by Jayna King
"You already have," I told Krystal. I knew we probably didn't have much longer before a guard would come to take me back to my cell, so I leaned over and kissed her, lightly, hoping she'd realize how much she meant to me.
When the door opened, I was ready. "I love you, Krystal, and I'll be out of here soon."
She watched me walk out, and the look on her face was all the confirmation I needed that the decision I'd made was the right one.
Chapter 7 -- Krystal
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Ugh.
That one word summed up my whole day — just another day to mark off the calendar before Luke would come home.
I'd woken up so excited and grateful that I wouldn't be sleeping alone for many more days, but things had gone downhill in a hurry. I'd been preparing to get in a workout before stopping in to see Luke on the way to work the evening shift at the Taphouse. When my manager had called me to see if I'd come in early and work a double, I'd hoped that Luke would understand my absence for a single day, and I sent a text to Sable asking her to explain why I couldn't be there.
Will do. Can you stop by the clubhouse after work tonight? We need to talk.
I'd agreed, but Sable's request troubled me. I knew that the fragile beginning of his relationship with his birth mother was important to Luke, and I didn't want to get in the way of what they were building. But I also knew that Sable wasn't particularly fond of me, and to be honest, she scared me a little. Despite her tiny stature, I'd always sensed a quiet ferocity in her that simmered just under her surface. I didn't want her as an enemy.
After hurrying to get ready for work, I'd gotten in the elevator only to discover that it was occupied by the guy who'd hit on me in the fitness center. An awkward silence filed the small space, and I watched him take note of the Falling Rock Taphouse logo on my shirt.
"That's just a few blocks away, right?" he asked, pointing not very subtly at the logo that spanned my breasts.
"Yup," I answered with a smile, hoping that the conversation was over.
"Any good?" he asked, and I realized that he still thought I was in from out of town.
"It is, actually. That's where I work."
His puzzled expression was hilarious. He couldn't for the life of him figure out how a girl who tended bar could possibly afford to stay at the Ritz Carlton. I waved and left him and his perplexed face behind and walked to work. The Rockies were in town and had an afternoon game, so I knew we'd get busy early, and stay busy late. The only good things were that I knew the day would fly by, and that I'd make great tips.
"Jesus Christ," I said to my manager, Mark, when he jumped behind the bar just past noon to help get me out of the weeds. "I'm glad to be busy, but this is ridiculous."
"Sorry you agreed to come in?" he asked as he lined up pint glasses and started pouring bloody mary mix into each one.
"Nah," I answered, tearing off the list of server drinks I needed to pour and grabbing several specialty beers from the fridge. "If I'm gonna be here, I'd rather be making money. But seriously, isn't there anything in this town to do other than drink?"
"Thank goodness there isn't," Mark said as he added vodka and garnished glasses with celery.
The two of us managed to get completely caught up, and when Mark got back to work on the restaurant floor, I realized how much I really enjoyed my job. Luke had told me that I didn't have to keep working, but despite the fact that I'd taken him up on his offer of a place to stay, I knew that I needed to earn some of my own money if I was going to be able to think of myself as a strong, independent person. I'd spent too many years feeling shitty about myself to give up a job that paid well and made me happy.
I looked up and down the completely full bar and took a deep breath. Glasses were full, but they wouldn't be for long. The rest of the day and evening went by in a blur, and when I finally started cleaning up, I realized that I had a full tip jar and I was exhausted. I was wishing I hadn't told Sable I'd stop by the clubhouse, but I wasn't about to no-show. I looked myself over in the bathroom, and despite the beer stains on my t-shirt and the fact that I looked a little tired, I figured that I looked fit to visit an MC clubhouse.
Pulling into the parking lot, I realized that it had been a long time since I'd been there. The fact that Luke was in jail and his mother wasn't very fond of me had effectively kept me away for quite a while.
"Well look who it is," a deep voice said behind me.
I nearly jumped out of my skin as I spun around and saw Zeno walking toward me. The parking lot was pretty empty since it was getting late and was a Sunday night, but I was thrilled to see Zeno. He swept me up into a big hug.
"Zeno, it's so good to see you. I didn't realize how much I'd missed this place until just now."
"Krystal, you're as gorgeous as ever," Zeno said, putting me back down on my feet. "You finally decide to leave your jailbird and trade up to me?"
I laughed, knowing full well that Zeno would never touch a brother's old lady, even if that brother was just a prospect. "I suspect that Sable might be happier if I did, but no, my heart still belongs to Luke."
Zeno threw a friendly arm around my shoulders. "Come inside. Let me buy you a beer and we can catch up."
"Sable inside?" I asked, looking around the lot to see if her car was there.
"Yeah, she is," Zeno answered. "She's checking up on her babies."
"Babies?" I asked, puzzled.
"Her plants. She rode over with Joker a couple of hours ago. She's been here every day, talking to those plants and dicking around with the light, the humidity, you name it. I think she's been using the project to distract her from the fact that Luke's in jail."
We walked toward the door, and Zeno ran his card key through the reader.
"I can relate to that. I never thought he'd be in jail this long, but I think things may be looking up for him."
"Whatcha drinking?" Zeno asked, signaling to Kris that he needed her.
She made her way toward us, and I could see the hostility in her eyes. She'd never particularly liked me, and I had never known exactly why. I figured she was just petty and jealous, and left it at that.
Zeno ordered our drinks and settled on the bar stool next to mine. "So tell me what's going on with Luke."
I hadn't exactly figured out what our story was going to be to explain Luke's sudden release, so I just tried to rely on being sparing with the specifics. "His attorney thinks that case isn't as strong as the prosecutor originally thought it was. Makes sense, because there's no way on earth that Luke could actually be convicted of murder."
"Well, I sure hope they drop the charges or he's not convicted. I haven't gotten to know Luke very well yet, but I like what I see."
I smiled as I thought about how very much I liked what I saw when I looked at Luke.
Zeno laughed, as if he could read my mind. "I gotta tell you, Krystal, it's good to see you happy — or at least know that you'll be happy when Luke gets out. I would never have said anything to Bug, but if I'd been there that day instead of Luke, then I'd have done the same thing. What Bug did to you wasn't right, and I won't ever let something like that happen again." He took a drink of his beer. "To be honest, I feel like a pussy for not having stepped in. We all saw how terrible Bug was, and I should have done something about it."
I was touched. "Thanks, Zeno. You and Moses were always been the best of the bunch."
"Goddamn, I miss that man."
We both sat in silence for a few moments, thinking about the man we'd both loved like a family member. It occurred to me that Zeno was the only other person who might have known what Moses had been going through before he was killed.
"Zeno, I have a question about Moses."
"Yeah?"
"Before he was killed, he seemed different to me. Like something had changed in him. Did you notice anything?"
Zeno looked uncomfortable. "I don't really know how to answer that, Krystal. Yeah, he seemed different. For a while, I thought that
he was just going through a phase — or maybe that he was getting ready to settle down, and you know how big a change that was for him."
In spite of myself, I laughed. "Yeah. I never thought he'd settle down with just one woman, that's for sure. So what was really going on?"
Zeno sighed. "You know I love you like a sister — a really hot sister — right?"
I laughed and nodded.
"There's shit that I just can't talk to you about."
"Zeno, he's dead. You don't have to keep his secrets anymore."
"But they're not just his secrets. I have a responsibility to the MC to keep our business private. That's all there is to it. I'm not going to say anything more about what I know or suspect. I'm sorry."
"Jesus," I said in disgust. "You fucking boys and your little fucking club. Why don't you just hang a 'No Girls Allowed' sign on the door?" I stood up. "I'm gonna go find Sable." I walked down the hallway, shaking my head and frustrated as all get-out.
I carried my rum and diet coke past all of the doors in the hallway until I reached the end. I figured that Sable had taken over the extra room that had previously been used to store all the junk that no one knew where to put. Even before I got to the door, I could feel the change in humidity — rather than the bone dry Denver air I was used to, I could feel and smell warm green plants. I knocked before I opened the door and I heard Sable call out that it was okay for me to enter.
It was a miniature jungle, but organized into neat, green rows. The windows were covered and insulated, probably to keep the humidity up, and the smell of marijuana was overpowering.
"Wow," I said, waving my hand in front of my face. "People are gonna think you're raising skunks,"
Sable wore old, faded jeans that still managed to fit her perfectly, and her mane of dark hair was pulled up in a ponytail. She had the room carefully divided into sections — some plants in soil, and others growing hydroponically. She was currently working her hands through the soil in one corner of the room, filthy and apparently happy as a clam.
"They may stink, but they're gonna be worth a fortune," Sable said proudly, clearly satisfied with her efforts.
"Can you smell this outside the building?" I asked, hoping that I'd adjust to the aroma soon.
"Yeah," Sable answered, preoccupied with making sure the seedling she worked with was securely anchored in its pot. "But it's just barely noticeable. We don't vent much air to the outside, both because it's too hard to keep the humidity up if we do, and because we'll have stoners surrounding the building like zombies."
I was surprised, both by the fact that Sable was being so pleasant to me and also that she seemed to actually possess a sense of humor that I'd known nothing about. I laughed and walked around the room, looking at the elaborate setup that had transformed a junk room into a greenhouse. Lights were suspended from the ceiling, complete with digital timers that I assumed were used to give the plants exactly the right amount of light each day. Drip hoses stretched the length of some of the raised beds, and some containers held tightly packed clusters of plants, while others held far fewer of the leafy green moneymakers.
"I had no idea you had this many plants in here. How long have you been growing these?"
Sable brushed her bangs away from her face and left a little smudge of dirt on her cheek. "I started those over there about a month ago," she said, pointing to the biggest and most densely planted section. "Others I've started along the way. This is only part of what we've got, though. I have some at home, too, and Nate's letting me use his basement as well."
"So you're just a traveling pot plant doctor. Who knew?" I said, amused by her enthusiasm.
"Yeah, well, these guys will smoke any old shitty weed. I figured that it was best for the weed connoisseur to be the farmer. Joker's even happy that I'm not wasting my time on rose bushes this year." Sable stood up slowly, as if her knees hurt from squatting in order to reach the plants. She didn't have heels on, and I was reminded of just how tiny she was. She looked around the room. "Okay, my little darlings. Grow big, and grow strong."
I must have looked amused.
"I've always talked to myself. Now I talk to my plants. Don't know if that makes me more or less crazy, but there you have it." She washed her hands at the sink near the door. "I'm ready for a bowl. You?"
Sable was like a stranger to me. The last month of her stony silence and her glares when I'd happened to run into her at the county jail hadn't prepared me for this friendlier woman.
"I'm in," I said, following her lead out of the room.
She led me to the room next door, a room that variously served as a place for private conversation, a quick fuck, or doing some of the harder drugs that weren't welcome out in the open. I'd been in the room more times than I could count for the first two reasons, but never for the third. Now, no one in the building would have cared if Sable and I had walked out to the bar and lit up a joint, or a bowl, or even a bong, so I figured that Sable wanted privacy for the conversation we were about to have. Though I didn't smoke weed very often, I thought I might need it for what was ahead.
Sable sat down on the ratty, but oh-so-comfortable brown plaid sofa that dated back to nineteen-dickety-two. She pulled a small mason jar from her voluminous purse, carefully packed a bowl and offered it to me first. I took the lighter from her hand, lit the pipe, and took a good sized hit, holding the smoke in as I handed the pipe back to Sable. She took a hit and set the pipe down in the glass ashtray on the end table, and she studied me as we both held our breath as long as we could and exhaled together.
"So I've thought a lot about you, Krystal," she said by way of opening. "Luke loves you. I love Luke, and if you're a part of his life, I want to get a few things straight."
Oh shit , I thought, here we go . I tried to keep my expression neutral, but I must have been unsuccessful.
"I want you to hear me out," Sable said, clearly seeing that I expected the worst from her. "I was angry that Luke was in jail because he saved your life. Bug was a piece of shit. We all knew it. You knew it, and you made shitty choices that put you in harm's way. Because of that, Luke is locked up."
I opened my mouth to tell her off, and she held up her hand, motioning me to the other end of the couch, "Sit down and listen, please," she said. "I had no right to blame you for Luke's choices. He's a grown man who has made it his entire life without a single piece of advice from me. I have no right to dictate what he does. I gave that right up years ago. He's in jail because of his choices, and it's not your fault."
I was surprised, and I only halfway believed her. Sable couldn't possibly blame me more than I blamed myself.
She continued. "What I'm concerned about is his future, though, and you know — probably better than he does — how much he's going to need your support. Luke has changed a lot since he arrived in Denver, but he doesn't completely understand the history of the Savage Sons. He sees an outfit now, full of pretty girls, fast bikes, long rides, plenty of booze, and brotherhood. He doesn't know that brothers sometimes betray one another, and he has been too sheltered to know the depth of the bad shit that his father and some of the other guys have been involved in.
"Now I probably know about as much as you do, and that's not a lot. The secrecy — the exclusion of anyone who doesn't have a dick from the meetings — that means that I'm in the dark, but only partially. Now, I know that the guys were cooking and selling meth and running hookers. Everyone knows that. I didn't necessarily like it, but I wasn't directly involved, and I sure enjoyed the money that rolled in from it. But I also know what that kind of life can do to a man. I saw it in Moses, and I've seen it in Joker. Since the guys have had to curtail their old business, Joker has become more like the man I married. That hadn't been the case for many years."
I got up and picked up the bowl and lit it again, passing it to Sable silently. It was like she was speaking the words that had been weighing on me, and I wasn't about to interrupt her. I needed to hear what she had to say.
&nbs
p; She exhaled again. "Krystal, I think Luke's a good man, and I don't want him to end up like Moses, destroyed by the black hole that this MC was and could easily become again. You and I can keep that from happening, but we're going to have to work together."
I pushed thoughts of Moses out of my head — my grief at his death, and the way he'd become withdrawn for the least year of his life — and I thought about what I wanted for my future with Luke. I wanted him alive and whole. I wanted a family, and I wanted him free. I would do whatever it took to make that happen.
"I'm on board, Sable. Tell me what I need to do."
Chapter 8 -- Luke
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Before I opened my eyes, I focused on the sounds and smells of the jail, and I smiled, thinking that I would never, ever, spend another night in jail. The last few days had been frustrating, tedious, and troubling, all at the same time. Bryan had worked his ass off to make sure that he and I both understood what I was getting myself into. I had one more meeting with Tanner and Singer, and then I was a free man.
I shuffled into the meeting room, wearing leg irons for the last time, and I saw the Bryan, Kate, and Mark had already arrived. Bryan studied some paperwork, while Kate watched him and Mark glared at me. I did not like either of the feds one little bit.
"Everything in order?" I asked Bryan as I sat down next to him and held my hands up to have the handcuffs removed.
"Appears to be," he said, not taking his eyes off the paperwork.
I addressed the agents. "I would like to thank the U.S. government and the state of Colorado for these fine accommodations and the opportunity to serve my country by fighting crime and/or evil in the nefarious ranks of law-abiding motorcycle club members."
Kate rolled her eyes and suppressed a smile, but Mark didn't take my sarcasm quite as well.
"You're gonna think it's really funny when you land back in jail if you don't get us the information we need."
"Cool your jets, Singer. If there's a dirty secret, I'll dig it up. Don't worry your pretty little head about that."
