“And before he married Chester.” Mortician seems to enjoy adding on to what Outlaw says.
“Before you met Bailey,” Johnnie retorts.
“Before—” Cash begins.
“Shut the fuck up, Cash,” Outlaw orders. “Fuckin’ point made.”
Val shifts his weight. “Didn’t mean nothing by it. Mort play his ass off. Majored in math and minored in music. And he’s a biker. He never capitalized on the groupie pussy from the music scene.”
I don’t consider myself a fucking wimp, but the cold warning Outlaw sidles to Val is a look I never want to be the recipient of.
No wonder Helen got Cash and his club brothers involved. Before I can bring up the subject of Helen’s evidence, Outlaw raises a remote and presses a few buttons. The surveillance of the gate, club grounds, and several rooms in the building change. All four televisions focus on the room where Georgie is.
“See. Nothin’ to fuckin’ worry ‘bout. My girl makin’ yours comfortable.”
As Outlaw turns up the sound, it seems as if we’ve caught them mid-conversation.
Georgie’s detailing the sordidness of my affair with her mother. Humiliation roars through me, worsened by the unpleasant reactions of the bikers, particularly Cash.
“Motherfucker,” he growls, adding to my anger that Georgie’s sharing so much information.
Drinking my scotch, I flip Cash off. Then Meggie tells her story. No one moves as she speaks. More because Outlaw’s transfixed with her. Her pain is his as well, and the men know better than to interfere with the bond they have. I’ve only been around them for a few hours, but I see what Meggie means to her husband. It isn’t misplaced on his part. Listening to her love and devotion is almost sacred. When Georgie confesses what she feels for me and what she wants from me, I’m not only humbled but hopeful.
Then, her bombshell. Kiln. That motherfucker not only touched her, he tasted her milk. He put his fucking mouth on my girl.
“I felt so violated,” she whispers.
Fury swirls through me and I hear nothing else for a moment. Outlaw Caldwell’s unreasonable measures for protecting his young wife resonate with me. Killing a motherfucker like Kiln is too merciful. He needs to suffer first. For days. Then he can die.
Hands restrain me and I realize I’ve moved toward the hallway.
“The motherfucker who touched your woman need to be put to ground, but if you go to her with this, she gonna talk you the fuck outta it. And do a pussy lockout because you was fuckin’ listenin’ on her conversation in the first fuckin’ place.”
My breath comes in short, mad dog pants.
“Have a drink.” Mortician shoves a glass into my hands.
I down the vodka in two gulps and scowl, never a fan of the drink.
“Save that for the fucker who forced your wife,” Mortician advises, not too friendly.
“Yeah,” Outlaw agrees. “Fuck with one of us, we all fuck you up and I kinda like you, motherfucker. I’d hate to blow you the fuck away.”
They all look at me, waiting for me to accept Outlaw’s words or challenge him. I have no wish to get fucking killed, so I breathe in deep.
“Listen up, Sloane. Don’t let your girl know anything while you here. I like gettin’ pussy from Megan. She gonna be a mad lil’ motherfucker if she hear I spied on her and your bitch. Besides, the longer you hold that fuckin’ rage in, the more ways you gonna think of to fuck him up.”
Mortician slides me another filled glass, this time scotch. I almost miss her next words because my frustrated growl is so loud. I don’t want to wait to confront my wife.
“Do you know Silver Night?” Georgie asks Meggie.
I’ve missed more of her conversation, but my pulse kicks up again at her question and I clench my jaw.
“You got my sister into porn?” Cash snaps.
“Has she been talking about me, motherfucker?” I snarl.
Georgie giggles and Outlaw snickers. I’ve missed Meggie’s response.
“It’s not a perfume, silly. She’s a porn star. A skin flick chick, Kiln says.”
“And what reason would he have to tell you about her?” Meggie asks, her brows lifting.
“She and Sloane fucked a few times,” Georgie responds bluntly.
Meggie nods. “Um, I admire how you accept his affairs.”
“Are you crazy? Every time I think of him with someone else I want to die.”
“So not only did your brother-in-law, um, suck your nip…milk—”
“Bryn’s milk. I didn’t even want Sloane tasting it.”
“Umkay.”
“You don’t give a shit about that part, huh?”
“I have tales of my own,” Meggie admits with a pretty blush. “I’m just trying to figure out why this Kiln would touch you without permission and then tell you about your husband’s affair with the porn star.”
“No, Sloane slept with Silver before we met. I doubt they still have contact with each other.”
Her assumption makes me wince. I saw the woman, stark naked, a few days ago.
“So Kiln was…?”
“Telling me Sloane would leave and I’d need money. He wanted me to suck his dick in exchange for money and also he’d contact Silver and other skin flick chicks and get me into porn.”
“Sound like to me a motherfucker due a monumental ass beating,” Mortician says with all seriousness.
“No,” I bark, “he’s in line to have his fucking tongue yanked out and his lips seared with lit cigarettes.”
“Add that fuckin’ shit to your torture fuckin’ menu, Johnnie,” Outlaw says with a straight face, tipping his bottle to me. “For that shit, might gotta give you honorary membership.”
“I’m doing it to protect Sloane,” Georgie rushes out as I refocus on whatever else she might expose. “Kiln’s a fucking dickhead, but he…he’s good at security. I watched him for weeks and he could barrel through any crowd and get Sloane to wherever he needed to be without issue. But…but all he sees me as is a piece of trash. The day of my wedding, he called me so many names. Josh heard him and swore he’d fuck him up.”
“Josh is your other brother?”
She nods and rubs her temples. “How did we even start discussing Kiln?”
“Um, you want me to tell Cash?” Meggie asks, and I know she’s fully prepared to go to Georgie’s brother.
“Would you really tell your husband?”
“Um, yeah. But I’d make him promise he wouldn’t kill him.”
Georgie’s eyes round.
Outlaw snorts. “The fuckhead who look at Megan cross-eyed a dead motherfucker.”
“We know, Psycho Stalker Wildman,” Val says, rubbing his neck.
“Kiss my motherfuckin’ psycho stalker wild ass.”
I’m not a killer, but I’m fucking angry enough to commit murder on Georgie’s behalf. “You really fucking expect me to do nothing?” I ask Outlaw, who isn’t fazed one bit. Of course, it isn’t his wife who just revealed someone sucked her fucking titty.
“Dude, that’s the best way to go,” Johnnie says. He reminds me the most of Maitland, easy-going and smiling the majority of the time.
“Brother, act like you always do around your woman.” Mortician digs in the pocket of his cut and hands me keys. “Take her for a spin on my bike. Get your mind off the bullshit.”
“We’ll see.” Georgie was game before but is she willing to do it now? Knowing how she feels about Bryn, she might think it’s too dangerous. “I’ll talk to her and see if she’s up to it.”
Outlaw lowers the volume on the monitors. “You a good motherfucker. I know whatcha pops accusin’ you of and I didn’t give a fuck one fuckin’ way or the other before. Cash was protectin’ his baby sister. I got five of them bitches. Only two I give a fuck ‘bout, but I under-fuckin-stand where the fuck Cash was comin’ from, so I got Johnnie’s bitch and the club’s attorney to do what-the-fuck-ever Ghost needed.” He nods to Cash. “Your brother-in-law a stealthy motherfucker. M
ost brothers know him as Ghost, so when we deal with them fuckin’ recordins that’s the fuck who he is.”
Cash moves closer to me and leans against the bar. “What he’s trying to say, Sloane, is we have your back. We also have the evidence you need to get off. All you have to do is give us the word and we’ll release it.”
As if it’ll be that fucking easy. Hard to even hope. Still, I take the bait. “How many millions will it cost me?”
Johnnie’s lips tighten and his friendly expression changes. I reassess my comparison to Maitland. My drummer’s a fighter. Johnnie’s a killer.
“Clue this motherfucker in before I fuck him up, Ghost,” Outlaw snaps. “I’m extendin’ club resources to him and he insultin’ the fuck outta me. If I wanted fuckin’ money, I woulda fuckin’ asked. I ain’t got a fuckin’ problem lettin’ motherfuckers know what the fuck I want.”
The entire evening has pissed me the fuck off and I let loose. “While your benevolence is touching, nothing in life’s fucking free. You want to fucking shoot me for pointing out what life’s taught me, then go right ahead.”
“Don’t invite Outlaw to shoot you, fucker,” Johnnie says.
“I killed my wife’s pops,” Outlaw said casually. “Motherfucker had it fuckin’ comin’. You wanna hear what I did to a few other motherfuckers?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Yo, Outlaw, psychological torture John Boy style,” Mortician remarks, grinning. “You changing your MO?”
I scratch my jaw, pretending unease isn’t sliding into me.
“Prez, what the fuck Meggie doing?” Mortician points to the screen and Outlaw narrows his eyes, turning the volume up.
Out of the frame, Georgie’s laughing hysterically at Meggie stuffing three fingers into her mouth.
“See? Told you,” Meggie chortles and pops her fingers out of her mouth, wiggling them. “No teeth.”
“I don’t bite either,” Georgie says with indignation, but laughter lights up her eyes.
Meggie chuckles. “It’s a draw, then. Now, what?”
“A dance off?” Georgie suggests, and I wonder what they’re competing for.
“You like to dance, too?”
“I love it. I even danced with Sloane during one of his practice sessions. That was the most unforgettable experience. Can you imagine being onstage with the man I’m crazy about and dancing with him while he sings?”
“You should totally do it at one of his concerts.”
Georgie scrunches her nose. “He said I’m not a professional like Rhea, one of the dancers going on tour with the band.”
Meggie shrugs. “The passion you’d exhibit for him would make up for any skills you lack.”
She pastes a smile on her face and waves the comment away. “It’s a losing argument, so I won’t even bother.” She walks back into the frame and returns to her seat near Meggie. “How do you get Outlaw to give you whatever you want?”
“By asking him, although most of the time I don’t have to ask him. He just does it. But I also give him what he wants. Just like with the Kiln situation, something this important should be discussed.”
“And if he says no? Don’t give him sex or something?”
“Georgie, don’t make a habit of withholding lovemaking, especially if you enjoy it. No sex is only used when he makes you angry enough to want to punch him.”
“I guess you think I’m young and silly,” Georgie mumbles.
“I’m three years older than you, so you can feel the same way about me. Kendall did at one time. Her intentions were in the right place, though, so it’s all good between us. I promise I don’t think bad about you. Truthfully, I’m so glad Christopher allowed Cash to bring you here.”
Georgie leans toward Meggie and hugs her. “Do you think we can keep in touch?”
“How else are we going to have our big birthday celebration? Our deep throating competition would be for nothing.”
“It still is,” Georgie complains, which I barely hear because Outlaw and the others are guffawing like maniacs. “It was a draw.”
“The dance off decides it. If I win, we do it on my birthday. If you win, we have the party on your birthday.”
Meggie holds out her hand and Georgie accepts. They shake on it, sealing the deal.
“We need objective judges,” Georgie says.
“That leaves Christopher and Sloane out.”
Georgie glances up. “Can we do it in a little while? I want to check on Bryn.”
Meggie smiles and stands up. “I need to check on CJ and the twins, too.”
As they leave the room, Outlaw switches the camera feed and shows them walking down the hallway from two different angles.
“Prez, even if you gotta kill Sloane, Meggie like his girl, so she’d be pissed as a motherfucker.”
“On second fuckin’ thought, Sloane,” Outlaw says as the girls reach another room and disappear inside. He flips back to the cameras he’d originally been looking at. “They went in my bedroom. Ain’t ever had cameras in there.” After he shares that tidbit, he goes on. “I want fuckin’ payment. I pay for Megan and your girl’s big ass birthday. It’s gonna be here. We gonna have a lotta fuckin’ heat around and we gonna blow a motherfucker away who I think a threat, so keep all dumb motherfuckers the fuck away.”
So far, I haven’t heard what he wants, so I lift a brow.
“Megan likin’ the idea of this party. Just make sure Georgie here and I’ll have everything in fuckin’ place whenever you decide you want me to release your pop’s confession to the media.”
“We’re returning to Denver in two weeks. Release them that day. I want Georgie and Bryn behind the safety of my mansion.”
I hold out my hand and Outlaw accepts. Like our women did a moment ago, we shake on it.
Between the traveling, the pain that sets in where my stitches are in my shoulder and arm, and the fun of being with Meggie, I’m exhausted. According to our judges for the dance contest between Meggie and I, it’s another draw. CJ and Ryan skipped around with us, but whenever Ryan got too close to Meggie or Harley, CJ intercepted. I think out of annoyance, Ryan chose me as the winner. Of course, CJ chose his mom.
We received various reactions from the other women.
Zoann: “Tough fucking luck, girls.”
Kendall: “What can you expect choosing children as judges?”
Bailey: “Why not pick a neutral date, between both your birthdays?”
Meggie and I liked that idea, so we agreed.
Now, we’re following the club officers and their families on the wooded trail that begins on the edges of the club.
CJ bounces behind his father as Sloane talks with Outlaw and the guys. I carry Bryn, Meggie has Rebel and Bunny holds Rule. We’re quite the group, but we quickly disperse as we reach Outlaw and Meggie’s house first, which is where me, Sloane, and Bryn will spend the night. Abby has gone to a nightclub in Portland with friends. She’s utilizing the unexpected visit here. Sloane sent Jason to watch over her.
As Outlaw lets us through the gate, I see Sloane pointing to the security system, not bothered by our luggage or the baby’s diaper bag he’s carrying. They talk amongst themselves but I continue on, too tired to listen to the exchange.
Dogs bark. The closer we get to the house, the louder their barks become. I’m relieved when we reach the back door and trek through the mud room and into the kitchen.
“We have all kinds of food,” Meggie says. “Whatever you’d like to eat or cook, feel free.”
“I’m still full from the pizza and salad we ate at the club.”
Meggie yawns and smiles at her daughter. It’s late and Rebel is wide awake. Rule is sleeping peacefully, until the door opens and CJ yells in glee, running into the house at top speed and barreling into his mother.
“C’mon, buddy,” she says calmly, grabbing his hand. “Time for bed. Do you want to pick out your sister’s nightclothes?”
He nods.
“Be in our bedroom
as soon as the kids are down,” Meggie promises, stopping to kiss Outlaw.
“Move, ‘Law. MegAnn is my mommie.”
Outlaw crouches down, eye level with his son. “Megan my wife, boy. She also Ma, Mommie, or Mama, to you. Don’t lemme hear you disrespect your Ma and my wife ever again. Understand me?”
Although Meggie chastised him earlier, his reaction between then and now is completely different. His father hasn’t even raised his voice, just used a firm tone, and he starts to cry, burying his face against his mother’s thigh.
“Mommie’s going to tell you a story,” she says softly, adjusting Rebel in one arm, so she can take CJ’s hand in hers. “Tell Daddy goodnight.”
He sniffles. “Night, ‘Law.”
Outlaw lifts him into his arms. “How ‘bout me and you show Georgie and Sloane to their room?”
Instead of answering, CJ lays his head on his father’s shoulder. Meggie beams at Outlaw and he winks at her. We all leave the kitchen at the same time following our host and his son down the second floor hallway, while Meggie and Bunny continue to the third level with the twins.
After Outlaw shows us to a guestroom with a green and brown color scheme, I sink to the bed. Bryn gurgles and I kiss her cheek.
“Take a shower, Georgie.” Sloane takes the baby into his arms. “My daughter and I will hang out.”
I flop back and close my eyes. “I’m almost too tired.”
“Mortician will let me borrow his Harley if you’d like me to take you for a spin,” he says casually.
My eyes pop open. I hear Sloane’s desire to ride and I don’t want to dampen that. “I’d love to go.”
“Are you sure, sweetheart?”
“I am, but do you think I should? I mean, suppose something happens to both of us. Who’ll take care of Bryn?”
Retrieving the diaper bag, he sets it on the bed, before dropping down and laying the baby in the middle. She makes a face. I swear it’s a smile, but Sloane always insists she’s too young. Whatever it is, I smile back at her. Sloane searches through her bag, pulling out a diaper, baby wipes, and a sleep romper.
“We’ll be fine,” he promises, undressing her.
Phoenix Rising Rock Band: The Series Page 66