by KJ Dahlen
Tate wanted her back, only then would his family be whole, only then would his heart heal. He brushed her temple with a kiss. “How ‘bout we take you home and see the kids then?”
Nita smiled and nodded. “I’d like that. I just hope I remember them.”
Tate smiled the hesitated. Leaning down he brushed her lips with his own. When she gasped in response, he did it again. Then he was caught unprepared as she reached up to wrap her arms around the back of his neck and pulled him closer. Pressing her lips on his she pushed her mouth against his.
Tate groaned and kissed her like he’d wanted to since she’d opened that front door.
Then it was Nita’s turn to groan and his tongue swept into her mouth and their tongues began the dance of the ages. For the first time in eight years, he felt his cock awaken and he rubbed it into her belly. All the blood in his lower body rushed to fill in his manhood. He hadn’t felt like this in a very long time but he remembered the feeling very well.
Nita moaned and tore her lips away from his. “Oh my god...” She trembled and stared up at him. “I remember this. I remember this! How could I forget for one moment this feeling only you can bring to me?”
“I remember it too sweetheart. Right now I want to fill you up and never let you go.”
Nita shook her head. “It’s too soon.”
“I know but for a very long time I’ve wanted you. But I’d believed to never be able to have this again. I thought I’d never feel this hunger again. You put every other woman I’ve ever met to shame and all you did was kiss me. Damn, I’ve missed you woman.”
“I’ve missed you too.” Tears rolled down her cheeks and she swallowed hard when she told him, “I’m remembering, Tate. I may not remember all of it but your kiss opened my mind and I’m remembering things I thought were gone forever.”
Tate just looked at her with a question in his eyes.
She smiled sweetly. Raising her hand to his face, she cupped it gently. “Yes husband, I’m remembering you and what we had together.” She gently spread her kisses all over his neck. “I remember Creed, And Jack, and Daniel and Harry and last but not least our baby girl Kimber!” Her face paled as many emotions passed through her gaze. “Oh, my gosh, they’re all grown up now huh?”
Tate chuckled. “Yes, they are all grown up and Jack has a baby girl and all. Daniel has found someone to love. Creed has a woman too. Our family is getting bigger sweetheart.”
“I’m a grandma?” She looked shocked for a moment as she swallowed heavily. “Oh! I’m getting to be an old lady. I’m not sure how to deal with that.”
Tate threw back his head and laughed out loud. “You will never be an old lady, sweetheart. You will always be a young woman in my eyes.”
She smiled. “And yours are the only eyes I want to really see me. If I remember correctly, I love you very much Tate Young.”
“And you’re my reason for living Nita Young. Come on let’s go home.”
“Ok.” She smiled then brushed his lips again with her own. “Let me pack some clothes and then we’ll go home. I also have to make a call sometime soon to let Andrea know.”
She left the kitchen.
Tate stood there gazing out through the window into the backyard. He really wasn’t looking at anything in particular but instead he was remembering the past. Back to the life he’d led with the woman in other room.
A moment later, he began to feel tension. His sixth sense was warning him something wasn’t right. He ducked out of the line of full sight. Then he made a sweep of the backyard with his eyes. Clear and focused now on his surroundings.
At first, he didn’t see anything out of place. His senses told him whatever was out there shouldn’t be there. He’d learned over the years to go with this instinct and right now, his instinct was telling him danger was near.
His eyes made another scan of the yard and that’s when he saw it. Or rather him. He was standing in the shadows under the large magnolia tree at the edge of the property line. He was dressed in his leathers and biker boots with an all concealing helmet on his head and leather gloves covering his hands.
Tate narrowed his eyes at the man watching the house. He didn’t know who he was but he would not get to his woman. Now that he’d found her again, there was no fucking way in ever loving hell he would lose her again.
He ducked lower than the window sash and made his way to the bedroom where Nita was packing. He grabbed her hand and ushered her toward the front door. “We’ve got to go sweetheart. You were right, there is someone watching the house. Now I don’t mean to scare you but we got to go.”
He turned back to her when she didn’t answer and saw her smile.
“Ok, let’s go then. I feel safe with you.”
He briefly paused in his rush to freedom and put both hands around her face. “I wish circumstances were different. I didn’t want to force you to come with me but I don’t see any other way to keep you safe. I lost you once but never again.”
Nita leaned forward and brushed her lips over his. “Let’s go home.” She grabbed her half packed suitcase and followed him from the room.
When he eased the door open, he searched the front but didn’t feel the other man was out here. He grabbed her hand again and they ran for the truck. He opened her door and scooted her inside the truck. When she was seated, he leaned in to kiss her then backed away before she could kiss him back.
He closed the door quietly then ran around the truck and got behind the wheel. He closed his own door quietly then reached down to turn the key. The engine purred as it kicked over and then they were moving.
Tate didn’t squeal out like he so wanted but instead, he pulled away quickly and quietly, hoping to get ahead of the man in black even knowing he was gone. He gained speed as they turned the next corner and then he didn’t stop.
They left Waco in their rear view mirror but Tate knew the man in black wouldn’t stop until he got what he came for. This was another one of Bandit’s screw ups left behind he was sure. One of many most likely that Tate would have to deal with.
Chapter Two
An hour later, they were heading into the outskirts of Killeen. Bandit had burned his old house down to the ground when he took over the clubhouse. Their whole married life, memories and all of the past there were gone so the only place he could take her was the clubhouse for the time being.
It wasn’t what he wanted to do but for now, it would have to be enough. He would rebuild her a home and give her new memories to last the rest of their life. This, he vowed to do. As he pulled through the gates of the clubhouse, he heard her gasp.
The boys had replaced the sign that proclaimed the Club but that had been a good thing. They were no longer the Lost Sinners or the Sinners MC they were now the Lost Sons MC.
Creed and Daniel came out of the clubhouse as soon as they heard the vehicle pull in. “Dad where the hell have you been?” Creed called out as he watched his father park the truck.
Then he and Daniel were stunned at the sight of their mother in the passenger seat.
“Mom?” Creed spoke softly as he stared at the woman.
Then both men were running toward the passenger door of the truck.
Creed ripped it open and stared at the woman in person. “Mom?”
Nita reached her hand out and touched his face softly. “Creed. I would know you anywhere. You look like your dad when he was younger.”
Creed reached into the truck and hauled her out holding her in a tight hug. “Oh Mom, we thought you were dead. All this fucking time we thought you were dead.”
Nita hugged her oldest son. He might not have come from her body but he was straight out of her heart. “Oh, Creed. I’ve been lost all this time, waiting to be found I guess? But I’m home now and I’m never leaving you guys a-again. I’m—home now,” she spoke brokenly and softly as tears ran down her face.
Then she looked over at her youngest son. Reaching her hand out, Daniel captured it and pressed it to his mouth.
Ta
te walked around the truck as Harry, Jack and Kimber came out of the club. They were followed by their women who just stood there with tears running down their faces as they watched the reunion. They rushed over to where their mother was standing beside Daniel and they all crowded around her. She was passed from one embrace to another as everyone had tears of joy in their eyes.
When she reached for him, Tate he held her close. Then Silas walked over to them and with tears in his eyes he welcomed her home. “Aww, sweetheart I’m so glad you made it back home. You have been missed.”
Nita looked over at the older man. “I’ve missed all of you guys too.” She lifted her eyes and looked at her family. “I’ve missed all of this.” Then she spotted the small group of woman standing beside the door. She turned her head to her husband and sons as she raised an eyebrow. “And apparently, a little more as well. Are you boys going to keep me guessing or are you going to introduce me to your women?”
Tate paused as he got choked up with laughter. They were all here. His woman, his kids, his life. One that he’d thought he’d lost years ago while trapped in that godforsaken cave. He had them all right here. The feeling overwhelmed him and he thought he might just start weeping if he stood here much longer.
He looked at his family and urged them inside. He didn’t want anyone to see her or to know where she was just in case the man had been able to follow them back here. His eyes scanned around the yard one more time before he ducked inside the clubhouse.
Creed frowned as he saw his father look around like he was expecting someone unwelcome. He too, looked around. He then followed his dad inside.
When Jared Racer saw the silhouette of a man in the kitchen window, he ducked a step or two back into the shadow of the tree in her backyard. It had taken him four years to track the man who called himself Bandit down and he’d been too late to get to him, too late by only days.
Each and every day of those four years, he’d learned just a bit more about the man however. Bandit had been a tricky bastard to follow however. The people he talked to over his search, hadn’t really known all that much about him and what they did know, they hated with a passion like he’d never seen before.
Dale Westerly AKA Bandit wasn’t a good man. But he’d known this already. He’d served time with Bandit in prison and learned firsthand, just how bad the other man really was. He had the scars to prove it too.
Racer thought about their first encounter behind those cement walls. Dale had picked him out of all the other men inside to make his bones, so to speak. He’d been a brash young kid back then thinking no one could touch him. Racer had already served most of his time for a bar fight that put one man in the ground and another in the hospital. He’d gotten four years for aggravated assault, only because it had been proven the other two guys started the fight.
So when Westerly picked him to fight for head rat title, Racer wasn’t going to let him win. Again, he didn’t start the fight but he finished it. The day Racer walked out of that prison, Westerly told Racer to watch his back because he had friends on the outside that would come looking for him.
Racer gave the other man the finger and continued walking. He’d been picked up in a limo and when he closed the door as they drove away, his business partner had handed him a glass of champagne.
A year later, Racer woke up one morning groggy and disorientated only to find his business partner was dead, he was covered in blood and his safe was empty. There had been over ten million dollars in the safe the night before and his partner, James had introduced him to a man named Bandit.
Bandit had set him up to take another fall, but Racer would be damned if that was going to happen to him twice. He vowed the day he walked out of prison that he would never go back. So, for the last four years he’d been searching for the coward that stole his money and set him up for murder.
Racer had been in Texas for business the night of the first fight and when he served his time, he’d gone back to Kansas City and his business. He owned a string of nightclubs in Kansas City with his partner James and two other men. A year after he got out of the joint they had been in a position to buy out the two other men, that was why there had been so much cash in his safe when Bandit was there.
Bandit had sought out James to make a deal with him to deliver drugs for the clubs. Bandit had said he’d been hoping to expand his business by setting up different routes for his club. He never named his club and hadn’t been wearing a vest that would identify himself. Bandit said he didn’t want to raise any issues with the local MC’s
Racer hadn’t liked the drug angle of the clubs, that was something James had gotten them into while he was in prison but when he saw the money it brought in, he let it go. He never knew it had been Bandit that had arranged the deal. Almost a year later, they were ready to buy out their partners and take over everything.
Instead, the next morning James was dead and he had been robbed and set up to take the fall for a crime he didn’t commit. Now he was on the run and he was sick of all the hiding and dodging the law. He wanted his name cleared and he wanted the money back to start all over.
But when he got back to where his nightmare had started, he found out that Bandit was in jail awaiting trial for other crimes. With a nationwide warrant out for his arrest in James’s murder, Racer knew he couldn’t just go to the jail to talk to the other man so he’d spent the last few days finding as much about Bandit as he could.
One of the people he talked to told him about Bandit’s Waco visits. He hadn’t known the woman Bandit visited or anything about her, but he did know for years that the man had he went there to see her. Racer decided to follow up on the woman and found her.
He knew when he saw her that she was older than Bandit was but he couldn’t find anything else out about her. No one seemed to know her or what her story was, so he hung out and watched her. But after all this time Racer just wanted to be gone. He’d noticed that she lived in the house with another older lady but he hadn’t cared about that.
He’d been here in Waco long enough. He’d been harassing the two older ladies for days now. The older of the two had left days ago and now, it was only one.
When he arrived there this morning, he’d seen the old pickup truck out in front of the house. He gritted his teeth and made a beeline to the backyard to watch what was going on. He’d come this close to finding Bandit and his money so he wasn’t going to start all over again.
From his position, he could see into the kitchen and part of the living room, but there was nothing to see. It looked like there was no one in the house, so he waited. But he’d waited too long.
With his cycle helmet on, he barely heard the truck starting up and as he rushed around to the front of the building and saw the truck speeding away from the front of the house.
Racer cursed under his breath. Running over to his bike, he took off after the truck but lost sight of it when he was forced to stop for a train. Grabbing his phone, he stared at the picture of the truck he’d taken this morning. It had captured the license plate on the vehicle, so at least he had a place to start looking for her again.
He was done waiting or being a nice guy. He then tapped in a number. This man also had gotten ripped off by Bandit, so maybe he could work with him and they could get their money back.
He knew his time was running out here and he wasn’t going back to prison. Although he very much wanted one chance to get even with Bandit, he wasn’t risking being locked up to do it. Maybe when he got his money back, he would hire someone on the inside to get close to Bandit and take him out. But that would be another day’s problem, today he had an old lady to find.
It had been a long day. A long day filled with a beautiful homecoming. One Nita had never expected. For eight very long and painful years, she had wondered if there had been anyone out there that was missing her and today, she had her answer.
When she arrived this afternoon, she had only to see her children’s faces and she began remembering everything.
Her memories opened up a whole new side of her, a side she thought was gone forever. Oh, she hadn’t remembered everything, not yet but at least, she remembered her family.
After the boys had introduced her to their women and she got to hold the baby she realized so much time had passed. She had missed so much. Her kids had grown up and she didn’t know them anymore. But it felt so good to be home again.
Tate hadn’t left her side all day. For this, she’d been grateful. With so many old memories all at once, she’d been a little overwhelmed. But she knew he would protect her from everything and he had. The women her boys had fallen in love with were wonderful women in their own and she had seen the love her boys felt for thee women. She recognized it from when she was younger and she often looked at her Tate in the same way.
She had often tried to sneak peeks at him all day and found him watching her as often as she was looking at her.
Now she was standing at the front door of the clubhouse looking out over the dooryard. The sun was going down, turning the sky to shades of red, gold and purple. A beautiful end to a wonder filled day.
Tate came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She remembered him doing that in the past and the feelings she got then were as strong as the feelings she was getting now. Bit by bit, piece by piece she was remembering her past.
“It’s time for you to get some rest,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s been a quite a day for you hasn’t it?”
She leaned back into his arms and smiled. “Yes, it has been a day I never want to forget again.” She laid against him for a moment just soaking everything in. Then she asked, “So now what?”
“Excuse me?” Tate frowned and looked down at her.
“What’s going to happen now?” She looked up at him timidely. “I know you said Bandit burned down our house and for now, we’re all living here, but where do we go from here?”
“You and me, we or the club?”
“You and me, we.” She turned in his arms and stared at his wide chest for a moment. She peeked up at his jaw and softly told him, “For the last eight years I knew I was missing a vital part of me, but I just couldn’t remember what it was. That part of me was you and our family. It was always at the edges. I would glimpse things but could never see them close enough. I fought to remember for so long. Bandit purposely kept my mind muddled so I would forget you and our kids. Then he put Creed in prison and he put you in that stupid cave. I cannot even imagine what pain all that caused. Then he came after Silas and Kimber.” She paused and shuddered. “I hate to think about that. He tried to wipe out our whole family Tate. Why? How could someone do that?”