“I’m glad you’re out of the prison Lana. I can’t tell you it’s too soon, or it’s wrong. Nor can anyone else. As long as you don’t fall back into bad habits, I’m happy for you. Has anyone checked on our drunken brother?”
“I don’t know. Shit, somebody better. Can you get Raven to go over as soon as he can?” Lana didn’t know how to handle a drunken Whistler.
“Marianne is going to have to go over there. Damn it, Raven can’t go. Can you hold Hawk?” She passed her son to her sister and walked away, to call Marianne and get her to move Whistler into his bedroom. It wasn’t the perfect plan but Marianne would swear Whistler had been with her all night.
Caesar looked at Lana holding Hawk and feeding him bites of breakfast and knew this was the woman he wanted to have his sons and daughters with. She caught his eye and he pointed to her belly. She smiled back and nodded. She wanted a family as fast as they could start one. She wasn’t rushing into this; she’d known Caesar for five years. She knew a part of him that none of his brothers did too. This was going to be her love story and he would be the man that made her dreams come true.
*~*
Whistler felt like shit. His soda was almost gone and it hadn’t helped him feel any better. When the cell door opened and Marianne came through it he wasn’t sure if he was really seeing her. She looked different, her blonde hair had a burgundy violet color in it and it was more that color than blonde. He wondered why she’d changed it.
She leaned over him. “Whistler, you’ve got to get up and come with me. You drank so much moonshine they had to put you in here. There some ho was in the clubhouse, well they found her body over at True’s in with the bulls. Get up; we need to get you out of here. Ram’s boys are over at Lana’s house and we don’t want them to know about this cell. You were with me at my place all night.”
Whistler heard her but he was trying to figure out why his Marianne was here in the cell and not looking like herself.
He slowly sat up, his hand swiping at his face. “Marianne, I am seeing you, aren’t I?”
“Of course you are and we need to go, like now. I’m sure the cops will try to pin this on you since you just had to drink apple pie moonshine and bust up the clubhouse, huh?” She accused him.
“Don’t yell my head hurts and when did I say you could dye your hair?” Whistler took a long look at her.
“I didn’t ask you. I felt like a change when we broke up. I’m trying to save your ass and take you to my house. Let’s go. Michael is in the laundry room. I will leave your ass here.” She walked out and went to check on their son, he followed.
Whistler felt like shit and figured he looked and smelled like it too. His son looked at him and put his arms up to be picked up. Whistler wasn’t sure he was steady enough to do it and looked at Marianne pleadingly.
She shot him a look of utter disgust and picked Michael up. “Your truck was needed by Raven so you’re in the jeep with me and going to my house. Grab a clean set of jeans, a tee shirt, and socks. You need a shower badly. I don’t want you touching Michael until you’re clean and sober. You called me unfit? Look at yourself.”
Whistler saw himself in the mirror in his bedroom. He didn’t like seeing his hair all matted and the scruff on his face. He grabbed a razor and his clothes and walked out of his room. He looked around and saw his house was trashed. Empty beer bottles and pizza boxes all over the floor. He saw red and grabbed his cell phone to call True.
Marianne grabbed his hand, “Don’t. I told you there is a body and you were near that woman. I’m taking you to where I live now and I’m saving you by saying we were together all night long. We need to go now.” She pushed at him with her free hand and got him out the door and in the jeep.
Whistler got in silently and didn’t say a word on the trip until she pulled behind her small house. “So you didn’t go far, why is that Mari?”
Marianne was silent for a moment. “I don’t really know. I could have but this is home. And because I couldn’t take Michael from you.” She got out of the jeep and got her son.
Once in the house she wondered if he was going to come inside. She texted Morgana a smiley face so she would know all was well.
Whistler was thinking; he wasn’t a happy man either. Marianne had a house and she was doing him a favor after all the rotten things he’d said to her. He got out of the car and walked into her house.
She pointed to the bathroom and held her nose. “Toss the dirty shit out and I will get it washed.”
He tossed his stinking clothes to her and got in the shower, letting the water cleanse him. He felt so much better when he was done showering. He smelled food and knew Marianne was making him waffles and bacon, his favorite breakfast. She was being too nice to him and he wondered why. The last time he’d seen her, he’d been a bastard to her. He wondered about the money she stole from him and decided not to bring it up just yet. Walking out of the bathroom he saw the open concept kitchen and living room. It was decent, and there were doors off the hall he figured were bedrooms. The washing machine was on and he was glad she had put the clothes to wash.
He sat at the counter and watched her cooking while his son came toward him. He’d missed Michael and Marianne so much. Life sucked without them and he had to get them back. He leaned back, shut his eyes and began to plot how he could convince her they were meant to be together.
Chapter Twenty-two
True was allowed to move his bulls and did so while wondering what the state police would come up with. Whispering Pines had a small police force and they normally wouldn’t handle this. He herded his bulls easily, looking for signs of which bull it could be but he couldn’t tell. An educated guess would be the older bull. What kind of a nut would go out into a pasture at night with bulls he wondered? He thought of the woman lying there in the grass and wondered why she’d been so desperate to get information that she’d risked her life. He motioned toward Able to shut and padlock the gate once the last bull wandered into the new pasture.
Nicola was sitting on the deck and waved for him to come over. He dismounted and let Cain take his horse. He wanted a cup of coffee before going back down to the pasture, he sure as hell didn’t want the cops up here. He was hungry and needed that coffee badly.
“You look dead tired True. I’ll get you a cup of coffee and I made breakfast. There’s enough for the guys too.” She walked inside and True let out a whistle that brought the twins right to the deck.
“Nikki made food and coffee, may as well go in and get something before we head back down to the pasture.” He watched them hurry to the back door and the food.
The twins were going to be bigger than Rasin’ for sure. They listened well too. It might be a good time to think about patching them in soon. Nicola brought him a plate of food and a mug of coffee. Alex following behind her. He’d need to put up extra fencing so he didn’t crawl under the wood boards. He was a cute little boy who reminded him of someone but he wasn’t sure who.
“Thanks baby, I appreciate you cooking and everything. If the cops come up, tell them the truth, you don’t know shit. If they try to press you, you say you want a lawyer and I’ll get ya one. More people go to jail because they fucking talked to the cops when they should have shut the fuck up. You tell ‘em your name and say I want a lawyer. It’s simple, yet so many fall for the good cop, bad cop bullshit. I’ve drilled it into my guys but who knows if they have paid attention.” He dug into the eggs and bacon like a starving man.
Nicola watched him eat and smiled. She was happy pleasing True and she loved to cook. True had been her first and the man she had long ago decided one day would be hers. Thank God, her dream was coming true. She sat Alex on her lap and fed him eggs as she watched True push his empty plate away.
“Do you want more? I made plenty. Or more coffee?” She put Alex on the deck.
“It was great Nikki, but I better go back down there and see what the cops are doing.” He looked over at the twins who were tossing their paper plate
s away. “You two ready? You unsaddled the horses and let them cool off?”
Able answered for both of them. “Yup boss, we did and we’re ready.”
True stood up and went into the house and headed for the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and decided to try and look more presentable. He grabbed Nicola’s brush and dragged it through his hair. He washed his face and pulled on his shades. Cops didn’t need to be seeing his eyes unless they asked. They’d just see cold grey eyes anyway. He wandered to the deck and Nikki was waiting for her kiss. His lips brushed hers and he felt heat run down his body. He didn’t want to leave, he preferred to take her back to the bedroom but he knew that wasn’t happening today.
“Remember nobody gets inside or on the farm without a warrant. I don’t think there’s any reason for them to come up here anyhow. Just sit tight and I’ll be back soon.” True sounded pissed as he walked toward the truck with the twins following. He turned, “Nikki, if Rover comes back, keep him up here with you. I don’t want you alone.”
She waved back to him and began to clean up the deck.
*~*
The state police had gone by the time True made it down to the pasture. He was shocked they hadn’t stuck around to ask questions. He looked at his local police chief and asked what the deal was.
Chief Miller shook his head as he watched the morgue people take care of the body. “LaDonna Bush, a known associate of the Filthy Fiends motorcycle gang.” He laughed at True’s expression over the word gang. “I mean club, anyway her pocketbook was in the car and either she was out in your pasture to try to hurt the bulls or she was high as a kite. We’ll do tests but it’s clear to all of us she went in there alive and did it herself. I’ve seen her in town for the past few days. She known to you, True?”
“She was in our clubhouse yesterday, saying she was looking for work but I don’t need nobody. Never put out word I was looking, so I don’t know what she was doing there. Ain’t hiring except for the juice bar and she doesn’t meet my standards. You wouldn’t hang out there, Miller if I had dancers like that now would ya?” True watched the body being loaded up and the van take off.
“Hell no. They were warrants on her too and I’m wondering if this will bring trouble to our little town, True. I hope not, we like things just as they are, don’t we? Where is Whistler this morning?” The crafty chief was trying to get information.
True leaned closer to him, he lowered his voice and spoke so only Chief Miller could hear him. “My brother drank too much of that new batch of shine, Miller. He’s over at his ol’ lady’s place sleeping it off if she is letting him. You know Whistler and Marianne settled down and have a son now? She’s got him by the balls.”
Chief Miller cracked up laughing. “I knew long before you did. You boys think I’m old but I know my town. I know they’ve been fighting and she is working for Percy at The Pines, he’s redoing the dump finally. I told them damn staties to go look at the Filthy Fiends, your club didn’t have anything to do with this. I’ll be getting a few free gallons of that delicious apple pie shine?”
True pretended to frown but he chuckled at the older man. “Sure, no problem you sneaky old bugger. I’ve got an ol’ lady up at the farm. Just in case you go poking around. Mousey’s daughter Nicola and her son are living with me. Figured it was about time I settled my ass down.”
“She’s kind of young for you isn’t she, True?” He shook his head, “I should have been a biker if I’d have been smart. You get more pussy in a week than I get in six months.” He laughed as he got into his police car and he honked the horn at the three bikers.
True stared at the police car and wondered if he was too old for Nikki and decided he wasn’t going to let age get in his way. She was his and she had always told him she would be, even as a child. Everybody had better be minding their own business and whoever Alex’s father was, he’d better never show up either.
*~*
Marianne watched Whistler eat, but she didn’t know what to say to him. There was so much she had to tell him yet words wouldn’t come. He was Whistler and he was always a stubborn fool. He never heard her unless it was about sex or Michael. She got up and pushed her chair under the table.
“Michael and I are going outside, it’s to nice a morning to be spent inside and I don’t have to work yet.” She hurried Michael out the door before Whistler said a word.
He wondered what job she was talking about; she better not be stripping anywhere. He carried his dish to the sink and rinsed it before putting it in the dishwasher. He watched his son and his ol’ lady playing tag in the grass. He wondered why she was living here in this small house. It wasn’t her style at all and it wasn’t his. It wasn’t bad, but it was plain and she liked decorating a lot.
He wandered out on the back steps and watched as Marianne flattened herself up against the door way of an old brick garage. She was hiding from Michael and she grabbed the sides of the doorframe to keep from falling. Michael was calling to her and he couldn’t find her. Whistler noticed how fine her ass looked in the camouflage pants she had on. Yup, his son needed a brother to play with. He strolled down the steps to pick up the crying boy.
“Marianne, we need to be making a brother for this kid to play with. Get your ass outta that doorway and come talk to me.” His voice bellowed into the wind. Michael pulled on the scruff on his face and he winced slightly. “Mari, we need to talk. Stop messing around.”
She walked toward him in those impossible black heels, he loved her to wear. She wasn’t smiling as she usually would and Whistler wondered if she was still angry at him. She could be such a bitch if she was pissed off and he could see her frowning already.
“I was telling my son how we should get him a brother and you and I should go down to the courthouse and get married and stop the fighting. I’m sorry for what I said and did Mari, I really am.” He gave her the half smile that usually worked in his favor. She still stared at him, the frown not leaving her lips.
“Marianne, you know I got you the ring you wanted. True can deal with it. I love you.”
She took a deep breath, “Whistler, True knows everything. I told him myself. And I have this house and the job you said I’d never get. Why should I trust you to not make me feel stupid and believe you love me? You were brutal to me when I last saw you.”
Whistler wasn’t letting her get away with blaming him. “You were rotten to Lana or have you forgotten? Locking her out in case she wanted to come back inside… There was that. Look, I’m glad True knows and I hope to hell you made up with Lana. What do you want me to do, get down on my knee?”
Marianne nodded and Whistler put down their son. He held his hand as he said, “Marianne, will you marry me and have more babies with me?”
She didn’t answer him, she tackled him and kissed him hard as Michael clapped his hands. Whistler got his answer.
Chapter Twenty-three
Lana and Caesar went up to True’s farm to get the file on her. As usual Rush and Attitude trailed Caesar, on the lookout for any wandering Filthy Fiends who might want to cause havoc. Lana didn’t even want to see the file and Caesar had promised her, she wouldn’t have to see it until they watched it burn. Ram had decided to stay another day and he’d gone back to the hotel.
Whistler had called screaming about the mess his house was in and how it better be cleaned up immediately. Lana had laughed silently when Ram had his honey taken over to the house under Runner’s eyes to clean up the mess. She didn’t look too happy and Ram had relented and asked True for his twin prospects to help. Lana knew her brother wouldn’t be happy sending his farm hands to clean up Ram’s boys’ mess but when the head president asked, he wasn’t saying no. Caesar had to get his license reinstated today too. It was going to be a busy day and there would be a party up in one of the pastures True reserved for that purpose. He called Big Bob to start a pig the minute he heard Ram was in town.
Caesar had told her she wasn’t doing any of the cooking. Everything wa
s being catered by a pig roasting company and more of Satan’s Fools MC would be rolling in for the party. He seemed uneasy and Lana wondered why. Maybe he was having second thoughts about living with her or wanting her as his ol’ lady. She decided to ask him what was on his mind.
“Is something wrong, are you regretting being with me? You don’t have to be. If this is going too fast for you, I would understand.” Lana pushed up her sunglasses to look at him.
Caesar frowned at her, “No, it’s not that. I don’t want to keep anything from you, but I do need to explain something to you. My family as you know are Italian. So, when I was younger, I joined another family. My father and all my uncles and male cousins belong to it too. It’s traditional and it’s another part of my life, Lana. I know I’m asking you to accept a lot from me, but I had to tell you this. I manage both easily. It won’t be a problem, I promise you.”
Lana didn’t say anything for a few minutes. She understood very well what he was telling her, he was part of the Mafia. It didn’t matter to her because she didn’t plan to know anything about his illegal activities.
She laid her hand on his thigh. “Okay, I can deal with that. I’m not Italian, though. Will that be a problem with your family?” All she could think of was his parents being horrified she wasn’t of the same background as he was.
“Nah, my parents gave up on me ever getting married. They’ll love you for settling down with me. It does mean a big wedding though. Two weddings, in fact. One for the family and one for the MC. My family would be really disappointed if we didn’t have a wedding.” He rubbed his eyes thinking of all the details that had to be ironed out.
Thirsty (Satan's Fools MC Book 2) Page 14
