Shaking his head derisively, Sarge snort,
“And before you ask me if I knew all that, then why did I have a kid with her, I’ll tell you that I hadn’t planned on it.”
“Men never do,” I scoff. “Unless you’re whipped like Boss, Fury, Cash and the rest of those fuckers that is.” “Yeah, but what you don’t get is that those boys have it made,” he grins. And I can’t say I disagree. My brother and the rest of the MC who have claimed women of their own couldn’t be happier. In the past, they didn’t have anyone to answer to, could go and do whatever and whoever they wanted without giving it a second thought, and often did. But all of that changed when they hooked up with their women.
Beth, Avery, Aislinn, Kennedy, and even, Blaine don’t keep their men on a leash, but then, they don’t have to. Their men willingly go home every night to their families. I envy that, but at the same time, I’m pleased as fuck they have a reason to rush home.
“They have women by their sides with backbones of steel, son. Those women don’t know the meaning of the words back down. All of them have been through hell and made it out the other side, which is why they can handle the men they ended up with. Your woman on the other hand…” Sarge’s voice trails off as if he’s weighing his next words carefully. “She’s softer than they are.”
Just as I go to defend Mia, Sarge waves me off. “I’m not saying she’s weak or fragile, Jump, just softer. That woman is sweet to the core. There’s not a mean bone in her body, and after what she’s been through, that surprises the fuck out of me.”
I know very little about what brought Mia to Furnace. The few times we were alone together, we didn’t do a hell of a lot of talking, which is something I deeply regret. Especially now. Now that she barely looks my way and refuses to talk to me at all, I find myself desperate for any tiny scrap of information about Mia’s life. Where she grew up. Her family. Why she wanted to leave Phoenix and start over. I want to know it all, and I have the sneaking suspicion, Sarge is the key.
“And what would you know about that?” I ask, phrasing it in such a way that it sounds like I’m already aware of Mia’s situation.
“For a smart kid, you can be a fucking idiot sometimes, son,” Sarge states bluntly. “I’m not telling you shit. It’s up to Mia if she wants to share that part of her life with you, but I’ll give you this one for free. You’d have to be blind, dumb, and stupid not to see that girl has pain in her past. Pain that isn’t healed by distance or time. Mia isn’t your average woman, son, but I suspect you already know that.”
Again, Sarge isn’t telling me anything I don’t already know. Mia has not, and never will be an average woman. She’s so much more than that and not only to me; everyone who meets Mia falls in love with her instantly. It’s impossible not to when you’re faced with an angel.
“A word of warning, though, son,” Sarge mutters gruffly. “You think long and hard about claiming that girl. I’m not talking about your less than conventional lifestyle, either.”
Growling low in the back of my throat, Sarge straightens in his chair and turns to face me. He can see how pissed I am, but he doesn’t let that stop him.
“Relax, Jump. I’ve known probably longer than you have that your preferences run to multiple partners. Knew about Austin too. I couldn’t give the first fuck if you want them both, all I give a damn about is Mia not getting caught in the crossfire while you work out what you really want. She doesn’t deserve the kind of pain that would come from one man breaking her heart, let alone two.”
I can’t say I’m shocked. I always figured out of everyone that Sarge would be the one to put together the pieces eventually.
“You think I don’t know that? You think I wouldn’t walk away if I could?” I hiss defensively. “I’ve done everything short of getting on my bike and getting the fuck out of dodge to forget about her and let her move on with her life, but I can’t. She’s buried so deep under my skin, that nothing I do works.”
“Wouldn’t expect it to,” Sarge nods. “It’s clear to anyone who looks at the two of you that she loves you and you love her; the only question is how much do you love her?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I snap. “You know damn well I’d lay down my life for her. I’d do fucking anything to make sure Mia never experienced another second, let alone minute of pain. I see her cry and my heart fucking breaks, and that’s just when they’re happy tears. How the fuck do you think I felt when I saw her cry out in pain as they lifted her off the stretcher? I was fucking gutted. I literally lost my shit. If it weren’t for Cash holding me back, I would’ve torn those paramedics heads off.”
“Yeah, so what are you going to do about it? Sit here and tell an old man how you feel, or are you going to finally man up and talk to the person who deserves to hear this shit?” Sarge smirks.
“Fuck you, old man.” Sarge chuckles at my indignation.
“And fuck you right back. I’ve been waiting for you to pull your head out of your ass and realize she was worth fighting for, just didn’t think it would take you this long. I’ll be honest, I was starting to lose faith in you, son.”
“Jesus,” I exhale on a frustrated hiss. “There’s never been any doubt in my mind Mia is worth the fight. I’d take on a million motherfuckers who dare to question how I feel about her, but I don’t want that for her. Mia deserves easy and gentle – a life that isn’t filled with judgmental fucks who can’t mind their own business. I don’t have the first fucking clue how to give that to her.”
“No,” Sarge enquires, quirking his eyebrow at me. “You don’t, but I know someone who does and so do you. And lucky for you, he just happens to have a vested interest in Mia and her well-being. As a matter of fact, if you were to ask him, I think you’d be surprised just how much he cares about the pair of you.”
Dragging in a deep breath through my nose, I seethe, “When?”
Sarge doesn’t bother to play games. He knows what I’m asking and doesn’t hesitate to answer me.
“About a month ago. The boy came to me worried about why Mia was pulling away from him. He said they’d been seeing each other for a while and that everything had been great until all of a sudden, Mia just started retreating into herself. She wouldn’t answer his calls, didn’t reply to texts, and wouldn’t come to the door when he showed up at her place. At first, I couldn’t place him – it’s been years since I was in the same room as the kid – but it all started coming back to me when he told me his name.”
“Why the fuck would he come to you?”
“The only explanation I’ve got is that Mia must have said something to him about us being close,” Sarge guesses. Just knowing that Austin cares about my girl enough to approach Sarge has my hackles rising, and my skin prickling with unease.
Sure, it’s been years since we were together, but I know how Austin operates. He isn’t the type of guy to chase after a woman unless he intends to keep her, which explains why he’s still single. Until Mia, that is.
“What’s got your panties in a wad, son? Is it that he got in there first, or that you can’t bear to see her happy with someone that isn’t you?”
“Don’t,” I bark, my anger spiking to reach an all-time high. “I respect the hell out of you, so I’d hate to have to kill you, but if you talk about Mia like that again, then I won’t fucking hesitate to put you on your ass.”
“Just like I thought,” the crazy bastard shakes his head. “You’re so wrapped up in that girl, you hadn’t stopped to consider what that means for the two of you, not just in the short-term, Jump. I’m talking about months, years, decades from now. You can’t kill everyone for not agreeing with your lifestyle, and you can’t shield Mia from having to bear the brunt of some of their judgments. She’ll hear them talk, see the looks they give you both, and it will hurt her; you can be sure of that.”
“Well, fuck,” I groan dejectedly. “Got better things to do than sit here and educate your sorry ass all day, so I’ll leave you with this qu
estion, then I suggest you out of my house so I can go find my woman. She’s a damn sight better to look at than you any day of the week. Of all the ways this has played out in your head, have you ever once considered just being honest. Not only with Mia, but with the club, your brother, Austin, and ultimately, yourself? Accepting what you want and who you are doesn’t mean you’ve been truly honest with yourself. Honesty is telling Mia how you feel and what you want from her. And for that matter, Austin, too. When it comes to Cash and the club, tell them the truth, the whole truth, and then tell them to go fuck themselves if they’ve got a problem with it. This is your life, son. It’s time you started living it how you see fit, not for everyone else.”
CHAPTERTWELVE ~ Austin~
“Theonly way toreally feel safeat night is tosleep with a police officer.Feel free to call me anytime.”
–Austin solution to Mia’sinsomnia “Mia. Please sweetheart, if you don’t want to answer my calls, at least, text me and tell me you’re okay. Not knowing it fucking killing me, baby. I miss you, Mia and I want to tell you how much in person,” I sigh, hanging up after leaving what has to be the hundredth message I’ve left Mia. And that’s just this week.
My partner, Derek Anderson, sits down on the edge of my desk just as I set the phone down and looks at me with sympathy and understanding. After losing his wife seven months ago to cancer, Derek knows exactly how it feels to miss the woman you can’t live without.
“Still no luck with, Mia?” He asks.
“None. I won’t stop trying, though. Eventually, she’ll get sick of me calling and pick up the phone to tell me to fuck off or actually call me back, either way, I’ll get to talk to her which works for me,” I admit, running my hands through my hair.
“Or one of those fucking loser bikers she hangs with will show up and kick your ass,” Derek sneers distastefully. The way he refers to Vengeance MC has always pissed me off. Generally, Derek’s a good guy, but at times he’s as small-minded as they come, content to lump all MC’s in the same basket based on the shit that went down around here with the Hells riders a year and a half ago. Granted, that was a clusterfuck of epic proportions, but not all motorcycle clubs are one and the same. And to my knowledge, Vengeance is about as clean as they come these days.
Jackson ‘Boss’ Carr is only one of two legacy presidents that I know of that has successfully turned his club away from guns, drugs, prostitution, and money laundering, and lived to tell the tale. The other is Lucifer, President of the Satan’s Sons and all-around badass, scary motherfucker.
Marcus Givens, better known as, Lucifer hasn’t changed much from the time he took over the presidency from his father, Animal. He’s still a hard ass that has a long reach and is owed plenty of favors and isn’t the sort to play by the rules unless it benefits him. The man has about as many soft spots as a cement block, and wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger on someone who fucks with his club.
That being said, Lucifer and the rest of the Satan’s Sons while being far from upstanding citizens of the community, are as close to legit business men as a one percenter MC can possibly be. I won’t say they don’t skirt the edges of the law, but as long as they don’t cross it, their business will stay their own because I have no interest in digging into Lucifer’s past and exhuming skeletons better left buried.
When I began keeping tabs on Patrick, I learned about the loose connection between Vengeance and Devil’s Spawn MC. With more time and a lot of red tape, I pulled files on the key members of both MC’s and learned there was an even looser connection between Devil’s Spawn and Satan’s Sons. A personal one.
According to what I read, Arrow, the now Road Captain of Devil’s Spawn shares a son, Kellen, with Lucifer’s wife, Savannah. For all intents and purposes, the kid hasn’t seen his mom since the day she dropped him off with his father, never to be seen or heard from again. I’m relatively certain, Arrow would have kept tabs on her, but hasn’t initiated any form of contact.
Digging into it further, I learned Kellen was diagnosed with KPD, a kidney disease that can be fatal when left untreated, not long after Savannah left her son with his dad. At first, I asked myself what kind of fucking mother abandons her son when he’s sick and in need of medical treatment – in Kellen’s case, a kidney transplant. Thank fuck for Arrow’s then unrequited love, but now, wife, Veronica because if it wasn’t for her donating a kidney to, Kellen, he might not have survived.
My intense dislike for Savannah and her ability to leave and seemingly forget her sick child almost immediately evaporated after a surprisingly honest, if not somewhat shocking conversation with Lucifer. Instead of loathing and distaste, I left Lucifer with profound respect for the woman I had condemned before I had all the facts.
Savannah was dying. Lucifer’s expression when he told me about his wife’s condition and what she went through trying to battle a disease, effectively, destroying her body slowly, from the inside out was nothing short of pure devastation. It would have been obvious to anyone who looked at him, that Marcus Givens was very much in love with his wife, and her pain wasn’t only destroying her, but him too.
Forty years ago, at five years old, Savannah was after given the same diagnosis as her son, but with much bleaker odds of survival. She spent every minute afterward distancing herself from the people she loved, forcing them to hate her with a passion that would make her dying bearable, if not a relief. And she succeeded spectacularly.
Her twin sister, Veronica, Arrow’s wife, despised her sister. Devil’s Spawn MC would sooner see Savannah burn in hell than piss on her if she were on fire. And Kellen refused to acknowledge her even as his biological mother. Like me, they weren’t in possession of all the facts, but to hear Lucifer tell it, that wouldn’t have made a difference; to them, what Savannah did was reprehensible and would never be forgiven.
In the beginning, out of necessity more than desire, Lucifer and I worked out a way in which we’d be able to cohabitate in the same town. Basically, the rules were simple; whatever he did stayed under the radar, and I wouldn’t have to bust him or his club. That worked for us, or it did until our agreement met its end fourteen months ago, which is when Lucifer started filling the gaps in the information I’d managed to acquire.
What was supposed to be a routine call to help CPS check up on two children they’d placed in foster care the month before, turned out to be an urgent race to save Savannah’s life. A race that sadly, we wouldn’t win.
***** My first thought as I pulled my department issued vehicle up in front of the well-maintained house was that these kids were lucky. It wasn’t often that foster kids found themselves placed with families with these kind of resources.
The yard was tidy, fenced, and the garden beds were weeded and filled with flowers. The house was well maintained and freshly painted, and while not huge, it was certainly big enough to house the two children in question, and the only child of the foster mother and father that were caring for them.
Swinging my car door open, my feet had barely hit the pavement when I heard the shrill scream and then the thud. I didn’t think twice about turning and running toward where the sound came from. Nor did I realize the house I was running into until I was already kneeling beside Savannah with her head cradled limply in my lap.
I made every effort to try and wake her, but when after a few minutes nothing that I did was working, I placed her head gently on a cushion I’d grabbed off the sectional and called 9-1-1.
Quoting my name and badge number, dispatch told me the paramedics were five minutes from our location, which gave me a small measure of relief. Relief that dissipated the second I realized I would have to call Lucifer.
Dialing his number, I waited for the call to connect and prayed wherever he was that he’d get here in time. The last thing I wanted was to be the one to comfort Savannah in what could be her final hours, if not minutes. And not because I wouldn’t, but because I knew Lucifer would never forgive himself for not being her with her.
&nb
sp; “What?” He barked impatiently. “I’m in the middle of something important so make it quick.” “You need to get to Westerfield Memorial now. I’ll direct the paramedics to take Savannah there, and tell them you’ll be waiting for her,” I say not bothering with the details as Savannah’s body strings tight and begins to seize. “Shit,” I hiss, dropping my cell.
Turning her onto her side, I make sure Savannah’s airway is clear and that she won’t aspirate if she needs to be sick. Her skin is so fucking pale that I can see her veins clearly under her almost translucent flesh. Fuck me! How long has she been this bad? Knowing Lucifer, it couldn’t have been long, or he would have had around the clock care here for her when he couldn’t be.
Lucifer’s shouting snaps me into action. Picking up my cell, I relay,
“She’s not good, man. Not fucking good at all. How long’s she been having seizures for?”
His harsh breathing on the other end of the phone is all the answer I need. Lucifer didn’t have the first clue how sick his wife really was, no doubt Savannah had done an excellent job at hiding it from him.
Shaking my head sadly, I look down at the woman I know now isn’t going to see another day dawn.
“You need to call whoever you’ve got an amicable relationship inside Devil’s Spawn and get Kellen’s ass to the hospital. I don’t give a fuck if you have to finally tell him the truth to get them there, just do it. She’s hanging on, Luce, but for how long, I don’t know.”
“Fucking hell,” he rasps, his voice thick with emotion. “I’ve got no right to ask you this, but I’m going to anyway. Tell her that I love her, and I’ll be there soon.”
“Lucifer,” I growl, fighting back a wave of emotion of my own. “Please. Fuck, please just tell her. I’m getting on my bike now, so I’ll be there in twenty.” He doesn’t wait for me to respond, knowing that I could never deny him this.
Jump: Book 7 in the Vengeance MC series Page 11
