“Maybe we need to talk to the Royal Bastards. See if they can dig anything up,” Radar quietly suggested.
“No. I don’t want them brought in. Not yet. The cops are all over us like stink on shit after all this crap that’s happened lately. We don’t need to shine a spotlight on them or us by communicating with them. We keep everything in-house for now. Maybe after the dust settles, I’ll reach out to their prez. Until then, we need to stay sharp.” The last thing either club needed was to have the law trying to say we were in collusion or some shit.
“Agreed,” concurred Straight.
“Hey, Truth and Lock, Cale is going to be starting at the shop on Monday. I want you to show him the ropes and get him started on some simple things first like oil changes and shit.”
“Roger that,” they both agreed with matching grins.
“Anything else right now?” I asked.
“What about voting the hang-around in as a prospect?” Radar asked.
“How many days is he at?” I asked.
“Tomorrow will be ninety,” Styx offered.
“Close enough.” I shrugged. I raised a brow to see if anyone disagreed. No one seemed to want to argue.
“All in favor?” I asked. Everyone raised a hand.
“All against?” No one. I nodded. “Okay, we’ll let him know after we all have a beer.”
“Sounds fucking perfect.” Lock sighed.
“Anything else?”
“Nope,” Straight replied. “Unless one of y’all has something to add?”
Everyone shook their heads. It was a somber meeting, because we didn’t feel like we’d really gotten closure. Sure, we now knew who’d attacked Check, and we were pretty sure where the order came from. But there was still some asshole out there.
“Then that’s it, let’s go have a fucking drink,” I announced.
“I second that,” said Straight.
“Amen,” one of the other brothers muttered.
We filed out of the chapel, each of us grabbing our phones from the basket. Nova stood and walked over to me, throwing her arms around me.
“Hey, handsome,” she said with a grin.
The corner of my mouth curled up, and I looped my arms around her to palm her ass. “Where? I’ll kick his ass,” I joked.
“Ha, ha. Very funny.” She pinched me, her cute little nose wrinkling.
“Where’s Mattie?” I asked as I glanced around. Several of the brothers were up at the bar, and Drew was serving them. Worries temporarily forgotten, they all yelled for me to get over there to do a shot with them.
“I think she said she was going out back to lie in the hammock for a bit,” Nova said. I was a little worried about her. She’d been pretty good after the incident at the cemetery, but after Nova was stabbed, she’d been really shook up.
Arm in arm, we made our way to the bar, where Straight handed me a shot. We all raised our glasses.
“To Check,” said Truth.
“To Check,” everyone replied. Simultaneously, we all downed the smooth-as-silk whiskey, then slammed the glasses to the bar.
“I’m gonna go see how Mattie is,” I told Nova before I hooked a hand around the back of her neck and kissed her deeply.
“Get a room!” yelled Truth. Everyone else joined in on razzing us, and I flipped them all off with a grin.
“I’ll be right back. You be okay?” I asked her. My hand caressed the soft skin on the back of her neck and played with the underside of her hair.
“Of course.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me quickly. I returned it and headed for the back door.
When I stepped out into the warm night, I stared up at the stars for a moment. I wondered how many of them were my fallen brothers looking down on me. Swallowing hard, I let my eyes acclimate to the dark yard and caught a whiff of the skunky scent of weed.
Nostrils flaring, I gritted my teeth. She better not be.
The pungent scent only got stronger as I silently moved closer to the trees. When I was within two feet of the head of the lightly swinging hammock, I growled, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
She jumped upright, sending the hammock swinging wildly. “Dad!”
“Give me that shit!” I demanded. Jesus fucking Christ, my kid was smoking weed. “After nearly overdosing yourself on shit, you didn’t learn?”
She sighed, then rolled her eyes.
“I saw that.” My eyes had adjusted to the dim light, and I caught her every movement.
“Dad, its only weed. I learned my lesson with the other crap. I promise. Besides, I know you smoke,” she grumbled.
“Not that often,” I argued. “And I’m a grown man, not a kid.”
“Whatever, Dad,” she replied.
“Move over,” I said and climbed onto the hammock with her. It was no easy task, as it moved and I was holding the joint in my hand. Once I was settled, I took a fat toke of the joint.
“Really?” she asked dryly.
“Yeah, really. One day when you have a teenager, I’ll sit and smoke with you too.” I took another drag. “Fuck, this is good shit. Where the hell did you get this?” I asked her with a frown.
“Truth,” she grudgingly admitted.
“I’m going to kick his fucking ass. He’ll be lucky if he’s not hospitalized,” I shouted as I started to get up. Except the shot, the hits I’d taken, and the swinging hammock had me staying put.
“Relax, he doesn’t know. I stole it from him.” She shrugged.
Growling in irritation, I knew I should be pissed and punish her, but I didn’t have it in me. Instead I lay there with her, listening to the crickets and the occasional passing of a car from the highway.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” I finally asked her after a few more tokes.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? You’ve been off since the shit with Nova. Do you need me to set up something for you?” I asked her.
“Like a shrink? No. No way.” She was stubborn. Nova had already offered to get a referral for a good adolescent counselor from hers. She’d been to see someone a couple of times since Deacon had tried to abduct her and she’d shot him.
“Then do you want to talk about it? Are you upset because I asked her to marry me? I should’ve discussed it with you first, but I was… well, a little emotional after what happened.” I’d felt like shit after I’d realized I’d left her out of the decision that affected her as well.
“Hell, no! I love her and so do you. I want you to be happy too. I know she makes you happy. I’ll be leaving for college in a couple of years. I don’t want you to be alone.” The edge of my mouth quirked up at my sensitive young daughter.
“Thanks, sweetheart. I’m really glad you like her.” We rocked in silence for a while.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you ever regret Mom getting pregnant?”
I sat up and looked at her in shock. My head spun a little thanks to the languid feeling and the rapid movement.
“Why the hell would you ask that?”
“Well, because you are always so worried about me having sex. You think if I have sex it means I’m gonna get pregnant, and you act like it’s the worst thing in the world.”
I groaned. “Are you sexually active?” I asked with trepidation, not really wanting to hear the answer.
“Dad! I don’t want to talk about sex with you!”
“Well, too bad. I should’ve had the talk with you before this.”
“I’ve had Sex Ed, you know. You signed off on the forms.”
I turned to her with narrowed eyes. “Are you rolling your eyes at me?”
“Dad, answer the question.”
Rubbing my forehead, I took another hit because I really needed it. I sighed.
“Mattie, your mom and I were too young to be doing what we were doing, but we thought we were invincible. When she found out she was pregnant, she was barely older than you. It’s why I joined the army as soon as I graduated
. She didn’t even graduate, because we got married and left for Ft. Bliss as soon as I had orders in hand. We struggled. Money was tight, we argued over stupid shit, and she was homesick. But you know what? The second you came out and were laid in our arms, we fell in love with you. We never once thought of you as a mistake. Was it piss-poor timing in life? Yeah. But neither of us would’ve changed things if we’d had the choice. As parents, we want more for our kids than we had. We didn’t want you to have the struggles we did. We want you to enjoy your life and those experiences before you have the wonderful experience of motherhood that comes with a lot of responsibilities. But someday, you’re going to be an amazing mother. Just don’t rush it.” After that spiel, I took a deep breath, finished the joint, and stubbed it out on the bottom of my boot.
“I get it, Dad. Thanks.” She laid her head on my chest and wrapped her small arm around me. My arm curled around her, and I enjoyed the moment that rarely happened anymore. Fuck, I missed her being little.
“Hey, Mattie?”
“Yeah?”
“How do you feel about having a little brother or sister?”
Her head flew up, and her eyes bugged. “Is Nova pregnant?”
“Well, not yet. At least I don’t think so. But she really wants a baby. I think I might be okay with that,” I hedged and chewed on the inside of my lip.
A huge grin spread across her face. “Oh my God, Dad. Yes! Oooohhhh, a little baby to snuggle that I don’t have to raise? That would be awesome.”
I chuckled. “Maybe it will be good birth control for you. All that crying in the night and all.”
She swatted me playfully. “Dad, you’re too much.” Then she sobered. “I miss Check.”
“I know, baby, we all do.”
“I thought I was in love with him, you know. I had this crazy notion that when I grew up, he’d realize he loved me too,” she admitted before she wistfully sighed.
I groaned. “I could’ve lived without that admission. But I understand. Promise me you won’t rush things with a boy? Get your education first. Get yourself established, then worry about a family. Okay?”
“I make no promises, as we never know what life may bring us, but I’ll take your suggestions under advisement,” she said in an incredibly scholarly tone.
Laughter erupted from me. “How did you get so smart?” I asked with a grin.
“People say I’m a lot like my dad,” she said nonchalantly with a shrug.
“You ready to go inside?” I carefully extricated myself from the moving hammock.
“Yeah. How about we take Nova home and you work on that baby brother or sister for me?” She gave me a cheesy grin, and my face heated.
“Jesus, kid.”
She laughed, and I helped her from the hammock. Hand in hand, we walked back into the clubhouse where music was blaring from the speakers and drinks were flowing.
I didn’t want to admit it, but I was high as fuck. Truth always did have some good shit. Then again, it was ours that we got out of Colorado. We got premium dollar for it for a reason.
“I think Nova will be driving home,” I muttered.
Mattie laughed her ass off and hugged me. “Once I get my license, I can drive.”
“Hell, nah. You aren’t gonna be your old man’s DD. That’s fucked up.”
Nova saw us and smiled as she drank from a bottle of water. I think she suspected she’d be my DD after tonight.
We reminisced with the brothers for a bit until I couldn’t stand how hot my fiancée was and I growled in her ear, “Take me home.”
She looked over her shoulder with a sexy tip of her plush lips. “I thought you’d never ask.”
2 Years Later…
“I’m going to cut your balls off and feed them to you!” My wife was terrifying me. The tendons were straining on her neck, and her teeth were bared. I was afraid she might turn inside out any minute.
Trying not to flinch from her, I held her hand. “I’m so sorry, baby. We don’t have to have any more.”
After the contraction ended, she fell back. “Oh my God, I can’t do this. I changed my mind. Tell the doctor I said we need to come back tomorrow.”
The nurses and I looked at each other like none of us wanted to say anything. Instead, I gave her some ice chips, the only thing that soothed her, and kissed her sweaty hair. Not that I gave a shit.
“I love you. You are the most amazing woman I have ever met. I’m so fucking proud of you right now. And I promise to have a vasectomy as soon as we can schedule it.” I blinked at her and held my breath.
“Okay,” she sighed, and gazed at me in relief. One of the nurses coughed to cover a laugh, and I prayed Nova didn’t hear her.
When she’d had our daughter a year ago, it had gone without a hitch. She’d popped her out like it was nothing. So when she’d ended up pregnant when Josephine was barely three months old, she was elated. Except it had quickly gone downhill.
She’d been sick every day of her pregnancy. Granted, it was only in the mornings and it usually cleared up, but nothing held it at bay. No home remedies, old wives’ tales, clinical suggestions, nothing.
Now her delivery was like she was birthing a fifty-pound baby sumo wrestler.
Or maybe a demon. I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure.
Another contraction hit, and she curled forward and started to bear down. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she strained with a grunt.
“Come on, Mom, you got this. Remember? You’re a beast. Now, come on, I’m ready to see my baby brother.” Mattie held her other hand and encouraged Nova.
“We have a head!” the doctor announced, and they started suctioning his nose immediately. I took a glance down, and my heart exploded. Call me crazy, but as the doctor turned my son, I swear he looked right at me.
“Oh, he’s an old soul, son,” my mom said as she squeezed my arm. “Nova. He’s almost here. He’s so beautiful.”
Nova gave a tired smile.
The next contraction brought our son into the world.
“It’s a boy!” Everyone cheered. And we had a roomful. Me, my parents, Nova’s parents, Mattie. Not to mention all my brothers and their families out in the waiting room. Joey was with them, and even though she didn’t really know what was going on, she had a glittery pink shirt on that said she was a big sister.
Nova held our son to her chest first, then she handed him to me. “He’s huge!” I said as I tried to hold him like I had the girls and failed. He filled my arms.
“Well, a nearly ten-pound baby will do that,” said the nurse with raised brows as she looked over my shoulder, then finished whatever shit she needed to do with Nova.
“Like I said, you’re a beast,” said Mattie with huge eyes.
Everyone laughed.
I kissed my baby boy and couldn’t believe how amazing that moment was. It was something that at one time I’d honestly never thought I’d experience again.
Then Nova had barreled into my life like a runaway freight train, asking me to give her a baby. I looked down at my beautiful son, then at Mattie, who’d gone out and returned with an excited Joey.
Who the hell would’ve thought I’d end up giving her three?
The End
Demented Sons Series—Iowa
Colton’s Salvation
Mason’s Resolution
Erik’s Absolution
Kayde’s Temptation
Straight Wicked Series
Make Music With Me
Snare My Heart
No Treble Allowed
String Me Up
Demented Sons Series—Texas
Lock and Load
Styx and Stones
Smoke and Mirrors
I hope you loved Smoke! I’m now working on a character’s book that I didn’t even plan on writing. Stay tuned for updates!
Kristine’s Street Team! Here’s your shout out! Y’all mother-freaking rock! Especially my top promoters, Whynter Raven and Stracey Ishwar. You ladies go above and beyond f
or my books and I love you to pieces for it.
To the authors who have taken time out of their days to answer questions and offer support—you are AMAZING! While this can be a cutthroat world, I’ve been blessed to have some of the most down-to-earth and good-hearted people enter my circle.
Olivia, as always, you are amazing. Even though you’ve ruined reading for me, I love you to pieces! Thank you for taking my words and polishing them until they shine. My books wouldn’t be what they are by the time they hit the readers’ hands without you!
Penny. Thank you for always believing in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. <3 Every time I tell you how good my books are doing and you tell me you’re not surprised, I want to cry. Your faith in me is humbling.
Lisa and Brenda, y’all are the bomb and I cannot thank you enough for your support, advice, and friendship. 2020 Book Signing Events, here we come!
Clarise Tan, once again, you’ve created a masterpiece! All I have to do is describe what my vision is, and you make it happen. With the help of Albert Martinez’s fantastic image of Mike, we made magic. Mike, thank you for trusting me with your image for this cover! It seems like a million years since I asked if I could use the pic you posted on a cover. I think you half thought I was nuts. ☺
Stacey of Champagne Book Designs, I stand by my assessment—you are a goddess. You make my books stunning once the reader cracks the pages. Every single time, you amaze me with your beautiful formatting. Thanks bunches, and one day we’re having champagne on the beach!
Ladies of Kristine’s Krazy Fangirls, you guys are a riot! I thank you for your comments, your support, and your love of books. Come join us if you’re not part of the group www.facebook.com/groups/kristineskrazyfangirls
As I often do, I have found a way to spin the military into the storyline. I feel compelled to do this often because the military has had such a huge impact on my life. From being a military brat to a military spouse and working as a nurse in the military system. With that being said, my last-but-never-least is a massive thank you to America’s servicemen and women who protect our freedom on a daily basis. They do their duty, leaving their families for weeks, months, and years at a time, without asking for praise or thanks. I would also like to remind the readers that not all combat injuries are visible, nor do they heal easily. These silent, wicked injuries wreak havoc on their minds and hearts while we go about our days completely oblivious. Thank you all for your service.
Smoke and Mirrors: A Demented Sons MC Texas Novel Page 23
