“Repeatedly,” I replied and she shrieked.
“You came more than once? Like you had sex more than once?” her questions were incessant and I laughed.
“Both,” I told her and I could see the surprise in her eyes. I would have been surprised too if I hadn’t actually experienced it. Sex with Blaine or the handful of guys I had slept with before…had been nothing like this. With Commando, it was raw and wild and I couldn’t get enough of him. Even now, while I was painting Charity’s nails, I could feel the way his cock had driven into me. My pussy was still throbbing from the force and I wanted more.
I was done painting her toenails and Charity sat back on the couch, as I settled in on the floor at her feet. The pizza had gone cold by now, but I was ravenous and I ate my fifth slice, still hungry for more. I heard her sigh and I looked up at her.
“Well, as long as you know what you’re doing and he makes you happy,” she said and there was that word again. Happy. I had thought I was happy with Blaine, at least when I first met him.
But it was a different kind of happiness with him, a haze of feelings which I interpreted as happiness. In reality, I was just happy to have a boyfriend, someone to come home to who were not my strict parents. I wasn’t happy to be with him. With Commando, I felt safe, I felt satisfied and I also felt anxious when he wasn’t around.
“I’m happy,” I told her, not knowing what else to say. What did we have between us? Was it even a real thing?
“What about Blaine?” she asked and I pressed my eyes close and tried to shove away that image of Blaine standing over me, bracing himself for a punch. I was afraid of him finding me again. What else was he capable of doing? How far was he willing to take this?
I could go somewhere, I thought. I would have liked to move out, just so that Charity’s life wouldn’t be in danger anymore, but where could I go? Where could I go that Blaine wouldn’t find me? If I went anywhere, if I left town, it would mean that Commando and I wouldn’t stand a chance…of anything.
“Oooh this is the good part. Richard Gere is going to make her eggs!” Charity clapped her hands excitedly and I stared blankly at the screen. I needed to find a way of just enjoying myself and forget about everything else.
Chapter 21
Commando
The sound of the clock on the wall was loud in the quiet room. Dad was sitting across from me, behind his oak desk, his fingers steepled together. I knew Ava was safe at her friend’s house, I had just dropped her there. And when I returned to the Lucky Lady, I’d asked everyone to clear out the meeting room so I could talk to him alone.
“What is it, Kelley?” he asked, in a somber voice. He had judged from my eyes, from my demeanor that whatever it was, it was serious. He wasn’t in the habit of using my given name, at least not since I turned eighteen.
I needed to come clean with him, at least him. Things were getting out of hand with Ava and he needed to know.
“Ava Christenson,” I said her name and her red hair flashed before my eyes. For a moment Dad’s brows furrowed in confusion and then a knowing glaze washed over his face. I didn’t have to say anything else, he knew.
“When?” he asked.
“Couple of days ago.”
“How many times?”
“A few. She stayed over at my place.”
Dad banged the table with his fists, clenched his jaw and then looked away from me.
“You’re my son, Commando. The rules apply to everyone! But especially to you,” he barked and then settled himself.
“I wasn’t fucking on a mission to break the rules. This has never happened before,” I was speaking through gritted teeth and we glared at each other.
“So, what are you saying to me?” he said and I fought the urge to drop my eyes to my hands. I needed to hold his gaze. I needed him to know I was serious about what I was saying.
“She could be the one,” I told him and Dad ran a hand through his silvery hair and shook his head.
“Fuck, Commando!” he growled and I clenched my jaw. “I hoped this would never happen to you, son.”
“There is something about her.”
“There is something about your mother too. These women bring us to our knees and weaken us!” Dad growled and I glared at him.
“You don’t have to lecture me about your relationship with Mom.”
“I fucking love that woman!” he barked and I held my tongue. I knew he did. I knew he fucking did. But he had made her cry. Over and over again. He might have changed his ways now, but I wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt Ava, the way he had hurt Mom. That was what I was really fighting.
Dad was thinking, he was silent for a few moments and then looked back at me with his piercing blue eyes.
“She’s been beaten up,” he said out of the blue and I had to grip the edge of the desk with my hands to not lash out at something. He had noticed the bruise on Ava’s arm.
“I know.”
“Do you know who did it?”
“Her ex boyfriend.”
“He needs to be taken care of. If she’s going to be your woman, you have to make sure she remains that way. I don’t want any trouble over a girl, Kelley. Handle it now before you get into anything,” Dad said and I felt like I could breathe again. This was his way of giving me permission to be with her, and that was all I needed to hear.
I got up from my chair to leave.
“Son,” he stopped me before I left the room.
“She’s a good kid and I hope she knows that you’re not,” he said and I looked him in the eye.
“She does,” I said even though I wasn’t sure if she did, or if she cared. I wasn’t even sure if she wanted to be with me. With everything else in my life, I had taken what I wanted, but with Ava, I wasn’t going to force her.
xxx
I left the meeting room, while already pulling my phone out of my pants. I dialed Ava’s number as I stepped outside the bar. It rang a few times, before she answered. Her hello was groggy, but I could hear the sound of the television in the background.
“Ava.”
“Hey…I’d fallen asleep. What time is it?”
“Doesn’t matter. I need to speak to you,” I said, walking over to my bike. When I saw the side view mirror, I was reminded of the way her t-shirt and bra were dangling from it while I plowed into her. It made me instantly hard; just the thought of her body.
“Okay, what did you want to talk about?”
“You need to tell me your ex boyfriend’s name,” I said and there was silence on the other end.
“Commando…”
“Just tell me his name, Ava. Don’t make this difficult for me,” I said, my voice deepening with anger. Dad was right. This asshole needed to be gone from the picture, before I could even think of having anything with her. My first priority was to ensure her safety, so that it wasn’t overwhelming all my thoughts all the time.
“Why? What are you going to do?” she said and I ran a hand through my hair.
“You don’t need to think about that. Just tell me who he is.”
“Yes, I do need to think about it, Commando. This is my ex boyfriend we’re talking about. Not some random guy on the road!” I heard the cackle in her voice, although she was speaking in a hushed voice. She didn’t want her friend to hear us arguing.
“To me, he is a random guy. A bastard who laid his hand on you. And it’s time that I dealt with it,” I growled into the phone, clutching it tightly to my ear.
“Dealt with it how, Commando? I don’t want you to kill him. I don’t want blood on your hands,” she said and a whimper entered her voice. I was silent for several moments and then she let out a gasping cry.
“There’s already blood on your hands, isn’t there? You’ve killed people before. This is normal for you!” she was sobbing as she spoke and the sound of her cries was driving me nuts. I wanted to break the phone, I wanted to burn my bike, I wanted to punch someone. Anything to make her stop crying!
“Ava,
stop, please, just don’t cry,” my voice had dropped by several decibels. I couldn’t stand another moment of hearing her cry. I would have smashed the glasses of the side mirrors if she didn’t. Her sobbing grew softer, and then she sniffed and I imagined her wiping her small nose with the back of her hand. I clenched my fists, hating myself for making her cry.
She hadn’t completely stopped, or she couldn’t stop and either way, I could still hear her sobbing.
“Fuck. Ava. Stop crying or you’ll make me come over there!” I growled deeply and her sobbing grew softer.
“Okay, I’m not crying anymore,” she said and I breathed in deeply.
“I don’t care what you think of me, Ava. This is what my life is and I’ll understand if you don’t want to be with me, but I want to fix this for you,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm as I spoke to her. She sniffed again and then her breathing became more even.
“Blaine Salzburg. That’s his name,” she said and I pressed my eyes close. She had told me his name. I didn’t know what she was thinking. What she thought of me or if she still wanted to be with me, but this Blaine fucking Salzburg was a dead motherfucker.
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay.”
There were a few seconds of silence between us.
“I’m afraid of what he’ll do if he finds me again, Commando,” she said and I gritted my teeth. This was exactly what I didn’t want her to feel.
“I’ll take care of him,” I said.
“What if he hurts my friend? What if he hurts Charity?” there was raw fear dripping from her voice and now I was glad that I had pried his name out of her. She was trying to be prideful and pretending to be strong earlier. The truth was that she was scared.
“I will make sure he never comes near you, Ava. I promise,” I said and she sniffed again.
“Okay.”
“I have to go now, you should get some rest,” I said and stopped myself from saying more. There were other things bubbling at the tip of my tongue. I was afraid of blurting something out that she didn’t want to hear, that I should not have been telling her. Not now. Not when she was going through this.
“Goodnight, Commando,” she said in a quiet voice and I hung up. The white noise of the cut call was loud in my ear. I had forced myself to hang up. I wanted to keep listening to her voice but there were other things that needed to be done first.
Blaine Salzburg needed to be taken care of.
Whatever Ava thought I was going to do to that bastard, I was going to do ten times worse. He would regret every word he ever said to her. Regret that he ever met her. I could feel my blood boiling. I was going to erupt. Finding him wouldn’t be hard, we had connections in the police department. And once I found him, he would have nowhere to escape.
“Commando!” Slade’s high pitched voice cut through the silence of the night. I turned to see him staggering off his bike. I hadn’t even heard him come up to the bar, I was completely fixated with Ava and our conversation.
“Slade?” I rushed towards him and now that his face came into view in the dark, I saw that he was beat up. There was blood coursing down his face, his forehead was split open. I grabbed him by the shoulders, just when he was about to stagger to the ground.
“What the fuck happened to you man?” I was yelling at him, while he tried to keep his eyes open. His clothes looked tattered and dusty and I looked over him to make sure there were no stab or gunshot wounds. He was just beaten up. He had got into a fucking fight!
Seriously. Tonight of all nights?
“I’m okay. Just a scratch,” he said, smiling as I wrapped his arm around my shoulder and helped him towards the bar. Slade was limping but at least he was able to walk.
I kicked the door open, and the loud music and chatter of the rest of the club enveloped us. Slade was dangling from my shoulder, trying to keep himself propped up. Some of the guys stopped what they were doing and looked at us. I could see Elwood at a table with Crawford and the others, and he looked over and met my eye.
“Someone call my mother. He needs fucking stitches!” I barked on top of my lungs.
Blaine Salzburg had one more night to live, because lucky for him, my MC always came first.
Chapter 22
Commando
“I feel alive!” Slade shook his head wildly, while Mom stood in front of him, with a needle and thread in her hand. She was losing patience but her motherly feelings towards the members of the MC was shining through. King was sitting behind Slade, trying to keep his head still while she stitched the wound on his forehead.
Slade reached for the shot of whisky Big D had placed beside him on the counter. He tipped his head back and chugged it down.
“Wooohooo!” he cheered, his eyes wild with the pain and the drugging effects of the whisky. This was his third shot.
“Be still or I tell Big D to hold the drinks!” Mom snapped at him.
“You need to get stitched up brother,” King tried to pacify him but Slade snapped his fingers in the air again, trying to get Big D’s attention. I could see Dad and Crawford in the background talking.
“Hold fucking still, Slade!” I barked at him and he smiled toothily at me. King held down his shoulders while Mom brought the needle to his eyebrows.
“I’ll tell ya, this is going to hurt,” she said and pierced his skin with the needle. Slade clenched his jaws and I saw him gripping the edge of the counter, but he wasn’t going to scream. No matter how painful this was.
“What happened?” Elwood had appeared behind him now and Slade tried to crane his neck to see.
Mom smacked his cheek, as hard as she used to smack mine when I was a kid and Slade looked back at her apologetically.
“They jumped me,” he said.
“Who?” Elwood asked him, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Black Skulls. I was at The Pussycats, collecting the dues from Mac,” he said, in a more sobered down voice now. I could see that he was reliving the moment.
“Dues? Our dues?” Elwood asked and Slade nodded his head. His movement made Mom flick her hand on his cheek again, and he held still.
“Were you alone?”
“I was at the back, leaving. Mac had just handed me the dough,” Slade said, his eyelids fluttering with pain while Mom dug the needle into his skin again. He gritted his teeth to stop from crying out and Elwood exchanged looks with me.
“How many of them were there?”
“Three. Those three motherfuckers from the warehouse,” Slade said, looking at me now and I clenched my jaw with rage. King was shaking his head behind Slade. I knew what he was thinking. We should have popped them when we had the chance. But we didn’t have a chance. We were fucking outnumbered!
“They took the money, of course,” Slade added and I heard Elwood grunt under his breath.
“There. You’ll be good as new in a few days,” Mom said, stepping away from Slade now to admire her handiwork. Slade reached for another shot of whisky in reaction and downed it and smacked his lips.
“Didn’t feel a thing,” he said and Girth let out a bellowing laugh.
“You might want to wipe the tears from your cheeks first, brother. It’s ruining your makeup,” he said and King laughed too. Slade was still smiling. This smiling motherfucker!
“Come back to me in seven days, Slade. Those stitches need to be removed before they start messing with your skin,” Mom said and wiped her hands with a rag.
I watched as she patted Elwood’s shoulder and threw me a look and nodded her head. No matter how much she disapproved of our lifestyle, she was always going to be there for her husband and for the boys. I smiled at her reassuringly, but she was straight faced. She didn’t find the situation as amusing as Slade did.
“I’ll see you at home,” she said and Dad leaned in to plant a quick kiss on her cheek and then slapped her behind when she walked away from him. I rolled my eyes and looked away.
“This needs to end,” King was wiping his bloodied hand
s on a rag now and he stood up from his chair. Some of the guys had already started a match with Slade, they were downing whisky shots and bets were being placed. King and Girth came up to Elwood and me and Crawford joined in.
“Yeah, this needs to be handled,” Crawford said and my father was nodding his head.
“Kill any Black Skull member you find on our territory,” he said, after a moment silence. King and I exchanged looks.
“Is that an order?” Girth asked and Elwood stared at him and then nodded his head again.
“Yes, do it,” he said and then turned from us and walked away, Crawford close on his heels.
King, Girth and I stared at Slade downing shots at the counter, jostling the other guys.
“We need to put the bastard to sleep,” King said and I shook my head.
“Jewel has pumped enough pills in him. We don’t have to make him do anything,” Girth said.
We watched Slade for a few minutes longer, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Elwood had given us the order, shoot on sight. This was the beginning of a war, which meant that anything could happen.
Slade’s eyelids were beginning to droop as he held up another shot glass to his lips.
“Should he be mixing alcohol with the pills?” King asked and Girth shrugged his shoulders.
“If this doesn’t kill him, something else will,” he said and we looked at each other. He was right. War with the Black Skulls meant that any of us could die, but we had our orders and we had to carry them out.
Slade’s head bobbed once and then he crashed, face forward on the counter and a loud Whoa erupted around us.
“C’mon. Bed time for you, little man,” Girth said and grabbed Slade by the back of his collar, while King and I caught his legs. We carried him upstairs to the bunk room where we deposited him for the night.
xxx
We were on our bikes. King, Girth and I were out to scan the territory. It was the middle of the night, but my mind was buzzing. Too much had happened in one night. The Black Skulls had just beaten up one of our brothers, on our territory.
King (Rogue Rebels MC) Page 20
