother.

  That word still felt foreign to me, but it also felt right.

  Giving me another nod, he released my shoulders. “Back to the tour. We have a private bathroom through that door.” He pointed it out before leading me past a divider wall and into a kitchenette. “Fridge, microwave, coffee pot. Cups and plates are in the cupboard above the sink. You’re welcome to use whatever you need, just wash it and put it away. We don’t have maid service and I sure as hell won’t clean up after you.”

  I couldn’t believe I was getting such a sweet deal. Not only did I have a job, but I had a boss who believed in me. We had an office kitchen and coffee, and I wouldn’t have to hike down the hall to take a piss. It was everything I could have asked for and more. To think, last night I’d been on the brink of giving up…

  Seemingly oblivious to all the shit going on in my head, Morse scooped ground coffee into the basket and pressed the brew button. The machine whirred to life, filling the air with the smell of heaven. “That’ll be ready in a minute. Let’s get you back to your desk, so you can complete the paperwork.”

  I had a fucking desk. I was so far over the moon, I felt high. That seed of hope I’d been trying to crush had not only sprouted, but the fucker was blooming. If it wouldn’t have hurt so bad, I would have danced a goddamn jig.

  Once the legal shit was out of the way, we dove right into my duties. I would be checking websites for coding inconsistencies and making corrections. At first, I worried that I was in over my head, and my perfect opportunity would drown me. Thankfully, Morse was a fucking genius and had created an in-depth coding cheat sheet. He showed me how to find what I needed and shared all sorts of tricks and shortcuts with me before standing and wheeling his chair back to his own desk.

  By the time I hit brew on the second pot of coffee, I had login credentials, a list of websites to go over, and a clear understanding of what I was supposed to do. Encouraged, I pulled up the first site.

  Morse was right, and a lot of the coding came back to me. Between what I remembered and his cheat sheet, I was able to successfully fix one site before I had to ask him a question on the second one. As he started to explain the answer, I remembered the code and blurted it out.

  He grinned. “See? It’s like riding a bike.”

  Confidence boosted, I fixed the code and pulled up the next site.

  Shortly after lunch, there was a knock on the door, and then Havoc, the club’s sergeant at arms, stuck his head in. The club’s muscle was a big man, who filled the whole damn doorway. “Hey Morse. Hound.”

  We each returned his greeting.

  “Morse, there’s a woman out here asking for you. Says she’s your cousin?”

  Morse’s eyebrows rose so high they practically hit his hair line. “My cousin?”

  Havoc nodded. “That’s what she says, but she sure as hell doesn’t look like you. She’s waiting by Link’s office. Want me to bring her back?”

  “Sure.” Morse chuckled. “Why the hell not?” As soon as Havoc walked away, Morse stood, shaking his head. “My cousin? There’s no fuckin’ way any of my cousins are here.”

  Havoc returned with the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen. Long caramel colored hair, a face that belonged on the cover of a magazine, curves for days, God couldn’t have crafted a more perfect specimen if He’d tried. Holding her head high, she strutted in with the confidence of a woman who knew she turned heads. Wearing a cashmere sweater, jeans, and high-heeled plush leather boots that looked like they cost more than I’d ever made in my life, the last place she belonged was in a motorcycle club.

  Surprise and recognition flickered across Morse’s features. “Meals?”

  Havoc must have taken that as a sign that everything was good because he left, closing the door behind him.

  The woman stared at Morse. “I’ve always hated that fucking nickname. Any chance you could not call me it ever again?”

  “Nope.” Morse laughed, stepping forward to wrap her in a hug. “Someone’s gotta remind you of who you are and where you came from.” They pulled apart and looked each other over for a moment before Morse introduced me. “Hound, this is my cousin, Meals, but all grown up.” He shook his head like he couldn’t believe it. “Damn. Last time I saw you, you were what? Fifteen?”

  “Sounds about right.”

  I stood to meet her as she turned to face me.

  Gorgeous green eyes drew me in and held me captive for a beat before her gaze dipped down to roam over my body. It didn’t feel like she was checking me out. Her evaluation seemed more like some sort of profiling. It was almost sterile the distant way she seemed to calculate my worth or my threat level or whatever the fuck she was doing. I knew exactly what I looked like, so I expected her to disregard me as beneath her attention, but she didn’t. Despite my cheap clothes and rough appearance, she gave me a bright smile.

  “Hound?” she asked, sounding genuinely interested.

  I nodded, offering her my hand. “And your name?” Since she’d made her hatred toward her nickname known, I sure as hell wasn’t going to call her that.

  Her smile widened, lighting up her eyes as she slid her hand in mine. Silky soft skin rubbed over my calluses and she squeezed my hand with a surprisingly strong grip. Something foreign yet welcome pinged between us. It was as if—after years of trying—I’d found chatter on an old radio frequency nobody used anymore. She was fucking fascinating, and I wanted to stay tuned.

  “Mila,” she replied. “Thank yo
u. Nice to meet you. Did my cousin give you your nickname? He’s kind of a sadistic asshole.”

  Barking out a laugh at her unexpected response, I answered, “No. I earned that one in the Navy.”

  “Meals here was a chubby baby.” Morse inserted. “She used to roll around in her walker with the tray loaded with snacks, always shoving something in her mouth. I was just a kid and thought my baby cousin, Amelia, was the funniest thing in the world. I started calling her Meals on Wheels, and it stuck.”

  “See?” Mila asked. “Asshole.” She glanced over her shoulder at Morse. “Thanks so much for that demeaning explanation. I’m sure Hound can die a happy man now that he knows my nickname’s origin story.”

  It was hard to imagine the beauty standing before me with her cheeks full of food, tottering around in a walker, but the tale was kind of cute. It gave me a peek into their relationship and family dynamic. The nicknames I’d overheard my family use for me were a hell of a lot worse. “Morse isn’t so bad,” I replied, unable to jump on her bandwagon after the man had just set me up with a job.

  “Morse?” She snorted, facing the man in question.

  “As in Morse Code. Earned it in the Air Force. You know, while I was serving the country and all that.” He studied her with open curiosity. “Aren’t you supposed to be up in Canada teaching third graders?”

  This sounded like a conversation I had no business in, so I sat my ass down and got back to work, pretending I couldn’t hear them.

  “School’s out for the summer.”

  “So, you just… what? Showed up on my doorstep? I’d ask how you found me, but that’s public knowledge on the social media profile I used when I friended you. What I don’t know is why you’re here.”

  “Can’t a girl miss her family?” she asked.

  “Not our family. A girl would have to be crazy to miss those fuckers. Don’t bullshit me, Meals. What are you really doing here?”

  She sighed. “Making a mistake. Obviously. I should go.” She headed toward the door, but Morse got there first, blocking her escape.

  “Go where? You must be desperate to hop a border and fly across the country to get to me. You know I’ll help you, I always have, but you’re high if you think I’m not gonna at least flick you shit after all this time. Talk to me. What’s going on?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her drop her head in defeat.

  “I need help.”

  “Okay.” Morse grabbed her shoulders, getting her to meet his gaze once again. “What kind of help?”

  “I think I’m in danger.”

  5

  Mila

  “HOUND, I HATE to interrupt your flow, but can you give me and my cousin a minute?” Levi asked the man who was working at the other desk. “This shouldn’t take long.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Hound stood, pushing his chair in before turning to face us. “Of course. Take all the time you need. I’ll be in the kitchen with my phone on me. Just shoot me a message when you’re ready for me to come back.”

  Levi nodded. “Thanks, brother.”

  Hound was a good-looking guy. His facial hair was that perfect length between a five o’clock shadow and two days’ worth of growth. It wasn’t unkempt enough to make him look homeless, but it added a sexy rough edge to his boyish good looks. Standing about six feet tall, with broad shoulders that tapered down to a narrow waist, his knock-off Dockers and Target brand shirt appeared to be hiding one hell of a fit body. Despite being in great shape, he moved with a slight limp. Halfway to me, he must have stepped wrong, because he sucked in a sharp breath. Clenching his fists and jaw, he took a measured step, as if testing out the stability of his leg.

  Our gazes met, and a staggering amount of pain and determination stared back at me. It was… intense, yet strangely comforting. They say like calls to like, and for one precious moment, he seemed to actually see me. Not the education, expensive clothing, and guises I hid behind, but me. I felt exposed, like he knew my struggle.

  I excelled at reading people, but I’d never shared a wordless conversation like that with anyone. Before I had time to process the strange connection, he was gone, making me wonder if I’d imagined the whole thing. If I’d read too much into the intensity in his eyes. The door closed behind him, snapping me back into reality.

  “Is that guy okay?” I asked.

  Levi eyed me suspiciously. “Why do you ask?”

  “He looks like he’s hurting.”

  Levi’s brows drew together like he was trying to figure me out. “Hound had an accident in the Navy. Fucked up his back pretty good. A handful of surgeries have restored functionality so he can at least walk and bend over, but nobody can seem to do shit about the pain. Unless science makes some miraculous breakthrough, he’ll most likely live with that for the rest of his life.”

  Hound couldn’t have been much older than me. Disgusted with the universe that had subjected him to such a bleak future, I shook my head. “Damn.”

  “Yeah, life sucks. Now, when are you gonna quit stalling and tell me about this danger you think you’re in?” he asked.

  Growing up, I’d been able to fool everyone but Levi. I hadn’t seen him since he’d left to join the military, but the familiar way he called me out on my shit made me smile. Ignoring his question, I asked, “Do you ever miss home?”

  Home.

  The word filled me with both longing and fear. It wasn’t a place I missed, but a time. No, a feeling. An innocence. A chapter of my life when people only died of natural causes and I didn’t worry about how Levi would look at me when I finally broke down and told him what I’d been up to.

  His expression hardened. “Nothing to miss. The compound was never a home to me.”

  Most people grew up in a town or a city, but we’d been raised in a compound, surrounded by fences and governed by a self-proclaimed holy man and the twelve elders he’d selected to help him.

  “The word home signifies safety and a sense of belonging. I didn’t play by their rules or believe their lies, and I still have the scars on my back to prove it.”

  “Spare the rod, spoil the child,” I replied, quoting the verse they used as an excuse to beat the sin out of us.

  “Yeah, well, I definitely wasn’t spoiled.”

  Remembering all the times I’d seen Levi get lashed for speaking out or disobeying, I winced. “You just had to play along, and they would have left you alone.”

  “Like you? I never figured out how to be fake like that, but you sure did. Always running errands for the elders with that Mayer kid.” He cocked his head to the side. “Hey, what ever happened to that kid, anyway? Figured you’d be married to him and popping out his perfect little goody-two-shoes babies by now.”

  “Toby?” I asked, surprised. I hadn’t thought about my childhood buddy in years. “We were just friends.”

  “You were just friends. Tobias had other ideas. Trust me.”

  Toby had never once voiced any sort of romantic interest in me, so I figured Levi was full of shit. “Shortly after you left, his dad had a stroke. He died a few weeks later, and Sister Mayer packed up Toby and moved them away. I never saw him again. Before he left, he promised to write, but I didn’t receive one letter.”

  “Do you really think the elders would have given you any correspondence from the outside world?”

  Back then I had believed they would. Toby was a good kid, and the elders liked him. But after the way they’d excommunicated me for leaving, I knew better. “No.”

  He frowned. “Home is for family, Meals, and family doesn’t turn their back on you just because you don’t agree with their dogma. We both saw through their bullshit long ago, but you were always a better actor than me.”

  He was right. I’d tried like hell to drink their Kool-Aid, but it tasted like lies and that cancer-causing phony sugar that left behind a bad aftertaste. “I just wanted them to love me,” I confessed.

  His eyes softened. “And they did. Everyone loved that perfect little bitch you prete
nded to be. Well, everyone but me. I wasn’t too fond of her, and it seems you weren’t, either. I’m guessing the minute you tried to be real about who you were, they cut you off.”

  Levi was wrong. I didn’t even know who the hell I was, so how could I be real with anyone else about it? But I didn’t correct him.

  “Here,” Levi said, forcing my attention back on our conversation, “among fucked up veterans just trying to do the best they can, is where I fit in. This is my family now.”

  “And where do I fit in?” I asked, as much to myself as to Levi.

  “Depends. You ready to talk yet?”

  It was past time to put on my big girl panties and be honest with Levi. Blowing out a breath, I collapsed in the fold up chair beside his desk, feeling more exhausted than I’d ever felt in my life.

  “You think you’re in danger.” Leaning against his desk, he folded his arms and watched me. “How bad is it, Meals?”

  There was so much I needed to tell him but didn’t know where to start. I hesitated.

  “I’m your ally, Meals. Always will be. You know this, or you wouldn’t be here. We’re the only blood we got left. Everyone else has disowned our asses.”

  He was right, and I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh about it. “Once I left the compound, I had all these dreams. I’d always wanted to be a teacher, so I could give kids the kind of education you and I never received. With the help of a… a friend, I passed the test to get my GED and enrolled at Ohio State. His family was rich, and he… he promised to help with my tuition. I was stupid and young and thought we’d be together forever. He wasn’t who I thought he was, and things didn’t work out. By the time I walked for my bachelor’s, I had a lot of college debt.” Even in my own ears, it sounded like I was building my case, preparing my excuses. But I needed him to understand, so maybe he wouldn’t judge me so harshly.