Lindy’s staring into her cup as if trying to find the answer there. “Why don’t you let his father have him for a while?”
“You know why not. That’s an impossible idea.”
“Is it? How long since you’ve seen him? Since you’ve spoken with him? Maybe everything’s changed now.”
Maybe it has. But it wouldn’t be for the better. If it were, he’d already be here. I frown. “If it’s changed, then why hasn’t he been in touch? No, he’s moved on as he said he would. He wants nothing to do with me or our son.”
Perhaps I should divorce his ass as Lindy had suggested. After all these years, desertion would be easy to prove.
I glance up at her clock on the wall, drain my coffee and stand. “I better run now if I’m going to catch Cas when he comes out of school.”
“If you’re not by the door, he’ll take off.” She knows me, and him, only too well. “Look, why don’t you bring him over at the weekend. We’ll do something, I don’t know, the zoo?”
I roll my eyes. “Zoos are long in his rearview, Lindy, though I wish they weren’t. Stock car racing or motorbikes are now far more his style.”
“Have you thought about that? Getting him into driving lessons or something after school? If the kid’s got an interest in something, it may just focus his mind.”
It’s a good idea and I’ll see what’s available. My husband might not have had a hand in raising my son, but he’s turned out to be a motorhead just the same.
I do feel better for coming here and speaking to my friend who knows my whole story and who offers support without judgement, or, not too much of it anyway. I’d had to cut my own mom out of my life when she couldn’t understand what had happened, and why I was left to raise my child alone. Her outpourings when Cas was around hadn’t helped him adjust, and his repetitions of Gramma said would undo all the progress I thought I’d made. Of course, her absence hadn’t helped either. She was just another person who seemed to have abandoned my son.
Christ, what a mess I’ve made of life for me and Cas.
I hug Lindy and thank her, then drive to the school where I park well in time to collect my boy. As predicted, his face falls, and he grows sullen when he sees me waiting.
“You didn’t have to collect me, Mom. I could have caught the bus. Surely you’re supposed to be at work?”
“I took a personal day. I had to go and see your lawyer,” I explain.
“Well, fuck me. It’s my fault. I never expected that.”
I don’t know what gets to me most, him swearing, or his sarcasm. But it reminds me what a failure as a mother I am. I try to bite my tongue, but I fail. “Yes it is your fault. No one else persuaded you to hotwire a car and steal it.”
“I hate you, Mom.”
Sometimes I fear he really does.
“I need to get some groceries.” I wait for the explosion that’s surely to come.
“And you couldn’t fucking do that before picking me up? Dammit, Mom. Drop me at home first.”
I’m not stupid. If I do that, he’ll be gone by the time I get home.
Pick my battles, I remind myself. What would seem bad for anyone else is par for the course between me and Cas. I have to tread carefully or else I risk him storming off, not returning, and becoming just one more statistic. So I smother my temper. “No, you can come and help choose what we’ll have for dinner. After, we can get ice cream.”
“Ice cream?” He turns to me with a scowl. “I’m fourteen, not four. Anyway, I’ve got plans. There’s a girl I was going to see later.”
Girl? Christ. This day just goes from bad to worse. Of course I’ve had the chat with my son, the one he should have had with his father. But I’m not sure how effective it was. My fourteen-year-old boy is tall, six feet even now, and even though I’m seeing him through biased eyes, know he’s a handsome fella. Apart from the trouble with the law, I’ve visions of him getting an underage girl pregnant.
“You are grounded, Son. Remember?”
I swear I hear him say, we’ll see about that.
It’s at times like these when I really do wish I had the support of a man.
Lindy had reminded me I had one. Would things be different if I stepped up and went to see how the land lay now? Could, as she’d suggested, things have changed? Would he now be prepared to step up and accept his responsibilities?
How much would it hurt to try?
I’d broken once when the only man I’ve ever loved walked out of my life, but managed to pull myself back to some semblance of stability. Seeing him again might send me back into the depths of despair. Could I take that hurt again?
Just one more look at the sullen boy sitting beside me and I know, for his sake, I have to try.
Chapter Four
Mace
“How’s the ass?” I wink as I ask Titsy when I bump into her in the kitchen. Her mock glare makes me grin.
“Hey, Mace. Wanna have some fun later?” Breezy seems up for more.
Well she is until I call out, “Jeannie? You got any ginger root around here?”
“No ginger,” says Breezy firmly. “Unless it’s going up your asshole.”
I nearly spit out my mouthful of coffee at her suggestion. Then I notice the time. “Later, girls. Got places to be.”
That place is Devil’s Ink where I’m going to take a look at the girl who wants her property tat removed. Something has gotten the normally unflappable Lizard spooked about it, which was the reason I’d offered to help check her out.
So far, we knew Cad hadn’t managed to locate a member of an MC that goes by the name of Major. Well, he’d found one, but on checking, that man was as single as me. Of course, motorcycle clubs don’t have the monopoly on property patches, some BDSM folks are into that shit too, but it was a good idea to check. Don’t want to give a rival club the opportunity to come in guns blazing, accusing us of stealing their women away.
It’s a nice spring day as I ride the short distance to the strip mall where the tattoo shop is located. The feeling of warm sun on my face has put me in a good mood, I realise, as I roll the bike into a spot reserved for us to the rear, then walk in the back entrance and make my way to the front.
I greet Vi who’s sitting behind the reception desk. “Hi, Vi. How’s Theo?”
She rolls her eyes. “My little man is fine. In fact, he was right as rain by the time we got in to see the doctor. Still, she checked him out and said he’s all good. Just one of those kid things.”
Nodding sagely as if I know what she’s talking about when I don’t have a clue, I glance around. “The boss here?”
“Lizard!” she calls.
The man appears. “Mace.” He throws me a lift of his chin. “Anything new?”
Cad had told me he’d already given Liz all that he’d found out, so I simply shake my head.
The shop bell dings behind me.
I glance at the woman who’s walked in, then at Liz. Liz raises an eyebrow, and I give a small nod back.
That one glance had shown me three things. One, that the woman had an ethereal beauty, two, she was terrified and I wasn’t sure why, and three, that if Liz had designs on her, he was going to have to take a step back. I want her. Well, not for good. But for one night and I won’t want to share. My cock is definitely interested.
She’s got a property patch on her back, I remind myself. That’s why she’s here. She belongs to another. Or, at least will, until that shit is covered up. Any ideas I have will just have to wait.
Vi seems bemused that neither Liz nor I have said anything. She stands and smiles warmly. “It’s Shayla, isn’t it? I’m Violet. You’ve got an appointment with me so we can see about covering your tattoo. Do you want to come this way?”
She nods shyly at Violet, then her eyes come briefly to mine before looking down. As Vi walks off, she makes no move to follow. It takes me a second, then I realise the way Liz and I are standing, she’d have to brush past us to follow the prez’s old lady, so I take a step
back. Shayla takes advantage and making herself as small as possible, almost runs off in the direction Vi had taken.
I tilt my head questioningly to the side.
“I spoke to Vi, explained I’d like to know more about her old man before she proceeds. Vi might be able to get more out of her than we could.”
“She relaxed when she saw she was going to be dealing with a woman.” I stare at the closed door Shayla’s now seated behind. “You could be right, Liz. She might talk to Vi. She’s a looker though, isn’t she?”
“Not bad. Could do with a little more meat on her bones. But her eyes, man. You see those?”
I nod. I had. “Seen more alive ones on a corpse,” I agree, knowing exactly what he’s getting at. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so easy getting her into my bed after all.
We shoot the shit for a while, then the bell dings again, and Liz, seeing Jonah and his brother both occupied, gives his attention to the man who’s arrived. As Liz takes him on back, I settle down, flicking through a tattoo magazine, getting some ideas for a new tat I’m planning for on my chest.
I look up at one point and get a smile from Vi as she goes to the copier, puts paper in, gets paper out, and disappears back to her station. A short while later, Shayla reappears. I go to stand, but stop as Vi catches my eye and shakes her head.
“We can start Monday,” she tells Shayla. “Any particular time?”
They sort out times, then Shayla asks, “And you can work with my friend, too? Can she come along then? She’s, er, nervous.”
“Sure, no problem. We’ll see how we go. I’ll put aside enough time to do the outline for both. But discuss it with her, she might want something different to you.”
“Thank you so much.” Shayla seems to sigh with relief. “You don’t know how much better I’ll feel to have this gone.”
“Happy to help.” Vi smiles at her. “I’ll see you soon. Have a good weekend.”
The door opens, dings, then closes again, and then, she’s gone. I notice Vi standing, staring at the now empty doorway.
“You get anything out of her?” I’d wanted to question Shayla myself, but know my normal methods of interrogation probably wouldn’t have gotten results. At least I know when she’ll be here again, if I’m going to have to bring my enforcer skills into play. Hopefully, I won’t have to. I raise a quizzical brow at Vi.
She nods. “Yeah. I need to talk to you.”
At that moment, Liz walks out, giving instructions to his client about aftercare. When the man’s gone, he looks at Vi, unknowingly repeating my question. “You get anything out of that woman?”
Vi jerks her head toward the small staff room at the rear, and Liz and I both follow her.
She busies herself putting the coffee machine on and gets down three cups after querying me with a look.
“There’s something odd there. I’d say that tat wasn’t wanted.”
Lizard snorts. I roll my eyes. Fair bet if she wants that shit covered. Vi shakes her head. “I don’t mean that,” she starts. “I mean, that it wasn’t her choice to have it in the first place.”
“She say that?” I ask, the hairs on the back of my neck rising.
“Not in so many words. But she’s very eager to see it gone.” Vi presses her lips together. “I’m going to do this, Liz. I know you’ve got concerns, but if I’m right and that tattoo was put on without her permission. If she was forced, well, that’s abuse, plain and simple.”
“I don’t disagree, Vi,” Liz tells her. “If she needs it covered ‘cause she didn’t want it there, then we’ll do something she does want instead. Did you talk about removal?”
Vi nods. “Yes, but I think she’s looked into laser treatment. She’s worried that that might show something had been there. People will always know she had a tramp stamp removed. She wants it to look like something she always intended.”
“Did you find out anything about this Major?” I ask.
She shakes her head while pouring coffee into the cups. “I did start to ask whether he was a biker, but she clammed up. I didn’t want to press her too much today. I thought she might give me more when she comes back.”
“She liked your ideas?”
Vi smiles. “Of course she did. It’s not going to be easy hiding that script, but I’m sure I can do it.”
“What are you planning?”
As Liz asks, Vi goes to get her artwork, and the two bend heads over it. Feeling like a third wheel, I drain my coffee and take my leave. To be honest, I’m not sure they noticed me go.
I take the long way around back to the compound. Actually, I detour from the route quite a way, enjoying my day off that Pyro, the manager of the auto-shop had given me. Why waste it when I can get the wind in my hair and some pavement under my wheels? I ride with no particular destination, eventually arriving home with a clear head, red windblown cheeks and a smile on my face.
When I ride up to the gates, I notice the commotion. Leaving my bike at the side of the road, as Dirt, one of the new prospects we’ve only just appointed, seems intent on not opening the gate. Wondering whether he’s being overly cautious or proving his worth to the club, I slip down my bandana, tuck my Ray-Bans into my pocket and am pulling off my gloves as I approach the car and its driver standing beside it. My smile gone, I now wear my best enforcer face.
“What’s going on?”
Dirt sends me a look full of gratitude. “This woman wants to see Lizard.”
Unashamedly, I blatantly check her out. She’s in her early or mid-thirties by my estimation, but not past her prime. Red hair, either naturally sleek or artificially straightened, reaches down her back. As she turns, I notice stunning green eyes and full lips which draw my attention. Her figure is hidden by her jacket, but her legs are encased in a pair of tight denim jeans. Nice ass. If she was younger, I’d be jealous she was asking for my brother and not here for me.
“What do you want with Lizard?”
She’s also examining me, and her lips press together tightly. A wave of something like pain shutters her features as she thinks on whether to enlighten me as to the reason why she’s here. I don’t leap to the obvious that Liz has gotten a town woman pregnant. I’ve never known him to go with a woman other than the whores we keep for that purpose.
Instead of explaining her presence, she asks a question of her own. “How is he?” She looks like she’s holding her breath for the answer.
The enquiry takes me unawares, and automatically I reply, “Same as he’s ever been. Now answer me, what do you want with him?”
“That’s between him and me,” she replies quickly. “Look, is he here? Or if not, where can I find him?”
“Who are you?” We don’t give information about brothers lightly.
“Evangeline James,” she replies with no hesitation. A slight lift of her eyebrow suggests she’s querying whether I’ve heard her name. “Vanna?” She then offers what appears to be a shortened version.
“Are you a sister?” She shares his surname. It’s odd, Liz has no family of which I’m aware, and my senses become heightened.
She huffs, looks at the ground, then stares blankly into the distance.
“Cousin?” I try again. That might make more sense, Lizard mightn’t have mentioned extended family.
Now she turns back with something akin to a look of scorn on her face. “I’m his wife.”
I bark a loud laugh and add a snort for good measure. “Don’t know what your game is, but it’s not going to work. Lizard is single, has always been single. Ain’t no bitch in his life and never has been.” I’m firm on that. Lizard would have mentioned if he’d ever entered into matrimony. He shares my views that life is best lived as a single man, and never hinted there was a time he’d thought otherwise.
I expect her to look disappointed being caught out in her lies, but she slumps as though completely defeated. Had she really thought that ploy would work? Well, whatever business she thinks she has with my brother, with that untruth, she’s not g
etting close to him now.
“I still need to see him. To try…” Her eyes flick away then back. She looks like a woman at the end of her tether when she adds now sounding desperate, “Is he here? Or if not, what time will he be back? I’ll wait…”
No she fucking won’t. “I think you need to leave,” I state firmly, noticing Dirt listening intently, his body language taking its cue from me.
“I can’t leave until I’ve seen him,” she says firmly. “Not until I’ve at least tried.”
“Tried what? What do you think you’re playing at? What are you trying to get over on Lizard?”
Neither my enforcer’s snarl nor my threatening step forward, work. Instead of cowering, her back straightens. “Whether or not he acknowledges it, I’m his wife. And he needs to know about his son.”
Lizard has always been firm about not wanting children. He’s never knowingly sired a child. My voice comes out in a growl. “Are you trying to say you had his kid and kept that fact from him?” Dirt I noticed has stiffened as well. If, in the unlikely event, Liz had fucked a town woman, or someone he met on his travels, he should have been told about the outcome. “How old is this fuckin’ baby you’re trying to blame on him?”
“Fourteen.”
Four-fucking-teen? The reply shocks me. This is ancient history, before Lizard joined the MC. It must have been while he was still serving as a Marine. Maybe there is something in his past he hasn’t shared with me. I start to think there could be something to her story. But fuck it, she’s admitted Lizard didn’t know he had a kid. That shit doesn’t sit right with me. You do not hide a kid from a man, even one who doesn’t want one. What bitch does that? Then has the fucking nerve to turn up out of the blue as she wants something. Money probably, that must be it.
Satan’s Devils MC -Colorado Box Set: Books 4-6 Page 82
