by Sadie Savage
“Oh, all right,” Jake said, wondering what she might need the extra money for. Maybe he should pay her more. “Do you want to join us? I have a little time before I’m due at the MC. It would be good to keep your skills honed in case of an emergency.”
“Yeah!” Mary exclaimed. “I want to go back to the movies someday! So learn how to fight good!”
“Good idea!” Michelle said, smiling brightly at Jake’s daughter. The easy connection between them never ceased to surprise and impress Jake. He was so used to Mary clinging to his side, and his side only. The only other person she seemed to like to talk to was her brother. And now, somehow, Michelle.
“All right, then you stand over here. We’re going to practice what to do if somebody throws a punch at you. Right, kids?”
“Right!” their little voices shouted back to Jake. He grinned proudly. He couldn’t love those two more if his life depended on it.
“Who wants to be Michelle’s partner?” Jake asked.
“You should, daddy!” Mary said. “I’m already JJ’s partner!”
Jake and Michelle exchanged a secret glance. They both knew that being near each other physically was a dangerous thing. And surely they both understood the implications of being caught with their highly inappropriate relationship. Sure, the kids might not care. But with Kent in control of the MC, it could mean the end of the line for both of them. Jake wouldn’t put it past him to call a hit on his own daughter. The more he got to know Kent, the less he liked him.
“Well that makes sense,” Jake said, smiling awkwardly at Michelle.
“Yeah, you guys are both really tall,” JJ said. “It wouldn’t be fair to try and hit Michelle anyway, she’s a girl! You don’t hit girls!”
JJ threw a punch at his sister and tapped her on the shoulder, and Mary furrowed her little eyebrows. “I’m a girl, too!” she cried, hitting him back.
“Okay, you two. Knock it off,” Jake said. He caught Michelle’s eye. Both of them were trying hard not to laugh. It was clear they both loved those kids deeply. “Let’s get to work!”
They spent the rest of the afternoon practicing self-defense together. By the time Jake had to go, everybody was smiling and having fun. It was strange, he thought, just how much like a family it felt with Michelle there. Often times, with just Jake and the kids, it felt like something was missing. Because something was missing. The kids didn’t have a mother.
But Michelle was quickly making them all forget that, and, despite being barely an adult herself, she felt like the missing piece of the puzzle. He left the house reluctantly, not wanting to stop enjoying the time he was able to spend with his family. As wrong as everybody else might think it was, the truth was becoming more and more clear to him. Michelle was meant to be his, and his alone. And if they were going to be able to keep it that way, then he would have to challenge Kent once and for all.
Chapter 14
“Bye Michelle!” Mary and JJ chorused as Michelle stepped out the front door. She cast a longing look at Jake, whose handsome face was serious and withdrawn. It was the opposite of the way it had been when he’d left them sparring in the basement to go to work. Had something happened?
“Bye guys,” Michelle said, blowing them kisses. She hesitated before blowing a third one, though nobody would notice she had assigned it for Jake. It was a silly, childish thing to do, but he took such good care of her. If she couldn’t kiss him good bye for real in front of his kids, she could have her secret kiss.
The taxi was waiting outside at the curb, just as it always was, and the outside world was muted when she shut the door to the backseat.
“Where to?” a deep, gravelly voice asked her from the driver’s seat.
“Python’s Square,” she said. She had been taught to throw her weight around in a sense, letting everyone in town know that she was associated with the powerful Python MC.
“Of course,” the voice said. She didn’t like the guy’s tone, and tried to get a handle on his face. But it was dark and she couldn’t see into the front seat. She would just have to try and keep a safe distance.
The taxi drove slowly through the rural streets until it reached the highway and sped up. Michelle gazed out the window of the cab, her eyes flickering on all of the lights of the tall city buildings in the distance. Jake had found himself a nice little place pretty far from the real dangers of the city. Had he done that for his kids? He was such a protective man.
Michelle closed her eyes and leaned back against the headrest. She was tired from having to wake up early to catch the bus. She hadn’t wanted to use the taxi that morning, because she was thinking about buying something for the kids that she knew they would love even more than going to the movies.
“Here we are,” the taxi said.
Michelle opened her eyes and her heart lurched. She wasn’t at Python’s Square at all. The man had driven her to the docks, and standing outside were several Raptors, waiting with terrible smiles on their faces. What had she done?
***
“That’s the one,” an unpleasantly familiar voice said. “Remember me, girlie?”
Michelle felt cold with panic as the five men at the docks began to close in on her. The Raptor from the theater was in the middle of the group, grinning at her with malice in his eyes.
“If you lay a hand on me, you’re going to regret it!”
“What, because your daddy is the president of the Pythons?” the man sneered. “I don’t think so.”
Actually, Michelle had been thinking that if anything happened to her, Jake would fight them to the death. But she didn’t want to say too much. What she had to do was figure a way out of this mess. Jake couldn’t save her now. She was as good as alone, on the Raptor’s turf. Why had she let herself doze off in the cab like that? How stupid could she be?
“Hey, what’s going on over there?”
Hope flooded Michelle’s breast as the flashlight of a small security crew from the docks shone on the men in front of her. The leader squinted, peering out at the light in confusion. It was just the chance she needed to get herself out of this shitty situation and find her way home.
While the man was distracted, Michelle elbowed him in the throat and ducked under his arm, pushing past him and running toward the man with the light.
“Fuck!” the Raptor growled. “Get her!”
The rest of the group hesitated, unsure of whether or not the security team would catch them before bolting after Michelle. Thankfully, Michelle knew this place like the back of her hand. She had grown up playing at the docks as her father worked to secure shipments and make deals with the overlords of the seedy underbelly of the city. She dodged inside one of the warehouses and snaked her way through the clutter, finding the secret hole in the back that she used to enter as a kid.
She ran as hard as she could, shouting when she nearly collided with Tommy.
“Hey kid, what the hell are you doing out here?” he shouted. “You almost knocked me into the water!”
“Sorry,” Michelle breathed, doubling over in an attempt to catch her breath.
“Hey, are you all right?”
Michelle shook her head. “The Raptors…they…”
“Fuck,” Tommy said, draping his arm heavily over her shoulder and ushering her to his car. “I got you.”
They drove off toward the MC before the Raptors had any idea where she had gone and Michelle sank down in the seat in relief. Everything was going to be fine.
***
“So what’s a pretty little thing like you doing at the docks this time of night?” Tommy asked, turning to Michelle with a sickening grin on his face. Was he seriously flirting with her right now?
“I wasn’t here on purpose,” Michelle said. She was too tired to try to explain what had happened. She wasn’t even sure what she would tell her father. If he knew that the Raptors had kidnapped her right from Jake’s house, then he probably wouldn’t let her go back.
Or maybe he would surprise her and turn o
ver a whole new asshole type leaf and let her go back anyway, because it was still more important to keep Jake on the team than it was to make sure that his daughter was safe. Why couldn’t all fathers be more like Jake?
“Well I feel like it’s my good luck to run into you tonight,” Tommy said. “It was getting mighty boring out there. What were the Raptors up to anyway? You were in their turf, you had to expect some trouble. Especially looking like you do.”
Tommy took a sideways look at her, smirking to himself as his eyes roamed Michelle’s body.
“Fuck off,” Michelle said. “Just take me to my dad. And don’t say another word or you’ll be really fucking sorry you opened your mouth.”
The grin faded from Tommy’s face.
“All right, all right. No need to turn into such a tight ass about it. Just trying to make conversation.”
“Like a pig,” Michelle grumbled. “I appreciate you helping me and all but that doesn’t mean I owe you anything. Are we clear on that?”
“Sure, sure,” Tommy said, raising his hands innocently in the air. “You ain’t going to hear anything else from me. I get that you had a hard night. Probably just need to get some rest. Ol’ Tommy will get you home safe and sound. You can count on me.”
Michelle rolled her eyes and sank back in the seat.
If the Raptors knew that she had been hanging out at Jake’s house to babysit, then that meant they knew where Jake and his kids lived too. That spelled trouble. She had to tell him what happened before it was too late.
Chapter 15
“Are you sure?”
Jake’s stomach dropped. Michelle had just been attacked. If he hadn’t just shown her how to defend herself, then who knows what might have happened? She was worried about the Raptors knowing where Jake and the kids lived, but Jake didn’t care about that. They had always known. What he cared about was knowing that the guys from the theater seriously had it in for her, and they were already making their moves. And fast.
“I’m going to kill them,” Jake growled darkly into the phone.
“Daddy…”
Jake pursed his lips, guilt flooding him when he caught the scared look on Mary’s face. She had come downstairs for a glass of water and was gripping her teddy bear tightly and staring up at him with her big blue eyes.
“Listen, I’ve got to go. Don’t go anywhere. Stay at the MC. We’re going to figure this out.”
“All right,” Michelle’s soft voice said from the other line. She sounded tired. Almost as if she had been crying. “Are the kids going to be okay? This is all my fault.”
“They’re going to be fine!” Jake exclaimed. “They’ve been fine the whole time I was vice president of the Pythons and they’ll be fine now. Hey Mary, do you want to say hi to Michelle?”
“Yeah!”
The fear evaporated from her eyes and Jake lifted her with one arm and handed her the phone.
“Hi Michelle! Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, bye!”
Jake took the phone back and grinned.
“That was fast.”
“She’s so funny,” Michelle agreed, laughing softly.
The sound filled Jake with a protective feeling he had only ever felt toward his kids.
“I’m going to take care of you,” he said seriously into the phone. “Don’t worry.”
Michelle sighed. “Just don’t do anything stupid. It’s not worth it.”
“You’re worth it,” Jake said. “Trust me.”
“…okay. Bye.”
Michelle hung up the phone and Jake stared at his for a moment before Mary tugged on his shirt.
“Daddy, can I have juice?”
“But you already brushed your teeth!”
“Just a little?”
Jake studied his daughter’s face. She looked more and more like her mother every day. His hatred for the Raptors only grew. And if the Leon, the man he had confronted at the docks, was telling the truth, his hatred for Kent was going to become more justified than ever. The Pythons were better than petty heroin peddlers, weren’t they? At least they should be. If they were going to strike out at Jake for falling for Kent’s daughter, he might as well get to work on a plan to usurp the presidency before the Pythons were ran into the ground once and for all.
“All right,” Jake said, trying to sigh away the heaviness of the thoughts that were pestering his mind. “Let’s get you a glass of juice. A small one though!”
“Yay!” Mary exclaimed.
Jake kissed her forehead and carried her into the kitchen. He would do whatever it took to protect his children, and, he would do anything to keep Michelle safe from the clutches of the men who were responsible for taking the life of the first woman he had ever loved. He would get his revenge. There was no mistake about that.
***
“Kent?” Jake asked, shocked to hear Kent’s voice on the phone with him just seconds after he had hung up with Kent’s daughter. Had he been listening in on their conversation? Was he in trouble?
“Jake, Michelle told me what happened today. I think it would be best for you and the kids to come stay at the MC for a few nights until all of this starts to blow over. I don’t want anything bad happening to you or the little ones. They are innocents in all of this.”
Jake was silent for a moment as he considered the proposal. “I don’t want to run away from these fuckers like that with my tail between my legs. This is my home!”
Kent’s voice was patient through the phone, so patient it almost sounded false.
“I know what you must be feeling right now, and I sympathize, I really do. But you must understand my position here. The MC can keep everybody safe without sending Michelle out into the dangerous world to watch your kids spur of the moment.”
“They’re never going to stop harassing her now that they’ve started,” Jake said darkly. “You know that. The best way to deal with this is to go head on.”
“Head on, Jake? Are you nuts? We fight with them and fight with them, but it’s small scale. What you’re suggesting is straight out war.”
“Well why not go to war with these bastards? They have it in for your daughter, Kent. That’s your flesh and blood! She won’t be safe until the Raptors are out of this city for good.”
“Well I’m afraid that just isn’t possible. We’re as at peace with the Raptors as we can possibly be. There’s no way we would be able to oust them permanently. We just have to lie low until the threat blows over. You know those boys. They’re hot-tempered as fuck but when it comes down to it, they’re easily distracted. They’ll forget their grudge in no time.”
“I don’t believe that,” Jake said. “Why is it such a bad idea to try to get rid of those monsters? We could clean up the city once and for all. Get the heroin off the streets and keep more people from dying the way Janie did.”
Kent’s voice lowered into a growl. “I don’t like hearing that name from you, Jake. And it’s supply and demand! People want the drugs so they go out and find the drugs. If the Raptors aren’t doing it then somebody else will just have to monopolize the market and take their place. It’s a constant battle! Nobody would win.”
“I’m just saying maybe it’s worth a try. Otherwise your daughter will never be able to walk freely on these streets again. They know who she is and she pissed them off mightily because she knows how to fend for herself. They’ll see it as a way to get to you by taking her out.”
“Well then they would be mistaken,” Kent said with a laugh. “I’m a man of logic, not emotions. I would just have more reason to give them hell, that’s all.”
Jake’s jaw dropped in disbelief. He was glad that he wasn’t speaking to Kent in person when he heard that, otherwise the fist balled at his side would have gone through Kent’s jaw, and he would have about 50 burly bikers coming in to fight him. The last thing he needed was to be on the other end of more scandal. He was already treading the line too closely as it was.
“Listen,” Kent continued. “Michelle is worried sick about
the kids. It would make her a lot more useful if she didn’t have to worry about them being out there at your house alone should duty call. Can you just think about it? For her sake?”
Jake was quiet for a moment. “Fine. I’ll think about it.”
He hung up the phone quickly, eager to be rid of Kent’s droll voice in his ear. What kind of man would throw his own daughter under the bus like that? And clearly Kent didn’t care whether or not the streets were cleaned of heroin. What had changed in the years that Jake had known him?
Once, Kent had been passionately anti-opiate, crusading to show the city that although his MC was harsh as fuck, they didn’t deal in dark matter. Now, he seemed to be shrugging his shoulders at it. The only reason the Pythons were outside the law was because they did more to keep the streets safe than the police were able to do, and the brute force they used to enforce their values and trade were unbelievably powerful. But if Kent was just going to succumb to the same greed for money and power as everybody else did, then what was there to be proud of about his MC?
“Come on, honey,” Jake said, carrying Mary upstairs to her bedroom. “Let’s get you to bed.”
Mary nodded sleepily and Jake frowned. If Michelle was really that worried about the kids, then maybe he should take Kent’s advice. It really did make sense, whether he wanted to abandon his home or not. It would just be for a couple of days. Besides, it would give him the time he needed to snoop around the MC and find out what Kent was really up to.
The thought was exciting enough that Jake made up his mind then and there. They would leave for the MC in the morning and he would make sure Michelle was all right. If nothing else, he would do it for his kids.
Chapter 16
“Michelle!”
“Mary! JJ!” Michelle grinned, her heart filled with relief as the children ran toward her. She scooped them up into a big hug, and grinned over JJ’s shoulder at Jake, who was standing in the doorway of the reception area for her father’s office.
“I’m so glad you came,” Michelle said, kissing each child on the top of the head and standing up to speak to Jake. “I didn’t know if it would be all right to leave the kids at home. They were involved…”