by Ryder Dane
Stalker cleared his throat and blew out a breath before beginning the story that he knew would probably piss off Dutch and make him feel hurt at the same time. He started to talk.
“Anyway, your girl was taken to use as leverage on the judge and later on, if she was needed, Wolfy planned to blackmail that attorney Houston by making her reappear if he wanted to keep his practice going on the outside of a jail cell. We found some paperwork in that old lockbox that Roark kept under his bunk. It’s all there. That Houston fuck has a bad habit of skimming old people’s wills and making sure that he is one of the primary heirs. I don’t know how the fuck that can be ethical in court, but as long as the other heirs are mentioned in the paperwork, it’s damned hard to contest the will.
“Look, there’s no way to say this other than to just say it. Roark was one of those kids that Wolfy didn’t find out about until the kid tracked him down and tried to beat his ass. Old Wolfy decided that he liked the kid and took him in before Roark went into the service.
“Meantime, Bull was given his first assignment as a brand spanking new patch and dropped the kid off at the farm that Roark’s momma came from. He already knew the people, hell he’d been sending Yee Haw Frank over there a couple of times a year to pick up items for the general fund.
“Roark knew all about everything. The asshole had a family plot where he could be buried in down in that old town. But I remember him telling us when he got back home from deployment that he wanted to be spread on the family farm. That was after Wolfy fried in the fire.
“I have been thinking about it, and I might be wrong, but I like to think Roark wanted us to find the girl and maybe make things right. There’s no other explanation that I can think of for him telling you and me that we are the only ones he trusted to put him to rest. He probably figured that we’d find the papers in his lockbox before we took care of his ashes.”
Stalker heard the phone break just as the line went dead. He had given Dutch the necessary information. There was more to tell, but that had no bearing on Kylie Willard. Baron was due back to the chapter in a day or two and he would be taking the box full of papers to the Winery to Race and War. Maybe he would look up Cherry or Noodle while he was there as long as they hadn‘t become old ladies. He looked forward to the trip as he upended his can of beer.
Chapter 15
Fuck, that son of a goat fucker had been lying to him all along. The man that he had shared everything but sex with had been just another rotten cored apple. Dutch paced back and forth over the concrete walkway cursing under his breath and pounding one fist into the opposite palm all the while. He had to keep the volume down, but damn if he could contain this betrayal.
He was the son of the worst motherfucker to hold the president’s chair in the Breed’s history. Roark never said one fucking word. He could have told him before now for crissakes. No wonder Roark would disappear for days at a time and later Dutch found out that his friend had been running secret errands for Wolfman. He should have seen it. He should have known something screwed up was happening when that fucker Wolfman or his butt buddy Zero always came around when the chapter decided to deal with things on a local level and not involve the National boys.
Dutch and Stalker had often thought that there had to be a snitch in the club. And that fucker Roark always redirected their ideas and discussions about a possible rat. Of course he would, the sonofabitch was spying for his fuckin sperm donor. Roark was the reason that Kylie had been taken to the farm in the first place. Job and Naomi were cousins to Roark and had taken over the family spread. They needed money and Roark and Wolfman saw it as an opportunity. “Great going there, bro, you fuckin asshole. No wonder you wanted to be fried into ashes, you didn’t want to burn in fucking hell, now did you?”
Dutch didn’t hesitate to back the bike out of the parking spot and leave the lot. He needed to think and rain or not, riding always helped him sort his thoughts. The rain was barely misting now, but he just didn’t give a fuck. He rode straight out of town and into the country highways until he looked down and saw that the gas gauge was redlining. He tuned the scoot around, but saw a small roadside park where there was an artesian well for people to come and fill their water jugs. He recalled seeing one once before in Michigan, but other than enjoying the cold liquid on his dry throat, it was not such a big deal. Whether it was because of the rain or the time of day, the place was deserted.
He sat on one of the picnic tables and felt the drops falling from the Maple tree plop onto his shoulders. Being wet didn’t bother him. Being fucking betrayed and lied to by a man that he had considered his best friend for ten years, yeah, that is what bothered him. They had shared women, beer, and secrets. They had been in fights for the hell of it, and laughed all the while teeth and blood flew everywhere. Thinking back was rough, and now he wondered what else he was going to find out.
While he’d been healing from his bout with the tornado, Bull and Stalker told him that they believed there were more kids and blackmail leverage types out, away from the club. He hadn’t been paying attention at the time. His mind had been on a sapphire eyed blonde that was on the run.
He laid back on the wet boards of the table top and looked up through the thick leaves of the tree overhead.
“So you left me and the guys to clean up the bullshit that you and Wolfman left. What the fuck, man? I actually grieved for you, you raggedy assed motherfucker. All I can say is that Stalker had better be right about you leaving the papers and shit to make things right. I might just do something even more stupid than trusting you just so I can go to hell when I die so I can beat your fucking ass. When I remember all of the times you cussed Wolfy like he was lower than fuckin dog shit, you played me man. You played all of us.” He sighed and dropped his forearm over his eyes to protect them from the dripping water. Closing his eyes did no good because Roark’s devilish grin flashed into his mind and Dutch cursed as he sat up.
“You could’ve told me brother, you could have been square with me and you knew that I might not like it, but I would’ve found a way to deal. You were my brother. How in the hell could you fuck with me like that? Asshole.”
He didn’t expect any profound answers to his rambling questions to the dead man, and he didn’t get any either. Talking some of it out like that helped, but the betrayal felt bone deep. He knew that it would be a long time before he trusted the word of another man, even one that he’d known for years.
He walked over to the shack in the corner of the small park before settling his ass back in the seat for his return trip to the hotel where he’d left his saddlebags and Kylie. What was he going to do about her? He didn’t know, but he would make sure that she was safe before he dropped her where she wanted to be when this was over.
*****
Kylie knew when she heard the bike start that whatever his important call was, it had to have been upsetting. He didn’t come back for his possessions before he left, so she knew that he would be back. She waited until her stomach was complaining before pulling her boots on for the walk across the two parking lots to the truck stop’s diner. It had finally stopped raining and she walked as fast as possible to get inside before it started raining again.
It seemed that the only time it rained in the past few weeks had been the times that she was around Dutch. It was funny once she considered it. The man shows up and rain started to pour. She knew that there must be some kind of old saying about that but what the hell, why worry about it now? She had a shady attorney that wanted her dead, and if Dutch was right, there was a city full of gangbangers that wanted the money that was offered to kill her.
The only thing that might stop her dying would be for Attorney Houston to remove the contract or he would have to die. He deserved to die. That was not in question as far as she could see. Most bad guys had some redeeming qualities, but this guy seemed to be making a fortune from stealing inheritances. She wondered if there was something wrong with her.
How ma
ny women sat over their breakfast plotting a man’s death, even a slug like Houston. Where did her compassion go? She knew that the man had to have been involved with one or more of the deaths of her family members. Him and that scummy biker president Wolfman had stolen her life. She wanted to hurt them. She wanted to physically hurt them in a very painful way.
She chewed the crispy slice of bacon as she looked out of the window next to her table. She saw Dutch pull into the hotel parking lot, and wondered why she wanted to get up and run into his arms. Of all the silly shit that she could do, that would be the dumbest. He’s a hard core biker through and through. Women don’t matter to men like that. That is what Naomi and Job had told her many times and from the little she’d seen so far, they were right. That yearning for the security that she felt every time he held her in his arms almost choked her.
It took several sips of water to wash the bacon down. She didn’t know what she was going to do. She could hitch a ride with one of the truckers in the room, but she didn’t want to promise them sex, and she didn’t have enough cash to offer to pay her way back to Lexington.
It was really not that hard to decide to continue on with Dutch. She drew in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. She took another bite of the fluffy scrambled eggs. She wouldn’t be able to keep a clear head once they were on the road again.
The only way that she would feel safe again on her own would be for her to eliminate the threat. She had never set out to hurt someone that had never hurt her physically before, but since it was a matter of her life versus his life, it wasn’t so much of a choice as a necessity.
She didn’t have a way to dispose of his body, and she had no idea where he lived. She would need a way to follow the man from his office to his home, and hoped that he was too complacent to have an elaborate security system. Since she knew almost nothing about security systems, maybe she could somehow gain access to his vehicle and either cut his brakes or hide in the backseat until he pulled into his garage at home. He wouldn’t be expecting her to bring the fight to him. He had been obvious in his dislike of her when they saw each other for the first time. She hadn’t seen an ounce of respect in the times that they’d talked face to face, so he probably mistook her for some weak female. Stupid bastard.
She shook her head and looked towards the hotel. Dutch was standing under the overhang looking towards the diner, he must have figured that was where she went. Watching the handsome man jump two puddles of water and skid on the oily asphalt was enough to make her grin. He was too good looking for her peace of mind. There was no way that she would give up on the possibility that they might find a way to be together until she had no other choice. That much she did know. If he told her it was over, she would walk away, but she knew that she would leave a piece of herself on the seat of that damned bike.
He shook his shaggy head when he walked through the first set of glass doors and Kylie noticed that the waitress almost broke her leg to snatch a menu from the rack at the end of the long bar. The woman stayed upright even as she kicked the chair away from her path.
Kylie noticed that Dutch wasn’t even paying the woman attention. He had seen her sitting in the booth and walked straight to her. He bent down and rested his hands on the table top and stared at her for a long moment, before straightening up, rapping his knuckles on the table and folding his length into the seat on the opposite side of the booth. The cup of coffee appeared without any orders, and Dutch slid a sideways nod at the woman. He must have made her day because when he said, “Steak and Eggs over medium, wheat toast.” The woman almost curtsied.
Kylie watched the woman and almost pitied her. Almost. She raised her hand as if to cup his shoulder in a friendly way and Kylie scowled. Any pity she might have felt for the woman dropped to her feet. Dutch was hers for the foreseeable future and she was not about to share. She narrowed her eyes at the waitress and the woman left the area.
Dutch being the unsuspecting dumbass, sipped his coffee and took a deep breath. He looked at her and turned his head away, then turned back to look into her puzzled eyes. Whatever he had to say must be hard. Maybe he was going to tell her that he was dropping her and leaving. It wouldn’t be the first time someone in his club had done it. This time she knew how to take care of herself. She would be emotionally crushed, but she would survive.
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” He shook his head no.
“Okay, well, the weather sucks again today, and the weather bimbo said that this is the rainiest year of the past fifty, The rain is supposed to be gone by morning and they say no more rain for the next three days.” She didn’t know what else to talk about in public. The waitress hovered with a pot of coffee, and Kylie was getting pissed.
“Would you smile at the waitress and put her out of her misery please? She has been trying to catch your eye since she saw you strut through the damned door. It’s embarrassing to see how anxious she is to serve you.”
She knew that she sounded like a jealous bitch, but come on.
Dutch looked up and over towards where the pretty brunette stood with the clear coffeepot in her hand and cradling the plastic ring with her other hand to balance it. She was probably thirty five years old and she looked tired, but he didn’t recognize her.
She noticed that his eyes were meeting hers and she smiled a big toothy grin. It showed a small gap between her front teeth and a gold eyetooth on the right side of her mouth. Her grin was so friendly and open that Dutch remembered a few years back when Ollie and Harvard had been shacking up with a woman with a couple of kids and a classic car. She had been a good woman, too good for the two scooter bums. He wanted to encourage her to talk, but when he looked at Kylie, the storm outside had nothing on her expression.
Fuck it, the waitress wasn’t his problem, but that look told him that she wanted to talk, there was no come and get me flirting.
He crooked his finger at the woman and told Kylie to “back it down, she is a friend of a friend, she’s no threat to you.”
The woman’s name tag told him that her name was Cathy. He hadn’t remembered but he smiled and scooted over a little so she could perch her hip on the seat by his hip.
“How have you been? I know it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen you hanging around with Ollie or Harvard.”
Her head went down and she looked at the table, drew a deep breath and looked up at him. She ignored Kylie and focused on Dutch.
“I can’t sit here for long, but I appreciate that you are taking the time to say hello. I need to contact the guys. Can you give them a message for me, please?”
The look of pity on his face must have snapped something inside of her. She shook her head and walked away from the booth.
A different waitress brought his breakfast and Dutch was chewing a slice of the tender steak when Cathy came back and dropped a small picture album in from of him.
“I’m sorry that I am interrupting your meal, but you see that kid? The one with the red hair and freckles? The five year old boy that smiles and plays with his toys and does his damndest to hide the fact that the needles the doctors and nurses poke his veins with hurt. He tries to keep me from seeing his pain because I cry for him when he holds it back until the pain gets too bad and he has no choice.”
She pushed the plate of food away to shove the pictures of the kid right in front of him. “My son is named Oliver. He is five years old and is alive because I refused to abort him. He is alive because I left when his father told me to get rid of it. Now he needs a kidney and mine won’t work. His brother and sister are not a match, either. He has been on the list for almost a year, but no matches have been found and he is running out of time.”
Dutch nodded his head and asked for her phone number. “I’ll get a hold of him and they will deal with this. They are good men regardless of how they acted before. I’m sorry that your son is so sick, he is a cute kid.”
She looked at Kylie and tried to smile. “Don’t break your hea
rt on these assholes honey. They just want what they can get and once you give them everything that you have, they tell you that you are not good enough to have their kid or marry them. They throw a woman out like trash and their kid with her. I don’t hold out much hope that Oliver’s sperm donor will bother to help, but I believe in God and he promises to answer prayers. Contacting his- contacting Ollie and Harvard is our last hope.”
She picked up the album and pulled the plate of food back to rest in front of Dutch.
Kylie watched the worried woman walk back to the kitchen and felt like shit. She didn’t have kids, but if she ever did, “God, how does she cope knowing that her kid is dying? How does she, oh lord, she has another boy and girl to take care of?”
Kylie reached into her bag and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. She rolled it up and left the booth. Cathy was coming from the back room when Kylie stopped her.
“I cannot imagine the hell that you go through every day when you see Oliver. I am not a mother, and I am not a praying person, but I will pray for you and your children.” She reached out and shoved the bill into the woman’s pocket. “I promise that Dutch will contact the boy’s father, I will hound him to hell and back until I know for a fact that he has done it.
“I want to tell you that he will make that call without hesitating, but you are right. I’m just an inconvenient convenience for him right now. I know that when he is ready to ride away I am going to have some regrets.”
The two women exchanged a long hug and Kylie walked to the exit doors.
Chapter 16
She walked slowly across the pavement and thought about the waitress Cathy. The child that she kept in spite of the orders of one of the bikers, maybe two of them, how did she cope all of the years between now and then? She could only imagine how a family of four lived on a waitress’ income. She probably had to get the state’s help for rent or food, but it still would have been tight.