by Jessie Cooke
“Detective Garner, just a friendly piece of advice. You might want to refrain from making up stories and spreading rumors if you want to keep your status as lead detective on this case.”
Garner cocked an eyebrow and said, “Are you threatening me, Mr. Lee?”
“No, sir, but I am saying that talking out of school about things you know nothing about can cause people to get hurt.” In this case, the statute of limitations was long passed on the drug charges. But if this got out, it could mortally wound Meeks. He could lose his job, his benefits, his retirement, and his reputation in the city as a decorated officer. Wolf never knew what Meeks did with the brick of coke that night, or what he told the two uniformed officers on the scene...
The officers on the scene...! “Fucking hell!” Garner’s smile grew brighter.
“It took you long enough to realize who I am.”
“This is why Meeks didn’t fight you on taking over this case. You fucker! You’re blackmailing him.”
“I stewed over that night for a long time. I was a rookie, so of course I wasn’t going to fight a detective over it. The other cop was old and ready to retire, so he didn’t give a shit. I got over it, though, or thought I did until that day we walked in that house and I saw Meeks jump in again to save you. It’s disgusting. You’re not a good guy just because you happened to be in the right place at the right time that night, and Meeks should be smart enough to see it...but he’s not. You’re finally going to have to pay for all the things you’ve done.” He smiled then and said, “And I’m going to get credit for taking down the president of one of California’s most notorious gangs. Meeks can keep his badge and his retirement, but when this is over, I’m going to have his job.”
“What’s it going to take to get you to leave him out of this?”
“Plead guilty to second-degree murder, and I’ll go back to waiting for Meeks to retire...or screw up again.”
Wolf didn’t say anything else. He turned and walked away, leaving the now laughing detective behind. There is something to be said, he thought, for people without a fucking moral compass, because sometimes that thing gets so jacked up, it’s hard to see around it.
“What’s this meeting about, Boss?” Manson was the first to arrive to the emergency meeting Wolf had called for his executive board. He took his seat to the right of Wolf and waited for an answer.
“You’ll see when everyone gets here. I don’t want to have to repeat myself.”
Bruf came in next. Wolf could tell that even after two weeks, he was having a hard time looking his boss in the eye. He still did his job and did it well, but their relationship had taken a turn. Wolf had always had complete trust in Bruf and absolute faith that any secrets between them were and always would be just that...secrets. He wasn’t still angry with his SA. He knew that Bruf was only trying to help, but he wasn’t sure their relationship would ever be quite the same. If anyone was going to tell Blair about his past, it should have been him...and he would have, eventually. But at that point it was still so new that no one had any idea what she might do with that information, and he knew that Bruf knew that. It was an act of desperation, hoping Meeks might do for him again what he’d done for him once a long time ago, but it had backfired on them all.
Smoke and the rest of the guys showed up, filing in one or two at a time until the room was full of big, curious men. Once they were all seated Wolf called the meeting to order. The men were all talking but dropped silent at the sound of the wooden Skull gavel he used. It had been passed to him by his father and as he looked at it now, he wondered what Coyote would do if he were here, and in Wolf’s position. Coyote had been big on self-preservation, but even so, Wolf couldn’t imagine that his father would have stooped to becoming a snitch.
“I called this meeting this morning for two reasons,” he told his men. “First of all, I want you all to be the first to know what I’ve decided to do, and second, there are going to be a lot of changes that have to be made in a short amount of time.” Voices rumbled again, and he slammed the gavel on the table. “Let me finish. I’m looking at this thing I’m facing probably stretching out for years. You know how slowly the wheels turn over there at the courthouse. In the meantime, it’s holding us back as a club. There are things I’m not going to be able to give my full attention because I’ll be with my lawyer or in court, or being pulled over, searched, and taken in on a bail violation if Garner has anything to say about it. None of this is fair to any of you, or anyone in this club, so I’ve made a decision. I’m going to accept one of the pleas the DA put on the table.”
Wolf saw Bruf sit up straighter in his chair. Did he really think I was talking about snitching? Maybe their relationship was in worse shape than he’d thought. “When this all started, she had brought an offer to Harlow of second-degree manslaughter. It would carry a mandatory penalty of ten years and if I do good, I’ll be out in seven.” The voices started rising up again. Heads were shaking and fists were pounding on the table. Manson sat quietly, looking like he was in shock, knowing what this would mean for him. Bruf was on his feet, staring at Wolf.
“You can’t do this,” Bruf said, loudly, so that he could be heard over the rest of the noise in the room.
“I can,” Wolf said, “and I’m going to. Harlow is going to ask her if I can turn myself in at the end of the week. If she agrees to that, my sentencing should be held the following week and I’ll head out to start my time right after. I know a week doesn’t give us much time...”
“No,” Bruf said, sharply. That brought the room silent. Nobody talked back to Wolf, not like that, especially not Bruf. “You’re doing this for everyone else but yourself. You can’t spend a decade in prison for saving someone’s life. Fuck! If you were anyone else, they’d be giving you a medal.”
As calmly as he could, Wolf said, “But I’m not, and they’re not. What I’m doing is not open for discussing, Bruf...” The moody biker had already turned and was headed for the door. “Where are you going? Bruf!” He didn’t stop, and Wolf had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
“Should I go, Boss?” Smoke asked, quietly.
“Nah,” Wolf said. He wasn’t sure what Bruf planned on doing, but he wasn’t going to stoop to having him followed. He still had enough trust in him that he wasn’t going to cross that line. “Let him have some time,” he told Smoke. “He’ll be back.”
23
Epilogue
“You got him!” Blair’s dad was already scrambling down the tree like a twelve-year-old. Blair smiled and followed him down. They’d been sitting up on that hunting riser for four hours, since even before the sun came up. Blair’s father had called her a few days before and asked her to join him over the weekend for some camping and hunting and fishing. Blair had been doing nothing but moping around the house, but she still tried to say no. She knew that she wouldn’t be good company. She had taken more time off work, indefinite time, and she realized that she might need to reevaluate what she wanted to do with her life. She no longer felt the same way about her clients as she used to. She found herself that first day back either thinking horrible thoughts about them, or thinking about Wolf, who every other one had reminded her of. After her mini-breakdown, Susie took her home and Blair had filed the paperwork online with the state for an extended leave of absence.
Of course, she hadn’t thought through how hard being idle was going to be on her. All it did was give her more time to think about everything, and maybe that would be okay if she had any solutions for any of her problems...but she had nothing. The only productive thing she had done in a week was to testify at Richard’s sentencing. He had pled guilty to stalking charges thanks to some crazy stuff they’d found on his computer the day he’d sent Mouse after her. He also pled guilty to conspiracy, since he had confessed to almost everything before the detectives interviewing him told him that Mouse was dead. He was going to lose his license and do at least five years. The judge had the leeway to give him more time, but in the end
Blair, as his victim, had asked the judge to be merciful. Richard wasn’t a criminal, he was just a confused man that had allowed himself to be manipulated by a mentally unstable man. Richard just needed some professional help, and hopefully he would get some while he was locked up.
“Look at that! Three points on one side and four on the other. That sucker has to weigh over two hundred pounds. Damn! I’m so proud.”
Blair’s dad was standing next to the buck she’d just shot. His genuine smile made her heart warm. She knew a lot of people didn’t believe in hunting, but right there in a little place called Dinkey Creek, standing next to her father, she was more content than anywhere else in the world. Her father had taught her to hunt as humanely as possible. She never took a shot to wound, only to kill, and only if she was absolutely certain she could get it; once the deer was dressed, they took it to a butcher shop and every part of it was cut and wrapped into food that they would eat for a year to come. So, she didn’t feel bad about hunting, she felt good about the bond it had forged between her and the best man she’d ever known. “Thanks,” she told him. “Now how are we going to get him on the ATV and back to camp?”
Her dad laughed and said, “Yep, this is the part where I tell myself I should have had a boy.” Blair elbowed him in the ribs and while they worked and sweated to get her prize draped over and tied onto the four-wheeler, they bantered and joked back and forth. Blair took the ATV with their hunting equipment attached to it, and her father drove the one with the deer. When they got back to camp, he helped her hang him, and while she dressed him, other hunters and campers wandered in and out of the campground, stopping to congratulate her or offer help or advice. By the time she finished with the buck she had dubbed “Harvey,” it was way past lunch time and she was starving.
“I’m going to take a shower, Dad, and then I’ll make us some lunch.”
“You know, while you shower, how about if I just run down and get us some burgers? We deserve it. Well, you do, but I’m along for the ride.”
Blair laughed. There was a little store, gas station, and hamburger stand about ten miles down the hill, and a hamburger did sound good. “Okay, but be safe going down the hill...oh, and while you’re being safe, hurry...I’m starving.”
She kissed him on the cheek and then went into her parents’ motor home to shower. Once she was clean and in fresh clothes, she pulled her hair into a ponytail, pulled her boots back on, and went out to see if her father had returned. As soon as she stepped off the little metal step of the Winnebago, she stopped dead in her tracks. Wolf was standing there.
“What are you doing here?” She looked around for his bike but she didn’t see it. She would have heard him coming on the Harley. “How did you get here?”
“Hi, Blair.” God, he looked so good. His hair and beard looked like they had been trimmed recently. He was dressed in a black t-shirt that accentuated his muscles and a pair of jeans and black boots. He was wearing his kutte too...but Blair had already determined, weeks ago, that only added to his sex appeal.
“Hi...really, what are you doing here?”
“Can we sit?” He motioned at the lawn chairs and she nodded. Once they were sitting down, close enough for her to smell him, she started shaking inside. Her palms itched to touch him and she had to keep them tightly fisted in her lap to make sure they wouldn’t reach over and do just that. “I’m sorry to just pop in on you up here, but I needed to see you.”
“Okay...did something happen?” Blair had been keeping tabs on his case, but she hadn’t been able to find anything out other than that they were still trying to hash out a deal. People in the DA’s office seemed extra hush-hush about it all and that had made her a little nervous. She’d tried talking to Meeks, but when she called him he wasn’t in his office and he had never called her back. She thought about calling Bruf, but she remembered how Wolf had looked at him that morning, so disappointed and angry. She didn’t want to put him in that position again.
“I went to court yesterday with the intention of pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter.”
“Oh no! Why? I thought you were going to let it go to trial? At least you’d have a chance with a jury.”
“A lot of shit happened. Turns out Garner was one of the responding officers the night I met Meeks. He was using what Meeks did that night against him and trying to get me to plead guilty. Meeks could have lost his job if Garner reported him...and the worst part is that Garner had proof. Meeks said Garner had pictures of the cocaine. Pictures that Meeks was unknowingly in.”
“That asshole! First he gets him kicked off the case and then he tries to ruin him? What the hell ever happened to having your partner’s back?”
Wolf smiled. “Garner was only out for himself. He could care less about Meeks or anyone else. But speaking of having your partner’s back...Bruf just keeps proving that he has mine. When he heard I was going to plead guilty and accept a ten-year sentence, he freaked. He took off—I thought to clear his head. Turns out he’d gone up the hill to talk with that General again, General Ediger.”
“The White Owl leader...”
“Yep. The DA wanted something on these guys, badly. What Bruf brought back to her was even better. She agreed to drop the charges against me if it panned out...and it did, yesterday.”
Blair jumped up out of her chair. “Oh my God! She dropped the charges? You’re free?”
He smiled again and nodded. “Yeah, I’m free.”
She sat back down again and pulled her brows together. “But what about Bruf? Are you angry with him? I mean, will he lose respect for...snitching?” She hated that word, but that was the one Wolf had used himself, so she did too.
“He didn’t snitch,” Wolf said. “See, Ediger had information on a drug shipment that was being smuggled in from Mexico. He shared that information with Bruf because the White Owls have some kind of beef with the men bringing it over. Bruf says he thinks the Owls planned on a little mini-war with these guys, but this took care of it instead. Bruf told the DA exactly where she could have these guys stopped as soon as they crossed into Fresno County. She had her cops waiting, including Meeks. They took down seven men, collected over two hundred thousand dollars in cash and over a million dollars in street drugs. There was more, like guns and such, but that was the main gist of it. Once they wrapped that up, she dropped the charges against me. She told the judge and the press that she had reexamined the evidence and talked to the witnesses again and in the end she felt like it was self-defense and not manslaughter.”
Blair was trying so hard to keep her distance, but she just couldn’t do it. She launched herself at him, nearly knocking over the chair he was sitting in. He put his arms around her and pulled her into his lap and they kissed. It wasn’t until after she pulled out of the kiss that her dazed and foggy head tried to grasp at something...their fight. Should I apologize, or should he? Would he trust me now? Wolf answered her questions without her even having to ask them.
“I’m sorry I got so angry with you. I should have just talked to you, but the stress of everything was really bearing down on me. I just need to make sure you understand that if you and I are going to be...together...there are going to be some things about my life you won’t like, but can’t change.”
She nodded and said, “But if we’re going to be...together...I need you to understand that I expect full disclosure, and trust. I won’t ever use anything you tell me against you, or tell anyone else. I’ll be loyal to the death...but I won’t live in the dark. I deserve to know everything about the man I’m falling in love with.”
“You love me?” he said with a grin.
“I didn’t say that. I said, ‘Falling in love with.’”
“Same thing.”
“Not really. The latter will be easier to pull out of.” Wolf chuckled and then his eyes grew serious and he said:
“I hated these past two weeks, not knowing if I’d ever see you again. I need you in my life, and I’m falling in love with you too.
We can hash out the details and work through meshing your career and your life with mine. I honestly feel like we can make it work and I want to make it work...if you do too?”
She nodded and smiled. “Yeah, I do. I have a question, though...how did you find me?”
“Lana.”
“Nice, she’s got a big mouth.”
“That’s what Bruf said,” he told her with a wink. She laughed and nudged him in the arm with her fist. Suddenly they were wrestling and he picked her up and said, “I’ve never had sex in a Winnebago.”
Still giggling she said, “We can’t. My dad will be back soon.”
“No, he won’t.”
Blair’s heart missed a beat for a second. “What do you mean?”
“We met him at the bottom of the hill. Meeks took him for a ride in his new buggy. It’s...how did Meeks put it...amphibious or some such shit. He says it’s four-wheel-drive on land, but you can also make it float and fish off of it.”
“Oh my God, Dad must be in heaven.”
“He seemed to be. He’s a nice guy. He shook my hand and thanked me for saving you. But I told him the truth.”
“And what’s that?”
“That we kind of saved each other. I need a woman like you, Blair. I need a woman that won’t kiss my ass and bow to my every whim. I need to know that when my woman is in my bed at the end of the day it’s because she wants to be there and not because she wants something from me.”
“I wish I was there right now,” she said as his mouth crashed down on hers and he carried her toward the RV. They had a lot to work out, but Blair was confident that with a lot of patience, and probably a hell of a lot of compromise, they could make it work.
Excerpt from Bruf
Chapter One
“So, are we finally going to talk about this?”
