by Flora Burgos
I could at least take comfort in my dog thinking whoever was behind me was safe, because he would have warned me otherwise. So that totally meant it was Jinx, right? Turned out I didn’t have to wait long to find out because the arms stiffened, and a nose landed in my neck, inhaling deeply, then the body behind me loosened its grip on me and stretched with a groan.
A raspy, very familiar could-be-etched-in-my-DNA-at-this-point voice said roughly, “Mornin’, Sweetness.”
I relaxed back against his body. I hadn’t even been aware that I was holding myself so tight, but I was happy it was Jinx. Let me correct that. Any girl would be happy it was Jinx; I was ecstatic it was him, and I couldn’t stop the smile that took over my face.
“Jinx?”
He curled around me again and asked lazily, “Mmhmm?”
“Uh, how did we come to be in the same bed? Didn’t you leave last night?”
“Had Scratch put you in my room. Can’t keep you safe if you’re in someone else’s.”
Oh. Well, I couldn’t really argue with that, so I voiced my thought, “Oh.”
He started shaking behind me with laughter. “You always this cute and cuddly in the morning?”
My cheeks flamed up, and I couldn’t say anything. No one had ever called me cute or cuddly. That made me sound like a teddy bear, or like my dog.
He inhaled at my neck again and ran his nose across it as he did so, igniting my body and lifting chill bumps from scalp to toe. Then he ruined it by giving me one more squeeze and releasing me to climb out of bed. “Come on, baby. Time to get up and get ready so we can hit the road.”
Zeus lifted his head and swiped his tongue across my cheek, his greeting to let me know it was time to get moving because his bladder would be waking up soon. “Jinx, I have to take Zeus out. He needs to take care of business.”
“Right, I’ll take the dog out, and you go get ready. Soap, shampoo, and anything else you need should be in the cabinet. I’ll be back in a bit, and we’ll go grab a bite to eat before we hit the shop. C’mon, Zeus, let’s take you out to piss while your mama gets dressed.”
My dog, the one who didn’t go to anyone except me, who obeyed my commands before the orders were even given most of the time, jumped out of my arms and leapt over me to land on the floor beside Jinx, where he shook out his fur and then sat at the man’s feet, staring up at him, his tongue hanging out, waiting to see what they were going to do next.
I lay in bed until they both walked out of the room. Jinx had Zeus on a leash just as a precaution since there was currently a bounty out on his head and we needed to make sure he was safe and contained at all times. After the door shut behind them, I climbed out of bed and grabbed my duffle on the way to the bathroom to get showered and ready to face this new day. I hadn’t even been on this island for a week, yet suddenly everything was different about my life.
I had just—unknowingly, sure, but still had—spent the night in a man’s arms. Even at the happy lovey-dovey stage of our relationship, I had never been held like that by my ex.
My dog, who distrusted most people, had happily gone off for a walk, leaving me alone, which was something that had never happened before.
I shrugged to myself. I mean, what else could I do? It was time to take a shower and get ready for work. I would have all day to mull over this situation while I sat at my desk.
Chapter Eleven
Roxanne
Wide Load was the person assigned to Zeus duty today, which seemed to suit them both. Zeus climbed up onto one of the couches and did a quick three circles before plopping down with a sigh and dropping his big head onto the big man’s lap.
I hadn’t considered the fact that I would be riding on a motorcycle for the first time in my life this morning, and for all my bravado, I was freaking out. I didn’t know the policies and procedures to keep myself safely on the bike and off the ground, and I wasn’t sure that Jinx was right when he grabbed my hands to pull them around his waist and said, “Just lean with it, Sweetness. It’s instinct. We won’t fall over.”
I felt the vibrations through my core from the loud and fierce roar of the bike coming to life, and with the helmet he had put on my head, I dropped my forehead to the back of his cut and closed my eyes, praying while we started off.
I was sweating, cussing, and on my way to a panic attack when I realized that the wind was blowing and he was right. My body seemed to know what it needed to do, or it was following his, but either way, it was okay.
I lifted my head up and watched as we roared down the street toward the shop and the rest of the downtown area, which I was learning was away from the touristy part of the island. I was enjoying this. It was freedom in a way that I had never felt before. I felt like I could fly in those moments. Had we been on open road with no one in sight, I would have thrown my arms out to embrace the wind’s wild caress, but instead, I held on and laughed in sheer delight.
I was still smiling huge when we pulled into the parking lot at Mama’s and Jinx killed the bike. “Let’s grab a bite to eat, Sweetness.”
I would have followed him into the ocean fully clothed in the dead of winter in that moment, so pure was my bliss. I climbed off the bike and pulled the helmet off my head, handing it to Jinx, then bent at the waist and flipped my hair back up to try and get some of the creases and chaos out of it. He watched me silently, and when I stood upright again, I saw that he had dropped my helmet onto the bike. He reached out for my hand, and I took his and let him lead me to the restaurant.
I looked around when I walked in but didn’t recognize any of the patrons and didn’t see Maisie, the waitress who had offered to read my palm the other day. That was something I had never had done before, and I couldn’t help but be curious to see if there was something she could discern from it, or if it was all the BS I had always believed.
Instead of eating outside this time, Jinx led me to a booth at the back of the restaurant and sat across from me. “So, are you a coffee drinker? Something else?”
“Coke. Regular, old fashioned, straight from the source, American red Coca-Cola is my vice.”
He quirked a lip and nodded when an older lady walked over to us, smiling, and asked, “Whacha kids want to drink this morning?”
Jinx answered for the both of us and then introduced her. “I want coffee, the stronger the better, and she wants a regular Coke. Birdie, this is Roxanne; Roxanne, this is Birdie, Wide Load’s old lady and mom to that idiot, Scratch.”
“Ahhhh.” I smiled at her broadly and happily because Scratch was cool, and her old man was dog sitting for me today. “Well, I dig your son. He’s cool. And your old man—“
She picked up on my hesitancy to say old man. Honestly, it felt almost like I was speaking a foreign language. “He’s my hubby, darlin’. Biker slang. You’ll get used to it eventually if you plan to stick around.”
Jinx had been lazily perusing the menu, but when she said that, he jerked his head up and said, “She’s staying.”
Birdie seemed to take his word for it and said, “I dropped in last night to make sure I didn’t need to do a supply run and saw the sperm receptacles, but I didn’t see you. Gypsy, right?”
“That’s what they have all decided they should call me. Well, except for him.” I pointed at the man across from me. “Evidently for him, I’m Sweetness.”
Birdie smiled at me softly and said, “You’ll come to appreciate it, darlin’. Givin’ you a road name means they staked a claim on you. We get our legal names from some person who has no clue what we’re gonna be like when we’re fully grown, and they’re giving us a name that reflects their hopes and dreams. We get our road names from people who have decided they like who we are as people, and we mean something to them. You spent a lot of time on the road, and you have those gorgeous, slanted dark eyes. You look just like a gypsy to me. Anyways, I didn’t see you, and I know it’s not kosher to talk club biz with an outsider, so I will just say that I have an inkling that you have some trouble, and I
hope you know if Jinx and my boy ain’t around and you need something, all you gotta do is give me or that husband of mine a shout, and we got you. Now, let me go get y’all’s drinks while you check out the menu and see what you want to eat for breakfast.”
She ambled away, and I could feel my eyes tearing up. I didn’t understand this tightness in my chest. The way it felt like I needed to cry and smile at the same time. I focused on the light on the ceiling above us to try and regain some composure, but I could feel it crumbling, that grip I had on my self-control. For the life of me, I couldn’t make sense of what was going on here. I had been on my own my whole life, and I didn’t need anyone. I knew that. But these people, these rough and tumble people who at first glance appeared to be of the criminal variety, were accepting me into the fold and giving me something I never knew I was missing. A place to belong.
I didn’t know what my plans were after this. I didn’t know where the next part of my journey would lead, but I did know that if it wasn’t on this island and as a part of the family that these people had built, I would always remember them, and I would always miss them.
A tear slipped over the rim, and I tried to catch it and slowly breathe in so it wouldn’t be obvious I was breaking apart, but I should have known better. Before I could catch it, Jinx had lifted a hand across the table and caught my tear on his pointer finger.
“What’s all this, Sweetness?”
I breathed in deeply, letting my lungs expand fully, and breathed out before answering him. “Honestly? I don’t know what to do with all of this. I told you I grew up in the system. I bounced from foster home to foster home, and the only real honest to God bond I have ever made before crossing onto this island and meeting you was with my dog. I’ve never been the type to make connections. I’m not a gypsy. I’m more of a nowhere girl.”
He searched my face in that way of his, letting me know he was looking to see if I had given him all of it. I had, and he seemed to realize that because his face softened, and he said, “Sweetness, we’re the Mischief Makers, a rowdy band of misfits who claimed a jester as our emblem. We praise Jesus at the altar of bikes, booze, and broads. We’ve, every brother among us, seen battle, and anyone we claim, no matter how we claim them, we do because there is something about you that fits with us. Maybe you weren’t a nowhere girl. Maybe you just hadn’t found your place.”
That seared through me.
Have I found my place here with these people?
I couldn’t say for sure because I’d never had a place and because I didn’t know what the future held for me, but I did know that I felt like I could belong here; that I fit in. For the first time in my life. And as I picked up the menu to decide what it was that I wanted to eat for breakfast, I felt happy.
Chapter Twelve
Roxanne
I was sitting behind the counter talking to Pops when I heard the bell over the door ring and looked up to greet the newcomer.
“Hey! What can we do for you?” I asked, smile at the ready.
The shaggy-headed man who walked through the door did a double take when he saw me and then shut the door behind him and kept walking toward me. “Well, you can do a lot for me, pretty girl. Where have you been all my life?”
That was one reaction I had not gotten from anyone who had stepped foot through the door, and I was stunned silent. Pops looked up and boomed out a laugh before yelling, “Well, sonuvabitch, look what the cat dragged in!”
The man making his way toward us grinned huge and said, “Codgy old coot. When did we get the new talent in here?”
He didn’t stop when he got to the counter and walked around it straight up to Pops. He slapped his arm and pulled him in for a hug before the older man could answer him and instead spoke again, “Darlin’, what are you doing tonight? Or say, for the rest of your life?”
The door opening to the garage saved me from responding when Jinx walked in—thank God—and the stranger pulled away from Pops and grinned broadly at Jinx, who walked right up to me and slung an arm over my shoulder.
It was an odd move considering the most we had touched aside from me throwing myself at him on the side of the road when we’d met was sleeping in the same bed last night and him somehow ending up with his arms around me. I felt his arm like a two-ton weight on me, but I was desperately trying to play it cool. Even if my heart was absolutely about to pound out of my chest.
The still unknown, to me anyway, newcomer took us in and nodded. “Good for you, brother. Bad for me because I see her playing a starring role in some of my dreams, but good for you.”
“Yeah. Bad for you because I will break your fucking neck if you even think about dreaming about her. Real bad for you.”
“Not even one?” the other man joked.
“Brother, I even think you’ve disobeyed, and I’ll make Dad’s worst walloping look seem like a gentle hug.”
“Right, well, are you gonna say hi to your only living blood brother, or are you going to keep pissing on your girl’s leg?”
Oh. I could see that now. There were a lot of similarities between Jinx and whatever his brother’s name was.
Jinx dropped his arm and walked toward his brother, who met him halfway, and they hugged tight. It took several moments before they let go, and I could feel it. The love and affection swelling in the room. These two loved each other.
When they pulled back, I had to put a hand to my chest to keep my heart from bursting right out of it. I could feel the look they were sharing. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before, and I realized that this was what reuniting siblings who loved and missed each other did. I had none, so I had never experienced it.
I was so caught up in my feelings that I didn’t even notice they were now talking and laughing. Finally, it occurred to me that they were talking to me, and I tuned in. “I’m sorry. What?”
The brothers looked at each other and snickered.
“Sweetness, I was introducing you to my brother. Roxanne, Nomad. Nomad, Roxanne. The boys call her Gypsy and”—I got a pointed look here—“no, Nomad isn’t his real name. It’s Ging—”
Nomad—whatever the heck his real name was—lifted a hand and smacked his brother on the back of the head, laughing and saying, “That ain’t my fucking name, and you know it, asshole.”
Jinx retaliated by elbowing him in the gut, and Pops groaned and yelled, “Alright, you little fuckers, cut that shit out!”
That got them to stop, and they seemed to realize where they were and with whom because they both dropped their eyes and started adjusting their clothes. This was when I started laughing, and Pops rasped out a laugh, too.
Finally, Nomad looked at Jinx and asked, “Trouble?”
Jinx responded with a single word. “Heaps.”
Pops and I weren’t laughing any longer.
Jinx spoke again, saying, “How long are you in for?”
Nomad responded, “If you need me? I turn and burn, drop this load, and put in for family time. You don’t, I’m back out tonight and out of Texas tomorrow. So, you tell me.”
Jinx nodded and said, “I’ll fill you in, and you can head out. Shit’s not getting too hot yet, so we don’t need reinforcements.”
“Right. And the phone call I heard about from Scratch? You gonna fill me in on that one, too?”
Three sets of eyes turned to me, and Jinx said something I would be hearing a lot in the future. “Club business.”
Nomad nodded and said, “10-4.”
Jinx smiled at me and said to the room at large, “The old man ain’t getting a damn thing done since Roxanne sashayed her sweet ass in here the first time. We’re standing here, and no one has anything on the books for over an hour, and you’re in town for just a little bit. Let’s go to Mama’s and catch up, and we can talk business later before you leave.”
I immediately felt like an intruder, so I put my hands up and said, “Hey, you guys go catch up. I’m fine here and can hold down the fort. I’ll only be a third wheel
, as it were.”
Jinx shook his head, but he had lost the easy expression on his face as he said, “Sweetness, I’m pretty sure we got somewhere at breakfast. I think you see that there’s something between us and that your ‘I don’t belong’ shit doesn’t fly here. So, shut up and grab whatever you need to eat. Nome, you bobtail?”
Bobtail?
“Yup, but if Pops is riding in my rig, he needs a damn seatbelt. I’m not carrying his ass to the hospital because he can’t sit still.”
Pops yelled at him, “Look here, fucker! I was slinging gears long before you were even a twinkle in your daddy’s eye, and I could outdrive you any day of the week. Gypsy gets the seat because fuck only knows what you get up to in that sleeper, and she might catch something Ajax can’t take off.”
“Y’aren’t worried about catching something, old man?”
“Son, that shit runs from me. I’m Chuck Norris to an STD.”
At that, we all lost it and couldn’t stop laughing as we walked out to his truck and I got a shock.
“Holy shit, dude! You drive a big truck?” I couldn’t contain my excitement, and I didn’t even care. I had never been this close to one in person, and I couldn’t wait to climb in.
Nomad smiled cockily. “Yes, ma’am, I do. She’s a beaut, isn’t she? I got her from our old man, and Jinx and I completely rebuilt her.”
This got me to look at Jinx. “For real?” I was the kid in the candy store. I couldn’t contain my excitement, and the man who could tame Pitbulls and diagnose Sally on the side of the road and rub his nose across my neck in a way that lifted chill bumps across my whole body, he just got even better. He could do something like this with his own hands.