He flicks a hand at me, his gaze doesn’t even move to me as I head out the door. Walking slowly down the stairs, I come to a realization. If I’m going to stay here, which after the night with Addie it’s what’s on my mind, I need to find another place to live. I’m sick of smelling like weed, and I refuse to bring her here.
Shivering, I hop on my bike, put the address I was given into my phone, connect it to the Bluetooth in my ear, and head out. I’ve never been out into this part of the county, and I have to say I’m looking forward to it. Something about it tells me this is where Addie grew up, and I’m dying to know more about the woman who enchanted me with our night spent together. Turning off of Louisville Road onto Porter Pike, I gun the throttle and open up the engine. Never having been on this stretch of asphalt before, I try to be conservative, but the lure of the open road is too much for me.
All too soon the GPS is instructing me to take a left down a gravel driveway. Eventually I see a building appear over a rise, a bunch of bikes, SUVs, trucks, and cars parked around it. I spot Addie’s immediately. Just knowing she’s here makes my heart beat slightly faster. Fuck, what did this girl do to me?
As I park, four or five guys come out the door, one of them being Jagger. Thankful to see someone I know, I walk toward him.
“Hey man,” he greets me with a wave. “Glad you found the place.”
Not gonna lie, I feel as if I’m under surveillance right now. I have no idea who these other guys are and it makes me twitchy. To keep myself from fidgeting, I put my hands in my jeans pockets. “Wasn’t hard with the GPS, a lot like home, actually.”
Going over to my saddle bags, I pull out a manila envelope holding every bit of tips I got this week. It’s about a hundred dollars short of the full amount owed, but I’m proud of what I was able to do.
“Where’s home?” A very tall, darker skin man asks as he takes a drink from a mug that’s either a real skull or shaped like one.
Tearing my gaze from what’s in his hands, I look up - he’s a few inches taller than me. “Mississippi, my bike broke down on sixty-five coming north. Jagger and Layne fixed it.” I hand Jagger over the envelope. “It’s about a hundred short of the final total, but I’ll get that to you next week.”
“Nah, call it even. Addie tells me you’re still livin’ with Skunk, and dude take that hundred dollars and go rent a hotel room, get you a night of clean air.” Jagger grins at me.
I can’t help but laugh. He doesn’t realize how much that sounds like a damn good idea. “I never realized how much I liked clean air until I lived there, I mean I’m a cigarette smoker, and I haven’t even been doing that much.”
“You’re livin’ with Skunk?” The skull mug guy shakes his head, chuckling. “You hungry? Because that guy sustains on weed only.”
My stomach growls loudly. “I really should get to work.” I point back to my bike.
The rest of them look at me, and I feel like they’re sizing me up. “Fuck it.” Jagger opens the door. “Mayhem will be okay for one night without you.”
As we enter the clubhouse, I look around for the woman I spent the night with. I don’t see her, but Jagger must notice my looking around.
“I guess I should make some introductions so you don’t feel like we’re about to take you out back and off you.”
“Had crossed my mind.”
He points to one of the men who came out with him. “This is Liam, our pres,” the guy with the skull cup, “Tyler, our VP,” and then points to a couple others in quick succession. “Dalton, Drew, Rooster. Our ladies and some kids are around here somewhere too, but that’s probably enough for one day.”
“We’re cooking out,” Liam says as he tilts his head to the back of the building. “I know it’s cold, but it gets hot as fuck in here when we start cooking,” he offers by way of explanation. “You’re welcome to stay and join us in a meal.”
A meal is something I haven’t really been able to afford while trying to save the money to pay back the work on my bike, to say I’m thankful is an understatement. “If you don’t mind.”
“We’re all family here, my man.”
Those words make me wonder why Addie seems to have such a hard time, but then again, I’m not in the situation she is. Fuck though, I’d love to see her. It’s like my brain conjures her up as she comes out what appears to be a kitchen area, carrying a bowl of food.
Addie
“I swear to God, Caelin, if you don’t stop stealing the food as we cook it I’m gonna cut your fingers off, and then how would those women you’re so good at seducing feel about you?” I crack him on the knuckles with a spatula as I carry a bowl of pasta salad out to the main room.
“Fuck, Addie!” he howls.
“Language!” I hear my mom yell from the kitchen. “You don’t want to test me after the crap you’ve pulled.”
I give him a satisfied smirk after mom lays down the law and continue into the main room. That’s when I see Wild standing there, right next to my dad and the other members of Heaven Hill. Shock is the only way I can describe it, the only reason I freeze.
“Caelin, grab that bowl for your sister and act like you’ve got some sense.” I hear Dad, but it feels like it’s from a million miles away. What is Wild doing at the clubhouse?
“C’mon, Dad, I’m hungry, and when am I gonna be forgiven?”
“For fucking a woman on your mom’s couch?” Dad asks as snickers are heard throughout the room. “Umm, probably when you’re ninety, if you’re lucky. Don’t push it.”
“Can’t wait until I can move out like Addie did.” He throws a glare and crosses what truly are massive arms over his chest.
Mom comes out of the kitchen, carrying her own bowl. Which Dad rushes over to grab it for her, setting his mug down. She turns to face my brother. “When you’re eighteen you can do whatever the hell you want to do. Until then you obey my rules.”
“Or you don’t get your bike at the end of the year,” Dad adds.
I can literally hear Caelin’s heart break. A part of me, the part that realizes he’s a really bratty younger brother, stands up and cheers. Another part of me feels really sorry for him. “But,” he starts to argue.
“No,” Dad roars. “The mouth is what’s getting your ass in trouble in the first place. You’ll either learn to follow instructions and directions or you won’t prospect when you’re old enough and you sure as hell won’t get the bike.”
Caelin looks like he wants to argue more, but wisely keeps his mouth shut. And as he turns in a fit of rage, he hits dad’s mug. There’s a loud gasp in the room as Wild lunges for it, so it doesn’t hit the floor.
“Don’t touch it!” Jagger yells, and right as Wild would have caught it, Dad swoops down, grabbing the handle.
“What the fuck?” Wild asks as he looks around, seeing everyone with their hands out.
Jagger chuckles. “Oh you’ll see. Caelin’s done it now. Dude,” he points to Caelin, “you’re fucked.”
And as my little brother walks away, everyone gives him a very, very wide berth. Because it’s not if the curse happens, it will totally be when. I sigh, gaze over at Wild, and give him a grin.
“Welcome to family dinner.”
Ten
Addie
Sitting at the table in the middle of the clubhouse with Wild a few chairs down from me is not a position I’d ever thought I’d be in the day after we slept together. Life is what it is though, and sometimes that bitch likes to throw curveballs. Luckily for me, the people at this table are inquisitive fuckers.
“How’d you end up here?” Mom asks as she passes him the bread. Never mind he’s already answered the question a few times, she still wants it answered again.
He’s nice though, doesn’t even sigh as he pushes into the explanation again. “My bike threw a rod right off exit twenty-eight. Coasted into the gas station, and they showed up.” He points to Jagger and Layne.
“Pretty lucky for you.” She eyes Steele.
“Yeah, somebody told me you all watch that exit, but I’m very glad you do.”
“I’m pretty sure that somebody was Skunk. For some reason he seems to act like we’re the government. He’s got so many conspiracy theories surrounding us and this place, I’m surprised he doesn’t wear a colander on his damn head while in his apartment.”
“He would if he were sober enough to think about it,” Wild answers. “But I’m pretty sure he hasn’t been sober since 2005.
“Yeah, I went over there to get his rent the other day.” I shake my head. “Since brat took over what I was doing at CRISIS, and Jesus…I don’t know how he doesn’t get pulled over by the cops every day.”
“He sells to a lot of them.” Wild chuckles as he takes a bite of the mashed potatoes I made. “You’d be surprised.”
“No,” Rooster interjects, taking a drink of his beer. “I wouldn’t. I’m a former Sheriff’s Deputy. I could probably name every single one of them, even though I’ve been off the force for a while.”
The group continues talking, but my gaze stays on Wild, watching him as he tries his best to follow along with the conversations that are happening. His dark eyes move back and forth, he interjects when he’s being questioned, and he’s polite as can be. So much different than the man who was between my legs last night.
“Your food okay, Addie?”
My mom knocks me out of my thoughts. Glancing down I see I’ve barely touched what I put on my plate. Immediately I scoop a few things up on my fork, worried that she’s caught me looking at him.
“Yeah, just thinking about some stuff. Maybe I wasn’t as hungry as I thought I was.”
In that moment, my eyes meet Wild’s and I know he’s thinking the same thing I am. I can tell by the heat he’s throwing off, the way he scratches at his arm, a nervous tick that most people have.
“Wasn’t Tate supposed to come with you tonight?” Liam’s voice is pitched louder because he sits farther down the table.
I clear my throat, pulling my stare from Wild’s. “Yeah, she and I got our hair done together, but then Remy picked her up. I thought she was coming here. I guess not. She hasn’t texted me,” I tell him as I flip over my phone to verify what I’m telling him is right.
“They probably got involved in something else.” Her brother, Drew, gives Liam a grin from where he sits.
“Laugh it up, buddy. When you have two daughters the same age, at the same time, doing the same shit, let’s see how you like it.”
Drew’s face falls immediately as he looks over to where his twin daughter’s sit at the kids table.
“Yeah,” Liam continues. “Not so funny now, is it?”
No matter how much jawing is going on back and forth, I know this is my family. I know they’re here to protect me no matter what happens, no matter what goes down. I know if I need to come somewhere to be safe, this is it. Again, I wonder back to what would have happened to me had Tyler and Meredith Blackfoot not come into my life? Where would I be? Who would I be with?
Sighing, I try to let it go, try not to let it bother me. But it does, and I know above anything else that’s my issue, and I can’t put that at another’s feet.
Wild
This meal is controlled chaos. It’s evident from sitting back and watching these people they care deeply about one another, they’re some sort of make-shift family. Much like the people who come into Mayhem, looking for a place to belong. The people sitting at this table have somehow found themselves here because they were searching for a place to belong.
I have questions for Addie, but I can’t ask them here. She seems content to pretend like the two of us have never met before. The food is carried away and I take a minute to glance at my phone. I’m an hour late for work. If I want to move out of the apartment, being here when I could be making money isn’t helping anyone.
“Thank you so much for the hospitality, but I have to get to work.” I get up as everyone starts pouring cups of coffee and talking about dessert.
“Yeah, I should be leaving too.” Addie stands up right along with me. “I have some stuff I need to get done around the apartment.”
The volume rises again as everyone tells us bye, Jagger walks us to the door where he grabs hold of my shoulder. “Hey, if you’re looking for another place to live. There’s a very small, and I mean tiny house, about three miles back that way.” He points to the way we came. “The rent is super cheap on it because it’s so small. Probably about what you’re paying Skunk to live in his apartment because you’re probably buying his weed for him, whether you know it or not. If you’d like, you can take a look at it tomorrow.”
There’s an urge for me to turn and look at Addie, but I know if I do, I’ll give myself away. When Jagger stopped me, she kept walking, and fuck if I don’t want to know what her opinion is. “I’d love to, but I don’t know if I can really afford it. Regardless of how much it is, all I’m paying Skunk is seventy-five, I should be okay. I don’t want charity though - I want to make my own way.”
“We can always use help at the shop, even if you don’t know how to fix the big stuff. Oil changes and shit are what pay the bills, a few repos here and there. If you’re interested, I’d be willing to see what I can do to help you out. I don’t know why, kid, but you remind me of myself when the club found me.”
Maybe this is what I’ve been searching for. When I left Mississippi, I didn’t even know where I was going. Didn’t know what the hell I was going to do, and had no idea where I’d end up. Now that I’m here, there are people willing to help me out, a girl I’m interested in, and a possible job that won’t have me staying up at all hours of the night.
“Ya know what? Fuck it, if you’re willing to help, I’ll gladly take it.”
“Good.” Jagger grins. “Come by Walker’s Wheels tomorrow. You can Google it, we’ll show up. I’ll talk to Liam and Tyler about you checking out the house and possibly putting you on the schedule if they think it’s a good idea.”
“I appreciate it.” I reach out, grasping his hand in mine. People I’ve known my whole life haven’t gone to bat for me like this guy has, and I can’t help but wonder if this is where the fuck I’m supposed to be. Maybe after all this looking, I’ve found my spot in this damn world.
“See ya tomorrow.”
As I walk out, I see Addie standing at her SUV.
“I didn’t plan on being here tonight, didn’t even know this is where you’d be. Once food was offered, I couldn’t leave,” I tell her before she can accuse me of trying to follow her or something.
“Oh, I know,” she laughs, a deep throaty sound that takes me right back to last night. “The thing is though, I think you’re on their radar now. They see someone they can help in you. I hope you like Bowling Green, because once they get their hooks into you, you’re family and they don’t let you go.”
If she’s trying to scare me off, she’s gonna have to try harder. That shit right there? Is all I’ve wanted my entire life. She gets into her SUV, giving me a wave, and as I watch her drive away, I find myself mumbling. “God I hope so.”
Eleven
Addie
February
“Can you please cover for me with Mom?” Caelin is begging me as he stands outside of CRISIS. “Just tell her I didn’t feel well.”
“No.” I cross my arms over my chest and shake my head vigorously at him. “You’ve got to learn to take your punishment, bro. You can’t be doing the shit you’re doing and then expect everyone to bail you out time and time again. It’s not fair.”
He huffs. “You weren’t all roses and unicorns two years ago, either. I hope you realize that.”
I give him a pointed glare. “Oh I do, but I didn’t let my freak flag fly until I was out from under their roof. You’ve got to play the game, Cae. They’ll loosen up, but you’ve got to prove to them you’re ready for it.”
He swallows hard. “I just want them to look at me like I’m a man.”
“Who?”
“The
guys in the club. If I’m gonna follow in Dad’s footsteps, they’ve got to stop looking at me like I’m a screwup.”
I’m freezing out here, talking to him, but this is the most he’s been willing to share with me for months and I’m not going to cut him off. Obviously it’s bothering him if he feels the need to act like such an ass. “Then act like a man. If you keep doing what you’re doing, Dad won’t give you the bike you want in the fall. You heard him yesterday, he’s sick of your shit. Why do you keep doing it?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“You do know,” I press him.
“It gets me attention. Mom’s so wrapped up in this place. Dad’s always with Liam, and you’re off doing your own thing. As much as I keep talking about being ready to move out of their house, I miss our family nights together,” he admits, kicking a rock with the toe of his boot. “I feel like I never see you anymore.”
A pang of guilt hits me hard. It’s always been the two of us, but as I’ve begun to feel more and more out of place, I’ve distanced myself from everyone, including my brother. Maybe it’s time for me to practice what I preach. In three years what if Caelin doesn’t want to hang out with me? And I will have wasted all this time. “We’ll have one soon. I’ll find out when Mom and Dad are free, I promise.”
“Sounds good.” He gives me a grin, looking like the same little brother I’ve known his whole life. We’re hugging when Mom comes out of the building.
“You two okay?”
“We’re good.” I turn, my arm around his waist. “Just having a brother/sister moment.”
“It’s nice to know the two of you can have them even though you’re usually at each other’s throats.” She walks toward us.
My mom. She’s a gorgeous lady. No one would ever guess her real age. She doesn’t have many wrinkles, no grays are visible and she’s kept in decent shape over the years. Same with my dad - the two of them, they keep each other young.
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