“Stupid question,” Fabio muttered and clambered off the barstool.
Destiny followed suit, although her initial steps were slightly more faltering than his. Maybe she shouldn’t have had the last whiskey shot.
Fabio already had his hair pulled back so she followed suit. Ripping the hair tie from her wrist and yanked it back in a ponytail as quickly as she could. Fabio would run a fair fight with her when she wasn’t on his shortlist. Not that she always did the same for him.
Destiny planted her feet and curled her fingers, she bent her knees just slightly and brought her fists in front of her face. So far so good.
She had sparred with Fabio many a time over the years. He typically would wait for her to advance first. Usually block a few hits and kicks. Wait until he got annoyed and give it a go. Typically by swiping a low kick and launching her off her feet. Their fights were always playful, even though it often ended in bloodshed, or the time she cracked his femur unintentionally. Fabio fighting with others was a lot scarier.
This time, things were different. Before she could launch her attack with her first punch, Fabio rushed her. He caught her by surprise and she tried to bring a knee to his stomach but it was too late. He had her around the waist and pinned to the ground.
Some out of town patch hit the ground next to them and counted it out. Ten seconds on the ground and no chance of getting out of the pin in the state she was in. Fuck.
Fabio let her go as soon as the count was out and he was declared official winner of the unofficial fight. He was on his feet in an instant and she moaned softly. She had had her ass handed to her. Not good. At least she was drunk, she thought, as the ceiling spun for a moment. ‘Course this also meant she had worn out Fabio’s patience and was utterly screwed.
Fabio offered her his hand and a smile. And like the unexpecting fool she was, she took it. He yanked her to her feet and tossed her over his shoulder before she could even comprehend resisting.
Everyone cheered. Houston did some fake as hell cowboy “Whoop!” and Fabio marched her down the hall to her old apartment.
He paused for a second at the door to fumble with the keys and Destiny ceased her frivolous kicking and punching. Truth be told, it was better that Fabio tote her away than her brother. She took a deep breath of his scent and shuddered. Much better.
Her apartment door swung open and Fabio walked in and kicked the door closed behind them. He tossed her in a heap on her bed and turned back toward the door.
Destiny sat up and let her hair back down. “Why shut the door if you were planning on leaving so soon?” She tried making her voice as sultry as she could.
“You don’t hold your liquor as well as you think. Wanted to make sure that no one was unnecessarily victimized by you making a mess of yourself.”
Destiny frowned and crawled off the bed. “You should give me a little more credit, Fabio. I have out drank you on many occasions.”
He chuckled and she crossed the few feet that stood between them. “I’m not looking for a round two, D, so don’t try anything stupid.”
Destiny was chest to chest with him now and snaked her hands up behind his head and let her fingers tangle in his long, thick hair. “If you don’t want a round two, then why did you really close the door, Stephan?”
She made the bold move and pressed her lips to his. Fabio held back as she pushed his lips apart. He grabbed her wrists and she hesitated for just a second. Then pushing her luck, she nipped at his lower lip with her teeth and she burst through his barrier.
Destiny gasped as he kissed her back, released her wrists, and his hands roamed down her body. He gripped her by the bottom and lifted her up off the ground and tossed her back on the bed. This time, he fell with her, crawling atop her and pinning her so she was crushed beneath him, beneath his kiss. Destiny squirmed and wriggled, arching her pelvis into his. “Stephan,” she moaned again and he recoiled.
“No.” He launched himself from the bed and toward the corner by the door.
“What do you mean ‘no’?”
“I’m not doing this. Not letting you seduce me while you’re drunk, so you regret it all over again. What’s going on here, it’s too messy. And I just got you back home, I’m not willing to risk that.”
“How is any of this risking that?”
“Just earlier today you were tangled up with some mechanic and I was being distracted by some bartender. You are drunk, Destiny. And going through more than you need to be. Maybe you try too hard to not be emotional but I am not lacking feelings entirely. Last time we got tangled up physically, it just drove us apart. It took me a long time to get used to not having you here. Damnit, I ain’t ready for that again.”
“That was a decade ago. Neither one of us wanted a real relationship, it was just sex.”
“And that’s just bullshit! Same as now, you just want sex, you just want to be ice cold like your brothers. That’s not the case with everyone! You wanted something real back then, just not with me.”
“Oh no, you’re not pinning this shit on me! That there is total bullshit!”
“I put up with it all. You running back to him in just days. Coming to me first less than two years later, just so you could tell someone your little secret and show me your little engagement ring from your little Trent.”
“You were my best friend. Like a brother to me… I… I…”
“Then this is some serious incest shit, D.” Fabio ran his hands over his face and down the gruff of his beard. “Look, D, like I said, you’re drunk and, honestly, not thinking with your head on this.”
“Give me some more credit, Stephan. I’m pretty damn sobered up right now,” her voice trailed off.
“Pretty girl like you needs to have her ass kicked and get turned down every once in a while. Keeps her in check.” He brushed a lone piece of hair off her face. “I would do anything in this world for you, Destiny Dallas Callaghan. I would follow you more blindly than I have either your brothers. I guess I just loved you a little differently than I love them.”
“Then stay,” she whispered.
“If I am truly your best friend then please don’t ask me to do that. I can’t deny your request again.” He turned from her and put his hand on the door.
“You were always my Superman on a Harley, my whole life.”
“You have always been my kryptonite.”
And he was gone.
Destiny sank down onto her bed, fumbling with her boots as her vision blurred. No, it wasn’t the alcohol this time. It was tears. Fabio had this perfect vision, this perfect life all set up. He had a freelance business custom body shop for bikes and cars that he ran from his dad’s garage. He had a home. He didn’t need this club. It was like he was just waiting for someone to come along and fill the gap.
If it wasn’t for that damn patch. Her damn stubbornness to break a mold, just because it was there… that gap could have been her rightful place in the world. Her heart burst with fire. If she hadn’t let Trent stand in the way—if she hadn’t left for Fort Worth... maybe. But not anymore. She couldn’t walk away and they both knew she couldn’t be his old lady. Or anyone’s old lady while she did this. Most importantly—she couldn’t just love him because he loved her. Especially when she had no concept of what that kind of love was.
20
Destiny awoke in her apartment bed the next morning naked, but very alone. She had thought maybe Stephan—Fabio, whoever he was to her—would change his mind and come back. He hadn’t, and he had been right. She had gotten sick. She didn’t blame it on the whiskey but the miserable feeling he had put inside her heart and stomach when he left.
Fabio had been wrong about one thing last night and one thing only—when she woke this morning she didn’t want him any less than she had the night before. But she had just been tangled up with Nathan just hours before. God, she was a train wreck.
The alarm clock’s digital red glowing numbers said it was nearing noon. She needed to get up, get dressed, and get o
n with her day. Leto’s showing was this afternoon, with burial tomorrow. His biological family was here and she assume Ray N. would want her with Fort Worth.
A sharp pounding on the door came.
“Delivery!”
“Go away!”
The sound of the key turning in the lock came next and her Aunt Kristy walked in with a laundry basket and kicked the door shut behind her.
“God’s sake, Destiny, make yourself decent.”
“I don’t wanna.”
“Look, I know you made a mess of yourself last night.”
“How do you know?” Destiny cut her off.
“Stella said she gave you the talk. Followed by everyone hearing of your standoff with Fabio. And since he’s a damned grizzly this morning himself, I assume it was something you said.”
“How can you assume that?”
“He’s the most even-tempered man I have ever known around here. He only gets pissy when you come to town.”
“Lovely.”
“I brought you the normal. Water, dark, decent jeans, as I know you haven’t worn a dress since your prom. Seriously, how hard is a dress or something womanly for a funeral? Anyway. A nice ladylike black button-up. Figure it will still get buried under the cut. Some make-up and hair essentials. You’re their princess, try to look it. Brianna would be ashamed if I let her gorgeous daughter look like some washed-up tramp. Your cut and your artillery is in here as well.”
“Thanks.”
“Try not to piss anyone off today. The elders are holding church at one. Alec wants you there. He would like to speak with you following as well.”
“Is he grounding me as well?”
“I try not to let my kids be the subject of my pillow talk for too long. Really kills the mood,” Kristy said as she closed the door behind her.
Destiny rolled over and stared at the ceiling, it was going to be one of those days.
***
Destiny dressed but stayed in her room till just before one. She didn’t want to be the first in church or the last. This wasn’t a regular meeting and not everyone was on the invite list. She supposed she should feel honored. But, she didn’t.
Destiny found a seat away from the table and with her back pressed firmly to the wall and facing the door. Almost all the presidents, VPs, and respected elders were here. Her Uncle Eric sat behind Bryant and Riccardo. Alec was to Ray N.’s right, who sat head of his own table today. Rocky sat to Ray N.’s left along with two more Fort Worth members. Scottie, the eldest of the Nomads, was present, but it appeared he might be the only Nomad.
Ray N. picked the gavel up in his hands just as the church door opened and Fabio and Houston walked in. Destiny didn’t make eye contact with either of them. Alec gave a short glare at the boys for what Destiny could only assume was their near tardiness, before Ray N. started.
“I want to thank you all as a whole for being here with Fort Worth in our dire time. It has been some years since we in Fort Worth have lost any brothers of our chapter. Hopefully, it will be some years till we feel this pain again. You all know this wasn’t a case of a simple accident, a ride gone wrong. You have questions, demands for retributions. That we all understand comes from your heart.” Destiny let her eyes wander the room as Ray N. spoke. Rocky sat nodding in agreement as did many others.
“Alec and I called you here today because you are our leaders, and most prominent members. And to search for a call to action.”
Murmurs of agreement filled the room. Almost everyone seemed on the same page. Everyone except her.
“No.” Destiny shocked even herself at the calm quiet tone of her voice. Everyone stopped and stared. She hadn’t planned on drawing her line in the sand here but a war would rage before she could gather all her information if she didn’t stand now.
“No,” she repeated even louder, this time standing from her chair. “Not the call of action you want. Not guns, not violence, not as our first resort. Do not take me a fool, any of you. I am Destiny Dallas Callaghan. You all know me and my family and our story. You know I will shoot to draw first blood without restraint if I believe that is the best or only route. This isn’t. We don’t know enough about what is going on. We know the police are either after us or the Apache that Leto was riding with when he was killed. Leto very well could have been the casualty of us being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“That still doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the revenge that is ours!” Rocky growled.
“But at what cost? At the cost of the lives of innocents like Leto’s mother, who despises this club and all it stands for? Will it harm a woman who felt that she lost her son to us in life and then in death? We are a club with a few more morals and conscientiousness than the Apache. We don’t know if our beef is with them. Hell, this could be a BP tip off to the cops, or a million other people. It could have been the cops’ lucky day, we don’t know. I do know we sure as hell don’t go gunning at the police. We pride ourselves in caring for our people. Our innocents. And if we retaliate and are wrong—those people could get hurt because of our mistakes. Then we will be lowering someone else in the ground. One of your mothers, wives, children! We must be smart and use what we know!”
“And what do you know?” asked Ray N.
Destiny look to Alec. He was gunning for the allegiance with the Apache and she hadn’t wanted to bring what Trent had told her up in front of the club until she had spoken to him in private. But they deserved to know. They needed to know.
“I spoke to an old acquaintance yesterday. Deputy Ulrey, Sheriff’s department stationed in Sweetwater…”
“Not this asshole,” Houston cut in.
“Shut up,” Alec warned and then gave Destiny a nod.
“I know he’s far from the most trustworthy or helpful person in the world. But Fabio spotted him in town—a far cry from his post—so I went to the station and did some talking. While what he knows, or claims to know, is not extremely detailed, I was able to convince him to fill me in on a few things. Basically, as far as he knows, Leto was an accident. Pure and simple. Ulrey wasn’t here for the Bastards. There is a multi-agency case for the Apache. They are starting a turf war with the Pride. The Bastards have just been muling in the guns and drugs needed to start it.”
The silence while the men thought was thick and numbing. Scottie was the first to throw his thoughts into the ring.
“I know you set up this deal, Alec. Which means I’ll believe you didn’t know what the Apache were doing. You know most of us are too old for another war. I won’t fight or ride in a turf war. I’m in my sixties. I can barely grip a handle bar and I’m far too old to bury brothers—and sisters”—he nodded to Destiny—“less than half my age. I take my leave of this and, while there is no vote on the floor, know that my proxy is against anything that moves the Bastards into war.”
Scottie walked out of church and let the door slam shut behind him. Eric looked around the room and Destiny saw his eyes fall on his son. “I am with Scottie. I am too old to wage war. My wife, Stella, she has already given too much for this to ask her to fight again too. The first war with the Pride ended badly for everyone. I won’t ask her to risk herself, she has accepted I will do as I please but I cannot ask her to lose her children. She lost too many of those already, and the last three that remain sit here now. I will not wage war at the cost of ending a twenty-year peace with the Pride or assist the Apache in ending it as well. I will fight if it comes anyway, but I will not push it along.”
The room was quiet for a long moment. Most these boys were likely to agree with Eric and Scottie. Very few in this room were fit for a fight or didn’t have wives who would protest another war. Because those who didn’t remember had heard the horror stories. There were men outside these walls who would arm themselves and take to battle. Hot heads: young, dumb and green. But that’s why they weren’t in here. They may be willing to risk their lives but elders weren’t ready to bury more sons and brothers.
“Each chapter
must vote on whether to terminate ties with the Apache. We don’t have that right to do so here,” Alec stated solemnly. “Any last business?”
“I still want the name,” Rocky growled. “Whoever handed over information about that ride to the PD, I want to know how they know. A nark needs to be eliminated. Apache, Bastard, Pride or other. Someone still must pay the price.”
“As of yesterday when I talked to Trent, he didn’t know. And I believe him. I’ll pressure him to keep digging, find what I can from the inside.” Destiny looked into Rocky’s eyes. “I promised you that, and I will follow through, Rocky.”
****
The group dispersed. Sweetwater and Fort Worth were the only two chapters currently assisting Apache. Ray N. and Alec called immediate votes and the other presidents contacted the rest of their charters to do a quick fill-in.
The name on Destiny’s back and breastplate said Fort Worth, so she sat and waited in church while the rest of Fort Worth filed in. She let Ray N. do the talking, not uttering a single sound besides her vote before excusing herself. She spoke to no one as she walked outside, catching only a glimpse of her Sweetwater as they dispersed. The outcome of their vote appeared to concur with Fort Worth. Apaches were on their own.
Vat saw her and gave a brief nod. Bryant, Jay, and Charlie acknowledged her as well. A thanks for the information that steered them away from the hell storm they had been headed for. Not that it would be easy. As soon as Leto was laid to rest, Fort Worth and Sweetwater would have to tell Cochise that they were no longer partners. It would be a full club meet. Numbers, guns, and dick sizes needed to show that they wouldn’t be pushed around. Breaking of deals could turn deadly. And if that happened, war would be inevitable.
She mounted her bike and caught a glimpse of Fabio staring her down from where he leaned, smoking, against the building. His hair was down and blowing in his face so his expression was unclear. He wasn’t happy with her and she wasn’t happy with him. That’s all there was to it. She kicked her bike over and pulled away.
The Devils Bastards MC: Destiny Dallas Callaghan Page 14
