by Erin Trejo
“What the hell are you sayin’?”
“I’m saying that I need to go. I need to find Tom and handle this myself. Roland doesn’t deserve my shit on top of what he already has going on.”
“You think he’s just gonna let you walk the fuck out of here? Have you lost your goddamn mind? All he cares about is you and his son. You can’t leave him,” Viking snaps.
“I have no other choice. Don’t you see that? If I stay I’m risking your club. It’s not just Roland and Drake. It’s all of you,” my voice almost hurting my ears. Viking watches me for a few minutes, not saying a word.
“You want help? That what this is? You want me to go behind my brother’s back and help you run?”
The look in his eyes tells me that this is a bad idea. I should have asked Fin. If anyone would help me, it would be him. The fact that Viking is the president is the only reason I’m asking him. He can withhold information, keeping it to himself, he doesn’t have to tell anyone if he doesn’t want to.
“I don’t want to drag anyone else down Viking. I’ve done enough of that for years. Roland lived without me once. He can do it again.”
“And your son? He can’t live without you.”
I close my eyes and blow out a slow breath.
“I don’t want to leave today. I want to spend a little more time with Drake. I need that time with him.”
“I understand that. Fuck Molly, this is gonna kill Reaper. You do know that, right?” Viking drags his hand through his long blonde hair.
“He’s a grown man. He can handle it.”
“And Fin?”
He would ask about Fin.
“Fin’s a good guy. I hope one day he finds what he’s looking for. It isn’t me.”
“Goddamn it,” he thunders and tugs at his hair. He paces the room unsure of what to say and I can’t blame him. I’ve just laid my life out for him, and I’m asking him to help me go against his own family.
“We give it some time. He needs you right now, and so does the kid. Let shit settle for a bit and if you still wanna handle it, I’ll help you.”
I nod my head with a small smile. Viking nods before storming out of the room.
Chapter 18
Reaper
“Goddamn, I almost want to get pulled over just to see what the fuck they can find,” Mason chuckles in the seat next to me. I just shake my head at the crazy son of a bitch. I’d prefer not to get pulled over if it’s all the same to him.
“Those walls look real, don’t they?” I ask him. Mason pulls the cigarette from his lips and glances over at me.
“Fuckin’ hell yeah, they do. That’s why I want to get pulled over. I want to see the look on those pig’s faces when they can’t find a damn thing,” he laughs before looking back at the road.
One thing I can always count on with these guys is a good laugh. My brothers never fail me.
“So, what do you think about this Brotherhood shit?” I ask as I grab a pack of cigarettes and light one up.
“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never heard anything about it until you brought it to the table. Seems like a lot of bullshit if you ask me though. Who the fuck wants to be under the radar? MCs are always up front you know? That’s the part that pisses me off. We don’t hide who we are or what we do,” he says as he pulls off on the next exit. He keeps driving and follows the directions we were given.
“I suppose you’re right, but that doesn’t say shit for why they killed Ramirez’s guys. They didn’t keep that on the down low if they did that. Think they’re plottin’ somethin’?” Mason considers it a minute before raising his shoulder.
“It’s hard to say. What the fuck could they even want? We aren’t the only ones runnin’ that shit. Every goddamn one percenter around is runnin’ somethin’. It just seems odd to me.”
I lean back in my chair and smoke my cigarette while he keeps driving. I let his words roll around in my head. We shouldn’t even be on their radar as far as I’m concerned. Yeah they know I was in with Ramirez when I was locked up, but that’s the extent of it. If Tom is one of them, which doesn’t feel right to me, why the fuck would it matter? Hasn’t he been with them long enough for them to have his back?
“What are you thinkin’?” Mason asks.
“Not much man. I just can’t wrap my head around any of this shit. None of it makes sense. What the hell does Tom have to do with any of it?”
“I hear you. We’ll get it figured out. Let’s just deliver this shit and move on.”
We’ve been driving for hours. Making our way into Georgia I let out a breath of relief and sigh. We haven’t been stopped. I suppose that’s a good thing regardless of what Mason thought.
As we pull off on the exit I see a road block. Spoke to fucking soon I guess.
“Well fuck. I was only jokin’ about wanting to get pulled over and shit,” Mason grumbles which makes me laugh.
I watch the fucking officer like a hawk. I’m holding my breath like a kid going under water and when the fucker waves us through, I nearly pass out. Mason laughs hysterically next to me.
“You should have seen your face. That was fuckin’ epic brother.”
Glad I could amuse his ass. We drive a little further until we finally get to our destination without any further incidents. I hop out of the truck and stretch my aching body as I’m ready to get this over with and head back home. I need to apologize to Molly. I know I hurt her. I know I was fucked up in the head and I fucked up by doing it, but I can’t face the fact that I’m losing my son. It hurts too damn much.
“Termite, my man.”
I look at the man Mason hollers to. Termite? What the fuck kind of name is that?
“Mason, you got my shit?” he asks.
Mason chuckles as he pulls the back door of the truck up. Termite looks inside as his face turns red.
“What the fuck is this shit?” he asks.
“What? You don’t see your shit?” Mason taunts. I laugh.
“Goddamn it Mason! Is this a fuckin’ joke?”
Seeing that he’s getting truly pissed off I jump into the back of the truck and begin to remove the panels. One by one I pull the false panels off and reveal the drugs hidden behind them.
“Well I’ll be goddamned. Who the hell did this?” Termite asks climbing into the back with me. Mason hops in behind him.
“That’s all Reaper,” Mason says nodding at me. Termite’s face lights up.
“No shit? I’m gonna have to hire you up here sometime to do some work for me.”
We begin pulling the drugs out and start tossing them to the floor.
“This is some good shit, Reaper. Really good shit,” Termite tells me. I nod my head and continue.
“Let me get the boys to finish unloadin’ and then we’ll get your parts loaded up,” Termite says as he eyes the false walls a little more.
I like seeing the smile on his face. When all of the drugs are lying on the floor of the truck I jump down and light up a smoke. Pulling my cell free I dial Molly.
“Hello?”
I close my eyes as her voice soothes me. “Hey baby.”
“Hey. Are you okay?” she asks.
“Yeah. We just got here. As soon as we unload we’ll head back. I just wanted to say I’m sorry for the way I’ve been actin’.”
The line is silent for a minute. My heart wants to leap out of my chest. I don’t know if she’s going to forgive me or not.
“I get it Roland. It’s a lot to handle. I get it.”
I sigh in relief when she says that. I can’t have her mad at me. I can’t have her upset. I need her on my side. I love her too much to let this come between us. I’m watching as Termite’s guys unload the truck quickly before filling it with bike parts.
“I’ll be home soon. I just needed to tell you that I’m sorry,” I tell her.
“I love you Roland.”
“I love you too babe.”
I hang up the phone and glance over at Mason.
“Is sh
e okay?”
I nod my head and blow out a breath. I was nervous as fuck that she’d hate me.
“You, Reaper. Come on over here and tell me what it’d cost to get you up here to make a few of these for me?” Termite calls out.
I turn on my heel and walk toward him. I stop in front of him as a few of his guys eye me with suspicion.
“A couple thousand should do it if you supply the materials. It’s all sweat and work after that,” I tell him inhaling the nicotine from my cigarette.
“Sounds good. I can do that. I’ll give you a call and we can get a time set up, yeah?”
Termite extends his hand to me and I take it. I shake his hand on a new job. Maybe when the time comes, I can bring Drake and Molly with me. Let them see the sights in Georgia, if Drake is even still around.
That thought alone send chills up my spine.
Chapter 19
Molly
I watch Drake and Roland toss the football back and forth to each other in the backyard. It’s the little things like this that I hate that Roland missed. I hate myself for making him miss out on these things. The smile on his face couldn’t get much bigger. He’s so damn proud of his son.
“They are adorable together,” Taz says as she sits down in the chair next to me.
“They are.”
“Thanks for offering to hold the cookout here. I don’t like having it at the clubhouse. Too close to the main road. People end up getting pissy about it,” Taz says looking over at me.
“Roland didn’t mind. I thought it would be nice anyway. Drake and I have been holed up in this house for too long. It’s nice to have people over,” I say back to her. Her smile is huge.
“I’m happy to see him happy. It’s been a long time since he’s smiled like that.”
I love Taz. She may be a little older than me, but she has a heart of gold. She takes care of everyone the way she would her own kids, and these are grown men. It does my heart good to know that Roland will have her once I’m gone.
“You love them all, don’t you?” I ask.
She looks over at me and nods, “Like they’re my own. We’re all one big family. There’s a family here that not everyone has. We’re lucky to have it. I’m just happy to say that you’re a part of it now.” She reaches over and grabs my hand.
My chest tightens. How is she going to feel when I leave? How is Roland going to react? God it hurts so much to even think about it.
“Hey babe, come here,” Roland calls out to me.
I smile as I shove out of the chair and walk toward him. I take in his eyes, his smile. Everything about him is absolute perfection. I love that man more than I ever thought it was possible I could, and soon I’m going to have to rip his heart in half once more. I have to remember that it’s all for the best. I have to believe that I’m doing the right thing, or I might rethink it all.
“Hey you. You two look good out here,” I say fluffing up Drake’s hair.
“Dad said I’m good enough to try out for the team. He thinks I have a good arm,” Drake squeals with happiness.
“Oh yeah? You think you’d like to do that?” I ask.
“Yeah, that would be awesome. I can kick too. Watch!”
Drake turns and runs with the ball in his hands. Roland moves to stand behind me and wraps his arms around my waist holding me tight against him.
“He’s perfect Mols. Just fuckin’ perfect,” he whispers in my ear.
“No, he’s everything.”
As I watch my son play football and laugh my inside start to churn. I can’t imagine my life without him. A sob bubbles up in my throat before it comes out.
“It’s okay darlin’. He’s strong. He’s gonna pull through this. We just have to have faith in that,” Roland says softly.
“I just don’t know what I’m going to do with him. What am I going to do Roland? What are we going to do?”
“I’m gonna love you Mols. We’re gonna miss him every day together when that time comes, but for right now he’s here. He’s with us and that’s all we can focus on for now. We can’t live in the future.”
God, I know he’s right. It’s just so hard not to think about it.
“Come on mom,” Drake yells with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on his face.
I wipe my eyes and pull out of Roland’s arms to run toward him. He throws me the ball and as soon as I catch it I can hear Roland yell, “Tackle.” Before I can respond or even think about it Roland lifts me by the waist and pulls me to the ground with Drake right behind him.
“Hold her down. Make her laugh Drake. Don’t let her up until she’s laughin’,” Roland says around his own laugh.
Drake tickles my sides as we all roll around on the ground. In this moment it really hits me. We’re laughing and playing like a family. We’re a family. This is the family we should have always been.
“Okay, I give up. You win,” I squeal. Drake laughs and climbs to his feet as Roland lays next to me breathlessly.
“Dad we won! Can we have ice cream after we eat?” he asks excitedly.
“You know it. Go ask Viking if the food is about ready,” Roland tells him.
Drake nods and takes off running through the yard. Roland rolls over onto his side and props himself up on his elbow to look down at me. He reaches over and pulls a piece of grass from my hair.
“Thank you,” he says with sincerity in his eyes.
“For what?”
“Stayin’ after you showed up. For escapin’ from that bastard. For livin’. For bein’ here now.” He shrugs his shoulders. “Just… thank you for my son.”
As tears well up in my eyes he reaches over and pulls me against him. A few tears fall before he pulls back, leans down, and kisses me. His lips are warm and soft. As quickly as the kiss started it’s over, he pulls back and rests his forehead against mine.
“I’m just glad you’re back. I was lost for so long Mols. I didn’t know what the fuck to do or where to turn. I tried to find you a few times, but there was nothin’. It fuckin’ kills me that you were so close and there was nothin’ I could have done.”
I reach up and brush his hair out of his eyes and smile while saying, “Thank you for being you. Thank you for accepting me back into your life. Thank you for understanding the reason I had to go. I know it can’t be easy to forgive me for keeping him from you.”
“Shh. You’re here now. He’s here now. I was pissed at you at first, but God I can’t picture not havin’ the two of you.”
With another kiss to my lips Roland climbs to his feet and drags me up with him. He tosses his arm over my shoulder and leads me back toward the house. All of the guys are gathered around the grill and the girls are on the back porch talking and laughing. Roland stops walking. I take the chance to glance up at him. The look of pure happiness is all I can see.
They were right, all of them. This is what a family looks like. They come together in the best of times and fight together through the worst. And the most amazing things about it all is that they do it all together.
“They love you,” I say still looking up at him. He glares down at me and nods.
“They’ve been everything to me for a long time. They are closer to me than brothers.”
“They’re good people.”
I nod my head because the more I watch them all together, the more I can see it.
“You remember we do illegal shit, yeah?” he asks with a chuckle.
“I know, but they’re good to you and that’s what matters the most.”
With a smile he leans down and kisses me once more.
Chapter 20
Reaper
“Come on Reaper. You don’t have to do this,” the prick screams as I hold his cracked out girlfriend by the hair in front of him.
“Why the fuck not? You won’t tell me what I want to hear. I think it’s only fair,” I say laughing in his face.
I drag the girl around so that her back slams into my chest which knocks the air from her lungs. She
huffs but doesn’t try to fight me.
“She doesn’t know shit Reaper,” he yells out.
I’m really getting tired of hearing him repeat the same shit. I should shoot her in the head and just get it all over with. Mason chuckles next to me with a cigarette hanging from his lips. Ink just shakes his head as he’s clearly annoyed with this bullshit too.
“Well, the problem with all of this is that you do know. I know you know. I don’t know why we have to play these little games. Just tell me where the fuck Tom is. That’s all I need to know. You and your slut here can walk free if you’ll just tell me,” I inform him.
His eyes move to meet hers before snapping back to mine. A pained look crosses his face and I know what the answer is going to be. I’m not sad that I’m going to have to kill these two assholes. It aggravates me that I have to waste more time trying to find that bastard Tom. He’s out there somewhere and I know he’s close by. I can feel it in my bones.
“Hey Ink. You like red heads, yeah?”
I glance over at him and he grins and moves toward me. He pulls the girl from my grasp and moans as he pulls her body against his. One of his hands snakes around her waist while the other goes around her neck. He slowly slips his hand into the front of her tiny shorts and straight between her thighs. She tries to fight him, but with the grip he has on her neck she isn’t going anywhere. Larry, the fucking idiot, is on his knees in front of me as he screams and hollers.
“Shut the fuck up!” I roar.
Ink doesn’t stop what he’s doing, not that I expected him to. Larry’s eyes move from me to his girl and back again. The fear you can see in his eyes is what’s pushing me forward. Something about seeing a grown man brought to his knees excites me.
“Last chance before Ink here squeezes the life right out of her,” I offer him one last chance. I offer a way for this to end. Now we just sit back and watch to see if he takes it.
“The Brotherhood isn’t as big as they want people to think it is. Everyone thinks it’s some old ass MC that’s reuniting,” he finally says.