by Cat Porter
“Oh shitters!” Nina pulled in alongside it. “Alicia’s back from Texas?”
“Perfect timing,” I said.
“She’s going to blow a gasket.”
“Not just a gasket. This is good. We’ll take care of Mindy and get the men the info they need.”
We hustled from the car and charged into the clubhouse.
Nina stopped Dawes, who was hauling a box of files from Jump’s office into the meeting room. “Have you heard from Butler? He’s not answering his cell.”
“Nope. He and Boner haven’t come back yet. Anything up?”
“Jill and I have a lead on how the Python disappeared. We wanted to let the guys know.”
“They had an idea, too, and headed south to go deal with it.” Dawes cast a pointed glance at me.
Catch, of course.
Alicia strode into the room. “Hey, girls.”
I grinned. “Hey, Alicia. Welcome home. Could we talk to you for a minute?”
Nina raised her chin at Dawes. “Get my old man on the phone, would you? It’s a nine-one-one.”
He stared at us.
Nina waved a hand in his face. “Old Lady powwow.”
He rolled his eyes and ambled off.
Alicia raised an already arched eyebrow at us. “What the hell’s going on?”
The three of us headed for the Tingle in Nina’s car. Alicia had called Cassandra, the manager of the nightclub and confirmed that Mindy was there rehearsing. On the drive over, I explained my Catch suspicions to Nina and Alicia.
“You see, Mindy did all this to get back at Boner for being with me.”
“Using my old man to do it,” Alicia said. “And colluding with another club to steal from us at the same time. That goes above and beyond.”
“Above and so fucking beyond,” I agreed. “And so very fucking low.”
“And Catch is not taking Becca away from you, Jill. You told Boner about him threatening you, right?” Alicia asked.
“No, I haven’t told him yet.”
“Why the hell not?” Her throaty voice got louder.
I bit my lip. “I didn’t want to make things worse between the clubs. And now this happened.”
“Things are already worse, and he needs to know, Jill. You don’t keep secrets like that from your old man. That’s not protecting anybody. You’re not in this alone anymore, hon.”
“Thank you. That means a lot to me.”
“It’s the truth,” Alicia replied.
We swerved into the Tingle parking lot.
Alicia turned to me. “You stay back. You and the baby are more important than this bullshit.”
“Yeah, but this bullshit has to be dealt with,” I replied.
“Damn straight,” she replied. “And it will be.”
Suddenly, the back door of the night club swung open, and a movement blurred before us.
“That’s her. Somebody tipped her off!” shouted Alicia.
She and Nina ran toward Mindy, who was opening the door of her car.
I charged after them. Nina got Mindy facedown against her car, her arms twisted behind her.
“Get the fuck off me!” Mindy yelled.
“Shelley Anne told us all about it,” Alicia said.
“All about me fucking your old man?” Mindy wrestled with Nina’s steady grip. “He was as horny as a teenager. You don’t feed the beast, do you? He even found me again later on, hungry for more, and I fed him good and plenty. Don’t you worry.”
Alicia viciously dug her hands into Mindy’s long brown hair, yanking it to the side. Mindy screeched.
“Boner didn’t want you for his old lady? Tough fucking shit, little girl,” Alicia said.
Mindy glared at me, her breath ragged.
“Anyone force you to do this?” I asked.
“No!” Mindy struggled for air, her neck craning.
“I think you’d better apologize to our president’s old lady,” I said.
“Fuck you! I will not—”
Nina twisted her arms further and kicked a leg between Mindy’s.
I rested my hands on my hips. “The men know that it was you. Jump and Boner know. Twist a guy’s dick. He’s going to twist back. They’re coming for you next. Did you take the gun from the case?”
Mindy’s hands tightened into fists.
“Did you give it to someone else?” I pushed.
No answer.
I stepped closer to her, my voice softening. “Catch has a nice circle of hellfire on the front and back of his leather jacket, doesn’t he?”
A choked noise escaped Mindy’s mouth, her eyes flaring, her body jerking in Nina’s hold.
“Ding, ding, we have a winner,” I said.
“Fuck you,” Mindy spit out.
“Really? Well, I tried this the nice way. Now, we’re going to have to do this the Alicia way.”
Long icy-blonde hair flew in my vision. With a grunt, Alicia punched Mindy in the face, knocking her out. Blood spattered on the hood of Mindy’s silver car.
“Well, since heavy lifting is out for me,” I said, taking Nina’s car keys from the back pocket of her jeans. “How about I do the driving?”
BUTLER AND I HAD ARRIVED at the Flames of Hell property about two hours south of Meager, in the vicinity of Elk, Nebraska, south of Chadron. All around the property, the high chain-link fence was trimmed with barbed wire and dotted with cameras. Butler did all the talking and got us in through the heavily guarded gate. I didn’t trust myself to speak just yet.
Catch rolled into the yard as we swung off our bikes, and I knew. I knew he was responsible by the slant of his head and the crooked grin splitting his face as we followed him inside their clubhouse.
He started out by denying it. I let him run his mouth, but then I cut him off and got to the point.
“I get that Jill was your piece of good for a while there, and she gave you the miracle that is your daughter. But you didn’t take care of all that amazing when you had it, and now, Jill is my woman. And nothing about her, except for the kid you share, comes under your jurisdiction. You need to accept that and move on. I didn’t take away anything that was yours. I only claimed what was mine.”
“Fuck Jill.”
My pulse flared. “Say again?”
Catch pulled the Python from his back. “This gun? I like this gun.”
“Do you now?” murmured Butler.
“Oh, yeah. I appreciate a good firearm, especially one with history.”
“Then, you’ll appreciate that you wouldn’t have Becca if it wasn’t for that gun, the man who owned it, and his perfect aim,” I spit out.
“So I’ve heard.”
“Put the gun down, Catch.” Finger stood in the doorway, his distinctive sandpaper voice making Catch do a double take.
Finger folded his arms across his chest. “I’m gone two days, and you managed to bust out your balls again, bro?”
“Did what needed to be done,” muttered Catch.
“Not with that gun,” Finger interjected. “That belongs with the Jacks. You respect the weapon of a good man, a good brother. I don’t take that lightly. I admire your play, but this? This isn’t right.” Finger’s eyes rested on me. “It’s disrespect to a man I knew and admired.”
Catch leaned over and raked a hand through his hair, as if that would juggle a few brain cells to help him better grasp the logic of his prez’s argument.
“Catch,” Finger said, his throaty voice low.
Catch stuck out the revolver. The bullying boy in the schoolyard had finally been caught red-handed by the principal.
“Come give it to me,” I said on a snarl.
Catch moved forward, got in my face, eyebrows raised, and dropped the revolver as my hand reached out and caught it.
Little shit.
“Party’s over,” said Catch. “I’d invite y’all to stay, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Ah, no thanks,” I replied. “I’ve heard the beds around here suck.”
“You mother—” Catch lunged at me.
Two Flames dragged him back.
“How we gonna get past this shit now? You wanna tell me?” Butler’s voice thundered.
“I’m gonna need an apology,” I said, eyes going from Catch to Finger. “Then, the Jacks are gonna require a sweet form of payback for this heavy transgression. But first, I wanna know how you did it, Catch. Who’d you use to get it? Are you that much smarter than I took you for?”
“Your woman did it for me. Didn’t take much to convince her either. Heart of flames, that one.”
I saw red. “Son of a bitch!” My hands clamped around his neck and squeezed.
“Boner!” Butler yelled.
Hands shoved me back, my hair flying in my face. “You lying piece of shit! Jill would never—”
Catch choked and coughed, his face different shades of red, his hands shoving at my chest, curling in my shirt. “Yeah, Jill would never a hell of a lot of things, but with me, she sure as fuck did. Goes to show you.”
I pounced on him, my fist landing on his jaw, and he fell back, grunting. Another Flame moved toward me, but Finger stopped him with a hand on his chest.
“Catch more than deserved that,” Finger said.
A loud ting sliced the air. Butler untucked his phone from a pocket and glanced at it. “Fuck.” He tapped the phone and put it to his ear. “What the hell’s going on?” His eyes flicked up at me. “You and Jill did what?”
I grabbed the phone from him.
“We realized it was Mindy who stole the Python for Catch,” Nina said.
Mindy. Of course. Fucking Mindy.
I tossed the phone back at Butler.
“We’re on our way back. Don’t do anything else.” Butler shut down his phone.
My eyes pinned on Catch. “You been watching me, you knew about me and Mindy and you got her to do your dirty work, you slick scumbag?”
He let out a laugh. “Aw, you thought I was talking about your old lady before, huh? Nah. This other bitch, she was more than willing.”
Teasing, lying piece of shit.
Butler moved next to me. “Let’s get out of here.” He cast a dark glance at Finger. “Compensation needs to hit the table.”
We got on our bikes and waited for the compound gate to open. And that was when I saw him.
Across the street, a dark-suited figure, wearing black sunglasses, leaned against a silver Cadillac Escalade.
His hair, shorter now, was still that shock of shiny black. His round face was more swollen than when I’d last seen him, but that acidic expression etched on his mouth was the same.
He slanted his head.
Butler spoke with the Flame at the gate, but my eyes were riveted on Alejandro Calderone, my hands gripping my handlebars. The edges of his lips curved as his hand went to his temple, and he saluted me with two fingers. Another well-dressed man opened the back door for him. Alejandro climbed in, his eyes never leaving me. He watched me from his window, that twist still on his mouth. His driver started up the Escalade, and they sped off.
My wait was over.
I STRODE INTO THE MAIN HALL, and those gray-blue eyes flashed up at me from the sofa. With a quirky grin on her face, Jill held a huge margarita glass with a frozen green drink in it. She might as well have been having a cocktail at an upscale beach bar, not stretched out on the faded blue corduroy couch of the One-Eyed Jacks MC clubhouse lounge.
She put down her drink and wiped at the edge of her mouth. I dived at her and took that mouth. Apple and icy vegetables shivered over my tongue.
“What the hell are you drinking?”
“It’s a smoothie I just made. The ladies added vodka to theirs.” Her face was flushed. “Do you like it?”
My girl-woman. I raked my fingers through her hair, tugging her head back. “No, but I’ll take it.”
I kissed her again, our tongues making fresh declarations.
Her arms wrapped around my middle. “You got the gun back?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.” She buried her face in my throat. “Good.”
“You want to tell me what the hell happened around here?”
“Nina and I bumped into Mindy’s gal pal Shelley Anne at the beauty salon in town, and we overheard her bragging about partying with Mindy and Jump at the Full Moon Howl.”
“Jump?”
“Yeah, Jump had himself a good ole time with both lovely ladies. By the way, Alicia came home from her trip to Texas today, too.”
“Ah, fuck.” I leaned back against the sofa.
“Big fuck. She wasn’t too surprised, but that sort of humiliation truly sucks.” She leaned over and took another swallow of that green frozen crap.
“And what did you and Nina do?”
“We had our girl’s back, of course. Old-lady code and all.”
I eyed her. “Old-lady code?”
Jill shrugged. “It’s a minefield out there.”
She went into detail about how Mindy had gotten the gun out of the clubhouse.
I rubbed a hand down my face. “Shit. Have you seen Jump?”
“He’s making himself scarce. Alicia went ballistic, and the three of us headed for the Tingle where we found Mindy. There was a bit of a smackdown in the parking lot.”
“Jill, did you—”
“Not me. I did use my verbal skills to let Mindy know how I felt about what she’d done.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I bet you did.”
She took another swallow of her frothy green cocktail. “Mindy’s downstairs in the cellar. Your woman scorned awaits.”
I wrapped her hand in mine. “You’re all jazzed up now, aren’t you?”
She squeezed my hand. “I got angry, but this time I focused and did something about it. It felt good to stand up, fight back.”
My woman had fought back.
In that fight, do we splinter like bone or stand tall, as if we were hard and made of iron? Our bodies were made of bone, but there was iron to be found within, and each of us had to find it.
I brushed her cheek with a quick kiss. “Standing tall, baby.”
She pursed her lips. “I hate that Catch did this. I really hate it.”
“He tried to make me believe that you had done it for him.”
Her eyes shot up at me.
“I didn’t believe him, not for a second.”
Jill’s hand twisted in mine. “He called me and threatened me, saying he’d take Becca.”
“When?”
“When we were at the burger place.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
She didn’t answer.
“There’s more, isn’t there?”
She pressed her lips together.
“Say it, Jill. It ain’t gonna be nothing I haven’t heard before.”
Her wet eyes met mine. “He threatened your life if I didn’t do what he wanted. He said he’d get to you any way he could. Would start out small, like he did today, and then—”
“He ain’t going to touch me or have anyone else do it. Finger was not happy with him either. You should’ve told me. Your life and safety do not get threatened, and me and the club don’t know about it. You hear me? No matter what kind of hold he has over you.”
“He doesn’t have a hold over me.”
I tilted my head at her, my hand smoothing across her jaw. Her gaze was steady, emotional but steady. I rubbed a thumb across her cheek.
My woman.
I had to protect her with everything I had, for as long as we had.
“Are you going to the cellar now?” she asked. “Do your judge-and-jury thing?”
“No, I don’t want to see that bitch. That’s for Jump to deal with, his mess to clean up and save face if he can. I did what had to get done. Now, I want time with my old lady. You got to get back to Rae’s?”
“Actually, Grace and Tania are having a girls’ sleepover with Becca and Rae at the house. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
“I c
ould think of a few other choice words for it.”
She let out a soft laugh and pressed her face into my chest.
BACK AT RAE’S, I quickly packed an overnight bag, chatted with Tania and Rae, and gave my daughter a big hug and kiss where I got my hair covered in homemade play dough.
I followed Boner back to his house. He parked his bike at the end of the long driveway and immediately grabbed my bag from the car.
“We got a whole night, huh?”
I smoothed my hair back, checking for more dough bits. “A whole night.”
I glanced up at the massive stone chimney rising over the cedar siding–paneled house, which was nestled on a green hilly slope, the hill joining the low mountains farther in the distance. A deep porch wrapped around the front, and that incredible bay window was prominent in the center.
Boner unlocked the thick wooden door and pushed it open. He took my hand and brought me inside where he punched a series of numbers into a security-alarm panel on the side of the door.
“I need to get in the shower. I’ll take your bag up. You relax. Be back down in a few.”
“Okay.”
He planted a kiss on my mouth, his fingers lingering at the side of my jaw. “So good to have you here all to myself. Finally,” he said quietly.
He toed off his boots and climbed the stairs, my bag in his hand, his dusty leathers creaking as he moved, the wood steps groaning in his wake.
I stepped into the living room. Spare and uncluttered, except for the stone fireplace with a slab of dark wood for a mantel and the wood trim along the edges of the ceiling. Matching dark wood shutter blinds lined the great bay window, and the thick navy blue cushions dressing the window seat were inviting. A single burgundy-colored sofa faced the hearth.
Did he ever have the guys over to watch a game on the TV and have a few beers?
My gaze skipped around the stark room. He didn’t have a television.
He had a turntable, receiver and speakers though, and lots of music albums. Actual vinyl albums lined the built-in shelves on one side of the fireplace. I shuffled through the records. The Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Velvet Underground. Early Rolling Stones, late Beatles. Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, even Cream, the collected works of Johnny Cash. The classics, baby.