Eye for an eye (The Nighthawks MC Book 5)

by Bella Knight

  “Thank God you did,” said Henry. “You’ve helped two old men deal with a ton of kids and farm work and so much else.”

  Vi laughed. “You took me in when no one else would, just accepted me the way that I was. I can’t do enough for you. And what you do for the kids, for the res…”

  “You’re a survivor,” said Henry. “We’ll get you a res counselor to help you deal with what happened to you.”

  “Thank you,” said Vi, drying her eyes on her apron. “Now, Sofia, let’s take out the bread.”

  Sofia hugged Vi. Sofia said, “I’ve never been so glad to talk to somebody in my life,” she said. “Abuelita, of course I’ll take it out of the oven.” And she did.

  Henry went over to the hydroponics building and told Nantan the whole story. He was horrified. “What makes anyone think they can act that way?”

  “No idea,” said Henry. “Not a single clue.”

  “Me either,” said Nantan.

  Lily told the entire story to Ace when she got home. They ate salad and sandwiches that Nantan’s Wolfpack had delivered, and drank strawberry lemonade.

  “We’ve been shot, and I lost my brother and our baby. But, I forgot how lucky we really are, how close we are with our friends, how we’re safe and loved.”

  Ace kissed her forehead. “I am so sorry that helping take down La Diabla led to losing your brother and our baby.”

  “You had to do it,” said Lily. “She didn’t seem to care who she killed. Hell, she killed a kid, some cheerleader in Texas. She needed to be taken out, and you did it without anyone else getting hurt.”

  “I would like to say the prison is at fault,” said Ace, “but, the code was really good. I hear Wraith sent a memo to all law enforcement agencies and prisons about code. She’s getting the codebreaker she worked with to write a book for law enforcement.”

  “Good,” said Lily. They talked about inconsequential things. Ace insisted on cleaning up. He was now wearing a sling.

  Lily took Ace to bed. She slipped into boy shorts and a camisole. They held each other. She stroked his chest, kissed him. She stroked him from his chest to his stomach, covering him with butterfly kisses.

  “Honey,” he said. “I am still weak as a kitten. I fall asleep during the day. Me! Taking naps! We both fall asleep at nine at night these days, and I’m a late-night guy that slings drinks. I don’t want to just lay here and attempt to touch you. You’ll end up doing all the work, and the meds I’m on won’t get me… interested.”

  “Shut up,” she said, and kissed him. “Don’t you know, you idiot, that all women want, is to be kissed and held?”

  “I can do that,” said Ace. “In a one-armed sort of way.”

  She laughed. “Just relax,” she said.

  “Baby, I have no other choice,” he said.

  She kissed his forehead, his eyes, and he kissed her the same way. She kissed his neck. He groaned. She stroked his arms, then ran her hands down his side, kissing him. She slid lower, holding his balls in her hand. She stroked him while lightly kissing his checks. She went lower, slower, and he grew hard in her hands. She kissed his thighs, and then the tip of his penis. He groaned, and stroked her hair. She licked the tip, making him moan. She flicked her tongue up and down the entire shaft. He fought to stroke her hair, not twist his fingers in her hair. She took a condom out of the drawer and rolled it on, and mounted him. He came after only a few thrusts. She got off and used a wet wipe to clean him up. Then, she laid her head on his shoulder, and he held her with his good arm as she cried.

  “Normal is the setting on a dryer.”

  4

  Captivating

  “Sometimes life is two steps forward, and four back.”

  New Life

  Ace began with yoga and balance with Lily in the morning. He learned how to move his entire body when standing on just one foot. Then, he moved to weightlifting with a pulley system and hand weights. He still felt like a kitten; weak, and wanting to sleep all the time. He took hour-long naps twice a day, and stuck with going to bed early. He walked the dogs one at a time, twice a day. He took rides down to help Nantan, learning the plants and how to grow them hydroponically.

  “You wanna grow hops? You can make beer. Or vodka from potatoes.”

  “Not with twelve thousand teens here,” said Nantan. “Booze and teens don’t mix.”

  “Word,” said Ace. “Don’t know when I can lift heavy cases of beer. I don’t want to damage myself by going in too soon, but not working is making me nuts.”

  “Can you help your wife with the accounting?”

  “Yes,” said Ace. “Then, I would die of boredom. I can only train the dogs so many hours a day. I’m studying Spanish, and that’s good. I’m a doer. What can I do?”

  Nantan pointed to the barn next door. “Get yourself a buddy, one of the Wolfpack, to help, but you can do tasks. You can crash on my bed if you need a nap. Start with one of the apartments, and get a bed in there, and work your way down from there.”

  “On it,” said Ace.

  It didn’t take long for Ace to take over part of the punch list. He brought over his pulleys and weights, a duffel, and the dogs, and stayed at the big house until he got one of the apartments done. He moved in there. He’d done construction years ago, so he was seriously rusty, but he got it done.

  Lily visited him, and explained that she got a lot more done with him at the ranch. He was a little hurt, until he realized he must have been underfoot. They also had sex on the visits, far more than they had been at home. He listened to podcasts and Spanish lessons while working, and the kids spoke the Spanish with him. He found that he could lift paint cans, boards, and even sinks.

  The physical therapy sessions still sucked, but the therapist at the edge of the res was better than the other one. Still vicious, but he spent more time massaging Ace and teaching him how to move in order to heal.

  Lily spent time with Katya and the babies. She wasn’t showing yet, but Ace and Lily’s twins were growing fine. She learned Russian lullabies, and how to deal with fussy, hungry babies. Lily brought home boxes of diapers and baby clothes, as the twins grew out of theirs.

  “Three is enough, no?” asked Katya.

  “How is Katya doing?” asked Lily, seeing Elena’s paint-by-numbers of a seascape on an easel.

  “Elena has last surgery. She is so excited! She sings like an angel, and she is learning the keyboard. The little ones won’t sleep without her singing to them at night.”

  Whenever Lily had a twinge —when her belly still hurt, she would think about a little girl going through surgery after surgery to repair the damage done by her warped father’s acid attack. She realized she was, in fact, lucky, despite all she had lost.

  The grief was a wall of waves; a baseball bat hitting her in the head. She thought holding Katya’s babies would tear her apart, but it seemed to be healing her. The counseling sessions gave her a space to cry without the tears and exhaustion taking over her entire life. There were still days she didn’t get out of bed. Having Ace stay at the ranch was helpful; he would panic when she did that. She caught up on books she wanted to read, stupid TV shows she wanted to see, a hook rug she’d never completed. Or, she just laid there; resting, sleeping, waking, crying, then sleeping again.

  She bought a little refrigerator and microwave and installed one under one nightstand, and the other under the other one, so she didn’t have to leave the room if she didn’t want to. She did her grief homework, and called when she didn’t want to come into the office.

  She reclaimed good memories of her brother, helping him with his homework, the time they’d watched a sci-fi marathon and gotten sugar highs on soda and candy. And the times they’d gotten away from Dad for a while. She couldn’t bring her brother back. She realized she was really grieving a wasted life, one that he never got the chance to benefit from. Even with the changes he was making in his life. He could have married, or gotten a great job, or just lived out a quiet life somewhere, far from
his Vegas temptations, but he never got the chance. She realized she wasn’t grieving her brother, but the man he never got to be.

  She recovered slowly. She took long rides on her bike, out to Boulder City, to Red Rock, to Cedar City, and even Lake Havasu to paddle board alone. And, bit by bit, she reclaimed her soul.

  Ivy found dancing harder and harder as her belly and ankles swelled. She could still sling booze, count money, and receive liquor orders, so she did. The bar backs took on more and more of the ice and other heavy lifting projects. The cooks kept a stream of snacks coming out to her. She started keeping energy bars in a box under the cash register.

  She was tired easily, and took to sleeping later, despite having two active little girls in the house. She began to realize she’d have to cut her hours, something she was loathed to do with Ace still out. She realized she’d never asked him if he was coming back; she had just assumed. She called when she woke up the next day, and asked him, point blank.

  “Haven’t thought about it,” he said, over the sound of hammering in the background. “I never planned on tending bar forever. Or construction, or working on bikes. I just worked my ass off trying to survive. I love the bar, enjoy the music, like sleeping in the day and working at night. Found out I still like construction, but there’s a fuckload of competition out there. I don’t want to be just another guy with a hammer. Enjoy working with the dogs, but you can only train them a bit a day. It’s a lot of work, but not all at once, you know?”

  Ivy drank her early-morning cola. “Dude,” she said, “I don’t want to damage you. We’ve all been damaged enough. I don’t want you coming back to the bar to get hurt again.”

  He thought about it. “If I act like a wimp and get the bar backs to do all the heavy lifting, I can do it a few hours a night to start, once my physical therapist gives the okay. I was going stir crazy here, until I started on the third barn, but we’ll finish pretty soon.”

  “How many fucking barns does Henry need?”

  “This one is for Nantan’s business, and to keep some of the teens he’s training for good. There are three apartments over the growing house, and two in the first, expanded barn, and now four more. Nantan and Jeffrey live over the barn.”

  “Um, sorry I asked. So, you do want to come back?”

  “Hell, yeah,” said Ace. “It’s like working with family, you know? Most of the customers are bikers. Love hearing the stories of the road. I’ll talk to the physical therapist, and let you know.”

  “No hurry,” said Ivy. “Just so you know, I’m knocked up, and I’ll have to take off for six weeks or two months. Or until I go crazy.”

  Ace laughed. “We’re knocked up too, remember? Twins! So, I’ll spell you, and you spell me.”

  “Remind me again why we all fucking decided to get pregnant at the same time? Even Killa and Ghost got into it!”

  “What?” asked Ace. “Why wasn’t I informed?”

  “Surrogates,” said Ivy. “They’re paying for a condo and helping lesbian couples get help.”

  “Don’t lesbian couples use their gay guy friends?”

  “Not if their uteruses don’t work,” said Ivy.

  “Too much information,” said Ace.

  Ivy laughed. “On that note, I think I’ll gestate somewhere else.”

  “Shut up,” said Ace, and hung up on her laughter in his ear.

  Ivy helped the girls walk Daisy, and she also helped them get ready for school.

  “We’re gonna work on hydroponics,” said Grace.

  “We are expanding our garden,” said Hu. “We are labeling all of the plants in English, Spanish, Ute, and Mandarin.”

  “Excellent,” said Ivy.

  “Grandpa Jake now teaches Ute,” said Hu.

  “Who is Grandpa Jake?” asked Ivy.

  “He was in a nursing home, but it was a bad place. He still has holes in his arms where they stuck him,” said Grace. “He moves real slow and his voice is kinda quiet, and he has bandages on his arms and legs. We have to be sure he gets enough water.”

  Ivy realized the girls were referring to a refugee from the “nursing home bust,” as Lily and Bella called it. Ivy suspected that there were Paiutes in the bust, and the idea of anyone harming an older tribe member would be anathema to them. Henry would most certainly be interested in rescuing anyone they could, provided they could care for them at the farm.

  “Bet his Ute is amazing, and that he has great stories,” said Ivy.

  “Coyote is sneaky,” said Grace.

  Ivy remembered hearing several such stories from Henry; Coyote was the trickster in Native American stories. Coyote was sneaky, but usually did the right thing in the end.

  Ivy laughed. “Yes, he is,” she said.

  They made it back to the house, and Callie was ready with the backpacks with their tablets, pencil cases, and folders. Callie kept each child on a system that kept each student on track with assignments; most of it was online, but there was a checklist each kid had to do by the end of the day. The girls hopped in the car while Ivy opened the door and let Daisy back in.

  Callie kissed Ivy goodbye. “Good luck at work,” she said. She put her hand on Ivy’s stomach. “Bye, little swimmer,” she said.

  Ivy patted Callie’s stomach. “Bye, baby,” she said. “We need better names than, “little swimmers.”

  Callie smiled. “Ultrasound tomorrow. Then we’ll know what to name whom.”

  “Tomorrow,” said Ivy, kissing her again. She waved goodbye, then went back in the house to drop off the leash. She made sure Daisy had food and water, and then she went to the bar.

  Ace was there. Ivy grabbed her chest and staggered in mock shock. “You finally showing your face?” asked Ivy, locking up her helmet in the seat of her Harley.

  “Absolutely,” said Ace, “I can serve drinks and sign for stuff. I can’t lift cases of bottles, but I can lift cases of cans.”

  “I can still lift the bottles,” said Ivy, “but my stomach is turning into a shelf. So, eventually, I won’t be able to see the cases to lift them.”

  Ace laughed, put in the code, and unlocked the door for Ivy. “I’m still kinda weak, so I may need long breaks, maybe even take a nap in the office or go home early.”

  “Whatever,” said Ivy. A beer truck drove up. “Sign for that, and ask the driver to wheel it to the cooler,” ordered Ivy. “I can see them well enough to fill up the cooler.”

  Ace laughed again. “I’ll get the bottom ones if you can’t see them.”

  They took turns unloading, and scooping ice into the bar carts. They filled them up, and wheeled them to the bars. Bella came in, stole her cart, and glared at both of them.

  “You can wait ten minutes until I show up,” she said. “I can’t handle it if either one of you end up on the floor for being stupid.”

  Ivy followed Bella to her bar, on the opposite side of the dance area. “Who is Grandpa Jake?” asked Ivy.

  Bella smiled, and started moving ice from the cart to the freezer at her station. “He’s staying in the big house with Carl, both Paiutes that don’t have Alzheimer's or need lots of medical care. We’re trying to get Maia and Vu. They aren’t Paiute, but they don’t have anyone to help them. Both of them needed more medical help, but are probably getting sprung next week.”

  “Let me know if we can help.”

  Bella smiled. “Hu and Grace and the other kids are helping just fine. We’re supposed to pick up Carl’s new hearing aid tomorrow, so he’ll be teaching Paiute, too. His hands are still strong, and he’s good at needlework. He’s going to show the students beadwork.” She laughed. “Both Jake and Carl call it ‘earning their keep.’ She began emptying the cart of the beer. “Now, get away from me. I’m busy.”

  Ivy laughed. She went to help Ace, but the arrival of the bar backs sent her into her office to find out if Cougar left any paperwork undone. Everything was done, so she had a small salad, mozzarella sticks, and a tea. She was sad that it wasn’t a cola, but she had to get her c
affeine from green tea.

  Ivy was pissed. The music was hot, making her want to dance on the plinths, but she was getting too wide to dance. She was, in fact, beginning to waddle. She sang instead, belting out Lita Ford’s Kiss Me Deadly. Bella came up and sang Lita Ford’s and Ozzy Osborne’s Close My Eyes, with her. Then, the band swung into AC/DC, doing Back in Black and Thunderstruck.

  Ivy slung the booze. Ace took an hour break, wolfing down some food and then taking a nap on the couch in her office.

  She had a shouted conversation with the Valkyries who came in. “Great Ace is back,” said Skuld. “He seems kinda slow, though.”

  “Still recovering,” said Ivy.

  “Got names for your passenger?” asked Rota.

  “Passenger?” Ivy looked down after passing a beer to a patron and taking the money. “Oh, the baby. No. We have an ultrasound tomorrow.”

  “Good,” said Rota. “If you need anything from the Valkyries, just ask.”

  “You have done a ton for us Nighthawks. We say the same thing.”

  “Hear anything about that bitch?” asked Rota, referring to the assassin La Diabla.

  “She’s in a Supermax and has a new lawyer after the old one joined her in jail. There’s no money left to pay anyone; the forensic accountants found it all and froze the accounts, so hers is a court-appointed one.” Ivy filled up a tray of beer, and then pulled a pitcher of beer from the tap.

  “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person,” said Skuld. Ivy poured them each a whiskey shot, and said, “On the house.” Skuld and Rota drank and turned their glasses upside-down.

  Wraith came in, laughing, Saber in tow. “Give it to me straight,” said Wraith. Ivy finished filling up a tray, and poured them two whiskey shots.

  Wraith tried to pay her, and Ivy said, “On the house.” They took them, clinked glasses, drank, and turned the glasses upside-down.