by Jayna King
“So your mother’s told me a little about you, but I want to hear it straight from you. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
I felt strange about the situation. With Sable, I’d felt her wary nature, recognized her attempts to make sense of what was a very strange and unexpected set of circumstances. But Joker was acting like nothing was wrong. He was treating me like a son who he hadn’t seen for a month or two, rather than a guy who he’d just met for the first time in his life. It felt really strange, but I figured that I was fortunate that he wanted to talk to me at all. I’d just have to play along and see where the evening took me.
“So Sable filled you in on what happened to my parents and how I found out about the two of you?” I asked, figuring I had to start somewhere.
“Yeah. Sounds like you had some nice folks. Wish I could thank ‘em for taking such good care of you for us.”
“Yeah. I miss them a lot.”
“But you have a new family now, Luke. Your mom and I are so happy to have you here, I can’t even tell you.”
Wow. Joker’s enthusiasm was a little overwhelming. I caught Sable’s eye as she sat down at the dining room table, and she shrugged her shoulders, as if she knew that Joker was acting strangely, but she knew she was powerless to stop him.
“So tell me about what you do for a living, son.”
“Well, I’m a business analyst. I look at my computer screens all day and help my company make more money.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound very exciting,” Joker said. “You any good at it?”
“Actually, I am,” I answered honestly. “I’m the head of my division, and I have about twenty people who report directly to me.”
“You must have gotten your mother’s smarts. I was never any good at school or computer stuff. I think those fuckin’ machines hate me.” Joker fished a pack of cigarettes out of his shirt pocket and lit one. “Your mama went to college, though.”
“Just for a couple of semesters. I didn’t finish,” Sable said from the other room.
“What do you do for fun?” Joker asked me.
“Well, I work out a lot to stay in shape, and I like to play some poker every now and then.”
“Ever ride a bike?”
I wasn’t sure what kind of bike he meant. “Do you mean a bicycle or a motorcycle?”
“So the answer’s no, then,” Joker laughed. “If you rode, you wouldn’t have to ask. How long you in town for?”
“I don’t really know, sir,” I answered. “I took a leave of absence from work, and I…”
“I’m gonna teach you how to ride a real bike,” Joker said definitively, as if there was no way he’d entertain an objection.
“Jesus, Joker,” Sable hollered from the dining room. “You’ve known the man for all of five minutes, and you’re already talking about your fuckin’ bikes.”
“Well, I figure it’ll give us some father-son bonding time. Isn’t that the sort of thing people on those fucking talk shows you always watch ramble on and on about?”
I couldn’t tell if the squabbling between Sable and Joker was typical or the result of tension because I’d showed up, but it made me uncomfortable. I’d had friends who seemed to thrive on arguments, but I’d never been that type.
“So tell me about you,” I said to Joker, hoping to change the subject.
“Not much to know. Ain’t really working right now, and your mom and I are having some money troubles, but I’m sure we’ll find a way to get through it. We always do.”
Sable spoke up again. “Maybe you could take this chance to get a real, legit job, rather than always looking for a way to make a fast buck.”
Clearly, this wasn’t the first time the topic of work had come up between them.
Joker stood up and emptied his beer. “I haven’t heard you complaining for all these years that you’ve lived in this big house. Like you could afford it with your ‘real job.’”
I wasn’t about to get in the middle of this argument. I stood up with Joker. “Can I take a look at your bike?”
“See,” Joker said to Sable with a bit of a sneer. “Like father, like son.”
I wasn’t sure about all of the father-son buddy-buddy bullshit, but I knew that I wanted to defuse the situation and end the argument. I followed Joker out to the garage and nodded and smiled as he pointed out the bazillion differences among the three bikes he kept there. He kept up a pretty steady drinking pace, emptying beer bottles within minutes after opening them, and I was glad when he opened the garage door, as the smoke in the garage was making my eyes water.
My general impression was that Joker and I had absolutely nothing in common. When he suggested that we go to his club so that I could meet his brothers, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go or not, but since it seemed so important to him, I agreed. He went back inside to get his cut, and as he put it on, he explained its significance to me.
“Luke, your cut is … well, it’s almost like a wedding ring, except it’s harder to leave an MC than your wife. You wear it to show the world that you’re part of a brotherhood and that you’d die, or kill, for your brothers. The Savage Sons are a way of life.”
I wasn’t sure exactly what to say. I’d never really been much of a joiner. I hadn’t been in a fraternity in college, and I just didn’t really get the point of grown men wearing matching clothes. I wasn’t about to say that to Joker, though.
“Sounds intense,” I said.
“You’ll understand when you meet the guys and when you get on a bike for the first time. Trust me.”
“Is Sable going to come to the club?” I asked.
“I’ll ask her, but she doesn’t hang out there much anymore.”
Joker went inside, and I realized that I should probably offer to drive, since Joker had consumed roughly half a dozen beers. I opened the door from the garage to the house and heard Sable yelling at Joker.
“You’re like an overgrown child, you stupid fuck. You think taking him to your stupid fuckin’ club is going to fast forward through thirty years of his life, and you’re gonna be best friends? I give up. You’re hopeless.”
“Shut your fuckin’ mouth, woman. You don’t get to order me around. If you hadn’t lied to me for all these years, I wouldn’t have to make up for lost time.”
“Joker, you can be mad at me, but why can’t you just sit down and talk to Luke instead of going to the clubhouse and spending money we don’t have on drinks you don’t need?”
I knew that I shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Always with the fuckin’ money,” Joker growled, sounding furious. “I’ve told you I’m working on something. We had to get out of the business after Moses ended up with a dead DEA agent in his house. You know that. What the fuck do you want me to do?”
“Maybe, after all these years, I want you to finally grow the fuck up.” Sable stormed out of the room toward the garage and saw me standing with one foot inside the house.
I hoped she’d think I’d just taken a step in. “I’m sorry. I was just coming in to offer to drive since Joker’s been drinking.”
“I’m sorry you had to hear all this. We’re having some money troubles, and it just makes things tense around here.”
I thought about the money that my parents had left me — more money than I’d ever really need — but I didn’t think that my giving Sable and Joker a check was going to solve all of their problems. And I barely even knew these people! They could be con artists, for all I knew.
“Money problems are tough. I know,” I said, wishing I could alleviate the tension and knowing that the problems in the room went deeper than what I could fix.
Sable lowered her voice. “He always retreats to the clubhouse when we have an argument, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.”
“Well, I’m happy to give him a ride,” I said, trying to be helpful. “I have to admit that I’m a little curious to see an MC.”
“Oh, it’s nothing but a bu
nch of old, immature drunks. At least that’s what it is now. It wasn’t always, but since the money’s dried up, all they can do is sit around and bitch like a bunch of old ladies.”
“Do you mind if we go?” I asked.
Sable looked a little surprised that I’d asked. “Can’t stop you, and it might be good for him to cool off a little. You can just leave him there, and I’ll pick him up in the morning.”
“He’s going to spend the night there?”
“Does it all the time. He keeps a room there, and sometimes it’s good for us to get a break from one another.”
“Okay, then. If you’re sure it’s all right, I’ll go offer to drive.”
I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, and I couldn’t tell who was right — or if they both were wrong — but I knew that I wasn’t going to sit around and listen to Sable and Joker argue all night.
“Joker,” I called. “You wanna show me your club? I’ll drive.”
“Yeah,” he answered, getting another beer from the refrigerator. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
Chapter 12
Krystal
By the time I was ready to head to the Sons’ clubhouse, I was spoiling for a fight. I’d thought about everything that Bug had said and done to me, and I was pissed. I know I hadn’t exactly set myself up to be treated like a queen when I’d started hanging around the Savage Sons, but I was starting to think that maybe — at the ripe old age of twenty-five — I was starting to grow up a little.
I looked in the mirror, studying my reflection and thinking about what I expected from the evening ahead. Bug had wanted hot? I was gonna give it to him … and then some. My hair looked like I’d just rolled out of bed after spending hours having kinky sex — long, dark, tousled waves framed my face. My eyes were lined with smoky black liner, and I’d slicked nude gloss on my lips to emphasize my eyes even more. The best part, though, was that I’d emphasized every single asset that I had with my wardrobe choices.
Bug would recognize the clothing that I had on, but no one else would. I was wearing an absolutely skin tight black dress that I usually wore only in the bedroom. The hemline barely covered my crotch, and cutouts on each side made my hips look super curvy and my waist look tiny. The top was cut so low that the pushup bra I wore made it look like I could spill out of the dress any minute, and the fabric was so sheer that every now and then, it looked like you could almost see my nipples. I’d worn my highest heels — ones that Bug hated because they made me at least two inches taller than he was. My legs were bare, and I’d smoothed on lotion with a slight shimmer, so they looked toned and fantastic.
I slipped on a black leather jacket just in case I needed to cover up at some point, picked up my keys and my phone, and I headed out to the car. As I drove, I wondered what Bug was gonna do when he saw me. There was no telling. He might be turned on and decide to treat me like something other than a piece of shit. Or he could be pissed that I was showing so much skin, and he might pick a fight. I realized that I was ready for anything. It would have been one thing if he was helping me with my bills. I might have been willing to accept his typical alpha-male wannabe bullshit if he wasn’t also asking me to pay for his fucking beer at the club. The more I thought about it, the madder I got.
If Bug didn’t appreciate me, I told myself that I could find something better.
***
When I pulled into the parking lot, I saw that it was pretty full for a Sunday night, and based on the ratio of Savage Sons’ bikes to cars in the lot, I figured that most of the people were in the section of the building that was reserved only for the Sons and their guests. The other half of the club operated as a kind of social club that served drinks to folks in the neighborhood that the Sons trusted to drink their beers and not complain to the authorities about things like smoking indoors and an occasional impromptu strip show. The Sons had run hookers out of the club for a while, but after Moses was killed, they had decided that it would be smart to lie low for a while.
I checked my lipgloss in the mirror and headed toward the unmarked door. Bug had never given me a keycard that would let me enter on my own, so I just waited until I heard the door buzz. Whoever who was manning the security cameras had been pretty quick on the draw.
I’d left my jacket in the car, and I stepped into the vestibule like I owned the place.
Zeno was sitting at the stool next to the interior door that would open to the Son’s private bar, complete with posters of half-dressed women, pool tables, and a bartender serving up beer, whiskey, and weed.
“Jesus, Krystal. You look good enough to eat. Seriously.”
I smiled at him. He’d been Moses’ best friend in the Sons, and he’d taken Moses death as hard as I had. He and Joker were the only members of the Sons that I hadn’t slept with, and I realized that maybe I hadn’t slept with Zeno because he wasn’t the asshole that some of the guys were. He didn’t treat me like I was stupid or order me around just because I was a woman, and consequently he hadn’t really turned me on. Shit, I seriously needed to get my head on straight.
“Hey, sugar,” I purred, as I threw one arm around his shoulders. “Bug here?”
Now, I knew damn well that Bug was there, because I’d seen his bike in the lot, but I figured that just in case I wasn’t going to break up with him that evening, I should hedge my bets.
“Yeah. He said he was expecting you, but he didn’t tell me you were gonna come in here dressed like a wet dream. You look gorgeous, girl.”
“Bug told me to get fixed up. Just trying to please your VP,” I said with a wink. “Gonna let me in?”
“Wish I could keep you out here to myself, but I guess so.” Zeno reached for the doorknob and paused. “Hey — you’re never gonna guess who’s here.”
“No clue, sugar.”
I didn’t really care who was there because I was looking forward to seeing Bug’s face when I walked through the door, but I figured that I should be polite to one of the few decent guys in the MC.
“Joker’s here, and he brought his son.”
Now that actually was news. “His son?”
“Yeah. Tall blond guy.”
“Holy shit. Does Sable know he’s got a kid?”
“It’s their kid together, that’s the crazy thing. Sable gave him up for adoption when Joker was in the service, and he never knew until today.”
“Wow,” was all I could say.
In hindsight, I guess maybe I should have put the pieces together, but since there was absolutely nothing that connected a guy who could afford a suite at the Ritz Carlton with Joker and the Savage Sons, I had no idea what I was walking into.
Zeno opened the door, and I saw Bug and J.C. in their usual places right away. Bug preferred the very end of the bar facing the front door so that he could see everyone come and go and keep tabs on the room. When I walked in, he had a beer bottle halfway to his lips, and he froze. He looked me up and down, and I couldn’t decipher his expression. What I could tell for sure, though, was that he thought I looked good.
I took my time walking over to him, making sure that I stopped to greet every single man between me and Bug. He watched and I could tell that his temper was coming to a simmer. I wanted to make a point, but I most definitely didn’t want him to boil over.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Bug said to J.C. as I got closer.
“More like the cat’s meow, man,” J.C. said before dissolving into laughter.
J.C. wasn’t very smart, but his comment had been pretty funny. I came right up to Bug, almost touching his knee, and I stopped.
“This what you had in mind?” I asked in a sexy voice, as I slowly turned around to let him take a long, hard look.
“You look good,” he said. “If a man’s looking for a hooker. You’re on your own, sweetheart, if you have trouble with guys wanting to handle your merchandise.”
I pulled myself up to my full height, supplemented with the sexy heels I wore. I realized that it felt am
azing to look down at Bug, especially when I knew how good I looked. “You said you wanted me to look hot. I was just doing what you asked.”
“I didn’t ask, Krystal. I told. And I also told you to bring some money. Why don’t you head over to the bar and take care of our tab?”
The fuck I was gonna pay the man’s bar tab.
“Hm,” I said, as if I were upset. “I seem to have forgotten my purse.”
Before I knew what was happening, Bug’s hand shot out and he grabbed my elbow — the one next to the bar, so that no one else in the room but J.C. could see it.
“Do not fuck with me, you cunt,” he hissed into my ear.
Tears came to my eyes as he squeezed the pressure point at my elbow, threatening to make my knees buckle under the pain. He had called my bluff, and I caved.
“Bug, honey, don’t be mad at me. I really did forget my purse. I’ll get you some money in the next day or so.”
“Get me another beer,” he said, even though he was sitting at the bar.
I walked down a couple of steps to get the bartender’s attention. “Kris, give me a Coors Light for Bug, and I’ll take a vodka and Red Bull.”
While I was waiting for the drinks to arrive, I tried to figure out how to handle Bug. He’d only full-on beat me up a couple of times, but I was absolutely certain that he would if I pushed him far enough tonight. I wouldn’t look quite as pretty if he broke my nose or knocked my teeth out. I was going to have to be very, very careful.
“Thanks, honey,” I said to Kris as I picked up the drinks. “And here you are,” I told Bug as I handed him his beer. I’d decided that my best bet was going to be to stand next to Bug and keep my mouth shut for the rest of the evening.
I took a huge drink and looked around the room. A big group of people was clustered around one of the pool tables over near the jukebox, and I could hear Joker’s laugh from where I stood. I thought about asking Bug about Joker’s son, but I figured that anything I said could be taken the wrong way. Silence was probably safer.
