by Kylie Walker
“Fucking incredible,” he said.
She smiled and planted another kiss, this one against his chin. “You’re incredible,” she said. He held her tightly and soon she could tell by his even breathing that he was sleeping. She closed her eyes and smiled. It was funny how life worked. She’d been miserable with Frankie and she hated her life. But if not for him, who knows if she would have ever run back into Kyle again? It was all the proof she needed to convince herself that all things happened for a reason.
Chapter 15
Three Weeks Later
“It’s hotter than fuck in here,” Drill complained as he took a seat next to Kyle. They were crowded into the bar for a club meeting. Rodney had called it to talk about the ‘job’ Red Bull wanted the club to do in exchange for not going after Levi. A lot of the guys in the club still weren’t aware of the situation and Kyle was more worried about how they would react to that than he was the heat.
“Yeah,” he said in Drill’s direction. “We need a bigger air conditioner.”
Asa took the seat on the other side of Kyle and when Kyle saw him he leaned over and said, “You have any idea what Red Bull asked for?”
Asa shook his head. “No. For some reason Dad and Carl have been hush hush about it.”
Kyle looked around and lowered his voice before saying, “How pissed do you think they’ll be when they find out?”
“Who gives a shit? What are they going to do?”
Jared sat down in front of Asa and turned around. “You two stop whispering and share with the class.”
Kyle grinned and flipped him off. Jared hadn’t been around the club much lately. He spent his days in the shop working on bikes and cars and his evenings with Cami. Levi told him that Cami said they were just friends but Kyle got the feeling that for Jared it was turning into more than that. He hated to see his friend get hurt. Jared had a tendency to pick women that he thought needed saving but the problem with that was that sometimes the women didn’t want to be saved.
Rodney and Carl came into the room and a hush suddenly fell across the noisy room. They took their seats at the table near the front just as Jim rushed in and took his. Rodney waited until the talking had completely died down before saying,
“The Sons of Warlocks have asked us to do them a favor.”
The noise started out as a buzzing and quickly escalated into a loud rumble that spread across the room. Kyle knew this was going to be the response. The Black Skulls had spent the past five years working on going legitimate. They took the money that had been made from drug and arms deals and invested it in real estate and other legal ventures. That’s not to say they didn’t still get involved in some back room deals, but the days of in and out of prison were in the past or so most of them thought.
Rodney let them rumble for about two minutes before whistling and then banging his meaty fist on the table in front of him. “Y’all mind if I finish or would you like to discuss something you know nothing about amongst yourselves for a while first?” The room was dead silent then and he went on, “The Sons did something for us and now we owe them a favor in return…” A hand went up in the front of the room. It was one of the old timers. His name was Tim but they called him Throttle. Rodney looked annoyed but he said, “What?”
“I’m sorry but I’m wondering why we didn’t hear anything about a ‘favor’ for the Sons in our last meeting. What favor was it we did for them?”
“It’s been done already so I don’t feel the need as your president to dole out the details.”
The rumble began again. Kyle could tell by the look on Rodney’s face that he was getting pissed off. Carl on the other hand looked amused. Kyle didn’t care for Carl. He gave him the respect that his position afforded him but he had never really trusted him. Something about the way Carl had reacted to this thing with Levi and the Sons didn’t sit well with him either. He couldn’t figure out exactly what it was, but he felt like he was up to something.
“Settle down!” Carl yelled in his raspy, deep voice. “We aren’t gonna answer questions if we can’t even be heard. What we’ll do is cancel this meeting and not involve y’all in any decisions we make.” He leaned over and said something quietly to Rodney. Rodney didn’t look happy about whatever it was but once there was silence in the room again Rodney said,
“Listen. I was approached by an old friend of the club. Some of you might remember him, or you may have seen him at Poison when he visited last month. His name is Mike McGarden. He had a huge favor to ask of me…of us. His daughter was involved in that mess up there with one of their enforcers disappearing and ATF swooping in and guns being taken from the Irish and sold to the Mexicans, and all of that. Red Bull had a call out on her. He says it wasn’t a ‘hit’ that he only wanted to talk to her. But the reason he wanted to talk to her was because he thought she witnessed her boyfriend’s murder. Y’all know what the Sons’ motto is right?” There were a few murmurs of ‘no witnesses,’ and Rodney went on. “Right. They wanted that girl dead. We stopped that from happening.”
Another old timer that went by the name of Buzz raised his hand. Rodney pointed at him and he said, “All due respect Rodney, the thing we’re having a problem with here is that we weren’t informed ahead of time. We’re hearing about it…what? A month later? Why is that?”
“We didn’t have time to dicker or argue about it. A decision needed to be made and we made it.”
A low rumble started again and Asa, trying to deflect the anger and argument said, “So what’s the job? What does Red Bull want?”
Silence again. Rodney seemed to hesitate and Carl smugly said, “They want us involved in their war…with the Irish.” Rodney shot his brother a nasty look just as the room erupted. Kyle felt sick. He was living at the club with Levi. Up to this point no one knew much about where she’d come from or why she’d just shown up all of a sudden. They’d accepted her as Kyle’s woman and they liked her. But once even so much as a drop of blood was shed over this favor they’d agreed to do for the Sons…they’d be looking for someone to blame. Kyle already knew that would turn out fucking bad. He wasn’t about to let anyone hurt or disrespect Levi.
Jared raised his hand and Rodney pointed in his direction. “What is it that we’re expected to do, exactly?” Jared was a planner. He wasn’t one to doubt that anything could be done, until he’d tried it.
“The Sons of Warlocks are expecting a meet with Ian Mulligan next week.” A low rumble began. Kyle and Asa quelled it with a look and Rodney went on, “He’s coming in on Tuesday. He wants answers from Red Bull as to what happened to two of his men that delivered the last shipment of guns and never made it back. According to Bull, his VP’s adopted son went off the deep end, stole some guns and sold them on the side. They suspect that he also ‘got rid of’ these two Irishmen.”
Kyle knew that was bullshit. Levi told Rodney and him that the men who killed Frankie admitted to getting rid of the two Irishmen based on Frankie’s word that they’d delivered a short shipment. Either Red Bull didn’t know that Rodney knew that part or Rodney didn’t want to share it. Kyle hoped that no one figured out Levi knew because it would just be one more reason for the Sons to want her.
“So where’s this punk that betrayed his own family?” A big guy near the back named Bear asked.
“He’s dead. His murder was the one the girl witnessed.”
“So why doesn’t Red Bull just point the finger at him? Every club has had at least one renegade?” One of the older guys asked.
“He intends to,” Rodney said. “But y’all know what he’s dealing with here. At least those of you that have been around long enough to remember when we had our beef with the Irish.”
That had all happened before Kyle came along, but everyone knew the story. The club was having financial problems just after Rodney took over as President. Johnny Fox was still acting as VP at the time and the man had no scruples at all. They were running a lot of drugs in those days, mostly pot when it was still
illegal. But they’d been hit a couple of times by law enforcement and Johnny and Carl had both done a few years in the State Pen which left Rodney to struggle with keeping the club together on his own.
While Carl and Johnny were locked up they met a man named Patrick Gaffigan. Patrick was connected to an organization back east…an organized crime organization…the people they now refer to as ‘The Irish.’ Patrick and Johnny got close in prison after Johnny saved his life. When they all got out Johnny introduced Patrick to Rodney. At that point the club was hanging on by a thread and against Rodney’s better judgment at the time; the club began to dabble in the lucrative sport of running guns. The Black Skulls started out small but money is a powerful drug. Within five years they’d worked up to being responsible for bringing over 80% of the guns on the streets into the state. The struggling club was finally prosperous and everyone thought it was a great thing to be a part of…until it all went bad.
At one of the ‘exchanges’ between the Irish and the Skulls, ATF showed up and there was a fire fight. Two ATF agents wound up dead which was bad enough, but in the midst of it, the Irish had also taken the guns and the money and left. Back in those days Rodney was hotheaded and the fact that Johnny Fox had his ear didn’t help. They couldn’t just stand for being robbed. Rodney, Carl and ten of their best men went on a road trip to New Jersey. Once there they stormed into Ian Mulligan’s home and there was a blood bath. When the smoke cleared the Skulls lost five men…and Ian Mulligan lost his son. For years afterwards there was a bloody back and forth battle that only ended after the Skulls had lost over half their club to either death or prison and only then because there was a new ATF director that wanted Ian Mulligan’s head on a spike. The authorities were putting so much pressure on him that he couldn’t run an operation, keep his battle going with a little club like the Black Skulls and stay out of prison. The Irish cooled off their operations for a while and Ian took refuge in Ireland with the rest of his family. ATF had moved on to bigger and better busts and Ian had slipped his men back into the country slowly. He seemed to have forgotten about his vendetta with the Skulls, or at least he didn’t feel it was important enough to risk being locked up or deported and losing his business in the states again. They hadn’t heard from him in ten years…but if they went and stuck their noses in this beef Ian had with the Sons of Warlocks, it would be back on and they’d all be at risk. Kyle hadn’t realized that was what Rodney agreed to for Levi’s sake. The question was why?
“Yeah,” Rock Bundy, a biker that had been around longer than Rodney, stood up. The old man was still built like a mountain but could no longer ride because of arthritis in his knees. He was a bad ass in his day and still garnered a lot of respect around the club. He gripped onto the edge of the table and said, “I remember it. I lost a lot of brothers. One of them was my flesh and blood. I got shot in the gut and almost died. We were ambushed at every turn and it was almost the end of this club. I have to say that I’m confused. Why was this girl so important that you’d be willing to put us back in the crosshairs of the Irish to protect her?”
Kyle felt sick. It was a legitimate question and one he would be asking himself if it wasn’t Levi. What the hell was Rodney thinking? Kyle was already plotting in his head how to get Levi away from here, away from all of this bullshit. He looked over at Asa. He could see the concern in his friend’s face as well. The men in the room were growing agitated. They wanted more than what Rodney was giving them. He was their president and they were loyal as fuck…but a war would put their entire organization at risk, including their families. It wasn’t something they were going to be blindly led into.
“I think that’s a damned good question,” Throttle said. There were other expressions of agreement in the room. Carl leaned in and said something to his brother again and finally Rodney stood up. When he did everyone was silent again and waiting to hear what he had to say. Kyle looked at Carl’s face. The smug son of a bitch looked like he was about to be crowned king. That was probably what he was waiting for. He was hoping for a mutiny because as long as Rodney was alive and seated as the President of the club, Carl was stagnant. But something like this could start a war within and if something happened to Rodney, Carl could slide right into that seat. Kyle suddenly wondered if that was his agenda here. He was lost in those thoughts when Rodney spoke and that’s why at first he didn’t really process what he said.
“Because she’s my kid.”
The rumble in the room was deafening. Kyle’s head was spinning as he tried to process what Rodney had just said. How was that possible? It wasn’t possible. But why the hell would Rodney lie about it? Fuck! Asa was trying to get the rooms attention but it was easy for his friend to see that even he was having a hard time digesting what his father just said. Rodney still stood behind the table looking almost completely helpless. Carl continued to sit next to him with a smug expression and Jim never picked his head up out of his hands. He must have already known the truth.
Chapter 16
As all hell was breaking loose all Kyle could think of was Levi and that one of these knuckleheads was going to say something in front of her. He didn’t want her to find out like that. He headed for the side door and Asa stepped in front of him. “Get her out of here,” he whispered. Kyle nodded and Asa moved to let him pass. That was when Carl opened his big mouth again and said, “You gonna try and hide her again, Kyle? Maybe take her back up the mountain.”
That was when it all became clear. Carl had known who she was all along. That was what his problem with her was. He didn’t want Rodney jeopardizing the wellbeing of the club for her even if she was Rodney’s flesh and blood. Rodney had the same problem with him in the past over Asa. But what really boiled Kyle’s blood was the realization that no one had followed them up the hill that day. It had been Carl. Carl was the one that told them where he was hiding Levi.
Without another thought Kyle turned and before anyone could act fast enough to stop him he ran and dove over the table, knocking it over and Carl backwards as he grabbed him by the throat. Pandemonium was erupting around them but all Kyle could see was Levi’s blood on her face and her vomit on the ground in almost the exact spot where her brother died….and it was all on Carl’s hands. He could hear voices yelling at him to stop as he pummeled his fists into Carl’s face; but he didn’t stop until he was lifted off the ground and dragged backwards. He turned to hit whoever had grabbed him and realized that it was Asa. Suddenly the adrenaline was gone, but the anger still seethed under the surface.
“Fuck!” Rodney was yelling. “Someone go get Doc.” ‘Doc’ was one of the club girls. She was actually a registered nurse but she was the one they all turned to when they needed a patch up that required discretion. The girls were preparing a barbecue at the moment and she would be there. Levi was there too…unsuspecting that her life was about to fall apart.
“What the fuck?” Asa said close to his ear. Kyle pulled away from him but the men had formed a barrier between him and Carl and were keeping a wary eye on them both. Carl’s still lay where Kyle had left him and all Kyle could see from where he stood was a puddle of blood on the wood floor.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Rodney asked him. He had a cut on the side of his face, likely from hitting the floor in the chaos.
“Me?” Kyle yelled. “This is your fucking daughter. That mother-fucker tried to have her killed.”
Rodney looked over at his brother on the floor and back at Kyle. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he frowned with confusion.
“Maybe we should take this to the meeting room,” Asa said. It was the first time Kyle gave a thought to what must be going on in his friend’s head. Asa just found out he had a sister. Jesus, what a fucking mess.
Rodney looked at Carl again, glared at Kyle and nodded. Asa nudged Kyle to go in front of him. He didn’t trust his hot-headed friend not to go off again before they got out of there. Kyle walked into the meeting room first and Asa and Rodney fo
llowed. Asa closed the door and they all sat down at the table. Kyle was staring down at his bloody knuckles when Asa said, “First things first…Dad…what the hell was that about in there? Levi is your daughter?”
Rodney took a deep breath and said, “Yes. She’s mine. She’s your sister.”
Kyle looked up at him through the lock of hair that had fallen down in his eyes. “You had an affair with her mother?”
Rodney sighed deeply and said, “No. She’s mine, and Asa’s mother’s.”
“That doesn’t make sense. She’s what…five, six years younger than me? Mom was dead by then.”
“No. I sent her off to rehab. She was hooked on heroin. I loved her. All I wanted was for her to get clean and come back and be a mom to you…and the baby she was carrying in her belly. She had the baby in the hospital. They called me but I was on a run and by the time I got out there to California where she was, the baby had been born and your mama had run off. I sent men out to look for her and I took the baby to the only decent people I knew…the McGardens.”
“Fuck,” Asa ran his hands over his face. “You just gave her away? I had a sister for twenty-five years that you were just never going to fucking tell me about?” Asa slammed his fists onto the table top.
“I wasn’t thinking I was going to give her away. But, by the time we found your Mama she was on the streets, turning tricks for her smack. I took one look at her and tried to remember the sweet girl that I’d fallen in love with. I couldn’t see her anymore in the mess your Mama had become and I knew it was my fault. I introduced her to this life. I made her what she was. Three days after we brought her home she overdosed and I had to make a decision about what to do with Levi. I rode out to Vegas and when I got there I watched those good people with that baby and I saw the pure adoration in their eyes. I also saw the innocence in that baby that I’d taken away from your mother and I couldn’t stand the thought of doing that to her too. I was too far in this to get out. And you were already a big, strapping boy. I knew that I’d be able to handle raising a boy in this environment but I wasn’t willing to raise a prostitute or a junkie or something even worse. I couldn’t do that to that sweet baby. The McGarden’s boy was out at his grandparent’s for the summer and he was only five years old so they were willing to keep her and just tell him she was his sister. I don’t know how they handled it with the rest of their family or friends and I didn’t ask. I left Levi in a good home and she had a good life.”
