by Dana Arden
“Got it.” Greer responds quietly as she worries her bottom lip with her teeth.
Chapter 28
Razz
The sight of Bellamy’s bright blue charger parked in the Chaotic’s parking lot is a relief. We definitely don’t need to answer anymore questions than we already have when it comes to Sadie antics.
I met Bellamy a few months after I brought the women home with me from Nevada. Jenna ended up with a virus and instead of going to the doctor as I suggested she said it’d work itself out, but a week later she was a pale, sweaty mess. Bellamy was our ER nurse and I later found out that she was a Marine.
Since then, we’ve seen each other on occasion when I’ve needed help from Rose or advice from Mauve. Yeah, she’s a Pretty Pink and a very independent one. I don’t know all of her story, but I know that she’s still chasing ghost or trying to fill a part of her life with continuous travel.
When she sees me get out of the passenger door of the Tahoe, she slides out of her Charger. We walk towards each other and I throw my arms around her. She squeezes me tight.
“Thanks for coming, Bells.” I whisper in her ear.
“Any time, Razzy.” We back away from each other and I put my arm through hers and lead her to the Clubhouse.
The main room is a disaster zone as we bypass and step over broken chairs and glass. We head for Toby who’s laid out on the couch. Bellamy kneels beside his head and a sly smile spreads across Toby’s face. “Hey pretty lady. You going to fix my boo-boo?”
Bellamy giggles. “Yeah, I’m going to fix your boo-boo.” She looks to me and her face falls. “Lawson.”
I look over my shoulder to Banshee who’s grinding his teeth. “Bellamy.” He says as he gives her a chin lift.
“Razz.” Bellamy snarls.
“What?” I ask confused.
“Can you find out what they gave him before I start?”
“Sure.” I turn on my heel but I’m stopped by a stern look from Banshee.
“Vicodin. Why’s she here?” He growls.
“Um…she’s a nurse and my friend.” I look between them. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” Bellamy whispers, sounding disappointed.
“Yeah, okay. What can I do to help you Bells?” I ask.
She turns her attention back to Toby who’s still grinning like a loon. “I’m good.” She pokes and prods around Toby’s wound. I watch as he flinches. “I’m going to inject some lidocaine around your wound.” She says to Toby. “Then, I’m going to stitch you up and then I’ll need you to roll over to sew up your back.”
“You can roll me anyway you want to, pretty lady.” Toby purrs.
“Alright, Romeo.” Banshee roars. “Sit still and let her do what she’s got to do.” Toby nods but never takes his eyes off of Bellamy. She’s a beautiful woman in her late twenty’s with shoulder-length brown hair, deep blue eyes and curvy figure. “So, Bellamy what’ve you been up too.” He asks.
“Working.” She snaps.
“Other than working. When did you leave the Marines?”
“You know exactly when I left the Marines.” She responds through clenched teeth.
“No. I wouldn’t ask if I knew. I don’t like frivolous conversations.”
“And I don’t like having conversations that are worthless. I’ll leave here today and see you again in a year or two just like I have for the past ten years. You’d think as much as we’ve seen each other over the years, you’d know more about me.”
“Sorry, but I’ve been busy…”
Bellamy interrupts him. “With numerous holes and meaningless encounters.”
“Bellamy.” Banshee barks with authority and I watch as Bellamy’s back goes straight.
“Lawson.” She snarls back.
“Banshee.”
“What?” She looks to him with draw brows.
“Banshee. It’s my road name.”
Bellamy bust out laughing and then realizes what she did and slaps her hand over her mouth. “Sorry, but it’s fitting with the amount of squawking you’re doing right now.”
“That’s not what it’s fucking for.” He gives her a conspiratorial look and a raised eyebrow. “You know better than most why they gave me that name.”
Her cheeks redden and she shakes her head. “That was a long time ago and if I remember correctly, they were fast and over with before I could scream your name.”
Poison shows up at Banshee’s side and elbows him. Poison looks Bellamy over as she has her back turned to them. Bellamy glances over her shoulder to Banshee and her eyes light up at the appearance of Poison.
“Poison.” She coos.
“What the fuck?” Banshee says under his breath.
“Bella…”
“How the fuck do you know my Bellamy?” Banshee cuts him off and faces Poison.
Poison chuckles. “Chill, bro. I’ve known Bellamy for what now Bells, four years.” Bellamy bobs her head as she stitches up Toby. “She’s a part of Mauve’s club.”
Banshee spins so fast he almost elbows me in the face. “You’re a part of the fucking Pretty Pinks.”
“Yep.”
“You’ve been in Georgia for four years and didn’t let me know.”
“Yep.”
Banshee throws up his hands. “Bellamy, why the fuck didn’t you let me know.”
She cuts her eyes at him. “Why would I do that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because we fuck like rabbits every time we see each other. It’s our thing, Bells.” He says the last sentence as if an afterthought.
“Banshee, yes we normally do, but at some point in a person’s life they strive to want more and I’m at that point where fast and furious isn’t on my agenda. I’m done with random. I’m almost thirty and I want to settle down. I want a husband and eventually babies. I want to grow with someone. What I don’t want is to be someone’s occasional fuck, which is what we’ve always been to each other and when it’s said and done, you do something douchey and piss me off so I’ll leave and never ask you for anything.”
“How do you know I’m not there?”
Bellamy cuts the thread of the last stitch and stands. She motions to the club whores hovering in the corner with their hungry eyes on Poison and Banshee, and then to his kutte. “You get a piece of them while you were here.” Banshee’s mouth opens and then snaps shut. “Exactly. You’re still at the point in your life where here and now is more important than waiting for a spectacular woman to fill your bed.”
“That’s what they’re here for.” He bellows.
“That’s true and exactly my point. Instead of letting your dick suffer a little, you stick it in anything that gives it attention.” She holds up her hand to silence him. “I’ve been there and done that with you off and on for ten years. We’ve fucked and I’ve been your cum dumpster, but people change and priorities become clearer.” She steps closer to him and places her hand on his chest. “I’m not mad at you and you shouldn’t be mad at me because I’m not bending. You just need to accept that our rendezvous have come to a halt with no chance of happening again.”
“How do you know I don’t want that?” Banshee pleads with her.
She throws her thumb over her shoulder at the whores. “Because if you were, you wouldn’t be giving it to the whores. You’d be using your hand until you met the one.” She turns to me. “Let’s go check on the other one. What was his name?”
“Benny.” I croak.
She grabs my hand and tugs me to her side. As we walk down the hall to Benny’s room, there are no words spoken. She needs time to process as do I. I’d have never connected level-headed Bellamy to the broody free-willed Banshee.
She finishes checking out Benny giving him a clean bill of health and then leaves as fast as she arrived. I don’t blame her when I see Banshee waiting at the end of the hall for her, but she ignores him and pushes past him without a care in the world. He drops his head and hand as he attempted to stop her but failed.
I walk up to his side and lean my back against the wall. “Word of advice.” He nods. “If she’s what you want and you’re completely sure of it, make the changes and prove it to her.”
He stares at me for a few before he answers. “She’s always been it. We were in boot camp together and stationed at several of the same bases. She wasn’t a fall back. I swear. We were just living day by day, praying we’d make it home from each deployment. She got hurt and I got shipped off to a different base across the country. It’s always been bad timing.”
“Sounds like perfect timing to me now. Y’all aren’t in the military anymore and you’re both in Georgia though she’s here and there most of the time.”
“Here and there.” He repeats and looks at me for clarification.
“Yeah, she’ll be here one week working at Forsyth Hospital and then next week she could be in another state working for another hospital. She’s a traveling RN.”
“Of course she is. She doesn’t know how to sit still.” He chuckles.
I pat his shoulder as I leave him to his thoughts and search out Trigger.
Chapter 29
Trigger
I’m starting to think I need to turn Church into an apartment for as much as we’ve all been here in the last few months. I want normal club business. I want to go home in the evenings from work and enjoy dinner with my family. Razz, the kids and I need to be able to spend quality time together and not receive a phone call in the middle of the night that has us waiting for the next shoe to drop.
Poison and Banshee are the last to enter Church. Poison shuts the door and leans against it. Those two might as well join the Chaotic’s since they’re here more than they are at the Rioting Devil’s Clubhouse. They don’t seem to mind, but I’m sure Brute is itching for them to return.
The gavel hits the table and all conversation cease to exist. Dad’s face is tight, eyes cold and body tense. He’s just as over all this bullshit as the rest of us. Over the past few years, the Chaotic’s have gone from a quiet family-oriented club that has done away with the illegal shit to a club torturing for information and revenge, breaking up sex trafficking rings and rescuing our women and kids from being kidnapped. As much as that was thrilling to put our skills to the test, I’m ready to be carefree. Live for my family and my club. Enjoy teaching the youngins’ of the club to prank the hell out of their parents and my brothers. One day, hopefully soon, that will all happen.
“As most of you have figured out, Sadie was able to get help and get from underneath our thumbs. Buzzard was able to recognize the voice as Goober, which I’m sure we all would have concluded anyway.” He wipes his hand down his face. “This needs to end. We’ve all had enough. Helping her is no longer and option. I put in a call to Mad Dog and told him I’d release all the incriminating evidence we have of Sadie to him.”
“What about the baby?” Banshee cuts in.
“If she’s arrested, she’ll have the baby in jail. Her being pregnant will probably help her from being tossed in with the dangerous criminals for now. When the baby is born, you and Trigger will have already requested paternity, which I’m sure can be handled through Mauve.” He looks to me. “Text Razz and see what all she’s done through Mauve when it comes to the baby.” I nod and pull out my phone. “I’ve spent most of the last hour putting out fillers for her and Goober around town, but I’ve got nothing. I want to hope she’s done with us, but I know that’s a fucking lie. We need to stay vigilant. If I need to lockdown the Clubhouse, I will. I want my family safe.”
A soft knock on the door has our attention turned to where Poison is waiting for the nod or shake of Dad’s head. He nods and Poison cracks the door. I hear the soft voice of my wife as she hands her cell over to Poison.
“Give this to Rudy. Tell him to look at the texts from Mauve and the one from Jenna.” Poison grunts and closes the door bringing the phone to my dad.
Dad reads over the first text. “Okay, so when it comes to the paternity tests, Mauve has already petitioned and subpoenaed Sadie or Serafina Breaux, so that’s not a worry.” He thumbs to the next one and if he was an animated character, smoke would be billowing out of his ears. He lifts his head to us and clenches his fist. “Jenna texted Razz about twenty minutes ago, about a strange pickup sitting outside of Mrs. Johnson’s house. Razz told her to sit tight out of sight and call the police. There hasn’t been a response back from Jenna yet. We can assume its Sadie.”
Spook interrupts. “Text her and tell her to take a picture of the truck.”
He nods and plucks away. “Okay, we’ll wait for confirmation.” It beeps and he nods his head. “It’s Goober’s truck and the police have been called. We might be able to end this peacefully today.”
“Don’t give us false hope, Prez.” Ryker grits. “That bitch was in my house with my wife and kids for years. I want this to end just as much as the next guy but I also know that she’s dodged every attempt we’ve made so far. She doesn’t care about hurting anyone not even her own daughter. Now with Goober at her side, there’s no telling what could happen next.”
“I agree.” My dad exclaims. Razz’s phone starts ringing in his hand. “Rudy.” I watch him nod, hear him grunt a few times and then he’s slamming his hand on the table. “Fuck. Alright, honey. Go back to your apartment and stay put. I’ll have Razz call you back and she’ll get you all squared away.” He hangs up, gets up and starts walking back and forth. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He repeats as he stomps and runs his hand roughly through his hair.
“Prez!” I yell stopping him in his tracks. “Tell us.”
He plops back into his chair. “By the time the police showed up, they were gone. When they went into the house, they found Mrs. Johnson sitting in her recliner with a bullet hole in her head. Jenna is a wreck, but she was able to give them the information and picture of the truck. Now the police are on the hunt for Goober and Sadie.”
Beanie pushes back from the table and storms out of Church. He’s gotten pretty close with Mrs. Johnson. He makes sure to call her every Sunday after she goes to church and find out how she’s doing. He may not have known her long, but she became his family.
Dad hands me Razz’s phone. “Take this to your wife and have her call Jenna.”
“Sure.” I leave Church with nothing resolved and everything still up in the air. I find Razz in the main room sitting across from a passed out Toby. “Darlin’.” Her head swings in my direction. “I need you to call Jenna. Those fuckers killed Mrs. Johnson and Jenna is out of sorts.” She nods as tears fill her eyes. “Hang in there.”
“She has no soul, Trigger. She’ll eventually throw Goober under the bus and move on to the next dumbass.” She whispers.
“She’s not invincible. She’ll get caught and then there’s nothing anyone can do for her.”
“Yeah, but when exactly is that going to happen. It could be years from now until we get rid of her wrath, all because I took her toy from her.”
“But I’m the best toy you’ve ever had to play with.” I try to lighten the mood.
“True, but really I don’t know if it was worth all the bullshit I’ve gone through.” She says teasingly.
“You better take that back or I’m going to show you how good of a toy I can be when we get home.”
“Nope. I think I want to find out how good you can be.” She smirks.
“Game on.” As I’m hauling her to me, Banshee rushes to the TV, changes the channel and turns it up. Across the bottom of the screen there’s a banner about breaking news.
“ What are we looking at right now, Mike?” The reporter questions. “Well Jill as of a few minutes ago, a high-speed chase between the police and the driver of the white pickup began. The driver and passenger are the main suspects in the recent murder of one Clarice Johnson of Erwin. When police attempted to pull them over, the driver sped off and the police have been in pursuit since.”
Razz clutches my arm as we watch Goober weave in and out of traffic, running through medians
and into oncoming traffic. His driving is erratic. I bet he didn’t wake up this morning and say ‘I’m going to kill a grandma and end up in a battle against the po-po.’
The reporter gasps and I watch as one of the police cruisers nudges the bumper of Goober’s truck and he looses control. He heads straight for a ditch and then the truck’s doing flips, spins and then several rolls until it comes to a stop. The police cruisers screech to a halt and they ready themselves for the possibly armed criminals in the crumbled truck.
The driver door swings open and a bloody Goober gets out with his hands above his head lowering to his knees. There’s still no sight of Sadie and we all wait in silence as an officer climbs through the driver’s side and another stands on the passenger’s side.
Fire and rescue appear on the scene and rush the officers out of the way. I watch enrapt in them motioning for this, that and the other until a stretcher is wheeled close to the driver’s side door. A paramedic quickly wraps a collar around Sadie’s neck as the firefighters get her positioned on the stretcher. She is swept away into the back of the ambulance and Goober is escorted to the back of an awaiting police cruiser.
“Trigger,” Razz soothes, “we need to get on the road and figure out where they are taking her.” All I can do is nod. “Banshee, you’re riding with us. Rudy, can you let Queenie and Greer know what’s going on?”
“Sure, suga.” Dad responds.
“Poison, get Mauve on the phone and let her know what happened and make sure she has paperwork on hand just in case we need it.” Poison nods and Razz continues to give out orders as she pushes Banshee and me out the door and to the Tahoe.
With a silent prayer that the baby is okay, I climb into the passenger seat and make the dreaded trip to Tennessee.
Chapter 30
Razz
Silence is something I can normally tolerate, but not on this four hour trip to Erwin into the unexpected. I’ve sent up endless prayers that the baby will survive, as well as Sadie since the baby’s not due for months. As much as I’ve wanted her end, I didn’t want it like this. I wanted her to get help. I wanted her to get better and take care of her children.
