Rather her head because she was still talking to Janie through my crotch.
“Of course! Janie, would you like to see all the toys that you have?” Anna cooed, still crouched down.
Taking Janie’s arm, I led her to the side and curled my arm around her shoulders. Anna’s eyes followed the movement, and she pivoted, staring at Janie intently.
“Would you like something to drink? I have a bottle for you when you get thirsty.” She smiled as if she’d accomplished some great feat.
“Bottles are for babies.” Janie snapped.
She was right. Janie was drinking out of adult cups now. What the hell was this woman thinking?
“Oh, well, I guess we can go find a sippy cup at the store for next time.” She said with confusion.
She snapped out of the confusion moments later by jumping up and clapping her hands, then barreling back inside, expecting us to follow.
“It’ll be okay, pumpkin. I have a water bottle you can drink from, as well as a pb&j in my pack for your lunch that your dad made.”
“Good,” she muttered.
She followed me inside reluctantly, turning around every few moments as if to check that her father hadn’t abandoned her while she wasn’t looking.
I chanced a look back, too. What I saw was Gabe and Jack placing a comforting hand on each of James’ shoulders lending him support. Turning my back, I took a deep breath before breaching the door to Anna’s home, and closing it quietly behind me.
I knew the next few hours would be trying, but I had no idea how much.
***
Teeth gritted tightly, I held Janie’s limp form in my arms, and walked quickly to the car.
One look at my face had James stepping off the sidewalk, but I shook my head no, indicating that now was not the time. Which it wasn’t. I wanted to get the fuck out of there before I ripped someone’s goddamned head off.
I strapped Janie into her booster seat, and then drove back to Kilgore, head pounding with each bump in the road. Occasionally, I’d glance back at the three bikes that were following closely behind me, and gave a sigh of relief.
Pulling into the parking area in front of James’ house, I closed the car door quietly, and then stormed off in the direction of the woods that lined the back patio area. Once I found a tree, I turned my back to it, and then slowly sunk down until my knees were in tight against my chest. Then I put my head on my knees and willed myself not to cry.
I felt James’ body crouch down before me, and it took me a good fifteen minutes before I had enough control over my temper before I looked up at him.
His hazel eyes bore into mine, and I let out a breath before I started to explain.
“That woman is not fit to be a mother. She tried to feed Janie strawberries, which I know damn well and good you’d told her last night that she was allergic to when you were on the phone with her. As well as the court telling her. Then she had a fucking bottle, a baby bottle, of milk that she practically tried to force Janie to drink. When she refused, Anna stormed off, and then brought it back in a margarita glass. Which, apparently, was the only type of glass that she had. Not to mention the fact that I could smell the rancidness of the milk from where it was placed across the table from me. Then she tried to change Janie’s diaper. The next four hours were spent with Anna on the phone with someone, whom I’m guessing owns the house, because she told him she’d be done with her meeting around one, and to come home as soon ‘the little girl’ left, while we sat on the couch and played on my phone. She kept saying how she was sorry that he wasn’t allowed home, and that maybe she could just sneak him in next time.”
As I offered my explanation, James’ body became more and more like stone. By the end of my diatribe, the only thing moving was the breath in his chest. His pulse was pounding. Veins stood out all over his hands and forearms from the tightness of his clenched fists. His breathing was rapid, and I knew he was about to explode.
Not taking the time to think of why, I made the only decision I could, and threw myself into his arms. I wrapped my arms tightly around his chest, holding him down when he went to stand. To do what, I don’t know; but I knew if I let him leave right now, he’d be beating the shit out of something or someone.
“Let me go.” He said through clenched teeth.
“No.” I said, hanging on as he stood anyway.
“Let me go, now.”
I ignored his request, and continued to hold on to him. My arms were around his waist now, one hand locked around the other wrist, holding on for dear life.
He proved that my strength was no match for his in the next moment, effectively freeing himself from my grasp, and marching towards his bike.
I caught up with him seconds later, jumping on his back and curling my legs around his waist. “James!”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Cheyenne carrying a sleeping Janie into her house, and closing the door behind her. Sam watched the spectacle I was making, but didn’t comment.
Neither did Gabe, Elliott, Jack, or Max.
“Get off.” He demanded.
“No.” I snapped.
“Get. Off.”
“No.”
“Fine.” He snapped, and then mounted his bike.
Me being on his back, I had no choice but to follow.
Which is how I ended up riding like that on James’ bike, going excessively fast, and enjoying the absolute shit out of it. Once I realized he wasn’t going to stop, I let my feet relax from around his waist, placed them on the pegs, and held onto James as he accelerated out Free and onto the main road.
Four hours of riding, and one state later, James parked in front of a warehouse with what had to be fifty other bikes, as well as numerous cars parked in front of it. We’d passed the Louisiana border over two hours ago, and I had no clue where we were.
He swung his legs over the side, and then stalked off into the direction of the front door. When I realized he wasn’t even going to look back, I scrambled off the back of the bike and stumbled towards the door he’d disappeared into moments earlier. I stumbled because my ass was asleep from riding on the back of the bike for four hours, and don’t even get me started on the state of my bladder.
The door banged shut loudly behind me as I stepped through the door. Immediately my senses were assaulted. Smoke hung heavily in the air, and the sounds of fists meeting flesh drew my eyes to the middle of the room where a clearing that a crowd was gathered around.
Cheers went up as the sound of a heavy body hit the ground with a sickening thud.
I couldn’t see James in the mass of people, so I crept closer to the makeshift ring. All the while, my mind kept repeating, ‘The first rule is that you do not talk about fight club,’ which had me snickering.
My mind reeled. Was this place legal? What the hell would happen if there were a fire in here? Where would the massive amount of people go? Would I be trampled to death? Oh, my God, are those two people having sex?
Sure enough, they were. The woman looked a tad bit slutty with her blue jean skirt hiked up over her ass, and her red thong pushed to the side as she rode a leather bound bearded grizzly bear of a man’s tattooed cock.
The man saw me watching, and leered at me. “You can have a ride next.”
James showed up at my side after that comment and glared at the man. The man’s cock withered inside the woman at James’ psycho stare, and it took everything in me not to laugh at the woman’s growl of frustration.
James took me by the hand and led me over to some metal bleachers. “Sit.” He growled, and then left me again.
A man’s booming voice came over the loud speaker as I continued to survey my surroundings. “We’ve got a special treat for everyone tonight. Guess who’s here? No guesses? Well, then I’m proud to say that it’s the one and only Scope is in the house! He’ll be fighting Jumper!”
The crowd of three hundred roared. Which made me wonder who this Scope character was, and if Jumper was a regular.
I
wasn’t in suspense long when out of the corner of the room, a man who could easily resemble a goddamn Mack Truck entered the ring. Followed shortly by a now shirtless James, with all his rippling, lickable muscles.
Then they started beating the absolute crap out of each other. Round after round. Punch after punch. For Jumper having at least a hundred pounds on James “The Scope” Allen, he sure didn’t act like it.
My eyes were glued to James as his muscles rippled and contorted with each punch, jab, and dodge. I noticed that they didn’t use their feet, which I thought was probably a good thing, much to the disappointment of the crowd.
I was sickly fascinated with the entire thing. Surprised, too.
Never would I have thought that James was into a thing like this. He seemed like such a ‘nice guy’ that it astonished me that he had all this bad underneath his good ‘ol boy exterior.
“Alright, boys. Two minutes left. If you don’t have a KO, then it’s a tie!” The announcer bellowed.
It did, indeed, end in a tie. Both men were pouring sweat, and billowing air like freight trains. James’ jeans were now soaked to at least mid-butt, all the way around, with sweat. Bruises were forming on his cheek, and he had a split lip that was seeping blood. He touched the cut with the tip of his tongue and winced.
Then the girls surrounded the two men as they shook hands as if they didn’t just try to beat the living crap out of each other. Which, in turn, signaled my desire to leave seeing as I didn’t want to have to scalp the bitch who was pawing the man I wanted with my next breath.
Thinking now would be a good time to find a bathroom, I got up from the hard metal bleachers to search. I found it down a dimly lit hallway back beside the bar. When I went to the bathroom, I failed to notice the cracked door I had to pass on the way. It wasn’t until I was done and walking back towards the bar that I heard a distinctly familiar voice that had my temper rising to the forefront.
Stepping just outside the door, I stopped and listened.
“Who’s the bitch?”
“Fuck you.”
“Why’s she got your boy?”
“She volunteered to watch over him for a few, while I got my business taken care of.”
“Seems to me like she’s more than that.”
“If she was more than that, she’d be getting more of me. Mainly consisting of my dick. Which she isn’t.”
“Who do we have here?” A man said from behind me, and then slammed me into the room and onto the floor, following me down shortly with his body straddling my back.
Reacting on instinct, I twisted and turned, but found myself unable to release the hold the man had on me. He held me down effortlessly. Heart pounding and opening my mouth to scream one second, the next the man was ripped off my back and thrown across the room and toward the familiar voice.
James’ arms came around me, and scooped me off the floor, pulling me back into his sweaty chest, and I nearly collapsed in relief. Then came the anger.
Swinging my head towards the man sitting in the office chair behind a large desk, I stomped toward him, picking up the closest thing I could find, an unopened bottle of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey, and threw it at him.
He dodged it easily, and it hit the wall with a thud, shattering on impact. Glass tinkled to the ground along with the sound of sloshing liquid. Coming to a stop directly in front of the desk, I vaulted it and catapulted myself over the edge, hitting the man with the full force of my body, and proceeded to beat the shit out of him.
Or tried to.
“Knock it off, you crazy shithead.” Sebastian bellowed while dodging a blow to the groin.
“You fuckhead! That man was on top of me and all you’re gonna do is stare at me?” I kept wind milling my fists at his face.
He held me off with a hand planted in my chest. “Chill the fuck out. You surprised me! I didn’t even know it was you!”
“Yeah? Well fuck you.” I said, finally landing a kick to Sebastian’s groin.
Then I was pulled off by James, and held in a firm grip. Not that it stopped me from trying to go for Sebastian’s face still.
“What the fuck are you even doing here?” Sebastian roared.
“She’s with Scope, boss.” The man that ‘Scope’ tossed across the room gritted out as he made a move to stand.
“Stay. Down.” James snarled.
The man stopped trying to get up instantly, and went down, holding his hands up in a placating gesture.
“What the fuck are you doing with Scope?” Sebastian, my evil brother who hadn’t called me in weeks, snarled right back.
My arm started throbbing, and I was near tears when I replied. “What the fuck do you care?”
Sebastian’s demeanor changed in a flash, and he was up and leaning over the desk in concern when he noticed me cradling the cast to my chest.
“Why are you in a cast?” He asked.
I ignored him to turn around and bury my face against James’ bare chest. Sweat slicked against my cheek, but I figured it didn’t really matter since my tears were now mingling with his sweat. My shoulders shook with each sob that was released from my body, making James gather me closer to him, and start whispering into my hair.
“Stop crying, you’re breaking my heart.” He murmured.
“My arm hurts.” I groaned.
“You got any Tylenol?” James rumbled.
I assumed someone handed him something, because he moved his arm from around my shoulders, making the muscles in his chest bunch and relax. The sound of pills being tapped out of a bottle had me turning and raising my hand to take the medication.
Dropping them into my hand, I threw them into my mouth and swallowed them dry, gagging only once.
Disgusting.
“I’m waiting.” Sebastian grated.
My eyes turned to him, and my eyes went down his body, cataloging what I was seeing. His hair was the normal black that I was used to, but now it was a bit longer, not the usual military shortness he was so anal about. His t-shirt was the usual black, jeans the usual faded, and boots the usual motorcycle ones. The only thing different?
That would be the leather vest he was wearing. A cut. Although he’d worn it before, it was never with me, and never in eyesight. I’d seen him and dad wearing theirs, but never when they could help it. When I did see it, it was because I was snooping, or peeking, or sneaking around somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be.
Nine months ago when I’d found out about Sam from Sebastian, I’d started to really pay more attention. Things that had only been a passing thought, now turned into more than nagging curiosity. The one and only time I’d been able to get an up close and personal look at his vest, no cut, was when Sebastian had gone skinny-dipping with Lilly Rose Tanner two years ago.
I’d been at my mother’s house, taking care of her while she had the flu, and had just come over to Sebastian’s to see if I could borrow a humidifier that I’d left at his place. Seeing that he was otherwise occupied, I’d pawed through his clothes that were laying on the picnic table, and saw it laying there.
Curiosity being the bane of my existence, I picked it up, studying it and trying to figure out why he never let me see it. I knew he had it on. Most of the time he’d cover it up with a sweatshirt, or a flannel long sleeved shirt.
“What are you staring at?” Sebastian growled.
James’ body tensed at the tone Sebastian had just used, and I reacted quickly, trying to diffuse the situation before my brother got his ass kicked. “What do you care what I look at?”
Sebastian’s scowl went from who I now realized was James, to me. “I wasn’t talking to you. Why the attitude, June?”
I gritted my teeth at the use of my middle name. My dad and him were the only ones who ever called me that, and it drove me fucking nuts. “Well, if I have to tell you, then it obviously won’t matter to you what I have to say, because it’s apparent to me you don’t really care.”
If that wasn’t a “woman answer,” I didn’t know wh
at was. However, I couldn’t help it, that’s the way I felt. He hadn’t answered any of my calls, texts, emails, or even my mail I’d sent the snail mail route. I was hurt, and sad. I’d needed him, and he wasn’t there.
“You know I love you, June. Don’t act like that.” He sighed.
“Act like what? That I’m hurt? I haven’t heard from you. I haven’t seen my nephew in over eight months. You just drop me like a hot potato when dad dropped me off. I’ve needed you, and you weren’t there. You’ve always been there, and then suddenly you’re just gone. No explanations, no nothing.” I hadn’t realized I was crying until James wiped the tears from my eyes with the palm of his hand, and wrapped me up tighter.
The door to the room closed quietly behind us, and I noticed that we were alone now, the three of us. Sebastian had stood, but wasn’t coming any closer. Although, that might have had something to do with the glare James was throwing him.
“Fuck,” James growled. “You Mackenzie brothers sure know how to hurt your sister.”
“What?” Sebastian barked.
“What, what?” James asked with a raised brow.
“What are you talking about? What did Cash do to hurt June?” Sebastian asked, tension radiating from his pores.
“Cash is Sam, in case you’re wondering. June is me. They call everyone by their middle names. Except for Sebastian. He won’t go by his middle name.” I said, smiling with glee.
“Why?” James asked, obviously intrigued by the smile that had erased the tears from my eyes.
“Don’t you dare, June.” Sebastian growled.
I eyed him and thought about how hurt I was. Still was.
I knew he wouldn’t be happy with me, and probably wouldn’t speak to me for weeks. However, I figured, so what? The man hasn’t spoken to me in seven months, what were three weeks?
“Do what?” I asked, fluttering my eyes at my big brother. “Tell James that your middle name is Sue?”
Sebastian reached out for me in the next instant, but James suddenly thrust his body in between Sebastian’s and my own, barricading Sebastian from me by using his own body.
“What the hell? Your parents in love with Johnny Cash or something?” James asked after Sebastian backed off, and returned to the other side of the desk.
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