by Jessie Cooke
“Okay. I’m going to go look for Jimmy.” She started to walk away just as Cody made it to her. Lucy opened her mouth like she was going to say something to him, but she closed it and the smile fell from her face when he took Macy’s arm in his hand and steered her back into the kitchen. “Cody! What are you doing?” Angel and Tank looked up when they came in, exchanged a look with each other, and then both made some silly excuse to go into the storeroom.
“I just needed to talk to you for a second.”
“We shouldn’t be in here, alone. Jimmy’s going to be looking for me…”
“Macy, you and I need to talk about what happened the other night.”
“Shh! No, Cody. It was a mistake. We shouldn’t have done that. Please, don’t do this. If Jimmy finds out…”
“What, Macy? What will Jimmy do?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t, Cody, but it won’t be anything good. Please. I don’t want any trouble and you don’t need any. Let’s just leave what was between us in the past where it belongs.”
“I can’t lie to myself like that, Macy, and I don’t think you can either. I’ll leave it alone for now, but I guarantee you that you won’t be able to stop thinking about it. We belong together. I know that you know that. I felt it when you kissed me.”
“Cody…” He grabbed her by the waist and covered her mouth with his, catching her words. Then just as quickly he let go of her, grinned, and slipped back out of the kitchen. It took her some time to catch her breath and when she did, she went back out to look for Jimmy. Lucy was still sitting at the bar, but now she was glaring at her. As Macy started to walk by Lucy said:
“I have a really good friend who’s a waitress at Spirits. She told me a funny story today…”
Macy stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around. Lucy picked up her beer and smiled as she took a drink of it. Macy looked around and didn’t see Cody or Jimmy, either one. She stepped up to the girl at the bar, and she wasn’t smiling as she gritted her teeth and said, “Listen to me. I am part of this club. My father has been part of this club since before I was born. I have been part of it since I was born. If you think shooting off your fucking mouth about me will get you anywhere around here, you are sadly, fucking mistaken. So, if you want to be ostracized, go ahead and try it, and right before they kick your skanky ass off this ranch, I’ll kick the shit out of it. Do we understand each other, little girl?”
The smile had slowly faded from Lucy’s face as Macy talked. Macy wasn’t usually a violent person, but Lucy had pissed her off enough that she was sure she could kick her ass at that moment if she had to. “I understand,” Lucy said with a shaky voice. “I’m sorry, Macy. I was just…”
“I know what you were ‘just.’ Just…keep your fucking mouth shut about things you don’t know anything about. Got it?”
“I got it.”
With that Macy left her there. She was shaking all over. She wasn’t sure if it was with anger, nerves, or more guilt and regret about what she’d done with Cody. It was probably a combination of it all, and by the time she found Jimmy it had concentrated in her stomach and she felt sick.
11
“Hey, kid, wanna shoot some pool?” Dax caught Cody just as he was trying to avoid Lucy. She’d been stalking him all afternoon. She’d seen him go into the kitchen with Macy and she’d still been sitting there watching him when he came out. At the time, he hadn’t given a shit, but then he’d noticed Macy talking to her and the conversation hadn’t looked very friendly. He wondered what Lucy told her and then he wondered why he cared. She was still living with Jimmy, which meant she was still fucking him, so Cody shouldn’t have a care in the world about who sucked his dick.
“Sure.” Cody turned his attention away from the little brunette and onto his club president. He was still really curious about what kind of business Dax had with a club that specialized in fencing. He wasn’t even sure why, but his first thought was that maybe he’d get lucky and overhear something about what was going on.
Cody followed Dax back to the pool tables. One of the tables was occupied by three of the Irish Mayhem guys and a few of the trashier-looking club girls. The other one was open but a few more of the Mayhem were milling around it; one of them Cody recognized as the president that Dax had met with the day before.
“Liam, this is Cody.”
“How’s it going?” Liam shook his hand and introduced his two friends, Patty and Stitch. “You boys looking for a game?” Liam asked.
“Sure,” Dax said. “But I’ve heard rumors about you, so don’t try to hustle us.”
Liam laughed. He had a deep laugh that seemed to come somewhere from deep in his core. “I’ll try to play fair. How about you and me start her up and the winner plays the next one?”
“Sounds good,” Dax said, “Rack ’em up.”
Cody took a beer off the tray one of the club girls brought by and went over and had a seat on a stool against the wall. The guy they called Stitch sat next to him and they watched Dax and Liam play for a while. Cody finally looked at the other guy and said, “So how long are you guys down from West Virginia?”
Stitch shrugged. “I guess for however long this job takes.”
“Where are you all staying?”
“We got rooms at the motel out on I-40,” he said. “It’s a fleabag, by the way.”
Cody laughed. “Yeah, I agree with you. I’m sure Dax would have offered to put you all up here if we had room.”
Stitch nodded. “Yeah, he said as much. He’s paying for our rooms at the motel and sending girls and booze over, so we don’t really have any complaints. Hell, I’ve slept in worse places. I did three years in an Irish prison. Those fuckers don’t even give you a cot to sleep on.”
“Damn. I just got out of one of Massachusetts’ finest. I guess I should count myself lucky for the cement cot and pad they gave me.”
The other guy laughed. “Yes, you should, trust me. How long did you do?”
“Eight years,” Cody said.
“Fuck! You barely look eight years old. Was it rough in there?”
Cody laughed. “The first two years were in youth authority—that was a bunch of bullshit—and then I got to bunk with the big boys. I celled up with a guy out of the Cen Cal Commies.”
“The fuck you say? What the hell was one of those fuckers doing out here?”
“He got in trouble while he was out here picking something up so he had to serve his time out here.”
“What was his name?”
“Billy Brewster. Goes by Hot Brew.” Stitch looked like that name meant something to him, but he didn’t say any more about Brew or the Commies. Instead he said:
“Who did you kill?”
Cody wasn’t shocked by the other man’s bluntness. It was a characteristic of most bikers. “I killed one of the fuckers that killed my brother. I put the other one in critical care.” Stitch held up his fist and Cody bumped it.
“Good for you, man. I’m sorry for your loss. Was it a hit from another club?”
“Nah, he wasn’t affiliated. He was one of those rare good guys that tried too hard to make the world the kind of place he thought it was supposed to be. He got involved with these assholes because my old man owed them a shitload full of money. He tried paying it back, but he wasn’t paying it fast enough so they beat him. I’m guessing they just meant to scare him and it went too far. My only regret is that the motherfucker who ordered the hit wasn’t there.”
“These guys were out of Hanover?”
“No, New Jersey. My old man was a gambler. Spent a lot of time up around Atlantic City and got in with a guy named…”
“Johnny O’Toole?”
“Yeah…how did you know?”
“Because nobody in Jersey is loaning money and ordering hits without the direct consent of that asshole. He owns all the notes in Jersey and at least half of the rest in New England. He also has a small army around him at all times, because you’re not the only one that would like to
kill the son of a bitch. I’ve been hit up by more than one man that wanted my help with that very thing.”
“Your help? Why?”
“Because O’Toole is not just some asshole from Jersey to me, he’s my uncle.”
“Fuck me!”
Stitch laughed. “You’re pretty, boy, but you’re not really my type.”
“You’re not bullshitting me? You’re related to Johnny O’Toole?”
“Don’t go thinking about taking your grudge out on me,” Stitch said, still smiling. “I got nothing to do with Uncle Johnny’s business dealings.”
Cody smiled. “No worries, I’m not O’Toole. I wouldn’t take my shit out on somebody’s family member. I want the motherfucker that ordered the hit on my brother and only him.”
Stitch lifted his chin in the direction of the pool tables. “Dax isn’t interested in helping you?”
Cody thought about how to answer that. He didn’t know this guy and he didn’t want to say anything that might reflect negatively on Dax or the club. He also didn’t want this guy forming his own opinion because Cody didn’t defend his president’s choice not to help him exact revenge on the guy that killed his brother. It wasn’t like Keller or Cody had been part of the MC at the time, so technically none of it was Dax’s responsibility. Cody knew how lucky he was that Dax showed up to pick him up and gave him a place to live. Without him he’d probably be living in the fleabag motel out on Route 40. “It’s not that he’s not interested. He’s just been trying hard for a while to bring the club around to the other side of the law, you know? He lost a lot of men to prison and bullets over the last ten years.” Stitch chuckled and Cody waited for him to say something. When he didn’t Cody said, “What’s funny?”
Stitch looked over at Dax again and said, “Nothing. I guess maybe hiring us to fence a million bucks’ worth of gold coins is going to be his last big thing.” Cody had to catch himself before he choked on the swig of beer he’d just taken. What the hell is Dax into?
Cody was sitting in a lawn chair behind the clubhouse smoking a blunt he’d rolled about an hour later; lost in thoughts of the conversation that he’d just had with Stitch. The other biker had made him an offer and left him with a phone number and a lot to think about. He barely looked up when Jimmy stepped outside until he heard him say, “Sorry, man, I didn’t know anyone was out here.”
Cody was actually happy for the interruption. His head was beginning to throb a little bit, and trying to make a decision as important as the one he was mulling over wasn’t helping it. “It’s okay. Stay. I’m just chilling. You get kind of used to your alone time in the joint. I get a little overwhelmed with all the people.”
Jimmy nodded. “I’ve never even been locked up and it gets to me.” He sat down in the chair next to Cody’s and Cody offered him the blunt. Jimmy was carrying a bottle of Crown, which he traded with Cody for the smoke. As he inhaled, Cody took a long swig out of the bottle.
“Can I ask you a question?” Cody said. Jimmy looked even more uncomfortable but he handed back the blunt and said:
“Okay.”
“Have you heard anything about Johnny O’Toole since I got locked up?”
Jimmy almost visibly relaxed. He thought Cody was going to ask something about Macy, Cody was sure.
“There was some trouble up there about four years or so after you got locked up. O’Toole had loaned a big bunch of money to some guys out of New York, professional guys like stockbrokers or something was what I heard. They didn’t have the money to pay him back when it came due and O’Toole went about doing what he always did, threatening families and shit. So these guys, not having a brain in their heads apparently, went to the cops.”
“Shit.” Even at sixteen Cody had known better than that. Someone as powerful as O’Toole couldn’t operate the kind of business he did without the support of at least a few law enforcement officials in high places.
“Yeah. Before the week was out, the cop they’d reported it to was found dead in an alley. The two guys that reported O’Toole got pulled over by a couple of uniforms that same day and the gun that killed that cop was found in the trunk of the car. Those guys denied any knowledge of it, of course, but it was enough to arrest them on suspicion of murder. Within a week one of them had hung himself in his cell. The other made it to trial and was convicted of murder, second degree or some shit, I think. He lasted two days in general population before they found him dead on the yard. O’Toole is nobody you want to fuck around with, Cody. I say you’re damned lucky he never came after you while you were locked up for killing his guy.”
“He didn’t have that chance,” Cody said. “Dax had the guys in there looking out for me. I’d bet money that O’Toole tried to get to me but it just never worked out.”
“Then you’re lucky as hell that Dax still has your back because from what I hear, O’Toole has a long memory.”
“That’s okay,” Cody said. “So do I.”
12
The party was winding down and there were only a few people left when Jimmy found Macy talking to Angel and said:
“Are you ready to go?” Macy looked around and saw some of the club girls had started cleaning up. Dax and the president of the Irish Mayhem were still shooting pool, but Cody wasn’t around so she assumed he’d already gone up to his room. Since Lucy was MIA too she wondered briefly if they were together and then reminded herself once again that it wasn’t any of her concern.
“Maybe I should stay and help clean up. I’ll walk home when I’m finished.”
“Okay,” Jimmy told her. “I’m exhausted, and Dax wants me up and ready to ride at dawn tomorrow.”
“Where are you going?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. He said to pack an overnight bag but he didn’t say where we were traveling to.”
“Were you planning on telling me you were going to be gone overnight?”
“I’m telling you now,” he said.
She sighed. She didn’t want to fight with him. Sometimes she just wished that her feelings were a forethought instead of an afterthought with Jimmy. “Okay. I’ll try not to wake you when I get home.”
Jimmy took her into his arms and pulled her a few steps away from where Angel was sitting. Putting his lips to her ear he said, “Wake me up with your lips on my cock.”
Macy smiled up at him. “And what do I get in return?”
Jimmy rolled his eyes. “The pleasure of making your man feel good.”
Once again she reminded herself that she didn’t want to fight. She forced a smile and said, “If I’m not too tired.”
“If that’s a possibility, then come with me now.”
“I can’t, Jimmy. I get away with a lot because of Dad but I don’t want people to start thinking I’m taking advantage. I’m going to stay and do my part. I’ll be home soon, okay?”
She could tell that Jimmy was mad, but maybe he was too tired to argue too. He finally gave her a peck on the cheek and a slap on the ass and left. Once he was gone, Macy picked up the wet towel one of the girls had put on the bar and started wiping things down. One of the girls put on some loud music, and Macy sang along with it and even danced a little as she cleaned. After she finished wiping the last table, Callie picked up the broom and started to sweep.
“Hey, if you want to go, I’ll do that,” Macy told her. “Isn’t Handsome waiting for you?” Callie and Handsome hadn’t made anything official. He still wasn’t calling her his old lady, but she’d been staying more and more with him at his house and less at the house where she lived with the other girls. Macy rarely saw him with anyone other than Callie, and she knew that Callie had it bad for him.
“Are you sure? Don’t you want to get home yourself?”
“Jimmy’s probably already asleep,” she told her with a smile. Guiltily, she hoped he was. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. Just the day before she’d been so happy about spending a nice evening with him, and now she was back to obsessing over Cody. If he’d just left
her alone and not approached her at the party…She sighed. She couldn’t blame him. Every time she lost sight of him all day, she’d find herself looking for him again and hoping he hadn’t gone off with one of the girls. It was ridiculous.
“Okay, if you really don’t mind.” Callie handed her the broom and gave her a kiss on the cheek before leaving. Then Macy was alone, and it was kind of nice after a long day of being surrounded by people. The party had gone on from ten in the morning until after ten at night, and then half of them had left there and gone on into town to Spirits to finish off the night. Macy wasn’t much of a party girl. She much preferred a quiet night at home over a day of bumping into one body after the other.
She started sweeping to the beat of the music and got lost in her thoughts. She had to figure out what to do about her feelings for Cody, or the guilt and the desire both were going to drive her crazy…if they didn’t get her in trouble first. She swept out the front and then went into the kitchen. Angel and Tank had done most of the dishes already but she did what was left in there and switched off the light. As she was walking back out into the big room, the music on the jukebox suddenly changed from fast to a slow, romantic song that she instantly recognized. It was one she never played on the jukebox herself and she did her best to leave the room if someone else did. It was Justin Timberlake’s “My Love,” and it was Cody’s and her song. She looked across the room and wasn’t surprised to see him standing there.
“Dance with me, Macy.”
“Cody—” She stopped and folded her arms. She had goosebumps, but not from the cold. “What are you doing down here?”
“I want to dance with you.”
She shook her head. “We can’t keep doing this.”
“Keep doing what? I just asked for a dance.” He started moving toward her, and she was torn between wanting to run to him and wanting to run away. She’d never had such conflicting emotions in her life. He was going to drive her crazy.
“Cody, please don’t do this.” He stopped about two feet away from her. The music was bringing back memories even as she tried to resist his advances. “It’s not fair.”