Jerry's Passion: Insurgents Motorcycle Club (Insurgents MC Romance Book 6)
Page 22
“That’s not true. I’m not just fucking her. I care a lot about Kylie.” Jerry stuffed the bloodied napkins in his jeans’ pocket. Banger growled. “I know I should’ve manned up and talked to you about going out with her, but I didn’t think you’d let me date her. So I thought—”
“You’re fuckin’ right I wouldn’t have agreed to you going out with her. You’ve fucked every whore in the club and outside of it. You fuck two and three women at a time. You think I want my daughter with a man like that? What, you were bored with the whores so you decided to stick your cock in my daughter?” Banger lunged at him again, and it took both Hawk and Rock to hold him back.
“It’s not like that, Banger.”
Throttle came up behind Jerry and whispered in his ear, “Shut the fuck up, dude. You’re making things worse for yourself. Fucking tell him you screwed up, take the punishment, and leave Kylie the hell alone.”
Ignoring Throttle, Jerry looked Banger in the eyes. “I broke it off with her because I know I’m not good for her.”
“The asshole got something right,” Banger hissed.
“But that doesn’t mean I used her. I have strong feelings for her. Very strong. I lo—”
Banger growled and tried to go for him again, and Hawk said, “Jerry, it’s best you get your ass outta here. I’ll let you know when we have church on this. In the interim, stay the hell away from the club.”
Jerry nodded. As he walked past his brothers, they shook their heads, some muttering what an asshole he was to fuck the prez’s daughter. Pushing open the large door, he entered the bright sunlight, the hot rays burning but not able to warm him. He’d lost his brotherhood and his woman, but it was the heartbreak of losing Kylie forever that crushed him; it felt like cement drying in his chest. He pulled his Harley onto the open road, and for the first time since he’d started riding, the peace and sense of freedom he always experienced eluded him.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
After Jerry patched his face and cleaned up, he sat on his balcony smoking a joint, ignoring the fifth call from Wanda he’d received in the past thirty minutes. He punched his thighs as frustration coursed through him. How the fuck had he allowed himself to make such a mess of things? He’d betrayed his president and broken Kylie’s heart.
Wanda’s right, I’m no good. Fuck!
Over the years, his mother had made it a point to tell Jerry he was a loser and a no-good brat, and when he was taken from her and placed with foster families, they continued the litany of what a piece of shit he was. And after all these years, he had to agree with them. He was the only one in the club who disrespected the prez, and the only one who’d fucked his daughter. Before Axe and Jax hooked up with their old ladies, they used to check Kylie out plenty once she hit eighteen, and Rags, Rock, and half a dozen other brothers always ran their eyes over her rack and ass whenever she’d come to the clubhouse. But they kept their distance, knowing not to go near her and insult the president.
Not Jerry, though. Nope, Jerry was just plain no good.
He stubbed out his roach and shoved his vibrating phone in his pocket. Wanda fucking got on his nerves, and he wasn’t in the mood for her. Earlier that day, he’d told her he’d be around in the early evening, so why the hell did she have to keep calling him? He made his way to the pharmacy to pick up her meds. She was so goddamned addicted to the painkillers; he couldn’t believe her doctor continued to prescribe them as frequently as he did.
When he walked into the trailer, Wanda was in her recliner watching TV, holding a Scotch in one hand and a cigarette in the other while the oxygen tubes in her nose made audible puffs of air every few seconds. It was fucking classic. Jerry went directly to the medicine chest in the bathroom and placed her medication on the glass shelf.
“Can you bring me one of them pills?” Wanda yelled over the TV.
“Haven’t you heard booze and pills don’t mix?”
“It’s for later. I have trouble getting outta this damn recliner, so I want it near me in case the pain gets to be too much.”
Shaking one pill in his hand, he walked over and set it down on the plastic TV tray that was always next to her. On it, she had the remote, a few tabloids, her reading glasses, a pill box, a pack of menthol cigarettes, a flask, and several empty glasses. He flopped onto the small couch.
“What the hell happened to you? Did you get in a fight?”
“Something like that. Where’s Kelsey?”
“She’s got a new boyfriend who has some bucks. She’s with him most nights.”
“Does he live in the trailer park?”
“No. He lives somewhere in town.”
“Where did she meet him?”
“Not sure.”
“What’s his name?”
“I don’t know.”
“Fuck, Wanda. Don’t you think you should know what your eighteen-year-old daughter is up to? Do you know anything about this guy?”
“I know he comes over here and is nice to me. A helluva lot nicer than you are. And he gives your sister and me money without a fuckin’ attitude.”
“Whatever.” Jerry really wasn’t in the mood. They both sat watching the television, his mind on Kylie as always. He wondered if Banger had gone home and confronted her. They should’ve been dealing with this together, but there he sat in a broken-down trailer with Wanda, who was killing herself with booze and cigarettes, and Kylie was all alone. Fuck!
The screen door squeaked open and he turned his head just as Kelsey came inside. She wore a short spandex skirt and barely-there tube top, and she teetered on four-inch heels as she walked past him. She definitely looked like one of the party girls who hung out at the club on the weekends.
“Why the hell are you dressed like a slut?”
“Why the hell do you think you can ask me that?”
Ignoring her question, he said, “You can’t be going out like that. Where’ve you been?”
“Out with my boyfriend. And it’s none of your business how I dress. He likes the way I look.”
She wobbled to the kitchen, and that’s when he saw all the angry red marks across her upper thighs. “What the fuck are those marks on your legs?”
Kelsey pulled down her skirt in a vain attempt to hide them. “I scraped them across a wood bench,” she said, turning around to face him.
“Bullshit. Your new boyfriend do that shit to you?”
“No. Look, no one asked you to come in here acting like my fucking dad or something. Leave me alone. I’m tired.” She placed a can of pop against her mouth and drank.
“Leave her alone. She’s a slut, but at least she’s bringing in some money.” Wanda lit up another cigarette.
Kelsey laughed, her eyes flashing as she looked at her mother. “You’re right. I am a slut and a cunt. I’m my boyfriend’s slut.”
“What the hell you talking about? You’re fucked in the head,” Jerry said.
She ignored him and went into her room, slamming the door behind her. He shook his head and went to her bedroom door. “Your boyfriend got a name?”
“Mark.”
The gasp was audible through the door. “What’s wrong?”
“I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. See what you made me do? Now I’ll be punished. Leave me alone.”
Strains of anger curled around him. “You letting him do that kind of shit to you?”
“Leave me the fuck alone!”
Jerry stood by the door. “Let her be. Come sit with me,” Wanda cackled.
Slowly, he walked into the living room, pissed that Wanda had fucked them all up. “You need to take better care of Kelsey. She’s fuckin’ outta control, and you’re her goddamned mom. Fuckin’ act like one.”
“She don’t pay no attention to me. What can I do? I’m sick. She should be helping me out, not whoring around. I’m the one no one cares about. All you think about is her. What about—”
He opened the screen door. “Where you going?” she asked.
“Home.”
“Ask your daughter’s john. You’re pimping her out, aren’t you?”
With Wanda cussing up a storm, Jerry jumped down the porch stairs and straddled his bike. In his peripheral view, he saw a glint of gold and he whipped his head around. Nothing. Sitting still for several minutes, he strained his ears to pick up any sounds that may be amiss. Nothing. Only the muffled voices from television sets, and the moans from fucking. Just a usual evening at Cedars Trailer Park. He turned his Harley around and headed back to his apartment.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
When Kylie pulled into the garage, she was surprised to see her dad’s Harley parked there already. Glancing at her phone, she wondered why he was home at four o’clock. A tightness formed in her stomach and she hurried inside, thinking something may have happened to Belle and the baby. She walked into the kitchen and saw her dad seated at the table, his normally cheerful eyes icy and hard.
“Hi, Dad,” she said as she opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of orange-flavored water. “Is Belle okay?”
“She’s fine,” he replied curtly. “Sit down.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Sit down,” he ordered.
Complying, she pulled out a chair and plopped down, scanning her father’s face. He didn’t look too happy; in fact, he looked downright pissed. Oh, shit. He found out about Jerry. Damnit! Their blue gazes locked, and he took out a book he had in his hands under the table and slid it toward her. “This yours?”
Looking down, her stomach dropped and a deep red flush crept across her cheeks. Oh, fuck. She was mortified that her father knew she had such a book. She nodded.
“You fucking Jerry?”
Kylie’s impulse was to lie, but she suspected her dad already knew so she didn’t want to add insult to injury. In a low voice, she said, “I did. We aren’t together anymore.” She kept twisting her hands and squirming in her chair. How had he found the book? She kept it under her mattress. Then a single, brave thread of anger slid up her spine. “You searched my things. How could you?” Her look accused him.
“I didn’t do shit. Belle was changing the sheets on your bed and came across this under your mattress.”
“She had no right to be in my room! I didn’t ask her to change the sheets on my bed.”
“She’s been doing it since you’ve been back from school and you haven’t complained. Anyway, this isn’t about that. That’s a separate issue you can bring up with her. Don’t fuckin’ cloud the matter. The question I have is why did you disobey me and take up with that sonofabitch?”
From the glare in her dad’s gaze, she knew not to avoid the question. She shrugged. “I don’t know. I liked him. I’ve liked him for a long time.” She picked at her cuticle. “I didn’t mean for things to get out of control. I’m sorry I disappointed you. You don’t have to worry about me and Jerry. We’re through.”
“Did the sonofabitch break your heart?” A smidgen of softness entered his voice.
She shook her head. “No.” The sonofabitch crippled it and brought darkness and loneliness where there used to be light and togetherness. He destroyed me. The silence spread between them as they sat lost in their thoughts. After several minutes, she asked in a small voice, “Did you do anything to Jerry?”
“I fuckin’ kicked his ass, and would’ve done more, but Hawk pulled me off the asshole. I want his goddamned patch, but we’re having church on it, and I know I’ll be down-voted. The fucker has been a good member, for the most part. But this shit I can’t forgive. I know the condition of him staying in the brotherhood will be to never see you again, but from what you’re tellin’ me, you two are through with each other, so it doesn’t matter.”
Hot tears formed behind Kylie’s eyes. The thought of never seeing Jerry again was unbearable. Even though she knew it was silly, she’d held out hope that he’d come back to her and sweep her off her feet, professing his undying love. Now that the club would issue the ultimatum of keeping the patch only if he forgot her, she knew any hope of reconciliation was lost forever. Her breath hitched and she looked at her dad, knowing he’d see her brimming eyes.
“Honey, I know you’re a young lady and you want to be with a man. It’s natural. I knew this day would come, and I was hoping it’d be with someone you met at college. I’m pissed because you disobeyed me. I know Jerry. He likes women too much, and he’d never be faithful to you. He’s always with Wendy or Rosie. You don’t want a man like that.”
When he said Wendy’s name, she winced, the image of her straddling Jerry’s lap, her breasts practically in his face, flashing in her mind. Her dad was right, of course, because Jerry had already broken her heart.
“But I don’t trust him staying away from you.”
“Why?” She recalled his indifference and icy demeanor when he’d admitted he didn’t want her anymore.
“Because he made his feelings known to me, like that was gonna change my fuckin’ mind.” His face flared red again.
“What did he say?”
“That he cared about you. That what the two of you had wasn’t just physical. Can you imagine that fucker telling me that? I don’t care what he says; I don’t want him near you ever again.”
As Banger rambled on, her heart soared. Jerry had said that to her dad? Why didn’t he tell her how he felt?
“Kylie. You listening to me? Jerry’s full of shit, and I don’t believe his lies. All he wants is sex, and he gets it all the time with the club whores. I don’t ever want to hear his name in my house or coming from your lips. Do you understand?”
She nodded, but her heart was too happy to let her dad’s words upset her. Jerry cared for her and that’s all she needed to know; the rest would fall into place. Banger stood up then walked out of the room, anger still radiating from him.
Kylie looked down at the evidence that got her into all this trouble. She should just throw the book away, but now that everyone knew what she’d been doing, it wouldn’t hurt to keep it. She just needed to find a better hiding place. Anyway, she’d promised Margo she’d loan the book to her. With a heart much lighter than it had been since Jerry had told her it was over, she rose from the table and went to her room.
* * *
Jerry sat in a corner away from most of the brothers as they discussed what should be done with the man who’d disrespected his president and fucked his daughter. As Hawk once again pointed out, there wasn’t anything in the bylaws calling for a brother’s patch if he fucked the president’s daughter, but the disrespect wasn’t to be overlooked.
Back and forth they went, with brothers in Jerry’s camp saying he’d proven his loyalty many times over the years, and the others in Banger’s camp who couldn’t see past his disrespect in disobeying the president’s wishes. And all Jerry did was replay every second of every moment he’d spent with Kylie. All he cared about was her; he wanted her more than the brotherhood, and that shocked the hell out of him. He wanted to wake up to her every day with the touch of her fingers on his skin, and he wanted to hold her in his arms every night with the warmth of her lips on his. Love had come to him when he hadn’t even wanted or expected it.
“Do you have anything you want to add, Jerry?” Hawk’s deep voice invaded his thoughts. Jerry sat up straight and shook his head. “Okay, let’s vote. This will be a majority vote, since we have a distinct split.”
After all the ayes and nays were tallied, Jerry’s patch remained intact by a very narrow margin. When he looked at Banger, the president averted his gaze. Jerry knew it’d be a very long time until he’d earn his trust again. The final edict was that he was never to have any contact with Kylie again, or risk losing his patch forever and enduring a beat-down as a parting punishment. He’d leave the brotherhood in shame.
“Do you agree to these terms?” Hawk asked.
“Yes. Thank you, brothers.” Even as Jerry said the words, he knew he’d disobey them. He could never leave Kylie alone; he’d lose his patch gladly just for the chance of being with her again. He couldn’t wait for church to end so he could find her and hold her. Together, they’d figure it out. He’d talk to Banger when he cooled down a bit, and he’d show the president how much he loved his daughter.
“Now, on to some other business,” Banger said. “We’re still trying to locate the fucker in the purple Corvette.” Jerry was suddenly extremely focused on the meeting. “Hawk’s widening the search and dipping into other states. We’ve all been on the lookout for this asshole, but no purple Corvette has appeared. I’ve had Axe watching over Kylie, and he found out that some asshole punk by the name of Marcus Westman has been stalking my girl. He found out some other stuff, but we already know all that.” Banger shot a mean look at Jerry. “Anyway, I paid this punk a visit, and it turns out he’s obsessed with Kylie, so I had to convince him that wasn’t such a good idea.”
The club members laughed. “How’d you do that?” Throttle asked as he chuckled.
“A broken kneecap and a promise of more to come if he didn’t fuckin’ turn his obsession off. The asshole’s been stalking her. He thought I was joking around, I guess, ‘cause the look of shock as I slammed the tire iron against his kneecap was fuckin’ classic.” The brothers snickered along with their president. Jerry laughed, admiring Banger’s style. He should’ve done that to the asshole when he’d had the chance in Crested Peak.
“You find out if the two dirtbags in that rat hole your mom lives in are still involved with crank?” he asked Jerry, his voice tight.
“They took off in the middle of the night. They’re history. I checked around, and it looks like they blew outta the county.”
Banger nodded curtly. “Guess they took our warnings to heart finally. On another note, we found something disturbing. Chigger’s left and has joined the Demon Riders to be with Dustin and Shack.”
“I knew the sonofabitch had something to do with the information leak regarding the arms deal with the Mexicans. I never believed Tug acted alone,” Chas said. Several members grumbled in agreement.
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