by Erin Trejo
“Not lettin’ that rest until you get them all, yeah?” He knows me. I’m my own worst enemy.
“Damn right. Rit thought he was doin’ somethin’ takin’ over that shit but he threw himself into somethin’ personal to me. He wants to ride that storm out with his boys, I’m all for it.” I hear Torch laugh as he walks out of the garage. I hear the door close but I figured it was just from Torch going out so I don’t turn to look.
“Always in this damn garage. What is with you?” Bella drops down to take the spot Torch just left.
“You women make us fuckin’ crazy in there.” Bella slaps my arm before laying her head on my shoulder.
“You ever just get tired of life Ryker?” I know what she’s getting at, and I don’t really want to go there with her right now.
“I used to. Not since I’ve found somethin’ to live for though.” Kissing her forehead, I hear someone suck in a breath behind us. We both turn to see Jersey standing there.
“Come join the party.” Turning back to the bike I’ve been trying to fix for the last hour, she doesn’t come sit.
“Ryker.” Bella whispers before I turn to look at her. The startled look on her face has me following her gaze to Jersey.
“What the fuck are you doin’?” Jumping at the same time as Bella, I push her behind me. Jersey stands there with tears streaming down her face, and my gun in her hand.
“How long?” Her words mean nothing. I have no clue what the hell she’s talking about.
“How long what? What the hell is wrong with you?” Taking a step toward her, she shakes her head.
“How long have you been fucking her?” Screaming louder, I almost laugh. Looking over my shoulder, at Bella she looks amused. I shake my head as I turn back to Jersey.
“Have you lost your Goddamn mind woman? I’m not fuckin’ her!” Taking another step toward her, I watch as a new fire blazes in her eyes.
“Don’t you fucking come near me.”
“What are you gonna do? Shoot me?” Taking another step, the gun goes off. Bella screams as Jersey drops the gun to the floor of the garage. I rush in grabbing her around the waist, pressing her against the wall. The side door flies open as the guys all file in with their guns drawn. I bet that little show scared the piss out of them!
“What the fuck?” Creed looks around before I nod at Bella.
“You ok?” She nods her head before she moves to wrap her arms around Creed.
“Take her inside. I got this.” Creed nods before he takes Bella from the garage. The rest of the guys look confused as they file out behind him. My attention drifts back to the girl that just fucking shot me in the arm.
“What the hell was that shit, Jersey?” Taking a step back her eyes land on my arm before she loses it again. Sobs choke her from the inside out. I look over at my arm before I look back at her.
“Flesh wound. It’s fine.” Shaking her head, she slides to the floor in a heap of tears. I don’t know what to do here. How the fuck do I respond to this shit?
“You’re always with her. She’s always hanging off you. I know I’ve changed since I’ve had Ansley. I don’t look like I did when we first met.” Jersey curls into a ball before I reach for her.
“She’s sick Jersey. She didn’t want anyone to know. She told me in fuckin’ confidence. She’s a good kid, but that’s all she is to me. She’s family for fucks sake!” Jersey’s head comes up as her eyes rest on mine.
“She’s sick? What’s wrong with her?” Shaking my head, I stand up and run my hand through my hair.
“She has cancer Jersey. She’s dyin’.” With that, I walk out of the garage leaving her to contemplate the news I just gave her.
Chapter 15
Tank
Doc’s checking Heather, and there seems to be a line of women that need his services tonight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen shit get as crazy around here as it is right now.
“You sure you’re ok?” Grabbing Bella one more time, I drag her against me.
“I’m fine dad. I just hope Jersey’s ok.” Nodding my head, I get why she lost it. Shooting at people though? I didn’t think the girl had it in her.
“She will be. Havin’ kids can mess with your hormones and shit. She’ll be alright.” Bella nods as I let her go. I watch as she wraps her arms around Joey’s waist.
“He isn’t so bad is he?” Cher startles me slightly. Looking down at her, I smile.
“Thank God you haven’t lost your damn mind too!” Cher laughs before she hugs me.
“I don’t think I could. There needs to be at least one sane person in this place.” Kissing the top her head, I have to agree.
“That’s true. Those girls will need you, if you’re up to it.” As if that was even a question, she nudges me.
“I love these girls. I’ll do anything for them.” She always brings a smile to my face. She never ceases to amaze me either.
“We’re taking that ride to the lake, yeah? Before we can go, there’s another run that I signed up for. We need to help out Griff’s boys.” Cher looks up at me not at all happy about it, but she understands.
“I wish I could have met him.” Sighing, I wish the same thing.
“Me too darlin’. I need to go get ready. “Cher pushes up on her toes to kiss me quickly.
“I’ll pack it. Go see Griff and Bella before you go.” Damn, how did I get so fucking lucky with her? I watch her walk down the hallway, my eyes traveling over her body. Cher amazes me every day that I have with her. She’s the best thing that’s happened to me aside from my kids.
“You on the run?” Torch walks up next to me with a shit eating grin on his face.
“Oh fuck. I’m stuck with you?” Glaring over at him he laughs and nods. Crazy fucker.
“Damn right. You know you gotta roll with the best brother.” Shaking my head, he’s lost his damn mind.
“You’re crazier than the fuckin’ devil. How the hell is that good?” Heading toward the bar he laughs behind me.
“Oh Tank. You know you love me brother!” I flip him my middle finger as I walk. He’s really one crazy shit.
“Hey Tank. Can I talk to you a minute?” Joey side steps me as I walk.
“If you have to.” As thankful as I am for Joey taking a bullet for Bella, I still don’t like this dating thing.
“Has she talked to you? I mean, she won’t talk to me. She looks like shit. She barely eats anything.” Scrubbing my hand over my face, I look over at him.
“She doesn’t say shit. I don’t know Joey. I see it too, but Cher thinks she’s just growin’ up.” Joey looks concerned which in turn makes me a little more uneasy. I don’t like the looks of Bella either, but if everyone else is noticing it there has to be something going on.
“I don’t know Tank. She hardly sleeps at night. I hear her in the bathroom. She’s always sick.” Cutting my eyes at him, that’s some information I didn’t need to hear coming from him.
“You get my daughter pregnant?” Hell, that’s the first thing that came to my mind.
“Hell no. We haven’t even.” Shaking my head, I throw my hand up. No need for him to go any further with that shit. I don’t need to know what him and Bella have, and have not done. Although, it is good to hear that she is being careful.
“Enough! Just see if you can get her to talk while we’re out.” With a nod, he walks away as I blow out a breath.
“What the hell was that?” Glancing over at Creed, I grunt.
“The boy was tellin’ me that he and Bella haven’t slept together.” Creed breaks into laughter before I elbow him.
“Wait till Heather grows up, you son of a bitch.” Creed laughs harder as I walk away to find Griff. Hell, I need some father son time, with all these damn females around here.
Chapter 16
Creed
“Joey! Let’s ride.” Yelling at the little shit to come on just annoys me further. I don’t like the fact that I have to take him with me. I should have sent his ass with Tank.
“Why are yo
u yellin’?” He walks over with a grin on his face. I can’t say that I hate the boy these days because I really don’t. He kind of grows on you. At first, he was a little punk, but now he seems somewhat valuable to the club.
“We need to take a ride over to the Spawn’s.” Joey looks at me confused, since Tank just left to go help them out.
“Clubhouse. Tank’s runnin’ with their northern chapter on some shit. We need to make sure that they have everything covered on their end at home. Shit’s been off over there since their Pres. died.” With a quick nod, he heads for the door.
“You leaving?” Jada wraps her arms around me before I kiss her head.
“I’ll be back soon. This won’t take long. Heather’s got her medicine for her ear; Doc said she’ll be feelin’ better soon.” Jada nods her head before nuzzling her face into my side. I feel bad for her, I really do.
“Yeah, Doc is getting me something too. I’m sorry Creed. I’ve just not felt like myself in a while, and I took it out on you. It was all kinds of wrong.” Holding her a little tighter, I savor this moment. We don’t always have to see eye to eye, but I hate the fighting. I hate being angry and not being able to reach her.
“It’s fine darlin’. I told you. We’re fine. We’ll get past this too, just like everything else. Hey, can you talk to Jersey while I’m gone? I don’t know what kind of shit she was on out there in that garage, but she almost took Ryker’s ass out.” Jada smirks that sweet little look of hers before she nods.
“Ryker’s a dick. He probably pissed her off really good.” Jada laughs as she pulls back to look up at me.
“He can be, but shootin’ the fucker in our own garage ain’t gonna fly. If she needs help she needs to get it.” Jada’s face changes. She understands more than anyone else could.
“I know. I’ll talk to her. Be careful.” I lean in and kiss my woman roughly. Even though this is a fairly routine run, you can never be too sure. Anything can happen at any time, and all of our lives here are a picture of that.
“Go take care of my daughter.” Shivers roll over my body as the words leave my mouth. My daughter. I never thought I’d see the day that I’d have kids. I never thought I’d be alive that long.
Walking out of the clubhouse, the air has turned chilly. The wind blows and a new day has begun. It’s sad to think that at any time, any of us could be gone from this world. This world that we have built still holds so much pain, and grief.
We’ve been through a lot in our time as Angel’s. Making things take a turn down a different road hasn’t been easy, but we’re slowly doing it. If we can pull ourselves away from the illegal shit that flows through our veins, we may have a fighting chance at setting the future up for our kids.
“You ok? You look lost.” Looking over at Joey, I take a deep breath. He’s the next generation. He’s young. He is one of the ones that we need to make this shit work for. When our kids grow up, he’s one of the one’s that will show them the way.
“Ain’t we all lost brother? I was just thinkin’ about this club, these guys. We’ve come a long way. We still have a long way to go, but for now we’re makin’ it. You boys are the future of this club, and I sure as shit don’t want my kid to have to live the way we did. I want more for them brother.” With a smile, Joey nods his head.
“Look Creed. I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, mainly about Bella, but I want that brother. I want to be somethin’ those kids can look up to. I don’t want to be Sharp. If I can change anything for the better here, hell, I’m all for it.” Staring at him, I can see it in his eyes. He’s got to be one of the best guys we’ve brought in here.
“Let’s do it then brother.” Pulling my helmet on, I climb on my bike. Glad we had this little chat. Now, we need to see that everything is good with the Spawn’s.
Chapter 17
Ryker
My mind is a fucking mess. My old lady took a fucking shot at me! Hell, she did shoot me. How the hell does that play out? Jersey and Ansley mean the world to me, but I can’t deal with some trigger happy woman all the time. Jealous of Bella? Hell, I almost laughed in her face. Thank God, I didn’t do that. She may have really aimed that shit better. Following behind Tank and Torch, I’m lost inside of myself. The same place I told Torch not to hide in, yet I’m there.
“She’s had a rough time Ryker. Give it some time.” Tank slaps his hand on my shoulder yanking me back to reality. A reality I don’t want to be in right now.
“Fuck, Tank. She took a shot at me brother! Your kid was right there.” Seeing the look in his eyes, I know he is madder than he’s letting on about that shit.
“And you protected her. Look, shit has been rough on those girls. Look what they lived with brother. Hell, Jersey was fuckin’ traded out by her own goddamn parents. She needs reassurance. She needs to have that in place so she knows she is cared for, and loved.” Running my hand through my hair I thought that’s what I’ve been doing.
“How do I do that? I thought she already had all that. What the fuck more do I need to do?” Tank shrugs his shoulders as the Spawn’s all gather around.
“Can’t thank you guys enough for comin’ up here. Since Griff’s been gone, no one wants to take this club seriously. We lost out on over 7k this month alone.” Davey, one of the Spawn’s from the northern chapter speaks. He looks like hell. Shit, they all do.
“Who moved in?” All eyes come to rest on me before he speaks.
“Raven’s. Took up residence over at the shop on Willow. They’ve been runnin’ shit out of there since Griff died. They intercepted one of our shipments comin’ in from Cuba.” Shaking my head, that shit’s never good. Spawn’s have tried to go legit the same way we’ve been trying. It’s hard though, when your life revolved around guns and drugs for as long as we’ve been alive.
“So we roll on them. Run them out of there. Ravens were never about shit when I was Nomad.” Looking around I see the nods. Most of these guys know me from back then. I was all over when I was Nomad.
“I agree. They’re a small club. Shouldn’t take a whole lot to push them out. That’s Spawn’s territory, yeah?” Tank looks over at Davey as he nods.
“Has been for years. We don’t mess around that way much anymore with the new shit opened up. Hell, we didn’t even know they were there until our shipment was gone.” Shaking my head, I wonder what the hell the Ravens were even thinking. They never were a big club. They dabbled in little shit. Weed, hookers, things like that.
“We know how they got it?” Davey nods again.
“Picked up one of our old lady’s a while back. Beat the shit out of her until she talked. Problem was, she had her jaw wired shut and was on so many meds, she didn’t know what was real or not.” That sets a new fire off inside of me. I may be a crazy motherfucker, but after what I saw with Jersey, I don’t like hearing that shit. Tank’s hand lands on my shoulder drawing my attention to him. I can see the look in his eyes, he knows.
“I agree with Ryker. We move in on them. Let’s get them out of here, but first, I wanted to ask. Who’s your new President?” Looking around the room no one speaks. No one looks at the other, they all look down. I know it had to be hard losing their president, but surely they picked a new one.
“Oh, come the fuck on! You think Griff would have wanted you motherfuckers to be rollin’ around here without a president?” Tank loses his shit. I know he was close to Griff.
“No one measures up to him, brother.” One of the others guys speak before Tank looks ready to lose his shit.
“That’s pretty clear. No one will ever be Griff, but you need to have a president in place. How the fuck you want anyone around here to take you seriously if you don’t? I for one, ain’t rollin’ on shit, until this shit is settled.” Crossing my arms over my chest, Torch mimics my moves. It’s true. I’m not rolling up on another club without a President in place. That would make them, and us look weak.
“Vote on it. NOW!” Tank growls as their heads pop up.
“No
minate.” Looking around the room, they all look to Davey. Well, there it is.
“Who votes Davey as the new President?” I don’t give Tank the chance to speak as I look around the room. Hell, I have my own problems at home that I need to handle. This shit is for kids. We go around the room and the majority vote for him. Thank fuck that went quickly.
“There we go. Let’s fuckin’ roll Pres.” Slapping my hand against Davey’s chest, he nods as we all file out.
Chapter 18
Tank
It was hard being there. I know that wasn’t Griff’s clubhouse, but those were his guys. That chapter never had an individual president before. Griff always handled them too. He was good at it. He made his mark on this life. Davey is a good guy. Has a good heart, but I know his past. He’s a mean son of a bitch that doesn’t care to take a life if he feels threatened. I guess I understand why they haven’t moved on the Ravens. With no true president, it would have back fired on them. I was glad Ryker stepped up the way he did though. Ryker has a lot of courage in him. He also has a lot of the devil in there. Crazy as hell with a good heart has never been so dangerous.
“Look at that. Just kickin’ back with a beer like it’s the good old days.” Ryker leans against a tree as we scope out the area. We know they are a small club, but we don’t know if Ravens have intercepted more than just the Spawns drugs.
“Fuck that shit. It’s like football Friday in that motherfucker.” Torch chuckles next to Ryker. Glancing at the two of them, I don’t know how these motherfuckers are even alive. They have to be the sons of the devil himself.
“You two havin’ a good time? Want to go join them for a beer?” Sarcastic. I was being sarcastic. I guess I need to think about my choice of words with these two. The glance they just shared wasn’t a good one.
“Sounds about right.” Ryker and Torch both push off the tree they were leaning against, making their way toward the garage. I’m undecided on what to do here. Lie back, or follow these two fuckers up there. Motioning to a few of the Spawns including their new President, we head forward. I need to remind myself to kick their asses later. Assholes are acting like Creed right now.
