JD's Redemption

by Lauren Firminger

  Closing my eyes, I let myself relax. I could do this. I’d had worst days, I just needed to work out who the instigator of today was and deal with it. I had a feeling though that I wouldn’t have to look too far to find that out. The colossal pain in my ass would be the next one in here to bitch at me as I had been doing my best to avoid her all day. Hearing my phone go off on the desk in front me, I reached toward the sound of it and picked it up. Answering the call, I put the phone to my ear.

  “Ellie speaking.”

  “So, the slut has a name.” I opened my eyes and pulled my phone away to look at the number.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I have a message for your lover boy. Tell him to stay the fuck out of my business or I will make him sorry he ever crossed my path.”

  “Look, I don’t know who you are or what you are talking about, but I suggest you refrain from the threats.”

  “Oh, please, sweetheart. I know Jason has told you everything so don’t try and play for me as a fool. I know exactly why he is in Arizona right now and if he doesn’t stop what he is doing, I will make him sorry he ever tried. Can be a dangerous road he has to come back on. I would hate for anything to happen.” I hung up the phone and immediately pulled up Cameron’s number, hoping like hell that he wasn’t asleep right now.

  “Ellie? You okay?”

  “No! Please tell me that Jason isn’t doing something stupid in Arizona!”

  “Hey, calm down El. It’s okay, he isn’t being stupid. He is just following up a lead we were given about something.”

  “If it’s nothing then why is half the club with him?!”

  “That’s club business, I can’t answer that.”

  “No! You don’t get to do that. I just got a phone call threatening him. You don’t get to keep me in the dark right now, Cameron.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “I just got a phone call saying that if I didn’t tell Jason to back the fuck off from whatever it is he is doing, then something is going to happen to them on the ride home tomorrow. So, start talking or I will call him myself. I’m his Old Lady. I get to know when he might not come fucking home.” I heard him sigh on the other end of the phone. “Please, Cam, I am begging you. I have known you my whole life. Please don’t tell me that I am about to lose him now that I finally have him.”

  “I am not gonna lie to you right now, Ellie. Anytime one of us is on that bike, we run the risk of not coming home. I am sorry you are caught up in this though. I will pass on the message but please, don’t push this. JD will tell you everything when he gets back. I gotta go.” Before I could argue, the line went dead.

  “No!” I wiped away the tears that were now falling from my eyes and rang JD’s number. “Please pick up.” When it went to his voice mail, I begged him to call me back straight away. I knew he probably wouldn’t hear it until he got back though. I tried to think of who else I could call but I was coming up empty. If Cameron was stonewalling, then all the others would too. Hailee would have to ask him and he wouldn’t tell her either. No Thomas or Katy. I heard a knock on my door and tried to wipe away the tears again.

  “Ellie, can I please talk to you for a minute?”

  “I’ll be out in ten.” I tried to keep my voice from shaking and took a big deep breath. I guess all I could do right now was wait. Opening up my draw and checking my make-up, I picked up my water bottle and drank from it. I needed something stronger but that would come later. I couldn’t risk losing my composure right now. After a few more deep breaths, I got up and went to see what they needed to talk about.

  Walking into the break room, I saw all the girls standing there. Raising a brow, I looked down at my watch. Three of the girls standing in front of me had very high paying clients they should be with right now.

  “Tell me I am not seeing what I think I am?”

  “We are unhappy and this is the only way we can get your attention.” I shook my head and laughed.

  “You are kidding me, right?” They all looked at each other then back to me. Moving over to the door, I opened it up. “Listen good because I am only going to say this once. You have all been bitching to me since you walked in the door. Some of you want bookings only, some of you want a more flexible schedule which means you only want walk in’s. Guess what Princesses. I don’t choose this shit. Now three of you have clients you are supposed to be with right now who have asked for you specifically. If you don’t go in the next five seconds, you can walk out this open door and I will take your names off my roster. Anyone else who wants to be a diva right now, you can follow them because I don’t need this shit right now. If you had any fucking clue of how hard is to organize all of you girls as well as all the other shit I do then you wouldn’t be standing in front of me.” I waited and watched everyone go to where they were supposed to be. Until there was just me and Mischa left in the room.

  “Last warning. I know you had your hand in this. Keep your fucking mouth shut and your nose clean or so help me God I am going replace you faster than you can blink.” I left her standing there and went back to my office. God give me patience. I wasn’t about to ask for strength because I would beat her if he did.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  JD

  Waking up to my alarm at midnight fucking sucked but the boys wanted to get on the road early so that we could get back home. Maybe I should have kept my concerns from them, but it wasn’t in me to lie. Checking my phone and seeing missed calls from Ellie and Raven, I checked the voice messages they left. I was about to call Ellie back, knowing she would just be getting home from work, there was a knock on my door. Getting up and opening it, I saw Corey there, dressed and ready to go.

  “The boys are ready to hit the road.”

  “Gimmie ten and I will be out.” He gave me a nod and moved away. Letting the door close behind him, I got dressed and put on my cut. Slipping my phone into my jeans pocket, I grabbed my shit and went to check out of the motel before going to where all the guys were waiting for me. Strapping my pack down, I threw one leg over my bike and started it up. All the boys followed suit and with a thumbs up, we took off toward home. We weren’t worrying about checking anything out on the way back. We would come back when shit calmed down or see if Duke could hook us up with something. Perhaps he could get his hands on a drone that we can use to fly over the area. We would sort that out when we got home. I just wanted to get rid of this feeling.

  When we got back, we headed straight for the club where Raven and the Nomads would be waiting for us. Frowning when I pulled in and saw Ellie’s car in the lot, my stomach dropped. Fuck! The phone call! Quickly parking my bike to the side, I took off my helmet and called back to Trigger as I headed for the clubhouse.

  “Deal with my bike for me?” I knew that would have been met with him flipping the bird, but my concern was getting inside and making sure my girl was okay. I pulled the door open and walked in, looking around for her. As I entered the bar I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye. Reacting with just enough time to catch her, Ellie ran at me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I placed my hands against her waist and lifted her up in my arms where her face went straight to my neck. I could feel wetness against my skin as I rest my arms under her ass. I pulled back to try and look at her.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  “Why the fuck didn’t you answer your phone?!”

  “I was asleep, I’m sorry. I was going to call you back before you left but we all just wanted to get home so I didn’t get a chance. Are you okay?” I heard an ‘I told you so’ come from the peanut gallery but I ignored it and just focused on Ellie. She was almost shaking now. “Talk to me, Goddess. What’s happened?”

  “You need to deal with Cameron. He’s an asshole.” The snort from the room made my head turn to look at him standing there with his arms crossed, Hailee by his side. Ellie finally pulled back to look at me. “He wouldn’t tell me anything. I got a call threatening to hurt you if you didn’t stop looking where you weren’t suppose
d to be, and the asshole wouldn’t tell me shit and you weren’t answering your phone. I was beginning to think the worst!”

  “Babe, he couldn’t tell you anything. It’s club rules.”

  “Don’t give me that bullshit!” I heard the door close behind me and knew that would be the guys coming in for a strong drink. I sighed and carried Ellie into the chamber. Raven and Hailee followed me, so did Corey. Closing the door behind me, they all took a seat, as did I. Cupping her face with my hands, I met her gaze.

  “It’s not bullshit. There are some things we can share and some things we can’t unless you are an old lady of one of the members.” She went to open her mouth, but I cut her off. “I know technically you are mine now but until the rest of the club hears it from me that I am laying claim on you, then they can’t share club business. It’s how it went with Katy and Hailee too. Raven was quicker off the mark than the rest of us. I didn’t get a chance to do anything with you because we had to leave town.” Her head dropped, and she hid her face in my neck again. I placed my hand on the back of her neck and just held her against me.

  “So, is this you laying claim to Ellie?” I looked over to Raven and nodded. “About fucking time.” I hid my face in Ellie’s neck to keep from laughing as Hailee elbowed him in the side.

  “Not everyone is as quick off the mark like you are, Jack.”

  “Oh, Sally, you of all people know I am anything but quick.” Corey groaned.

  “Can you stop before I throw up on all of you?” Pressing my lips against her neck, Ellie pulled back to look at me. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have over reacted like that.”

  “You’re fine. You had every reason to be freaked out.” She laid her cheek against my shoulder.

  “Cameron is still an asshole though. I’m not sorry for that.” I tried not to, but I couldn’t not laugh at that. Pressing my lips against her head.

  “It’s true, he is.”

  “Hey, I’m right here ya know?!”

  “We know.” I rubbed my hand up and down her back.

  “Did Duke do a check on the number that called her threatening me?” Raven nodded.

  “He did but it was a burner phone that has been disconnected now. Clearly someone knows what they are doing.”

  “I wanna talk to Duke. I need to know if there is a way we can get aerial surveillance over the areas we didn’t check today.”

  “Think there might be something there?”

  “Someone is clearly trying to keep us away from something and I want to know what it is but if that call was serious, I am not risking anyone finding out.” I felt Ellie tensing up as we talked but I just kept her close to me and continued to run my hand along her back.

  “Alright, we have the nomads here so I want you all to go home, rest for the day and meet back in here tomorrow to talk about how we go from here. I am just glad you boys came home safe this time.”

  “This time, yeah. Next time we might not be as lucky.” I looked down and saw Ellie with her eyes closed.

  “How long have you all been here?” I raised a hand and motioned to her in my arms and Raven nodded.

  “Got here early. Nomads called and wanted to be let in so they could sleep. None of the prospects were answering so I came down.” He motioned to Ellie with his head. “She arrived not long after.”

  “Alright, I’m gonna call it. Corey can you tell all the guys that they can piss off if they want or not but to keep their guards up over the next twenty-four hours. I want to see everyone in here tomorrow though.” With a nod, he got up and went to round the boys up.

  “I’m gonna go calm someone down.” Raven got up from his chair and clapped his hand on my shoulder as he walked around the table. Hailee kissed my cheek on the way past and ran to take his hand. Standing up as best as I could and not disturb her, I carried Ellie out to her car. Taking her keys from her pocket. I unlocked her car and opened the passenger side door. Sitting her inside, she lifted her head from my shoulder as I pulled away and laid it back on the seat. She looked so sleepy now she was relaxing so I knew it wouldn’t be long once we were back at her place that she would be out like a light. I closed the door and moved to get in the driver side and put the key in the ignition.

  “I am sorry.” I looked over at Ellie.

  “It’s not your fault. I should have called you back before I left so that you didn’t worry. I didn’t think, I’m sorry.” She gave me a small smile and closed her eyes again. Pulling out of the lot, I drove her home. I wasn’t sure what time she had to be back at work and right now, I didn’t have it in me to care. She needed to sleep. I pulled up into her driveway and parked. Moving around to her side, I lifted her out and carried her up to the door. It was a bit of a struggle with unlocking the door, but I managed to get us inside and laid Ellie down in her bed. Removing her shoes and my boots, I climbed into bed beside her and just laid with her while she slept. I would go home to shower once she was awake. I didn’t want her to freak out if she woke up and I was gone. For now though, nothing mattered but her. The rest we would deal with tomorrow.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Ellie

  Waking up with a start from the nightmare I had been having, I saw that I was back home in my bed. I shifted and felt someone’s arms around me. Lifting my head, I looked over my shoulder and saw JD laying there. With a small sigh of relief, I laid my head back down and wiggled backwards toward him and pulled his arm tighter around me. I had dreamt that he was out riding and on their way back, someone tried to take him out and he ended up in hospital. I didn’t usually worry about him when he was out on his bike but something about that phone call that I’d gotten had me on edge. I know Raven tried to trace it but they couldn’t find it and now Duke was trying to trace it back through the store it was brought from but he wasn’t having much luck. They had talked about bringing someone in who could hack into more than Duke had access too, but I must have zoned out on the rest of that conversation because I wasn’t sure where they ended up on that. I closed my eyes at the feel of JD’s lips against my neck.

  “Relax, Goddess or I will have to make you.”

  “I am relaxed. Don’t know what you are on about.”

  “If you are relaxed then I am God because you are tense as fuck right now.”

  “I’m sorry, but this is all new to me. I can’t just switch it off the way you all can.”

  “What is there to switch off. We are home, I’m fine and we are going to get to the bottom of this. We have everything on our side. You have nothing to worry about.” I bit down on my lip and didn’t reply. I had hundreds of things to worry about. I think the hardest thing was he wasn’t new to this. His dad had been part of this life. While I had known them all of mine, I was never in this far. Was I really sure that I was ready for this? The sleepless nights, the constant worry that they wouldn’t be coming home, or that they had pissed someone off and let’s face it, with JD the chances of that were high. You never knew when he was going to fuck the wrong girl and piss off a whole army of people. I felt JD shift behind me as he ran his nose along my jaw and I rolled onto my back as he moved out from behind me now hovering over me.

  “I know this is all new to you and this is not something we can rule out ever happening again because we do make a lot of enemies in this line but we can control how we handle it. We didn’t know there was a threat when we rolled out of here, but we do now. We have backup and we can be more vigilant now so that nothing happens to me or the boys. We will have you girls covered and if there is an immediate threat you will go into lockdown which will be a pain in the ass for you, I know, but I will be with you at work in your office, making sure nothing happens to you.” He pressed his lips against mine and my eyes fluttered closed as I melted.

  “You’d better stay with me until this all blows over. Just in case.” His lips curled into a grin against mine.

  “Goddess, I wasn’t going anywhere.” Before I could reply, he kissed me again. Sliding my hands under his shirt, my fingers g
razing over his skin as I traced over his abs. My God, this man was perfect. I heard him groan against my lips. “You keep that up and I don’t know how much longer I can continue to be a gentleman.” He pulled back to look down at me as I slid my hands down lower.

  “Ellie?”

  “You want me to relax right?” He gave me a simple nod and I slid my hands beneath his boxers. “Well, you staked your claim. Now I want what’s mine.” He moved my hand away and shifted. Taking the hand that had been down his pants, he pinned it above my head.

  “Oh, Goddess, if you think that was me staking my claim, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  JD

  Once I finally got Ellie relaxed enough to go back to sleep, I just laid there with her in my arms. I couldn’t shut my mind off from everything that was happening. I thought now that I was home, the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach would have gone away but not even sex could make it go away. I needed to go and see Raven once Ellie went to work to see what his thoughts were now. A huge part of me wanted Chaos home so we were all in one place. Did I try and get the new boys from Mexico back? There was something about safety in numbers. I let out a sigh as my thoughts changed direction again. I couldn’t do that, it would be overkill on the nomads I already brought here plus I didn’t want them anywhere near Hailee.