Bubbles

by Candace Blevins

  * * *

  I knew she’d be fine, but she didn’t. However, I trusted Matty, Angelica, and Harmony to show her what it means to be one of us. I could tell her all day long, but she needed to experience it for herself.

  “Do I want to know who you texted?” Duke and I were side-by-side, on our way back to the conference room.

  “Her brother. He’s here somewhere. He’ll either calm her down or really piss her off, but either way, it’ll get her focus off Lexi.”

  I chuckled. “Any idea why Chief Keller is basically showing his hand?”

  “Tourism took a hit during the last gang war. They know Lexi’s with you, and that the Playa’s were after her. He’s worried.”

  “Marlin needs to know he has a rat.”

  “He does, but I’m not of a mind to tell him until we’re sure he needs to stay in charge.”

  “I’ll follow your lead. Ready?”

  He nodded, and I opened the door, waited for him to enter, and followed.

  “Sorry about that,” said Duke. “Had to settle a disagreement. Where were we?”

  “You were explaining why my intel about Bubbles being responsible for Fury’s disappearance is wrong.”

  “No,” Zeke interrupted. “This is a conversation, not an interrogation. Bubbles has already told you he had no part in Fury’s disappearance. We don’t know where he is. I believe the conversation we were having involves making sure the news doesn’t have opportunity to report on how many gun deaths we’ve had in the city during a short number of days.”

  He sighed. “Yes. Anything you can do to keep that from happening again will be greatly appreciated.”

  “We only shoot in self-defense,” said Duke.

  “I don’t even shoot in self-defense, since I can’t legally carry,” I added. “Look, you know Fury threatened Lexi, and that three of his homeboys attacked my girl and tried to take her.” I glanced at Zeke and he didn’t stop me, so I kept going. “You’ve heard that I did something to Fury, but in reality, I just had a conversation with the motherfucker, and then told Marlin to control his people. If something happened to Fury, it was because he stepped out of line within his own organization.”

  Keller’s eyes scanned us. Cop eyes. Cold, hard, analyzing. “Marlin doesn’t want another war either. Ya’ll went to him instead of Fury?”

  “An excellent assumption,” said Duke.

  Keller narrowed his eyes at Duke, realizing he hadn’t actually verified anything.

  He must’ve decided that was as far as he was getting with Duke, and he turned to me. “Lexi’s mom hasn’t been in their apartment in a few days.”

  Zeke caught this one. “I believe she took a health vacation.”

  Keller nodded, stood, and offered his hand to me. “Thanks for your time.”

  I shook his hand, and he turned and shook Duke’s as well, but only nodded to Zeke.

  “I’m glad we can work together,” said Duke. “We might come at things from a different direction, but we have most of the same goals.”

  Keller was about to argue the point, so I jumped in with, “We’re about to cut the pig. I hope you’ll stick around to eat with us.”

  He looked at me a few seconds, then back to Duke. “I don’t believe we’re on the same side, but it’s true we have some of the same end goals. I appreciate not having to police this part of the city for drugs, and I like being able to focus on the positive. We’ll continue to do so, assuming this spark doesn’t turn into another fully engulfed war.”

  I escaped the room and followed Duke to the control room. Paco saw us and pointed to a monitor off to the side. We watched the women talking and cutting up, and then Gen got a phone call. She stepped away to answer it. She asked who was on the other end of the phone several times, and they must’ve hung up before she was ready for them to, because she glared at her phone a good ten seconds before she put it away, took a breath and visibly calmed, and walked to the group. She didn’t appear upset when she pulled Lexi away from the group, so there was no reason for the other ol’ladies to block her.

  Gen walked Lex to a place she thought was blind from the cameras — we’d added a few six months before.

  Once she thought no one could see them, Gen put her hands on her hips and her face turned hateful. “Your sister’s one of the MC’s whores?”

  My little Half-pint seemed to grow two inches taller, put her hands on her hips in a way that told me she was ready to block a strike if necessary, and glared at Gen. “You want to reword that?”

  “Answer the question!”

  Both women jumped a little at Gonzo’s “Duchess!”

  Gonzo gave Gen a small reprimand and asked Lex if she was okay. I smiled at my girl’s response because she showed zero fear. I had no idea what a heather was, but I should probably find out.

  Matty took my girl into the clubhouse and away from the party, and I was grateful. I’d protected him a few times, but I didn’t think this was just him payin’ me back for being nice. Matty and Lexi seemed to have bonded over talk about hair and clothes.

  “Your girl’s a little spitfire. Good for you.”

  I looked at Duke. “Any idea who called Gen?”

  He looked at Paco, who said, “Burner phone. Her number’s listed all over the place so people can call her about real estate listings. Anyone can get it.”

  I stooped and wrote the address they were last keeping Fury. His aunt’s house. “Brain can tell us what phone numbers are at or near an address. Can you do that?”

  “Yeah. He wrote a program for it, so I only have to run it.”

  He turned, went through a menu, typed in the address, got the longitude and latitude, plugged it into another program, and we saw a list of phone numbers.

  And the burner was one of them.

  I looked at Duke. “I told him I’d leave his balls, but they’d come off too if he messed with her again.”

  Duke shook his head. “Not touching the asshole’s balls with a ten foot pole. I’ll pay to add Fury to Gavin’s list of people.”

  “Gavin’s supposed to show up at the party after dark. I promised him a drink from Genie so long as she don’t remember it. He took a fancy to her at another party.” Genie would take him inside to do him when we told her to, so Gavin would only have to erase the actual bite from her mind. I put my hand in my pocket and ran my finger over the edge of my folded knife. “I think we need to face the fact Marlin’s no longer an ally.”

  “Agreed. We’ll bring it up at church tomorrow. We don’t take his word for anything else. Whether we do more needs to come to a vote. Keller was right to be worried about another street war.”

  I looked at Paco. “Anything else I need to know?” He pointed to the live feed, and I saw Lexi sitting between Matty and Micca, smiling and joking. Angelica and Bethany were across the table from them.

  I looked to Duke and gave him my best smirk. “Good luck with your Duchess.”

  He rolled his eyes at me, and I left.

  I sat between Angelica and Gabby, and looked to Bash’s Princess. “Tink. Got a guy who wants me to restore an MGB. Bash said I should talk to you.”

  “Hell yeah. What year?”

  “Sixty-five. Little red convertible. Tranny is trashed, engine’s in decent shape so we’ll leave it alone for now. Bash said I should ask you to look it over before I get started. Said you’ll probably have some timesaving suggestions. He had some, but said you’re the expert.”

  “I’d love to buy an old one and bring it back to life again, but there aren’t enough hours in the day. I spend enough time just keeping my ancient thing in good running order.”

  “I don’t know anything about engines or transmissions.” Lexi’s voice was soft, almost apologetic.

  “You don’t need to, Half-pint. I’ll take care of whatever you’re drivin’.”

  Something brushed over my toe, and I realized she was trying to touch me under the table. I stretched my leg out so she could reach it, and her bare foot land
ed on my shin.

  “It’s what they do,” said Micca. “I don’t even belong to Razor, and I walk outside to see him changing the oil or checking the breaks on my car. He even keeps my windshield wiper fluid filled.”

  Lexi looked at me in question, and I smiled. “I changed your oil and topped off your other fluids while it was at the shop. Front end was a little out of alignment, and I fixed it before it screwed with your tires too much. Your brakes are in good shape.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Slow down going over the speed bumps at school, and make sure you hit them straight on. If you aren’t runnin’ late, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  She looked down and I smelled arousal. She hadn’t liked her over-the-knee hand-spankin’ when it happened, but the memory of it was a turn-on. But, it was time to change the conversation.

  “You threatened to slap Gen?”

  She lifted her head and glared at me. “She called Etta a whore!”

  “I know, Lex. You’re good. I’m glad you didn’t actually slap her, but the threat was fine.” I glanced at Angelica and looked back to Lex. “Gen got a phone call from someone who didn’t identify themselves. Someone outside the family trying to cause discord. I’d almost bet on Gen apologizing tonight, but it might be next week. She’ll come around once she’s calmed down. It isn’t you she’s pissed at, you just ended up in the crosshairs while she verified the information.”

  “She’s with Brain and her brother. Cassie too, I think,” said Matty.

  “She’ll call her brother names, but she’ll listen to Brain,” Angelica said with a chuckle. “It’ll work out, Lexi.”

  Gabby leaned into me and I smelled her anxiety. I put my arm around her and asked, “You okay, little bunny?”

  “Yeah. I don’t deal so well with conflict, but I like Lexi and wanted to be here for her. I mean, I like Gen, too, and knowing she got a strange phone call helps me understand what happened, but it doesn’t excuse it. We’ve all seen her temper, it’s just usually not directed at one of us.”

  I scented and heard activity around the smoker, and it seemed a good time to change the conversation. I looked at Lex. “You want to watch Knife cut the pig? He turns it into a bit of a show. He’s really good.”

  “Oh, he is!” said Matty. “You can sit on my shoulders to watch if you want.”

  I gave Matty a mock glare. “No, she can’t. Only shoulders she sits on are mine.”

  He gave her a shoulder bump and laughed. “My dastardly plan worked. Now you’ll have the best seat in the house.”

  I leaned across the table, put my hand on his, and met his gaze. “Thanks for takin’ care of her. It means a lot.”

  He gave me a sad smile. “It’s what we do, but maybe we don’t do it so good when it’s one of us who turns on a new person. I know how that feels — makes you want to leave and never come back. If I hadn’t loved Razor so much, that’s exactly what I’d have done. She’s good for you, and I like her. Doesn’t mean I don’t like Gen, just means Gen was wrong and I won’t be afraid to tell her.” He glanced at Angelica and back to me. “The ol’ladies had my back, but it felt like most of the members were trying to stay neutral. You took care of me a few times, and it meant a lot. I didn’t always feel safe, and this is supposed to be a safe space.”

  I looked at Lexi. “He’s right. The compound and our neighborhood are our safe spots. The world is dangerous and we need down time. You handled it just right, but we’ll do our best to make sure you don’t have to handle anything like that again.”

  She shook her head. “I’m okay. I know to stay away from Gen, and if she calls my sister a whore again I’ll follow through on my threat. She’s a Heather. Nothing more than a high-school-mean-girl. I know how to deal with them.”

  Matty looked to me, wanting me to fix it, but I only said, “Okay, Half-pint. I hope she changes your mind, but that’ll be up to her. All I ask is that you listen to her, if she apologizes, and you don’t resort to physical violence without a damned good reason.”

  17

  Lexi

  * * *

  They hadn’t been kidding about Knife turning the hog-cutting into a show. His cuts were precise and exaggerated, like a butcher turned stage performer. Different parts of the pig went into different bins, and he put these bear claw things on to shred the meat in one of the larger bins. He worked fast, and before long people had their choice of the part of the pig they wanted, with labels on the bins.

  I thought I’d be grossed out and not able to eat it after seeing the whole pig all stretched out, but I took the first bite and it practically melted in my mouth. I’d never had pork this good before.

  Later, I learned they’d killed the pig, drained it, and immediately cooked it. It’d been alive just before the sun had gone down the night before, and it’d cooked most of the night and all day. I was kind of glad I didn’t know that while I ate it.

  Lots of people complimented me on my tater-tot casserole, and I asked Matty who made the dishes I liked best, so I could tell them how much I liked their food, too.

  Bubbles had me in his lap after we ate, and I was relaxed against him. I’d had a whole plate of food — I rarely eat so much at once, and I was a little miserable, but the food had been so good. Despite the activity around us, it would’ve been easy to fall asleep. It was mid-October and still warm, but the MC had these huge fans on all over the place, and lots of umbrellas over tables and seating areas, so there was shade.

  I opened my eyes when Bubbles went a little stiff, and sat up when he patted my leg. Gen was walking towards me with Bethany on one side and Duke on the other. I started to stand, but changed my mind. I was pretty happy curled into Bubbles.

  “I’m sorry.” She wasn’t wearing her bitch face, but I wasn’t buying it yet. “I meant to just ask you if what the person on the phone said was true, but my temper kicked in and that wasn’t fair to you. You get as embarrassed as me when people start talking about sex like it’s nothing. I can’t hold what your sister is against you, and it doesn’t matter anyway. Duke tells me your sister basically raised you even though she’s only four years older, and that means she’s a good person.”

  I looked at Bubbles. It was a good apology, but I was still pissed. I had no idea what to say.

  “Matty pointed out how much it hurts when one of us turns on you, when you’re brand new.” Bubbles told Gen. “Lexi wanted to leave and not come back. I convinced her to stay, but I’ve been with her since Duke and I finished our meeting. It was a good apology, but she isn’t used to your rather famous temper. I think it’s going to take her some time to feel comfortable.”

  Gen turned, grabbed a chair, settled it in front of us, and sat, her eyes on Bubbles. “Dozer was such an ass to Matty, and he nearly got some of us hurt because he couldn’t get over it. I’m over it. I like Lexi.” She looked at me. “I was a bitch. I’m sorry.”

  I sat up and readjusted in Bubbles’ lap. “Okay. It seems to me you should be old enough to have learned how to control your temper, but whatever. I accept your apology.”

  She started to get ticked, but then smiled. “Yeah, but it hasn’t happened yet so it doesn’t seem likely. Bubbles is going to have his hands full with you, isn’t he?” She smiled at him and looked back to me. “You’re good for him. He’s been so quiet since he came. He rarely smiled, and he looks happy now, with you in his lap — even though I caused a little shitstorm.”

  “We need to let you listen to some voices, so you can verify who called.” Bubbles didn’t mind talking about his feelings with just me, but apparently wasn’t going to around others. That was okay — so long as he talked to me, we were good.

  “Already handled,” said Duke from behind Gen. “Female voice. Unknown.”

  “Fuck. Okay. A discussion for another time.” Bubbles brushed his hand over my hair. “Someone just came into the lot I need to talk to. Want me to take you back to Matty?”

  “I can just come with you.”

  “Club business, Half-pint. I
need a few minutes alone with him.”

  I looked at Gen. “I’m good. Go do what you need to.”

  He stood with me in his arms, sat me in the chair we’d been in, kissed my forehead, and left.

  Bethany grabbed a chair and sat it beside Gen’s, plopped into it, and said, “Is he, you know, proportioned? Because if he is, I think I might be a little jealous.”

  I looked to my left to see if Gabby would help me, and she gave me a big smile. “Horse got his name because he’s hung like one.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not tellin’ ya’ll how big he is.” I looked at Bethany. “And who are you here with? I saw a hot redhead pull you into his arms like he owned you, but then an hour later I saw an army-looking military type kiss you like you were his oxygen.”

  Gen rolled her eyes and Gabby laughed. Bethany shrugged and gave me a big smile. “I live with three men. It’s kind of complicated.”

  “Not complicated at all,” said Gen. “My brother has two boyfriends and a girlfriend, and they all live together. When Bethany got to know them, she decided she needed her own harem. A year later, she had one. I have no idea how she managed it, but she did, and I do not need to hear details.”

  “I kind of want to hear details. I mean, do you do them one at a time, or all at once?”

  Bethany laughed. “How big is Bubbles’ cock?”

  I laughed with her. “Yeah. Okay. None of my business.”

  By the time Bubbles made it back, it was well after dark, and Matty had come to sit with us, pulling along another man he introduced as Spence.

  An FBI guy sat with us for a while, and he seemed to have a rapport with Angelica, but I couldn’t help but think he was hoping to pick up information to help him nail our men. Everyone was nice to him though, so I was polite, but I didn’t talk much while he was around. I wanted to be like my foster family and be relaxed around him, but I felt more like my mama — hoping the cop would go away without arresting me. Never mind I hadn’t done anything wrong.

  Bubbles brought me a beer, and I looked around at the cops still present. He put his mouth to my ear and said, “We own everyone still here except the FBI dude, and he won’t say anything about underage drinking so long as you don’t head towards a car with keys in your hand. He’s interested in busting us for something big, not in harassing us for the small shit.”