Crash

by Elana Johnson

  “He’s right, though,” Jordan said. “They have Lawrence, Julie, and we need to know why. When they claim you, Lucas will have to end things with you. This way, he can go with you to figure things out.”

  “Couldn’t he do that without me becoming a Sentinel?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Lucas said. “But this way, we’ll both have more credibility from the start.” He couldn’t believe he was supporting this plan. Part of him wanted to step to Julie’s side and take on his own club. He’d had more time to think through everything, and he could see the wisdom in Jordan’s plan. It helped that he lived with the man and they’d talked everything to death multiple times.

  The Breath had a reputation of taking in club members from other clubs without much of a process. Lucas just had to act the right kind of angry, and every time he thought about this insane plan, the fury came just fine. He felt confident he could pull it off if he had to.

  Not only that, if he could get Julie to calm down, Tyson was scheduled to arrive in an hour to help them understand the inner workings of an outlaw club. Karly had made more than just bread, and they’d take their meeting with Tyson upstairs to the loft.

  Julie had cocked her hip and said something else. Jordan was talking through the plan, with Maverick and Gramps throwing things in from time to time. The whole thing was explained in only a few minutes, and Lucas looked at Julie, silently begging her to understand.

  “Lucas,” she said. “I need to talk to you.” She marched over to the door in those sexy, leather boots. Tommy and Ian stood there, but she didn’t flinch. “I’m not going to leave,” she said. “I just want to talk to my boyfriend alone for five minutes.”

  Lucas started toward her, very aware of some snickering from the other members. He hated that he was following Julie out of the room, his tail practically tucked between his legs.

  “The ice cream is melting,” Electron said. “Let’s eat while they talk.”

  Lucas looked at Ian, who slapped him on the shoulder as he ducked out of the room. The door closed behind them, and Julie whipped around only a few feet from the meeting room.

  “What in the world were you thinking?” she demanded. “You knew this was going to happen and you say nothing?” She took a dangerous step toward him, and Lucas knew the room behind him wasn’t soundproof. “Now I’m a member of a motorcycle club?”

  “I mean, kind of,” Lucas said under his breath. “It’s a show, Julie. A big show.”

  She started nodding, almost manically. “Is this a show, Lucas?” Her voice was very even and very calm, and he almost preferred the angrier, more excited version of Julie.

  “Which part?” he asked.

  “Us.”

  “Of course not.” He took a step toward her too, hopefully shielding her from anyone’s view through the window. “Julie, I’m doing this so we can stay together—and to help you with Lawrence. Otherwise, when they claim you, it’s over. You’re on your own. They’ll watch you everywhere you go to make sure I don’t have contact with you. I’m left here, watching stupid footage of their guys coming into our town every Wednesday night, and we’re all wondering what’s going on with Lawrence.”

  His chest heaved, and he hoped she would understand. “Okay? That scenario sucks, and I think we can do better. This way, we can do better.”

  Julie’s eyes searched his, but he didn’t have anything else to say. The plan had been laid out. He supposed she could reject it if she wanted, but once the Breath claimed her…. He didn’t want to complete that thought.

  “When are they going to claim me?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where’s Lawrence?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “What are they doing in Forbidden Lake?”

  “We don’t know that either.”

  She sighed, and every ounce of frustration in the sound mirrored his own coiling through him. “And we don’t know what they’re using Lawrence for.”

  “Not yet,” he said. Their eyes met, and all of the fight left Julie’s body. Just like he had a few days ago when he’d shown up at her house after an argument with Jordan where he’d walked out and ridden around for a while, Lucas took her into his arms. A slip of guilt moved through him, because he hadn’t wanted to use her brother to get her to go along with the plan. In truth, Lucas didn’t care all that much about Lawrence. The only reason he did was because Julie did.

  Relief filled him when she embraced him, holding onto his shoulders like she needed him to stay standing. “I’m sorry, Jules,” he whispered into her hair. “Will you please come back inside? Mav will explain some more, and he’ll give you ice cream while he does it.”

  “You know,” she said, stepping back. “I don’t like this Maverick very much.”

  Lucas burst out laughing, glad when Julie at least smiled. “Right now, sweetheart, I don’t either. But I do think this is the best plan, and we have a guy who used to be an outlaw coming to help us.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Oh, did I forget to mention that too?”

  She slapped at his upper arm again, and Lucas flinched away from her, though this time the touch was more playful. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I really am sorry.”

  She looked at him, searching for something else. Whatever it was, she seemed to find it, because she said, “I know you are. If this is how we can stay together, I guess it’s worth it.”

  “And you’ll get to find out what’s going on with Lawrence,” he said.

  “And you guys will get to figure out why this other club is coming to Forbidden Lake.”

  “And we’re together.” He leaned down and touched his lips to hers. “Okay?”

  “Yeah, okay.” She sighed again, and someone opened the door behind them.

  “How are we doing out here?” Ian asked. “Maverick’s getting antsy.”

  “Oh, Maverick,” Julie said, stepping around Lucas before he could react. “I’ve got a few things to say to that man.” She went right back into the meeting room, and Lucas once again followed. She marched up to Maverick and started laying into him. Lucas stayed by the door, because he was a little afraid of Julie in that moment.

  “I see why you like her,” Ian said, smiling as Julie continued her verbal beratement of Mav. The boss just stood there and took it, though he didn’t look super happy about the lecture.

  “She might be the death of us all,” Lucas said.

  “Nah.” Ian grinned as Mav finally held up his hand for the petite blonde woman to stop talking. “She’s going to be the break we’ve been hoping for.” He stepped over to the table and picked up a bowl of ice cream, handing it to Lucas.

  He watched Maverick say something to Julie that he couldn’t hear, and the two of them hugged. Actually hugged. Maverick wore a triumphant smile as his eyes met Lucas’s, and all of his muscles cinched tight again.

  Julie turned and came back to Lucas, taking the bowl of ice cream from him. “For me? No wonder you wouldn’t let us order desert.” She picked up a spoon and stirred the ice cream together, mixing the melted parts back into the still frozen concoction.

  “What did he say?”

  “He said he cares about you, and that he didn’t want to have to ask you to break-up with me, because you like me so much.” Her blue eyes glittered like she’d just learned a national secret. As if his feelings for her weren’t obvious from the way he kissed her.

  “Well, I don’t know about that,” he said anyway, plenty of sarcasm in his voice. He looked at Mav, who nodded at Lucas, the understanding flowing easily between them. Lucas appreciated that. He didn’t necessarily like what had happened here tonight, but he could appreciate that Maverick was just trying to get the answers he needed to keep the club together. Keep his family safe. Keep everyone within the walls of Ruby’s safe.

  And Lucas wanted to be part of that. It was one of the main reasons he’d joined the Sentinels in the first place. Ian started talking to Julie, and Lucas edged closer to Ma
v. “You owe me,” he said.

  “Name it,” Mav said.

  Lucas could probably get the man to buy him dinner for a month. Instead, he said, “I want to become a chapter with Bikers for Christ.”

  “We’d have to change our name,” Maverick said.

  “It would really show others that we’re good,” Lucas said. “I’m tired of fighting the stigma.”

  “Even Bikers for Christ has stigma,” Maverick said. “And we lose our own motto and charter.”

  “There’s nothing this far north,” Lucas said. “And you could do less. I could be the elder.”

  Maverick didn’t say anything. He simply looked around the room at all the men and women he’d brought to this place. He’d made them a family, and for a long time, the people in the Sentinels had been all any of them had.

  But Jordan had Felicia now. Maverick had Karly and Navy and another baby on the way. Ian was married with two kids. Several members had significant others they went home to at night, and while Lucas wasn’t sure if that person would be Julie for him, he wanted the chance to find out.

  That thought alone had sustained him through the last few days, and he hoped it would be enough to get him through the rest of this night.

  “Hey.”

  He turned as Tyson came to his side.

  “What’s the flavor of the night?” He brought the scent of ice and snow with him, and cold emanated from his leather jacket.

  “Chocolate mint,” Julie said.

  Tyson looked at her, surprise written in his eyes.

  “Tyson,” Lucas said. “This is Julie Paige.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  That got Julie to stop eating her ice cream, and she looked from Lucas to Tyson. “Is he the outlaw?”

  Lucas cringed, and Tyson growled low in his throat.

  “Julie,” Lucas said. “This is Tyson Pike, and I suppose I forgot to mention that he doesn’t like being called an outlaw.” He flashed an apologetic smile in Tyson’s direction. “He’s going to be the expert we’ll consult with tonight.”

  “Oh, of course.” Julie extended her hand for Tyson to shake. “The expert.” She put a smile on her face too, and thankfully, Tyson shook her hand. He didn’t smile while he did it, but he didn’t seem to be squeezing too hard either.

  “Expert,” he said, looking at Lucas, who tried to give him a reassuring smile. “I guess I can handle that.” He let go of Julie’s hand and took a big breath. “All right. Where are we doing this expert debriefing?”

  “Upstairs,” Maverick said, coming over at the end of Tyson’s question. “You guys head up, and I’ll give the rest of the guys a quick update.”

  Lucas felt like he was going up the steps to his death, but he went. One step after the other, the sound of Julie’s footsteps behind him the only thing keeping him going. He knocked, and Karly opened the door a few moments later, her little girl balanced on her hip.

  The scent of marinara sauce came with her, and Lucas almost hated that Maverick knew him well enough to know to have his wife make her famous meat lover’s pizza for the meeting with Tyson.

  “Hey, Karly,” he said, pulling Julie to the landing at the top of the steps with him. “This is Julie Paige.”

  “Of course she is.” She stepped back. “Come on in, you guys. Navy’s been waiting for her uncles for hours.”

  As if on cue, Navy whined and reached for Lucas, who took the little girl from Karly with a grin. “Heya, Navy-bear,” he said, using the same nickname he’d heard Karly and Maverick use.

  “No Dani tonight?” Karly asked as Tyson came in last.

  “She went to Grand Central for the weekend,” Tyson said. “Her nephew’s birthday party.”

  “When are you going to ask her to marry you?” Karly asked, and Lucas choked at the same time Tyson did.

  “Oh, tonight just got interesting,” Julie said, grinning like she was actually excited to be in the loft apartment.

  Navy asked him something about his beard, but Lucas could only look between Karly and Tyson, who seemed locked in a battle of wills.

  Chapter Eleven

  Tyson could not believe Karly Malone. Sure, they were friends. Maverick and Karly were some of Tyson’s best friends, in fact.

  “We haven’t even been dating for a year,” he said through his teeth.

  “Yeah, but you love each other, right?”

  Tyson glanced at Lucas, who seemed frozen to the spot, despite Navy’s attempts to get him to look at her. She finally took his cheeks in both of her hands and said, “Uncle House. I talking to you.”

  That got Lucas to look at the little girl. It also broke the tension, and Tyson glared at Karly. He’d come to give some advice about dealing with outlaw bikers, not have his personal love life questioned.

  You should’ve seen this coming, he told himself as Karly turned to the oven and bent to pull out a tray filled with pizza. She was a good cook, Tyson knew that. He’d stayed down the hall of this very loft for a few weeks while he figured things out here in Forbidden Lake.

  He lived with Canine, so there was still a connection to the motorcycle club world. His friend had pledged to ride with the Sentinels, and sometimes Tyson really missed it when Canine was gone in the evenings. But he’d learned to survive by stopping by the bakery on the way home from the motorcycle shop and drowning his feelings in cinnamon and sugar and frosting.

  He worked at Ruby’s as often as Maverick would let him, and he earned good money building custom motorcycles and fixing up those that needed maintenance.

  Seven months had passed since he’d last been a member of a motorcycle club, and while he definitely had moments of missing his friends and brethren, Tyson could genuinely say he was happier now than he’d ever been in his life.

  Daddy often plagued his thoughts, but he hadn’t heard from the older man in a while. They’d come to an agreement, and Tyson had upheld his end of it. As far as he knew, so had Daddy, though the fact that the Devil’s Breath was harassing the Sentinels could indicate that he hadn’t.

  He was glad Dani was out of town this weekend, as she didn’t like him dealing with motorcycle clubs. Even if Tyson did love her, and though they’d started talking about marriage, Tyson wasn’t quite ready to pull that trigger yet. He didn’t want to be rejected, and Dani needed time to feel completely secure with their new lives in Forbidden Lake.

  “All right,” Karly said. “Come eat, everyone.”

  “Oh, we already ate,” Julie said. But that didn’t stop Lucas from walking into the kitchen with Navy still in his arms.

  “You want a piece?” he asked her. “Or two?”

  “Just one,” Karly said, plucking the girl from him and putting her in a booster seat at the table. “And we eat in here, like a family.” She glanced at the door. “Is Mav coming up?”

  “He’s finishing church,” Lucas said, and it was a moment like that where Tyson missed his old club. He’d loved church meetings, where he got to rub shoulders with people he loved, talk about things he was passionate about, and enjoy himself. There were several people he was glad he didn’t have to see anymore, but he missed Rooster, Noose, and Sampson powerfully in that moment.

  Tyson loaded pizza onto his plate and put it at a spot next to Navy. He poured himself some punch and turned to Julie. “Do you want a drink?”

  “Sure,” she said, taking the glass after he poured it. She sat next to Lucas as Karly spun back to the fridge.

  “Oh, the salad. Just a second, guys.”

  “We don’t need salad,” Lucas said.

  But Karly got it out anyway. Maverick came through the door, saying, “Where’s my girls?”

  “Daddy’s home,” Karly said, grinning at Maverick. Tyson watched him sweep Karly into his arms, one of his palms coming to rest on her barely-pregnant belly as he kissed her.

  Navy cheered, and Maverick picked her up from the chair. “Are you eating without me?”

  “I am,” Lucas said.

  Tyson sat down with
out salad too and started eating as well. Maverick and Karly got their food and sat down, and Tyson felt like he belonged to this family. And he didn’t miss his old club in Grand Central as much.

  “All right,” Maverick said the moment he finished eating. “Let’s get this started.”

  “Time to get in the tub,” Karly said, reaching for Navy. She never stayed when Mav started talking club business, and Tyson wondered if he should bring Dani over again. The first time, Karly had asked all kinds of embarrassing questions, but Dani had insisted she’d had fun.

  “You’re up,” Maverick said to Tyson, and he got up and moved into the living room. Everyone else followed him, and Tyson noted the nervousness on Julie’s face. She projected her anxiety out into the air, and everyone inside the Devil’s Breath would pick up on it instantly.

  “Okay,” he said, settling onto the couch. “The first thing you have to learn how to do is control your nerves.”

  Lucas smoothed right over his emotions, and Tyson watched them disappear from his face. He admired the man and hated the fact that he could go cold so easily. But most of the members of the Sentinels had come for a better way of life, and Tyson knew Lucas had been living on the street before Maverick had found him. It was a story Lucas didn’t hesitate to tell, and everyone in the Sentinels knew.

  Not that Tyson was in the Sentinels. He hoped a private consultation didn’t count as being involved, though if Daddy were sober enough, he’d probably think it did.

  Julie looked at Lucas and back to Tyson. “I don’t know how to do that.”

  “What do you do for a living?” he asked.

  “She’s a nurse,” Lucas answered for her, taking her hand into his. Tyson catalogued the movement, and he could plainly see how much Lucas liked this woman.

  “Okay,” Tyson said. “So when you know something devastating about a patient, but you haven’t told them yet, that’s how you have to act. Calm. Cool. Like everything is exactly right, and exactly how you want it.” He nodded to their joined hands. “And it helps that you two really like each other. They’d know in a second if you didn’t.”