“This skank is trash talking, calling into question my loyalty when it comes to the men of this club!” Charlee continues to holler.
“Bitch, don’t you ever learn? Your place is to keep your trap shut and spread your legs when told to do so. You do not ever disrespect a member nor his old lady,” Prospect Jonah emphatically states. As he reaches out to push her along and out of the room, Janella reaches up and slaps him across the face. She made sure to add her talons to it and he now has scratch marks on his right cheek.
This infuriates Charlee and Cameron who then jump into action.
Kruger
We hear commotion coming from the common room. We all jump up out of our chairs and briskly make our way out. There’s a fray of activity as Charlee and Cameron once again have a damn bunny on the ground, wailing on her. Then I notice our newest prospect, Jonah, off to the side, holding his cheek as smears of blood trek down his cheek.
The fuck?
God dammit, Janella has started her shit again it looks like. When is enough going to be enough?
“Why does it not surprise me that Janella is in the middle of this bullshit?” I ask Gunner who’s standing next to me.
“Because she’s our damn problem child,” he groans out.
“Time for the bitch to go,” Shamus states as he winces as Charlee lands another blow to Janella’s face. This time, we hear the crunch of bones and witness blood spurting out of her nose as if it’s a faucet is running.
“Damn, that’s gotta hurt like a bitch,” Master mumbles, but there’s no sympathy in his tone.
“I’ve been on the receiving end of her temper, trust me, it does hurt,” Country hisses as he watches his old lady continue to pummel the bunny.
Out of nowhere, I hear Stella and laugh when I hear what she says, “That blood’s gonna stain. I’m not cleaning that shit up. Just saying.” The prospect widens his eyes at her statement but says nothing to her in return.
“She’s not gonna have any teeth left in her mouth if Charlee keeps smacking her face,” Shamus supplies.
“Good, maybe if she gums someone’s cock she’ll actually give a somewhat decent blowjob.” I whip my head in Blaze’s direction, stunned that he’s the one who said anything of this sort. He’s usually the level-headed one who never says a cross word… especially where women are concerned. Unless he’s really pissed that is. And this particular bitch has the ability to crawl underneath a lot of our skins.
Especially mine.
“She’s trouble, Gunner. How many chances are we gonna give her before we finally wipe our hands of her?” I ask him, because I’d personally love to be the one to escort her off our property.
“After this, she’s done. It’s obvious she’s unteachable and doesn’t understand when to back the fuck off,” Gunner informs me.
“Thank fuck,” I state. “Now, if you’d gladly remove your sister and old lady from performing the beat down of the century, I’ll get rid of the trash.”
“Nah,” Gunner shakes his head, “let them have some fun.”
“Jesus,” Master murmurs, “the girl may not survive.”
“That’s her fault,” Gunner nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders. “I’m not about to step into that.”
I look over and see that things are winding down, but the girls are still pissed off… I’m with Gun, there’s no way I’m gonna have them turn on me. “I’m gonna grab a beer.”
“Same,” Gun agrees with me as the others follow suit.
We sit and drink while waiting for the women to wind down. It doesn’t take too long; as soon as I take my last sip of beer, they’ve backed off from Janella.
“She’s gonna need a plastic surgeon.” Shamus winces once he takes in all the damage done to her.
“That’s on her, it’s not the club’s responsibility anymore,” I rebut as I stand from my stool and march over to the stupid bitch. Getting rid of her is my absolute pleasure.
“Up, bitch, you just got yourself banned from the club. Get your shit and let’s go,” I inform her.
“W-what?” she cries out.
“You were told, it’s obvious you don’t learn. Now get a move on, you’ve been voted out and are never allowed to return. No arguing.” I hold my hand up when I see she’s ready to fight. “There’s no going back from here.” When the bitch pulls her hand back ready to slap me, she’s taken down by a hazy shadow... my woman. She took her out like a fucking linebacker.
Is it wrong that my dick just got hard?
“Don’t you ever touch a member of my family again!” Stella hollers out. “You may think I’m meek, but you don’t know a thing about me. When it comes to my family, I’m fiercely protective. And that’s my son’s father you just laid your hands on. Never again,” Stella says as she leans into Janella’s face with her hands wrapped firmly in her hair. She’s pulling and tugging with each word she says. Her words pull on some invisible string to my heart. Each day she does or says something that chips at the cement wall I have in place guarding my heart and feelings.
I don’t want her to hurt herself any further than she already is. I step up and pry her fingers out of Janella’s hair. “Sweetheart, it’s okay, let me get rid of her. It’ll take more than a puny smack from a cunt like her to take me out.”
She eventually loosens her fingers and allows me to detangle them from Janella’s scalp. I’m helped with escorting Janella off the club property. The prospect she gave the smack down to earlier, carries her clothes for me as I frog march her out of the gates. I toss her ass out and he throws her clothes over her.
“Be gone, you fucking stain,” I announce as the gates close, locking her out.
“Good riddance,” the prospect states as all the old ladies are standing in the background clapping their hands.
I take a bow causing them all to laugh at my showmanship. The joyous looks on their faces brings a smile to mine.
Getting rid of Janella seems to have had a boulder lifted from our lives.
Fucking cunt.
12
Stella
Six weeks later…
Kruger and I have not had our talk yet, but I can feel it coming. He’s been spending a lot of time in church. When he’s not there, he’s meeting with Gunner in his office. The extra time between those meetings, he’s spending time with Jaggar and me. The more I see him, the harder it is to keep my hands and mouth to myself. I want him to ravish me, claim me, own me—but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Although he no longer gives me the stink eye, he now wears a look of longing that I’m sure matches mine.
We have fun playing with Jaggar, he’s so sweet and gentle with him that I wish I had let him be around for everything, all of Jaggar’s firsts. He’s always asking me questions about my pregnancy and the birth. I share with him every detail I can remember from those times in my life… ones I was alone for, but that was my own damn fault.
Today, he’s driving me to the doctor to get some x-rays done to see if my wrist brace is ready to be removed or not. I’ll also be seeing a local doctor that was recommended by the club's friend to see if I’ve healed all the way. My fingers are crossed that I’ll be able to resume all of my normal activities. I’m going stir crazy sitting around on my ass. I need to work; I’ve not been that woman whose content sitting at home twiddling her thumbs. I need to be kept busy, and even though Jaggar does that, I want to be earning my own keep so that I can get my own place. I’m positive Kruger and I can come to terms with an arrangement for Jaggar’s visitations. We’ve been getting along so well that I’m sure we’ll both be adults about the whole thing… at least, that’s my hope.
Of course, I want Jaggar to reside with me on the weekdays and do the whole weekend thing with Kruger; unless he’s out of town on club business, then we’d have to rearrange our schedules.
“Are you nervous or something?” he asks me.
“No, why?” I ask him, confused as to why he questioned me about that.
“You’re messing
with the hem of your shirt, you only do that when something’s weighing on your mind or you're nervous about something,” he replies.
“I was just thinking about things,” I mutter under my breath.
“What kind of things?” he asks with suspicion laced in his tone.
“About me getting myself a job, getting me and Jaggar our own place, custody arrangements, those things,” I hesitantly supply.
“Fuck that. There isn’t gonna be no damn judge or lawyer telling me when I can see my kid and when I can't. We ain’t doing shit that way, Stella.”
“Then what do you propose, Kruger?”
“Right now, I think we need to worry about getting you better, then, we’ll discuss all of that.”
“I am better, Kruger. We need to get an understanding of how this is gonna play out.” I should’ve known better than to think a man like Kruger would want something permanently written down and filed at the courthouse.
“I think we should talk about us, and where we’re going before making any rash and final decisions,” he declares.
“There isn’t an us though, Kruger,” I vehemently sigh. I wish there was, but I’m not holding out any hopes that his words mean anything more than what he’s offered me in the past… friendship.
“There is an us, Stella. You’re mi-” He doesn’t get to finish what he’s saying, because as we go to turn down the street that will lead us to the doctor’s office, we’re rammed into by another vehicle. I feel my body jolt. I’m thrown around the cab of Kruger’s truck. The seatbelt locks up and I can’t get it to move so I can get myself out of it. I look over to Kruger and see that he has blood trailing down the side of his face.
“Kruger… Kruger, please wake up!” I begin to fight harder to get out of my bindings. I feel a shadow looming around the passenger door, when I look over, I nearly vomit everywhere… it’s the same two men who beat the ever-loving shit out of me last time. The entire reason that my path in life ended up crossing Kruger’s. “No.” I cry out, not believing my luck that these two assholes have once again forced their way into my existence. One travels around the front of the truck and I look around to see if there are any witnesses, any passerby’s but there’s no one… it’s as if the road we’re on is deserted.
The door is yanked open and the man leans down and leers into my eyes before menacingly saying, “We meet again.” Before I can reply to his reminder of our first encounter, a cloth comes up and is placed over my nose. My body thrashes as I struggle to get away from him and the offending odor permeating from the rag. As tears stream down my face, I hear him mutter, “Lights out, sweetness.” The last thing I see is him swiping his tongue along his bottom lip as his eyes are filled with lust.
Oh God, no. Please no.
Kruger
I come to and immediately feel my head throbbing and something piercing my chest. As I move my hand to figure out what it is, I feel a handle sticking out. “Fucking hell, someone stabbed me.” I look around and notice that Stella is no longer in the vehicle with me. The feeling of pain disperses as my only thoughts are placed on where the fuck is my woman and who the hell took her? Because I know her, and there’s no way she would’ve willingly left me behind while I was unconscious, not even to seek out help. As my hand brushes the handle protruding from my chest, I feel a piece of paper underneath it, I’ve been fucking used as a message dispenser.
Sirens sound in the background as I try to remove the knife from where it’s embedded. My hands are shaky and I feel vomit rise; without a conscious thought, it spews from me. My head falls back against the headrest as I fight to retain consciousness. I can feel my body fading fast, as a man comes up to me, a paramedic I believe, who’s asking me questions. “Say what?” I ask him as saliva heavily infiltrates my mouth and my tongue feels heavy, as if it’s weighted down with lead weights.
“Sir, what’s your name?” he asks again.
“Kruger,” I answer, barely keeping the contents of my stomach buried.
“Kruger, you need to stay still, alright?”
“The note, what does the note say that’s stuck in me by the knife?” I plead with him with my look to please answer my question.
“Sir, I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”
“Fuck what’s right and what’s wrong, tell me goddammit!” I shout, my frustration at an all time high.
“It says, an eye for an eye, a life for a life, I’ll be in touch, J,” he answers, even though I can tell he doesn’t want to.
“That sonofabitch,” is the last thing I remember saying before darkness consumes me.
Gunner
Cameron and I are watching Jaggar while Kruger takes Stella to the doctor. I wanted a prospect to escort him, but he waved me off with a glare stating he didn’t need a goddamned babysitter. Jamie’s been quiet, his whereabouts are unknown, which makes an uneasy feeling sit heavily on my chest.
Mane and Jaggar are spread out on the floor of my room, laying on a soft, quilted blanket, while they stretch their arms and legs. “They’re gonna grow up and be best friends,” Cameron states with a smile spread over her face. It stretches from ear to ear which entices me to join her. There hasn’t been a lot in my life to smile about lately, that is unless it’s my old lady and daughter. They can make a gloomy day turn into sunshine for me. No matter what my day’s been like, I know it’s gonna end on a fanfuckingtastic note as soon as I lay eyes on them.
“They’ll all three be tight as thieves, not to mention any others we bring into the flock,” I wiggle my eyebrows dramatically at her.
“You and your football team worth of kids you want. We said we’d wait until Mane was out of diapers to even begin talks of adding any siblings,” she says while rolling her eyes at me.
“I want a large family. And, I’d like them to be closer together than Charlee and I are. We’re close, but not as close as we’d have been if we’d actually grown up together. I want that for Mane.”
“We won’t wait fifteen years to have another one, Gunner. I know how hard that was for you and Charlee. She loves you and worships you ya’ know.” She looks up at me with those beautiful eyes of hers that see everything. I can never hide anything from her, she’s always managed to see right through me. Even when we were nothing more than friends.
“Gunner!” I hear Country hollering out my name… his voice is frantic which has me up on my feet and running to the door. As soon as I pull it open, he’s standing in front of me and I see panic all over his face. “Kruger, Stella… accident.” Are the only legible words I can make out through his attempt to talk while catching his breath. His face is red and I can tell he’s suffered lack of oxygen in his hurry to get to me.
“Settle down, what kind of accident and are they okay?” I question, while reaching over to grab my cut from where it’s neatly folded on top of the dresser. Cameron comes up behind me and places a hand on my back. I settle a little from her touch alone, but my heart is still rapidly beating inside of my chest cavity.
“Car accident, they were sideswiped, that’s all I know. I was asked for his next of kin to make it there immediately,” Country states as he tries to calm himself down.
“Him, only him, does that mean Stella’s okay?” Cameron asks Country.
“She wasn’t there when the paramedics and police showed up,” Country admits. Now I understand the worry and fear that I saw in his face.
“Fuck,” I hiss. “Gotta go, Cam. You stay here with the babies, don’t leave the compound, as a matter of fact, don’t step outside of these doors. I’ll call you as soon as I know anything,” I issue the orders as I rush out the door, but not before giving her a peck on the lips.
“Be careful, and hurry, Gunner, I don’t have a good feeling about any of this,” she calls out to my retreating back. I hold my hand up over my shoulder to let her know I heard her, but I don’t stop, my only concern is making it to Kruger and finding out what exactly happened to Stella.
I’m looking at a bloo
dy note that I was just informed by the chief of police was extracted from a damn knife embedded in Kruger’s chest. It’s in a plastic evidence bag, but I can read it plain as day.
An eye for an eye, a life for a life, I’ll be in touch.
- J
“How did that motherfucker know where they’d be?” Country asks me. I’m having a hard time answering him since I’m consumed with rage.
“We’ve had eyes on us,” Buster, my road captain, concludes.
“But we’ve been patrolling the damn perimeter of the clubhouse. We’ve done hourly checks, no one’s been spotted,” Malice drones.
“Then they’re really just that good, or we’ve got a mole inside,” Master advises.
“No fucking way, I don’t believe it. All of the men have been vetted. None of them have any ties whatsoever to Jamie, his associates or that damn reservation,” Shamus growls.
“I want that damn reservation burned to the ground!” I seethe. “I’m gonna fucking demolish everything Jamie holds near and dear.”
“But he’s got Stella in his clutches, if we retaliate in that manner, there’s no telling what he’ll do to her,” Country says, causing me to stop and think about all the options I have to deal with this.
“Burn it,” I command as I walk away to meet the doctor who was working on Kruger. As soon as he walked through the doors into the waiting room, everything else ceased to exist. “Talk to me,” I say as soon as I reach him.
“He was lucky, his vest—”
“Cut,” I interrupt him. It may sound silly that I’m doing so. But the cut of our club is sacred, I won’t allow anyone to belittle what it stands for.
“Cut,” he begins, nodding his head. “It kept the knife from completely entering his chest. There were no vital organs hit, no nerves were severed. He is one lucky man,” the doctor explains. “Now, he’s got some minor lacerations on his head from the impact with the window. He’ll have a mighty headache for a few days, but the scans were clear. He ended up with twelve stitches all together. We’ll be giving him a prescription of antibiotics to ensure that he doesn’t come down with an infection. If there’s any leakage from the stitches, redness outside of the normal, he needs to come in immediately.”
Shattered Trust : DreamCatcher MC Page 9