The Killing Ride

by Michelle, Christine

  “I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit. T-Bone saw the man you would become. I know everything that went down with you and Ever hit you hard, especially after you realized your mistake and that there was no easy fix for it. Knowing you fucked up, and that it caused another person that much pain, it knocked you back and gave your ego a kick in the ass I don’t think you ever recovered from. You were on track to growing into the man T-Bone saw running the club in the future. You just didn’t know it yet.”

  I waved his words away. “None of it matters now,” I told him. “I can’t stay here.”

  “You heading back out on the road again? You can transfer to nomad or one of the other chapters. You don’t have to turn in your kutte just yet.” He laid his hand down on the leather that I sat in my lap. “Keep it a bit longer and think on it. I’ll put the transfer through myself for wherever you decide to go. You know the bylaws. If you are on nomad status you have to participate in club runs once a month, doesn’t matter which chapter, and show up for the national club meeting once per year. That’s not asking a whole lot, and it keeps you in the Aces High family.”

  I nodded at my father. I knew all of that. I just honestly wasn’t sure I wanted to remain a member of the family. “I don’t think,” I started to say.

  He held up his hand to stop me. “Just think about it. I’ll talk to Ghost about you taking a hiatus from club activities for a time. I’m not sure how long he’ll allow, and most likely you won’t draw club pay while you do, but it will give you some time to see if it’s what you really want.”

  “Fine,” I told him. Still, I had no plans of wearing the kutte again. I didn’t think that would change. “I need to get back out there. Left my woman with Irons,” I explained.

  “That was a dumb fuck move,” my dad told me as he patted my shoulder while laughing at the shocked expression on my face.

  “He wouldn’t,” I started to say and then shook that thought right off. Irons, better known as Kane to my sister-in-law, absolutely fucking would. Just to get back at me for her. He didn’t give a fuck that I’d made a dumbass mistake as a teenager, or that Ever had forgiven me. He was always in big-brother protection mode with her. I had a feeling it was the reason he’d joined the club to begin with. I had another feeling that my brother better keep a solid fucking eye on the guy, but I didn’t miss the way he used to track her with those puppy-love eyes. The more I thought on it, the quicker I got my ass in gear. Before I could make it out of the office my father stopped me.

  “You gonna introduce me to this girl of yours?”

  “Not yet,” I told him. He seemed hurt by that response. “She was Lindsay’s friend before,” I explained. “Right now, she doesn’t realize she’s my girl.”

  Merc burst out laughing. “That’s my boy! Stick with it until she does.”

  “That’s the plan,” I told him before hauling ass out there to make sure Kane wasn’t moving in on my woman. That slick as fuck bastard could probably do it too.

  The minute I cleared the hallway and had eyes on them I knew he was trying, or at least pretending to. He was leaned in towards her, his hand was lying on top of hers on the table, and he was speaking in a low tone so as not to be overheard by the others in the room. Anger bubbled up from the pit of my stomach and I was just about to explode when I glanced at Christina instead. She was leaned back as far as the chair would allow her, trying to get space between her and Irons. Her eyes were wide, and damn near panic-stricken, shifting around looking for a way out. I couldn’t help the smirk that crossed my face then.

  “Christina,” I called out. She jumped up and damn near ran to me. I was somewhat shocked when she laced her fingers with my own and tugged me closer to her. “Was he bothering you?” I whispered into her ear.

  “He’s a bit strange. The jerk kept asking me what it would take to get me to leave you and come home with him. When I said I wouldn’t be doing that, he was trying to hook me up with any other brother, so long as it wasn’t you.”

  I laughed. “He’s Ever’s watchdog. Doesn’t matter that she forgave me, he holds her grudges for her since she’s incapable,” I explained.

  “You told her about Ever?” He asked. I hadn’t seen Kane walk up since I’d been distracted by Christina.

  “He did,” she confirmed.

  Irons furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, I’m betting you got the sugarcoating, sweetheart.”

  I turned on the man about to call him out for shitting on a brother in the clubhouse, then I remembered I was only a brother by default at that point. It didn’t matter anyway; Christina beat me to the punch.

  “Listen here, asshole, I don’t care how important you think you are. I don’t care how suave you think you are. It didn’t work. Get over it. Jay’s been nothing but honest with me. I know all the dirty little details, the guilt he carries, and the fact that he doesn’t think he’s good enough for anyone in his life. He still shows up, puts on a fucking smile, and rocks that beard when half the time he probably feels like dying inside. From what I hear, Ever has forgiven him, and you weren’t a part of their story, so how about you back the fuck up and see your way out of Jay’s business. Aren’t you MC guys supposed to stick up for one another no matter what?” She asked. He stood there shocked, unable to answer. “You’re failing, asshole,” she insisted before grabbing a hold of my arm and tugging so that I would follow her out.

  “She told you, Irons! Better get your shit in gear!” We heard one of the men call out to him as we left.

  The moment our feet hit the parking lot, I spun Christina around and planted a sweet as fuck kiss right on her pouty little mouth. “Thank you for that,” I whispered against her mouth when I finally eased off.

  “You don’t have to thank me. That guy was a prick.”

  “Tina,” I said, testing out a different nickname for her. I didn’t want to be like every other schmuck out there and call her Chris. I saw the way she flinched every time someone did it.

  I was rewarded for my efforts with a huge a smile and bright eyes seeking out my own. “No one has ever called me that before. I tried to get people to do it in school, but they never would.” She told me as she shrugged her shoulders.

  “I’m not everyone else, sweetheart.”

  “No, you’re definitely not,” she admitted as a blush stole across her cheeks. “What were you going to say?”

  “We’re both tired of chasing ghosts, let’s start somewhere new where they aren’t chasing us back.” I thought she would say no. I thought she would give me a million reasons why that was a bad idea. I knew deep down in my heart that I would stay and wait for her to be ready even if it meant sticking around when I didn’t want to. Hell, I couldn’t blame her for saying no. She should tell me to fuck off and not to be a crazy person. Something, anything other than what she fucking said, because there was no way I deserved those words.

  “Take me home then, so I can go pack.”

  Chapter 25

  The Move

  Christina

  Yes. It seemed like such an innocuous little word as it hung out in my mind. I hadn’t simply said yes to Jay’s question though. I told him to take me home so I could pack. Who the hell does that? Crazy people, that’s who. Me. I am crazy people.

  It made absolutely no sense, and yet I was completely at peace with my decision. It had been two months since my supposed best friend had died. The same woman who Jay had been dating up until that point. It didn’t seem like a terribly lengthy time, and yet it also seemed like only moments had passed. Jay and I had both spent the past few weeks getting our ducks in a row. He had a job lined up where we were going, which was the middle of nowhere fucking Georgia. That’s where the job was. I did not have a job lined up, but I did have some income from commissioned pieces that had been coming in since I set my website up.

  I was hoping to sell my work at some of the local mom and pop tourist shops in the little mountain town we were moving to. Otherwise, I had to
cross my fingers and hope like hell that the internet business did well or that one of those shops would hire me. Jay assured me he would be making enough money to support us both, but I didn’t feel right about that. I hadn’t even slept with the man yet.

  It had been my one requirement before we moved. I wanted to take things slow, work on getting to know one another, becoming good friends, and then maybe move into the romantic stuff. Some days, I felt like I was just torturing myself. It had been a long time since I’d been with a man and my body missed it. That wasn’t right. My body craved the touch of another person, but I didn’t want to get this relationship wrong. There was too much riding on us making it work not to put in the effort.

  “Are we there yet?” I asked when he came through the door of my now empty apartment with a bag full of road trip food. It was only about a five-and-a-half-hour drive to our destination, but Jay thought we might starve to death along the way judging by the amount of snacks in that damn bag. “Did you get enough?”

  He laughed at me, the sound reverberating in the shell of the apartment. “You have to be prepared for road trip cravings, funny girl. When you first start out, maybe you’re thinking a bag of cheese popcorn is the way to go, but then suddenly, what you really want is a Slim Jim.”

  “If what you want is a giant meat stick, this relationship is never going to work,” I teased him. He didn’t even respond beyond a chuckle before he had me off my feet and launching me over his shoulder. Jay slapped my ass and headed toward the door.

  “You have everything?”

  “Just need my cell phone over there,” I told him. Pointing was useless since I was hanging down his back side. He moved the few steps to the kitchen counter and snatched it up. “All right, let’s get to Georgia, my little peach!”

  “Don’t ever call me that again.”

  “Calm your tits, Tina, those mountain women will make a Georgia girl out of you yet!”

  I growled in frustration as he simply laughed at me on the way out to the Jeep. “Wait! Are you sure we don’t need a cooler full or drinks? A tent? Maybe some of the meals in a bag they give to soldiers? You never know what could happen in five hours,” I tormented him.

  He smacked my ass again, righted me, and held me securely until the world stopped spinning. Then he leaned in close as I climbed into the Jeep and situated my ass in the seat. “I hope you went to the bathroom while you were in the apartment, because since you have such a smart mouth about my snacks, I’m driving straight through. No stops.” He slipped away and did that sexy man-jog thing to the other side of the Jeep where he hopped in and chuckled at the sour look on my face. I had not, in fact, gone to the bathroom, and now that he mentioned it, my bladder suddenly woke up.

  “I forgot something,” I started to say.

  “Oh no! You get to live with your bad decisions now,” he tormented me.

  I glanced around the Jeep and shrugged. “Pretty sure this bad boy can be hosed out. If you don’t stop, I’ll just arrive in damp pants and your Jeep will be the one to suffer.”

  “You wouldn’t!”

  “Try me, Mr. Meat Stick!” I poked my tongue out in his general direction as I fastened my seat belt. I took one more look around and breathed out all the old memories from this place. You would think Savannah would have been more of a safe harbor, but Lindsay’s last night had put a taint on everything for me here. I was glad to be leaving and couldn’t wait to breathe in some fresh mountain air and make some new memories. Better memories.

  “Some copilot you are!” A deep chuckle followed those words. I couldn’t tell you if that was what woke me, or if it was the lack of movement after feeling the Jeep’s vibrations along with the twists, turns, and bumps of the road. “Come on, sleepyhead, wakeup and wipe that drool away. Several people laughed, which was odd because I thought there had only been two of us in the Jeep when we took off. I yawned, stretched, and finally popped my eyes open to find Jay standing by my door with several strangers, all of whom were grinning at me like crazy.

  “What the hell?” I asked, and then swiped my hand across my face really quick because I had been drooling a little bit. Damn, that was embarrassing. “Where are we?”

  “We’re here already, Sleepytime!” Jay chirped. I narrowed my eyes on him because there was no way we had driven over five hours already. It hadn’t been that long since…I glanced down at my cell phone to see that it had, indeed, been that long since we left. I must have nodded off almost as soon as we got going. Heat tinged my cheeks with a blush.

  “I’m so sorry,” I called out.

  “It’s okay, you can’t help that your off switch is in your ass,” a strange man told me. He was wearing a leather kutte like Jay had, so I assumed we were near the Sierra High, Georgia Chapter of Aces High. The patch with his road name had Quickshot written on it. He had a pretty redhead standing next to him who also wore a kutte of her own and her road name tag said she went by Keys.

  “Hi, I’m Keys,” she said to me as she thrust her hand out toward me. I took it and we shook briefly. We just came to make sure you guys found the place okay. It’s not off the beaten path as some of the places around here, but it’s still easy to miss that turn onto Miller Rd.” When she noticed the confused look on my face, she grinned. “I guess you slept through that part.”

  “She slept through every part. It’s like the Jeep engine cut on and her own turned off.”

  “I really am sorry about that,” I told him as I finally removed myself from the Jeep and looked around. “Oh wow, this place is beautiful,” I said out loud.

  “Thank you. I’m glad you like it. It’s just been sitting here empty since one of my sisters and her man moved to a bigger house. They had another little one on the way and didn’t want the kids to have to share.”

  “If Steel would learn to wrap his shit up, they might not have to worry about expanding so often,” Quickshot joked.

  “Oh stop!” Keys backhanded the man’s solid chest as they both laughed. “Those two can’t help that they can’t keep their hands off one another. I’m happy for JoJo.” She then turned toward me. “Come on, I’ll show you around the place.” She reached out and took my hand to lead me toward the house while Jay stayed behind to talk to Quickshot. I figured since they were from the same club, they needed to talk business. Before we left, Jay had pretty much decided that he was only going to be loosely affiliated with the club at the most, despite the fact that there was a chapter here in Sierra High that he could join. Their bylaws had an inactive members status now thanks to Jay’s father, who mentioned to Ghost, the Club President, that his son needed time to step back from the club. It hadn’t been the first time a brother needed time away, so they decided to make it official for everyone. He would have to attend the national meetings twice a year, as well as participate on at least two of the larger rides. He also forfeited receiving any income from the club until his status switched back to that of an active member.

  I think the only reason he chose to go along with it was because his father had gone out on a limb with the club to get it done for him. Jay’s heart just wasn’t in it any longer. I didn’t know if that would change over time, but his father wanted to make sure he was still able to come back if it did.

  “Are you nervous about moving here?” Keys asked me as she used a key to unlock the door of the cabin.

  “No, I’m really not.”

  “Well, that’s good then.” She smiled at me and turned her back to me as she moved to push open the front door. I finally noticed that the back of her kutte had Sierra High Evermore on the top rocker, not Aces High MC.

  “Sierra High Evermore?” I asked as I traced the middle patch that had what looked like foxes on each side of motorcycle handlebars, then the bottom rocker read Georgia. “I thought we got the house through one of the brothers from Aces High MC?”

  She turned her head to look back over her shoulder at me. “Technically, you did, and you didn’t,” she laughed as she said this. “This h
ouse belonged to one of my sisters, JoJo. She married one of the meatheads from Aces High though. Steel is who your man dealt with to get the house.”

  “He’s not,” I started to say ‘my man’ but the look she gave me cut me off.

  “We’ve all been in that denial stage, honey. Some of us longer than others. Here’s what you need to know. S.H.E. MC was located in this area first. Those Aces High guys came rolling in here like they were going to own our turf and we were just going to roll over and give it to them since we were all women.”

  “Shit! Honey, please don’t feed the newbie your recruitment line!” I heard Quickshot call out from somewhere outside.

  Keys winked at me. “Anyway, as I was saying, that didn’t work out for them too well.”

  “I think it did, since most of your officers hitched themselves to us,” Quickshot added in again as the men stepped in through the front door. I giggled as Keys rolled her eyes at Quickshot who was obviously her man.

  “Yeah, well, I see it the other way around. You assholes attached yourselves to us, because we’re fine as fuck and had our shit all the way together before you showed up.”

  Quickshot moved like lightening and smacked her ass he passed her on his way to the kitchen area. “Want a beer, man?” He called back to Jay who squeezed my hand as he walked by me.

  “Sure,” he answered as he did so.

  “Not your man, huh?” Keys asked on a whisper.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s still complicated,” I told her.

  “I get it,” she insisted. “Let’s go upstairs and I’ll show you the bedrooms.”

  “I think one of the rooms is still decorated like a nursery, so don’t freak out when you see it.”

  “It’s okay, I planned on using the spare as a studio.”

  “What kind of studio?”

  “Art. I paint and work with a few other mediums too.”

  “Oh!” She clapped her hands together. “Exciting! Do you think you could show me some of your stuff? We’ve been toying with the idea of having some murals done inside our clubhouse, but none of the girls are super talented artists right now.”