“Hell yes, I was worried!”
He backed her into a wall, and they struggled again briefly before he pinned her hands above her head with one hand. He gripped her face with his other hand and kissed her soundly on the mouth.
“This is hot! I hope they fuck. Where’s my phone?” Pipe started searching through the pockets on his cut and pants. “I got to record this! Wait you two, hold on a second!”
When he broke his kiss from her, she just stared at Nuke for a moment. “It might be foolish, but I do trust you. I fear the worst when I don’t hear from you.”
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you, too,” she said but the most dominating feeling that was going through her was to knock him on his ass for making her worry all night long.
As she looked at him, her eyes were still filled with anger and a hint of betrayal. “Jasmine, come on!” He leaned in to kiss her but she moved her head this time.
“I believe you but was it Heather you guys were with? That fucking Snake Swallower? She’s the other one that watches you all the time.”
“This is hot!” Pipe said again as he fiddled with the camera on his phone.
“Who the hell is Heather?” Nuke asked with sincerity. He glanced over his shoulder at Kevin.
“I have no idea. Do you know, Pipe?” Kevin asked.
“I just stick my dick in them. I don’t get personal if I can help it,” Pipe replied. “They get clingy when you start learning their names.”
Jasmine rolled her eyes. “Nevermind! You’re obviously not going to tell me! I don’t know even know why I asked.”
He intertwined his fingers with hers. “Have I ever cheated on you?”
“I don’t know!” Jasmine was quick to respond.
“Yes, you do! Now, have I ever cheated on you?”
She shook her head. “I can’t tell you what you want to know, Jasmine. This isn’t a fucking television show or some MC romance novel. This is real life,” he said as he released her. “Now, I’m going to go take a shower, wash off this perfume smell that’s bothering all of us. Then I’m going to bed.”
“Fine!”
He knew that when she said fine she really meant, “Fuck you!”
“I’m not going to confess my sins to you,” Nuke added.
“If I came home after not seeing you for nearly twenty-four hours smelling like some man had been crawling all over me, you’d flip the hell out! This is no different than that time when Zoe showed up at the trailer and you not telling her I was your girlfriend. I’m only asking for a little bit more information. I know you’re not going to give up club secrets to me. I’m not asking you to do that.”
Nuke grunted. “You’re damn right I’d flip the fuck out on you and are you seriously bring up some shit that happened before we were married? In case you haven’t noticed, you’re not my girlfriend anymore, you’re MY FUCKING WIFE!”
He turned to leave the room and stopped. He spun back around to face Jasmine. “And another thing: you need to remember – that insecure shit about Zoe, it was coming from you, not me.” He started walking out of the living room.
“Zoe? Why the fuck would you worry about Zoe?” Kevin sat up and asked. “Nobody wants that skank but Rocket. Her vagina is so loose, it’s like fucking a subway tunnel!”
“Aww, Harley, come on. He didn’t cheat. Cut him some slack. I’ll make sure next time he calls so you won’t worry,” Pipe said as he made a move towards her then he stopped when Nuke sent him a scorching look.
Seeing her upset made Nuke feel even guiltier and he immediately relaxed his stance. He didn’t like Pipe playing the good guy.
“When I don’t hear from you, I fear that you’re dead. The last thing I thought was another woman. Then you show up and you guys are all laughing and fucking think it’s a joke how I feel. I was worried! You said you didn’t cheat, then fine, but at least tell me something,” Jasmine pleaded.
“Should we go? Because I’m really comfortable here on the sofa and I don’t want to move,” Kevin said but got no response from anyone other than Pipe sending him a shut-the-hell-up look.
“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid! I believed you when you said you didn’t want anyone but me. It’s already feels a little weird between us ever since you got out of jail and this isn’t helping the situation,” Jasmine continued.
“What do you mean it doesn’t feel right between us?” Nuke scrunched up his face.
“Nuke, I don’t know, it’s…not the same as it was.” She paused to control her emotions. “You did this with your first wife, you know. You met her, married her, and then you didn’t want her anymore. You…you get so intense about something, then you just move on to something else. You loved doing tattoos, now you don’t even talk about opening a shop anymore. When is the last time you did a tattoo?”
“When I was in jail, actually, and I’m doing one next week. Jasmine, I married the woman I use to get high with. I would have divorced her even if she hadn’t cheated and stolen money from me. You can’t compare that relationship to ours. It’s different and you know it. Baby, we’ve already been together longer than I was ever with her.”
“And she was a skank!” Kevin responded with a yawn. “You’re not a skank. I respect that about you.”
“Trust me, Jasmine, he’s not going anywhere,” Pipe added. “But you need to get going to the store because you guys do need more food.”
“I do obsess and I honestly fucking feel bad for you sometimes, Jasmine,” Nuke began again. “I know my love is crazy. Fuck, Kevin is so jealous of you, you’d think he was my side piece.”
“Fuck you, I ain’t no bottom bitch,” Kevin laughed. “If we were screwing, she’d be the side piece.”
“What about me?” Pipe asked as he started cooking some bacon on the stove. “Why does no one want to fuck me? I’m starting to take this very personal,” he joked.
“Don’t worry, Pipe, that will never be a problem for you!” Jasmine cracked a smile.
“WHAT?” Nuke suddenly felt a tightening in his chest.
“We’re good, Nuke, no worries!” Jasmine knew better than to say what she did but just wanted to piss him off for upsetting her.
Nuke pulled her into his arms. “One, don’t fuck with me.” He pointed his finger in her face. “We both know what I’m like when I get jealous. Two, we’re changing as people so our relationship is changing because relationships need to grow to become stronger, to last.” Nuke gave her a quick kiss and a swat on the ass.
“You swear that nothing happened?” Jasmine asked with apprehension still in her heart.
“No fucking thing happened!” he smirked.
Jasmine made a face. “That’s not what I meant!”
“I swear.” Nuke flashed his perfect smile and her heart melted a little.
“If you went to Club Throttle, I don’t care if you get lap dance. That’s not what I’m talking about.”
“As I recall, the last time I went to Club Throttle, you were with me and it was you getting the lap dances!”
“Yeah, well that Asian chick was pretty hot!” Jasmine joked. “I wasn’t just calling you to be a nagging wife. Your brother was on the news. Him and that girl, Tori. They’re wanted for questioning in the murder of Nick and Gracie Kordell. Their whereabouts are unknown. In other words, they’ve gone into hiding.”
“Karma, got to love her sometimes,” Nuke replied.
“Apparently, Nick Kordell was still close to his ex-wife. She put a reward out for any information on Holden and Tori. It’s hefty, quarter of a million dollars. The news did a whole story on Kordell. It was bad idea to kill that man. He was heavy into local charity work. Popular man down in Indy.”
“Quarter of a million, I should track down his ass and turn him in. Are we done fighting, Jasmine?” he asked her.
Jasmine nodded.
Chapter Seventeen
All or nothing
Nuke rolled over in the bed and opened his eyes. The
room was dark and he was alone, but at least he was home. He could hear movement in the living-room.
He reached over and turned on the bedside light as he sat up on the side of the bed. He looked around the room and he finally spotted what he wanted, a pair of black lounge pants hanging on the back of a chair. He put them on and walked barefoot down the hallway and into the living room.
Jasmine was stretched out on the sofa, watching television.
“Where’s Kevin and Pipe?” Nuke asked as he walked into the room.
“They left a little while after I got back from the grocery store. I fed them first, of course.”
“Of course.” Nuke smiled at her.
Nuke walked over to his cut and reached inside the pocket. He pulled out his phone to check his messages. It was nothing that couldn’t wait. Just Rocket, who was blowing up his phone for some reason. Idiot! “I slept all day. I didn’t mean to do that.” Nuke stretched with a yawn as he walked into the living room and sat down in the recliner.
“You had a long night.” Jasmine glanced away from the television to Nuke.
Jell-O walked over and jumped onto Nuke’s lap. The orange tabby staked her claim as Stella, the Norwegian Forrest cat, took her spot on the opposite side.
“What are you watching?” Nuke asked as he tried to equally stroke each feline.
“HGTV.”
“Anything good?”
“Some show about flipping flea market stuff. You like building stuff, we should do this. We could make some extra money.”
“Naw, I’d rather do illegal stuff, it’s easier,” Nuke laughed. “I was thinking, do you want to take a trip somewhere, maybe go away for a long weekend?” Nuke asked. “We could rent a cabin up in Michigan or just get on the bike and ride, see where the road takes us.”
Jasmine tore her eyes away from the television. “I don’t know. We don’t have to go anywhere. I’m sure that the club needs you right now.”
“I think we should. Sometimes a change of scenery is good. Just get out of the city away from all of the drama for a couple of days. A week maybe?”
“No honey, that’s okay. We can plan something in a few weeks or maybe around our anniversary.”
“Why not now?” Nuke asked as he attempted not to overthink the comment she’d made about Pipe earlier. There was nothing going on between them, he reminded himself.
“I believe you, Nuke, that nothing happened. I have to find a way of not overreacting and thinking that you’re dead or in jail all of the time when I don’t hear from you. If I have a problem with us, I’ll let you know.”
He just stared at her and she turned her attention back to the television.
“You’ll let me know?” he repeated dryly.
“Yes, I’ll let you know if I can’t deal with something. I’ll talk to you about it,” she said without looking at him.
“You’re pissing me off, you know that?”
“How? What am I doing wrong now, Nuke? I’m telling you that it was me, not you. For some reason when I thought about being married to you, I didn’t imagine any of the things that have happened to us. That’s my fault. You think I would have known better. The Grave Walkers, Road Kill, Cindy, now your brother, jail, freaking fire bombs at the clubhouse. I mean, shit, can you blame me for thinking you’re dead somewhere when I haven’t heard from you?”
He stared at her for so long that she could have sworn that his eyes were boring holes into her. “Did you fuck Pipe when I was locked up?”
“You and I both have to stop being so insecure!”
“Answer the question!”
“No, I didn’t have sex with Pipe or anyone else.”
“It seems like you two bonded.”
Jasmine nodded. “Yeah, we did, but not like you think. He cared about my well-being when you were in jail. Don’t get me wrong, the club, they were there for me if I needed them. Pipe and Amy both looked out for me. Pam, too. I could cry in front of them.
“Did you cry a lot?”
Jasmine nodded. “Yeah. Most of the time I was by myself. I had a moment at work. Ended up going home early that day.”
“What happened at work?”
“I overheard some people talking. One of them said what did Jasmine expected to happen being married to a Hells Viper. They went on to talk about how the club is nothing but a gang and some other stuff. For some reason, it just got to me that day. Instead of being my usual self and stomping over there and defending you and the club, I started crying. I couldn’t stop. Told my supervisor I was sick and I went home.”
“I’m sorry, Jasmine.”
“It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was my fault. I should have gotten rid of Holden as soon as I saw him. Now back to me being jealous. Are you attracted to Pipe?” Nuke held his breath and anger as he waited on her answer.
“Why, you offering a three-way? We’re too insecure for that right now.” Jasmine jokingly said and she immediately could tell from the look on his face that it was a bad idea.
“No, I’m not,” she quickly responded. “Nuke, you and I, honestly we really have to stop being this way. You would think that the both of us would be more confident in our relationship. I guess that might take a while for us.”
“You’re out of my league!” Nuke said.
“Have you forgot what you told me on our first date? How we both were there because we wanted to be with one another.”
“I wanted to fuck you. I was just talking shit!” He forced a half smile.
She tossed one of the couch pillows at him. “You meant it! You love me, I love you and neither of us is fucking anyone.”
“But you think he’s hot?”
Jasmine let out a sigh. “Oh my God, really? Just stop it! You should be happy to know that you have at least one decent and good friend that looked out for me.”
“He’s not that decent!” Nuke laughed.
Jasmine chuckled. “Alright, I’ll give you that.”
“Do you know why he’s called Pipe?”
“He said it’s because it’s his weapon of choice.”
Nuke shook his head with a smile. “Well this is one thing I can tell you. We all were prospects at the same time. Though Kevin and Pipe were patched in before me. I ended up going to rehab a few months later anyway. The club was having a cookout; it’s Memorial Day weekend, and the full patch members are working us like two-dollar whores. Top it all off, we can’t have shit to drink, smoke, nothing. We had to work security and be their fetch-me-this bitch.
“Remember, this is before I went to rehab so I’m going nuts. I need a fucking hit of something. I remember going to the bathroom and drinking down some mouthwash for a buzz. You would have hated me back then. I was a fucking mess. You wouldn’t have given me the time of day. I probably would have stolen your watch anyway,” Nuke chuckled. “We did meet when we should have. All things happen for a reason. I needed to become a slightly better person.”
“You’re a great person!”
“Thanks, babe. Anyway, this chick, she was whoring for this other prospect named…Dirt. She was his wife, actually.”
“Dirt?” Jasmine laughed. She loved his Hells Vipers stories. She was completely tuned in to every word he was saying. “Why was he called Dirt?”
Nuke laughed hard from his belly. “Grew up on a farm. He was dirt poor. He was also an overall-wearing, wife-with-no-teeth redneck to the core kind of dude. So Dirt was his name. He sends this wife out to fuck this hang around. Charges the guy twenty dollars. She comes back a few minutes later and hands him ten dollars. He’s pissed because he owed Pipe fifty. He slaps her around and tells her to go somewhere and make him some money.
“The party goes on, and a few hours later, she comes back, no money. Now Pipe is pissed off because he wants his money. Dirt is upset because he’s thinking Pipe is going to kick his ass. Dirt and his wife are arguing and she has this awful voice, sounds like she’s sucked on helium. Pipe is yelling at him calling him a l
ittle bitch. All three keep arguing and the sound of her voice is getting on Pipe’s nerves. Finally, he just snaps. He punches Dirt and the wife. He picks up this PVC pipe.”
“So he did use it as a weapon!”
Nuke moved his head back and forth. “Kind of. He hits him with the pipe and then he tells him to strip. Kevin and I are right there yelling at him to do what Pipe says. Dirt is scared and confused but he does it anyway. By this time everyone is outside watching. Pipe hits Dirt again, knocking him to the ground, then he says he’s going to shove the PVC up the redneck’s ass. Telling him how’s he’s a little bitch for not handling his woman.”
Jasmine’s mouth was wide open with shock. “Wait…wait a minute! He was going to fuck him with a pipe?”
Nuke nodded. “Yeah, he threatened to anyway. He’s got this anal object thing.”
“You do, too!” she laughed. “Holy fuck!” Jasmine still couldn’t believe it. “All of you are so weird!” She started laughing.
“Yep, and you fit right in with us!” He winked at her.
“Is that story really true?”
“Yeah, ask him. You two have bonded!”
Jasmine rolled her eyes. “I believe you. I just didn’t even imagine that was how he got the road name Pipe. Why doesn’t Kevin have one?”
“He’s boring,” Nuke laughed. “I use to call him STD. Dude has had so many of them, it’s a wonder his dick hasn’t fallen off. The name didn’t stick, but every other venereal disease did.” Nuke laughed so hard he started to choke.
His laughter was contagious, and for the first time in a long time, she felt good inside and at peace.
Nuke paused for a moment. “We disbanded the Disciples of Ares. They were the ones that firebombed the compound.”
His sudden disclosure took her by surprise. “What do you mean by disbanded?”
“We disbanded them. We broke up their club, dissolved their organization.”
“I watched cooking shows on Hulu last night,” she calmly replied, then she picked the remote and began flipping through the channels. “Your mother called me last night, too!” She tried to keep the conversation casual even though she was filled with questions for him. She kept them to herself.
Behind Blue Eyes Page 19
