by J. C. Allen
The funniest part was that she thought I would reject her for all of that, but in comparison to my baggage, it was practically nothing.
And so, by November, I knew things were going to be just fine. And for that reason, I was prepared to take her on the most important ride yet.
“Where are we going?”
Isabelle sat on the back of my bike, her plush body against mine. Most rides, I would have told her where we were going—but not tonight.
“You’ll see.”
I took the short drive from my place to the club. I pulled around the back of the club, going down until I found the spot. I had almost never gone here, but something in me just kept telling me to bring her here. It felt right, and it felt like something I had to do for us to move forward.
“This is where my Dad is buried.”
I took her hand, feeling her eyes on me as we walked forward. She wrapped her arm around mine and held herself close to me.
“Do you talk to him?”
I shook my head as we got to the grave. Thankfully, she didn’t press me on the topic. We stood there together over his grave for a long, long time.
“You okay?”
OK… In some ways, no.
But as long as I am with you, I’m OK.
“Yeah.”
I turned to her, cupping her soft cheek to kiss her. Though I had had the thought running through my head for some time, being by my father’s grave—and thinking about how I would be there someday, and how I wanted to leave a real legacy—reminded me that I wanted kids someday. I wanted to have a child to continue the Kinsmen tradition well into the twenty-first century.
And there was no one I wanted to bear the child more than Isabelle. There was no one I had ever felt was worthy until I met Isabelle. And there was no one more beautiful, more perfect, more motherly than Isabelle.
“Truth is, Isabelle, being here… I know that I want to put a baby in you,” I said. “Forgive me for the crude expression—you know I’m not good at these things—but you are someone I love and someone I care about. My father was a great man, someone I’ve always wanted to be like—not just as a man, but as a father. You and I… well, maybe we could wait until you finish your program. But after that?”
I smirked as I brought her closer. She just smiled wryly.
“You’d have to make an honest woman out of me first, Jaxson,” she said with a snort. “You’d have to officially make me your old lady.”
“So marry me then. As soon as possible.”
I hadn’t even meant to say those words. They seemed…
They seemed just right. Really, they honestly did.
Her soft brown eyes widened, and I lost myself in them, overcome with happiness. Her arms wrapped around my neck and she kissed me.
This, this was what I had been missing my whole life. This feeling of real love. All of the women that had passed through my life had never meant anything to me, and I’d be lying if I said that I first thought Isabelle would be the one to change my life. For how much I pushed her away, I didn’t deserve her.
But here she was. I wasn’t sure what had shined upon me, giving me the right to be with a woman so beautiful, but now that she was, I was not about to make the same mistake twice. I was going to keep her.
“Yes, Jaxson, yes.”
I smile back at her. Isabelle had saved me and saved my club. She had saved me from a life in prison, death, and my club from excommunication in the city. She was the angel that saved my world.
And now, she was mine forever.
Simon
1
Simon
I pounded into the dry wall harder than I need to, but that didn’t matter to me, not at the moment.
All that mattered, right now, was how goddamn angry I was. And I had to say, I was pretty goddamn fucking pissed off.
And it had everything to do with how much had fallen apart, how much had come back together, and… well, how much was still left to be figured out. For everything good that had come out of the crisis with the city nearly levying a half a hundred grand tax bill on us, for everything that had been done to be saved, there were still plenty of questions about where my loyalties lay—questions that I didn’t particularly enjoy.
Especially when they came from my brothers, the people who knew me best.
And speaking of, as my phone rang…
“What do you want?” I said to Jaxson.
As I spoke to him, I grabbed my towel from the back pocket of my torn jeans to wipe the sweat forming on my forehead and walked out of the half-built house I had been working on. The guys gave me looks on the way out—the guys being the three people I now employed, having assumed ownership of the company recently. It seemed that questions of my loyalty came from all sides—I was loyal to all, trusted by none, sadly.
“Wow, it isn’t even early morning and you’ve got an attitude already.”
I glanced at my watch. It wasn’t that early—maybe Jaxson had a twisted sense of time.
“It’s eleven. Early enough. Early for you, though.”
“I took Isabelle to campus today, only reason I’m up this early. But I was hoping you would come by the club tonight.”
Oh, God, here we go.
“For what?” I said with a sigh.
I stepped down onto the built brick steps and perched on the second step, digging my old work boots into the ground and letting the sun beat down on me. For it being the state of Minnesota, this particular summer sure had gotten hot.
“Figure it out when you get there.”
Of course.
“I thought we agreed you wouldn’t be so stand-offish about it anymore.”
Of all the things that got me upset, that ranked pretty damn high up there. I knew Jaxson knew that, too—he liked to twist the knife in a little bit every now and then.
“I’m not being…”
Stay calm.
“Look, I have a lot to do here on the site and then more paperwork.”
“Right. Like I don’t have paperwork to do too.”
I rolled my eyes at him, even though I knew he was right. He was the president, so he got to make the rules.
But he wasn’t God, and he couldn’t make me partake more in the club than I wanted to. Right now, yes, I wanted to, but if he kept up the attitude, that was going to change really fast.
“I’ll see,” I said, trying to wrap up the conversation before I let my temper get the best of me. “I have to get back to work.”
“Oh before you go,” Jaxson said, albeit much calmer than earlier. “Isabelle wants you to have dinner with us tonight. Says you’re the only one of my brothers she doesn’t really know. I agree, considering she is my wife and all. Maybe that will make you pay attention.”
I glanced at the too bright sun. Sometimes, I would just forget they were actually married. It was easy to do since they got into it so fast.
Admittedly, I liked Isabelle from what I had seen of her, and she seemed like a good fit for Jaxson. But if he was going to have the attitude, it didn’t matter if she was Mother Theresa to me.
“Fuck,” I said, rubbing my hand down my face. “Fine. What time should I come by?”
“Don’t worry. We’re coming to you.”
He then hung up before I even had time to even argue about it. It was always like that with Jaxson. We got along mostly by fighting, though at times, like here, it could shift from playful fighting to serious, actual fighting.
Most of the time, we figured it out… but it wasn’t because of a lack of trying.A lot of our fights lasted longer than the others would have liked, especially Mom. After Dad died, it was only worse because there was no real referee to give us some reason, some insight, and some rationality.
Dad and his legacy became the main thing we fought over. It got to the point where I just didn’t want any part of it. I all but walked away, leaving my name in there as a Kinsmen but mostly moving on with my life.
But it took almost losing the club to r
ealize that I was being foolish for wanting to avoid it. The club wasn’t just something that had my name—it was all but in my blood. To avoid it was to avoid family, honestly.
So I started coming to meetings here and there over the past few months. I hadn’t gotten a real role in it at Jaxson’s insistence that I continue to make myself present, but I figured that would eventually come.
Besides, if I really had to throw my weight around, I could get what I wanted without any trouble. I was a Kinsmen, after all.
“Boss, we got trouble back here.”
At least in the MC. In the construction company, the workers made me earn my respect.
“What’s up?”
I hopped up and followed the concerned employee, Jay, in.
“We nicked the plumbing line. Easily fixable, just gonna have a bit of trouble and set us back a few days.”
I smelled it before he explained it, but it honestly didn’t look as bad as he was making it sound. Still, it was something else I had to add to my docket of things I had to worry about—as if the docket wasn’t full enough already.
“Hmm. I’ll get maintenance out here, just avoid the area for today.”
He nodded and threw down some plywood around the busted white pipe line. It wasn’t the perfect fix, and there still needed to be some things to do, but at this point—though it may not have been very becoming of a good boss—I was just ready to get done for the day. Jaxson’s phone call had put me in a bit of a mood, and that mood mandated that I get the hell done with work as soon as possible.
“Let’s finish up here and then y’all can go.”
I definitely got some looks for that statement, but like I said, I was just ready to get the hell out of there. I needed some quiet distance from everything.
“You don’t need help with the molding?”
Minor details.
“Nah, I’ll take care of it.”
It was a win-win for me to handle it. The job would get done, and I needed some time to myself anyway. Most of the time, these build sites were the only places I could really think outside of being alone at my home—which, because it was home, wasn’t great for being alone either.
“Gotcha.”
It wasn’t helping matters that this was the first major project I’d taken on since taking over the company. Maybe my “fuck it” attitude was preventing us from realizing our full potential, but right now, I just figured giving the guys a break for the day would help get in their good graces. If nothing else, it would allow them to see their loved ones.
That was the idea, at least. If they were anything like the Kinsmen club, they probably went to have drinks, hook up with random girls, or just act melancholy.
Around five, I let the other guys go and started work in the living room. I picked a spot on the ground to slide over on until I reached the other end, installing the weird brown crown molding. In that time, I let my mind drift to Jaxson’s phone call and what he had said.
There was definitely some truth to the idea that I needed to be more involved. I thought I had been, but then again, I guess that wasn’t really my call—it was the call of the officers and my brothers. Granted, Jaxson could be a real hardass on me, but he wasn’t totally wrong.
Still, compared to what it had been before, I definitely was making progress in being a more active member. It was frustrating to not get that acknowledgment from Jaxson, but he had never been one for flattery or the like. So I just keep on keeping on, I suppose.
I worked until six thirty, when it was respectable for me to be late to Jaxson’s request. In other words, I was on time enough to not be rude, but late enough that I could make him suffer a bit. What could I say, we were brothers.
Sure enough, when my truck pulled into the long drive up to my house, he was already there with Isabelle. It was, I suppose, predictable, but then again, I couldn’t say I wasn’t entirely upset to see my brother—not that I would ever admit that. We fight because we love.
Jaxson waved but it was more of a “fuck off, you’re late” kind of thing. Isabelle only smiled. I still had to remind myself she was his wife.
I had to admit, she was hot as all hell. She had curves for miles, creamy pale skin, and brown hair that perfectly matched her body. Jaxson had lucked out big time. I was almost envious… almost.
OK, maybe a little. Not that I’m going to admit that.
“You’ve got us out here in the cold and my poor wife is freezing to death.”
Jaxson had his arm around her and a grin that he only got when he was around her. He even joked around her too. She truly had made him a changed man, and on some nights, I wondered if that kind of thing happened for everyone.
Would it happen to me?
“It’s fine,” she said, pinching his thigh and smiling at me. “Hi Simon. Thanks for having us over.”
I crossed the space between my truck and them to shake Jaxson’s hand and hug Isabelle.
“I’ve got all the stuff here,” Isabelle said. “You can clean up while I make dinner.”
I would easily forget that “clean” on the job had a very different definition than clean in the real world, especially women in the real world. Suffice to say, it was not even close to the same thing—like saying violent to a little kid was different than violent to a soldier.
“Right, thanks,” I grumbled.
I guided Isabelle and Jaxson in to my modest house. It didn’t have a ton of decorating, more or less looking the same as when my mother had helped me move in. The two gray couches took up the living room, right off the entryway, and my flat screen took up the whole wall. The hall behind it led to the two extra bedrooms just before mine at the very end. The kitchen—sadly, not an open concept— was off to the side, behind a wall that lined the dining room and breakfast nook.
It wasn’t anything that was going to make any television shows, but I was a loner anyways. It was preferable to not have to defend my decoration decisions, or lack thereof.
I left the two of them in the kitchen and headed to my room. I took everything off and hampered it before I showered from head to toe. Like every other day, I was hurting—my legs, my back… this damn job had a way of making me feel old.
But I enjoyed the feeling of working with my hands. It was like I got to see visual evidence of the work I had done every single day.
Once I finished up, I dried off and figured I should dress respectable for dinner, if for no other reason than that Isabelle had shown up. Jeans and a tee shirt that was recently washed seemed good enough. I headed to the kitchen when I began to hear what I couldn’t believe.
“Jaxson, we’re at your brother’s house,” Isabelle said, her voice muffled by what I assume was Jaxson kissing her.
I frowned and hid behind the pillar, contemplating my next move. I had let Jaxson get away with a lot, but if this went where I thought it was heading…
“So? We’re cooking him dinner. Besides, he’s caught me doing worse things.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed and blew my cover. I stepped around the wall and found Isabelle pressed up against the fridge by Jaxson. She looked mortified, but Jaxson looked so nonplussed an outsider would have thought this kind of thing happened regularly.
“It’s true, we shared a wall growing up. Sometimes I walked into a live show of it.”
I wasn’t sure if that was supposed to help Jaxson’s case, but, eh, fuck it.
“See?” Jaxson said.
Isabelle cleared her throat, still embarrassed, and took something out of the oven, the better to change the topic.
“It isn’t fancy, I just wanted to do something quick.”
“Yeah, we would have had a few more hours if you hadn’t been so inconsiderate,” Jaxson said, opening my fridge and helping himself to beer.
“I was busy.”
“It’s okay, ignore him,” Isabelle said, patting my shoulder on her way by me.
I think that was just the first time I got the whole sister-in-law thing from her. Kind
of nice, to be honest.
She can actually take my side when she recognizes Jaxson being a jackass.
Eventually, we sat and eat. Isabelle had made a fifteen-minute casserole with chicken and some other stuff in it. I couldn’t say what was in it, but I could say it tasted really fucking good.
“So this is why you’ve been getting pudgy,” I said to Jaxson with a sarcastic snort.
Jaxson frowned at me with his familiar look.
“Fuck off. You would be too if you lived with her.”
I roll my eyes and drank the last of my beer.
“Not for me, man. I’m happy in this single life.”
I wondered if Jaxson had given any thought to inviting Zeke and Matthew, but honestly, the fewer the better.
“I thought so,” Jaxson said, but then he got a devilish grin on his face as he looked from me to Isabelle. “Riley is still single right? Simon, her roommate is single. Just saying, I know it’s been a while for you.”
I just laughed at the notion. The only thing I had avoided more than the club before recent times was relationships—and unlike the club, that had not changed.
“Oh god, please don’t.”
“What? Riley is nice!” Isabelle said.
“I’m sure she is,” I said, probably sounding nastier than I had intended.
“It’s fine,” Jaxson said with a smirk. “Riley only goes for rich dudes.”
“Hey, I’m not some dead beat.”
Jaxson only laughed in response. It was so typical of our fraternal interaction that I took zero offense to it. I didn’t take offense to much.
Though he does have a way of getting under my skin at times.
“I know,” Isabelle said, coming to her roommate’s defense. “But still. The last guy she dated owned half the downtown district. The land at least, but she isn’t a gold digger. She says rich guys don’t ask for anything from you.”
“I agree with that,” Jaxson said with a chuckle. “I’m pretty sure I ask you for a lot.”
Jaxson growled under his breath, making it obvious he meant something entirely different when he looked down at Isabelle and squeezed her waist. They smiled at each other and kissed until they remember they have company at the moment. I should just fucking leave and let them have that fridge.
