by KJ Dahlen
Gypsy nodded. “Yeah, I was always told Shay was a fair man but now?”
“She needs you to hold her, and just listen to her,” Winona told him. “She may not know it but she needs to know someone is in her corner.”
“I’ll be there for her and she won’t be alone. She’s been alone most of her life from what little she has shared but she isn’t going to be alone anymore.” He went after her.
When he joined the others in the main room, he noticed Pappy gathering his stuff. He looked over at Gunner.
Gunner told him, “Pappy and his men are on their way to touch base with the Brothers of Chaos in New Mexico. Cottonmouth and Cobra are leaving soon as well. They will haul Odin and Burr to them for MC justice.”
“I’m going with them as a rep for the Savaged Souls,” Boone announced.
Pappy looked over at Gypsy and asked, “Is Inez all right?”
Gypsy shook his head. “Shay just blew her off. She might be used to that but it doesn’t sit right with me.”
Pappy shook his head. “Most of us didn’t even know he had a family before this. He never talked about her but I knew his sister had a child.”
“He dismissed her,” Gypsy stated flatly. “Because her dad couldn’t save her mom by finding a cure for the disease that was killing her. Instead, he found the cure a few months after her mom died. Shay never forgave him for that.”
Pappy just shook his head. “Shay always was a stubborn man.”
“This goes beyond being a stubborn Pappy.” Gypsy glared at him. “He was cold hearted to her just now, when she needs family love and support, the most.”
“Keep her here and keep her safe.” Pappy shook his head. “We got people looking into Dino and the men he works for. I know Shay has his people looking too. We’ll find out who they are and then we’ll bury them.”
“She isn’t going anywhere,” Gypsy stated.
“Good.” Pappy nodded. “I’ll be in touch in a few days.” Looking over at Cobra he added, “I’ll see you when you get to New Mexico.”
Gypsy walked to his room. He didn’t know if she would be there or not but he had to know. He opened the door and found her sitting in a corner sobbing, still holding the box Shay had given her.
He closed his door and walked over to her. He squatted down in front of her and gathered her into his arms. Picking her up, he carried her over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. “I got you darlin,” he whispered in her ear. “I got you.”
Inez nodded. “I don’t want to be alone. Can I stay with you, please?”
“Yeah, you can stay with me.”
She put the box she held on the night table beside the bed. Then she turned back to him. Looking in his eyes she asked, “Will you kiss me again?”
He stared back at her. “I can do more than just kiss you, but you need know something first. If we do this, I’m claiming you and you aren’t ever leaving if I do.”
She stared in his eyes and read the truth of his statement. She licked her dry lips and whispered, “Ok. I think I’m ready for that.” She leaned forward and brushed her lips on his.
Gypsy groaned and grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her crushing her to him. He deepened the kiss and they both lost control.
He tore her clothes off and she moaned when he touched her bare skin. She groaned when they were both skin to skin. Then she was on her back and he positioned himself in her cradle. He froze for a moment then asked her again, “Are you sure this is what you want?”
She nodded. “Oh god, yes I want this....”
Gypsy nudged himself inside her then surged in.
Inez gasped then cried out. With each stroke, she climbed higher and higher.
Gypsy pounded into her and when he felt the familiar tingle at the base of his spine, he ramped up his strokes and then he held on tight when she exploded in his arms. He roared and flooded her with his seed.
He hadn’t come this hard or this much in years and when he finished, he collapsed on top of her. He groaned when he slid off of her and settled beside her. He leaned over top of her and looked down into her eyes. “Are you okay?”
Inez nodded. “Better than okay. That was crazy wild, yet so wonderful.”
“You’re mine now. Remember that because that means something to me.”
“Are you sure about this?” she whispered.
“I’m as sure as I am that some days are hotter than hell.” He smiled at her.
“Ok then.” She smiled back then pulled him towards her and crushed his mouth with her own. This time, she led the kiss. When the kiss broke she asked, “Can we do that again?”
Gypsy bit at his lip as he smiled.
Chapter Ten
Gypsy smiled down at her and said, “Yeah, we’ll do that again, but right now we have to join the others if you feel up to it. We need to ask you some questions, so we can track down this Dino bastard.”
Inez sighed hard. “Yeah, I suppose. But I don’t know how much more I know about the man.” She paused, then asked, “Did Shay leave?”
Gypsy looked away but nodded. “Yeah, the fucker left.”
Inez sighed and closed her eyes. “I didn’t think he’d stick around.”
“Well, he should have treated you better. You’re part of his family.” Gypsy growled.
Inez looked at him. “I think I was only really part of his family until my mom died, then he turned his back on Dad and I. I didn’t mean anything to him after mom died.”
“That’s harsh. But I think there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Shay doesn’t seem the type of man that we've been shown. Pappy thinks a lot of him and Pappy is usually right on the mark.”
Inez shrugged. “I grew up and those two men, dad and Shay I mean, were forever at each other’s throats. I always thought it was because Shay didn’t want my mom to marry my dad. She had a huge fight with her entire family when they got married. Her family told her they would shut her out if she stayed with dad. She loved him and she wasn’t going anywhere. Shay was the only one of her family who kept in touch with her over the years. They were so much in love with each other and Dad never made a move without her. They were so happy together. Mom homeschooled me, so we could travel the world with him. I was fourteen when she died. I watched the man I called Dad crumble into nothing. When my mom was dying, she begged him to finish his work. They both knew it wouldn’t help her but she wanted him to make sure the disease wouldn’t take anyone else. Dad promised her that he wouldn’t let her down.”
Gypsy laced her fingers with his as he listened.
”Shay was the only one that showed up for her funeral. Her parents declared that they wouldn’t show up if Dad was going to be there. I have no idea what they had against him.” She looked at him, “I’ve never even met my grandparents, and I don’t even know why.”
Gypsy shook his head. “Well, you got us now. We’ll be your family.”
She paused. “That...” Then shook her head, “...is like the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I never say anything I don’t mean, Baby Girl.”
She stared at him. “Um...could we go into town today? When I left my home, I took a backpack my dad had packed. He told me about the pack the night before he was killed. I haven’t even looked in it.”
Gypsy frowned. “How could you not look in the pack when you had it for months?”
“I guess I just didn’t want to look. I mean for the first month I was on the road I was still in shock from seeing him shot right in front of me and then him dying in my arms. I ran into Dino twice in that first month. When he shot at me the second time I guess I came out of my stupor. I knew if I didn’t he would end up killing me and no one would ever know I was alive or dead. I had to get here and I made up my mind that I would see my dad’s last wish completed. After that it just didn’t seem to matter what was in the pack. But...” she paused, “I had to stash the pack when I ran last night. I couldn’
t take it with me.”
“Ok, well let’s go get your backpack.” He got up and got dressed and she did the same.
When they reached the main room, everyone was there, including Pappy and his group.
Gunner looked up and noticed Gypsy heading over to his table.
Gypsy nodded at him. “Inez had to stash a backpack the night she ran from Dino. She’d like to get it back. It was one her dad had ready for her in case she had to bug out.”
Pappy glanced over at Gunner. “Mind if we stay long enough to see what’s in it? There might be more to this than we know at the moment.”
Gunner nodded. “Take someone with you as backup in case Dino finds you.”
Skeeter got to his feet. “I’ll ride with them.”
Gunner nodded, then looked back at Inez. “Go get your pack and get back here. I don’t want my men put in the line of danger any longer than necessary.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want that either.”
A few minutes later, two bikes rode out of the compound.
Inez hung on to Gypsy as they drove back into town. She told them she’d stashed the pack near the bar where they met and where Dino shot her.
After Gypsy parked in the alley behind Scruffy’s, she got off the bike and walked down the alley to a wooden fence.
Gypsy and Skeeter followed her and observed her searching the long grass around the back of the shed on Scruffy’s land.
She finally plucked a backpack out from the underbrush. She dusted it off and carried it back to where they were standing. “It was still there. I wasn’t sure if he’d seen me hide it or not.”
“Do you have any idea what’s in there?” Skeeter asked.
She shook her head. “I didn’t even know dad packed it. When he told me to run, he told me where the pack was. He insisted I run and I take this pack.”
“Well, let’s get it back to the clubhouse,” Skeeter said.
They got back on the bikes and began their way back.
When they stopped at a red light Inez happened to turn her head and when she did she saw the working end of a gun pointed at them. She patted Gypsy’s arm and screamed in his ear. “Move, he’s got his sights on us.”
Gypsy didn’t even bother to look; he gunned his engine and tore away from the light. Skeeter followed suit and as they moved out of the way, they heard the pinging of bullets bouncing off a traffic sign across from where they’d been stopped at a few seconds earlier.
Gypsy gripped the hand controls of his bike as he raced away. Weaving in and out of traffic both he and Skeeter sped back to the compound. When they got there, Gypsy hit the code that would open the gate and it was barely open when he gunned his bike through it.
Gunner and Pappy showed up at the front door as the men were pulling up to park.
Skeeter hit the code again and the gates swung shut before they were even half way open.
Hurriedly, Gypsy kicked the stand down on his bike and dragged Inez off the bike and inside immediately.
Once they were inside, Gypsy turned to her and saw how pale she was. “Are you all right?” he asked as he searched her over to see if she had been shot.
Inez trembled and nodded. She swung the bag off her back and looked it over carefully. When she’d taken it from the house one of the reasons she never looked inside it was because there was a combination lock on it and she didn’t know the combination.
The lock was still in place and she sighed in relief. Looking at Gypsy, she asked him the same question. “Are you guys all right?”
Gypsy nodded and looked over at Skeeter. “You good?”
Skeeter had a streak of blood on his shoulder but other than that, he looked okay. “It’s a scratch man. Could have been a lot worse.”
Gunner and Pappy joined them.
“Will someone tell me what the hell is going on here?” Gunner growled the words out. “Why did you guys rush back here like someone was burning your ass with a torch?”
Gypsy turned to his president. “We collected the pack and stopped at a red light when Inez told us to move. We did and seconds later, we heard a street sign pinging with bullets being sprayed. Someone was shooting at us.”
“Was it Dino?” Pappy wanted to know.
“I don’t know. She told us there was a gun trained on us, so we hauled ass,” Gypsy told them. “He must have been waiting for us.”
“How the fucking hell did he know where we’d be?” Skeeter asked, not really asking anyone in particular.
Gunner turned to Inez. “Just what the hell is in that backpack?”
Inez held it out to him. “I have no clue. It’s been locked for the last four months. I never opened it.”
“Do you mind if we open it?” He had to ask, but he was going to open it whether she agreed or not. Whatever was in this pack had almost cost him two of his men and he wanted answers.
Inez shook her head. “I don’t care if you do. We all need to know more about this, especially me.”
Gunner took the pack over to the table and checked the lock. He looked over at Boone and said something about a lock cutter.
Boone disappeared briefly and when he came back, he had a set of pliers that looked like metal cutters.
Gunner took that from him, snapped the lock off, and unzipped the zipper. Pulling the items out one by one, he laid them out on the table. There was a small lockbox and a file folder. He pulled out a small bag filled with flash drives and a small packet of letters. Then he pulled out several stacks of cash.
Inez walked over and stared at the stash her father had packed for her. She shook her head. None of this was worth his life. She looked over at the letters to see they were handwritten and were addressed to her. She picked them up and took the rubber band off them. Going through the small stack, she found dates on the envelopes and they had been written over the years since her mom died. She came to the last letter and found Shay’s name on the envelope. She shook her head, then looked over at Pappy. “Will you be seeing Shay anytime soon?”
Pappy nodded. “He should be in New Mexico in the next few days, why?”
“Can you give him this? He may not read it because it’s from my dad but he wanted him to get it.” She handed him the thick letter.
“And if he doesn’t read it?” Pappy asked.
She shrugged. “Can’t do nothing about that. There is always a good possibility he won’t, but that’s on him not me.”
“He’s your uncle.” Pappy pushed her a little.
Inez just stared at him. “If he was my uncle he would be here when I need him. If he were my uncle, he wouldn’t have left me out there with a killer on my back. He would have cared when I lost my last parent, but he didn’t. I really thought he might. I had a hope that he cared what happened to me when he showed up here but his actions showed he didn’t fucking care. We may share a bloodline but he hated my father more than he loved me. Family doesn’t treat you like that. So no. He is not really my anything, now is he?” She took the letters and walked out of the room.
Heading outside, she wanted some privacy to read her father’s last thoughts. She went back to the garden spot and when she sat down, she took a deep breath and opened the first of the letters. Going by dates, she went back to when the first letter was written. It would have been shortly after her mother died.
Tears ran freely down her cheeks as she read her dad’s words. He spoke of the great pain in his heart from losing her mother and how much he hated burying her in Maine. He said she told him how much she hated it there, and how glad she was when they made their home in Vermont. He spoke of how at the time of her death, he’d caved into Shay’s insistence that she be buried near her family. Her dad spoke of how rather than fight with her family, he gave her back to them but later he regretted his decision and how much he wanted her with him when he passed. He told her that Shay and his family would never allow that to happen and how much that hurt his heart.
She kept reading the letters and she learned so
much about her dad that she hadn’t known before. The letters showed another side of him. She got to know him as a man, not just her dad.
She made it to the last letter and it had a date just a few days before he died. Her fingers trembled as she opened it and tears ran down her cheeks as she read his words. This letter was longer than the others, and it took her longer to get through it.
When she finally got through it, she laid the letter on top of all the rest and just sobbed. She finally knew the truth about her mom’s death and it hurt. She hadn’t died of cancer like Inez thought she had. She had been murdered. But not by something her dad did.
No, someone after Shay got to her and poisoned her. He wanted Shay to know he could be got to anytime, anywhere and his sister paid the price. The bastard wanted Shay to know he could get to him any time, any place. Her dad had told her in the letter that was one of the reasons Shay wasn’t around too much after her mom died. He hadn’t wanted to bring their connection to the eyes of his enemies.
Her dad told her he kept her mom alive as long as he could but the poison she’d been given had done too much damage internally and he couldn’t stop it from ending her life. He’d found the antidote just a few weeks after her death so no one would be able to use the poison again but it was at the cost of a woman who had nothing to gain and everything to lose. He told her it was an illness, because the less Inez knew the better off she would be.
Gypsy joined her and for a few minutes, he just stared at her. “Are you okay?” he finally asked.
Inez shook her head. She slid the letters in his direction but Gypsy didn’t take his eyes off her. “When this is over can we please go get my mother and move her, so she can be buried with my dad? It won’t be a pleasant thing to do and I may have to fight to get it done but they need to be together.”
“We can do whatever you want,” he promised her. He paused then said, “Come on, we found something you need to know about.” He held out his hand and waited while she gathered the letters together and then holding her hand tightly, he led her back into the clubhouse.