by K E Osborn
“Seems the festivities are in full swing?” I ask.
Torque places his pizza on his plate as Scratch raises his brow to me. “You okay, brother? It seems you’re having an… interesting night?” Scratch asks.
“Interesting doesn’t begin to fucking cover it,” I murmur while Foxy looks at me sympathetically.
“You got a handle on this, Trax?” Torque asks.
I glance at him, letting out a huff followed by a shrug. “I have no idea, but I’m damn well gonna try.”
“I’m here, brother. I know what she means to you. So you tell us what you need...” he pauses dipping his head, “… we’ll support you.”
Raising my brow. “Did Crest tell you? ‘Bout her condition, I mean?”
His eyes soften. “Yeah. Did you know? Back then?” he questions. Foxy’s hand slides up and down his arm tenderly.
I can’t lie to my president, I can’t lie to my brother, he would know straight away. So, I simply sigh. “I knew something was different with her. We knew she had trouble regulating her moods. I kept telling her to get checked out, and that something wasn’t right. But she wouldn’t no matter how hard I tried. When we finally did get the diagnosis, she freaked. When she got the diagnosis, that’s when she dumped me.”
Torque understands. I see it in his eyes. “So she found out she had bipolar disorder then bolted?”
“That’s not surprising, Trax,” Foxy states matter-of-factly.
“What do you mean?”
She straightens her body to face me. “She loved you, right?” I nod. “Well, when she found out, she obviously didn’t want to put you through the trauma that goes with what being in a relationship with someone who has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. It’s hard work. I understand what she was doing. It’s normal for a person with that diagnosis to feel this way. They feel like a burden to those they love the most.”
“She was never a burden.” My eyebrows pull together.
Foxy’s pink lips turn up in sympathy. “You understand it, but the chemical imbalance in her brain makes her think all kinds of irrational thoughts. Things like she isn’t good enough for anyone, especially you, and no matter how many times you tell her otherwise, she won’t believe it. It’s the curse of the disease. It’s terrible, Trax. Her brain is literally her own worst enemy.”
I nod in recognition. I’d read about that online. The illness makes you think irrationally. It’s shit she’s going through this, it’s not something I can take away for her. It’s something she’s going to have to live with for the rest of her life.
Torque slaps my back. “It’ll all be okay, brother.”
I weakly smile as Neala pipes up, her bright red lips greeting me warmly. “And hey, she has us. So who the hell wouldn’t be happy with us around, right Trax?”
“Right,” I reply.
Cindi steps over bringing me a beer. She leans over thrusting her tits in my face as she places my stein on the table, then walks off just as quickly as she came. I clear my throat as the rest of the table laugh.
Foxy chuckles. “Jesus, could she be more obvious?”
I huff. “I’m so not in the mood tonight,” I groan as everyone jolts their head back in surprise.
“You… the master of pussy, is not… in the mood?” Torque questions.
Foxy scoffs slapping his chest playfully.
“No, with Mylee here it kinda changes the dynamics of everything. I don’t think I can manwhore while she’s here… it doesn’t feel fucking right.”
Scratch raises his brow. “I’m impressed, Trax. You must really like this pussy.”
“You have no idea, Scratch… no idea.”
“Well, I think it’s great. Especially if she has the support of someone who truly cares for her. I’m proud of you, Trax,” Foxy states her eyes lighting up highlighting her round cheeks.
“Cheers, Foxy.” I pick up my beer, taking a giant gulp, the bitter liquid hitting my tongue, then sliding down my throat helping the tension ease slightly.
I see Crest chatting to Surge, and I know I need to talk to him. I realize there’s a lot to say, I just don’t know how to even start that conversation. But I suppose I’d better grow some fucking balls because so far today I seem to have lost mine.
I stand up from the table, everyone looking at me as I grab my beer, taking a deep breath.
I need to go talk to Mylee’s dad.
TRAX
Walking over to Crest, my heart’s hammering in my chest. I don’t know if I feel sick from nerves or sick from regret. Maybe a bit of both. But as I approach, Surge looks to me dipping his chin with a tense smile. “I think you two have a fair bit to talk about. I’m not going to hold that up. Play nice, boys,” Surge advises in his best fatherly voice, his arm still in a sling from when he was shot by the Yakuza masking as the Andrettis.
I glance to Crest, his almost white hair swept up in a wave, his white beard with slight flecks of blond covering his deeply tanned face shouldn’t look as broody as it does, but somehow he makes white look edgy. For a man pushing this side of fifty, his broad shoulders and arms, which are way bigger than mine, would intimidate many men but me not so much. I’ve had too many good times with this man. I even looked to him like a father figure when mine was gone. He’s been a part of my life for a long time, and even though he might not like to admit it, I’m not afraid to. I owe this man, a lot. Things might be tense between us now, but I don’t forget the past and everything we’ve shared, including the love of his daughter.
As he crosses his massive bulging arms across his chest, the veins protrude against his flesh making him seem even more intimidating. I take a sip of my beer as he watches, assessing me.
“Crest, Mylee’s gonna stay here. And if you’re gonna kick up a shit, you shouldn’t have brought her here in the first place. You knew I’d step in. She’s my responsibility now. I need to take care of her.”
He stiffens, his nostrils flaring as he tilts his head like he’s not liking what I have to say.
“I need to know Mylee’s regime. I need to know exactly how she manages her illness, so if things go south, I can take control.”
He raises a brow. “Right, I see where you’re going with this. While the idea of you controlling Mylee’s life fucking irks the shit outta me, I do need to know someone will step up if she starts to have issues…” he cracks his neck like he’s admitting defeat, “… I have a cheat sheet with all her medications written out and when she has to take them… the doses, phone numbers you might need, her psychiatrist, the hospital she stayed in, her prescription refills. It’s all there. Don’t let her run out of her pills that’s the fucking key. It’s mega important she doesn’t skip her fucking pills.”
My head bobs up and down rapidly taking all this in. “What happens if she misses a pill?”
He winces. “She’ll start to have issues. Her mood might decrease. She’ll possibly go into a depressive state. We don’t know the outcome, it’s so unpredictable. So don’t miss the fucking pills.”
A lump catches in my throat remembering her depressive states.
They were terrible.
I wonder if they’re worse now.
“Crest…” He looks to me raising his chin in answer. “Is she… okay? I mean besides what happened today after seeing me, generally… is she doing okay?”
Rubbing his chin, he shrugs. “Before you… she was doing great. No issues for months.” His fist moves out quickly, and just as I think he’s about to hit me, he grabs my bicep in a soothing gesture and squeezes. “She’ll be fine. I think the fact she melted down in front of everyone will definitely get to her. But once she’s over that, she’ll be okay.” He pats my back in support. “You two kids are like fucking magnets, no matter how hard you try to pull yourselves apart, the friction pulling you together always seems to win out.”
Tension rolls over me as I rub the back of my neck. “We’re not together like that this time.”
He chuckles. “Give it time. Yo
u’ll both cave under the force of the pull. I’ve seen it. Love like yours… it can’t be denied no matter how hard you try to pull against it, kid.”
I take a deep breath, tension rolling through me. “I’m not fucking right for her.”
He laughs. “And she sure as hell isn’t right for you. But when did something being not right ever make it wrong? Whoever would have thought fucking peanut butter and jelly would have worked together, but there you go, look at that fine-ass combination.”
“You’re saying Mylee and me are like peanut butter and jelly?” I ask raising my brow with a crooked smirk.
“Exactly. Two things that are perfectly fine on their own, and putting them together should be weird as hell, but bam, it’s fucking amazing. A staple diet of kids everywhere.”
“You’re saying we’re a fucking staple diet?”
“Trax, you’re taking this too goddamn literally.” He laughs. “All I’m saying is when two things that shouldn’t work go together, they just… somehow work. Don’t fight it. It makes everything so much harder on you, but especially on Mylee. No one wants that. Just think about it, kid.”
My chest squeezes, my stomach’s in knots as I wonder if I can really do this. If I can sit back and give Mylee and me a shot. If I can let Mylee back into my life, knowing she has the power at any second to walk out and destroy me again. But then I remember my dark soul and how that might affect Mylee. Seeing my demons could influence hers, and that could be a problem.
“I can see your brain working overtime… just know you have my full support, Trax. I know I might have come off a little half-cocked in the room before, but… I just want what’s best for Mylee. If you’re going to push yourself away from her, then I know it will only harm her. Especially when you really don’t want that either.”
“I love her, Crest. But there’s shit in my life I don’t want Mylee to be around.”
He places his hand on my shoulder. “I know, kid. I know. But she loves you, too. So damn much.” He shakes his head. “Don’t waste it.”
Tension swirls through me like a hurricane pulling me in two different directions—the heart wanting Mylee, the demon wanting blood. I take another long drink of my beer, not knowing what to do.
If I can push my shit aside, just be there for her, then maybe I can do this. Maybe, I can be here for her. Maybe I can be the man she needs while she’s under the protection of the MC.
He slaps my back dipping his head toward Cindi ordering us another round of beer.
Torque moves over to us. “It’s good to see you two on talking terms,” Torque grunts.
I roll my eyes. “Fuck up. Crest and I know how to handle each other, right?”
“Sure do. Honest talk and booze,” Crest replies making me chuckle.
“Glad you’ve got your shit straightened out, but I need to talk to you both. Crest, I think you know why. We need to do this as a club thing. I gotta call church with the patched members,” Torque relays, and I tense up taking a steadying breath.
I knew this was coming.
To be honest, I’ve wanted to know since the moment Crest and Mylee got here. But now, the time’s come. The club needs to know why they’re here. Why we’re looking after Mylee. What the hell are we getting ourselves into?
Crest takes a gulp of his beer then wipes his mouth with the back of his forearm. “Sure, I’m cool with that.”
Torque dips his chin while I stand from my seat along with Crest. We walk with my blood brother toward the chapel, he swings around and whistles gaining everyone’s attention. “Patched members… church. Now!”
Heading inside, our brothers follow then close the wooden door behind us. We each take a seat at the giant oval table while the ruckus of the clubroom fades out. Torque and I both look to Crest as he runs his hand through his thick white hair while swinging around a chair and taking a seat next to Torque at the head of the table.
Torque bangs his gavel once with a loud thud. “So talk to us, Crest. Why did you bring Mylee here?”
The door opens again and a sleepy looking Sensei walks in. We all dip our heads to him as he strides in taking his seat. The door closes behind him as Crest looks from me to Torque then back to me and starts speaking. “When Mylee was ill, she went into the hospital… the psych hospital. They did an excellent job caring for her. They helped her mentally. Got her back to where she needed to be. But while she was in there, she met this guy… Everett Scott. They seemed to hit it off as well as you can for two patients in a psych ward. They looked out for each other. Until Everett got fucking weird. Started spouting stuff about government cover-ups and shit. How he knew Mylee and he were destined to be fucking together.
“Anyway, he left the hospital before her. His father has power and persuasion in politics. Thing is, when Mylee got out, Everett was still showing signs of instability. His father pulled him out of the hospital because he was trying to save face. He didn’t like the idea of the press getting wind of his son’s indiscretions, and being in the psychiatric ward was a no-go for him, so he pulled Everett out before his time.
“Problem is, Everett is completely unstable, and he’s latched onto Mylee. We thought about dealing with him, but with him being Senator Scott’s son, it could bring a whole lot of spotlight on the club. Right now we have a heap of deals going on, and we don’t need a fucking spotlight on them. Deals that can’t have senators or political parties of any kind looking into if you know what I’m saying?”
I catch on straight away. The Notorious Knights are doing some under-the-table shit, probably guns or drugs, maybe both. They can’t have anything bringing attention to them right now. I get it.
“You want Mylee out of the picture, so this Everett won’t come after her. And he, or his father, won’t come looking for her at the Knights. Is that right?” Torque asks.
“Correct. We’ve sent word to the Scott camp letting them know Mylee’s out of town. So the heat’s off us for now, but we didn’t tell them where she was going. Hopefully, this gets eyes off us, gives Mylee a break from that damn freak, and we can get our shit running smoothly again while we try to figure out a way to best handle Everett and his relentless goddamn… affections.”
“Is he likely to trace her here?” Torque asks.
Crest curls his lip. “No. Our club in Grand Rapids as you know is four hours away. There’s no way he’d believe I would let Mylee be that far from me. Normally, I wouldn’t. It’s only because I trust Trax and the Defiance, I’m letting her be this far from me and the safety of our club.”
It feels good to know he trusts me with her this much. It’s an honor, to be honest. “Well, don’t worry, Crest, I’m not going to let anything happen to her on my watch. You have my word,” I announce.
Crest turns his head to look directly at me, his eyes hard. “I know you won’t because you’ll be the first man I’ll kill if something happens to my girl, Trax.”
I raise my brow but dip my chin in understanding. “Noted.”
“Will you be riding back to Grand Rapids tonight?” Torque queries.
Crest rubs his chin. “If it’s cool with you, I’ll stay till morning. But I have a lead I want you guys to look into if you’re all good with this?”
“Brothers, we need to vote. Having Mylee here could cause issues for our club. We all know the Knights would do this for us, but it should be a unanimous decision. So what say you?”
One by one, a vote goes around the table as a resounding “aye” is said by everyone until it gets to me. I could end this all right here. A no vote could send Mylee home and my troubles with it. She wouldn’t see my demons—I couldn’t inflict them on her. But for some reason, I can’t find it in me to say the word ‘no.’ Instead, a simple, “Yes,” slips from my mouth making Crest smirk.
Torque bangs his gavel. “So it’s passed. Mylee stays…” He glances over to me. “To the next issue, what’s the lead you have, Crest?”
He clears his throat as I crack my neck to the side. I can prac
tically smell the blood in the air before he even says the lead’s name. “Miller Willbrook. He went to college with Everett, they’re still good friends. Miller’s stuck by Everett’s side through his mental illness. He visited him in the hospital and sometimes had meals with him and Mylee there.” My jaw ticks thinking of Mylee in such a place. “For all intents and purposes, the guy is decent.”
I shake my head cracking my knuckles needing a little tension release. “So why the hell is he on your radar if he’s that squeaky fucking clean?”
Crest chuckles. “He’s more than likely got intel on Everett. If we were to do a simple ‘retrieve and release’ and I’m sure if we scare him enough… he’ll crack. He’ll tell us something about what Everett’s plans are with Mylee.”
I scoff. “Retrieve and release? You still do those at the Knights?”
Torque scowls as Crest chuckles. “You don’t?”
Sensei exhales sitting forward in his chair. “Lately all the retrievals we’ve had, have not had the opportunity to be released. Their own fault…. mostly.”
Crest glances to Torque with a wide smirk and grips his shoulder. “Why, Torque, I’m beginning to appreciate your methods even more. And here’s me thinking you were the soft one and it’s me all along. Go figure. I need to harden my ass up. But with this one… with Miller, I think we need to play this smart. A businessman in with the Scott’s going missing the same time Mylee’s heading out of town might draw some unwanted attention to the Knights. We have to play this one different.”
My lip curls up as I rub the back of my neck. All I want is to get my hands dirty. I need to get some of this motherfucking frustration out. If I have to do that with clean hands, how the hell am I going to let my demons keep a cool head?
This is bullshit if ever I’ve heard it.
“Agreed,” Torque replies making me want to punch him right in the throat.