Syd's Wolf Den

by K Harris

  “Come here Syd,” I commanded. She did with only slight hesitation. We were definitely on a different note than before. “There is no place I would rather be than spending time with you. Unless I have business out of town or a client at the shop, I’m all yours.” Wrapping her in a tight embrace, Syd exhaled squeezing me tighter. Hopefully, with that breath she allowed her doubts about me to go with it.

  “Okay,” she sighed.

  “I’ll see you at 6:55.” I kissed her lips before she could respond. Syd was warming up nicely, but I knew there was so much more we needed to discuss.

  ~

  “Someone had a good night.” Black commented when I walked into the compound. The humor was written all over his face.

  “What’s up Black?”

  “I would ask you the same thing youngster, but it’s written all over your face.” He chuckled.

  “What’s good Wolf?” Wood appeared out of nowhere.

  “Shit, I can’t call it. You good?”

  “Not as good as you,” Wood smirked.

  “Here you go,” I rolled my eyes heading for the conference room where church is held. These bikers can be as petty as females when they get comfortable enough.

  Church was pretty basic since we didn’t have any pressing issues to discuss. Everything has been pretty quiet considering there were obvious threats outside our town, so far, they were quiet. We weren’t naive enough to think that we were in the clear but out of sight out of mind for now. As time went on the community was steadily growing in business and even a few new bodies have joined the area.

  “Wolf, can you stick around for a minute?” Cage asked.

  “Yeah, what’s up Prez?” I asked when the room was clear besides a few of the executive committee.

  “Considering you are seeing my cousin; this new development includes you. Especially since I know that you have every intention of claiming her,” he added.

  “What new development?”

  “Has Syd ever told you anything about her dad?”

  “No, but I also never asked.”

  “Fair enough.” Cage nodded in understanding.

  “Fucking deadbeat,” Wood snarled.

  “Recently he has come back to town, wanting to make amends. Needless to say, I can only assume Syd was not open. He contacted me and claims to have some useful information.”

  “What kind of information?”

  “He wouldn’t talk about it over the phone, so I told him to meet us at the diner in fifteen minutes. Apparently, it has to do with Syd.”

  “I’m there.”

  “I figured as much. Let’s roll,” he chuckled. Besides the little bit of information that I shared with the mama’s, only the brothers knew of my past. Even that was what I wanted them to know.

  Since we hadn’t traded the background stories of what made us, I wouldn’t expect her to talk about her missing father. That was pretty relevant seeing as though he didn’t even make an appearance at her grand opening. I figured either he was dead or nonexistent. What I knew for sure, he had better not be on some bullshit or his time would be limited. Fuck respecting your elders.

  ~

  “You boys certainly have grown.” An older frail looking man greeted. There was an unsure smile on his face. “No longer Lil’ Mark and Jeffy, huh?”

  “Definitely not.” Cage deadpanned and Wood only stared.

  “I don’t think we’ve met.” He turned to me awkwardly. “Charlie Bennett,” he held his hand out to shake.

  “Wolf,” I greeted with a firm handshake. From the grimace on his face, I may have been a bit too firm.

  “Wolf?” He questioned with a skeptical look on his face. “I wasn’t expecting anyone other than family included in this meeting.”

  “You aren’t family.” Wood mugged the poor man.

  “With all due respect, Wolf is more family than you could ever hope to be. If you don’t believe me, ask Syd.” Cage said in a bored tone of voice. “You asked to meet, claiming to have some valuable information. Can we get to it?”

  “I wasn’t under the impression that Sydni had a boyfriend.”

  “Who would give an impression either way?” I asked now suspicious.

  “Perhaps we should have a seat.” He nervously stated.

  “Can I get you fellas anything?” We only ordered something to drink just to occupy the time.

  “I know I haven’t always been the ideal father figure, coming and going. The trucker life led me into some unsavory positions. Syd and her mom suffered the most from that deceit. Sometime before Syd was born, I got involved with a woman out of Memphis. I’m pretty sure you two know the specifics of me eventually moving down there. What you didn’t know, there was another child in the mix, a son. As time went on, I started to believe that she put some kind of voodoo on me or something.”

  “You’re shitting me, right?” Wood groaned.

  “Anyway, over time the space between me and Syd grew bigger than the short drive from Memphis. Too ashamed to reach out, I stopped trying all together.” Taking a sip of his water, he collected himself before continuing. “Though I was absent, I never stopped thinking about her. The one time that I did swing through town on one of my runs, your dad promised to shoot me if I ever returned.”

  “Yet, here you are.” Cage sarcastically stated.

  “Just say the word,” Wood ticked.

  “Why now?” I asked not really interested in the back story.

  “I recently saw a newspaper article discussing the renovation of the bar, now her bar and the press that it received.”

  “Please tell me that you aren’t here on some entitlement shit,” Cage remarked.

  “No, never. The article was clipped by her half-brother. Apparently, he has been following her.” He responded. “After some more digging into his sudden trips to this area, I found out that he had been in contact with Sydni. When I first caught wind of it, I thought he may have been intrigued about getting to know his sister. Sadly, I was given the full truth from a friend of his. Digging a little deeper into his coming’s and going’s, to say that I was thoroughly disgusted with my findings is putting it mildly.”

  “From what I have deduced he is absolutely obsessed with her. There are pictures of her that are inappropriate, to say the least.”

  “Inappropriate?” I asked.

  “Her in bathing suits at some beach are amongst the ones that I wouldn’t think a brother would collect. He is obsessed in the unhealthiest way. Knowing what I now do, they have been engaged in some activities that shouldn’t have happened. Quite frankly, if Sydni knew who he really was, she wouldn’t have sneezed in his direction let alone give him the time of day.” A feeling of dread consumed me as I held up my hand for him to stop.

  “What is your son’s name?”

  “Gary Bennett,” he said and it felt like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. “But he has been using his mother’s maiden name, Banks.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Wood banged the table.

  “Shit, this isn’t good.” Cage added.

  “And you are saying that he knew that Syd was his half-sister this entire time?”

  “Yes.” He stated in disappointment and embarrassment. “As I said, I never hid the fact that I had a daughter here. Over the years, I may have spoken too highly of her that he became curious. He has been known to be a fuck up from time to time.”

  “That is a gotdamn understatement,” I snarled.

  “Don’t you think I feel bad enough about this happening.”

  “If you are looking for pity, you are barking up the wrong tree. Why are you just now coming forward? Why didn’t you tell Syd this information directly?”

  “I’m not looking for pity. Since my time is limited, just to know that she is safe will help me to rest easy.”

  “Limited?” Cage asked.

  “Safe?” I questioned.

  “Rest easy,” Wood snorted.

  “I have cancer, my days are few. Gary is angry about
something that has happened recently. Sydni having a boyfriend or something to that fact. I overheard him ranting about her throwing him away like trash. Either way, he has given a few of his fuck up buddies the lay of her land, the bar. They are planning to stage a robbery.”

  “Over my dead body,” I exclaimed. “She has wanted something to call her own too bad for some assholes to come through and fuck it up.”

  “We are with you, bro,” Cage bumped his fist with mine.

  “He’s dead.” Wood simply stated.

  “Now wait a minute, I brought this information to you in hopes of you stopping this madness, not kill my son.”

  “Look Charlie, we take our community very serious. Our lady’s safety tops all. If he is bringing trouble to these parts because he has some hair up his ass, then he is fair game.”

  “This muthafucka set out to fuck with his sister – half or step, whatever. What kind of sick perverted shit is that? What the hell did he expect would come out of it? Marriage? Kids?” I snapped.

  “I’m not saying that what he did is excusable but…”

  “But nothing.” Wood slammed his fist into the table again.

  “You claimed at the beginning of this meeting that you weren’t under the impression that she had a boyfriend. Didn’t you just say that your bitch ass son has an issue with that very fact?” I inquired. “I call bullshit!”

  “Bring it down a notch.” Cage told Wood and me to avoid gaining more attention. Some patrons began to look in our direction with interest.

  “Some boyfriend,” he sneered in my direction. “Tell me why my daughter had tears on her face when I went to visit her yesterday.” That sucka-punch hurt.

  “I have no idea. Did you ask Syd about it or are you hellbent on making an ass out of yourself? Either way, I refuse to join the club.” I simply answered. “Furthermore, if you saw Syd yesterday, why not tell her this information yourself?”

  “Because she was already upset, I didn’t want to add to it.”

  “Fine time to be concerned about her well-being.”

  “You wait just a minute, I never meant to hurt my daughter. Things were complicated back then. Now she is bitter and angry just like her mother.”

  “The fuck…” Wood began and Cage stopped him

  “Needless to say, we will handle this our way. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.” Cage addressed Syd’s dad.

  “Everything all right over here?”

  “We good sis,” Wood addressed Dez.

  “Yeah baby, no worries.” Cage cut his eyes at Charlie warning him to keep his mouth closed.

  “Sorry for causing a scene Miss Destiny,” I joked.

  “Don’t start with me Tremaine.” She shot back with a smirk. “Can I get you guys anything? A refill or something?”

  “All I want is for you, Wolf, to take care of my daughter.” Charlie frowned. “I’m almost certain the tears I saw on her face yesterday were because of something that you did.”

  “She is no longer your concern, if she ever was.”

  “No, we don’t need anything. This meeting is over. Isn’t that right?” Cage addressed Dez as she stood stunned.

  “Yes, I have said all that I came to say.” Charlie winced.

  “Need an escort?” Wood questioned.

  “No, I think I can manage. Thank you for meeting with me.” He said.

  While Dez stood by with her mouth agape, probably filling in the blanks to our interaction, he ambled out of the diner. From that point, I made my exit as well. Standing in the parking lot, I took in all the information that was given. Somebody was coming for my lady and that just wouldn’t do. Just as I enlisted to “serve and protect” this country, I have now signed over my life to protect what I loved. If these bastards think that they can come into her home and destroy some shit, they had better think again.

  Chapter Twelve

  Wolf

  “What’s next?” I asked when Wood and Cage joined me in the lot. Cage pulled Dez to her office to discuss keeping what we discussed between us. Like him, I didn’t want anyone else getting a whiff of this.

  “Syd needs to know that she has been manipulated. If it comes out later, she will have our balls.” Cage announced.

  “Yours more than ours,” Wood commented.

  “Don’t I know it. I can’t go into this with secrets. I just got her to lower her guard to let me in. These fuckers will not mess this up for me.”

  “As for the robbery bullshit, we will have to preempt their attempts. But we need to be discreet, so they won’t see the danger until it reigns down on them.”

  “What about that prick Gary? He needs to be handled.”

  “I have an idea, but you aren’t going to like it.”

  “If it’s what I’m thinking, then you would be right. I hate that idea.”

  “What else do you suggest? You have threatened the lil bitch more than once.”

  “Scared lil shit.”

  “I will discuss the new details with Syd over dinner tonight. We can go from there.”

  “It’s settled, we meet tomorrow at the compound to discuss our next move.”

  Needing to get rid of some of the anger that was swirling around my gut, I got busy working on my studio. From the moment I started to pay attention to that rat bastard, I never trusted him. At first, I figured it was more of him having what I wanted to be mine. Now I know that it was my gut instinct speaking to me. When I get my hands on him, he will wish he was nothing more than nut in his mama’s belly.

  ~

  “Hey.” Syd greeted me with a glowing smile.

  “What’s up, miss me?”

  “No,” she lied. From the way she lowered her head, I knew that she was full of shit.

  “That’s too bad because I missed the shit outta your ass.”

  “Then yes, I missed you very much.”

  “Difficult ass,” I commented kissing her lips and embracing her tight.

  “Anyway, dinner is just about done. You want something to drink?”

  “Just a beer, if you have it.”

  “I got some just for you.”

  “I feel so special.”

  “You should because you are.”

  “It’s like that?”

  “You have no idea,” she blushed and looked away.

  Syd appeared to be generally excited to see me. This felt natural. Our being together without any of the awkwardness that could pop up, any distractions or residual tension was removed. It was a natural interaction between two adults who enjoyed each other’s company. Everything was so good that I didn’t want to spoil the mood by bringing up the mess that needed to be discussed.

  “How was your day?” I asked.

  “It was cool, I got a lot of paperwork completed. What about you?”

  “It was interesting,” I answered vaguely. “I got a lot accomplished with the shop.”

  “I can’t wait to see it.”

  “I can’t wait for you to see it.”

  “You could always let me take a peek. I won’t tell anybody. You can leave the grand reveal for the finale.”

  “I want you to be surprised too. Besides, I’m only out to impress you. Fuck everybody else.”

  “It’s like that?”

  “It’s always been like that. Your stubborn ass just wasn’t ready to accept it.”

  “Are you excited?”

  “Hell yeah,” I smiled. “My very own tattoo parlor. Though my granny would have fussed about my tattoos, she still would have been proud of me. I believe she would have loved this place. I just wish I would have gotten her out of Little Rock.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking, how long has she been gone?”

  “Eight years now and counting,” I thought back to when I first received the news. “Eight years since somebody took my granny away from me.”

  “…” From the look on her face, I could tell that she wanted to know but was afraid to ask.

  “Someone broke into her ho
me and killed her for the electronics.” Syd gasped at that news. “I still believe that it was one of my uncles or possibly even my sperm donor.”

  “I was raised by my granny. My mother disappeared, leaving me on granny’s doorstep when I was only a baby. My donor which was her son was nothing more than a sack chaser with big ambitions. He had no use for a kid. When I was older, he tried to enlist me to work for him, but my granny threatened to shoot his ass if he ever pulled a stunt like that again.”

  “Trey, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to make you remember that time.”

  “No need to apologize, I’m coping. The comfort of knowing that she is somewhere safe away from this ole fucked up world gives me joy. She used to call me Trey or Tre-Tre.” I said letting her know that I caught her slip.

  “I’m sorry, that name naturally came to me.”

  “You can call me whatever you like, just so long as you call me. She would have loved you. Your feisty, quick tongue would have been right up her alley.”

  “I’m sure I would have loved her too.”

  We ate our dinner while making idle chit chat, not touching on anything too important. Then my mind started to stray. The thought of having to dampen her mood wasn’t sitting well with me. Wanting to always make her smile at all times was my top priority. Anything that brought sadness or doubt into her world, I was making it my duty to get rid of it.

  “You’ve gotten quiet on me. Is everything okay?” Syd asked with a look of uncertainty. It was now or never; it would be better to rip the Band-Aid off and tend to the wound afterwards. “Whatever it is, just tell me.” She braced herself as if she were expecting the worst.

  “Your dad requested a meeting with Cage and Wood today.”

  “My dad,” she shook her head.

  “Cage asked me to tag along because he had a feeling that whatever he wanted to discuss pertained to you. He was right.”

  “What did he want?”

  “He claimed to have some valuable information.”

  “About what?”

  “Apparently he has a son that is a little older than you. To make a long story short, he is obsessed with you. He has pictures of you that I’m quite certain you didn’t pose for. According to him, they aren’t appropriate pictures that a sibling should have.”