Maybe I was going to be the next Fallen Lord to fall, and to be honest, I wasn’t even mad about it.
*
Carnie
“Doll.”
I turned my head to look at Freak. “Yeah?”
“You’re not telling the truth when you say you can cook.”
The blood drained from my face, and my hands got clammy. “Oh, uh, really?”
I shouldn’t have been so cocky when I told Freak I could cook. All of the tacos had been eaten, but no one had outright said they liked it.
“That was some of the best food I’ve ever had. Way more than cooking you did.”
Relief washed over me, and I plopped down on the bed. “You just gave me a heart attack, Freak. I thought I just served craptastic food to everyone.”
Freak moved to stand in front of me.
He reached down and brushed my hair from my face. I tipped my head back and leaned into his touch.
I felt safe with Freak. I had only known him for less than a day, but I felt a connection to him that I had never experienced before. Most people would think I was crazy, and honestly, I wondered if I was too, but Freak seemed to calm all of the crazy in my world. This man covered in tattoos and who I knew basically nothing about calmed my mind and helped me breathe.
“Best food I’ve ever had, doll. Hell, you managed to silence everyone out there as soon as they took a bite.”
“I totally thought they didn’t say anything because it sucked.”
He shook his head. “They didn’t say anything because they were speechless.”
“That’s definitely reassuring,” I laughed.
His hand lingered while his eyes connected with mine. “Nothing to worry about here, Carnie.”
I believed him. Don’t ask me why, but I knew that Freak would always be there to protect me. “Okay,” I whispered.
He dropped his hand and nodded to the bathroom. “Bathroom is all yours. I’m beat and ready for bed.”
“Me, too.”
A soft smile crossed his lips. “Then get your sheep pajamas on and crawl into bed.” He moved to the couch and grabbed the TV remote. “I’m gonna put a movie on. Anything you want to watch?”
I shook my head. “Not really. I watch anything, and I’m pretty sure tonight that I’ll be asleep before the movie is even half over.”
“Same,” he mumbled.
I watched him lie on the couch, and the words were on the tip of my tongue to tell him he could sleep in the bed with me.
The thing that stopped me? I didn’t know what to do if he did come in bed with me. Would we just sleep, or would he think I wanted something more?
I wasn’t exactly experienced on more, seeing as Bobby was my first real boyfriend and all we had basically done was kiss.
Yes, I was a twenty-year-old virgin.
I once saw a book Wendy was reading called The Biker and the Virgin.
Something told me I was about to bring the book to life if Freak didn’t run for the hills when he found out I had no experience.
I quickly changed into my pajamas, brushed my teeth and hair, then slipped into the cool sheets. “Freak?”
“Yeah?” he called.
This was my chance to ask him if he wanted to sleep in the bed.
This was where I chickened out and said the first thing that came to mind. “You think I can make breakfast tomorrow?”
His chuckle rolled around the room. “I don’t think anyone will stop you.”
I sighed and relaxed into the pillows. “Okay.” I had totally chickened out, but I had plenty of time to see where things were going with Freak.
Plenty of time, for sure.
*
Chapter Five
Carnie
“What are you cooking?”
I dropped the pasta into the pot and put the lid on. “Spaghetti and meatballs.”
Alice rubbed her stomach and licked her lips. “Now you are speaking my language.”
Laughter bubbled from the bar. “I think if she was boiling eggs, you would be happy,” Nikki called.
“Could you do those, too?” Alice whispered.
Even I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m not sure how well hard boiled eggs and spaghetti go together.”
“I’m still saying we need to do one of those mukbang shows with Alice and Wren while they are pregnant.”
Alice spun on her heel and pointed her finger at Cora. “I am not going to do fetish porn.”
Cora sputtered on her drink and gasped. “It’s not porn,” she wheezed.
Alice rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. I was not born yesterday, Cora. Anything that has bang in the name has to be porn.”
Cora pulled out her phone and held it out to Alice. “It’s eating, Alice. Not porn. Though I’m sure there are people out there who get turned on by it.”
Alice and I stepped toward the outstretched phone. Loud lip smacking and chewing noises sounded while there was a pile of various seafood in front of a woman. A woman who was chowing down like it was her last meal.
Alice licked her lips and stepped closer. “Oh, wow, that food looks amazing.”
“I could do without the loud eating noises.” I cringed and turned back to the stove. “I’m all for watching cooking shows, but I don’t need to watch people eat it.”
Cora laughed when Alice grabbed the phone from her and walked to the couch like she was in a trance. “I knew she would love that shit.”
“She is into banging dressed like a mascot,” Nikki called.
“I am not into that!” Alice hollered. “Wrecker is.”
“What the hell am I into?” Wrecker walked through the front door and shut it behind him.
“Mascots,” Alice replied.
Wrecker shook his head. “Here I thought being pregnant would chill you out.”
Nikki held up her hand. “Now she’s into mukbangs, Wrecker,” she interjected. “She’s watching one right now.”
“You’re watching porn in the middle of the clubhouse with your friends?” Wrecker moved to the couch and looked down at the phone. “That’s food.”
Alice nodded. “Sure is. And this chick is eating a shit-ton of it.”
“When does the banging start?” he asked.
Cora burst out laughing, and Nikki spewed her drink all over the table.
“It’s not porn,” Cora wheezed. She was doubled over with her hands on her knees and her face beet red. “It’s just eating.”
“Right,” Wrecker drawled. “You all know there is some freaky-deaky people somewhere getting off on this.”
He was more than right.
“To each their own,” Nikki laughed.
Wrecker grabbed the phone from Alice and put it in his back pocket. He walked into the kitchen with loud smacking sounds coming from his backside.
“Oh, my God,” Cora wheezed. She was on her knees, tears streaming down her face and shaking her head. “That’s…mine.”
Wrecker pulled the phone out of his pocket and held it out to her. “So, you’re the freaky person in the corner watching people eat.”
Cora managed to pull herself together and grab the phone from him. “Actually no. I just happened to get on the wrong side of YouTube the other night and stumbled across it.”
“Lies,” Nikki called.
Cora crawled up off her knees and paused the video. “How the hell can you guys be so entertaining? Honestly, I was five seconds away from pissing myself because I was laughing so hard.”
Freak walked into the kitchen and looked Cora up and down. “We’re already at the stage of pissing ourselves tonight? I was only gone for fifteen minutes to shower.”
Cora clapped him on the shoulder. “You can never leave, Freak, because God knows what you are going to miss. Have Carnie tell you about mukbangs when you go to bed tonight.”
Freak wrinkled his nose. “Porn?”
My cheeks heated even though I knew it wasn’t porn.
“They tell me it’s not porn, but I d
on’t really believe it.” Wrecker moved to the stove and looked into the pan I was stirring. “You’re cooking?”
I stepped back and rested the spoon on the counter. “Yes.”
He sniffed the air and dipped his finger into the sauce. “It tastes good.” He sounded surprised and went to dip his finger again, but I slapped it away.
“Oh boy,” Cora laughed. “Carnie has got the sass and just slapped Wrecker’s hand.”
I gasped and took a step back. My hand flew over my mouth, and I knew that I might have just made a grave mistake.
“Wrecker,” Freak called.
Wrecker held up his hand to Freak.
It appeared that I was on my own. “I’m sorry. I just…” Was a slight germaphobe and didn’t appreciate Wrecker dipping is finger in the pot for the first time, so the second time, my instincts kicked in.
“You really know how to cook?” he growled.
I nodded. “I, uh, learned from my mom and aunt. I didn’t mean to hit you.”
He quirked his eyebrow at me.
“Well, I did mean to hit you, but I didn’t…” I couldn’t talk my way out of this. I had meant to hit him because he shouldn’t be sticking his fingers in my food while I was cooking. Lord knows where his hands had been.
“I’ll use a spoon next time.” He turned on his heel and headed to the couch where Alice was peeking at us over the top.
Cora sucked in a deep breath and signed the cross over her chest. “Holy shit, woman. You just about died.”
Freak hung his head, and his shoulders shook slightly. “I take back what I said about you having some sass.” He lifted his head, and there was a huge smile on his lips. “You’re all sass.”
Alice crowed with laughter from the couch, and Nikki joined her.
“I’m not messing with you when you’re cooking.” Cora walked out of the kitchen shaking her head.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to Freak.
He shook his head and leaned against the fridge. He crossed his arms over his chest and just watched me.
“Are you going to stand there the whole time I cook?”
He nodded. “Sure as shit am. I leave you to take a shower and when I come back, you’re hitting the prez of the club. You might be more trouble than I had you pegged for.”
I grabbed the spoon and pointed it at Freak. “Just keep your fingers out of my sauce and we won’t have problems.”
“She did not just say that.” Nikki and Cora peeled off into another fit of laughter as soon as the words left my mouth.
Dammit. I was on a high having just beat death, and then, I had to say that.
Freak held up his hands. “I’ll always ask before I try to get in your sauce, doll.”
I rolled my eyes and turned back to the stove.
It was my second full day in the clubhouse, and I had already hit the prez and told Freak to keep his fingers out of my sauce. Lord knows what other ridiculous stuff was going to happen.
I could only go up from here.
*
Chapter Six
Freak
Wrecker dropped into his chair and looked around the table. “Leo will be here in three hours.”
I rested my elbows on the table and sighed.
“Is that a good or bad thing?” Pipe asked.
Wrecker ran his fingers through his beard. “A little bit of both? I don’t think he’s got a clue where Bobby is, but he wants to find him.”
“And coming here is going to help him find him?” I asked.
It had been five days since Carnie and Wendy had rolled into the clubhouse. They both fit in perfectly with the other women, and even though Carnie was a bit sassy, she wasn’t a hassle at all to look after. If anything, this was the easiest thing I had ever done for the club. She had taken it upon herself to cook breakfast and dinner every day, and she was damn good at it. If Carnie was actually serious about going to cooking school, I thought she had one hell of a shot to be fucking amazing at it.
“He felt like making the drive to shoot the shit with us.” Wrecker rolled his eyes. “I don’t fucking know why he’s coming, but I’m not really going to tell the most powerful mob boss in the Midwest to hang back and stay where he is. He wants to come here, he’s going to fucking come here.”
“Seems like a good enough reason to me,” Pipe snickered.
“We really don’t have anything on Bobby?” How the hell had this idiot managed to disappear into thin air? He had shot at Leo Banachi, lived, and somehow was now back like a fucking mosquito.
“We have eyes on the five miles around the clubhouse. There hasn’t been one person that matched the description of Bobby in four days.”
Clash leaned forward. “By the way, surveillance fucking sucks.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Boink shrugged.
“That would be because you took Mayra with you. It sucked, but not in the way Clash is talking.” Maniac elbowed Slayer. “I pulled up next to the truck they were sitting in, and Mayra’s head popped up like a jack in the box when I honked the horn.”
“Jealous?” Boink sneered.
Maniac flipped him off. “Hardly, asshole.”
“Knock it off,” Wrecker thundered. “Take the fucking surveillance seriously and not as a time to get your dick wet.”
Maniac stuck his tongue out at Boink, and I saw firsthand why Wrecker said he was a babysitter.
Wrecker ignored Maniac and Boink. Sometimes, that was the best thing to do. “Stick close. I don’t know what is going to happen once Leo gets here, but if he wants to meet with all of us, I don’t want to have to look too hard to find you assholes.”
Pipe raised his hand and waited ‘til Wrecker turned his head to look at him. “I fucking hate when you raise your hand like you’re back in fucking school.”
Pipe shrugged and lowered his hand. “Just waiting for permission to speak.” He cleared his throat and tried not to smile because we all knew what a load of shit that was. “You want Nickel here?”
“Yeah. Sal, Gage, and Jimbo are going to take over.”
Pipe nodded. “For good?” Even Pipe wasn’t a fan of the surveillance.
Wrecker shook his head. “For now.”
Sal, Gage, and Jimbo were a few of the guys from the smokehouse Oakley was running.
“You think Leo is going to like the fact that Oakley’s men are helping?” I asked. To say there was bad blood between Leo and Oakley was an understatement.
Wrecker shrugged. “Doesn’t really have a say in the matter when he’s not here. It’s not like Oakley knows anything that is happening with Leo and Bobby.” Wrecker slammed his fist on the table. “What we really fucking need is for all of this bullshit to go away and we go back to the way things were.”
Pipe snickered. “Like that is going to happen anytime fucking soon.”
*
Carnie
“Who is Cora hugging?” I whispered.
Raven leaned close. “Leo Banachi.”
“The guy who wanted to kill me, then my brother who wanted nothing to do with me paid off a huge chunk of money, and then Leo got over wanting to kill me,” Mayra replied matter-of-factly.
“So, this is the guy who Bobby works for?” I asked.
“Used to work for,” Raven clarified. “Once Bobby shot wildly into a crowded room, it was like a letter of resignation.”
“So, he is here to help find Bobby?”
Mayra rested her hand on my arm. We were sitting on the large couch in front of the huge TV in the common room. Raven was trying to convince me to make enchiladas for dinner when Leo and three men in suits walked into the clubhouse as if they owned the place.
I had grown up in Pines Peak and had never seen men the likes of Leo. “Is he with the mob?”
“Shh,” Raven hissed. “Girl, you need to keep your voice low when we’re talking.”
Leo glanced over at us. Cora was now hugging the guys with Leo, and I was wondering even more how Cora knew these guys.
Mayra should be a mind reader, because she rambled off all of the information I was craving to know. “Cora’s brother is Jenkins. Jenkins used to run the mother chapter of the Fallen Lords in River Valley. Everyone hates Jenkins because he’s a psycho who did whatever the hell he wanted and didn’t care what anyone else in the club thought. Jenkins got involved with Oakley Mykel, but he was sloppy. Wrecker stepped in and made a deal with Oakley behind Jenkins’ back. Oakley essentially then ruined Jenkins. During that whole thing, Cora came to stay with the Lords. I’m assuming Cora knows Leo through her brother. Leo came into the picture when my dad messed up years ago, then my mom died, and suddenly, I had a huge chunk of change that I owed Leo.” Mayra glanced at Raven. “Is that all?”
Raven shrugged. “More or less. There were a couple of kidnappings in there, but honestly, that’s the gist of it.”
I gulped and rubbed my clammy hands on my jeans. This was all becoming way more than I thought it would be. Sons of Anarchy did not prepare me for being in an actual MC. “So, Leo is here because…”
“Because having Wrecker and Leo working together is the best thing that can happen right now. They’re both smart as hell, and if anyone is going to find Bobby, it’s going to be those two.” Raven sat back in the couch. “Honestly, I won’t be surprised if they have Bobby by dinner time.”
“Carnie.”
I craned my neck around and looked at Freak. “Uh, yeah?”
I was still a bit off my game when it came to talking to Freak. Yesterday morning, I had woken up before him, and I got the magnificent view of his muscled and tattooed chest.
It was mighty nice.
It also made me see Freak in a whole new light.
I had always thought he was a good-looking guy but seeing firsthand and up close and personal just how good-looking turned me into a bumbling idiot.
He motioned for me to follow him.
I watched his backside as we walked down the hallway and to our room.
“Something wrong?” I asked once he shut the door behind me.
“You doing okay?”
Freak (Fallen Lords MC Book 7) Page 4