White Lies

by Autumn Jones Lake

Charlotte waves her hand in the air, dismissing the question. “Some stuff the guys needed to take care of.”

  Carter rolls his eyes but doesn’t comment or ask any more questions.

  I guess my brother’s trained him well.

  When it’s club business, you don’t ask questions.

  Murphy

  “I vote to switch Heidi’s road name from ‘little sister’ to ‘little hammer’,” Z says.

  “Second,” Remy echoes.

  “You don’t get a vote,” Wrath growls. Finally, someone less enthusiastic about the support club than me right now.

  Teller’s more amused and less pissed-off than I expected.

  We’re down in the basement of the bar. Apparently, Remy’s grandparents had a bit of a paranoid streak. It’s built more like a bunker.

  The shooter’s tied up in the corner while we wait for him to either wake up or die. I don’t have a preference at this point.

  Eraser clomps down the stairs to join our party. He nods when Remy shows him the guy’s face. “I recognize him. He’s one of the guys I suspected of tampering with some cars.”

  After dragging the shooter down here, we checked him out. Despite the red stripes on his jacket and the flames on his bike, he’s not sporting any S.O.S. ink. So, he’s either a prospect, affiliated with them in another way, or an entirely different threat.

  I walk upstairs to say goodbye to Whisper.

  “This is why I’m out.” He shakes my hand. “Had enough of this bullshit, son. Gonna wind up dead or in prison one of these days.”

  Thanks for the advice, grandpa.

  “You sure you’re all right to ride?” I ask Hudson. We cleaned up the bullet hole and wrapped his arm, but he still lost a lot of blood.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Thank you for trying to—”

  “Didn’t do much good, did I?” Hudson shakes his head. “I’ll give you two a minute.”

  Whisper clutches my shoulder and pulls me around the side of the building. “Some neutral meeting spot.”

  “Sorry—”

  “Nah.” He waves off my apology. “This is what we do, right?”

  “Reconsidering retirement?”

  “Fuck no. Definitely not.” More seriously, he adds. “You’ll pass on what we talked about to Rock, right?”

  “Yup. How long until you think you’ll be out?”

  “Don’t know. Got some things to wrap up. Lost Kings are always welcome in Slater. That hasn’t changed.”

  That may be so, but it’s not like we’re going to move in and start doing business in his territory right away.

  “Thanks.” I hold out my hand and he shakes it.

  “You’re handling more business now.” He glances at the bar. “Z’s sporting a president patch? When’d that happen?”

  Normally, outlaws don’t make a habit of sticking their noses in other clubs’ business, but since I got the old man shot at tonight, I’m feeling generous. “Recently. He’s running downstate.”

  “Good for him.” He narrows his eyes. “You taking his place?”

  I snort. “No one can take Z’s place.”

  He accepts my non-answer, shakes my hand again and shuffles across the parking lot to his bike.

  I watch him and Hudson roll out before heading back inside to deal with this mess.

  Twenty-Nine

  Murphy

  “Did you contain the threat?” Rock asks.

  I knew I wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight. After Remy’s, we came straight to the clubhouse and sat down for church.

  “It’s handled.”

  “You trust Remy?”

  “He’s got more to lose on this one than we do.”

  “Is it tied to S.O.S. or to the racing?” Dex asks.

  “Probably both.”

  “No ink saying he was S.O.S.” Teller rolls up his sleeves displaying his own heavily inked arms with plenty of Lost Kings insignias.

  “Ain’t saying anything anymore.” Z smirks.

  “Such a bloodthirsty bastard.” Wrath grins and punches his fist at Z who taps it back.

  “Focus.” Rock slaps the table. “What the fuck happened?”

  Worn out from the evening’s events, I let Teller answer.

  This was only supposed to be a simple night out with my girl. Meet a fellow biker for a chat, have dinner, and come home. Not get shot at.

  “I’ll let Murphy fill you in on what Whisper wanted.” Teller slaps my shoulder, tagging me into the conversation.

  I’m too tired to paint Rock a picture. It’ll just irritate him anyway, so I get right to the point. “Wolf Knights are closing their Slater, NY charter.”

  Wrath whistles low and sits back. “Didn’t see that coming.” For once, he’s not being sarcastic.

  “Holy fuck. They’re an old club,” Z says.

  “Damn.” Rock runs his hand over the back of his neck. “Never thought I’d see them out of the game.”

  “Not like it used to be,” Sparky says.

  “How would you know what anything used to be?” Ravage says. “You live in the basement three-hundred days a year.”

  “Fuck off.” Sparky shakes off Ravage’s comment. “They never had business sense. Just wanted to ride and party.”

  “Don’t we all?” Stash asks.

  “I’m not interested in a debate.” Rock cuts off their discussion. “What else did he want?”

  Of course, Rock knows there was more to the meeting. “Their national board doesn’t want it to look like Lost Kings pushed them out of their territory.”

  “How the fuck are we supposed to do that?” Rock asks.

  Dex snaps his fingers to get our attention. “There’s that one old-timer who runs that biker news podcast. Maybe he was thinking of something like that?”

  “Biker what, what?” Wrath asks.

  Rock stares Dex down. “What would you like to do, call in and give a fucking interview?”

  “I’m just saying.” Dex shrugs.

  “Let the Wolf Knights handle it.” Rock shrugs it off. “I’m not saying anything to anyone about their business.”

  “That was my take on it, too,” I agree.

  Since we’re all at the table anyway, we go over some other club business. Sparky about comes in his damn pants when Teller gives him some numbers for his “edibles kitchen.”

  “This is gonna be great. Totally legit. And safe for the kiddies.” Sparky rubs his hands together.

  “Still planning to go to the Castle for security?” Wrath asks.

  “Yup.”

  “Can you leave my sister out of it this time?” Teller asks.

  “Nope. Already promised her she could come.” I reconsider. “If she still wants to go anywhere after tonight.”

  “Why? She was a little badass.” Dex snickers. “Sounds like she saved all your balls.”

  I laugh, not insulted. “She scared the shit out of me for sure.”

  “Sorry I ever questioned you for buying that hammer,” Teller says.

  “Holy shit, did Teller just apologize for being a dick?” Wrath leans over the table, pretending to press his hand to Teller’s forehead. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “Knock it off.” Teller slaps his hand away.

  “As fun as this is, I’d like to get some sleep.” I don’t stand, though. Rock hasn’t dismissed us.

  Rock slaps the table. “Go on. We’ll discuss this later.”

  Can’t wait.

  Thirty

  Heidi

  “It’s not the quality of work I expect from you, Heidi,” Professor Emory says. “But given the circumstances, I’m going to pass you both.”

  “Thank you,” Dawn gushes.

  I’m a little more reserved in my thanks. Even though I didn’t do anything wrong, the professor seems bent on making us feel culpable somehow.

  Did I go to her and plead Bryce’s case after he tried to blackmail me?

  Nope.

  In fact, I haven’t even seen th
e jerk since that day. I’ve had my mind on too many other things to waste time worrying about him or his silly threats.

  Like the guy I bashed in the head with a hammer.

  Blake wouldn’t say if the man lived or not. I almost feel bad that I don’t really care either way.

  All I care about is that I’m done with school. This time next week, I’ll have my diploma and not long after, I’ll be Mrs. Blake O’Callaghan.

  I even have a job offer from the hospital, which is where I most wanted to work after graduation. Bryce’s threats were meaningless and impotent, just like he probably is.

  In the hallway, Dawn slumps against the wall and squeezes her eyes shut. “We made it. I can’t believe it.” She opens her eyes. “Thank you, Heidi.”

  “Don’t thank me. I’m just as shocked as you are.”

  “I got an offer from Empire Med, too.” She grins. “Looks like you’re stuck with me.”

  I hug her, not at all upset by this news. I don’t have a lot of friends outside the club, and it’s nice to have someone to bitch to about school stuff. Or work stuff.

  Oh my God. Am I really a college graduate with a job, now?

  Thirty-One

  Murphy

  Everyone keeps telling Heidi this afternoon’s event is a pre-wedding dinner. But it’s more of a graduation party for her. She didn’t want to attend her official graduation ceremony, but this wasn’t going uncelebrated.

  “Are you sure you want to do this today?” she asks.

  “We shouldn’t put it off any longer.”

  She slips on a pair of denim shorts, and I groan. “How am I supposed to concentrate?”

  “That’s not my problem.” She pulls on a T-shirt. “Is this going to distract you, too?”

  I deliberately drop my gaze to her ample tits pressing against the thin cotton material. “Yes.”

  As much as I’d love to strip her out of every last piece of clothing, we have a big day of events.

  First, we have an appointment with the town clerk at the Sterling Town Hall to apply for our marriage license. “Have everything?” I ask Heidi for probably the tenth time.

  She waves the hot pink folder at me. “Right here.”

  Gathering all the documents we needed to apply for our marriage license had been depressing as fuck. Turned out, I had no idea where my birth certificate was, so I had to get a new certified one, which took for-fucking-ever to show up. Looking at it was almost surreal. My parents’ names might as well be the names of strangers. My mother was long gone now, but every second she’d been alive, she’d made my life hell on Earth.

  Heidi’s hell was unpacking boxes of paperwork she’d stored away. She needed to bring her birth certificate and Axel’s death certificate with her to the appointment.

  Nothing steals the joy out of what should be a happy time like digging up the ghosts of dead husbands and abusive parents.

  And lots of paperwork.

  No wonder so many bikers skip an official state-recognized marriage. Ol’ Lady status is good enough with none of this extra bullshit.

  Heidi flips through all the documents again, lingering on the final one. “I’ll need his death certificate later.” Heidi flicks her brown eyes my way for a second. “If you still want to adopt Alexa.”

  “How is that even a question? Of course I’m adopting her. As soon as Charlotte says it’s the right time to file the petition.”

  Heidi finally seems to relax and squeezes my hand. “I wish we didn’t have to wait the twenty-four hours after getting our license. I want to marry you right this second.”

  My chest squeezes. “Same, beautiful.”

  The appointment doesn’t take long. We sit and answer a few questions while a kind older woman quickly taps away on her typewriter. A fucking typewriter. Empire county and the town of Sterling have some of the highest taxes in the state, but they still use motherfucking typewriters.

  Not that I care. I only pay the bare minimum of taxes to seem like a respectable businessman.

  Outside the clerk’s office, Heidi beams as she stuffs the pink folder into her backpack. “That was quicker than I expected.”

  “Ready to have that talk with Rock and Hope now?”

  She bites her lip but nods. We’d been putting this off for a while, but today seems like the day to get all these important details nailed down.

  I send Rock a text before starting up my bike, asking if we can sit down with him and Hope in twenty or thirty minutes.

  Rock: We’re home.

  “How’d it go?” Hope asks as soon as we walk in the front door. Alexa runs over and hugs Heidi’s knees, eager to tell us all about her morning with her aunt and Pop-pop.

  “Easy-peasy. We’re all set.” Heidi scoops Alexa up, but her nervous gaze shoots to me. Why she’s so worried about this, I don’t understand. There’s no chance they’re going to say no.

  Rock and Hope sit at the dining room table. “What’s on your mind?” Rock asks.

  Heidi takes the seat next to me, and Alexa jumps into my lap. I pull over a sheet of paper and some crayons, which she grabs right away.

  Heidi’s still sitting there, nervously fiddling with the ends of her hair.

  I nudge her to answer Rock’s question.

  “I wanted to ask you guys something?” Heidi’s voice quivers, and I wish I’d done it for her.

  Rock frowns. “What’s wrong, Heidi-girl?”

  She glances down and I feel her struggle. Under the table, I squeeze her hand, encouraging her to continue.

  She squeezes back and lifts her head. “Well, Blake and I were talking about our honeymoon the other day…”

  “Decided where you’re going?” Rock asks when Heidi doesn’t finish her sentence.

  “Well, yes. Sort of. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “What’s wrong, honey?” Hope asks.

  I clear my throat before answering. “Nothing’s wrong.”

  Gathering her courage, Heidi finally meets both their concerned gazes. “Before we go away, we thought we should…or I should have guardianship papers, or something drawn up for Alexa.”

  Hope blinks and glances at Rock. “That’s probably a good idea.”

  “With Axel’s parents out there,” Heidi rolls her eyes and waves her hands in the air. “My mother lurking about, I want to make sure there’s no question who would take care of Alexa.”

  At the mention of Heidi’s mother, Rock’s jaw tightens, his fists clench, and he glances away.

  “Those are good reasons, Heidi.” Hope shoots a quick look at Rock before continuing. “Absolutely. Mara can draw that up for you if you don’t want me to do it.”

  “Well,” Heidi’s voice falters, and she glances at me. “I wanted to ask if you and Uncle Rock would be Alexa’s guardians?” She clears her throat and asks in a firmer voice. “Can I name you as her guardians?”

  Before either of them answers, Rock curls his hand around Hope’s and squeezes.

  “Of course, Heidi,” Hope says.

  “What did your brother say?” Rock asks.

  Heidi nods as if she expected this question. “Well, I want to name you and Hope as well as Marcel and Charlotte. Just in case. I think he’ll understand why I chose you first. Alexa loves you guys, and she and Grace are close. But if you can’t or don’t want to or something. I want to make it clear custody can’t go to my mother or Axel’s parents, so I’ll name Charlotte and my brother as alternates.” Her voice falters. “If you don’t want…I was going to ask Lilly and Z, but you guys have spent the most time with her—”

  “Heidi, of course we want to. Absolutely,” Hope says, cutting Heidi off.

  “No question,” Rock adds.

  Heidi blows out a breath and sits back, finally allowing a small smile to play over her lips. “Thank you.”

  Hope reaches over and pats Heidi’s hand. “Are you going to wait until Murphy adopts Alexa?”

  “No, we thought we should do this before we go a
way on our honeymoon…just in case. And Charlotte doesn’t want to file the adoption papers until after the wedding.”

  “Smart.” Hope smiles. “Good thing you’ve got a few lawyers in the family.”

  Heidi laughs and finally seems to relax. “Charlotte promised me the friends and family rate.”

  “Is that it?” Rock asks.

  Heidi breaks into a full smile now. “That’s it.”

  “Are you ready to show her the house?” Hope nods to Alexa.

  Heidi glances over at us. “I’m a bit worried.”

  “She’ll be fine,” Hope says. “It’ll be an adjustment, but she’ll be okay.”

  Teller, Charlotte, and Carter meet us outside to walk over to the house. Alexa’s more than thrilled to have her Uncle Teller’s attention, and he gets to carry her through the woods while Heidi and I hang back.

  “I told you they’d be happy to do it.” My voice is low enough not to travel.

  “I can’t help it, you know?” Heidi stops and turns to me, pressing her hand over her heart. “No matter how hard I try, sometimes the little girl inside me that my mother abandoned won’t shut up.”

  I gently grasp her shoulders. “Maybe you should stop trying to shut her up and just talk to her.”

  “Maybe.” She leans up and kisses me. “Thank you.”

  “You ready to see the house?”

  “How much more have you done?”

  “You’ll see.”

  We’ve taken Alexa over to the house a few times, but I don’t think it’s sunk in that we’ll be living here soon.

  As Teller mounts the steps to the house, Alexa wails and tries to wriggle out of his arms.

  Okay, maybe she suspects something’s up after all.

  She still cranky and fussing while we tour the downstairs.

  “What’s wrong?” I lean down and kiss her cheeks. “Don’t you want to see our new house? And see your new room?

  Alexa shoots an eerily-similar-to-Heidi’s glare at me. “No!”

  “We’ll go with you,” Hope says.

  “Oh boy,” Heidi murmurs. “I knew it.”