“Baby…”
“Listen to me,” I cut him off. “I thought it was the prospect,” I am having a hard time catching my breath. “But it wasn’t,” he cuts me off.
“Calm down, what’s happening?”
“It wasn’t the prospect, it was Cliff pulling up outside of the house.”
“What? Where the fuck are you?” I can hear the fear in his voice.
“Our neighbor heard me yelling and opened the front door. I ran inside, and Cliff is here banging on the door and making threats against both of our lives.”
“Where’s that prospect?” I hear Turk yell out, at who I assume is one of his brothers.
“He should’ve been there,” I hear, it sounds like Hatchet, but I don’t know for sure. All I know is my heart is pounding in my chest and I’m scared half to death.
“Well he’s fucking not! And my woman is running for her fucking life! Get me to her now!”
“Brother, you need to get to the hospital, let us go take care of this.”
“He’s mine!” I hear Turk scream out.
“Excuse me!” I yell out, “while y’all are debating this to death, I have a man trying to get through the front door to get to me. Can we maybe, I don’t know, put off the testosterone fight!”
“Baby, call 911, tell them what’s going on and whatever y’all do, do not open that door. In fact, does your neighbor have a gun?” My eyes are wide at this point as I turn to look at my neighbor. I’ve never really spoken to him, just waved, but I like how he was willing to let me run in without giving me the third degree. When I see he has a double-barreled shotgun in his hands, I grin.
“Turk? I think we’re good until y’all and the cops get here. He’s got a shotgun,” I tell my man. I can hear him practically hyperventilating over the phone and it’s killing me that we’re not together. Thank God the kids are with Nan and the other prospects. At least they’re safe from this fucking madman. I hear a gunshot sound outside, and my fear takes root once again. “Ummm...Turk, someone is shooting outside,” I whisper. Why I’m whispering at this point I don’t know, but I can feel my body beginning to shake and it wants to crash on me. I’m suddenly feeling very tired and unalert. “I need to get out of here,” I say to no one in particular.
“No! You stay right there, behind those doors. Do you hear me, Trinity?”
“Yes,” I whisper, but my body goes limp and I feel myself crumble to the floor.
Chief
“Trinity! Trinity can you hear me? Please talk to me, baby.”
“Umm...sir, this is Justin, your neighbor, your woman has passed out. I’m going to have to get off the phone with you, so I can pick her up and lay her on my couch. Actually, it sounds like a shootout is happening in the front yard, so I’m taking her to the back bedroom.”
I don’t know this guy from Adam’s housecat, but he sounds like he’s got his shit together so I quickly agree. “I don’t want her in the line of fire, Justin,” I all but growl out.
“No, sir. She’s safe here, I promise. The door is locked up tight and the room she’ll be in is far enough away from whatever’s going on out front she should be safe. I’m putting the phone down now, be right back.” My adrenaline is at an all-time high, so I no longer feel my injuries. I just want to get to my woman and wrap her in my arms. I can hear him as he lifts her up and I grin. My woman is curvy in all the right places and not heavy by a longshot, but I’ve seen our neighbor and he’s a bit of a beanpole. My grin fades when I think about how Cliff likely was the one who ran me down and who has now gone after her. That fucker better be glad we’re a legit club because otherwise, I’d have no compunctions about ending his pathetic life. Instead, we’ll let Lady Justice fry his ass. That doesn't mean I don’t personally desire to feel his blood on my hands, but I’m an officer of the law, and it would go against everything I believe in if I took the matter into my own hands.
Long minutes later, I hear Justin picking the phone back up. He’s a bit wheezy and I have to hold back a chuckle. The fact that he did that for me, for us, makes me glad she ran toward his house. Maybe we need to talk about him bulking up a bit. Women seem to go for the buff look, at least my woman does. He’s not too old, so maybe he’d be a good fit for the club, I’ll have to bring it up to him and see how he reacts. Jesus Christ on a cracker, why on earth am I thinking about my neighbor and him working out? I’m feeling a bit juvenile in my thought process. Shaking my head, I ask, “Justin? Everything okay?”
“Yes, sir. The shooting seems to have stopped. I’m trying to look out the blinds right now. Wait, there are two guys with those vests like you wear out there and they have that other guy on the ground.”
“Cuts.”
“What?” Justin asks.
“Those vests are called cuts. Do you ride?” Fuck. There I go again. What the everloving fuck is wrong with me? Maybe I need to have my head examined when I finally make it to the ER.
“Sir?”
“Never mind, Justin. Things are safe for you now, the rest of us will arrive shortly. Please keep the door locked and stay inside until I arrive.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Justin?”
“Yes, sir,” he says.
“Could you stop calling me sir, it makes me feel old.” He chuckles at my statement.
“What should I call you then?”
“Chief, you can call me Chief, friend.”
“Alright, Chief. See you soon,” he says as we disconnect the call.
By the time we reach my neighborhood, my officers have arrived, and have Cliff Connell in cuffs, and in the back of a squad car. He looks a little rough, and I shoot questioning glances to both Morales and Johnson, who shake their heads at me. They point accusing fingers at my prospects, who look anywhere but at me. I hear a throat clear and see Maxum standing there, his arms across his chest. He gives me a nod, and I know that he’s the one responsible for the destruction I see on Connell’s face. Good. My officers are in the clear, but my brothers had my back because I’m pretty sure the other two ‘helped’ him with the situation. Justice may not be served, the way I would like to see it done, but it will be done the right and legal way. Wait, if three of the prospects are here, who is with Nan and the kids? “Maxum, Chet, Boothe, who the fuck is with the kids?” I yell out.
“Jaxson.”
Fuck. My. Life. The prospect that Ralynn is all gaga over. I can see the steam coming from Hatch’s ears and want to chuckle at his expense, except for the fact that my girl seems infatuated with Talon. That will be nipped in the bud as soon as I figure out a way to do it without all the old ladies jumping my ass. The whole ‘they’re only kids’ means nothing to me when it comes to my girls...period, end of story.
“The fuck did you leave him for?” Hatchet asks.
“Relax, brother. The kids are all sleeping, everything is cool.”
“Relax, he says,” Hatchet takes a deep breath. “Just you wait, Axe. One day it will be Lily who has her head turned by a boy. Then I want to see just how relaxed you are,” Hatchet says with a gleam in his eyes.
“The fuck you say,” Axe hollers out.
“Enough!” Twisted calls out, “we have something to take care of and it's not figuring out whose time of the month it is.”
“Fuck you, man,” Hatch tells him.
“No thank you, brother. I’ve seen your ass, it is not desirable to me, I prefer mine sweet, round and soft.”
“Fucker, my ass is soft.”
“Are we really talking about this?” I ask them in frustration. I swear these guys have a one-track mind.
“Uh, Chief, we need to get statements from your woman and your neighbor. Can you bring them down to the station?” Morales asks as he looks at my brothers. Sometimes, I feel like we’re in a giant circus and Axe is our ringleader.
“How soon do you need her? I still need to get to the ER,” I tell him. Now that I know that jackass is gonna be locked up again, every gash and scrape has started throbbing in ti
me to my heartbeat. I want nothing more than to go wrap myself around Trinity, but we’ve got things that need taken care of first.
“Go get checked out first. We’ve gotta process him. Depending on what y’all give us, additional charges may be added to what we’ve already got,” Johnson states.
“I want the book thrown at him, dig up any and all charges you can think of.”
“How did he get here?” Hatchet asks.
I look around and spy a car that’s not from our neighborhood. Walking over, it registers that this was the car that tried to run me over and caused me to hit the ditch. I yell out, “Seems to me he’s signed his life away because this is the car that nearly ran me down this morning. Thinking assault with a deadly weapon against a cop isn’t gonna go to well for him.”
“Not to mention, he had a gun on him.”
“You fucked up, Cliff,” I mutter, going back over to where Morales and Johnson are standing. “You’ll never see the light of day again unless it's behind a chain link fence. Have a nice life, oh and a word of advice, don’t bend over for the soap.” I walk away and hear my brothers chuckling at my retreating back. I want my woman, I want to go get stitched up then spend the rest of this fucked up night with her wrapped tightly in my arms.
Chapter Eight
Trinity
Because of our interrupted night, we slept in a lot later than I thought we would. Trying to untangle my legs and arms from Turk’s so I can get up and pee is nearly impossible but I’m almost at the danger zone. “Turk?” I ask, my voice whisper-soft. “Baby, I need to get up and go to the bathroom.”
He mumbles something unintelligible, but I’m able to maneuver out from under and around him and head to the bathroom, where I make short work of taking care of business and brushing my teeth. He doesn’t mind morning breath, but I like to maintain that mine is always minty fresh, which makes him laugh every time he catches me doing it. I crawl back into bed and am immediately pulled into his side.
“I can’t believe I almost lost you last night,” he says to me.
“You didn’t almost lose me, Turk.”
“Close enough,” he states, turning on his side where we’re facing each other. Stroking my face, he leans in and whispers against my lips, “It would have wrecked me, sweetness. Absolutely wrecked me if anything had happened to you.”
“Nothing's going to happen to me, babe. Please don’t stress over this,” I say, while putting my hand on his chest. “Our one threat is gone, we have nothing else to worry over. He’s made a bed of fire, and he’ll have to suffer the rest of his life. Let’s concentrate on our family.”
“Our family, I love the sound of those words coming from your mouth,” he says leaning over and kissing me. This kiss is him reassuring himself I’m still with him.
“Come on, handsome, we have to get ready to go to the clubhouse. You have church, and I need to meet the women and help them prepare the BBQ.”
“Damn, I don’t want to leave this bed. I just want to lay here and hold you for the rest of the day.”
“We have the rest of our lives, Turk.”
“Let’s get dirty before we grab our shower then,” he whispers before he covers my body with his.
We arrive at the clubhouse, and I’m immediately whisked away by the other old ladies. They pepper me with questions about the prior night’s activities. Once I lay it all out for them, DJ pops up, “Should’ve called me, I would’ve shown up with Shirley.”
“Who the heck is Shirley?” I ask, almost scared to hear the answer.
“Ooh, I know this one,” Cara pipes up. I roll my eyes at her enthusiasm.
“Care to share?”
“Sure, it’s her pliers, she’s actually named them.”
“You’re kidding me!”
“Nope, and her gun’s name is Chester.”
“It’s because he’s as smooth as a Cheshire cat,” DJ says, winking at me.
“Please tell me you’re joking with me?” I ask with my eyes wide.
“Nope, they deserve names. These are what entered my head, so it’s what they were dubbed.”
“Lord, help me from crazy people,” Nan says, entering the conversation.
“Yeah, because you’re one to talk,” DJ says to her.
“I’m not crazy,” Nan states. Knowing we are fixing to be treading deep waters that I didn’t bring my wading boots for, I think quickly of how to turn this situation in the making around.
“How were the kids last night?” I ask, changing the subject. Yes, kids, there always a good way to break the ice.
“Little angels, all of them,” Nan replies as she opens up the refrigerator. “Now, what do we wanna make for today’s barbeque?”
I love this group of women. They opened their arms and hearts to me when I came around about Maysen and now, it’s as if we’ve known one another all our lives. The joking, the teasing, all of it is new to me, but I’m finding my footing and when I’m ready, they better watch out. “I doubt they were angels,” I reply. With the ages of the kids, it’s highly unlikely that there was no mischief-making.
“As far as I’m concerned, they were,” Nan states, a twinkle in her eyes.
A cramp hits me out of nowhere and I bend over trying to alleviate some of the pain. The wince on my face must’ve been more obvious than what I was trying to let be known.
“You okay?” DJ asks, coming to my side.
“Yeah, just a cramp.” Damn, this means my period is on its way. Never a fun time for me.
“Good thing Chief got lucky last night,” she states.
“And how do you know that?” I ask.
“Because the look on his face as he was leading you out of the club said he was gonna get him a little something-something.”
I burst into laughter at her words. I’m sure we all got lucky last night from the looks on the other women’s faces. We all have that sated, satisfied air. “I don’t think I was the only one who got lucky,” I state. “I need some Midol or something.”
“You are as bad as the men sometimes, DJ. I swear you have a one-track mind.”
“Honey, what do you expect with that smut she writes,” Nan says twerking her eyes at me.
“Oh God, Nan. Please don’t ever do that again,” Cara says while wheezing in laughter holding her protruding belly.
“It’s the truth and for the record, how in the hell do you think all of you got here? Immaculate conception?” Nan asks.
“Umm...if I have to think about how Braxton made it to this world, he may never get lucky again,” Cara says, wrinkling her face in disgust.
“I’m sure I’ve got tricks the likes you four have never seen,” she replies, looking pointedly at me, DJ, Cara and Paisley.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” DJ says, fake gagging.
“And that’s perfectly fine for you to keep that to yourself. Forever,” Cara replies.
“I love how every generation thinks they were the ones who invented sex,” Nan says, pulling out several bowls.
“What’s sex?” a little voice asks. Turning, we see Luca and Tig standing there, waiting patiently for one of us to answer.
“Well,” I say standing up, “that’s my cue to go check on the girls. If you’ll excuse me.”
“Pussy!” DJ calls after me, but that word doesn’t stop me from a hasty retreat.
“What’s that?” Tig asks. Great, now she’s added to their vocabulary even more.
“And we accuse the guys of dirty mouths and watching them in front of the kids,” I call over my shoulder leaving them to their own devices. They made their beds, now they can lie in them.
Walking through to the front where the guys are sitting around drinking beer and talking before they head into church, I make a beeline to Turk. Leaning over, I say, “Chaos in the kitchen. Hatch and Braxton may be needed, possibly Twisted too.”
“What the hell?” Hatch asks, overhearing me.
“This I’ve gotta see,” Bandit says, standing up from
his chair and heading towards the kitchen, only to return a second later saying, “this is all yours, brothers” while retaking his seat with mischief in his eyes.
“You’re trouble you know that?” I ask him.
“Who, me?”
“Yes, you,” I state, putting my hands on my hips.
“You’ve got me confused, sweetheart. I’m as innocent as a newborn baby.”
“A spawn of a demon maybe,” I tell him, turning on my heels and going back to my initial plan and checking on the kids. Only I have to stop and place my hand over my mouth when I see two teenagers making out in the darkened hallway. Oh fuck my life! If Chief sees this he’s going to blow his top. “Claree, Talon, stop that!” They jump apart as if they’ve been burned. I guess DJ and I are going to have to sit these two down for a conversation. Better me than one of the guys I suppose, but still. “She’s only twelve, Talon, and too young to be kissing anyone.”
“Sorry, Miss Trinity,” he says, holding his head down in shame.
“Honey, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, but y’all are too young right now. Try being friends for a few years.” Okay, maybe decades. Who says I don’t have this parenting shit down? Shit, Turk is rubbing off on me. This thought makes me cringe, I can’t become him! Someone has to be the adult in this situation. Sighing, I send the two back to where the other kids are playing with an admonishment that they need to behave. Once I’ve checked on Shelby and assured myself that she’s doing well, I head back out to find my man. Walking over to him, I say, “Need you and Hatch to follow me. We need to talk,” before I head toward the kitchen. I can see both men standing up and following me, puzzled looks on their face but there’s no way I’m not getting reinforcements in the form of DJ. Seeing her sitting at the table chopping celery, I crook my finger and say, “We have to talk.” She’s about to say something when Turk and Hatch come up behind me.
“What’s going on, sweetness?”
“We need to do this in private, got anywhere we can go?”
Chief: Rebel Guardians MC Page 12