Impulsive (The Houston Defiance MC Series Book 4)

by K E Osborn

  She folds the corner of the page down on the book, closes it, and faces me, giving me her attention. “Sure, fire away.”

  I pull out the referral from my back pocket holding it in my hand. It feels almost like a talisman of strength. “I had a chat with Chills, she has given me the name of a great doctor we can go see.”

  “What! Are you sick?”

  “She’s a psychiatrist, Anna.”

  “Well, I think it’s a great idea. You need to work through some of those issues you have with the company you keep because—”

  “Not for me… it’s for you.”

  Her head snaps back, her eyes staring with the harshest of glares. “You want me to go see a shrink?”

  “I’ll go with yo—”

  “Asher, that’s preposterous! There is absolutely nothing wrong with me. The mere fact you are suggesting this is insulting. I can’t believe you would say such a nasty thing to me. Who are you right now?”

  “I’m just trying to help.”

  “Trying to help? You have no faith in me. You’re siding with Oakley… well, then, so be it! Asher, you’re dead to me!” She stands, storming off, leaving her book behind.

  “Anna, come back. Anna… c’mon!” But it’s of no use, she’s gone.

  Well, fuck! That went really well!

  I’m not entirely sure how I expected that talk to go. I should have guessed she would react this way, but saying I’m dead to her, that shit stung. Anna needs help, so my only option now is to go to the one person who knows Anna as well as I do, even though I know I have no right to ask anything of him.

  Walking inside, I make my way over to Zero buried in paperwork at one of the tables in the main room like usual. He appears busy, but I need him right now. So, I slide into the opposite seat.

  Zero peers up at me, bobbing his head. “You look like you’re about to either hit someone or burst into tears like a girl. What’s got you so worked up?”

  “Anna.”

  Zero scoffs. “There’s something new… honestly, brother, take a step back, let her figure her own shit out for a while. She’s been so dependent on you for so long, let her realize what life would truly be like without you. It will make her appreciate you more.”

  I see the logic behind his words.

  I planned to discuss with Zero if he could talk some sense into Anna, but maybe this is the best state of play for now.

  I can’t do anything at the moment anyway, so I may as well research Rage. I’m liking where things are heading with Oakley, but we don’t have a solution to her problem. Rage will want her, but one way or another, he won’t get what he wants!

  “You know what? You’re right.”

  With that, I knock my knuckles to the table once and before he has a chance to respond, I stand, making my way to my den.

  Once inside, I get to the task at hand of finding a way to stop Rage from coming after Oakley. If this evidence she had on him he’s gotten back somehow, then maybe we need to find a way to get it back from him.

  Tit for tat and all that.

  OAKLEY

  While Neon’s working in the den, I sit minding my own business, finding the quiet time peaceful. On the road with my crew, I’m always surrounded by people needing me for things, or the sponsors wanting to check shit, or I need to be out greeting my fans. I’m always on the go. It’s nice to sit back and do nothing, just be one with myself, reflect on shit. That’s all interrupted when Anna steps in front of me.

  There goes my quiet time, I can only imagine how this is going to go down.

  I tense playing it cool. “Hey, wanna sit?”

  “No. I want you to come with me.” Then she turns, walking away, and I raise an eyebrow.

  Glancing around to see if anyone is watching, no one is, so I jump up and follow her, even though my gut is telling me not to. She takes me outside where we’re completely alone, and she ushers me around the side of the building, definitely out of earshot of anyone.

  “What’s going on Anna?” I ask.

  She turns to face me, the evilest glint shining in her eyes. Crossing her arms over her chest, she stands tall in defiance. “Rage has your father.” My eyes widen, and I gasp.

  “What?”

  “In order to get your father free, you need to dig up some dirt which will hurt Neon. When you find something and report back, your father will be set free. But, if you spill a word of this to Neon, or anyone else… your father dies.”

  Tears well in my eyes. “You’re working with Rage? Anna how? Why?”

  She stiffens her posture, turning up her lip. “That’s none of your concern. Just get me information, some good dirt, and your father won’t be harmed.”

  I’m so confused.

  “But my father is under the protection of the Fort Worth Defiance. How is this happening?”

  “If you don’t believe me, I can always have Rage come here and show you himself. Bring Daddy along, so you can see the mess Rage will inflict on him in front of you…” Her facial expression tells me everything I need to know—she’s NOT joking. “Then, of course, the Heathens will be on Defiance soil, so who knows what kind of havoc that will rain down. And it will all be because you chose to be stubborn about this.”

  My stomach churns as I shake my head slowly. “But you’re turning information over about Neon. That’s going to hurt him. He’s your brother, Anna.”

  “All’s fair in love and war.”

  “So, you’re declaring war on Neon?”

  She huffs. “He declared war on me first. Are you going to do your job, or is your father going to pay for your inability to perform?”

  What the actual fuck!

  I’m torn.

  I don’t want to hurt Neon, not in any way, but my father’s life is on the line here.

  Clearly, I don’t have any choice.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “Because I can. Now, do we have an agreement?”

  A tear rolls down my cheek, my heart thumping so hard it pulses in my ears. “Yes.” It comes out barely as a whisper.

  “Good. I will wait to hear from you with dirt on Neon. And Oakley?”

  “What?”

  “Make it quick.” Anna rushes past me, her shoulder slamming into me hard as she goes. I lose my balance, slamming into the side of the clubhouse.

  I can’t help the emotion that hits me.

  Bursting into tears, I slide down the side of the wall to the ground, sobbing as I go.

  I thought Anna was mentally challenged, but now I think maybe she is just plain psychotic.

  If Anna has my family and me in her sights, I know there’ll be no let up until she finds success.

  I don’t know how the hell I’m going to pull this off, but for the next few minutes I’m going to sit here and wallow. Because I’ve gone from one nightmare to another.

  The day dragged on. I spent most of it avoiding everyone, so I could pull my shit together. Trying to think of how I was going to get any kind of information out of Neon made me nauseous. I don’t want to do this. But I can’t be responsible for my father’s death either. No fucking way, especially not at the hands of that bastard, Rage. The asshole will torture the hell out of Dad if he hasn’t already, just for being my father.

  The thought of it makes me want to hurl.

  The only way I can think of getting Neon to talk is to plaster him with alcohol, get him drunk enough to accidentally spill shit to me.

  It’s a plan—not a good one, but it’s all I got.

  We sit at the bar after I’ve convinced him to do shots with me. I spoke to Nessie beforehand and lied telling her Neon’s had a bad time of it, and I want to get him blind drunk, so he’ll relax. However, I need to be sober to get him back to bed. So for every five drinks we down, make four of mine out of water and one with alcohol. She agreed, stating Neon does need to unwind. So here we sit, eight tequilas in for Neon, two for me, but he doesn’t comprehend that he’s getting very loose.

  “Then h
e said, “Have you tried turning it off and on again!”” Neon bursts out laughing. “Do you get it? Because... no, wait, you’re not an IT person. Anyway, The IT Crowd is a freaking hilarious show, we should watch it sometime.” He hits the bar for another round and Nessie slides another shot over.

  She hands me a shot of water with a wink. I smile as Neon clinks his shot to mine spilling a little over the edge.

  “Shit! Don’t spill any. Waste not, want not.”

  He licks the drops on his fingers, somehow the move looks incredibly sexy, then tosses the shot down the hatch. My stomach swirls in sadness as I swallow back the water feeling like a damn fraud.

  Here goes nothing.

  “So, I feel like we should get to know each other a little better,” I tell him.

  His eyes widen, though glassy, and he blinks. “I like this idea, what do you have in mind.” He waggles his eyebrows, wrapping his arm around my shoulder suggestively.

  I let out a small laugh. “Not that. Though that is always great with yo—”

  “Fuck yeah, it is!”

  I snort. Drunk Neon is a fun Neon. I’ll remember that if he ever talks to me again after I betray his trust and turn his secrets in to his backstabbing shithead of a sister. “I was thinking more along the lines of secrets.”

  “Oh, I got plenty of those.”

  Trying not to give myself away, I continue, “I’ll tell you one of mine if you tell me one of yours?”

  “I’m game.”

  “Okay, I’ll go first. At the track one day, Slick worked on Dan’s car. He had a folder sitting on his display table that had a breakdown of all the racers E.T.s, miles per hour… basically a real cheat’s spreadsheet on the opposition. I saw it and stole it. We used it for that season.”

  Neon grins so fucking wide it’s like his face is going to explode. “I remember Slick ranting that some asshole stole his spreadsheets. We all laughed at him. Fucking hell, I can’t believe that was you.” His infectious laughter makes me narrow my eyes on him just in case.

  “You can’t tell him!”

  Neon chuckles. “Nah, secret’s safe with me. But fuck, that’s funny. I wish I could have seen Slick’s face.”

  “I felt like a sleuth grabbing them off his table, then running away with them. I was never game to do it again, but then again, he never put his spreadsheet out where anyone could take it.”

  “Nope, they’re locked up tighter than his balls.”

  I snort. “Your turn… tell me something juicy.” I grit my teeth together to stop myself from telling him not to.

  “Once, I got so drunk I blacked out for an entire twenty-four hours. I have no clue what happened to me. The guys still dig at me about it, say I did some wild shit that night, but they won’t tell me what I did.”

  I groan. “That’s pathetic. I tell you I basically stole classified documents and pretty much won the series based off someone else’s research, and you tell me about a drunken blackout? You can do better…. much better than that!”

  “’Kay, fine! I probably shouldn’t tell you this…” please don’t, “… but I’m a crazy good hacker. I did some epic shit a while back, and it saved the club from a sticky situation and put an asshole in jail.”

  I widen my eyes. “Now we’re talking. When you say did some epic shit, what does that mean exactly?”

  He grabs the tequila bottle, drinking straight from it, then he lets out a long exhale. “I created a smear campaign for this hot-shot tycoon which put him in jail. He eventually broke out. though, then came after the club to seek his vengeance. We killed him and got rid of the body.”

  My eyes open wide as my heart rapid fires in my chest.

  Jesus Christ. I am guessing this is precisely what Anna needs.

  Now that I have it, I don’t know what to do with it.

  Neon’s eyes widen as he stiffens his posture. “Shit! Goddammit! I shouldn’t have said any of that. Even though the guy’s gone, it could do massive damage if anyone outside the club knew this shit. You can’t tell a single soul, Oakley.”

  The sheer desperation in his eyes kills me.

  Holding back the tears, I nod my head.

  “I promise.”

  I’m going straight to hell.

  The Next Morning

  Last night rates as a complete disaster.

  I hoped my mission to get Neon wasted and for him to give me something would fail. It didn’t. He gave me something big, and now I have to tell Anna or my father pays the consequences. Sitting at the table with my breakfast in front of me, I prod at my eggs barely eating them as Neon nurses his sore head.

  “How are you not hungover this morning? My head is fucking killing me.”

  “I drank a lot of water before bed,” I lie.

  He rests his head on the table with a groan as Anna strides in behind him. Her eyes focus on me as she walks outside with a purposeful step. I know she wants me to follow her.

  So, exhaling sharply as she exits the clubhouse, I place down my fork and stand. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Neon doesn’t even peer up from the table, just moans in what sounds like nausea. Poor guy. I rush outside. Anna’s nowhere to be seen, so I dart around the side of the building where she pinned me into a corner yesterday. Just as I thought, she’s there.

  Expectant.

  Waiting.

  Like a snake ready to pounce on its victim.

  Her eyes widen, her arms fold over her chest as I approach. “I see you made a mess of Neon last night.”

  I huff. “He’s not going to open up without a little liquid encouragement, Anna.”

  She rolls her shoulders. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

  “Me? You’re the one turning your back on your own damn family.”

  “Ha! What would you know? He turned his back on me. He’s made that incredibly clear.”

  I sink in on myself. “He’s just trying to help you, Anna. It’s not too late to stop all this. Help Neon. Help me. Help yourself!”

  “It’s too late for that. The wheels are in motion. I need this information, or your father pays the price. So, you choose, Oakley, who’s it going to be?”

  My bottom lip trembles. “Neon said he created and ran a smear campaign on some rich tycoon. The club got the tycoon arrested then when he escaped and attacked the club, they’re the ones who ended him.”

  Anna lets out a small laugh. “I should have known Neon was behind that smear campaign, it had his flair all over it. That many media outlets getting the information all at once from untraceable accounts… of course, it was him.”

  My stomach rolls in disgust at myself for telling her, for betraying Neon. I can’t believe I told her any of that.

  But I’m doing it for my father.

  What choice do I have?

  But Anna still has a choice.

  “If you love Neon, you won’t ruin him with this.”

  Anna scoffs. “I’m not the one who ruined him, sweetheart, you just did. I’ll let you know when your father is free. Until then, we won’t speak of this again.” Anna walks off.

  My chest squeezes as the tears run freely down my face.

  What the hell have I just done?

  OAKLEY

  Guilt weighs on me heavily. After moping about the entire day, I’m sitting at the bar. Not to drink but contemplate the chaos I’ve brought down on Neon, and he doesn’t even know it yet. I have no idea how to stop myself from falling into a black pool of my own damn despair. Not that I don’t deserve any of it.

  Suddenly, a stool slides out beside me. To my right, Texas waggles his brows at me. I let out a small laugh at his happy demeanor, focusing my attention on him. “Hi?” I question.

  “So, remember you promised me something?”

  “I did?”

  Texas’ eyes narrow on me. “A ride in a certain hotted-up four-wheeled shiny beast box.”

  I giggle. “Beast box?”

  “Just roll with it.” Texas waves his hand throug
h the air dismissively.

  I giggle feeling lighter somehow. Texas seems to have that effect on me.

  “You want to go for a ride in my Camaro?”

  “Nope, I wanna drive your Camaro.”

  I cringe. “You think you can handle a 396 cubic inch big block?”

  He scoffs. “You do know why they call me Texas, don’t you?”

  “Because you’re the only original member of the club not from Texas?”

  “Ha! Nope, because as the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas, baby, so I can handle a measly 396 inches.” He winks at me.

  I roll my eyes. “Oh geez, that’s the lamest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “You want me to show you the proof?” He grabs at his waistband and starts pulling.

  I avert my eyes with a hefty giggle, shoving his shoulder. “No, fuck. Stop. Oh my God, you’re so full of yourself…” He lets out a booming laugh. “Okay, c’mon, let’s go. But if you so much as put a dent in the tread of those tires, I will make sure the size of your state seal is cut in half. You feeling me?”

  He stands with a pep in his step. “I’ll even fill her back up with gas once we’re done.”

  Handing him the keys with a smirk, he takes them from me as we walk outside to the car. He bounces with every step he takes like a little kid on Christmas. I have to admit, this was the pick-me- up I needed to get my mind off my deception.

  I slide into the passenger seat. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever been in the passenger seat of my Camaro, so this is all-new territory for me.

  Texas starts it up, revving her a few times to get a feel, the entire car rumbling and vibrating with the sheer size of the engine.

  “You wanna ease on the gas. She sticks a little sometimes,” I tell him.

  “Got it. Don’t worry, Oakley. I’m a great driver. Think of me as Vin Diesel and you as Michelle Rodriguez.”

  “Dom and Letty, hey?”

  “Exactly!”

  “They were a couple… you hitting on me, Texas?”

  He chuckles, putting the car in reverse. “Hell, no. I just mean they both kicked ass at driving, that’s all. You’re Neon’s chick, and I don’t go after my brother’s pieces of ass.”