Melora laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She was so tired of running, so tired of being afraid. “I need some sleep. I’m going back to bed. Are you coming?”
~* * * *~
Melora didn’t see Mountain clenching his hands into fists and that he glared at the older man.
Although, Sam did see Mountain’s reaction. He kissed her temple and said, “You go ahead. I want to talk to Deke first.”
Melora got to her feet and went back to the bedroom.
After she closed the door, Sam turned to Mountain. “What do you have to say to me?”
“Stay away from my daughter old man. She’s young enough to be your kid.” He growled.
Sam nodded. “True enough, she is. But you heard her, she doesn’t think of you as her father.”
“Dad, maybe you should give the girl some room for the moment,” Deke suggested.
“I won’t abandoned her now or ever,” Sam argued. “She needs someone on her side right now and that’s gonna be me.”
“I want the time with her to get to know me as her father. I didn’t get that chance before now but I want it,” Mountain announced firmly.
“You can have that time but I’m going to be there in her corner too, whether you want me there or not. I will not abandon her. Get used to it.” Sam got to his feet and walked the short way to the bedroom door.
~* * * * ~
Mountain glared at the closed door but didn’t move from his chair. Instead, he sat there and curled his fingers into fists.
Deke got up and walked over to the bar. Grabbing a bottle of whiskey and some glasses, he went back to where Mountain sat. Pouring each man a glass, he set the bottle down and lifted the liquor to his lips.
Mountain and the others slammed their drinks down.
“So who are your men?” Deke asked pointing to the other two men.
“Chase and Rigger,” Mountain replied.
Deke poured another round.
Chase got up and went over to the wall where Cassie’s paintings were.
Deke turned his head and told him, “The tiger is Rufus and the lion is Diablo. My wife is the artist.”
“She’s good,” Chase commented with awe in his voice.
Deke smiled briefly, then turned back to Mountain. “So was meeting your daughter everything you wanted it to be?”
“Your dad isn’t helping.” Mountain sneered.
Deke nodded as he drank another round. “Yeah, he’s good like that. The old bastard never did what was right, he only did what was right for him. Never took anyone else’s wants and needs into consideration.”
“Can’t you order him to leave her alone?” Chase asked. “You are the president of this club.”
“Yeah, I could do that,” Deke admitted. “But then it would be Melora breaking the laws of the club. She wants him near her. If she has to break the rules, she’s gonna be pissed and that won’t endear Mountain to her, now would it? She might just do it for spite and he won’t want that either.”
“He’s right,” Mountain agreed. “I wish to Christ he wasn’t but he is. I need to know her and let her know me.” He glanced over at Deke. “The rest of our boys need to get behind the fence before Raven and his boys get here. Is that gonna be a problem?”
Deke shook his head. “No we have room for them. I’d just as soon they got here before Whiskey finds out where she is though.”
“They can be here within half an hour,” Mountain assured him. Glancing over at Rigger, he nodded.
Rigger got on the phone and within twenty minutes, the other eight men were at the gate.
Wiley let them in and closed the gate behind them. As the men entered, the Clubhouse Mountain introduced them to Deke. “This is Elan, Jax, Doc, Pistol, Payne, Lance, Spirit and Blue.”
“So is the girl your daughter?” Doc asked.
Mountain nodded. “But we have a bit of trouble. She’s got a killer after her. We can’t start a war but we can have some fun.” He smiled.
“Who’s the bastard after her?” Jax asked.
“Whiskey from the Ghosts of Dixie.”
“Can we kill him this time?” Pistol asked.
Deke raised an eyebrow. “This time?”
“Yeah, we’ve run into Whiskey before,” Mountain explained. “Raven stayed our hand before but I don’t think that will be the case this time.”
“Not once he sees the video.” Rigger scoffed.
“Who’s with him?” Pistol asked.
“Micah and Lightning.”
“Oh, now that’s too bad.” Jax grinned.
Deke frowned. “What’s going on here?”
Mountain turned to him and explained, “Like I said we’ve done business with Whiskey before and he’s screwed us. He knew we couldn’t touch him without starting a war Raven and I didn’t want and for a while, he hid behind Raven’s protection. Now I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”
Deke got to his feet. “There are rooms in the back for you and your men. I’m going home to my wife. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Mountain held out his hand. “Thank you man.”
Deke nodded as he shook his hand.
~* * * *~
Then next morning, Reva and Gator came to the clubhouse and found Mountain sitting alone at a table nursing a cup of coffee. Reva went to the kitchen while Gator went to sit with the other man.
“So you came back?”
“She’s my kid and she hates me,” Mountain grumbled.
Gator shook his head. “She don’t hate you, she just doesn’t know you. She feels you ran out on her mom and left them alone for too long.”
“She’d be right about that.”
“So what are you gonna do about it?” Gator asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“What can I do?”
“You can show her what kind of man you really are. She doesn’t know you right now. Let her in and show her what kind of man you want to be for her.”
“She doesn’t need a dad anymore,” Mountain told him. “She’s already made that fact very clear.”
“She don’t need a daddy, that’s true. But she does need a father,” Gator assured him.
Mountain stared at him. “Is there a difference?”
“There’s a big difference. You just have to figure out what that might be.”
Mountain snorted. “I also need to get her away from that old man.”
Gator shook his head. “I wouldn’t even try if I were you.”
Mountain glared at him. “He’s probably older than I am.”
“I know but Bones is a force all his own. You tell him he can’t have something and he’ll fight you tooth and nail just to prove he can.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve known that bastard for many years, more than I care to count,” Gator admitted.
“He’s too old for her,” Mountain muttered.
“She’s a woman full grown, you can’t tell her what to do or who she can see,” Gator advised. “She’s been through hell and back all on her own and she won’t take kindly to anyone telling who she can be with now.”
“How do you know what’s she’s been through?”
“Deke had Zipper check her out,” Gator explained. “He found out everything about her after you guys got here. After her mother died when she was ten, she lived in thirteen different foster homes in six years. Some of them weren’t good places for a child to live. She took off and hid when she was sixteen. Life can be hard for kids sometimes. Most are lucky but there are a few who aren’t. She managed to get by but it wasn’t easy for her.”
“Thirteen foster homes?” Mountain looked shaken. “I wish I’d known that. No wonder she hates me.”
Gator shook his head. “I don’t think she hates you. She just thinks she doesn’t need you. It’s up to you to prove to her that she does.”
“What do you suggest I do?”
“Tell her little things about her mother that she doesn’t know. Give her your memorie
s of Carla. That’s your connection.”
Mountain thought about it and nodded. “I can do that.”
“How long before Raven gets here?” Gator asked.
Mountain shrugged. “It’s probably about a ten hour drive, give or take a bit. I called him at around one o’clock this morning, so he should be here sometime late morning.”
“Ok, that’s good. We need to get this matter with him and Whiskey settled.”
Mountain grinned. “My boys are actually looking forward to battling Whiskey.”
“Are they nuts?” Gator scoffed.
“No they’re looking for payback.”
“What kind of payback?” Gator asked.
“Whiskey put one of our own in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He waited until Travis was alone and ambushed him in an alley. Shot him in the back and left him there to die. My boys couldn’t touch him that time, Raven wouldn’t allow it. This time, it will be a different story.”
“Maybe.” Gator looked around. “But you have to remember one thing about Whiskey, he’s getting desperate, and desperate men do crazy things to get by. He might figure he’s got nothing left to lose.”
“Ain’t no maybe about it.” Mountain narrowed his violet eyes. “Deke showed me the video and Raven is gonna be pissed when he sees it. Whiskey deliberately disobeyed orders and he showed no concern with Raven’s wishes. That’s gonna hurt him in the end.”
The door to the bedroom Melora and Sam shared opened and Melora came out. She ignored Mountain and went straight to the kitchen. When she came back out, she sat down at the table and stared at the man claiming to be her father. Her hair was covered with a brown wig now and she seemed closed off to him. “Did you get any sleep last night?” she asked.
Mountain shook his head. “No I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Didn’t need any.” He shrugged. “I don’t generally sleep much anyway. Too many fucking dreams and they aren’t the good kind. I can catch a nap this afternoon.”
Melora sat there staring at her coffee cup. “We met once, you know.”
Mountain frowned. “When and where?”
“I was working in Shreveport for a while a couple of years back. I was a bartender at Reece’s. You and your boys showed up one night.”
“Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”
Melora shrugged. “At first, I didn’t know who you were. I was trying to remember everything my mom said about you and for the longest time, I couldn’t remember anything. Then you laughed at something and I remembered her describing the way you laughed. It was exactly as she described. I had to wonder if everything she told me was true or not. For the longest time, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. Then all the sudden, I remembered everything my mom ever said about you.”
“What did you think of me then?”
“I didn’t know you.” She paused. “I still don’t.”
Mountain sighed. “I wish I had known about you before then.”
“You spoke to me that day,” Melora admitted. “I almost revealed who I was. I really wanted to but then you just turned and walked away. I couldn’t help but compare that to what my Mom said you did the day you left and never looked back.”
“What did I say?”
“You told me I had the same colored eyes as you did and how seldom you found anyone with violet eyes.” She licked her dry lips. “I was wearing a red wig that day and I so wanted to take it off and show you my hair.”
“I wish you had. Maybe we would have found each other sooner.”
“No.” Melora shook her head. “I don’t think either of us was ready for that yet. You had no reason to believe I was your daughter at that time.”
“I knew shortly after leaving Chicago I had just made the biggest mistake of my life.”
“What mistake was that?” Melora asked.
“Leaving your mother behind.”
“Why didn’t you go back for her?”
“That’s something I’ve asked myself for years but I never could answer it,” Mountain admitted. “I wasn’t ready to admit to myself I needed her in my life. Then when I knew I did…too much time had passed. I didn’t think she’d remember anything about our time together and I wasn’t going to humiliate myself by chasing her down.”
“So you were scared?” Melora rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, I guess I was,” he admitted. Running his fingers through his hair he told her, “I had just come back from my second tour in the war on terror. I was only twenty four years old. I was heart sick with the things I’d seen and done. All I wanted was to find a little peace. When I met Carla, I’d just begun my journey. I had a lot of things to work out but she gave me the first tiny bit of peace that started me healing. Both of us knew before we even got started that one day, I would just get on my bike and leave. She knew it but she gave herself to me anyway and for a short moment in time, I had everything I needed. She was sweet to me when I needed sweet I guess. She held me in her arms at night when the darkness came for me. She cried when I called out the names of my friends who wouldn’t come home again. She just listened when I needed to talk. She was the one who started the healing inside of me, just by being herself. And when I left, I made the biggest mistake in my life. I left her behind.”
“You left us behind,” Melora reminded him.
“Yeah…” He nodded. “I guess I did.” He looked away briefly then turned back to ask, “I need to know something. Was she okay after I left? What kind of mother was she to you?”
“She was the best mom I could have,” Melora answered quietly. “She sang to me when I couldn’t sleep. She hugged me every morning and kissed me good night every time I closed my eyes at the end of the day. We didn’t have very much but I knew I was loved and that made me special. When she died my whole world was gone.”
“What happened?” Mountain asked. His hand tightened on his coffee cup.
“She was crossing the street to go to her second job when a car ran her down. The guy behind the wheel was drunk and he tried to get away but his car was damaged. He hit her so hard she flew about twenty feet and he crashed into a mailbox. He got out and just started screaming at her. She was lying there on the road bleeding and he told her she wrecked his car. He was more worried about the damage to his car than he was her. Someone on the sidewalk called 911. When the cops got there, he was still screaming about his insurance. She died on the way to the hospital.” Melora dried the tears on her face but she didn’t look at him.
“What happened to him?”
She shrugged. “I was a kid, so nobody ever told me. But I found out years later. The bastard went to court and claimed Mom ran out in front of him and he couldn’t stop. Officer Daniels told the courts his blood alcohol was twice the legal limit and the judge sentenced him to a year on probation. Told the man he couldn’t drink anymore.”
Mountain scoffed. “I don’t believe that.”
“Yeah, he didn’t either. The next week he was stopped and they found him drunk again. He spent the next three weeks in jail.”
“Did it help?”
She shook her head. “Not a bit. Within a week after getting out, he was in a crash that killed three people. The judge sent him to prison for two years.”
“Did he learn anything from his time in the slammer?”
“No he didn’t.” She met her father’s eyes. “But he learned it a week later.” She lifted her cup to her lips and didn’t say anything else.
Mountain didn’t ask either.
Before their conversation could continue, Sam came out of the room. He paused for a moment then made his way to their table. Grabbing a cup, he poured them all a fresh cup of coffee. “So do you have any idea what Raven will do when he gets here?” He asked as he gazed at Mountain.
Mountain stared at the other man with a hard look. “Raven is a good man and he runs a tight club. That Whiskey did what he did isn’t going to sit well with him. Whiskey’s been in trouble before and this time,
he went over the line.”
“Have you heard anything about this in the last two years?” Melora spoke up.
“Actually, I have.” Mountain nodded. “I was in Raleigh last year making a run to Raven’s club and the cops thought they found a piece of Baily’s shirt. The cops came over to the club and talked to Raven. They said someone was hiking in the woods and found a place where the hogs were digging. They found three pieces of cloth that didn’t belong there. Raven was crazy, wondering what the hell happened. Now, I guess we know.”
“Was there anyone in his club who tried to play it down?” Melora asked. She still had one secret but she wasn’t willing to share it just yet.
“There was one man and his woman. I think his name was Jonesy. He said the cloth could have been anyone’s. He didn’t think it proved anything. He tried awful hard to get everyone to think Baily just took off.”
“I can’t believe Jonesy ever had a woman.” Melora scoffed. “He doesn’t usually go that way.”
Mountain chuckled. “Yeah, well Izzy didn’t seem to appreciate him either.”
Melora sat up straight and turned her head to Mountain. “Izzy?”
“Yeah. Little bit of a thing, long dark red hair and—”
“Green eyes?” Melora looked pissed. “That son of a bitch, that dirty rotten son of a bitch.”
“Who?” Sam asked.
“Whiskey.” Melora seethed. “Whiskey has control of Izzy. Every fucking time I called her, she told him where I was. Now I know why he was right behind me every time I changed cities.”
“How do you know she just didn’t give you up?” Mountain asked.
“Because Izzy wouldn’t have done that, not to me,” Melora defended. “Jonesy isn’t a good man, if she’s with him it wouldn’t be because she cared for him. He’s a pervert that likes little boys. Izzy is too smart for that.”
“How do you know?” Sam asked.
“Izzy and I met when we were both sixteen. I’d just ran away from yet another foster home and she had walked away from hell she lived with. We hooked up from necessity but became friends that winter. When you have no warm place to live you and there’s no food, you tend to appreciate who you’re sharing a place with. We had to steal to live that winter and I taught her how to do it without getting busted. We also learned self-defense together. I had her back and she had mine. Now those bastards are using her to get to me.”
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