by A. J. Downey
A sheriff’s cruiser was coming along the driveway, the last piece we needed to finish this sorry song and dance. It appeared it was the man himself by all the bars and trappings on his uniform and it’d be very telling who he went to first. I watched him get out of his car and walk up to Bailey’s mother and shake her hand exchanging some words. He got to me last but we didn’t even bother shaking hands, just exchanging a nod instead.
“My god,” he said, turning and letting his gaze roam the burned out husk that’d been Bailey’s home. “Fire Marshall’s preliminary report says its arson. Which is consistent with your accounts of what happened. Tell me more about this mess with the Giangiulio Development Group.”
“I will let my son tell you,” Trudy said and her eyes sparked fire. We all stood around while Philip spun some sort of fuckin’ fairy tale about how he had no idea what Giangiulio was planning and how he was totally innocent or some shit. One of the lawyers that Trudy brought with her opened up an expensive looking folio and walked forward, wordlessly handing the sheriff a single sheet of paper.
“The findings by our private investigator disagrees with Mr. Berling’s account of the events leading up to this tragic loss of Ms. Berling’s home,” he said and the sheriff looked up from the paper and raised an eyebrow at the lawyer.
“You can save that kind of talk for the courtroom, mister. This is enough for me and enough to make an arrest. Mr. Berling, turn around.”
The insurance adjuster was furiously scratching notes on his clipboard and almost none of us had even noticed when he’d drifted up.
“Mother, are you seriously going to let him arrest me!?” Philip cried, incredulously.
“It is a lesson you should have learned when you were sixteen,” she said coldly. “Your father isn’t here to protect you from the consequences of your actions anymore, Philip. I, for one, am not willing to sacrifice one of my children over the other. You nearly got your own sister killed and for what? A piece of property that wasn’t even yours to begin with…”
“I own one-third of this place!” he screamed, lunging at his mother and that’s when Bailey snapped. She rounded, and kicked up, hoofing her brother right between the legs. Poor fucker was already handcuffed so he couldn’t even defend himself. He dropped like a fuckin’ stone and the sheriff had the good sense to let him drop.
Bailey looked the law man right in the eye and said, “Arrest me if you have to.” Meanwhile Philip’s civil attorney was screaming about suing her, I stood up off the bike and turned in the suit’s direction and he shut his mouth.
The sheriff nodded and looked back at the house and I could see what he was thinkin’. He shook his head and said, “I think you earned that one free and clear, miss.”
Jaws dropped and Bailey nodded, the sheriff looked at me and said, “Say, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about what happened one county over yesterday, would you?”
“Wouldn’t know, sir. I left here and went straight back to my club with my girl. We were both mighty shook up. What happened?” I feigned innocence and Bailey came over and wrapped her arms around one of mine, hugging it.
“Seems some biker types went and roughed up the very same Giangiulio wrapped up in this. Hurt him pretty bad, and put him in the hospital with some broken ribs.”
“That’s a shame,” Bailey said without much feeling. “But it’s like he says, he was with me in his room at the club yesterday. We stayed in all day. He was trying to help me cope with…” she turned her attention back to her house and the sheriff gave a nod.
“Any rate, it’s out of my jurisdiction, I figure that the Sheriff’s department or the big city cops will come a knockin’ at some point.”
Well I’ll be a son of a bitch, I do believe we were just warned that the boys in blue most definitely would be coming by. I gave a nod and said, “They’ve gotta do their jobs and we ain’t got nothin’ to hide. We’re a law abiding club after all.”
“Uh-huh, firmly in the 99 then I take it?”
I grinned, “You can count on it.”
“Come on, boy. Let’s go.” The sheriff hauled Philip to his feet and walked him to his cruiser. Philip didn’t have much to say, which was probably a good thing. Bailey shot me a worried look, but this wasn’t over yet. Still, it was up to the lawyers and insurance company for the remainder of the visit. We just had to stand around and listen while they fought it out.
By the end we were mind weary and, of course, nothing was really resolved. The insurance adjuster left, Trudy had some choice words for Caleb and then he and his attorneys left, and Philip’s attorney took one look at the whole goddamned mess and shook his head.
“I will advise my client to retain other council, you can expect to hear from them,” he said then he left until it was just me, Bailey, and her mom.
“Well, that was thrilling,” Bailey said and rubbed her forehead.
Trudy sighed and took her daughter’s hands and it looked like she was about to tell Bailey someone had died. Aw, fuck… I took a deep breath and held it and waited her mother out.
It was pretty much as bad as I thought it was going to be. Bailey had enough money in her accounts to be set for finding a modest place to buy or rent, but the shit with the insurance company could drag out for a couple of years and what Bailey and her mom didn’t have was enough to rebuild this place in the meantime.
The farm might survive, all of its actual facilities intact, however, while the garbage went on with Caleb all of the farm’s assets were in trust and pretty much frozen there. So there was money to rebuild but none that could be touched while the investigation happened into whether or not Caleb was fit to remain trustee.
Bailey looked crushed as she looked back over her farm and realized the writing was on the wall. She hadn’t lost, and Giangiulio hadn’t won, but what was clear was neither fuckin’ one of them was going to get out on top. She’d pretty much lost this place. It could continue to run with a government trustee but no one was going to want to board their animals here with what had just went down. Not with any kind of threat coming anywhere near their precious investments.
Bailey’s shoulders dropped and she hung her head. She shook it finally and looked up with tears streaming down her face.
“I think I’d like to go for a ride,” she said.
“I think I can help you with that. Come on.” We left, and took a long ride. I took her back to the meadow by the river where we could just be for a minute and talk. Maybe come up with some new dreams or find a will to fight.
God, I hoped it was the latter, and Giangiulio? If Bailey wasn’t coming out of this with her dream intact, neither was he. I had plans for that guy.
Chapter 30
Bailey
I lay by Rush’s side, deeply depressed and discouraged. My mother was right. Blue Hills, whether I liked it or not, wasn’t going to survive if there were no client thoroughbreds to board or breed. I was better off letting the clients I had out of their contracts and selling the land. I wouldn’t be selling to the GDG though. They could go fuck themselves.
“Baby,” Rush said softly and I turned my head to look at him.
“Not the way any of us wanted this to go down, but I’d like to think you still scored in some ways, I mean, right?”
I couldn’t help but smile then, and pulled myself up to kiss him. He was right. There was more to life than money, property, and status. Plus, if I were being honest with myself, there was so much more I could be doing than living my father’s legacy through Blue Hills. Like I could be focusing on my own, I just didn’t know how…
“Tell me something good,” I murmured and he smiled.
“I love you,” he said and I smiled, too.
“And?”
“Oh, you need more than that?” I gave him a look and he chuckled. “You got some of your family back.” He pointed out and that was a double edged sword…
“I lost my brother, though.”
“No, your brother lost you.”
> “Splitting hairs,” I said and huffed out a breath.
“True enough,” he admitted, then with a smile said, “but it doesn’t make it any less true.”
“Nice play on words,” I let out a sigh while he trailed fingertips along my cheek.
“What do you want, Bailey? I mean really, in your heart and in your head, what do you really want to come out of this?” His eyes had gone cold and distant, and I realized he was seriously asking me.
I swallowed hard and said, “I want them to hurt like I hurt. I don’t want anyone dead, but I want them scared. I want them to stand there and watch their world burn just like I had to.”
He hugged me close and kissed the side of my head, sighing out. “Consider it done, babe. Consider it done.”
I held myself close to Rush’s body under the sparkling summer sun and felt cold. Numb from the inside out. I didn’t know or care what would happen to my brother. I didn’t know or care what happened to Caleb, insofar that whatever did happen, I got my money out of it so I could start to figure out how to rebuild my life.
Rush plucked the thought right out of my head, or maybe just the worry that was likely on my face tipped him off to what I was thinking. He lay beside me and asked, “What did you want to be when you grew up, anyways?”
“Honestly?” I asked.
“No, lie to me. You know me and mine totally dig that,” he said and I could hear his eyes rolling. I laughed and he tickled me which only made me laugh harder, until suddenly he was on top of me, between my thighs and we were kissing and god, kissing Rush made so many things just not hurt anymore.
“You didn’t answer the question,” he murmured against my lips in a sing song voice.
“I always wanted to teach kids, you know? How to ride, how to care for horses, that sort of thing.”
“What, like have people pay to have their kids learn how to ride?”
“No, like a non-profit. Any kids, but yeah, maybe have people pay to fund that side of it somehow… Not super thrilled at the prospect, but maybe I could fund some of it with corporate retreats.”
“What, like a B&B?”
“Yeah, why not?”
He tapped the tip of my nose with a fingertip, “You have the property, the house needs rebuilt, and eventually, when the legal bullshit is all settled, you’ll have the money. Why don’t you see if you can find some investors or some shit to get it started while you wait for the rest to come through?”
I let my head fall back to the blanket and let the wheels turn, thinking about it. “I mean, I could keep the main house just ours, and build some cottages in one or two of the paddocks. I mean, we’ve never needed that many.”
Rush’s expression changed, shuttering hard and I tipped my head questioningly. “What? What is it; what did I say?” I asked, alarmed at the sudden change in him.
“You mean that?” he asked, voice controlled and careful. I tried to think about what I’d just said and it dawned on me; I could keep the main house just ours… I thought about it, I mean really thought about the full implications behind those words and finally, I nodded carefully.
“Yeah, I mean it.”
His mouth crushed over mine and I held his face between my hands. I know we were out in a public park where anyone could happen by, but I wanted him right then, so bad. I pulled back and said, “Take me home with you,” breathless and wanting. He immediately got up and held a hand down to me. I took it and he hauled me to my feet. We folded up the blanket and stashed it back where it’d come from and made the ride back to the club.
He followed the curve of the track around to the building that held his room and we went in, skipping out on seeing or talking to anyone. Once inside his room it was a flurry of hands removing clothing and passionate kissing.
Once both of us were out of clothes to remove he lifted me and I gave a little leap, wrapping my legs around his hips. He sought blindly with his cock, eventually sliding right into me. I cried out into his mouth and he walked us up onto the bed so that he could get a better angle, more leverage, to make love to me the way I know we both wanted.
Hours. We spent hours wrapped up in one another until neither one of us could go another round, as much as we wanted to. It was evening by then, the room dark except for the golden glow of one lone bedside lamp. He kissed the back of my shoulder and I held his arms tightly around me.
“I love you, Bailey,” he whispered and I fell asleep, dreaming of what our life could be.
Chapter 31
Rush
“How’s she doing?” Dragon asked when I dropped into the chair opposite his in the taproom.
I shook my head, “Asleep, for now, but pretty much as you’d expect, otherwise. Fuckin’ heartbroken but she’s tough. She’s got some ideas, but that’s not what I’m here about. This ain’t a social call.”
“Oh?” He looked at me over his glasses and set down his paper.
“I asked her what she wanted today, her response wasn’t unreasonable. I’d like your blessing and the backing of the club to go get it.”
Dragon set down the paper he was reading with a rustle. “Developer?” he asked.
I nodded, “We both know he ain’t going to give us what we want.”
“Still has until tomorrow to do it.” He stared at me for several long heartbeats across the table and asked me, “What’d you have in mind?”
“An eye for an eye.”
He raised an eyebrow, “Let me guess, you want Duracell’s help with this one.”
“I could tap Lucky, but this is more sophisticated than the kind of shit Lucky is used to pulling off. Lucky blows shit up, its country style and gets messy. Cell does it, it’s more controlled.”
“Good point, what kind of shenanigans you wanting to get up to?”
“Like I said, eye for an eye. He took Bailey’s home from her, her livelihood…”
“Data!” Dragon called out.
“Yeah, P.?” Data rolled into view, looking back over his desk chair from inside the fishbowl.
“Find all of the GDG’s holdings and projects.” He said. Then addressed me when he said, “I think we’d all like to be involved in this one.”
“What ‘cha thinkin’?” I asked.
“Burn down the house, maybe blow up the car, but there are a lot of other ways to cost the man money that won’t cause too much collateral damage to any innocents.”
“What, like petty acts of vandalism to other properties?”
“Why not? Some sugar in the gas tank, some smashed windows and spray paint… make it look like kids did it… yeah, not bad. Could be some fun, too. Not a bad idea.”
“No one would think a bunch of grown ass men pulled that shit off.”
“Heat’s already on from that stunt at his office. No sense in crankin’ it any higher.”
“Work smarter, not harder.” I nodded.
“Go see who’s around and might want in. Keep it off the airwaves.”
“Thanks, D.”
“She’s my family by blood,” he said with a shrug. “Tilly’d have my balls if I didn’t do somethin’.”
There was no fuckin’ way I was going to tell Dragon that Tilly was gone, that she wasn’t here anymore and it’d been so many fuckin’ years that he needed to let it go. There were just some things that were better left alone and this was one of them. So, I did the only thing I could do. I nodded and got up from the table. I put my hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze before I left. A silent I know and I’m here if ever…
I went out back to where a few of the guys had a fire goin’ and were chillin’ around it, knocking back some beers after a long day. It was my luck that in addition to Trig and Reave, that Ghost, Rev, Thirteen, Blue, and Cell, were all out there.
I dropped onto one of the vacant swinging benches and Trig pulled a fresh bottle out of a cooler, handing it over wordlessly. I twisted off the top and took a drink, it was pretty good. The guys were all quiet, looking at me, and I finally grinned and said
, “Who’s up for a little mayhem?”
Laughter and a “Yeeeeah!” went up, someone clapped and said, “Alright now!” I laughed, too. I figured I wouldn’t be turned down. It was getting boring around here.
“Where do we start?” Duracell asked, taking a drink of his beer.
“Data’s running up a list of holdings and shit, this fucker has got. We ain’t aimin’ to kill anybody, but we damn sure wanna set a couple of fires, you in?”
“Dude’s house?” he asked.
“Yeah, among other things.”
Data came out to the fire, his hands stuffed in his pockets and said, “Piece of cake. He’s got a house outside Lexington that he lives in with his wife, no kids, and the wife is with him at the hospital so if you’re going to take it out, tonight would be a good bet. I tapped into their security feed and they don’t even have a pet. Housekeeper’s gone for the day…”
“No security?” Duracell asked.
“One guard at a gate shack.”
“Good deal. Blue, you up for a little adventure?” Blue smiled at Duracell and nodded. Both of them stood up and Cell stretched. “Keep an eye on your local news,” he said flicking his cigarette butt into the fire pit.
He and Blue melted into the night beyond the flames and I had no doubt that Bailey’s revenge would be played out, probably not just over the local news, but the national news as well. I looked to Data who shrugged.
“It’ll be hard as fuck to trace back to us, this guy is dirty six ways to Sunday. You wouldn’t believe the shit I turned up. He’s got way more than Bailey and her mom pissed off at him. I’m surprised he hasn’t had the lid blown off this shit long before we ever came along.”
“So spill it,” Reaver called out across the fire. “Where we goin’?”
“He’s got a development about twenty minutes from here,” Data said trailing off, he was tapping on his phone’s screen and looked up. “Sorry, was texting Blue the address.”
“Completed?” Trig asked.
