by Amy Cecil
I had to change the subject. “So, how are things going in Edinboro?”
“Good,” he said.
“Is that all you are going to tell me?”
“Emma, we talked about this,” he said, frustrated.
“I know, we did, but you said we could discuss this stuff when you weren’t in front of the others. It’s so hard being kept in the dark, Caden. I’m trying, really.”
“I know baby, I know you are. Maybe if you look at it this way: in all likelihood, the less you know, the safer you are.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does to me. Emma, you have to understand that there are some things you cannot know, even when we are alone. If you ask about something and I can tell you, I will. Just know we have this rule to keep our women safe. If you cannot accept this, then this won’t work between us. I need to know babe, you in or out?”
“Caden, is that question really necessary? In the last two weeks my life has done a complete 180. I’ve broken my engagement, found out that the man I was engaged to is a complete psychopath, and you came back into my life. Plus I’ll probably lose my job, since I cannot use my computer and I have no means of getting my bills paid or things taken care of in my day-to-day life that need to be done. So I ask you, do you think any of that matters to me if it means that I can ultimately be with you? I told you before; I’ve loved you as long as I can remember. Yes, there are things you can’t tell me – I don’t like it, but I am learning to accept it. Why? Because, I trust you, Caden, and I believe in you.” Maybe he would finally understand that I was in this for the long haul and I was not running.
“And what about my club?” he asked hesitantly.
I giggled into the phone, “They’re growing on me?”
He laughed. I guess he liked that response. He then added, “Well beautiful, I better go. I’ll check in with you tomorrow. Don’t make any outgoing calls, and don’t call this number unless it is an absolute emergency. Something goes wrong, you call me. You got it?”
“Ok.” I was a little bummed that I could not call him if I just wanted to talk to him. But, I understood.
“And Emma,” he added. “You don’t answer this phone for any number except this one.”
“Ok.” He was quickly going from boyfriend mode to president of the MC mode, but all I wanted to hear was how much he missed me. Oh well … he carried a lot on his shoulders, and I knew he was worried about me.
“Well, I better go. Talk to you tomorrow?”
“Sure.” I was trying not to cry, but for some reason I was feeling very emotional. Hopefully he did not know that I was upset. It was silly, and I really didn’t want to explain myself.
“Bye, beautiful,” he said. Good, he didn’t know. Unless he’d just chosen to ignore it. That would have been the guy thing to do.
“Bye, Caden.”
Just as I was about to hang up the phone I heard, “Hey,” coming through the speaker.
“Yeah?” I asked eagerly.
“I miss you, baby.”
What a relief! “I miss you too!” And then he hung up.
Once I laid myself down, it was not long before I fell asleep.
Chapter 26
Caden
Three days later I was hanging out at the clubhouse when Dbag came in and said he had some news. It appears that we were right about Grayson. According to what Dbag reported, Grayson had made contact with Peyton. He had told Peyton that he’d heard that she had hooked up with one of the Knights. And just like we had expected, he asked her to let him know what was going on with our club. It was exactly what we wanted. Now we could feed bogus information to her and back it up. Then when we were ready to make our move, the Satans would be exactly where we wanted them.
It was time for church. We needed to discuss strategy and vote on a plan.
Let the games begin.
Two hours later, all the boys had arrived. All except Rebel, but he was on a more important mission.
I called the meeting to order and we went over some general business. Cash reported that the club had over 50k in the bank and that Ryder still owed his dues for this month. Hawk reported that he had seen a Satan driving down Waterford St. We all agreed that it was very odd for any Satan to be seen in the city limits of Edinboro. They usually kept to the outskirts of our town, avoiding a direct confrontation with the Knights.
Once the general business was out of the way, I spoke up. “Now let’s get to the matter at hand.” I explained to the club what we’d found out over the last few days: the connection between Grayson and the Satans, and the situation with Peyton and Dbag. “What we need to figure out now is what are we gonna feed to Peyton that we want to get back to Grayson. The Satans may be our enemies, but I am convinced that Grayson is running the show. He has gotten these boys off time and time again; they owe him. If he says jump, I’m sure their response is ‘how high?’ So, we need to provide intel that pans out so that they trust the rest of the information she is feeding them. Anyone got any ideas?” I looked around the room, waiting for something. They all looked all around to each other.
Finally, Spike spoke up. “We could set up a phony deal, perhaps a protection run at the docks. Pull in some guys from other Chapters to pose as the dealers who are selling their product. Do you think they will immediately act?”
Shaking my head, I said, “No, I don’t believe so. They will wait until there is an opportunity to take us all down, and they will make sure that I am there. For some reason that I did not understand, Grayson has a personal grudge against me.” I paused for a moment and then added, “I believe they will check us out first. If we send two guys and we use two guys from another Chapter, it won’t be worth the risk for them to make their move.”
Hawk agreed, “You are exactly right, Ice. I don’t see them making any more moves until they think they are hitting the jackpot.”
The others agreed. I said, “I’ll contact our Chapter in Lexington. They are far enough away that they won’t recognize them as our own. Ok, boys, so that’s one. What else?” Some of the guys threw a couple other ideas on the table, but nothing seemed to click.
“Why does it have to be a deal?” Hawk asked. “Why can’t we just feed to them that we are having a special party? You know, a family deal. We can easily do it, and it will be another bit of intel that will check out.”
“I don’t know,” I responded. “There has to be a draw, something they want.”
“What about Emma?”
Quickly shaking my head, I responded, “No. She isn’t safe here.”
Hawk pleaded, “Ice, that’s not what I am saying. All the brothers, their old ladies, kids, and sweetbutts will be here. They won’t risk taking down the clubhouse, not with woman and kids here. I know they don’t have the same values as we do, but I am pretty confident that they don’t want any collateral damage of women and children in a club war. But, it will convince them that Emma is under our protection.” He took a breath and then continued, “I am convinced that they know we have moved Emma. I don’t know if they know for sure where she is, but if they see her here, they will think we brought her back and won’t be looking for her elsewhere.”
I was confused. “Hawk, I’m not following you. We would still have to bring Emma back, wouldn’t we?”
He smiled. “No, that’s the beauty of it. From a distance, another tall, leggy girl with long blonde hair could be Emma. No disrespect to your old lady, boss, but we could plant a decoy. The only catch is that she would have to be your girl for the night.”
“How in the hell are we gonna pull that off?” I had a bad feeling about this. There were so many things that could go wrong. “Besides, who do we got that could step in as Emma?”
“Honey,” Hawk stated. All the guys nodded in agreement. Shit. I could see it working with Honey, but did I really want to go there just to convince the Satans that Emma was here? And more importantly, how would Emma take it? Should I tell her? I shouldn’t agree to this, I knew
that, but five minutes later I found myself agreeing to the plan.
As the boys were leaving, I asked Hawk to send in Honey. I might as well get this part over and done with. Five minutes later, Honey was closing the door behind her.
“Hawk said you needed to see me, Ice?” Honey asked.
“Yeah, why don’t you have a seat?” She gingerly sat down and looked up to me with curious concern. “Honey, you’ve been a part of this club now for many years. You’ve been loyal to the club and that has not gone unnoticed. You are an asset to this club and every brother loves you. You have cleaned up our bloody messes, our drunken brawls, and have made sure we have decent meals to eat.”
She interrupted hesitantly, “Ice, have I done something wrong?” Shit, I was not going about this the right way. The last thing I wanted her to think was that she had done something wrong. I’d thought that if I brought out her good points, I’d be pumping her up, letting her know how much we appreciate her. But, instead, it has backfired. Now she thinks she is in trouble.
“Honey, no, it’s nothing like that.” I tried to reassure her, but she had that look. You know, the one that says, “The last thing I want to do is disappoint you.” I said, “What I am getting at is that we have never involved you in club business. We never wanted to. Not because we didn’t trust you, but because we didn’t want you to get hurt. But unfortunately, the time has come that the club needs you.”
She sighed, obviously relieved. “You know I would do anything for the club. I came to you beaten and broken, and you and the club took me in. You gave me a roof over my head, a home, and more importantly, a family. You just name it, I’ll do it.”
“You might not feel that way when you hear what we need.”
“Ice, just tell me. Quit beating around the bush and just spill it.” That’s my girl, strong and solid. Not afraid of anything.
“If you haven’t noticed, you resemble Emma.” Suddenly, I saw a disappointed look come across her face. I knew this part was gonna get sticky. But I had to make her understand. So, I continued without allowing her to say anything. “Emma is in danger. That’s why I sent her away. But we need the Satans to think that she is still here. We need them to stop looking for her. Basically, we need a decoy. That’s where you come in.” She took a deep breath in anticipation for me to go on. So I did. “The boys and I think that from a distance, dressed in the right clothes – and if you straighten your hair a bit – you could be a dead ringer for Emma.”
“Where will I be the decoy? Will I be in danger?” she asked.
“You’ll be right here at the clubhouse. We’re having a party Saturday night. We are tipping off the Satans that Emma will be here, and you just need to stand in. I cannot imagine that the Satans would make a hit on the clubhouse, especially since all the old ladies and children will be here. So, I believe you will be safe. But as both you and I know, there are no guarantees.”
“Will you be with me?” she asked. Here came the hard part.
“Yes, I will.”
“Why do I feel that there is more?” she asked.
“You are a smart woman, Honey. Yes, there is more.” I paused, took a deep breath, and continued, “We need to be convincing. Do you know what I mean by that?”
“I think I do. But maybe you should spell it out for me. You know, so I don’t make any false assumptions.”
“We will need to be on display during this party. Lots of public displays of affection: kissing, perhaps even running off together leaving the assumption out there that we want to be alone. Can you do that?”
“Do I have time to think about it?” she asked.
“Unfortunately, not a lot. I can give you a couple of minutes now if that will help. I’m sorry for putting you on the spot like this, but we need to act on this quickly.” I paused and then added, “I know we have some history, and I am guessing that this could be difficult for you; I don’t want you hurt.”
We sat in silence for about five minutes and then she said, “I’ll do it.”
Smiling at her, I got up from my desk and kissed her on the cheek. “You are an amazing woman, Honey. One day, one of these boys is gonna be very lucky making you their old lady.”
Her eyes started to well up as she looked up to me and said, “You think so, Ice? You really think there is someone out there for me?”
Pulling her into my arms, I hugged her close. “I sure as hell do. Someone better than me.”
Chapter 27
Caden
I contacted our Lexington Chapter. They were on board. They would be here tomorrow morning. Peyton did her part and set up Grayson with news of a protection run on a gun shipment going down tomorrow night at the docks in Erie. So far, the first part of our plan was all set.
The Lexington boys (Jagger and Snake) arrived around 10 am the next morning. Jagger was the club’s VP and Snake was a prospect on his first job. We filled them in on all the details. Hawk and Ryder were gonna go from our Chapter. We loaded the boys up with a crate of guns from our personal stock, leaving the remainder of the crates in the van empty. The Satans only needed to see one of them full. It would be dark. Our boys would wear their cuts, but the Lexington boys would not. They would do the deal, bring the guns back to the clubhouse, and the Lexington boys would lay low for a day or two before coming back in. It was all set for 11:58 pm tonight. This had to work.
For the rest of the day, I kept myself busy. At 11 pm that evening the boys left and all I could do was wait. Wait for word that this worked. We sent four guys with them, hiding out watching to make sure that the Satans checked us out. Dbag was to make contact with me as soon as it all went down.
I hadn’t spoken to Emma for a couple of days now, but we did text each day to just check in and to confirm with the other that we were safe. Rebel also kept me apprised of their situation on a daily basis, but that still didn’t keep me from worrying about them. This whole thing with Honey tomorrow night had me on edge. At first I had planned on telling Emma, but eventually I decided against it. She was worried about enough right now, I didn’t need to add more to her plate. I could worry enough for the both of us.
At 1:10 am, Dbag made contact.
That was exactly what I needed to hear. My boys were whole. When they got back, they were ready to give me a full report.
“Ice, it worked like a charm,” Hawk said as he closed my office door behind him.
Ryder chimed in and said, “Yeah, we had the Lexington boys pull up on a motorboat. They got out, checked the merchandise, gave their ok, and we loaded the crates on the boat and they left. In the distance, we heard bikes approaching. They slowed when they got to the dock, then sped up and left.”
Dbag added, “Yeah Ice, it was awesome. I was watching from the window in the warehouse next to the dock we were using. They just did a drive-by. Their lead checked out.”
I was so proud of them. They’d handled this job with the utmost professionalism. I’d expected nothing less from them, but each time something works in our favor, I can’t help but feel like a proud father. “Great job, guys. Now, we just need to have this party tomorrow fly without a hitch and we’ve got Grayson and the Satans by the balls. Now why don’t you boys get yourself a drink, wind down, and relax. We got a big night tomorrow.”
They left my office and I decided to take my own advice. I closed up the office and decided to head to bed. Tomorrow night was my show. When I got myself settled in my room I looked at my watch: 2am. Shit, I really wanted to talk to Emma, but I didn’t want to startle her with a late night phone call. So I sent her a text, turned off the light, and went to bed.
Chapter 28
Emma
I woke up Saturday morning feeling surprisingly good. I had gone to bed last night with a migraine, and usually I wake up feeling the same. Rebel gave me something he had for headaches – it knocked me out, but it also made me feel better.
I laid in bed for several minutes, soaking in the sunlight that was streaming through the window. It had b
een a whole week since I’d seen Caden and I was missing him so much. Still, Rebel had turned out to be a good friend. Other than Caden, I’ve never had a male friend, especially one that I was not attracted to. Oh, don’t get me wrong; Rebel is a very nice-looking guy: great body, blond hair, and hazel-green eyes. He even has a great personality to boot. I made a mental note to myself; I needed to find Rebel a nice girl.
I picked up my phone to see if I had any messages; I had just one message from Cade. He was the only one who had my phone number, so why would I think anyone else would call or message me? Besides, his was the only message I wanted.
I read his message and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He said he loves me. He really loves me. I guess I’ve always known it, but deep down I really wanted him to say it. And he will. Typing the words in a text was a start.
With an extra spring in my step, I showered and got ready for the day. Rebel and I didn’t have any plans for today – after all, there wasn’t a lot we could do up here. However, he did promise me a backgammon tournament. I was looking forward to finally beating his butt!
I came downstairs and found him cooking breakfast. Well, that was a first. “Mmmmmm, that smells wonderful,” I said as I rounded into the kitchen. “Whatcha making?”
“Well good morning, sleeping beauty. It’s about time you woke up.” He smiled and turned toward the skillet of bacon on the stove. “I thought since you are always cooking for me, I would do something nice for you for a change.”
“Awww, aren’t you sweet. I don’t care what those brothers of yours say about you, you are a nice guy.” I walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek. “Can I help?”
“Nope, I got this under control.” He paused for a moment and then with a guilty look on his face said, “Damn Emma, I can’t lie to you. I was getting hungry and didn’t know when you were getting up. I was tired of waiting for you and decided to give it a go.”