Texas (San Francisco Steel, #8)

by KJ Dahlen

  “Ok thanks. I do feel better when he’s with me,” she admitted. Glancing over at the clock, she was surprised to see it was almost five. “I guess I should think about something for supper huh? Karen will be going home, so I need to go down and lock up the shop too.”

  After Poppy spent an hour baking pizzas for everyone and they spent a while eating it, it was getting dark enough outside that the guys figured they would get into place.

  Mammoth and one of Caliber’s boys went to the roof to watch over the street. Shotgun, Caliber and Slammer went downstairs and were stationed in different areas of the shop and kitchen.

  Everyone else that Slammer had called in was out on the street, waiting and watching.

  The only ones left in the small apartment were Poppy and Texas.

  Poppy stood up and paced, as he was getting more nervous as time went on. Time was not her friend tonight.

  “Hey, you need to settle down,” Texas told her.

  “I can’t. It’s like waiting for dynamite to go off.” She hung her head as she spoke, “This is like all my nightmares coming true. For all these years, I’ve felt threatened by the man who killed my mom and now he’s coming after me and I can’t take the stress of it anymore, especially now that I can’t run.”

  “Do you want me to distract you?” Texas asked as he raised a brow at her.

  Poppy cocked her head at him. “Like the kiss you gave me before? Like that?”

  “If that’s what you want.”

  She smiled. “Want? That was amazing and I want more.”

  “Gladly,” Texas told her as he leaned toward her and kissed her. The kiss began softly but the moment their lips touched, he crushed her mouth with his own.

  Poppy gasped and opened her mouth. Texas pushed his tongue inside her mouth and hauled her body close to his own. His lips burned as they kissed wildly, breathlessly and when the kiss broke, they both were gasping for breath.

  He backed her into the bedroom and slammed the door shut behind them, locking it. He pushed her up against the door and began tearing at her clothing. He pulled her shirt off and then her bra. Her heavy breasts overflowed his big hands but they felt so good he had to taste them.

  His lips trailed down her neck and then latched onto her erect nipples. Poppy threw her head back and groaned as he began sucking her breasts into his mouth. First one then the other as his hands dropped down to her jeans. He tore open the zipper and stuck his hand into her panties. Her core was warm and damp as he pressed a finger inside her.

  His hands pushed her jeans down her legs then he stood back and looked at her. Poppy held her hands over her body and her cheeks flamed but Texas wouldn’t let her hide. He gently opened her hands and pulled them away from her body. “Don’t hide. You’re beautiful.”

  Poppy shook her head. “No I’m not. I know my own faults.”

  Texas leaned close to her and whispered, “I told you before, you’re perfect for me and that’s all that counts. I want you so bad right now. Please tell me I can have you.”

  Poppy stared at him for a moment. “Yes please. If I’m going to die, I’ll have at least one taste of heaven before I go.”

  Texas shook his head. “Sweet girl, no one is dying except the bastard who’s waiting outside for a beat down.” Texas tore at his own clothing and soon, they were skin to skin. He pressed his hard cock into her soft belly and both of them moaned.

  Texas passed his lips along her neck and her scent rose up to meet him. He groaned as the scent of warm chocolate and spicy mint washed over him. Her juices coated his cock as he rubbed it over her satiny folds. He wanted to devour this woman in the worst way. He opened her legs and pushed inside her.

  He groaned at the feeling, as she was so tight he was having trouble getting inside her. Then he felt her barrier and as he pushed through, he opened his eyes and looked down at her. He paused.

  Poppy pushed herself up against him. Looking him in the eyes, she begged, “Please don’t stop. I need you so much.”

  “I couldn’t stop now, even if I wanted to.” Texas growled in her ear. He pushed all the way in and began moving his hips as he plunged in and out of her. Each stroke took them higher and higher until Poppy flew over the edge of the abyss. Texas wasn’t that far behind and as he poured his seed into her, he then silenced her scream with a kiss.

  Moments later, they were both pressed up against the door in a time worn tradition of self imposed weariness of afterglow. Texas was reluctant to move away from her just as much as Poppy was to allow him to move, but she looked up at him and shook her head. “I think we should get dressed and be ready for anything. He’s very close now.”

  Texas nodded. “Yeah, I feel it too.” He released her and they both got cleaned up then dressed quickly.

  Chapter Eight

  Texas had his weapon in his hand as they went back out to the living room to wait. They were barely sitting down on the sofa when the door opened silently and a shadowy figure slipped inside.

  Poppy gasped then held her breath as he moved to the middle of the room.

  Texas reached over and snapped on the light.

  The man froze and slowly lifted his head. The dirty old hat he wore hid his face well until he was looking straight at Poppy. Then the light from the lamp lit his face.

  Poppy gasped as her shaky hand went to cover her mouth. Her eyes began filling with tears as she recognized the old man standing in front of her, holding a gun at his side. “What are you doing here?” she whispered brokenly.

  “I had to finish what I started twenty years ago. You should have known that.” He sneered at her. “I couldn’t just let you go on like she did.” He looked over at Texas. “I should have known you’d follow her and shack up with some dirty biker. I taught you better. You’re a filthy whore just like she was.”

  “I’m not a whore and neither was she!” Poppy yelled at him. Shaking her head, she asked, “Why? She was your daughter.”

  Texas frowned and looked between Poppy and the old man. “His daughter? What the hell are you saying?”

  Poppy never took her eyes off the old man. “Texas, this old bastard is my grandfather. He’s the man who murdered my mom and dad. He shot them both and left them to die in that wayside. I remember everything now.”

  “Your mother was raised better than to take up with some filthy god damn biker.” The old man snarled. “She ran away from our home when she was only seventeen. She ignored the plans we made for her future and only thought about the world beyond our front door. She was supposed to marry our neighbor boy and live next door so they could take care of us in our old age. But that plan wasn’t good enough, not for my daughter. She wanted to see the world. But she never got to see too much of anything did she? She met your father and after that, it was all downhill for her. She saw him and only wanted one thing. He wasn’t a good man, not for her. He did the work of the devil, he did. He drank and partied and had other women right in front of her.” He snarled. “What kind of life was that?”

  Texas never took his off the crazy old man as he tensed up, his gun ready behind his back.

  He ranted on, “I looked for her for years, and then I found her. I tried to take her home with me, back to the only life she knew but she wouldn’t go. I even beat her and she still wouldn’t go.”

  He didn’t notice when the door opened again and three very large men came in behind him.

  “Instead that little bitch ran away from me and I didn’t find her again, for five years.”

  “Why did you kill her?” Poppy wanted to know. “How could you kill your own family?”

  “Because she was with him. The dirty bastard. And then there was you. You looked just like she did when she was little. I knew you were her bastard child. I couldn’t forgive her for having you and I couldn’t let either of them live for bringing that shame to my family.”

  “Why did you take me home with you then?” Poppy asked him. “If you hated me so badly, why did you do that?”

&nbs
p; “I had to show you the right way to live, don’t you see that, you stupid little whore?” Her grandfather screamed at her. “You were born of a sin your mother made, a sin that you had to do penance for. I couldn’t teach my daughter the proper way but I still had a chance to teach you.”

  “By beating the hell out of me? By making every day I lived there, a nightmare?” Poppy got to her feet and screamed at him, “My mother loved me enough to allow me to be born! You never loved anything but your own self righteousness. You have broken so many commandments that you will fry in hell!”

  “How dare you say this? I am blessed by God!” the old man screamed and spittle flew from him mouth. He’d been so caught up in his ranting when Slammer, Shotgun and Caliber came closer that he didn’t hear them until it was too late. He raised the weapon then shrieked when Slammer pried it from his hand.

  The old man turned around and saw them standing behind him. He glared at Slammer and snarled, “You shouldn’t be here right now. This doesn’t concern you. This is between me and her and it’s something that should have happened years ago.”

  Slammer grabbed him by the throat with one strong hand and lifted him to his tiptoes. “It does concern me, fucker. She’s my sister and the man you shot that day along with her mother was my dad. He was our dad and you fucking killed him.”

  “Good, at least he didn’t defile any other women after he ruined my daughter.”

  Slammer tightened his grip on the old man’s throat and he began choking as his air was cut off. His feet left the ground as his body rose up.

  Caliber stepped up and told Slammer, “You can’t kill him, not yet. He needs to face the tribunal and the club needs to decide how he dies. That’s club law. You might have lost your father but the club lost their president.”

  Slammer held him a moment longer then he let go.

  The old man dropped to the ground like a sack of rotten potatoes. He was breathing heavily trying to take in enough air to survive.

  Slammer lifted his foot and slammed it into his soft belly.

  For a moment, the older man lost what little breath he was trying to gain.

  Poppy wept and turned to Texas.

  He wrapped his arms around her and held on to her while she sobbed.

  Shotgun stepped up, wrenched the old man’s arms behind his back, and wound a cord around them.

  Slammer stepped over to Poppy and knelt down to her level. “You know this old bastard?”

  “He’s the man who raised me after he murdered my parents.” She wept.

  “This is Angel’s dad?” Slammer asked in shock. He turned and glared at the older man.

  Poppy looked over at her crazy grandfather and asked, “Where is your wife you old fool? Is she here with you?”

  “My woman is waiting at home for me like a good wife should,” he whispered in agony.

  “Well, she’ll be waiting forever old man because you won’t be going home,” Caliber assured him.

  “And God won’t save you this time,” Poppy told him. “The devil’s minions are coming for your soul and grandma’s too, for what you did.”

  Shotgun dragged the old man out of the apartment and he was screaming the whole time, cursing Poppy and exalting her sins to the world.

  Slammer waited until he was no longer there then held his hand out to Poppy. She put her hand in his and allowed him to pull her to a standing position. Slammer then wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to him. “You won’t ever have to worry about that old fucker again. Our dad’s MC will take care of him,” he promised her.

  Poppy nodded and hugged her brother for the first time... ever.

  “I do need to ask you something though,” he stated. “Did his wife know what he did? To your mother I mean? And to you? I’m sure growing up with them wasn’t easy.”

  “She knew. She knew everything and she went along with it too,” Poppy told him as she swiped at her tears. “She was just as guilty as he was because she let it happen. She never once tried to stop it.” She stepped away from him and wrapped her arms around her waist.

  Slammer sighed hard. “Come on sister, it’s time to take you home. Ivy will skin me alive if I leave you here.”

  Caliber stepped up and smiled. “I’d like to get to know you too. I was your dad’s best friend. I watched this little asshole grow up to be a man and I’d like to think I guided him a little bit of the way between being a boy and becoming a man.”

  “Can you tell me about my dad?” she asked. “I never got the chance to know him but I’d like to hear about him. And maybe if you knew my mom, can you tell me about her too?”

  “Honey, I’d be happy too,” Caliber told her.

  Poppy looked over at Slammer. “Maybe if you want to you can read her diary. Someone gave it to me when I turned eighteen. That’s how I knew about you. My mom wrote the diary after she left your dad. She talked about you in there too.”

  Slammer smiled. “I’d like that. I would really like that. Just don’t judge me on the things your mother might have said. I wasn’t very kind to her when she was around the first time. I was a rebellious, mean little kid.”

  “Tell me about it,” Caliber teased.

  “That hasn’t really changed ya know? Except he ain’t so little anymore,” Shotgun teased. “He can still be an ass at times.”

  The men in the room all snickered.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Slammer scoffed.

  Poppy smiled as she stared at the men then at her brother. “You might be surprised by what she wrote. I think she understood you better than you think.” She paused then added softly, “She loved you and your dad very much.”

  “Then I’d like to read her words someday,” Slammer told her.

  Chapter Nine

  Back at the clubhouse, everyone sat around the tables discussing the events of the night.

  Ivy, River, Zoe and the rest of the women had welcomed Poppy with open arms and even more so when Slammer declared her to be his sister.

  Caliber and his brothers had brought everything they had from the murders twenty years ago. While they looked over the evidence, they discovered the police had found evidence of a third person being at the scene due to the blood spatter left behind.

  Poppy showed Caliber the scar on her arm and told them she got caught in the blast from her grandfather’s shotgun when he shot her dad. He’d been holding her at the time. “I was so scared when this crazy man came out of nowhere. My mom was horrified when she saw the gun in his hand and dad went to pull out his own weapon. Grandfather shot him first then turned the gun on my mom. Dad was on the ground and I was caught half under him so I couldn’t move. I was screaming and then my mom was screaming. Then I heard another blast of the gun and her screams stopped. The old man walked over to where dad was and he coldly shot him again. Then he pulled me away from him and dragged me down the road to where he had parked his truck. He threw me into the truck and drove away. I tried to look back at where my mom was but he slapped me and told me not to look. He said that was my past and it was over. I would start a new life that day. A new life where I would learn right from wrong the proper way. He would teach me right.” She gulped as tears ran down her face dripping onto her shirt.

  “How long did you live there?” Caliber wanted to know.

  “Until the day before my eighteen birthday. I was out doing my chores when a woman came up to me and handed me a package. She said she was my mom’s best friend and that she had been looking for me for fourteen years. Then she told me to find a safe place and to open the package and that she knew how horrible my grandparents were. Inside was something my mom wanted me to have but she warned me that my grandparents would never allow me to have it if they knew about it.”

  “What did you do?” Ivy asked.

  “My grandparents lived on a farm and they worked the land from before dawn to way after dusk. I had my own secret place I went to sometimes, so I went there and opened the package. It was the diary my mom left me. I sat there for a
while before I could even open it. Then I read every word she wrote on those pages. When I got done, I noticed it was late in the day. As soon as I stepped in the house that night, I knew what was going to happen.”

  “What happened?” Slammer asked as he tightened his fists.

  Poppy hung her head. “I’d been gone most of the day, so my work hadn’t been done. He never tolerated laziness. Grandma began listing the things I hadn’t done and he was getting madder and madder the longer the list went on. He also told me I was getting married the next day and I had no say in the matter. I asked him who was I supposed to marry and he told me his name. I shuddered when he said it. That man was the same man my mom was supposed to marry twenty years ago. He was a pig as he lived in an old rundown house. A mean bastard and he carried his humiliation of my mom leaving. There was no way I was going to survive very long, not with him. But first I had to survive the beating my grandfather was giving me.”

  When she paused, she couldn’t look up. She felt so cold remembering the past that she began to shiver.

  Texas hauled her into his arms and held her tight.

  She heard Slammer growl at him but she just laid her head on Texas’s chest. She needed him and he was there for her just like before. She swallowed hard and continued her story, “They left me laying on the floor and went to have their dinner. I think I was still there when they went to bed that night. I finally got up a few hours later. I went to my room and packed my clothes then I walked away from that farm. I only took my clothes and my mom’s dairy but I walked away from that misery. That was six years ago.”

  “You said he found you three times before tonight,” Slammer stated.

  “He found me the first time a year after I left. He and Billy Watson were together that time. Billy is the man I was supposed to marry the day I turned eighteen. They showed up dirty and messy and expected me to just come with them. My grandpa told me he would hurt me if I didn’t come quietly and Billy told me I had a beating coming anyway for making him wait a year. He told me he was going to enjoy breaking me and I would soon learn my place in his household.” She hung her head. “I looked into Billy’s eyes and saw that he hung on the edge of insanity... the same madness my grandfather had in his eyes. I managed to escape that time with some help from a good friend of mine. I ran and then I learned to be more careful.”