by Harley Stone
“Your own?” she asked. “I’m no soldier.”
“I don’t know about that. I think you’ve seen more than your fair share of battles, and I’m glad you’re letting us help you with this one.”
Brow furrowed, she looked at me, no doubt wondering what all I’d told him.
I shrugged. “He’s the president. He makes it his business to know everything about everyone in the club.”
“I’m not in the club.”
I draped my arm over her shoulders and pulled her against me. “Yeah, but you’re with me.”
“Do you have fire trucks?” Trent asked, sliding his hand into Link’s as we headed inside.
“Nope. But we do have lots of motorcycles. Would you like to see them?”
Link gave Carly and Trent the grand tour, and then I took them up to my room.
“Wow, you have two houses?” Trent asked, plopping down on my bed.
My room at the club wasn’t much. Just a bed, dresser, and television. Link was the only one with a private bathroom. The rest of us shared locker room style bathrooms on each floor. “Kinda. This is more of a bedroom where I sleep when I stay at the club. You and your mom are gonna stay here for now, though.”
“But I want to stay with you,” Trent said.
“Trust me, I’m not going anywhere. You and your mom are my top priority.”
The depth of gratitude in Carly’s eyes made me want to build a goddamn fortress to stick them in. Nobody was ever going to hurt them again, and I didn’t care what I had to do to make sure of that.
My phone dinged with an incoming text. Tap was on lunch and headed to the station. He was taking the rest of the day off work to help us. Once again, I was struck by the generosity of my brothers. The way they circled the wagons when someone needed help made me damn proud to count myself as one of the Dead Presidents.
This, right here, was why I wore the patch.
I set Trent up with cartoons and surrounded him with his toys before pulling Carly aside.
“Do you have Nate’s phone number?” I asked.
She nodded, pulling out her phone. Scrolling through her contacts, she stopped when she found it and handed the phone to me. “I got a new phone and number when we got here, but kept all my contacts just in case. Unless he changed it, this should be right.”
I copied the number to my own phone. “Good. We’re gonna track it and see if we can’t find this asshole.”
Concern flooded her eyes. “Be careful.”
I would never grow tired of the way she looked at me. I wasn’t a black sheep or a fuck-up in her eyes. Carly looked at me like I was her white knight, making me want to don the fucking armor and get on top of the horse. I planted a kiss on her lips.
“I’m always careful. I’ll bring you and Trent up lunch. Call me if you need me.”
As I turned to leave, Carly’s phone rang in her hand. Startled, she almost dropped it, before she recovered. Staring at the screen, she said, “It’s Jess.” Putting the phone to her ear, she said, “Hey Jess, how’s work? Oh, yeah, I was gonna message you. I didn’t expect you to come home for lunch. Sorry, that must have looked bad. We’re totally fine, though. Wasp came and picked us up and we’re gonna stay with him for a few days.”
Alarms were going off in my head. If this Nate asshole was half the psychopath Carly believed him to be, I wouldn’t put it past him to use Jessica to get to her. “She’s not safe there,” I said, interrupting their conversation. “Tell her to get out. No, tell her to lock the doors. I’m sending someone to her.”
Carly’s eyes widened as she picked up on what I was saying. “Yeah, Jess. I hate to cut you off, but I need you to lock the door. Stay in the apartment. There’s a guy chasing me and Wasp is afraid you’re in danger.”
As she spoke, I sent out a mass text, asking anyone in the area to get to Carly’s apartment ASAP. My phone dinged with a response. “Spade’s not far,” I said. “He’s on his way there. I’m gonna round up some guys downstairs and join him. I’m sure it’s fine, but we wanna make sure your friend’s safe.”
Carly covered the phone, grabbed my shirt, and pulled me to her for a quick kiss. “I love you. Be careful.”
“I love you, too.” I hurried over to my wall safe and opened it, angling my body to block Trent’s view in case he looked over while I pulled out my Sig Sauer P938 and holster. I checked the magazine before snapping the holster onto my belt, sliding the pistol home, and hiding it with my cut.
Carly watched me, but she didn’t say anything about it.
“I told you, sweetheart, I’m always careful,” I said, planting one last kiss on her forehead before heading out the door.
***
When Havoc, Stocks, and I reached Carly’s apartment, the door was hanging from the hinges and Spade was in the hallway leaning against the wall.
“What the fuck happened?” I asked.
“Heard a crash as I got out of the elevator. Came around the corner to find this. Heard two voices, one male, one female. She said something about a gun.”
“How long have they been in there?” Havoc asked.
“Two, three minutes.”
“You call the cops?” I asked.
The African-American and the Hispanic-American both looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
Right. I considered calling the cops but couldn’t decide whether or not I wanted them involved. Nate’s uncle was a sheriff, and even though he wasn’t local, he probably knew people and had connections. Nate wasn’t getting away with shit this time.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I dug it out and Carly’s name popped up, so I answered.
“Wasp. He has her. Jess just called me, crying. Nate said he’ll let her go if I come to him.”
“Not fuckin’ happenin’. We’re here, dove. We’ll take care of it. Did she say which room they’re in?”
“No. Oh, God. If he hurts her…”
“I need you to trust me. We’re gonna get your girl out of this, I promise. I gotta go.”
She thanked me on a shaky breath before hanging up.
Nate was scaring her again, and I was about to lose my shit.
Havoc peered into the apartment, and then returned to the hallway, pressing his back against the wall. “All I can see is the kitchen, living room, and part of a hallway. What’s the layout?”
I detailed it for him, noting that they could be in either bedroom.
“Do we let him know we’re here?” Spade asked.
“Can’t hurt,” Havoc replied. “Might be less likely to do something stupid if he knows there’s witnesses.”
“Jessica?” I shouted, pulling my pistol from its holster as I crept into the apartment. “You here?”
I heard a strangled cry.
“Shut the fuck up,” Nate whispered, his voice low and threatening.
Havoc was on my heels. He pointed to the bedroom on the left. Jessica’s room. Spade followed us as we moved in.
“The cops are on their way, Nate. You can still let Jessica go and get out of here before they arrive. Nobody has to get hurt or arrested.”
I was lying through my teeth, because there was no way in hell I was letting this motherfucker get out of here unscathed. He’d harassed Carly for the last goddamn time. There’d be no cops. The gun in my hand was legal, I had a concealed carry permit, he’d fucked up and broken into the apartment, and now he was threatening Jessica’s life.
All I needed was a clean shot to end this shit.
“Nate? Jessica?”
Nobody answered, so I kept creeping forward with my brothers at my back. If this went south, I knew Havoc would finish the job. As ex-Special Forces, he didn’t need a gun to end a man’s life. No matter what happened to me, Carly would never have to look over her shoulder again.
I reached for the doorknob.
“Jess? You okay? Nate? Let’s talk and figure a way out of this.”
“Fuck off,” he growled. “Get Carly here, then we’ll talk.”
&
nbsp; Not going to happen. “She’s on her way, man, but I need you to be cool until she gets here. You know she’s gonna freak out if you hurt her friend. You don’t want piss off Carly now, do you?”
“Carly doesn’t know the fuckin’ meaning of friendship. She said we were friends, but she lied. Then she left. Friends don’t do that shit.”
Good. He was talking. I needed to get him comfortable enough with me that he didn’t blow my head off the second I opened the door. “Dude, friends don’t ask each other out, either. You stepped over the line and scared her. She didn’t want to hurt you, but her ex had just died. She wasn’t ready for a relationship. You should have waited, man. Hell, I bet if you would have contacted her and asked her out again when you got here instead of giving her kid a creepy-ass note, she would have gone out with you.”
“You think so?”
Fuck no. “Yeah. Totally.”
“Then why did she change her number? Why didn’t she tell me where she was going?”
“I told you, she was scared. Dude, I don’t wanna have this conversation with the door between us. Can I come in, so we can talk man-to-man and you can see that I’m bein’ real with you?”
Silence. I was banking on the fact that somewhere inside of that psychotic brain of his, he still wanted to be understood and accepted. Carly said the entire town knew he was off. She’d probably been the closest thing he’d ever had to a friend. He wanted people to like him, and I could make anyone feel liked. Link had given me my nickname, because most wasps are social insects that could rally the troops and get them to do the necessary. People liked me. I clowned and made them feel at ease. I could read them and know which strings to pull to get them to work with me.
“You can come in,” Nate said finally. “But don’t try anything stupid.”
Turning my body sideways to hide the gun in my right hand, I opened the door with my left and peered around it, giving him my most harmless smile. With messy hair, dark circles surrounding his crazed eyes, and about three-days of stubble covering his face, Nate looked fucking deranged. He and a wide-eyed Jessica stood in the middle of the room, watching me.
“Hey Jess, Nate, you guys okay in here? You need any water or anything?”
Nate’s brow furrowed. He was trying to figure me out, even as his scowl softened. “We’re good.”
“Okay.” Seeing that I’d have to get him away from her to take my shot, I slipped my pistol back in the holster, letting my cut hide it, before easing my hands into the air and slowly stepping forward. “Thanks for talking with me, bud. I appreciate it.”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“You look tired, man. You haven’t been sleeping, have you?”
His scowl deepened. “We’re not friends. Stop that.”
“Right. I haven’t even introduced myself. Sorry about that. I’m Wasp. You know, Carly has told me a lot about you. She said you looked out for her when you guys were kids. That you wouldn’t let anyone pick on her. You let her sleep on your couch, you fed her, you sound like a real stand-up guy. She doesn’t understand why you’d want to hurt her now.”
Pain registered across his features. “I don’t want to hurt her. I want to be with her. She needs to see that I love her. That I just want to take care of her again.”
“But Jess is Carly’s friend, and if you hurt Jess, it’ll hurt Carly. You need to let Jessica go and talk to Carly. Tell her how you feel. She thinks you want to hurt her, man. You gotta set her straight. You can’t do that with a gun pointed at her friend.”
His expression torn, he battled with my words, no doubt sensing the truth somewhere in that twisted brain of his. “Where is Carly?”
“I told you, she’s on the way. She’ll be here any minute, and I’m rootin’ for you two to get together, but I think if she sees that gun… that’ll be a deal breaker. Why don’t we let Jessica get out of here and back to work, and you and me can wait for Carly together? I’ll put in a good word for you, let her know that this was all a big misunderstanding, you know? Then she can go home with you. She misses Idaho. Talks about it all the time.”
“You really think she’d go back with me?” the dumb motherfucker asked. “That things could be like they used to be before that cheating bastard knocked her up?”
“Yeah, man. For sure. I mean, you love her so much you drove all the way here to tell her. Chicks dig that romantic shit. She’ll eat it right up.”
He hesitated, but his grip on Jessica loosened. She started easing away, closer to me.
“Put down the gun, Nate. Let me help you.”
His pistol started to lower.
Jessica was almost to me.
Nate’s gun hand reached his hip before his expression changed. A light came on, and anger flashed in his eyes. “Wait,” he said, raising his gun again.
I drew my P938 as he raised his gun.
Nate blinked once before I sent two slugs through his chest.
Jessica screamed.
The impact of the bullets made Nate stagger backwards. His face registered surprise, then pain as his pistol hit the carpeted floor. He crumpled, still staring at me in shock as he fell.
I marched forward until I stood over him, making sure he didn’t rally and reach for his gun. “That’s right, motherfucker, we are not friends,” I said. “You hurt Carly. You took away two people she loved, and you scared the shit out of her. I promise you, she will never know that kind of fear again. Trent will never have another nightmare, because this ends today.”
He tried to say something, but he couldn’t.
I made myself watch as the life drained from his eyes. I wasn’t a killer; I was a mechanic. Even in the service, I’d never taken a single shot at anyone. But as I stood over the life I’d just ended, I had no regrets.
Carly and Trent were safe now.
Carly
Two weeks later
WASP AND HIS brothers had bought more fireworks than I’d ever seen in my life. As I stared at the assortment of sparklers, poppers, candles, mortars, and more explosive shit than I knew existed, I couldn’t stop the smile that engulfed my face. I felt it all the way down to my toes. Not only were we blowing stuff up, but we were blowing stuff up with family. It was like all my childhood dreams rolled up into one incredible Independence Day.
“The boys always go overboard,” Elaine said, stopping beside me to evaluate the pile. “But, I don’t care. They can buy the whole store if it makes the kids happy. I’m just glad you, Trent, and Andrew decided to join us.”
I was, too. We were supposed to spend the holiday camping with the Dead Presidents, which also would have been amazing, but at the last second Wasp realized that Trent had never set off fireworks and completely changed the plans. The next thing I knew, Wasp and I had taken time off work and the three of us were on a plane headed for Minnesota.
The past few weeks had been stressful as hell. After the shooting, Wasp had been thoroughly questioned by the Seattle police department. Based on Jessica’s testimony, and the door he’d busted through to get to her, they decided Wasp acted in defense of Jessica and no charges were pressed.
But there was still a body to contend with.
Since there was no way we were ever staying at that apartment again, Jessica had temporarily moved into the fire station until she found a place, and Trent and I had crashed Wasp’s place. I kept insisting that our move was also temporary, but Wasp made it clear he had other plans. And, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like living with him. The move had been quick and easy, and Wasp was letting me use his Jeep to get Trent to school and myself to work. The commute was kind of shitty, though, and I hated working nights when Wasp and Trent were home. Wasp wanted me to quit my job at the bar and just work the coffee shop, but we were still discussing it.
As for the douchebag from the grocery store parking lot, Wasp and a few of his big intimidating soldier friends paid the guy a visit and let him know they’d be fixing his car. The way Wasp tells it, the guy just handed over his keys and t
hey returned it once the nick was removed. I didn’t really believe that story, but since things were handled and he hadn’t filed a lawsuit against me, I wasn’t complaining.
“I still can’t believe you guys are here,” Elaine said, pulling me back into the present.
I could barely believe it myself. It was such a whirlwind, we hadn’t even warned them we were coming. Instead, we’d rented a truck and surprised Wasp’s family. I’d been nervous about just showing up, but all four of Wasp’s brothers and their wives and kids were so welcoming and genuinely happy to see us I felt stupid for worrying. I’d expected whispers and judgmental looks, but there’d been hugs and tears and more love than I’d ever felt in my life.
“Mom!” Trent shouted, running through the front door.
“Don’t run in the house,” I snapped as the screen closed behind him.
“But do you want a hamburger or a hot dog?” he asked, huffing and puffing as he slid to a stop.
“I want a hug,” I replied. I’d barely seen him since we’d arrived two days ago.
He gave me an exasperated sigh before opening his arms. Picking him up, I squeezed him close and breathed him in, glad to see him so happy and carefree. My little man needed this vacation as much as I did. “You smell like bar-b-que,” I said.
“Me and Nolan are helping Grandpa and Wasp.”
Nolan was Wasp’s brother Grant’s son. He and Trent were only months apart in age and had been inseparable since we’d arrived. Before the guys had put them to work, they’d been out in the field chasing little gray birds, laughing so loudly they had all the adults cracking up and videoing their shenanigans.
“Well, maybe I should just eat you,” I said, making gobbling noises at his neck.
Trent laughed, squirming until I set him down. “Hamburger or hot dog?” he asked again, all business.
“Hamburger.”
“Grandma?” Trent asked.
Elaine was teary-eyed. “Hamburger. Thanks Trent.”
He went scurrying off with our orders.
“Are you okay?” I asked Elaine as soon as Trent was out of earshot.