Pipe

by Winter Travers

  Wrecker took her hand, watching her bowed head, and looked between Nickel and me. “Uh, no need to cursty, darlin’,” he mumbled.

  She lifted her head and looked Wrecker directly in the eye. “It’s so great to be allowed in your club.”

  “Sweet Jesus, Alice,” Karmen laughed. “He’s the president of the Weston chapter, not the President of the United States.”

  Alice curtsied again and stepped back from Wrecker. “Sorry, your highness.”

  Nickel smothered his laugh with the back of his hand and looked at Nikki. “Is this shit for real?”

  Nikki shrugged. “Maybe we shouldn’t have brushed off the fact she had questions,” she mumbled, looking up at me.

  “Yeah, you might be right, sugar.”

  Alice looked around the table. “Can I sit anywhere?”

  Alice was in her own little world and had no idea that we were talking about her.

  “Uh, you can sit anywhere. This isn’t an official meeting or anything,” Wrecker explained.

  Of course, Alice sat in the chair I normally did. She pulled her chair in and rested her hands on the table. “I’m pretty sure I’m gonna wet my pants if anything else cool happens.”

  Wrecker, Nickel, and I busted out laughing, and the girls all giggled.

  Wrecker sat down at the head of the table, while Nickel took his normal spot next to him and sat Karmen next to him.

  Nikki sat down next to Alice, and I sat down in the chair meant for just a regular member. It had been a long time since I had sat this far down at the table. “Some shit has been going down in Kales Corners, and I thought I should let you know before something else happens.”

  “Trouble always seems to follow you girls,” Wrecker muttered.

  “Hey,” Karmen protested. “My trouble found me, and I’m sure the same goes for Nikki.”

  Wrecker waved his hand at her. “Details, darlin’.”

  Wrecker could definitely be a bit of a dick when he wanted to be.

  Nickel patted Karmen’s leg and whispered in her ear. She crossed her arms over her chest but didn’t try to argue with Wrecker.

  Wrecker turned to me and nodded his head. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “Does anyone else feel like he’s the godfather?” Alice whispered loudly to Nikki.

  Jesus, this was a complete shit show. Thankfully, the rest of the club wasn’t here. Everyone would have been rolling with laughter, and I never would have been able to talk. I cleared my throat and leveled a glare on Alice for her to shut her mouth.

  She made a motion to zipper her lips, and turned to Wrecker, holding out what I assumed was the imaginary key she used to lock her lips up.

  “Sweet Jesus.” He held out his hand, and she dropped the fake key in it. He nodded at Alice and pretended to tuck the key into his pocket. To Alice, I’m sure she thought he was okay, but from the way his jaw ticked, and look he gave me, I knew I was going to get hell for this.

  Wrecker was going to beat the shit out of me after this meeting was over.

  I cleared my throat and hoped to God Alice wouldn’t get up to any more crazy antics.

  “He gets the key because he’s the president,” she whispered to Nikki.

  Nikki nodded. “Good idea,” she whispered.

  I needed to get this over with and get Alice far, far away from Wrecker. I could tell he was holding his tongue, and that never lasted long.

  “About a couple of weeks ago, Nikki noticed someone standing outside of her house taking pictures. She came over to my place as soon as she saw it, but I was too late to catch whoever it was. Nothing happened after that except for last night the guy was back, and he was watching Nikki and me.”

  Karmen gasped and flattened her hands on the table. “Someone was watching you? Oh, my God. Who is it?”

  “We’re still trying to figure that out. I almost caught him last night, but I had to grab my pants and gun before I could go after him.”

  Alice turned to Nikki. “He had to put his pants on?” she asked with her eyebrow raised. “Y’all were getting it on, weren’t you?”

  Nikki blushed and ducked her head.

  “Duh, of course, they were, Alice,” Karmen laughed.

  Wrecker snickered but knew not to give me shit about it in front of Nikki.

  “We called the police, but I don’t have much faith in them finding this guy since the most they deal with in that town is the occasional speeder or jaywalker.”

  Wrecker leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table. “You have any idea of who this might be?”

  “Nikki caught the eye of one of her customers at work, and I think it’s him. Her boss told me that this wouldn’t be the first time this guy took his infatuation to a new level.”

  “So why haven't you grabbed the guy and asked him what the hell he’s doing?”

  “Because I can’t believe that it’s him,” Nikki piped up. “I can't believe that this man who can barely get a full sentence out when talking to me is capable of doing this.”

  Wrecker sat back in his chair. “It sounds exactly what someone like that would do. He’s standing outside of your window watching you and your man together. He’s a fucking coward.”

  Nikki stared down at the table. “I guess you’re right, but I just don’t understand why he would do this.”

  “Because he doesn’t have balls, darlin’,” Nickel stated.

  She sighed and slumped her shoulders. “Fine. We assume it’s Richard. Now, what do we do? This guy isn’t all there upstairs mentally. I don’t want him to get hurt.”

  Wrecker rolled his eyes. “So you just wanna let him keep watching you get your rocks off every night because there ain’t no birdie in his cuckoo clock?”

  “Well, no. I just mean I don’t want you guys showing up to his house and breaking his kneecaps.”

  “Darlin’, we don’t break kneecaps. They can still talk after that,” Nickel smirked.

  Karmen elbowed him in the side. “Not helping,” she hissed.

  Nickel shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “So what do you want us to do since we’re not allowed to hurt poor Richard?”

  “Can’t we just get him to confess, and then turn him over to the police?” Alice suggested. “I know Richard too, and he isn’t playing with a full deck of cards. He’s done this kind of thing before, but never like he’s doing to Nikki.”

  “Fine. I’m gonna send Slayer and Brinks up there. See what they can dig up, and try to talk some sense into this guy. I’m sure it won’t take much for them to get this guy to talk about what he’s doing.” Wrecker looked at Nikki. “That fine with you?”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be such a Sally about this. I guess bustin’ kneecaps isn’t my style.”

  I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “You’re fine, sugar. This’ll give Slayer and Brinks a chance to work on their people skills, right Wrecker?”

  “If anything, with those two talking to this guy, they’ll probably just scare him away. I doubt anyone has ever tried to talk to this guy before.” He pointed his finger at Nickel. “Make sure your woman doesn’t get any ideas and try to take care of this guy herself.”

  Karmen gasped. “Hey, I’m sitting right here.”

  “I’ll talk to Slayer and Brinks. When are you heading back up?” Wrecker asked.

  “We’re here for the weekend.”

  Wrecker stood up and grabbed his sunglasses off the table. “I’ll have them head up there tonight. You good with them staying at your place?”

  I pulled my keys out of my pocket, slipped the duplex key off, tossing it to Wrecker. “It’s all theirs.”

  “That. Was. Awesome,” Alice squealed when Wrecker walked out of the room. “That man is smokin’ hot. Do you think if I asked nicely he would let me pet his beard?”

  Nikki turned to Alice. “Maybe if you curtsy first.”

  Karmen threw her head back, laughing her ass off, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

  �
��Next time, try kissing his knuckles. That might loosen him up a bit,” Nickel added.

  “Hey,” Alice protested. “How was I supposed to know how to act around him? The man is intimidating as hell.”

  “He’s intimidating, Alice, not the king of England,” I said over the top of Nikki’s head.

  She stuck her tongue out at me and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re an ass. Both of you.” She glared at me and turned to Nickel. “I’m surprised your super sweet girlfriend’s put up with your shit.”

  Nickel shrugged and stood up. “What can I say? I’ve got an amazing personality and huge dick.”

  Karmen gasped, choking on her own spit. “Jesus Christ, man. You did not just say that,” she hissed.

  Nikki looked up at me. “That’s the same reasons you have.”

  I shrugged. “At least you recognize my stellar qualities.”

  “Stellar indeed,” she said, winking at me.

  Alice pushed back from the table and stood up. “Okay, now that we established you both have big dicks, you think I can get a tour of the clubhouse?”

  “Yeah,” I laughed. “I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.”

  “I wanna meet Wren,” Nikki piped up. “Is she with Cora?”

  Karmen shot up. “Dude, she is super cool. You’re going to love her.”

  “We’ll swing by her room on the tour of the clubhouse. She normally hangs out in Cora’s room all day,” Nickel suggested.

  I grabbed Nikki’s hand and pulled her up. “Come on, sugar.”

  She stood up and rested her hand on my shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  I knew it had killed Wrecker to agree to not hurt Richard, but I knew that was what Nikki wanted. I was down with kicking the guy's ass just like Nickel, but I didn’t want to upset Nikki. “We try it your way first, sugar. If that doesn’t work, then it’s my way.”

  She rolled her eyes but agreed. “Fine. But I don’t want to know anything if we do it your way.”

  “That’s doable, sugar.”

  “Hello,” Alice called. “Can I get a tour of the badass clubhouse filled with badasses?”

  I pressed a kiss to Nikki’s forehead and smiled. “Your friend is a nutjob.”

  Nikki laughed and looked up at me. “She totally is.”

  At least we agreed on that.

  *

  Chapter 28

  Nikki

  “I love this kid, but honestly, I can’t wait ‘til I can have a drink.”

  “At least Nickel isn’t drinking either,” I pointed out.

  We were sitting at a table by the pool table, watching Pipe and Nickel play. “Yeah, that is nice of him. Although I did catch him sneaking a beer the other night.”

  I laughed and took a sip of my wine. “You yell at him?”

  “Nah, he deserves it. He’s been doing a lot of shit for the club lately, and I know he’s stressed out.”

  “You mean with Wren?” Who, by the way, we had yet to meet. When we had given Alice her tour of the clubhouse, Cora said she had a headache and had gone to lie down. She had promised that she would be out for the party tonight.

  “No. I think there is other stuff going on. From what Nickel said, Wren is Maniac’s problem.”

  That was news to me. Although I knew I wouldn’t always know what was going on with the club, I had hoped Pipe would talk to me if he needed to. “Have you seen Alice?”

  Karmen laughed. “I heard she asked Wrecker to take her for a ride on his bike.”

  “Shut up,” I gasped. “I think she might be barking up the wrong tree with Wrecker.”

  Karmen nodded. “That you are right, sister. I think she’s more infatuated with the fact he’s the president.”

  I shrugged and peeled the label off my beer. “Or, you know, they could be perfect for one another. I mean, did you really expect me and Pipe to hook up?”

  “Well, I knew you wanted a biker of your own, but no, I never thought it would actually happen. I mean, come on, did you think Nickel and I would hook up and he would get me pregnant?” she laughed. “Anything is possible, Nikki.”

  “What’s possible?” Nickel asked as he picked up his beer from the table.

  “Alice and Wrecker hooking up.”

  Nickel choked on his beer. “Yeah, that shit isn’t happening.”

  “Why not?” I demanded. Alice was a bit cuckoo, but there wasn’t anything wrong with her.

  “Because we’re pretty sure Wrecker has a chick on the side we don’t know.”

  “What?” Karmen gasped. “And you’re just now telling me this? Who is it?” she demanded. “We could add another chick to our Girl Gang.”

  “Girl gang?” Pipe asked. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “You good, sugar?” he asked quietly.

  I looked up at him and nodded. “Totally good. We were just talking about Wrecker and Alice hooking up, and then Karmen mentioned a Girl Gang. Not really sure where she was headed with that one.”

  “We’re never really sure where Karmen is headed with anything,” he snickered.

  “It’s a good thing I’m pregnant and sober. Otherwise, I would totally kick your butt.” She looked Pipe up and down and took a sip of her soda. “Or have Nickel kick your butt.”

  “Well, I’m glad to know my butt is safe tonight.”

  I slapped him on the chest and shook my head. “Stop messing with her,” I laughed.

  “Like shooting fish in a barrel, sugar.”

  “Anywho,” Karmen said, ignoring Pipe. “I was talking about our Girl Gang. It’s me, Nikki, Cora, and Alice right now. It would be super cool to add Wren to it.”

  “Speaking of Wren,” Nickel said, pointing over my shoulder. “There’s your latest recruit right now.”

  I turned around and saw Cora walking toward our table with a short, curvy brunette. “Wow, she’s super pretty.” Her long brown hair had blonde highlights in it, giving it that sun-kissed look, and her skin was flawless. You know how guys say they like a woman with curves on her in all the right places? Well, Wren fit that description perfectly. She was wearing a pair of tight jeans that hugged her hips and butt, giving her the perfect silhouette. The dark plum shirt she wore looked amazing against her tanned skin, and well, she just looked hot.

  Pipe pulled out the chair next to me and leaned close. “Poor Maniac thought the same thing until he had to watch her twenty-four seven. Pretty sure the poor guy is going to lose his shit before her troubles are over.”

  “Hey,” Cora called. “This is Wren.”

  Wren gave a small wave and looked down at the floor.

  Hmm, now this was interesting. I thought for sure she was going to be talkative, but instead, she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here.

  I stood up and held out my hand. “I’m Nikki, it’s nice to meet you.”

  She gently shook my hand and gave me a small smile.

  It was crazy how she and Cora were best friends. Where Cora was loud, outspoken, and boisterous, Wren was shy, quiet, and rather introverted.

  “This is Pipe,” I said, looking down at him.

  He gave Wren a two finger salute. “Nice to meet you.”

  She blushed and nodded her head. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Why don’t you guys have a seat? Pipe and Nickel were just taking a break from playing pool, but I think they were just about to start another game. You guys can play with Maniac.”

  I looked past Wren and Cora and saw Maniac leaning against the pool table with his arms crossed over his chest. He did not look happy at all.

  “We’ll keep an eye on Wren,” Karmen called to him. “You run along and play with the boys.”

  It cracked me up when Karmen talked to these guys like they were a bunch of twelve-year-olds. Where Alice acted like these guys were all gods, Karmen treated them all like her little brothers.

  Pipe pressed a kiss to my forehead and mumbled a warning to behave.

  Cora sat down in the chair Pipe had
left, and Wren scooted into one between Karmen and Cora.

  Karmen had a huge smile on her lips, and she rubbed her belly. “This is going to be amazing.”

  Cora leaned into me. “What the hell is she talking about?”

  “I’m really as lost as you are. She was talking about a Girl Gang before you came over. I can only imagine what she’s talking about,” I whispered.

  Cora sat back and looked at Karmen. “You’re crazy.”

  “So subtle,” I mumbled.

  “Subtle goes over the head of crazy.”

  “I’m going to accept your crazy.” Karmen turned to Wren. “Crazy is fun. And besides, every crazy thing I do, I can blame on the baby. He may keep me from drinking, but the kid is a pretty good alibi for whatever I want.”

  Wren laughed and looked down at Karmen’s belly. “I could see that working. Everyone wants Burger King at one o’clock in the morning now and then, so this way you can say you have no control over it because the baby wants it. Totally going to have to remember that if I ever have a kid.”

  “Stick with me, and I’ll tell you all my secrets.”

  I laughed and finished my beer. “If by secrets you mean crazy, then yeah, she can totally show you all of that.”

  Karmen shook her finger at me. “Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side with this.”

  I held up my hands. “I’m totally on your crazy train.”

  “I feel this Girl Gang thing is very prisonesque. Do we have to wear stripes? I’m telling you right now, if it involves stripes, I’m out.” Cora held up her hands. “This body is not made for stripes of any kind.”

  Karmen rolled her eyes. “Now who is the crazy one thinking we’re going to have uniforms. Although, we could totally get shirts made up.” Karmen tapped her chin and pulled out her phone. “I’m gonna google the price of getting custom shirts made.”

  “And she’s back to being the crazy one,” I laughed.

  “I don’t really understand what this Girl Gang is,” Wren replied.

  “Basically we’re all friends who have each other’s back. Like if Pipe is riding Nikki hard, we can back her up.”

  “Uh, am I the only who took that the completely wrong way?” Cora laughed.