by Ami Van
“That part they mighta gotten right,” he tells her. “But I can handle a steak or two.”
“Is the other one gone?” she asks and he knew she was referring to Samantha.
“There is no other one. Just you, short stack.”
“Good answer,” she says.
CHAPTER 37
Dakota
Two Months Later...
Since the vote took place, not only did the Knights of Havoc still have its Nomads but a standing Iowa re-established charter as well. Of the brothers that rode into town wearing Nomad rockers, nine have chosen to trade for Iowa rockers. The remaining Nomads have others already looking to transfer in and their officers already nominated and voted with Boone O'Neill now their new President.
Tristan, Atticus, and Kyle had all elected to stay. Preston, the tattooist was staying and was already establishing a clientele with Trevor as. The kid was excited about having his own shop but right now he was using one of the finished rooms in the clubhouse. Snake will be staying too; he’s taken on some of Austin’s projects through the same mechanic that Austin worked with and was earning a steady income. Otis and Penny had decided they were going to be planting roots here too. The two had actually made their apartment pretty cozy. And Penny had been helping Minx with her furniture projects. Trevor made out to be the ninth brother who’d elected to stay with them.
Calling on all the favors they had, they were able to pull together enough start-up fund through loans and contributions. Maddox had helped them get a great deal on a building large enough to be converted into KOH-IOWA’s clubhouse. They were currently renovating and adding apartments and rooms along with a bar and a chapel.
They’ve also already started scoping out some potential legit businesses to get into, one being Austin’s Garage, which will stay at its current place for now, until they can find a suitable location.
In the two months, they’ve already made more than enough protection runs for five local dispensaries transporting both product and funds. Legit transports. They made enough in just the two months to buy a decent size old boxing gym. Their first legit running business. Their first fight night was two months away and the community seemed enthusiastic about it.
There were other charters coming in tonight from all over and staying a few days. It’ll be a packed house with some even having to stay at the clubhouse at Minx’s place again. They were here to celebrate their new charter and they were in part giving the Nomads a party for their new ranks and to send them off. Lastly, they were announcing three prospects. It’d been a long time since they’d had prospects but these particular hang-arounds, Jeremy Ashe, Samson Crosse, and Kris Rampart, had been around for more than a few years now.
And even with the club going on overdrive, things with Minx was fucking perfect. She was back in therapy through Maddox’s insistence. The man swears up and down that he was paying for it this time. With money, not favors. Though he did sound a little disappointed.
“Does Minx have enough help to bring the table over?” Kyle asks him.
Minx had taken on the task of designing and making their table. When she said she was making it, she was really making it. He’d watched her in the garage with her tools, hammering and drilling and carving though she’d never let him stay long because she’d wanted everyone to be surprised at the final product.
“Yeah. Trevor brought the van over and one of the prospects. She’s got the twenty chairs already in the chapel,” he tells Kyle.
They were currently in their clubhouse’s security room. It was Kyle’s job to oversee the security of the clubhouse and anything tech related. That means secure networks, phones, devices and computers. The whole nine yards. Samson, the prospect was sitting with them since the guy had background and could step in for Kyle when needed.
“Prospect,” Kyle says. “You see what I’m seeing?”
“Blue Honda Civic’s been there awhile. About two hours?” Samson answers.
“Why don’t you go get the plate and run it then?” Kyle says.
Samson was up and out of his seat and out of the room in a dash. Kyle laughs from his eat.
“I’ve never had prospects before. This shit’s too much fun,” Kyle says.
“Yeah, it is. How are you liking it here?” he asks Kyle since he’s already moved from the clubhouse into one of the finished apartments.
“You know me,” Kyle says. “As long as I have a place to sleep and secure wi-fi, I’m good. Place is clean. And shit...even with the clubhouse not finished yet, there are plenty of new regulars around, brother. I fucked three different ones in one night,” Kyle whistles.
“Shit,” he says with a grin.
“You didn’t hear that shit from me though. Minx will fucking shoot my dick off if she thought I was trying to convince you to come back over to the dark side,” Kyle says with a smirk. “How's she doing though?”
“It’s tough. She gets lost in her head sometimes. And you’re right. Try not to mention the new regulars. Minx doesn’t get jealous but she starts doubting herself. Keeps asking why I’d want to be with her since you know...what happened to her with Diaz. She keeps thinking our other brothers look at her differently because of it,” he tells Kyle.
“Minx looks like she could be Brittanya O’Campo’s twin. Every fucking guys wet dream. But all our brothers look at her with respect, Dakota. What Reapers did to her has nothing to do with her character,” Kyle tells him.
“Try telling her that. She’s working through it with the therapy. And the extra work coming her way is helping with that too. She snagged that contract with the revamp of the Renaissance Hotel in Balton County. They gave her a $10k deposit to create one of kind furniture pieces for 10 suites. She’s got Penny helping out and even paying her as an employee.”
“That’s great, brother. I’m glad she’s got you. For awhile, I thought Tuck and Atticus were going to try and stick me with her.” Kyle laughs at him. “Look,” Kyle points to one of the monitors. “It’s our Kentucky and Oklahoma boys. Mother charters here.”
“Which means my Pops is going to be pulling in,” he tells Kyle before getting out of his seat. “Catch you later, brother.”
He walks downstairs and meets Tucker in the open area around the unstocked bar. Bianca was standing next to him with her own helmet on amongst all the commotion. Tucker was on babysitting duty since Tricia was helping to pick up groceries for the club’s festivities.
“How’d you do?” he asks Bianca. Her dad was teaching her how to ride a bike. The kid was brave and wanted to do it without the trainer wheels.
“I only fell twice,” Bianca tells him with a confident smile.
“I nearly had a heart attack both times,” Tucker mumbles.
“Christ, dad. You sound like mom,” Bianca grumbles.
Tucker looks up at him and sighs. “Prospect!” Tucker calls out for Jeremy who was sweeping.
“Sir,” Jeremy says.
“Run out and grab Bianca a sandwich to eat. None of that gas station stuff either. Something fresh. No soda. Juice,” Tucker gives out his instructions.
Jeremy nods and runs off.
He looks down and sees the deflated look on Bianca’s face and felt guilty. Guilty because it was probably his own fault that she was expecting to have soda all the time. He’d been giving her glasses of it every time she was at the house. He was a sucker for her little pout. What started as just a sip turned into a cup and now a whole liter sometimes. He couldn’t feel too guilty though. Atticus had been sneaking her bags and bags of his favorite gummy bears too. She’s probably got a year’s worth of supplies stashed in her room.
“Come on,” he tells father and daughter. “My Pop is probably out there by now.”
“Cool! You’re dad’s gonna be here?” Bee asks.
“Yeah,” he answers her with a smile. He gives her a few taps to her pink bicycle helmet.
He steps outside and is hit by the bright light of the sun.
“Dakota fucking Macks!” a deep voic
e greets him.
“Damn, brother! Titus! I didn’t know you were coming out too.”
He gives his old friend and patch brother a good hearty shake before pulling him into a manly bear hug. Titus was almost as tall and as big as he is in both height and weight. Almost.
“Titus!” Tucker says before the two gives the same exact kind of greeting. “By the way, watch the language around my little girl, yeah?”
“Little girl?” Titus asks.
“Yeah. This is Bianca,” Tucker introduces his daughter.
“Bee, this is my friend from Oklahoma. His name is Titus McKenna,” Tucker tells his daughter.
“Pleasure meetin ya’ little lady,” Titus extends Bianca his huge hand. Bianca shakes it briefly.
“Oklahoma? You’re from the mother charter too? Just like Dakota!” she exclaims.
Titus looks up at him and then over at Tucker who’s standing like a proud father of an honor roll student.
“I’m gonna like this kid,” Titus says. “By the way, saw your old lady in town Kota. Gave her a ride back. She’s talking to your dad back there,” Titus says, pointing a thumb behind him.
“My old lady?” he asks. He looks over at Tucker and then back at Titus. “How do you know what my old lady looks like?”
He doesn’t wait for Titus to answer before he steps around the building and sees fucking Samantha talking to her dad.
“Shit,” he says. He looks over at Tucker who was looking grim.
“What’s wrong?” Titus asks.
“She’s not my old lady. Hasn’t been for over 7 years now. She showed up here a couple months ago and I thought she’d left like I told her to,” he tells his friend.
“Sorry, brother. I didn’t know. I saw her with car troubles at the gas station when we pulled in for a fill-up. I only offered since I thought she was heading back here too.”
“It’s okay. I need to get rid of her before my real old lady shows up and kicks my ass,” he tells Titus.
“Come on, brother. Let me show you around,” Tucker says to Titus.
The three head back inside the clubhouse and he walks over to where his dad was chatting with Samantha.
“Pop,” he greets his dad, giving the old guy a mean hug.
His dad is 64 years old and still a hefty 6’2” tall. The old man wasn’t as firm anymore but he can still handle his own.
“Son!” his dad greets him, smacking him on the back. “Didn’t know Samantha was here with you.”
“She’s not,” he tells his dad. “She’s not with me and she sure as hell shouldn’t be here.”
“Dakota,” Samantha says to him. “This pouting and making me grovel that you’re doing really isn’t manly. What’s done is done. Can’t we move forward? It’s been two months already.”
He stares at her. “Leave,” he says to her before turning back to his dad and swinging an arm around the man’s shoulder.
“Come inside Pop. It’s hot out here. Let’s get you something to cool off.”
He leads his dad into the clubhouse. Samantha was following behind and he shakes his head at her. He was going to have to embarrass her in front of everyone for her to leave wasn’t he?
“Son, I’m not gonna step into your personal business but why don’t you hear her out. She might just need help. She doesn’t look too good.”
“That shouldn’t be my problem, Pop. She’s moved on. I’ve moved on. If she needed help, she had her chance to ask me straight out. Instead she came here as if nothing happened, ready to hop into bed and make things right...her way.”
“Did you pass?” his dad asks him.
“Of course! What the hell do you think?” he replies as they walk over to join Titus and Tucker.
“Who’s the new one?” his dad asks him. “Cuz you got it bad, son!” His dad pats him on the back and laughs.
“Pop Miles Macks!” Tucker greets his dad. “And the new one? Happens to be my baby sister. I’m still trying to see if one of the other charters would want to trade Dakota out with me.”
He flips Tucker off. “She’d come with me,” he tells his Prez.
“Speaking of trade...not that trading is a thing. But I’m actually looking for a vote to transfer here,” Titus says.
“He’s got the okay from the mother charter,” Pop says.
“What?” Tucker asks with a huge grin. “You serious?”
“Yeah, brother. It’s time I get out of OK. My parents are gone now. I need something new. Figured you boys could use some help getting settled in here anyway,” Titus says.
“I’ll bring it to the table!” Tucker says.
“Also, Griffin Ford? Out of Kentucky. He’s looking for a vote to transfer here too. He’s outside working on his bike. Had some trouble with her coming in the last hour,” Titus says.
“Fuck yeah?” Tucker asks. “Good ol’ Griffin wants to come here?”
While everyone takes a moment to catch up, he walks over to Samantha standing alone at the bar. Arms crossed over his chest, he stops a good distance from her.
“Why are you still here?” he asks her.
“I...I didn’t have anywhere else to go?” she says as if it were his fault.
“I don’t think that has anything to do with me.”
“I divorced him but I guess I signed some kind of prenup that says I leave with nothing. I don’t have anywhere else to go and I don’t have anyone else to turn to. I left everyone behind thanks to you!” she says through gritted teeth.
“Thanks to me? You were when we met, an adult. You made your own choices. Don’t put any of that shit on me!” he tells her. He takes a deep breath, getting himself together before he speaks again. “I can give you some money, if that’s what you’re asking for. It’s not much because my shit’s tied to the club right now. But it’ll be enough to get you out of here and on your feet somewhere if you manage it right. Find yourself a job.”
“But...Dakota. I don’t know what I can do. I’ve--I’ve never worked before. You know that,” she says. The defiance and pride she had in full force earlier seems to have disappeared now. He can see the girl he once loved inside of her eyes.
“Why can’t I...stick around here?” she asks. “You’re here. You can help me.”
“That’s not gonna work. I’m not gonna disrespect my old lady just because you can’t take care of yourself. You’re a grown ass woman, Samantha. Act like one for once.” He takes another deep breath. He really did feel sorry for her. But there wasn’t much he could do but what he’d just offered.
“Maybe I can...find someone that likes me enough to be...you know...their old lady?” she says quietly.
He looks at her at disbelief.
“So what? You’re gonna be a club slut until that happens?” he asks.
She looks at him with hope in her eyes and it dawns on him what it must sound like to her.
“I’m not saying that I’m standing in your way if that’s what you want to do. I’m just saying that you’re smarter than that. Some of these girls have been around for almost five years with no hope and you’re...not getting any younger. Don’t get offended,” he tells her.
The spark of hope that was there disappears.
“I’ll talk to my old lady and let her know that I’m giving you some cash to get you on your feet. Take a day to decide what you want to do. If you really want to think about finding an old man, there are other charters coming in tonight and staying the next few days. Maybe you can find one that will take you back home with him.”
“You speak as if I mean so little to you,” she says without looking at him.
“If that were the case, I wouldn’t be speaking to you at all.” He watches her. “I love her, Samantha. She’ll wear my ring and bear my kids.”
“You...you’ve never said that to me before,” Samantha says. He watches as she turns around, shoulder slumped and walks through the front door.
Knowing that she only came back to him for lack of choice only made him more certa
in that what he and her had, would have never worked even if he’d asked her to marry him like she wanted him at one point in their relationship.
Samantha had been a princess when they’d met. He’d treated her like a princess through their five years together. They’d met when he was 25 years old. She was 24. Where he had already finished a tour and killed, Samantha hadn’t even had a job yet.
“We need hands!” Kyle yells as he bounces down the stairs. “Minx is pulling in with our table boys!”
“FUCK YEAH!” Tucker says. “My sister custom made it with her own two hands. None of us has seen it yet,” he tells the group.
The group of Knights walks out of the clubhouse to join the others that were already out and around outside. The van pulls in first with Kris driving. He sees Minx rolling in on her Fat Boy next to Trevor.
“Holy fuck. I think my dick just imploded in my jeans,” Titus says with a loud whistle as she stands her bike next to Trevors. “Those fucking curves!”
He gives his buddy a hard smack on the back. Titus didn’t even budge, eyes still fixed on Minx. She takes off her helmet and tosses her raven colored hair back before working on removing her gloves while speaking and laughing at whatever Trevor was saying, oblivious to the catcalls and hollers from his brothers.
“LORD HAVE MERCY!” Titus calls out to her.
She finally turns her head and sees him before she waves at Trevor and walks over towards him. Trevor, Kris, along with a few more men were already at the back of the van, pulling out pieces of the tarp-covered table.
“Hey, big guy,” she says once she reaches him.
Titus, of course, steps right up to her, assuming she was speaking to him. He pushes his buddy out of the way and pulls Minx by the arm into him. Wrapping his arms possessively around her. He playfully chews on her bare shoulder and neck until she laughs and swats at his arms.
“Hey, baby.” He finally lets her stand and turns her around. “Titus, this is my old lady, Mercy. You can call her Minx.”
“Shit! You’re names Mercy? God help me,” Titus says, clutching his chest.
“Mercy DeMarcus,” she says, extending her hand.