by Sam Crescent
“You okay?” Knuckles asked.
“Fine!” He snapped the word out.
“This have something to do with that piece of ass you’ve been screwing?” Pie asked, sitting on one of the bonnets of the car, eating a fucking hand pie.
“Fuck off. I’m not about to talk about pussy shit.” Brass rubbed his hands on the cloth and glared at the car.
“Just so you know, Duke finished that car yesterday. You’ve been standing there looking at it for over an hour,” Knuckles said, patting his arm. “We’re just waiting for it to be collected.”
“Fuck! Why the fuck am I here?” Brass asked.
“You’re not scheduled to work here today. You’re supposed to be helping Landon with the beer run,” Pie said. “You’ve not been with it. Does that posh woman you’ve been fucking got a memory loss pussy or something?”
Brass gritted his teeth and threw his cloth against the hood of the car. “Fuck.”
“You keep saying that, but we’re all curious. You used to be with it, Brass,” Knuckles said.
“Look, it’s nothing okay? I’m fine. I’m just dealing with the same old shit is all.” He wasn’t dealing with anything. The truth was, he was in love with his posh, wealthy woman, and he didn’t have a fucking clue how to handle that.
“I’m heading out for my honeymoon in a couple of weeks. I promised Duke that I’d stick around after getting married, but then Beth and I, we’re going to celebrate. Shit is about to go down. We all know it, and I need you to know that you can still reach out to me. Got it?” Knuckles said.
“You do know that a honeymoon has always been a quiet time for your woman, Knuckles. No one will call you. It’s our club way,” Brass said. “Don’t worry. We can all handle it. I don’t see anything getting past Pike and Duke.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve put off this honeymoon gig for long enough. Beth deserves romance, and all that shit.”
Brass laughed. “You love giving her that shit, so don’t even go pretending to us that you’re not looking forward to your woman, alone on a nice exotic beach away from prying eyes, and all that bull.”
“I do, I just … this shit with Abelli, you can’t deny it’s crazy.”
Brass thought about that young girl, Maya, and they had to remember her name was Winter. “Speaking of Winter, how is Landon holding up?” Brass asked.
“He’s doing good. Taking Winter around, protecting her and shit. It’s all good,” Pie said.
“Are we going to have to worry about how good that is?” Knuckles asked. “The girl has only just turned sixteen.”
“No, God, ugh, no. Landon is treating her like a sister. I don’t think it has even registered on his brain that she’s one of those females he can fuck or anything,” Pie said. “She’s the same as Zoe.”
Zoe was Raoul’s woman, and an old lady. No one messed with a club lady. Club whores, yes.
Brass wondered if Eliza would be able to hack the club lady lifestyle. Just the thought of her in his leather jacket made him hard as rock. Of course she wouldn’t be wearing anything else, and he was more than okay with that.
Some men liked women on the slender side where their bones were practically peeking through their skin. Him, he liked his woman with some meat on her bones so he could hold onto her as he fucked her hard, claiming her.
“You got that dreamy look on your face,” Knuckles said.
“Fuck off. I’m out of here.” Brass left the garage and climbed on his bike, taking him back toward the clubhouse. The moment he parked up he saw Matthew was sitting on the wall, smoking a cigarette, and typing on his damn cell phone. “I thought you were in college?”
“I am. Dad wants me to work from home for a few weeks. He said it’s important, and so I’m here.”
“Holly will kick your ass if she finds you smoking.”
“I know. It’s part of her charm, don’t you think?” Matthew asked, laughing.
“You’re a crazy assed fucker.” He wouldn’t have Holly kicking his ass for anything. That woman was deadly, and besides, she had a far worse trick up her sleeve. She could deny them her food. Holly and Mary had a food blog going, and they practiced their recipes on the whole club. They were true goddesses of the kitchen, and Brass for one fucking adored them, and their food. Without them, they would be back to fast food and ready meals. He wasn’t down with that.
He wouldn’t admit it, but if they asked him to get down on one knee and worship them, he’d gladly do it.
“Just go toward the shouting. It’s not hard to miss at all!” Matthew yelled toward him.
The instant he hit the doorway of the club, he heard the arguing. It was pretty hard to ignore.
“Are you fucking stupid or something?” Russ asked.
Wow, this was not a good day.
Still, he was a Trojan, and he wasn’t a pussy, so he pushed his way through, and paused as he saw a standoff in the main clubroom. Duke and Russ were facing each other, and it looked like they were ready to come to blows.
Not good.
“Do you think I wanted to deal with this shit? This is the kind of shit someone deals with when they hand over the fucking gavel, Russ. Not years later when I’ve got to fucking act!”
“I did what I thought was right. You taking in that whore, you should have left her behind,” Russ said.
“I can’t believe you’re speaking like that,” Holly said. “Winter was in need.”
“You know what? Cut the crap. We don’t need to give her a fake fucking name. Her name is Maya Abelli. He already knows we have her. We may as well own the fucking title,” Russ said.
Brass folded his arms and leaned against the wall. Russ was the previous Prez of the Trojans MC. He’d handed the gavel over to Duke, who had been leading them for nearly ten years now. Duke was also the husband to Holly, Russ’s daughter. Only now, it had come to light that Russ wasn’t her father at all. In fact he’d stolen Holly with her mother Sheila away from a mafia guy known as Abelli.
Shit was just getting worse and worse.
“You got a problem with me, Russ?” Duke asked.
“Yeah, I do. You’re going to put all of us in danger, and you don’t even give a shit.”
“Enough,” Sheila said, speaking up. “We cannot undo the past. We all fucked up! We can’t change what we did. Now, tell us what we can do to fix it.”
Brass watched as Duke looked toward Holly. “He wants either you or Russ.”
Silence fell on the room, and Brass couldn’t quite comprehend what he had just heard.
“Seriously?” Russ asked.
“Yeah, I’m being fucking serious right now,” Duke said. “Either I give him one of you, or shit comes to the club.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I have no intention of doing that,” Duke said. “Right now, I’ve not got a lot of choice.”
“He was never the most stable, Duke. He will try to ruin you, the club, everything,” Sheila said.
“Then I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
There was silence once again, and Brass chose that moment to leave the clubhouse. Shit was about to go down, and it was about to get ugly real fucking fast.
Chapter Two
Eliza frowned at her account, and was so pissed off she couldn’t even think straight right now. All of her money was gone. Technically, it was her father’s money, but still. He had paid her every single month because he didn’t want her to work, and now this shit.
Taking her card, she placed it in her purse and spun around, taking a deep breath.
“You okay?” a woman said.
She opened her eyes, which she had closed, to see a beautiful curvy woman with brown hair and eyes. Also, she was vaguely familiar. “Martha, Matilda, no, Mary, right,” Eliza said.
“Yeah, that’s me. I’m Pike’s old lady. I usually wear his jacket, but right now, I’m not really in a leather mood.” For some strange reason Mary patted her stomach with a smile on her
lips. “You’re Eliza right? The girl that Brass can’t seem to get enough of.”
“Er, yeah, that is me.” Was she Brass’s girl, or just the girl that he was fucking right now?
Enough.
“Are you okay? You look a little … stressed.”
Eliza glanced down seeing the young girl staring back up at her.
“Oh, this is Starlight. Sweetie, this is Eliza. She’s Brass’s special friend.”
“I want to be someone’s special friend, Mommy.”
“Yeah, you will one day.” Mary looked back at her and shook her head. “Not that kind though. I’ve got to drop Starlight off at school, and then we can go and have some breakfast if you would like.”
“Oh, that is really nice.”
“But? Do you have other plans?” Mary asked.
“No. I don’t. I’d love to have breakfast with you.” She walked alongside Mary and her daughter listening to their conversation, which was strange. They were talking about a chocolate cupcake recipe, and Mary was asking all kind of questions to her little girl. By the time they were finished, Eliza stood outside of the school gate watching as Mary hugged her daughter, kissed her, and promised to make lots of cupcakes with her later on. “Hey, sorry if we bore you. Food is our thing, and also mine and Holly, and Leanna’s.”
“It was different. Are you a chef?”
“A food blogger. Holly and I set it up, and it has become a full-time deal. We have to create, test, and test some more all different and new recipes. We also do book testers as well. Some of the stuff we do at the club, at our homes, and stuff. Do you cook?”
Eliza found herself nodding. “I do cook. I enjoy it. It’s not something I was allowed to do all the time.” Her father had told her only common people cooked for themselves, and she was not a common person. She hated her father.
“Wow, who kept control of you?” Mary asked.
“Oh, my dad. He liked to make sure everyone knew he was in charge, and he was.”
“Sounds like a total asshole to me.”
“He is.”
“He’s still alive?”
“Yeah, he just, erm, he paid me to not work if that makes sense, and I just went to withdraw some money, and he’s cleared it.”
“He’s emptied your account?” When Eliza nodded, Mary asked, “Is that even legal?”
“Probably. It is his money. I didn’t do anything.” She wasn’t allowed to do anything. About three years ago she’d started writing, short stories and novellas. She loved the release of all of her thoughts and fantasies. One day she decided to be rebellious and submit them. She did, and after a great deal of rejection, there was one company who wanted her. Of course, she agreed, and her sense of freedom lasted four months.
Her father found out, terminated everything, and put the entire company out of business. Any future she hoped to have always died. For the first time in Vale Valley, she had felt free … far away from his reach. Now he was going to make life difficult for her.
“Come on. You need my homemade mocha, and you need it now.” They were standing outside a large house.
“This is your home?”
“Yep. We also live at the clubhouse whenever Pike needs us to, but this is our home. It has a killer kitchen inside. Come on.”
Entering Mary’s home she was overcome with the scent of fresh baking and cinnamon. Her mouth watered, and her stomach growled.
“So, no money, is that why you were looking ready to burst into tears by the ATM machine?”
“Yeah, I guess I was.”
“Don’t worry. You’re not the only person seen doing that. Usually it’s because someone has forgotten their number. It’s no big deal.” They entered a large kitchen with up to date equipment. In the corner she saw a large table set up with at least three cameras at different angles. “Pike supports my career, although he keeps complaining that he has to build a gym at home to work everything off.” Mary shrugged. “I love him either way.”
Eliza didn’t have a clue what to say. Her parents didn’t believe in love, and at times she didn’t think it existed either. “Do you know of anyone who wants someone who can work hard?”
“Have you had a job before? I know it’s a rude question, but you said your father paid you not to work.”
She blew out a breath. “For a few months I was an erotic author. Does that count?”
Mary chuckled. “Yeah, it does. So your father is the overbearing kind?”
“You can say that. Overbearing. Constantly making demands. It sucks. All of this sucks.”
“I heard through the gossip that he’s forcing you to get married. Isn’t there a law about that kind of thing?” Mary asked.
“I don’t know. I doubt anyone would take me seriously. Who in their right mind would give up total luxury?” Eliza ran fingers through her hair and groaned. “Darcy, he’s gay, and he wants me to be the doting wife. Sitting around all day waiting for him, but the only probl—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, the guy they want you to spend the rest of your life with is into other guys?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you get to be with other guys?”
“Nope.”
“That sucks. You know what, Eliza? You came to the right place. Vale Valley may be small, but we’re a good bunch. Brass is a good guy. Somewhat slow but he’s a good guy.”
“Slow?”
“It takes him a long time to make up his mind about something. Anyway, how about you stick around, and help me and Holly out.”
“With what? You seem to have this operation down.” She pointed toward the camera. “Can you show me your site?”
“Totally.” A buzzer went off, and Mary held up a finger. “After you’ve tried my cinnamon rolls.” Mary hummed as she got the rolls out of the oven, and Eliza watched in amazement as she made up a quick glaze and poured it right on top. “I love it when it soaks in, and some parts are really sweet.”
With a laptop between them, a small plate of pastries, and a homemade mocha latte, they were looking at the website that Holly and Mary had created. “We were going to go with something food related, and then we decided on using our connections to the MC, and so, ta-da, ‘Eat the Trojan MC Way’.”
“It’s catchy,” Eliza said, moaning as she took a bite of the warm roll. It was so damn good.
“I know, right. We figured as all of our men try our food, it was only nice of us to give them some credit.”
“It’s nice.” She thought about Brass, and wondered if there were times he wanted to come home to nice cooked meal, and maybe have any kids, a family or a future. “So, what do you know about Brass?”
Mary smiled. “You like him, don’t you?”
“Of course I like him. I wouldn’t be having sex with him if I didn’t.”
“Why don’t you tell me what you like about him, and I can tell you if you’re missing anything.” Mary took a sip of her coffee.
“It’s not just about the sex. It’s fun, and I love it, but we talk as well. He reads a lot, which surprised me. He loves books, and watching movies. Cowboy movies are a big deal to him.” Eliza smiled remembering a memory he had shared of standing in front of the television pretending to draw a weapon. He had even shown her. “He enjoys sprinkles on his vanilla ice cream, and he thinks it’s a little weird that he loves such a plain flavor. I love peanut butter ice cream.”
“My kind of girl.”
“When I’m with Brass, I don’t know, he makes me smile, and he doesn’t have to try. I can’t tell you exactly what I like about him, I just know that every time my father tries to tear me away, I’m scared that I’m going to crumble and lose Brass.” She slapped a hand over her mouth. “I never speak so openly to anyone, ever.” Her words had been used against her one too many times.
“You don’t trust easily, do you?” Mary asked.
“It’s hard to trust anyone when your whole life has been about hiding from that truth.” She tucked some hair behind her ear.
“Can I read some of your work?” Mary asked.
“Yeah, I’ve got it saved in my emails. The entire company went out of business because of my father.” Eliza sighed.
“You ever thought that while you’re here, you should be able to start it back up?” Mary asked.
“Start what back up?”
“The writing. Your dad’s not here, and if you talk to Brass, he’ll back you. I know I will.”
“You’ve not even read any of my work. I could be total crap.”
“Or you could have some faith in yourself and stop being so negative.” Mary patted her arm. “You’re not at home anymore, and Brass is a lot of things, but he’s not cruel. He won’t toss you out into the cold.”
“Thank you.”
“I would have you as my best friend, but Holly has the BFF award.”
Eliza burst out laughing. She was just happy to have a possible path.
****
“I thought you’d never turn up,” Landon said, pulling up outside of the clubhouse. “What happened to you, man?”
“Sorry, I have my head full of other shit. I completely forgot about this.” Brass stared at the loaded truck and sighed. Not only did they supply the clubhouse, but the local bar as well. Seeing as they owned the bar, and paid the locals to work there, they made sure the supplies were bought and dealt with. It was just another side business, one of many. They did illegal shit, and legal shit. “Where’s your little tagalong?”
“Winter is back at my house. She’s studying. I enrolled her in home school, and Zoe is helping me with her education. It fucking angers me that she hasn’t gone to school in over five years. Her father pulled her out as he thought it was too much of a distraction for her.” Landon shook his head. “Fucker needs killing.”
Brass nodded. “Yeah, he does.”
Landon paused, and looked toward him. “You know something I don’t know?”
If Duke didn’t want them all to know yet, Brass wasn’t about to cause a problem. “I don’t know shit. I’m sure Duke will let us know what we’re supposed to when the time is right.”
“Yeah. He will.” Landon ran fingers through his hair, which he had started to grow out. “She has nightmares every single night.”