“I am if you don’t come home.” He argued, kissed me back, and left with Joe.
Joe came back along with handful of other really big men. Brothers, some blood, some not, bur all brothers under the club’s umbrella.
Zac and Drake are behind us in an SUV. Joe is driving me with Goat in the passenger seat. Gunner and another Colson named Wrangler are in front of us.
“How did the club get the name Exiles?”
Goat turned in his seat to look at me while he explained. “Bull Colson started the club back in the 50’s when he came home from Nam. California didn’t take to kindly to the club’s antics back then and by the 80’s started pushing the club out. Slider took over and moved us to Apache Junction where we’ve been since.”
“How man children does he have?” I’ve heard rumors he was a hound dog and that’s why there are so many Colson men running around.
“We don’t have an official count, but there’s a good twenty-five that we know of. Not all of them are into being members of the club, but they don’t have a problem with us either.”
“You look pretty young to be the Vice President of such an empire.”
Joe agreed with a grunt.
Goat looked to him now, “You want the job asshole?”
“Fuck no.”
“Then shut up.” You can tell by Goat’s tone this is an old joke and there’s a brotherly connection between them that has nothing to do with blood. Brothers don’t need blood to give each other a good ribbing and still be friends.
“So, what are we doing first?” I pushed thoughts of Fletcher and the hell he must be going through out of my head.
“First we’re going to take you to Myk. When she’s done we’re going to go wherever this money is and bait Quinton to come get it from you. He’ll get one chance to take the money and run with his life. If he chooses otherwise and tries to take you down, we’ll take him down.” Joe explained simply.
“Dude, could you be a little more blunt? She’s about to go through hell and back you know.” Goat seems very protective of me. Maybe we’ll be friends after all.
“It’s okay, I’m used to it. Being a cop and living with Fletcher for almost the last year has toughened me up enough to handle it. Is Myk going to knock me out for this?”
Joe snorted.
Goat punched his upper arm, “You are such a dickhead. Of course she’ll knock you out. We’ll be right there with you the whole time.” His reassurance is nice.
Joe looked at me through the mirror. “I need to know where the money is so we can get this ball rolling.”
“St. Kitts. It’s in a safe deposit box under Jasmine Milford. I haven’t seen the news lately, have they made the connection to the two names yet?”
“Yes and no. Jasmine doesn’t exist so they’re assuming you stole the identity. Your adoption records don’t exist either. Your mother put your adopted parent’s names on the real birth certificate. A duplicate was done up in Jasmine’s name for the lawyer. The only two pieces of paper that link you to Karen Morningstar are fakes.” Joe explained.
“And destroyed. I burned them when I found out Fletcher is now homesteading on what was supposed to be my mountain.”
“Good. When this is over I’ll give you a new ID with a full background history and no ties to either of those names.”
“I was really hoping to keep Jasmine.” I complained.
“We’ll see how this plays out.” He conceded for my benefit. I get the feeling he’s going to do whatever he wants in order to pull this off. My wants are not his concern.
10
When I woke up from ‘surgery’ I couldn’t feel much of anything except for a handful of dull aches in various places all over my body.
It took me a few minutes to focus enough to do inventory. Myk had taken more than the guys led me to believe she would. Two teeth, a handful of hair, literally ripped out by the roots, two fingernails and a toenail all unaccounted for. I counted eight vials of my blood and realized why I feel so dizzy.
The door opened and in walked the dark-haired devil herself, Myk Colson. “Good morning sunshine.” Her tone is anything but sunny.
“You took a lot.” I can barely talk with all this Novocain so it sounded more like oooh ook ot.
“I don’t half-ass a job Jasmine.” She informed me harshly. She came around to the table by my bed and gathered up her loot and replaced the items with some pill bottles. “Take all of the antibiotics according to the directions, and don’t OD on the pain meds.”
“Thanks.” Again my numbness made it sound more like anks.
“It was my pleasure.” The way she said that made me realize it truly was her pleasure. This is one fucked up woman.
I lay back and closed my eyes as she exited the room.
It took a good week for me to heal enough to participate fully in our master plan. The whole time I was forbidden to talk to Fletcher. Joe said there would be plenty of time for talking when this was over.
The week of healing gave me time to catch up on the news, my news to be exact.
According to most of the media I’m supposedly on the run again. Fletcher did a brief interview saying he had no idea I was running from the law and looked damn pissed about it. Damn pissed comes naturally to him, and it made me smile to see his gorgeous angry face if only for a few seconds.
The media did their research and decided Jasmine Milford was a name Karen Morningstar had used to try and steal herself a homestead up in the Yukon. I guess I’ll need a new name after all this is said and done anyway.
The flight to St. Kitts was long and boring. Zac, Drake, Gunner, and Wrangler are already here, and have been for a few days. They wanted to scout the area. That leaves Joe, Goat, and me in a puddle jumper coming out of Miami. I can’t fly commercial for obvious reasons. The pilot isn’t a member of the club, and ignored us the entire time except to give take off and landing instructions. I never got his name.
We checked into a hotel and I sat back to await further instructions.
Two days later I was given very detailed instructions, but the gist of it was for me to go into the bank with my fake ID Joe had printed up and remove the cash from the safe deposit box and put it into two different bags.
Then I was to walk out the front door and take both bags to a local coffee shop for the exchange. Joe and Goat argued a lot about using a public location. I just want this over with.
The bulletproof vest made me feel a little bit better as I began my journey, but not much. I wouldn’t put it past Quinton to shoot me in the head just to make sure there was no chance whatsoever of me coming back to haunt him.
Everything went smoothly up until the coffee shop. I never made it inside before shots rang out. I’ve been shot before, but not like this. The bullet that tried to take out my neck and part of my brain knocked me clean out before the pain had time to register.
The constant pounding I took scared me to the point of anger. “Stop fucking shooting me!!!” I screamed as the next shot got my left shoulder. That shit burns!!
The pain took over taking me under. I’m barely healed from the body parts Myk harvested and now I’ve being impaled by bullets. It’s just too much. “Tell Fletcher I love him.” I said to whomever is listening.
“It’s over Jazz, let’s get her out of here. Get that bag.” Goat ordered scooping me up in his arms.
That’s the last thing I remember before waking up in excruciating pain as the puddle jumper from a few days ago took flight.
“Fuck me running.” I complained as the pain set in.
“You’re okay. Looks like a couple broken ribs, maybe just bruised real bad, and your arm will heal. You did good kid, real good.” Goat assured me.
“Must not have been that good. How many times was I shot?”
“Four, five if you count the arm. We would have gotten t
o you sooner, but some jackass thought it was a good idea to put civilians in the middle of this bullshit.” Goat cussed Joe.
Joe shook his head, “He wouldn’t have gone to a private meeting. He’d have known it was a trap. It worked out, the fucker is dead, now shut the fuck up about the damn civilians.”
I laughed then stopped immediately because the pain was piercing my lungs. “Can I go home now?”
“Not yet. We still need to set the scene for you real death. The media will chew on that for a while, then when the dust settles you can go home.”
“How long will that be?”
“A few months.”
I cringed, “Fletcher is going to go ape shit.”
“Don’t worry about him, he’s been ape shit most of his life.” Joe replied.
“You have no idea.” I turned to look out the window.
***
Joe stopped taking my calls after I yelled at him. So did Goat. Slider commanded I back the fuck off or he’d keep Jasmine for an extra month just to teach me a lesson in patience.
Patience is not my strong suit. To keep busy I cleared Milford Mountain to ready it for the cabin I now have on order for assembly next spring. Fall started rolling in and my impatience has boiled into an ugly demeanor, even the people who are used it began avoiding me. My aunt stopped cooking for me because I kept snapping at her.
July came and went along with the last of my tolerance for the least amount of bullshit. I try to keep busy, but with Fall here now, I know it will be a long damn time before I see my Jasmine again.
Nobody will tell me where she’s being kept in hiding so I can’t go steal her back. If she’s not here by next spring I’m going to go back down to the club and raise all holy hell until they give me my wife back.
Part of me knows this is for the best, but I can’t take it much longer. How did my life become so dependent on this rogue little woman?
She’s everywhere and nowhere. Her clothes still smell like her, but it’s fading. How am I going to get through the winter without her? Of course Denise offered to take me back, and of course I refused. The idea of touching anyone but my wife is sickening.
Thanksgiving came and went along with my desire to live. I can’t even watch TV because the holiday shit is more depressing than it’s ever been. That leaves me with hard classic rock music and a lot of gun cleaning.
Christmas Eve brought with it a rare few hours of daylight. I wouldn’t call it sunlight, but it’s enough to see by and get out of this damn shack for a couple hours. I gathered my gear, strapped it to the Gator, and headed out to do some ice hole fishing.
If Jasmine were here she’d find it funny that her asshole is going ice hole fishing. A couple times while I was drilling I thought I heard aircraft. I didn’t see anything so I assumed it was the testing range taking advantage of the break in weather to do their thing and kept right on drilling.
***
“Ready?!!” Zac yelled in my ear.
I nodded too anxious to get home to be afraid of being lowered to the ground via a thick metal cable. The harness is secure, but he checked it again.
“Tell that muther fucker we said Merry Christmas!!” He helped me over the edge and began lowering me to the ground. There are too many trees for Drake to land us safely so this is my only option unless I want to wait another three months, at least.
I can’t wait another second. Being cut off from Fletcher was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through, and I’ve been through a ton of shit.
It seemed to take forever to get to the ground, and even longer to free myself from the harness. I gave the guys the thumbs up once I was free and watched while they reeled up the chain and harness.
I got a wave from Zac when I looked up from the front door of Fletcher’s shitty little mobile home. Two seconds later they were gone.
Obviously Fletcher isn’t home or he’d have come out by now. Since the weather is half nice I’m assuming he’s out hunting or fishing. I pushed open the always-unlocked door and stepped inside.
The sight that greeted me both broke and warmed my heart. “Oh honey.” I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
My clothes are everywhere. It’s like he took all my stuff and just threw it all over the living room and kitchen! What the hell was he doing?
I started to pick things up then realized his bike isn’t in the master bedroom. “Ugh.” Guilt riddled my insides so hard I dug out my snowsuit and went to make sure she was at least properly stored in the shed.
***
I parked my rig and threw a tarp over the whole damn thing. Right now I just want to go inside and warm up, the unloading can wait until I’ve thawed enough to move again.
I stopped short seeing fresh tracks leading up to my front door. “What the hell?” Judging from the size they’re either a woman’s or a child’s. Probably a child who’s wandered off and gotten turned around.
Then I saw another set, the same as the first heading towards the shed where I keep my bike. “Now who the fuck would steal a motorcycle in the dead of winter way the fuck up here??”
I trudged over to the shed and pulled my gun before sliding the door aside.
The sight before me took my breath away.
Jasmine looked up and stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “She’s cold and lonely out here.”
I holstered my gun unable to believe my eyes, “Jasmine?”
She climbed off Blue Belle and threw herself at me. “Technically my name is Carolyn now, but you can call me whatever you want.”
I scooped her up and barely remembered to close the shed before taking her inside the house where I can get her out of his monkey suit and into my bed. “I’m going to call you housebound for the rest of your life.”
I set her on her feet and began peeling her out of her clothes like a banana.
She shooed me away and took over, “I got it. You should warm up, your whiskers have frostbite.”
I started with my boots. “How did you get up here?”
“Zac and Drake told me to tell you, ‘Merry Christmas muther fucker.’ Joe’s been tracking the weather, and after some serious begging on my part called the two best pilots he knew to get me home. I got to drop out of a helicopter!! I wish I could say it was cool, but I was too happy to be finally be home.”
“Where the hell have you been all this time?” I shed the last of my clothes down to my jeans and went to her for a much needed kiss.
She didn’t get a chance to answer due to my impatience. I reclaimed her mouth and began the process of reclaiming my wife in every way.
She didn’t like the frantic greed and grabbed my ears to halt my advances. “Wait. I missed you too, but I want to do this in there.” She pointed to the master bedroom where I’d set up a nice king size bed for us. “I don’t want to rush this. I missed you too much. I have to lick you from head to toe.”
For the first time in twenty-five years I laughed. “That could take a while.”
“Yeah well, you tortured me for months, now it’s my turn.” She declared.
That’s when I noticed her collar was missing from her neck. “Where’s your collar?”
She put her hand to her throat, “I had to take it off. Looking in the mirror kept making me cry, I was scaring the baby.”
“Baby?? What baby? I thought we were on the pill?”
“Not our baby silly, Joe and Red’s. I’ve been playing nanny to Emily all this time. I think I want a baby now. She totally broke me.” She laughed and took my hand dragging me willingly to the bedroom.
“You’ve been with Joe this whole time?”
“Joe and Red. Red let me work part time at the club just to get out of the house, otherwise I was on lockdown for the last few months.” She explained pulling the linens back to point at the bed, “After everything I’ve been through I get to call th
e shots tonight. Then you can put my collar back on.”
“Fuck the collar, all I want is my wife.” I helped her out of her bra and panties before shedding my jeans and throwing her on the bed.
“Hey!! I told you to wait!” She’s smiling so I know she’s okay with what I’m about to do. What I need to do.
“I’ve waited long enough Jasmine.” I checked to make sure she’s ready, and she is, then slid home. “Oh God honey.” Her body is tighter than ever after all this time. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you.”
She grabbed ahold and shattered within four strokes right along with me. “I love you.” Those words will forever stick in my head. Her voice. Her soft body. Her smell. Her taste. I’ll never get enough. Never.
***
Waking up in a nice warm bed with my Master made me want to stay here like this forever. Fuck food. Fuck water. I can survive off this man’s body heat and lovemaking for life, right? God I wish.
He felt me stir when I got up to pee. I guess some things can’t be helped. “Where are you going?”
“Bathroom. Are you hungry? I can make breakfast. Or is it dinner. I have no idea what time it is.” I laughed remembering how frustrating that was last year.
He followed me to brush his teeth. He put toothpaste on the brush while asking, “I never got the story form the guys. What happened? I know they found your’s and Quinton’s bodies, which was really fucked up to hear on the news by the way, but how did it go down?”
“You really don’t want to know. Let’s just say ‘best laid plans’ and all that.”
That’s when he noticed the scar on my shoulder and spit the toothpaste into the sink before turning back to run his thumb over it. “You were shot. I’ll kill those fuckers. Slowly.”
“No you won’t. They did everything right, well, almost everything.” Joe and Goat are still arguing over the civilian thing. I really don’t want Fletcher to know the details. He doesn’t need to harbor anger towards his brothers.
The Ice King On My Hate Page 15