by Jessie Cooke
“Well then, I guess we both know where we stand,” he said, standing up as well. “Again, it was nice meeting you, Rebekah, and good luck today. You know my brother Gunner is who you’re fighting.”
“Your brother?”
“No one would accept Jake’s ‘invitation.’ Gunner finally agreed because I asked him to do it.”
“Hmm...and here I was about to tell you I’m glad you finally found him.” For the first time since she met him, Dax’s expression did change, slightly.
“Gunner found me, actually,” Dax said.
“Oh, well, either way...sometimes when I got bored I’d reread Coyote’s old letters. The one where he wrote about your brother always made me sad. So, I’m glad he found you and I’ll try not to hurt him.” She smiled and started to walk away. She got as far as the door and Dax said:
“Beck...you don’t still have those letters, do you?”
“Yes, but I gave them to Wolf. He still has them.” She suddenly got a chill, like the temperature in the room had just dropped twenty degrees. It was the look on his face. She knew she had done...or said...something wrong, but she had no idea what it was. He seemed to catch himself and once again his expression was lifeless...except for that crazy fire in his eyes that seemed to always be burning.
“Well, thank you. Maybe Wolf will let me take a look. I’ll see you at the fight.” Beck knew that was her dismissal, so she left. But she still had a bad feeling about what had just transpired. She just wished she knew why.
27
Wolf had been on the phone laying the last of his plans with Granite when Jace found him in the shop. He’d gone out there to use the phone because he knew Dax was coming and he didn’t want to be interrupted. He’d just finished his call when Jace and Cody Miller walked in. Jace saw him through the glass of the office walls and waited for him to step out before he cocked his head at Cody and said, “Dax is waiting to see you, Boss.”
“Thanks, Jace. Hey, Cody, how’s it going?” Cody reminded Wolf so much of Dax. Coyote told him how the boy had clung to Dax when he was small and living a life of hell with his father. When he was in prison, according to Coyote again, Dax was the only one that ever visited him. It stood to reason that Cody’s hero worship of the other man would have led to his picking up some of Dax’s mannerisms. They were so much alike though that sometimes Wolf wondered if Doc had dipped his wick in the trailer park.
“Doing good, Wolf. How are things with you?”
Wolf chuckled. “Well, you know...shitty.” Cody laughed. Wolf looked at Jace and said, “Are you going to the gym with Beck?”
“Was planning on it, if you don’t need me for anything else.” Neither Jace nor Beck had admitted to having any type of relationship and they weren’t exhibiting any PDAs around the club...but they had been practically inseparable, and Wolf could see it in Jace’s face when he talked about Beck...he had it bad for her. Beck was a little harder to read, but Wolf suspected that if she didn’t have it just as bad for Jace, she would have told him to take a hike by now.
“Nah, I’ll be over there before the fight starts. You go on ahead.” Jace thanked him, said goodbye to Cody, and took off. Wolf and Cody walked back over to the clubhouse together and Wolf sent a text to Manson on the way. When they got to the office, Dax was waiting for them. When Wolf greeted him, there was a look on his face that Wolf couldn’t quite read...but that was nothing new. Sometimes what went on in Dax Marshall’s head was a mystery to everyone but himself. “Thanks for coming,” Wolf said. He had called Dax the week before and told him the situation with Granite and his son. Dax had some good insights and that’s what they were all there to discuss today before Wolf and Granite took the next step.
“No problem,” he said. “Is Granite on his way?”
“Yes, he and Manson are about seven minutes out.”
“Good. It’ll give you and me a minute to talk. Cody, you mind waiting outside for a few?”
“Nope.” Cody went back out the office door and closed it behind him. Wolf took a seat behind the desk end of the table and as soon as he did Dax said:
“Coyote knew about Gunner...before he found me?”
Wolf almost groaned out loud. He had too much shit going on to deal with that now...and it was all residual Coyote shit. Even dead, the man was a menace. There was no way around it, though. Wolf wondered how Dax found out. He himself had never said a word to anyone. “When Abril died, Gunner’s mom, the social worker, was looking for Doc. It hadn’t been that long since Doc died and you were all still reeling from his death. They hadn’t voted you in yet. Coyote thought it best not to dump that in your lap on top of it.”
“Motherfucker,” Dax said. Seeing Dax Marshall actually show his emotions was a rare thing, but Wolf got the feeling he was about to watch a grand display of it. Dax got to his feet and paced over to the wall where Coyote’s picture hung surrounded by those of the Westside Skulls throughout the years. His hands were fisted at his sides like he wondered if punching the picture in the face might help relieve some of his anger. “How fucking dare he? How fucking dare that arrogant prick think he knew what was best for me when it came to my fucking family? He let my brother end up on the streets! Gunner’s lucky to even be alive and if he wasn’t, that would have been on Coyote’s head.” He spun around then and said, “How fucking long have you known?”
“Since Abril died.” Wolf didn’t move or stand up, but he did brace himself. He wouldn’t be surprised if Dax did punch him in the face, and he would even have to agree that he deserved it. For years before Dax’s guys found Gunner wearing Doc’s vest in a bar in Texas, Wolf thought about that little boy and hated that he’d let his father keep that secret. He’d even breathed a sigh of relief when he heard they found him; at least it was a happy ending, or so he told himself.
“What the fuck? Did you and the old man take some kind of twisted pleasure in not telling me I had a brother? Did you even think about him and what was happening to him after his mother killed herself?”
“Coyote sent me to Texas when the social worker called. By the time I got there, Gunner was gone. He’d bailed from the group home they put him in and no one was able to find him. When I told my old man that, he said he knew you’d take off looking for the kid if we told you, and he was afraid that would mean they would pass you over for the presidency.”
“That wasn’t his fucking decision to make.”
“I agree.”
“Then why is it that you’ve kept your mouth shut for fifteen years?”
“Anything I tell you will sound like I’m trying to make excuses, Dax. I’m not going to excuse it. It was wrong and I felt that every day until Gunner showed up in Boston.”
Dax was glaring down at him; still Wolf stayed put. Dax had every right to be pissed. Wolf only hoped that this didn’t ruin what Dax had come there to discuss because without Dax’s help, he wasn’t going to have to choose between saving Granite and his son, and saving his club.
“I need to know why, Wolf? I thought we were friends.”
“We were, we are,” Wolf said. “But you knew Coyote. His word was law around here and as much as I hate to admit it, I feared him more than I loved him. Or I guess...I feared that he wasn’t going to love me. I had a complicated relationship with my father, but on our best days, he was giving orders and I was following them and that’s just the way we did things. It hurt me to think about that little boy out there alone on the streets. I checked in with the social worker for several years afterwards to find out if they had found him. I told Coyote I thought it was a bad idea not to tell you, and I lost a lot of sleep over it. But in the end he was my father and my president and his word really was my law. It wasn’t long after he died that you found Gunner. Who knows if I would have told you or not if you hadn’t? I like to think I would have, but I also have to admit that I might have taken into consideration how your anger with me would affect my club and not said anything. I’m sorry, Dax. I wish I could go back in time and chan
ge that decision, but I can’t.”
Wolf could almost see the wheels turning in Dax’s head, but as usual, the other man wasn’t going to tell him what he was thinking...unless and until he was ready. That was probably good, however, because just about that time there was a knock on the door. Granite and Manson were back. Next game...on.
“I’ll be a son of a bitch.” Beck had stopped in her tracks again and once again, Jace ran into her. She turned and looked up at him with a frown. “Could you walk next to me? You’re going to rear-end me one too many times...” His lips were turning up in a grin and she said, “Oh jeez, pervert, you know what I mean.”
Jace looked across the gym at Gunner. He was in a pair of boxing shorts, shirtless and covered in sweat. His long dreadlocks were pulled up on top of his head in some kind of man bun that made Jace roll his eyes. And those blue eyes of his were focused on the bag in front of him...but Jace’s blue-eyed girl was focused on him, and yes, he was jealous. “If you would stop hitting your brakes every time you saw another man...”
She laughed. “You are jealous. Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Which is it? You gonna be a son of a bitch, or damned?”
“Oh, I’m sure they’d exclude me from the son of a bitch thing since I don’t have a penis, but I’m also sure I’m already damned, so there you go. I take it that’s my opponent?”
Jace sighed. All the way there he tried to think of a way to talk her out of this, but he knew her well enough by now to know the harder he tried to do that, the more it would make her want to do the opposite. She was stubborn and obstinate and frustrating as hell...but he was so in love with her. He just wasn’t sure he could sit and watch Gunner hit her...but he was even less sure that he could sit down the hall in another room and know he was hitting her and not be there. If only she would realize that there were just some things women were not meant to do. “That’s Gunner, yes.”
“It’s so weird how much he looks like Dax...with a really dark suntan.”
Jace chuckled. “Yeah, I guess Doc had some strong genes. You want me to introduce you?”
“Yes, please.”
“He’s married.”
She laughed. “Fuck you.”
“Is that an offer or...?” She giggled again. As they got close to where Gunner was pounding a bag hanging from the ceiling he stopped and wiped the sweat out of his eyes. He smiled at Jace and then his eyes moved down to Beck and Jace watched his smile falter. It was the first look Gunner had of his “opponent.” Jace could only hope he’d back out of the entire thing. “Hey, Gunner.” Jace held out his fist and Gunner tapped it with his glove.
“Jace, how the hell are you? Dax was just saying a few days ago how you haven’t been around lately.”
“Yeah, I’ve been hanging around here for about a month,” he said. Gunner’s eyes went back to Beck. It took him all of two seconds to figure out why Jace was “hanging around.” Once again, Jace was thankful for happy marriages. Tammy, Gunner’s little wife, might be the meanest woman he’d ever met...next to the one he was in love with...but Gunner was crazy about her. “Gunner, this is Rebekah Golden...Beck.”
Gunner looked her over again and shook his head. By the time he looked back at her face, she had her hands on her hips and both eyebrows raised. “I’m sorry, Beck, it’s nice to meet you. You’re just...”
“Not what you expected?”
“Yeah.”
“I just heard that from your brother a while ago. What? Did you guys have me pictured like Fiona the Ogre in Shrek or something?”
His lips twitched and he said, “Something like that.”
“You think it would be easier to hit an ugly girl?”
He laughed at that. “No. I don’t think it’ll be easy to hit any girl.”
“What if Rhonda Rousey walked in here and challenged you to a fight? Would you turn her down?”
He thought about it for a second and then said, “No, but she’s a real...she’s a professional.”
“She started somewhere. I’ve been training with Jacob Wright for weeks now. If ‘The Lion’ thinks I’m ready for this, don’t you think you should too?”
“It’s not you I’m concerned about...it’s me. I didn’t think I could do this before, but now that I see you...”
Someone broke in with “I can do it.” Beck tipped her head to the right and looked around Gunner. Jace was slightly behind her again so he couldn’t see her face, but he could imagine the look on it. The voice belonged to the infamous Tamara Covey, aka the daughter of Randall Covey, the president of the Headhunters MC; the ex-girlfriend of Zack Leoni, whom rumor had it she had whaled on with her fists more than once during their time together; and current old lady to one of the Southside Skulls SAs...Gunner Davis. This should be fun.
28
“You sure about this?” Granite asked Dax and Wolf both as he struggled to his feet. Wolf hadn’t noticed how thin he had gotten, since he’d seen him in nothing but his robe for a while now. His pants were sagging, even with a belt, and his t-shirt looked two sizes too big. His son put his beefy arm under his dad’s skinny one and helped him to his feet.
“I’m sure, if you are,” Wolf said.
“I’m on board too,” Dax told him. The men had spent the past hour hashing out the details of their plan. Since most of the crew had left to go to the gym and get ready for the fight, the lawyers had joined them without too many prying eyes around to notice. There were still two wildcards, however...one was Jace. Unknowingly, Jace was a big part of their plan. Wolf had offered up a few suggestions for that role and Dax had as well. The only man who was on both of their lists and whose character was beyond reproach in both of their minds was Jace. If he accepted their offer, however, it would mean not only moving his home base, but his sister as well. If not for her, Wolf was pretty sure he’d say yes, if only because the logistics of it would put him closer to Beck, and Wolf was sure that was right where Jace wanted to be.
“Okay,” Wolf looked at Vic, their primary attorney, and said, “This part’s on you. He has to make bail.”
“He will,” Vic said, confidently. That had been Ian’s biggest argument, not that Wolf or Dax cared about his input. But Granite did, and Wolf was afraid the kid would scare him out of it. He finally gave in when Granite assured him that he was going to turn himself in either way; at least this way he had a chance.
Wolf looked back at Granite and said, “Be safe. Reach out to Lancer as soon as you get inside and call one of us ASAP if any shit goes down.”
“I will, Boss. Thank you.” He looked at Dax then and said, “Thank you both.” The lawyers and Ian walked out with him and Dax and Wolf were left alone again.
“We should get over to the gym,” Dax said.
“Are you and I okay?”
Dax nodded. “We’re okay. Your old man, on the other hand...I’m about to dig that fucker up and shoot him.”
Wolf laughed. “Get in line. Thanks, Dax. I’ll see you over there.” Dax left and Wolf took a few minutes to just enjoy the silence. His head was throbbing, again. He hoped all the bullshit was coming to an end...soon...so they could get back to regular life. He hoped he could get back to regular life after the things he had discovered over the past two weeks. He had to shake it off somehow, and soon. He had an old lady that was dying to get started on a family and they all had a clubhouse to finish and a move to make soon. They had an interested buyer for the land they were on now, but Wolf hadn’t had a chance to get back to him because of all the shit that had been going on. He just hoped this plan that he and Manson had come up with worked. He thought about what Dax said, and he was right. It was like Coyote’s ghost had been hanging around the past few months, doing everything he could to cause chaos.
Once Granite started talking, he didn’t stop for hours. He told them that after Coyote helped him figure out how to get his son out of Ireland alive, Granite and his neighbor managed his withdrawals, medical care, and rehab. According to Granite, Ian was near deat
h himself when they got him back. Wolf didn’t know exactly what kind of “torture” they inflicted on the kid over there, but there were no outward signs of it that Wolf could see. The fact that the neighbor helped them explained a few things, though, like why she was such a nervous wreck when Wolf talked to her after Mouse took Granite. Wolf thought she might have known something about Granite’s abduction but in fact she’d been afraid that they were actually there looking for Ian, who was still staying with her even then. Coyote had promised him a spot as a prospect, but they were working on getting him paperwork like a Social Security card and driver’s license and all of that under an alias when Coyote died. Coyote hadn’t told Granite who was doing that for him, so Granite was left to do it on his own from scratch. Before he got everything the boy needed, Mouse came along and since then, Ian had just been taking care of his old man...and selling guns...Morrison’s guns.
Granite was protective of Coyote and loyal, even after Coyote’s death. Even when he told Manson and Wolf about Coyote’s skimming drugs from the cartel or stealing the guns from Morrison “because he deserved it,” Granite was still trying to defend the old man’s actions. He said Coyote started doing it at first when Colleen was sick and he needed more money to make sure she got the best care. The guns he’d taken because Morrison was an asshole. He tried to make it out to sound like Coyote was a fucking humanitarian. Wolf was torn, knowing that Coyote did do everything he could for Wolf’s mother, but not necessarily believing that he had to steal and put the club at risk to do it. Granite also tried to say the club was never at risk because everything Coyote took was stored in a storage shed in the basement of Granite’s building and never on the club grounds. When Coyote died, the guns were still there. Granite considered going to Wolf about them, but that felt like a betrayal of his old president...so he decided instead to sell them himself and funnel the money back into the club. He’d been in the process of doing that when Mouse showed up and once he was home and healing, Ian had taken over. All of the guns had been sold to local gangs just as Meeks and the DA suspected. When Granite finished talking, he had stood up on his shaky legs and said: