by Avelyn Paige
Brent needs you to do this, Darcy. It’s one of his last wishes, so put your big girl panties on and do it, no matter what secrets you may unlock.
Taking a deep breath, I insert the key and hear the lock click open. Gently twisting the knob, I lay my hand against the worn wooden door and push it open. Memories of our time together flood my mind while I take in the sight before me.
You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, Darcy. How did an old man like me get so lucky to find himself a piece of heaven on Earth?
The room hasn’t changed since the very first time I saw it the night I met Brent. The tiny twin-size bed still leans against the southern facing windows with the shabby, blue-and-white-checkered, cotton curtains. I still wonder how the both of us managed to ever fit on that thing together, but we made it work somehow. Over in the far corner from the bed rests a single wicker chair next to a tall reading lamp and a tiny, faded-blue dresser. A thick layer of dust covers everything and mutes the glow of love that used to beam from this room. It’s been abandoned just as I have been with Brent’s death. It does surprise me that Matteo never rented it out now that Brent is gone.
I sit on the thin mattress on the bed, sending the springs creaking under the weight of my body. Being in this room brings back so many memories of a time that has become a clouded, distant memory lost in time. I know that most girls would have chalked up the experience of sleeping with an older man to a drunken, college, spring break mistake, but for me, that night with him cemented our two lives together. He was exactly the kind of man I had been looking for, and even with his trepidations about our age difference, I knew that he was the one for me. A few short months later, I found myself married to a biker and living the kind of life my parents had nightmares about. It took them nearly two years to finally come around to the fact that I had married Brent and it wasn’t about to change any time soon. But, as they saw how he provided me with a good life and a dream of dozens of children, they relented in their disapproval and embraced him as their son-in-law. Brent worked hard to gain their approval, because in his eyes, family always came first, and without them, life is just a shell of an existence.
Wiping the tears from my eyes, I rise from the bed and begin to search the room. The mattress, dresser, and the most obvious places come up empty. My husband was a smart man, and he would never hide something so easily in plain sight. Scanning the room, something under the dresser catches my eye. I quickly slide the flimsy wood over and find a shiny new section of wood lying underneath where the dresser had been placed. Falling to my knees, I knock on the wood and find that a hollow sound reverberates back.
I attempt to pull up the section with my fingernails, but it won’t budge. An idea strikes me, and I bound down to the bar, retrieving a crow bar from the maintenance room. Climbing the stairs back up to the apartment quickly, I make my way back over to the spot I discovered and raise the crow bar high into the air. Just before I swing downward, heavy boots stop in the doorframe. I turn to see who has followed me up the stairs, only to stand in shock, the crow bar falling to the floor with a clang beside me.
How in the hell did Raze find me, and why is he here?
All I could think about on the ride down to Tijuana was Darcy’s reasoning behind keeping this little excursion to herself. If she felt so unsafe that she needed to arm herself, she sure as fuck should have called me to let me know her intentions. I made a promise to Jagger that I would take care of her and the boys long before his ticket to hell was stamped, and I still stand by that promise.
Darcy and her secrets have only piled up over the last year. Her sudden disappearance from the family gatherings for the club made me suspicious of her actions, but when she showed up with a rounded belly months later, I knew that she had not been entirely truthful with me. I stewed for days in a rage-induced haze before I could calm myself down enough to ask what every one of my brothers was thinking.
“What are you doing here?”
Darcy’s thin frame had begun to round with pregnancy. She looked so much like the young girl draped on Jagger’s arm with her added weight. I had to admit that her thin and almost sickly appearance made her beauty fade into nothingness. I liked my girls healthy, and so did Jagger. I knew it would have killed him to see her so unhealthy.
Darcy’s eyes narrowed with each step I took. Her body tensed as I stepped directly in front of her and paused.
“I came here to ask you something.”
Darcy’s eyebrows arched upward, and with her arms crossed over her chest, she puffed herself up to automatically go on the defensive. Even with the growing bump on her stomach, Darcy was still the spitfire I’d always known. Maybe it was just the heat fucking with me, but she was even more beautiful when she was pregnant and pissed off. Would I tell her that? Fuck no. I like my balls where they are
“What business do you have with me that would warrant you coming all the way out here to ask me a question? You know there’s this little thing called a cell phone you could have used.”
Her words flew with clipped and angry intent, which only added fuel to the slow-burning rage and arousal that simmered inside of me. Jesus, that sassy tongue of hers is sharp.
“I didn’t come all the way out here to fight with you, Darcy. I just need to know whose baby you’re carrying. Is it Jagger’s, or have you already worked your way into some other man’s life and got yourself knocked up?”
Her eyes flared with anger as her fingers clenched tightly into fists around her enlarged tits. Just watching her heavy chest heave made my dick harden. Angry bitches never turned me on before, so I had no idea why my cock decided to stir at that particular moment. She was still Jagger’s old lady, even if he was dead, and sinking my dick into her would have been trespassing on my brother’s memory. Nevertheless, my hard dick didn’t ever seem to have a conscience when it came to warm pussy.
“You’ve got some fucking nerve accusing me of fucking another man. I buried my husband three months ago, and for you to think that I could move on so quickly goes to show how much you really don’t know me.”
“How the fuck was I was supposed to be able to get to know you, Darcy? From the time you two were married, you retreated to Jagger’s house and only came out to the clubhouse on special occasions like your family is fucking prized China. That doesn’t exactly make you warm and fuzzy to be around, darlin’.”
The tension in her body grew before her arms fell from her chest and landed on her hips. God, the sass on this woman is infuriating and arousing all at the same time.
“I didn’t come around because Brent didn’t want me around some of the sleezeballs you call your brothers. After that prick, Trax, from that other chapter cornered me at a club party, Brent kept me at home to keep me safe.”
The thought of Trax even touching her made my blood boil. The number one rule for old ladies is you don’t go sticking your hands into someone else’s honey pot. We’d kicked men out for less.
“Why didn’t you or Jagger come to me for the matter? I would have protected you.”
“Brent didn’t want to stir up trouble and was far more content knowing I was safe at home.”
“I was his club president. He should have come to me and let me handle it since that’s part of my Goddamn job. Now, enough deflecting and re-hashing the past, woman. Just answer my Goddamn question.”
Her fingers began to unclench and a stream of tears rolled down her face as her small hands grasped tightly around her rounded belly.
“It’s Brent’s. I found out a few days before he died.”
A heavy breath exhaled from my lips when the urge to pull her into a deep embrace filled me. I forced myself to stand my ground because I honestly did not know what she would do if I initiated contact on that level with her.
“Why didn’t you tell me when I told you about Jagger?” I questioned sorrowfully. He would have jumped from the rooftops knowing that he was going to be a dad again. I knew that after all the medical shit went down
when Wesson was born that Jagger wasn’t ready to face the fact that more kids would be too risky, making his dream of a little girl impossible. Most men like us would want boys, but he always wanted a daughter. He used to yammer on and on after a few glasses of whiskey at the club about having a baby girl. I, for one, thought he was bat-shit crazy because little girls in pretty dresses don’t exactly fit into our lifestyle. But, to each his own.
Her eyes trailed down to her belly while fat tears dripped off her cheeks onto the ground.
“That’s why I didn’t tell you, or anyone but my parents about my pregnancy. Deep down, I thought that if I said it out loud that someone would come and take my baby away from me just like they took my husband.”
I walked closer to her and lifted her hands from her body. Gripping them tightly between my hands, her eyes rose to meet mine. The angry and mournful sorrow behind her brown eyes nearly gutted me. She shouldn’t have been facing this alone, and I hated that she thought being near the club would take away the only things she had left to love in this world.
“An MC is about brotherhood and family. It’s not the club whores, turf wars, and any of that other bullshit.”
Removing one of my hands, I gestured to the club insignia on the front of my jacket.
“This patch means that we pledge our lives to protect the bond we have as brothers and our families. Brent wanted you to still be a part of this family because he knew we’re the only people who would be able to keep you safe if bad shit came to our doorstep. I think you should know that I made Jagger a promise, and I intend to keep it, Darcy. If you need anything, I want you to call me. Even if it’s an extra pair of hands to change dirty diapers or an emergency babysitter, this club will be there for you. We take care of our own, and I plan to make sure you, the boys, and this new baby will never be scared again.”
The memory of our confrontation continues to linger in the back of my mind as her cherub face blurs into my vision. Darcy has always been a looker, and now after three kids, her body has filled out completely. Her curves hit at all the right places, and that ass of hers is one for the record books, making me wonder what it would feel like to be inside of her with that ass ramming hard against my cock.
Where in the fuck did that come from?
Shaking off the forbidden fantasy that just played inside of my head, I cross the border into Mexico. Most people wouldn’t be able to move across this much of a heavily-guarded border with the sheer amount of steel strapped to my body, but with a little cash and my security license that I keep in my wallet, anything is possible.
Before moving out of traffic, I check the tracker link and find that the car has stopped in a popular bar scene in town.
Why the hell would she come down here to get a damn drink? She could get the same tequila or piss beer at home. Something has led her to this hellhole to leave the kids behind.
Cruising on the bike, I make it to the bar district of town with relative ease. I cruise up and down the street until I spot Jagger’s car parked directly in front of a bar. Veering into the spot directly behind it, I kill the engine of my bike and pull the keys from the ignition, stowing them in my pocket.
I step onto the sidewalk and chuckle quietly to myself. Darcy booked it to Mexico only to end up in a place called The Devil’s Pussy. This seems more like a place Jagger would haunt than Darcy. I peg her for more of a wine and cheese party kind of girl rather than a shitty beer and Montezuma’s revenge type.
Walking through the doors, an older Mexican man stands at attention behind the counter, wiping it down with a rag. I stalk over to the bar and slide onto the empty barstool in front of the bartender.
“What can I get you, Señor?” he asks as I note the nervousness about him.
“Yeah, I’m looking for the woman who showed up in that beauty of a car parked outside. You see her in here?”
His head shakes back and forth before he quickly turns and reaches for what I can only assume is a pistol underneath the cash register. Pulling one of the long, combat knives from my shoulder hostler, I twirl the sharp blade in my hand and slam it down on the bar top, which sends the man spinning on his heels to face me. His hands rise in the air in surrender.
“I don’t want any trouble, Señor.”
“There won’t be any trouble if you tell me where I can find the woman. I can tell by the way your eyes automatically looked at what I can guess is a gun underneath the barthat you know exactly who I am talking about, and I’m for damn sure betting that she means something to you.”
“Yes, I know who she is. Her husband used to be one of the regulars here. What do you want with the Señora?”
My fingers slowly trace up the sharp edge of the blade before I stow it back into the hostler. I need to show him that no harm will come to her if he gives me the information I want.
“Let’s just say that I was a good friend of her old man. You gonna tell me where I can find her, or do I need to get my knife back out and cut the information out of you slice by slice?”
His eyes grow wide as my hand slides back under my cut toward the knife.
“She’s in Señor Jagger’s apartment upstairs,” he says, pointing toward the back of the bar. “I think she’s looking for something.”
Removing my hand from inside my cut, I stand and walk toward the direction he indicated and quietly make my way up the stairs. Banging rings down the stairs when the room comes into view. The door stands slightly open with Darcy standing in one corner of the room holding a crowbar high into the air above her head.
“Do you want to explain to me why the fuck you are in a bar in Tijuana with a crow bar and a gun?”
The crow bar falls from her hands and lands on the floor next to her. Darcy stands in shock as I walk into the room, leaning down to pick up her discarded tool. I extend the crow bar back to her, and she snatches it away from me.
“If you needed a vacation, darlin’, you could have just said something instead of running away.”
“I didn’t fucking run away, asshole. I came here for a reason,” she snaps at me. “Why the fuck are you here?”
She’s filled with rage yet again in my presence, and my cock springs to life in my pants. Why the hell does she have this effect on me, and why can’t my cock just stay soft around the one person I can’t have? I’ll go so far as to admit that I’ve always been attracted to her, and even that sassy mouth of hers affects me, but she is my brother’s widow. Crossing that line isn’t exactly looked well upon in our club, and I, for damn sure, won’t be crossing it any time soon, even if she ever did offer herself up to me.
“Dani called and alerted me to the fact that you were taking off with a gun tucked into your jeans. Care to tell me why you didn’t fucking call to tell me why you needed to escape to Mexico? I doubt you had an overwhelming need to get a warm beer in a town like this.”
Her eyes roll back at me, which only makes the growing problem in my pants harder. Calm the fuck down. She’s not the pussy you want to be chasing right now.
“I came here because of you and my Goddamn husband.”
I stare back at her with a confused look as she stomps over to her bag and rips a folded piece of paper from it. She walks over to me and shoves it in my hand.
“This was on my door this morning, and before you even ask, yes, that’s his handwriting.”
I quickly read over the letter and stare at the faded words. She’s right. This is his handwriting. How in the hell did she even get a letter from him after all this time?
“You know I’m right. I’m only here because of that little request he made in the P.S. portion of the letter. I’m here because he asked me to come find whatever the fuck he has hidden here for you.”
Folding the letter back, I hand it back to her and let the words of my fallen brother seep into my mind. What traitor would be in our club? Jagger’s words don’t make a lick of sense, but at the same time, the need to find what he has hidden here exponentially grows. I grab the crow bar back
from Darcy and move her aside.
“You think whatever he’s got stowed here is under the floor?” I question.
Her finger points to the newer section of wood directly in front of me.
“That part right there,” she says while pointing to the spot where she was kneeling, “echoes back when I knock on it. It’s hollow underneath.”
Stripping my cut off, I hand the worn leather to Darcy while I kneel down onto the floor and place the tip of the crowbar between the seams of the wooden panels. It takes me a few tries before the wood releases from the seal and pops up. Breaking the board free from the other sides, I lift it up and set it down next me. Reaching my hand into the dark hole, I feel around before my fingers graze a smooth packet lying in the farthest corner. I slide it from its hiding spot and pull it back into the light. The thick manila envelope is covered in dust but has remained sealed. Darcy’s eyes lock on the packet in my hand while I blow the dust off of it. I turn it over only to see my name scribbled in Jagger’s familiar script on the front. Darcy steps closer to me with her arms outstretched, but I pull the packet away from her grasp.
“Now, darlin’, Jagger told you point blank that this packet isn’t for you. Don’t you dare be getting any ideas about taking it away from me.”
The fire from her anger flits over her skin like a burning log while she crosses her arms in a huff. I rise from the ground, tucking the packet under my arm while using my free hand to wipe the dust from my leathers. I walk right past Darcy, grabbing my cut from her hands as I start to exit the room.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going with that packet?” she angrily questions me.
“Well, darlin’, me and this packet here are going back home. If this is as bad as I think it is, then I am not about to open up what could possibly change the fate of my club in some shit hole bar in Mexico. Now, get your shit and put that pretty little ass of yours back into that car parked outside and head home. Your role of seeker is done now, and it’s time you get back to those kids who need you more than the curiosity you have about the contents of this packet. If it’s something you need to know, I’ll share it with you, but until then, this packet is now club business and none of yours.”