Blizzard: (The Brotherhood Journals Book One)

by Jane, Addison

  Slider and Eagle kept their eyes on her but stepped in closer too—a protective move.

  It wasn’t long before I heard footsteps followed by a softly closing door.

  “Stop being such an asshole and come inside. Listen to what they have to fucking say.” Deacon’s tone hit me hard and I spun around, stomping straight toward him like a bull who had seen red. Someone grabbed my arm just before I reached him, and held me back from the swing of my fist that I had already lined up in my head.

  “Don’t tell me what to fucking do, cop,” I sneered, spitting at his feet.

  He just snorted, unwavered by my angry outburst. “Fine, Blizzard. Stand out here and fucking sulk like a child. But I’m telling you now, you’re going to want to hear what they have to say if you want to keep your family safe.”

  “They couldn’t even keep their own motherfucking family safe!” I yelled. Optimus pulled me back toward my brothers, but I fought against him. I wasn’t about to let this asshole down talk me.

  “Enough!” Judge’s voice made me stand a little straighter. He stood in the doorway. He wore light denim jeans and a button up shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his forearms. He looked a lot more muscular than I remembered.

  The police badge that hung from the chain around his neck, sitting just below his beard and sparkling in the sunlight was what made me want to pull my piece and shoot him where he stood.

  Op choked, “Cops? You guys are cops?”

  “Yeah,” he said seemingly bored by the response. “Now get the fuck in here before I let the kid here arrest all you assholes.”

  Pulling his handcuffs from his belt, Deacon smirked and twirled them around his finger.

  “Arrest us, and we’ll expose all of you,” Slider shot back.

  Judge just grinned. “Expose me, and I’ll tell all your brothers how much you love having a finger in your asshole when you fuck.” Judge stepped back inside the doorway, but his shadow still loomed there, waiting for us to make a move.

  “I… I…” Slider stammered, his ever-present grin, completely wiped. Leo attempted to keep a straight face as he patted Slider on the back but no luck.

  “Let’s go,” Op said sternly, heading for the stairs. I took a deep breath and followed behind him, my other brothers at my back.

  Leo cleared his throat. “So… Is it your own finger, or hers?”

  I couldn’t help but crack a grin as I climbed the stairs. There was scuffling behind me and a few muttered words. We’re walking into God knows what, and our SAA is here cracking butthole jokes.

  This isn’t how I intended to spend my day.

  We took seats around Deacon’s huge dining room table. Judge sat with my mother and Skins across the table from Optimus and me, while Deacon and my other brothers leaned against the walls and furniture.

  I eyed Judge’s badge. “What division are you with?” He wasn’t just a police officer, I knew that much.

  “Federal.”

  I raised my eyebrow. “As in ‘Bureau of Investigation?’”

  He dipped his chin in acknowledgment.

  Skins was the only one of the three still dressed in his club gear. With the tattoos and the look he had going, I couldn’t imagine him in anything else. But I knew he was one of them too, or he wouldn’t be sitting here.

  “This doesn’t make any sense.” My anger was building by the second and I was struggling to keep it at bay.

  I was thankful when Optimus took over.

  “You asked us for help. You came to us. Rose risked her life to get your daughter back. We risked ours going in after her.” Op’s fist was clenched tightly on the table. “Now explain to me why the ‘F-B-fucking-I’ is asking for our help to bring down a group of dangerous douchebags when y’all could blow the fuckers up and sweep that shit under the massive rug that you call the system.”

  I had to laugh. Op was angry and where I was losing my mind trying to get my head around what the fuck was going on, his shit was on point.

  My mom twisted her hands nervously, but Judge just nodded his head.

  “You’re right, that’s exactly what should have been done.” Well, that was unexpected. “I’ve been doing this for a long time. I've been undercover for longer than you’ve been alive.” He scrubbed his hand over his beard. “Sending people in after Lane had too many risks. We’ve spent so long getting to where we are that the possibility of them putting two and two together and finding out who we really were wasn’t one we could take. We gave up seeing our families every day, fuck, even once a year, so we could make a difference in this country. To see that destroyed in one swoop…” Judge shook his head.

  I saw his position. These people gave up their lives in order to lessen crime. They might not get it all, but they did enough to make a difference. The Brothers by Blood dealt in weed here and there, some guns on occasion, but we discouraged the hard stuff. It changed people, it made them angry and violent and feigning for their next fix, which meant they would do anything to get it.

  Anything.

  And that wasn’t what we were about. We believed in family and the brotherhood. Helping each other stand when we were weak. That’s how we made it through. Not some white crystals that removed your problems for a few hours, only to have them come back, even more fierce and aggressive than before.

  Clearing his throat, Leo broke the silence that had filled the room. “What exactly is it that you do?”

  “We remove the dirt. It’s obviously not news to you that there are clubs out there trafficking women and filling the streets with toxic substances,” Skins explained, speaking up for the first time. “Sending in undercover agents isn't new. Which unfortunately meant that it was getting harder and harder to get men inside without someone within the club to vouch for them.”

  This was true. A lot of clubs now made it compulsory for new members to be known by someone within the club before they can be brought into the fold. Even with a man like Wrench, who had the abilities to find extensive information on people, there was still a possibility of deception.

  “Starting a club of our own took away a lot of the suspicion. We have authority to make deals with other clubs. We don't care much for the little people, we use the information to take down the head of the chain.” Judge talked casually like he was sitting at the table with a group of friends, discussing the latest movies or television shows. “That way, we know they are dealing with so many different clubs or gangs that the blame could fall on any one of them.”

  It was smart, I had to give them that.

  Putting an agent in a club was dangerous because the majority of the members could have known each other for years—since they were kids even. The finger would so easily be pointed at the member with the least connections.

  “And Jackie’s place in this whole thing?” Op asked the question I couldn't.

  I wanted to know, but I knew the answer may be something I didn't want to hear.

  Judge looked to my mom who nodded before taking a large breath. “I was initially sent to the Brothers by Blood to get information. We had word that drugs were coming in from Mexico, but they weren’t crossing the border. They were taking them out on boats and bringing them into small ports on the coast of Florida that weren’t as vigilant, then tracking them up through Alabama.”

  I noticed the difference in her as she spoke. This wasn’t the woman I thought I knew. This was the Federal Agent, who knew exactly what she was doing and was sure about her facts. She held herself a little stronger, more sure of herself, like this is what she was made for. This was who she was.

  “At that time, the Brothers by Blood was the biggest and most well know club in that state. And we figured if someone were pushing shit through, it would be you or you would know about it.”

  I saw Optimus nod out of the corner of my eye. It surprised me. It was well before our time. “They knew about it,” he confirmed. “But it wasn’t us.”

  My mom smiled. “So we found.”

  “Woah. Th
at doesn’t explain you ending up with Dad and sticking around for fourteen years.” I tapped on the table. It didn’t make any fucking sense.

  “I fell in love with your father.” Her voice was soft and her gaze staring at the space behind me like she was watching a moving playing on the wall. “They tried to pull me out, but they forgot that I knew things that they didn’t want a motorcycle club to know. I threatened to tell, hoping they wouldn’t call my bluff. If I’d admitted to what I was doing there, the club would have killed me.”

  It was a harsh reality, but it was true. More so back then than it was now. We had cleaned up our act, learning how to make money out of legitimate businesses had overtaken our need to run drugs to survive.

  “I handed in my badge. They left me alone.” She shrugged like it was nothing. Like she hadn’t made one of the hardest decisions in her life, simply because she fell in love with the wrong man. “When I had you, Hands started drinking more and more. It spiraled out of control and I was beginning to get scared. He hit me a few times. Always told me I was spending too much time on you and not giving him the attention he needed.”

  I frowned. “I don’t remember you spending a lot of time with me. You were there, but not like the other kids with their parents.”

  She swallowed harshly and water brimmed her eyes, “I felt like I had chosen this life. I’d given up everything, my parents, my family back home. I felt that I needed to make him happy to make it work. So I put him first.” The tears trickled down her cheek and Judge placed his large hand over hers, squeezing it gently.

  I felt sick.

  It was like everything I’d believed in my head had been tossed into a burning fire and I was watching it go up in flames.

  “The first time I saw him hit you was the day I found out I was pregnant with Delaney. And I knew then, I wouldn’t put another child through what I’d put you through.” She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. I couldn’t speak. I was entranced, I was angry.

  But surprisingly, not with her.

  “I told Dealer I was leaving. He understood. But when I tried to take you with me…” she paused and shook her head, “…Hands threatened to kill the both of us if I tried.”

  I threw my chair back and it crashed against the wall, barely missing Eagle who jumped out of the way. “The bastard didn’t even want me! He spent more time abusing me than he ever did talking to me!”

  A sob broke from my mom’s chest.

  “You were his legacy,” Optimus muttered before turning to look up at me.

  I seethed. My breathing was heavy and I could feel my own tears begin to attack.

  “You were his link to the club. He knew he was on thin ice with Dealer, the only reason he was allowed to stick around was because everyone wanted to protect you. Your mom had already walked out, they weren’t about to take your dad too.” Op shook his head. “He knew it.”

  I braced my hands on the table and hung my head.

  My mom sniffed. “I went to Judge. He’d already had ideas about starting a club, and with my knowledge and connections in the MC world, the FBI jumped at the chance to let me back in.”

  “Lane isn’t his then?” Leo pointed to Judge.

  Judge chuckled loudly, the sound reminded me of Santa Claus. “And she isn’t my Old Lady.”

  My brothers and I all stared at him wide eyed. “Oh, come on. You really think an old man like me could pick up a beautiful woman like her? Not that I wouldn’t mind with a tight ass like that.”

  “Bro,” I warned, screwing up my face in disgust. “That’s my mom, man. Keep your dirty comments to yourself.”

  I saw her face brighten as I spoke, and I knew just that one comment had meant more to her than anything.

  “Unless we’re all gonna sit around and start crying and sharing our feelings, can we get on to why you felt the need to tell us all this? When you could have just as easily continued with your lives and not risked being ratted out and hunted down by every MC in the country?” Slider’s words sobered us all.

  He was right. There was a reason they were here. We could take what they’ve told us and ultimately destroy them.

  “We're asking you to help us one more time,” Judge said solemnly.

  Optimus sat a little straighter. “You're kidding right?”

  A young woman stepped into the room, walking around the table and standing behind Judge. Black straight hair framed her face and dark brown eyes watched us cautiously. She was tall but slim, her denim jeans and T-shirt hugged her body firmly.

  “This is Hadley, she needs someone to watch out for her, protect her,” Mom explained, smiling over at the girl.

  Op shook his head. “Look… we ain't a charity. We helped before because it was Lane, a part of Blizzard’s blood. We can't just take in strays.”

  “You protect your club girls, right? They're your property so you watch out for them?” Hadley’s voice was soft but strong.

  “I know you aren't saying what I think you're saying,” I commented dryly.

  She placed her hand on her hip, popping it out to the side as she smirked down at me. I watched my brothers out of the corner of my eye. I could already tell Slider was sweeping over her, dying to get inside her jeans and even Leo and Eagle couldn't hide their appreciation. She was gorgeous. That I would admit.

  “You do realize what our club girls do to warrant our protection?” Optimus asked slowly.

  “They fuck.” She laughed boldly. “One of my favorite past times.”

  “Christ,” Leo muttered under his breath.

  My eyes shot to Judge. “She needs protection that badly? Why don't you go to your superiors and ask them to fucking watch her?”

  “Because it's one of them that I'm trying to protect her from.”

  I scrubbed at my face, turning to Op to gauge what his reaction was to this.

  “You want us to go against the FBI?” he growled.

  “No,” Skins answered. “That's going to be what we’ll be doing. We just need a little more time to figure out what to do about this asshole and how to get him out… or take him down.”

  “What's his deal?” I asked curiously.

  Judge’s face instantly turned serious and stern. “He had a taste of the dark life.”

  I nodded, understanding the meaning behind his words. It was so easy to be infected by darkness. Especially when you spend your life fighting for what's right. These guys had spent a lot of their lives bringing down the ‘bad guys’ and only making a small dent in the criminal empire. While they saw any accomplishment a win, someone who was weak would not. It was the reason for that old saying, ‘if you can't beat ‘em, join ‘em.’

  “You come to us, you take your role seriously. You're there as a club girl. You don't get special treatment, you don't get to back out of your responsibilities, you play by the rules,” Optimus laid it out for Hadley, his eyes locked on hers.

  She didn't waver though and I could already tell she was going to fit in just fine.

  “Yes, sir.”

  I could feel the vibrations in my chest even from my place at the clubhouse bar as the group of men pulled their bikes in and switched them off. Chelsea smiled at me from where she was sitting on the floor with Harlyn and Jayla, playing some kind of board game. Both the girls perked up at the noise as well and were on their feet in an instant, shooting out the door.

  I laughed quietly. “I think Jay loves that she has something in common with Harlyn.”

  “What's that?” Chel asked, pushing off the floor and dusting off her pants.

  “They both have a big, tough, burly biker wrapped around their little finger.”

  Chelsea giggled, nodding in agreement.

  “I ain't even angry at that little remark.” Blizzard strolled through the door first, Jayla tossed over his shoulder, laughing and kicking her legs. My heart filled, seeing him with that little girl would never get old.

  He lifted her and placed her on the ground. “We gotta get you a helmet kid, s
o we can go for rides.”

  Jay bounced on her feet, turning to me with the widest smile I'd ever seen as if asking for permission. “Uhh… Are you sure about that? I mean, she's only four and she’s—”

  Blizzard used my rambling as an opportunity to move closer, slamming his lips down on mine before I could protest anymore.

  I melted instantly, his tongue not even having to fight through my lips as I opened to invite him in. His fingers threaded through the hair at the back of my neck and kneaded at the muscles, driving my body even further into ecstasy.

  “Cut that shit out you two.” We fell apart, both grinning. Optimus shook his head as he passed, tossing Harlyn onto the nearest sofa, laughing with glee before sweeping his woman into his arms and doing what Blizzard had just done.

  “Didn't you just tell us to cut it out?” I laughed.

  When they pulled apart, Chelsea breathing heavily, he turned to me with a cocky smirk.

  “President,” he said simply, pointing to himself. Then he turned his finger to Blizzard. “Vice President.”

  Blizzard held his middle finger up, pointing it at Op who just laughed.

  I heard more heavy boots come through the door, Blizzard’s brothers. But what I didn't expect was the person that followed in behind them carrying a backpack slung over her shoulder.

  “Hadley!” I exclaimed in shock, but I couldn't help but smile. She grinned back at me, skipping over and throwing her arms around me in a hug. “What are you doing here?” I asked when we both stepped back.

  “She's taking Chelsea's old room.” Slider grinned as he moved up beside her and tossed an arm over her shoulder casually.

  I couldn't stop my eyes from going wide. “You're gonna be a club girl?”

  She nodded. “The men here are sexy as fuck. Is it a requirement to be hot in order to join this club?”

  Chelsea laughed. “They also have huge egos to match their huge—”

  “That's enough from you,” Op growled, taking her hand and dragging her away.

  “Nice to meet you!” she called over her shoulder as they disappeared down the hall to Optimus’ office.