“Ready.” The answer was certain, no stutter to mar the word. Her mouth had shifted up beside his ear and even in the light wind he swore could feel the heated gust of her breath. Gypsy closed his eyes, gripping the handlebars tighter.
He turned to stare out ahead of them, focusing on a distant stop sign. Then they were rolling and instinct took over, his hands and feet moving through the carefully choreographed dance of riding the bike, care taken for his passenger. Before he realized the ride was over, he was easing the bike onto the lot of the clubhouse and he scanned the other vehicles there. Mason and Tugboat, Bear, Slate, and several other members looked to be in attendance, which was good. They could all stand to hear what Blue Line had told him.
Dismounting the bike, he offered Kelsey a hand to help her find her feet, surprised when she didn’t immediately release her grip once she was on the ground. That meant when they walked into the main room of the clubhouse, she was directly behind him, fingers wound through his, making a statement he knew Ruby and Willa didn’t miss from the shared grin between the women.
After depositing Kelsey in a chair at the table with the ladies, Gypsy stalked towards the office, feeling off-center. He was unsure what had tipped him sideways, since they’d ridden the bike several times together. Why would this one be any different? Because it started with a kiss, he thought, even knowing it wasn’t what Kelsey had intended. If it wasn’t, his traitorous mind whispered, why did she repeat the action and kiss me again?
Shoving his unsettling thoughts aside, he rapped his knuckles against the door and waited for a greeting before opening it and pushing inside. A glance around the room showed all the men he expected, and he was glad, it meant he only had to tell the story once. “Boss.” He lifted his chin at Mason, then nodded at the rest of the men. “Got a call from Blue Line. Wanted to let you know what was said.”
“So cop a squat and share, oh wise one.” Slate shoved a chair towards him with the toe of one boot, a grin on his face. “Good to see you, brother.”
“Same, man. Same.” He arranged himself, twisted the chair to straddle the seat, and rested his folded arms on the back. “Tug, you talked about your nephew, right?” The graybeard nodded and Gypsy grinned. “So, seems he’s not only joined the Malcontents, he’s been patched long enough to have worked up to Veep or its equivalent. Blue Line called him his second-in-command, and I didn’t think that lined up with what we knew.”
“No, it fucking doesn’t.” The old man pulled out his phone and tapped for a moment, then set it on the desk in front of them. “See what the asshole has to say about stringing his old uncle along like that.”
Bear interjected, his eyes sparkling. “Carter LeRoy? Patched into the Malcontents? Are you sure, brother?”
“I’m only as certain as Blue Line, seein’ as he’s the one who told me.” Gypsy looked at Tug’s phone when it buzzed, waiting for the man to lift it and look at the screen.
He shook his head, “You’ve got it right. He’s been patched for more than a year. Didn’t want to disappoint me, the bastard.” He tapped at the screen and waited for an answering text. “Took six-weeks leave for his prospect period, and if you ask me, that is months too short, then deployed for his final assignment. Got out and got close. He’s not telling me much, which is good for him or I’d be tearing him a new asshole, but sounds like he’s tight with Blue Line.”
Bear shook his head. “Joel and Carter, what are the odds, Mason?”
“Long odds, that’s for sure.”
Bear looked at Gypsy. “Mind another tagalong on your run?”
“Brother, it ain’t my run. This is Mason’s gig. He’s just having me roll with it.” Gypsy grinned and tapped the top of the desk. “But I say the more, the merrier. You, me, and Tugboat…anyone else you want to have come with us, boss?”
“Jase expressed an interest, but if you’re going, I need him here to help Tequila watch Marie’s.” Gypsy nodded at Mason’s reasoning. Jase was the regional business manager, so if someone needed to be in charge of the bar short term, it made sense for Jase to stay and keep an eye on everything. “I know Slate here wanted to roll, but his home life needs to come first. If there were an overriding need, I’d accept his help, but with two sets of twins, he’s fucked anyway we look at it.”
Slate laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling with humor. “You know I wouldn’t have it any other way, Prez. My babies are everything to me.”
“I know it, and that’s why you’re a no on the go.” Mason swung his gaze around the room. “I’m thinking we’ve found our crew. Three bikes aren’t so many they need an announcement call along the way, but it’s enough to keep folks from fuckin’ with you. Old ladies welcome, Gypsy?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Kelsey will be going with me, and I know she’ll welcome Eddie and Maggie if they go.”
Bear leaned back and stared at the ceiling for a moment, then shook his head. “I can’t see Eddie going, man. Not only is Sasha in pre-K, but Cali also doesn’t have good memories for my old lady. There’s too much, you know? Even though Blue Line turned out to be a rescuer, it’s still side by side with what her father did.”
Tugboat rapped his knuckles against the desktop, staring at Gypsy as he did so. “I already know Maggie’ll ride with me, and that’ll keep your Miss Kelsey from being the lone female on the run.” He cut his gaze to Bear with a toothy grin. “This run gonna fuck with your head, boy? Knowing your momma’s ridin’ behind me and knowing what we’ll be doing every night we stay in a motel?”
“Fuck you.” Bear rolled his eyes. “She’s a grown woman and does her own thing. And no—” He lifted one hand palm, stopping Tugboat from saying anything in response. “—that’s not an invitation to tell me what her thing is, old man. Give me a little respect, would ya? That’s my mother.”
“Oh, I know she’s your momma, Bear. But she’s also my woman.” Tug shook his head. “I bless the day you came into our lives, you know? Brought me my Maggie.” He pointed towards the ceiling. “I’d never ask the man above for anything, but I can thank Him for what He gives me freely.”
Gypsy grinned at the easy back-and-forth, clearly a topic of conversation the two men had covered more than once, but even the familiarity of the exchange felt comfortable. Like a family, he thought. “There’s a little more, boss.” Mason looked at him expectantly, his alert expression echoed on the other faces around the room. “I knew him well, you got that, right?” Mason nodded. “We were UC for more than a year together, had worked the same task force for months before that. So, yeah…I knew him. I believe there’s something more going on than he’s come clean on so far, and he indicated he won’t, or can’t talk until I get there. The man sounds tired, Mason. Bone tired in a way which only comes from fighting day after day and not seeing a difference.” Gypsy stared at the men’s faces, marked the interest and anxiety, and a clear desire to help. This was what he wanted more than anything, and what the Rebels were best at. “He’s close to something breaking, and I think him asking for help is how he’s ensuring the thing that breaks isn’t him.”
“Then we help him.” Mason shrugged. “The Malcontents stabilize the entire West coast, and they won’t fall unless that’s what he wants. We help him, not only because it helps us, but because it’s what we do.”
The next hours were spent hammering out the logistics of the ride and bringing Myron in on what was happening so he could free up any needed club resources. When Gypsy walked out of the office, he did it with a small envelope of tech, and a large line of credit under his name. Out in the main room of the clubhouse, he found Kelsey still awake. Backed up against a wall, she’d found a seat where she could watch over Willa as she slept sprawled on a couch. Gypsy shoved down the thought of Kelsey watching over Nary just that way, trying to ensure nothing happened to her friend.
“Hey, Kels. You ready to go home, baby?” She didn’t respond, glancing over at Willa again. “Want me to go get Mason?” She nodded slowly, mouth twisting
to the side
“I-I don’t wah-want to leave her alone.” Fucking stutter. Gypsy looked around the room, seeing only a couple of prospects standing behind the bar. “Th-there were men earlier.” He turned back to Kelsey and waited. “I-I didn’t kn-know them.”
“Were they Rebels, darlin’?” She shook her head, and his gut dropped, a sick feeling sweeping over him. He’d left her out here with every expectation she’d be safe, and she was, physically. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t think about visitors making you uncomfortable. Did you feel scared?”
Chin tipped down to her neck, she studied the floor for a minute, then nodded. “I-I know it makes no sense.”
“Makes all the sense in the world, baby.” He squatted to put a knee on the floor, settling between her legs. One hand on each thigh, he stroked softly up and down, pressing firmly with his fingertips. “You’ve been here a handful of times. No reason for you to trust people you don’t know. It’s okay to be nervous of men, or women, when you’re in unfamiliar surroundings. I should have taken better care of you.”
“No, Gypsy.” Her chin came up and she stared into his eyes. “You always take care of me.”
“You can’t say that, not if you didn’t feel safe in my club’s house. Not if you felt you had to keep guard over Willa, a woman no man in the city would lay a hand on and live.” He shook his head, fingers squeezing the taut muscles of her legs. “I should have taken better care.”
“I-I’ve never had anyone care for me like you do.” Her lips were trembling and belatedly, he realized she was near tears, eyes awash in liquid pain barely held at bay. “I-I owe you everything.”
“You don’t owe me a fuckin’ thing, darlin’. Every breath you take is validation for what I did. I’d do it again, a thousand times, as long as you came out the other end breathing and livin’.” He reached up, cupping each side of her jaw with his hands. Leaning forwards, he pulled her towards him, staring into her eyes and willing her to understand.
“I never realized what it meant to me that you trusted me. Trust me like you do. It means everything, Kels. I will never leave you in a place where you aren’t safe. I’ll never put you at risk. Never, honey. You don’t owe me a thing except for your happiness one day. One day when you can put it all behind you, when you can look up at the sky without thinking of the days you went without seeing the sun, when you can take a breath of air and only think of how fresh it smells, not that it’s free. That would be the only payment I’ll ever want.” She pushed into his hands, and he leaned closer, until their mouths were only a breath apart. “I’ll take better care, darlin’. Promise you.” Tracing the bow of her lips with the tip of one thumb, he pulled in a shaky breath, rocking back and putting some much-needed space between them. I want her. “You ready to go home?” She nodded, his hands moving in time with her head. “Then let’s go home.”
***
Kelsey
Standing in the bathroom of their third hotel in as many days, Kelsey stared down at the toothbrush in her hand, trying to get it up to her mouth by will alone. She wrinkled her brow, glaring at the unmoving piece of plastic that taunted her, bristles already daubed with white paste.
Come on, she thought, move, darn it.
Finally giving up on mental power being enough to shift the toothbrush, she lifted it to her mouth, muscles complaining at even so little movement. She would have never thought riding could be so taxing. Especially since she wasn’t the one doing the hard parts, but only sitting behind Gypsy as he steered the heavy motorcycle down the highway. By day two, she’d found many of her muscles were tired and sore, and the aching she’d experienced this morning demonstrated the longer she rode, the worse it became. I’ll want to stop at a chemist today to pick up some paracetamol. Even Maggie complained about her butt yesterday.
She was meeting Maggie for breakfast today. Kelsey hadn’t been introduced to Maggie before the group meeting to begin their journey, but found she liked Tugboat’s close companion. The couple wasn’t married—not even fake married like me—but the ties between them were clear to anyone. Both had lost their partners years ago, and seemed to cherish what they’d found in the other even more because of it.
Slowly working the brush across the surface of her teeth, she idly used the mirror to examine the room behind her. From where she stood, Kelsey could see the bed and both bedside tables, as well as a glimpse of the dressing table where the television sat. She also saw the door that led to the hallway.
One bed, every night. Gypsy slept with her as he had since her rescue. Innocent as if she were a child.
Facing away from her, Gypsy still lay in bed where she’d left him. Long hair down for a change, it was spread in a fan across the pillows. His bare back down to his thick thighs was on display, exposed when the thin blankets had tangled around his legs. He had one arm thrown wide, a broad hand covering the spot where her body had been a few minutes earlier. He moved slightly, then shifted again and she watched as his rear shoved into the air another centimeter or two, the muscles on either side of his cheeks clenching and hollowing as he drove his pelvis downwards against the mattress.
She froze in place, plastic toothbrush wedged in her mouth, mint-flavored foam covering her lips.
He moved again, the arching motion of his back sensual before he uncoiled and plunged back down, hips pressed flush against the bed. The frame creaked as he ground his lower half into the mattress, muscles in his legs tensing with each shift of his weight. His fingers clenched against the sheet, pulling the wrinkled fabric into his fisted hand.
Again.
He drifted sideways on the mattress, his body creeping towards the side where she always slept. Fingers splayed wide on the sheet, it looked as if he were searching for something.
His hips pumped again, causing his very well-defined butt muscles to stretch the fabric of his briefs taut as they clenched, pushing his pelvis against the bed.
He groaned quietly, “Kels,” and the rough sound of her name broke the mesmerized spell she’d fallen under. “Jesus, baby.” Faster, his hips moved, lifting and plunging.
Quickly averting her eyes, she scooped water with one hand and splashed it towards her mouth, holding the brush under the running stream of water with the other. She lifted her head and stared at the woman in the mirror, angled lines of her face still unfamiliar after all this time. She hadn’t gained back all the weight lost in Baxter’s prison, and she knew Gypsy worried about her, wanted her to become some plump thing he imagined she wanted to be. This woman gazing back at her wasn’t the same fluffy-headed ninny who had been taken by Baxter’s minion. In her head, she knew this woman, the one who so often felt startled and somehow lost at the same time, was smarter, stronger, and had a better grip on what she wanted out of life. Her heart told her differently and pounded fast in excitement.
The ghost of her name whispered on the air as Gypsy groaned again, the mattress creaking as he shifted and moved.
So what if what I want is him? That doesn’t make me less of anything.
Kelsey watched as the woman in the mirror smiled, the expression on her face confident and knowing. Not how she saw herself at all, but she liked the look of it.
She whirled and quietly stepped into her boots, fingers checking the back pocket of her jeans to verify the tiny wallet Gypsy had given her was there, along with the thin room key. Maggie would be in the restaurant already, and she didn’t want her new friend to wait too long for her.
With a final longing glance at Gypsy, she slipped out of the room, easing the door closed behind her.
“Hey, Kelsey,” Maggie called and lifted a hand, waving Kelsey over from where she was seated in a booth along the edge of the restaurant. “So glad you’re joining me for breakfast.”
Nodding, Kelsey slipped into the other side of the booth, staring down at the plastic mat on the table. It had a confusing array of food options interspersed with names so bizarre she wasn’t certain she could order a single dish by name without laug
hing.
“You guys sleep okay? Tugboat was complaining about the mattress here. I told him to hush. It was comfortable enough.” Maggie lifted a mug of what looked like tea and sipped. Kelsey nodded, her gaze back on the menu. “I couldn’t make heads or tails of their marketing mishmash on that thing, so I ordered a cheese omelet, figured they couldn’t mess eggs up too badly.”
Kelsey glanced up at her to see a smile aimed her direction and realized this was Maggie’s way of trying to help. She really is so nice. “I-I” Kelsey took a breath and tried again. “Th-there’s a lot to get used to.”
“I’m certain there is. Tug told me you haven’t been in America for long. Are you figuring things out okay, honey?”
Kelsey stared at her for a moment, then nodded, the only response she could think of.
“Honey, don’t give me that. I raised two boys and a beautiful daughter. Nothing you can say will shock me.” Maggie leaned forwards and reached out to lay her hand on Kelsey’s arm. “Tell me if there’s anything wrong, okay?”
She stared into Maggie’s face a moment, and finally came to a decision. “Ho-how do you know if a man likes you?”
***
Gypsy
“No, we’ll be back on the road tomorrow. We all needed a break.” He turned from where he stood by the motel window and looked back towards the bed where Kelsey was sleeping with the help of some medication Bulldog had thoughtfully sent with them. She was so sore when they got off the bikes last night, she could hardly walk so Gypsy had called a pause to their trip.
A “just in case” measure she’d definitely needed after their fourth straight day on the road.
“Everything okay, brother?” Blue Line asked, and Gypsy knew the real question behind what had been voiced. If it was too long a delay, Blue Line might have to float a different solution than the one they’d agreed upon.
Gypsy's Lady Page 19