I turned to look at the two women.
“I really am glad that y’all came to break me out,” I told them. “I don’t really have any female friends down here. The one that I first tried to make hated me on sight.”
“I hope that she rots in prison,” Six sang. “Though, after her ‘giving’ those girls to those men instead of helping them, I’m kind of thinking that she needs to rot in hell. After I take out her ankles.”
I snickered.
“I’m not sure what to think of it,” I admitted soberly. “I mean, I knew that she was a bad person. It was plain to see. But I didn’t realize how bad of a person until all this mess came up.”
“It’s like a hydra, too,” Beckham added. “You cut off the head of one monster, and two more are revealed in its place. It’s like a never-ending cycle of shitty people that hurt women and children.”
I agreed wholeheartedly.
I could see why Trick immediately agreed to help.
Just the idea of that happening to me or someone I knew was terrifying. Not that it wasn’t terrifying that someone else might see the same fate, but it hadn’t affected me before. Now that my man was in this line of work, though, it was becoming more and more real just how prevalent it was.
The sizzling of the burgers going on the grill had me looking up just as the phone in my pocket rang.
I quickly pulled it out, fully expecting it to be Trick, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw it was Auggie.
In the last month, she’d gotten really serious with her ‘boyfriend’ to the point that Trick was now worried he needed to have ‘the talk’ with her.
A talk that I’d explained I’d already had with her when he was out of the room, which had lent him instant relief.
“Let me get this,” I said as I showed them the picture on the screen. “It’s Auggie, Trick’s sister.”
They both nodded, loving the photo of Trick and her on the screen, Auggie practically hanging over Trick’s head as she tried to get her phone away from him.
It’d been taken in my bedroom with me on the bed laughing my ass off.
At the time, Auggie had gotten a message from her boyfriend, and Trick had wanted to read it and scan the contents to make sure that they were being good.
They had been.
It’d actually been a really sweet puppy video.
But in the meantime, I’d gotten the cutest photo of the two of them.
“Hey, Auggie.” I smiled at the girl’s face filling my phone. “How are you today?”
“Not Auggie, bitch,” Ignacia snarled. “Get here now, or I’ll blow her head off.”
I froze solid.
“Where are you?” I asked.
Beckham and Six, reading the tone of my voice, went silent as well.
“I’m at Auggie’s place,” she said. “And if you don’t hurry, the boyfriend dies as well.”
I licked my lips. “It’ll take me twenty minutes to get there, at least,” I said in a placating tone. “I’m still not even able to drive yet. I… I’ll have to have someone bring me.”
I looked at the two someones.
“As long as they stay in the car, I don’t care,” she agreed.
Then she hung up, leaving me with two very curious women.
“Let’s go,” they said as soon as I explained.
CHAPTER 25
There is nothing like an ice cold beer… after an ice cold beer.
-Trick to Swayze
TRICK
“I’m sorry, but what?” I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“There’s some, err, loud sounds coming from your sister’s apartment,” the manager of the Cascades where Auggie lived explained. “And we can’t find her boyfriend, either. Which leads us to believe that they’re in there together.”
Dazzle, that son of a bitch.
I stiffened and looked around the room.
“I’ll be there in ten,” I groaned. “Don’t, uhh, go in there just yet? I’ll take care of it.”
I didn’t want to embarrass her after all.
Me, on the other hand? I’d be embarrassed as fuck.
But shit.
Was this really happening?
“What’s going on?” Lynn asked from the head of the table.
“My sister decided that she wanted to try sex out with her boyfriend,” I grumbled. “And they’re breaking noise ordinances. I have to go break this up before they’re fined, or kicked out, or something. I want them to stay where they’re at because she really loves it there.”
Lynn’s lips twitched. “Have fun with that. We’re finishing up here anyway.”
This morning we’d watched ol’ Sadler ‘turn himself in’ and get arrested.
It would’ve been the highlight of my morning, watching him limp in there, practically dragging his feet.
But then I remembered how I’d started my morning out, and then that was definitely put at a solid number two. Feeling my woman in my arms again was definitely the highlight.
“I’ll be back as soon as I take care of this,” I said. “I have a few places that I think we can look for Ignacia.”
Lynn gave a thumbs up. “We’ll break for lunch. Want us to grab you something?”
After giving him my order, I slipped out the door, readjusted the cut on my back that felt like it was melting my back off, and headed for my bike.
When Laric fell into step beside me, I gave him a nod.
“Thought you might like some company,” he grumbled, his eyes scanning the parking lot.
“You want to make sure that I don’t kill him, don’t you?” I asked.
Laric’s lips twitched up at the corner. “You’re useful to have around. If you go back, then your girl will cry, and I don’t like it when girls cry.”
I rolled my eyes and mounted my bike at the same time he mounted his.
He started his up before me, and I followed suit.
When we arrived at my sister’s place, it wasn’t a surprise to find the apartment manager outside waiting for me.
She handed me a key.
“I’m not sure if you have one or not.” She winced. “Let us know if we can be of any assistance.”
I gritted my teeth and took the steps two at a time.
Laric followed at a slower, more sedate pace.
Using my key, I entered the apartment I’d only been to a handful of times and came to a complete stop as soon as I entered the room.
“What the fuck are you doing in my sister’s apartment?” I growled, fingers clenching into fists at my sides. “How the fuck did you get in here?”
This was a gated community. It was supposed to be super safe.
Obviously not safe enough if it was letting the riff-raff in.
“They were busy fumbling around trying to do it.” Ignacia shrugged as she looked at me with narrowed eyes. “You’re not who I told to meet me here. I guess that means that I can shoot you.”
I looked at the gun that was pointed at my chest and wondered what in the absolute holy hell I would do.
I hadn’t expected to walk in on this.
I’d honestly expected to see my sister and her soon-to-be-dead boyfriend going at it. I’d prepared myself for that.
I hadn’t prepared myself for Ignacia with her gun pointed straight at my chest.
I couldn’t even reach for my sidearm without her noticing.
Luckily, Laric had come with me.
And he was likely listening to everything from right outside the door.
He…
The bedroom door opened, and Dazzle came walking out, his eyes excited and his body tense.
He hadn’t been expecting people, but upon seeing me, his face went light with excitement. “Hi, Trick! How are you?”
I’d be better if I hadn’t heard that you were sexing up my sister, and that Ignacia wasn’t now holding me at gunpoint.
Before I could answer, his eyes swung to the movement of Ignacia turning her head toward Dazzle.
/> “Gun!” Dazzle marched out of the room with his dick swinging.
I wished I could’ve closed my eyes.
Ignacia turned to point the gun at Dazzle, but Dazzle moved with surprising swiftness and slammed his meaty fist right into her jaw.
Ignacia went down like a stack of Jenga blocks when you pulled the wrong one.
“Oops.” He looked at his fist. “I forgot I wasn’t supposed to hit girls.”
I would’ve laughed had this situation been at all remotely funny.
“Dazzle! Come back!” my sister called.
I picked Ignacia’s arm up and dragged her out of my sister’s apartment.
Before, I’d been ready to deal with that.
Now, not so much.
I dropped her unceremoniously to the ground, her foot hitting the ground outside with a solid thump before I heard, “Oh, shit.”
I turned to find my woman limping up from the opposite side of the apartment complex hallway from me.
She’d taken the elevator, which I’d forgone.
She saw me standing there and froze, her eyes wide.
The women at her sides froze, too, sensing the danger that was lurking ahead.
Beckham had her gun by her side, which showed that she was at least prepared for the situation.
My girl, though?
Not so much.
She could barely limp toward me.
Which she continued to do, despite the danger.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Hunt.
“Yeah?” he asked, sounding like his mouth was full of food.
“Can you pull the camera feed at my sister’s apartment complex?” I asked carefully, trying to contain my anger.
“Yeah,” he mumbled, sounding a bit clearer of food this time.
I waited for him to tap into whatever he used to do this, and then he said, “Oh, hey! You found her! Aces!”
I snorted. “Not intending to, at least.”
There was a thump and another giggle from the apartment I’d just come out of, and I cringed.
“What’s that look for?” Hunt asked curiously.
I reached forward and closed the apartment door just as more giggles and Dazzle’s ‘oh yeah’ rang out. Oh, and my girl finally reached my side.
Her eyes went wide.
“I had the birth control talk with her,” she blurted, her eyes staring wider at the door now than the woman that was still unconscious at our feet.
That’s when I couldn’t help it.
I grinned.
• • •
Hours later, in the quiet of our bedroom, I once again found myself getting ready to go out.
But this time with my girl, and not alone.
“What makes you think it’ll be okay?” I asked curiously.
“I did a little research while I was waiting for you to get done at the police station,” she said. “And now I’m really, really curious. I want to go look. I emailed the realtor and asked if we could come. She said she’s out of town until Tuesday, and the owners have already moved to Wisconsin where their daughter lives. She gave me the code to get into the house, though. So we can have our own look around. I think the owners are really anxious to sell since they now have two mortgages.”
I nodded in understanding.
“Let’s go.” I grabbed the keys to my truck.
She stopped me with a shake of her head. “Can we take your bike, please?”
I hesitated.
“I need a ride on the bike, Trick,” she whined softly. “It’s not far. I can put my cast on the pegs.”
Still, I hesitated.
I didn’t like the idea of being on the bike when she still couldn’t hold on well.
“It’s not that far,” she begged. “Please, please, please.”
I sighed. “What about your crutches? There’s nowhere to put them.”
She shrugged. “I’ll figure it out when I get there.” She paused. “But if anything else, I’ll just get a piggyback ride.”
My lips twitched.
Fifteen minutes later, we were at this house in the middle of the woods looking at the front door.
“It’s big,” I said as I looked around. “Really big.”
Bigger than maybe we could afford.
I’d done fairly well for myself, but it still didn’t mean that I had a couple hundred thousand dollars to throw into a place just yet.
Maybe if I kept working for Lynn like I was doing, then that would happen eventually since he paid so well, but for now…
“I know what you’re thinking,” she said softly.
I looked over my shoulder at her. “You do?”
“That we can’t afford it.” She leaned her head against my ear and curled her arms tighter around my neck as she hugged my head. “But I have a life insurance policy. From my mom and stepdad. It’s spent ten years growing interest since I put the money into the financial planner’s hands. But, just sayin’, I have the money. And I would like to use the money on this. At least, some of it anyway. The rest I want to put away for our kids’ college funds.”
“Our kids?” I asked carefully, feeling myself still under her words.
“I know where this is going, Trick,” she murmured softly. “I know that you love me, and I love you, and eventually, you’re going to ask me a question that I’m going to scream ‘yes’ to. And when that time comes, I’m going to tell you that I really, really, really want a baby that looks exactly like you. One that we can name Demi or Moore to go with our Ghost name theme we have going on…”
“Ghost name thing?” I asked curiously.
“You know that movie Ghost? The one with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in it? The characters’ names are Sam Wheat and Molly Marrin. Now all we need is a Moore and a Demi to make that complete.” She giggled against my ear. “That’s one of my favorite movies, too.”
“I’ve never seen it,” I admitted.
She gasped and clasped her hands on either side of my head, pulling my head back so she could stare into my eyes from over the top of me. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope,” I denied.
“We’re watching that tonight,” she informed me.
I rolled my eyes, but happiness started to pierce through my chest at the thought of getting to watch this movie with her. Not because I wanted to watch the movie or anything, but because Swayze wanted to watch it with me.
There were a lot of things that Swayze did that made my heart go boom, but it was the fact that she loved me unconditionally, no matter what, that really made me realize that she meant way more to me than I’d allowed myself to realize.
“Are you sure you want to marry me, Swayze?” I asked carefully, feeling my heart start to pound a little harder as I voiced my fears. “I’m an ex-con, baby. I’m in a motorcycle club. I’m likely in a very dangerous profession. And, to make matters worse, I’m not too sure that I want to change my rough ways. You deserve a man that can give you everything. I can’t even give you a house right now. Let alone a car.”
She snorted. “I fell in love with you the moment that you put that ‘ex-con’ status to use. Do you know what seeing your sexy ass body in that orange prison uniform did for me? I was a seventeen-year-old hot mess.”
I rolled my eyes. “You were not.”
She let my head go and pulled her phone from her pocket, then showed me the background of it. “I have your mugshot as my screensaver.”
I looked down at the photo of the day that my life had changed forever.
She really did have it as a background on her phone.
I shook my head.
How had I not seen that before?
“You’re weird.” I shook my head in disbelief.
“To assuage your fears,” she said as she once again pressed her cheek to mine. “None of that bullshit you just spewed would change my mind. I love you. I’ve loved you every minute since you walked into my grandpa’s bar.”
Something lodged in my chest and
grew.
My love for her.
It was all-encompassing.
“Are you sure?” I asked, trying to give her one last out. “Because once I have you, make you mine, I’m not ever letting you go.”
Honestly, at this point, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to let her go even if I wanted to.
“I’ve never let you go, so that works. You don’t let go of me, either,” she ordered. “Now, take me on a tour of this house. I love getting a piggyback ride, and I really want to see the inside.”
I laughed as I started forward. “Nice grass.”
“Really nice grass.” She paused. “Let’s buy it.”
EPILOGUE
It turns out, when you’re asked who your favorite child is, you’re supposed to pick one of your own.
-Trick to Swayze
TRICK
“Damn, that’s hot as hell.”
I frowned as I looked over at Hunt, who was leaning against the back wall along with me.
But he was looking at the woman in the witness box, and not the woman that was ‘hot as hell’ to me.
Good.
“What?” I mumbled, trying to keep my voice low.
We were at the courthouse.
I was waiting for my girl to finish up her case.
“That nurse anesthetist up there,” Hunt teased. “She’s hot as hell.”
I snorted.
Considering that Hunt was married to that nurse anesthetist I would fucking hope so.
“That will be all, Your Honor,” Swayze said, returning to her seat.
“No questions, Your Honor,” the other lawyer said, looking a bit green.
My girl had done it again.
She’d won her case, and she hadn’t even had to put much effort into it.
Swayze ‘The Bulldog’ Wheat was a badass.
She was known far and wide as the lawyer that you wanted on your side, and I fuckin’ loved that.
I loved that she was helping people like me who found themselves in hell. I loved that she was so passionate about her work, too.
“I think that next time,” the judge suggested, “you should show up with better evidence and not waste my time.” The judge turned his gaze to my girl. “Case dismissed.”
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