It Ends Tonight (Bayou Devils MC Book 4)

by A. M. Myers

  She studies me for a minute before nodding and giving me another hug. Once she leaves the kitchen, I collapse into one of the dining chairs and set my cup of tea down on the table.

  Fuck.

  What a day.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out, hoping it’s a text from Quinn.

  Quinn:

  How fast can you get over here?

  I decide to call her instead of texting her back.

  “Hey,” she answers and at the sound of her voice, a sense of calm washes over me and I sigh.

  “You have no idea how good it is to talk to you.”

  “Yeah?” she asks. “Bad day?”

  I nod. “The fucking worst.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “It’s just my brother,” I answer like somehow she’ll accept that answer and she sighs.

  “Tell me about it, Lucas.”

  Before I know it, I’m spilling my guts and feeling better than I have since I dropped her off last night after our date but that’s what she does for me. Something about her makes all the shit just melt away. She’s the only thing that’s keeping me going lately and I don’t know what I’d do if I lost her.

  * * * *

  “Sleeping beauty awake yet?” Iris asks, walking into the kitchen and I shake my head as I take a sip of coffee.

  “Nope. Still out like a light.”

  She fills her travel mug with coffee before turning to me. “Have you checked on him?”

  “Yeah, when I woke up.”

  “You look tired,” she comments, sitting across from me at the table. “Did you sleep much last night?”

  I shake my head. “No, I never do when I’m keeping an eye on him.”

  “Lucas,” she whispers, picking at the corner of the table before her green eyes meet mine. “Was I too easy on you guys? I never wanted to drive you away but since you showed up last night, I can’t help thinking that I should have been more strict with the two of you when you were growing up.”

  I reach across the table and grab her hand. “Don’t ever fucking think you didn’t do enough for us, Riz. We were homeless when you found us and I think we’d both probably be dead right now if it wasn’t for you.”

  “But…”

  “No,” I snap, cutting her off as I shake my head. “Clay and I were dealt a bad hand before you came into our lives. You’re the only reason we’re both still breathing.”

  She nods, wiping away a tear and it shreds me. Iris may not be related to Clay or me biologically but she’s the only mother we’ve known for the longest time and I hate seeing her blame herself for this.

  “I love you boys, you know.”

  I nod. “I know and we love you, too.”

  “Okay,” she breathes, releasing my hand and standing up before brushing her hands over her skirt. “I’d better get going to work. I’ll try to come home after lunchtime and we’ll all talk, okay?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Turning away from me, she grabs her purse off the counter before holding her coffee cup up in the air. “Thanks for the coffee, by the way.”

  “You’re welcome,” I call as she walks into the living room. After she leaves, I relax back into my chair as open the paper, trying to do anything to distract myself from the impromptu intervention we’re having today.

  “Motherfucker!” Clay’s voice bellows from down the hallway and I sigh as I set the paper down and wait for him to come into the kitchen. A few seconds later, he stomps in and slaps his hand against the wall. “You brought me to Iris’s?!”

  “What else should I have done when I found you unconscious in the back room of a bar?”

  His eyes narrow. “Take me to the club, just like every other fucking time, asshole.”

  “That’s never worked before so I thought I’d try something different. Besides, the clubhouse was being used for something else.”

  Sighing, he walks over to the coffee maker and pulls a mug out of the cabinet before slamming the door and I clench my teeth to avoid losing my shit over his hissy fit.

  “I take it she left for work?” he asks after filling up his mug and I nod.

  “Yeah, but she’ll be back after lunch.”

  He shrugs. “Whatever. I won’t be here.”

  “Actually, you fucking will.”

  “Actually,” he sneers. “You don’t get to fucking tell me what to do anymore.”

  Sucking in a breath, I mentally count to ten to get control of my anger before meeting his eyes. “Why are you doing this, Clay? We just want to help you.”

  “I don’t want your goddamn help. Why don’t you just go back to your new family and forget I ever existed?”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask.

  “The club. As soon as you left home, you went and made yourself a new family so why don’t you just worry about them.”

  “Is that what all of this is about? You feel alone?”

  He laughs but it’s hollow. “Nothing in my life has anything to do with you.”

  “The guys would welcome you with open arms.”

  “No,” he mutters. “They wouldn’t.”

  I nod. “They would if you were clean and I’d love nothing more than to have my brother back.”

  I see the sharp retort right on the tip of his tongue but he pauses and I notice the longing in his eyes. It gives me a spark of hope.

  “It’s your choice, Clay. You can choose something different. You can choose to have a family again and yeah, it’s not conventional but who cares? The family we were dealt kind of sucked so let’s make a new one.”

  He eyes me warily as he drinks his coffee and my heart pounds as I wait for his answer. Hope wells up inside me despite the fact that I know better.

  “There’s something I need to tell you,” he finally says and I nod.

  “Okay. What’s up?”

  He shifts back and forth on his feet, staring down at his coffee mug. “I drove up to the prison to see him.”

  “What?” I breathe, blinking at him in shock as a chunk of ice imbeds itself in my stomach. “Why would you do that?”

  “I… I just needed to talk to him.”

  “And what could you possibly need to talk to him about?”

  He clears his throat. “He wrote me a letter a couple weeks back. He says he’s innocent.”

  “He’s fucking lying!” I roar, slamming my fist on the table as I jerk to my feet. Clay jumps before his eyes narrow and he takes a step toward me.

  “You don’t fucking know that.”

  “Have you lost your goddamn mind? Have you done so many drugs that it’s literally melted your brain cells? Of course, I fucking know that he’s lying because I watched it happen. I saw everything with my own two eyes.”

  “So you say but I believe him.”

  I sink into my chair with a huff, shaking my head. “You’ve got to be kidding me? He’s literally sitting in jail for what he did and you think he’s innocent?”

  “You don’t have to believe me,” he grits out, tossing his coffee mug into the sink where I hear it shatter. “But I’m going to find proof.”

  Before I can stop him, he runs out of the house and I bury my face in my hands, trying to wrap my mind around the last ten minutes but no matter how much I go over it, it still doesn’t make sense. My muscles tense and my knee shakes as I keep repeating what Clay said, over and over again, until I feel like I’m losing my mind. Standing up, I grab a piece of paper off the counter and leave a note for Iris before I run out to my truck and fire it up.

  There’s only one person who has answers for me and it doesn’t matter how much I don’t want to ever speak to him again. For Clay, I will.

  The hour long drive to the prison passes in a blur of memories and pain and as I pull into the lot, my stomach flips. I haven’t set eyes on the man in years and I never thought I’d be here. My hands shake as I walk across the lot and step into the lobby, where I sign in. After an officer pats me down and I leave my cell ph
one and keys at the front desk, they lead me back to a room with plexiglass dividing it in half and phones in each cubby.

  I take one of the chairs on the end and wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans as I wait for the guards to bring him out. My heart races and memories start to overwhelm me. The door in the back of the room opens and he steps out, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and cuffs around his wrists and ankles. His gaze zeroes in on me and I feel like throwing up and running from the room but I stay seated, leveling him with a steely glare despite the chaos raging through my soul.

  He sits across from me with a surprised expression and we both pick up the phones at the same time and press them to our ears.

  “Lucas?” he asks, his voice just like I remember from all those years ago and I nod.

  “Hi, Dad.”

  Chapter Nine

  Quinn

  “Quinn, I have Nick, the lead singer from The Renegades, on line one again,” Willa says, poking her head in my office and I sigh as I look up from the paperwork on my desk. This is the third time he’s called today and each call starts out with a silly question about the event before he starts flirting with me and before I’m able to end the call, he asks me out.

  “What does he want this time?”

  She shakes her head. “I'm not sure.”

  “Just uh… just tell him I’m in a meeting and answer any question he has,” I say with a tired sigh.

  “You got it.”

  “Oh, and, Willa? Please remove him from our vendor list so we don't have this problem again.”

  She laughs. “It’s already done. You’re too nice, Quinn.”

  “You might be right about that.”

  “Do you want me to go grab you some lunch?” she asks but before I can answer, the front door opens and she turns away from me. “Can I help you?”

  “Yeah,” a voice answers from the front office and I smile. “I’m looking for Quinn.”

  “Your name?”

  “Lucas Smith.”

  Willa glances back at me and I try to hide the wide smile on my face as I nod but when she narrows her eyes, I know I failed. She studies me with a quirked brow for a second before she turns back to the front door.

  “Go ahead.”

  As soon as Lucas walks into my office, my heart flutters in my chest and I drop my attempts to hide my grin as my gaze drops down his body and back up again. How the hell does the man make a t-shirt and jeans look better than anyone else?

  “Hey, gorgeous.”

  I toss my pen down on the desk. “Hi. What are you doing here?”

  “Should I be somewhere else?” he asks, a playful smile on his face and I shake my head.

  “You know, now that you mention it, I think this is exactly where you should be.”

  “Good to know. Are you hungry? I was hoping I could take you out to lunch.”

  “I’m starving,” I answer and he crosses the office until he’s leaning over me as I sit in my chair.

  “Can I steal you away for an hour?”

  I purse my lips as I meet his eyes. “Only if you kiss me first.”

  “Well, I don’t know, Miss Dawson… that’s a difficult request.”

  “Difficult to kiss me?” I ask, arching a brow. “I’m offended.”

  He shakes his head and leans in until his lips gently brush against mine. “No, difficult to stop kissing you once I start.”

  I'm reminded of the other night when he dropped me off after our date and the ten minutes we spent making out on my front porch like a couple of teenagers before Alice interrupted us.

  “Good answer.”

  His lips stretch into a smile against mine before he leans down and steals a kiss. My entire body relaxes at his touch like my soul is letting out the most content sigh and I reach up to grip his shirt, hoping to hold onto the feeling forever.

  A throat clearing interrupts us and I jerk back. Lucas licks his lips and slowly turns to look at the doorway as I follow his gaze. Willa flashes me a knowing, indulgent smile and a quirked brow.

  “I was just going to go grab lunch if you don’t need anything else.”

  I shake my head. “No, I’m good.”

  “I bet you are,” she mutters under her breath and I shoot her a look as she winks and leaves the room. Lucas laughs and his breath brushes against my ear.

  “She’s going to be impossible to rein in after she gets back.”

  “Regretting your decision to kiss me at work?”

  I turn and meet his gaze, smiling softly. “Never.”

  “Good,” he answers, standing up and holding his hand out to me. “Ready for lunch?”

  I nod and grab my purse from under the desk before grabbing his hand. He pulls me out of my chair and wraps his arm around my waist before slipping his hand into the back pocket of my jeans.

  “So, is there anything good around here?” he asks as we step outside and I nod as I lock the office door.

  “Yeah, there’s a deli on the next block over that has the best sandwiches,” I say, pointing to the right before turning left. “Or, there’s a burger place down there that I love.”

  He takes my hand and laces our fingers together. “What are you in the mood for?”

  “Let’s go to the deli.”

  He pulls me into his side as we turn for the deli. “So, how’s your day?”

  “Busy.”

  “But good?” he asks and I nod.

  “Yeah. What about you? I haven’t seen you in a couple days.”

  He smiles and arches a brow. “Miss me?”

  “Maybe. Is that crazy?” I know we haven’t known each other that long but I really do love spending time with him and he’s been too busy to stop by the last couple nights and texting only helps so much.

  “If it is, then I’m right there with you. I wanted to come see you more than you know.”

  A blush creeps up my cheeks and I look down at the sidewalk to hide my smile. After all I’ve been through, it means so much to me that he isn’t playing games with me. He’s honest and upfront with how he’s feeling and it’s exactly what I need.

  “What kept you away?”

  He sighs. “Clay.”

  “How is he?”

  “Last time I saw him, he was just fine but that was days ago.”

  “I’m so sorry, Lucas,” I whisper as we stop in front of the deli. He pastes a smile on his face but I can see the stress wearing on him. As he opens the door, he brings our intertwined hands to his lips and kisses the back of mine.

  “Don’t worry about it, babe. It is what it is.”

  I nod. “Well, I’m here if you want to talk about it.”

  “I know. Now,” he says as we step up to the front counter, “tell me what’s good here.”

  “My favorite is the honey bear sandwich,” I reply, pointing to the menu board up on the wall. He nods as he reads the description with an adorable pucker to his lips.

  “Sounds good.”

  A young woman stops in front of us with an expectant expression. “What can I get for you two?”

  “I’ll get the honey bear sandwich, a side of fries, and a water,” I say before glancing back at Lucas, who nods.

  “Same, please.”

  She rings it up and reads out the total. Lucas grabs his wallet out of his pocket and when I open my mouth to protest, he shoots me a look before handing over some cash. I stare at him for a second before pulling my wallet out of my purse and grabbing a ten-dollar bill. He glances back at me as I step up to the counter and slip the money in the tip jar. His jaw ticks as he watches me step back and then he smiles and shakes his head, pulling me into his arms as she hands him his change and receipt.

  “Defiant, aren’t you?”

  I arch a brow. “Only if you are.”

  “Me? Defiant?”

  “Well,” I mutter, wrapping my arms around his waist. “Maybe defiant isn’t the right word but you could let me pay for a meal every once in a while.”

  He shakes his head. “No, I coul
dn’t. Iris would have my head… and my balls if I ever made a lady pay for her own food.”

  “I see… so you’re going to pay for every woman’s lunch?” I ask, gesturing to the line forming at the counter and he laughs.

  “If I have to, to prove a point.”

  I flash him a skeptical look and he grins as he pulls some twenties out of his wallet and goes back up to the register where he whispers something to the cashier before handing her the money. The first woman in line watches him, wide-eyed, as he struts back over to me and I laugh.

  “Feeling proud of yourself?”

  He nods. “Yeah, I am.”

  “Smith,” the cashier calls, holding up a bag with our food in it. He flashes me a wink before strolling back up to the counter to grab it. When he comes back, we head out to the patio and find an open table as he lays out our sandwiches, fries, and bottles of water.

  “So,” he says as we sit down across from each other. “I have a question for you.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Tomorrow night… I was hoping to take you and Brooklyn to dinner at Iris’s house.”

  “Oh,” I whisper, surprised by his question.

  “If this is moving too fast for you, just say the word, Quinn, but I’d really like to introduce her to the two of you.”

  Our eyes meet across the table and the hopeful expression on his face pulls at my heart. Maybe it is moving too fast but I can’t deny how I feel about him, even after such a short time, and I can tell that this is important to him. I nod.

  “I’d really like that.”

  He flashes me a satisfied smile. “I’ll let Iris know.”

  As I peel back the wrapper around my sandwich, I suck in a breath, suddenly feeling nervous about meeting Iris tomorrow night. It’s clear from how Lucas speaks about her that she means a lot to him and I want to impress her.

  “You okay?” he asks and I nod.

  “Yeah, just a little nervous, I guess. I want her to like me.”

  He reaches across the table and grabs my hand. “Of course, she’s going to like you. How could she not?”

  “I… I just don’t want her to think badly of me. I know how people see me - a single woman raising my child on my own.”