Game Changer (Hell's Saints Motorcycle Club)

by Marinaro, Paula

  The brothers had given us the time we needed to work it through and the club house had stayed cleared without so much as a knock on the door. Prosper and I walked out arm and arm into a cloudy early afternoon. I was exhausted and I think Prosper was too. Diego, however, looked wide awake and was leaning back against the wall of the warehouse watching the door waiting for us to come out. Then he pulled himself away from the door and walked towards us.

  In a straight line. Right towards us.

  He totally ignored me and chin nodded Prosper.

  “You and me.”

  Prosper looked at him and nodded.

  “Then me and her.” Diego shot that out like a bullet. I took the her to mean me but since he was still not looking at me, I couldn’t be sure.

  “Respect that you bided your time and gave us that to sort it out. But you going there with Raine, see how it lands with me first brother. I’m feeling it, then it goes to her. I’m not feeling it, it stays.” Prosper’s tone was mild, but his eyes were hard.

  “Let’s do this.” Diego started towards the clubhouse, then turned around and looked right at me.

  “Don’t wander, babe. This will not take long.” He looked at me long and hard.

  Prosper and I had been on our way to the kitchen house for some lunch when Diego put himself in front of that path. Prosper told me to go on and someone would be there to help me find things and get settled. He had a suite of rooms in the house and they were to be at my disposal. He had already had one of the recruits go in there, change the sheets, bring my stuff from the car, and put some shower stuff in the bathroom for me. Prosper really only had the rooms out of old habit. He and Pinky owned a house not far from the compound.

  Forget the lunch, I hadn’t showered or slept in two days. If you count the night of worry, make that about three. I was going to take a really long hot shower. Then eat, if I could make it that long without falling dead on my feet.

  I wasn’t even thinking about dealing with Diego.

  Prosper had that. And I was going to leave them to it.

  Prosper and Diego had their sit down. Because Prosper had been dealing with some Saints business a couple of states away for the past month, he had to be brought up to speed with the whole mess. The Hell’s Saints didn’t deal in drugs but had been on the radar of the Los Diablos Rojos MC because of a missing cache of cocaine and heroin. Business and relations between the Saints and the Rojos were shaky at best. The Saints involvement with Jamie came on the money lending part of things. Jamie had his own agenda. He was borrowing money from the Saints, and fronting dope from the Los Rojos with the intent of hijacking both the cash and the drugs.

  Essentially, he had intended on building a small fortune then disappearing. In order to clear the way for that, he was playing the MCs against each other. Prosper’s charter bordered the Rojo’s territory so when it all came down, it all became clear. Diego had come down to sort things out. The sort out had gone well and both sides left church that day satisfied. The tenuous alliance the Rojos and Saints shared back on track.

  The only thing that had been left to sort out was Claire’s involvement in the dealing and the deception. In order to clear this up there had to be no loose ends or stones left unturned. Serious blood shed could and had been spilled over that much green and that much dope. Jamie had just been beginning and they were not sure how wide his shit had spread. When they found out Claire was just a stupid little piece (yeah, he said it) that got hooked up with the wrong guy, they had decided to let it alone. The MC had no way of knowing that Claire or her sister, Raine, had any ties to Prosper. Nor did they share that.

  Diego told Prosper that he solidly, solidly regretted putting Raine in the path of that psycho. He shared with him his intent on dealing with Gino before Raine went to him and how he had pushed MC discussion along to make that happen. He told him about the file and the phone call making sure that Gino was going to pay for the hurt he had put on Raine. He explained how when his wrecking crew had got to Gino’s house, he was gone. The house had been tossed and nothing had been found. Diego had Gunner on the house and so far nothing had turned up, but they would find him and when they did. Well, when they did.

  Prosper listened to it all. Intently. Because this was his club he knew most of the story but had needed some of the details filled in. He also wanted to hear what his brother had to say. Diego had Prosper’s respect, and had from the time he was a recruit. He accepted what he said, gave props to him for sorting it all out in the way he did, and in the time he did it in. He asked a few more questions. They shared a beer and then a couple of more.

  Prosper liked him. Diego was a solid, clear thinking, tough mother fucker of a man. But that didn’t necessarily mean he wanted him sniffing around his little darlin’.

  “So, you and Raine.” Prosper asked casually.

  There it was. Diego wasn’t fooled at all by the casual tone of Prosper’s voice. He was going to meet this head on.

  “Yeah, me and Raine.” Diego took a long pull on his beer. “But she don’t seem to know that yet.”

  Then he put the beer down and looked Prosper in the eye. “You good with that?”

  “Not sure Brother.” Prosper replied honestly.

  “You know me.” Diego said. “I know you and understanding what she means to you, the respect I have for you, you know I wouldn’t go there and fuck her up.”

  “Worry is brother, life has fucked her up. So a man wouldn’t have far to go, all good intentions aside, to cause more pain. Truth is, I would like to see a brother get in there, take care of my girl, keep that shit away from her. Raine needs someone who would lay it down for her. She deserves it. Her mother deserved it. Claire deserves it.” He was looking into his empty glass now. Prosper grabbed the bottle, filled Diego’s glass and then his own.

  He drank it and muttered, “Damn Winston women keep picking the wrong fucking men.”

  Then he looked at Diego.

  “D, looking out for a brother here. Seriously, don’t know if you want to go there. Women like Raine and her mother, beautiful inside and out. So fucking heart breakingly beautiful that they get in there and stay in there. Even when they are not yours, even when they are fighting for their last breath, and even after they have passed from this life to the next. Women like that, so achingly soft and good and so fucking special. You get all of it, you’re the luckiest man on the face of God’s green earth. You get a part of it, you take it and thank the Lord for the small bit you get. Every fucking day. You thank the Lord.”

  Diego looked at Prosper and he knew it wasn’t the booze talking. The only woman Diego had ever seen Prosper with was Pinky. They had a good thing. He treated her well and as far as Diego knew, he didn’t fuck around on her. Prosper was getting on in years now, but no doubt he was still a good looking guy. Tall, all lean hard muscle, and although gray now peppered his light brown hair, he still had all of it. The lines on his face made him look like a badass with experience and the chicks really seemed to dig that. But no, Diego never knew Prosper to step out. You just had to take one look at Pinky to know she adored her man.

  But listening to him now, Diego came to realize the ties that bound Prosper to Raine went deep. Raine’s mother had evidently been Prosper’s one true love. And as badass and tough and dark as Diego could be, he absolutely positively believed in the whole one true love thing. He knew what having that would mean to a man like Prosper. He knew, long ago, what it had meant to him.

  “Raine’s been through some shit.” Prosper was looking at Diego. “Shit that happened in what they call the formative years. Shit that happens when you’re that young, sets a course for the rest of it.”

  Prosper was looking right into Diego’s eyes.

  “Shit that she keeps buried deep. So deep she has to wrap her arms around herself to keep it in. Because if she don’t, she’s afraid that on the way out it will tear her up so bad inside, that it will kill her. Stuff she keeps down. Stuff she thinks no one knows or can se
e or can touch but her. She carries that for her and for Claire. She doesn’t share it, she carries it.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong Prosper, she gave it to you last night. I saw it. I heard it. She gives it sometime.” And she will give it to me, Diego thought but didn’t say.

  “Twice. Twice in a life time of carrying it. She trusted me with her shit twice. Last night, and when she was a tiny little thing of eight years old. She only gave it to me then because she was dog tired and worn out from being left alone to care for her baby sister for two fucking days just one month after her mother had died. That’s what it took then. Her sister in danger of being killed and a beating that left her face battered is what it took this time. I cannot even begin to imagine what she has dealt with on her own for the last twenty years if this is what it took.”

  Diego was getting it.

  Prosper looked at him, pulled his hand through his hair and slapped his hand hard on Diego’s shoulder. He gave him a little grin.

  “Brother, you just don’t know. She will complicate your life. You’ll have to fight to get in, and sometimes it will take everything you got just to hang in there. These women define complicated. But once you’re in, there’s nothing sweeter in life than a woman like my Maggie was. Guy who gets a shot at her daughter, guy willing to go the distance. Guy like that, tough road ahead, paradise at the end of it. Eternal fucking paradise. But the getting there, the shit you don’t know. You might want to think about it. Loving and being loved by a complicated woman like that’s hard work brother.”

  “You see any part of me that spells weak, Boss?”

  Prosper grinned.

  “You got a story to tell me, I got a story to hear.” Diego was ready. He wasn’t smiling.

  Prosper looked at him for a long minute, his face serious. Then began.

  “Once upon a fucking time…..”

  Chapter 19

  The tub was huge. The water was hot and there was a lot of it. There were big fluffy towels and shampoo and sweet berry body wash and lotion. I changed my mind and took a bath. I did the thing where you fill the tub half way then get in. Then turn on the water every five minutes so you get the hottest part of it. Oh yes I did! I stretched and let the hot soapy silky water slide over me. I washed myself gently, over and over again. Trying to wash away the worries, I guess. Maybe trying to make myself new again. The room was a den of steam when I got out and everything smelled good including me. I stepped out and towel dried my hair until it was tousled and damp. I spread lotion all over my warm body and the open pores cried out in ecstasy.

  I dug in my bag and pulled out a pretty kimono. I had gotten it for really cheap at a little store in China town. It was powder blue and had matching silver dragons in the front of it. When you wrapped it around with the thin belt it looked like the dragons were intertwined. Very Cool. The silk felt good against me. I was feeling great until the steam wore away from the mirror and I was reminded of the deep bruising of my face. It would be a while before the colors faded, but at least the swelling was gone. The blue did bring out my eyes, I smiled wryly at myself.

  Being with Prosper, my father in every way that mattered, had put the smile on my face and had lifted some of that crushing weight off of me. I forgot how good it felt to give worries away. It wasn’t just that. It was just good being with family. He looked good too. The years had been kind and I knew part of that was Pinky taking good care of him. He was still strong and lean. His face was lined now and he had beautiful streaks of gray running through his hair. When I knew him he had been rocking a goatee and a little soul patch under his chin. Now he was clean shaven. He wore a plain silver wedding band on his left hand where before he had lots of chunky man rings. He was still hard, and from habit I had watched him while he talked. All the secrets Prosper had now were old ones. Nothing that was new was dark. I was happy for him for that.

  I wondered what he and Diego were talking about. I thought I would find out soon enough. Then I thought about the fact that Diego was here at all and what that meant. I thought about the fact that Diego had waited outside staring at the door for hours waiting for us to come out. That meant something. I thought about how he had told me not to wander. I thought about how now that I was safe, well, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad him not wanting me to wander. Then, in the tub, I had thought about his hands on me that night, and how his mouth had felt against mine. I thought about the kiss that had ended in pain and how he had worked to stop that pain. Yeah, I gave some time to thinking about Diego.

  I picked up the towels in the bathroom, tied the belt of my robe loosely, gave my hair one more fluff and walked out of the room ready to slip into some clean sheets. And I would have done just that, if Diego hadn’t been leaning deep in the arm chair, legs crossed at the ankles, looking totally relaxed and as if he owned the place.

  I stopped dead a few feet away from him, right outside the bathroom door. He stood up. I took a small step back. He moved a small step closer. He took the towels and clothes from me and walked over to the hamper near the bed and tossed them in. Then he came back and stood in front of me. Him looking at me, me looking at him.

  Then he took his hand and brought it up to my hair. He traced it lightly with his index finger from the top of my head down, the side of my face, past my neck, over my breast, and to where it fell down near my waist. He held the strands loosely in his fingers and watched it as the damp silky mass slid through his hand. I was watching him but because his eyes were downcast, couldn’t see his secrets. He was close, very close. Too close. I took a small step back. He looked up, still holding my hair and took a small step forward. Eyes on me. My eyes on him. He leaned his head in and I leaned my head back. My head hit the back of the door frame, my back flat against the wall. He stepped in, the side of his body flush against the front of mine.

  He dipped his head close to my ear and whispered, “Nowhere left to run Raine.”

  OH MY GOD! This wasn’t good. And it wasn’t good in a scary way. I pulled my arms around me.

  For Diego’s part, he felt that and realized his mistake immediately. He put his hand around her head and pulled it close. “Don’t be afraid Raine, not of me. Not ever afraid of me. It’s done. I talked to Prosper, he talked to me. You’re safe. Claire is safe. And I swear to Christ I’m sorry for the shit I put you through. Everything. I’m sorry, baby.”

  I stood stock still and processed that. He stood where he was, not moving, still so close and waited. I unwrapped my arms from my waist and put them up between us. My palms on his chest. He was warm and rock solid. He moved to have one of his hand cover mine and the other passed me, resting on the door frame, trapping me in close to him. I was staring at his chest.

  I looked up at him. “You talked to Prosper, and it’s over?”

  He nodded, “Yeah, honey. I’ll tell you all about it after.”

  “After what?”

  He raised one eyebrow. Then his eyes left mine and they burned a path down my body and up again. His eyes were sparkling and warm and he stepped in a little closer. I felt him go hard against my belly. My legs turned to jelly and I pulled on his shirt to keep myself from falling.

  “Your hair is so fucking soft, baby.” He was holding the locks of my hair up to his face now, working it slowly between his hands. His eyes hot on me. He grinned. I felt the heat rising everywhere and I know my whole body was blushing.

  “It’s wet.” I murmured lamely.

  He grinned wildly and leaned in to whisper. “I like wet.”

  I blushed from my head to my toes.

  “Never had a woman who blushed before.” His smile was getting bigger. “Honey, you’re all pink and hot and we haven’t even started yet. I like that.”

  If it was possible, I blushed deeper. I was hot all over. All my girlie parts on red alert.

  His mouth moved against mine, softly teasing. Then his mouth moved to the side of mine, and his hand slipped to the small of my back to pull me even closer. “Relax, Raine.”

/>   I opened my mouth slightly to respond and there it was. His tongue in my mouth. Sweet, gentle, like he knew what he was doing. It was nice. It was so nice. I loved the way his tongue was dancing in my mouth, shooting sparks that went clear to my panties. I kissed him back, boy oh boy oh boy did I kiss him back.

  He bent down and picked me up just like in the movies and then he came down on the bed with me on my back and him on his side. He broke off long enough to look at me. His hands touching my hair, his knuckles brushing the line of my jaw bone. His mouth on mine and then on my neck and then on the deep v of my kimono. His hands all over me now and his mouth brushing the kimono open. He was kissing me in the deep cleft of my breasts, his mouth working magic, and soft on my skin. He brought his mouth up to mine then, kissing me deeply.

  Lots of deep, gentle kisses. Then back again, this time his mouth worked its way down the silk to my hard jetting nipple and his mouth captured it and pulled lightly. Up to this point it had been nice, hot and nice. A high school heavy petting session. But the whole nipple thing was starting it in a different direction. Something that every woman knows from experience would escalate quickly from the nipple thing to the panty dropping thing.

  This was happening too fast. I wasn’t a casual sex kind of person and I knew if I went there with Diego, it would definitely mean something different to him then it would to me. In the fifteen seconds that these thoughts were going through my mind, I was also thinking of the hair tossing, stiletto wearing,” you’re out of your league” smiling woman who had slithered up to claim this man just yesterday.

  Diego felt the shift immediately and stopped. I put my hands between us and pulled the edges of the dragons closer. He rolled away from me on to his side but kept his hand on my stomach. His other hand holding up his head. I made myself busy by fixing my robe and smoothing my hair. I felt his eyes on me.

  “Raine.” He was watching me.

  My fault, I had opened that door and he had walked through it. Diego was going to think I was a…..