My heart belonged to somebody else now.
“I’m in love with Fiona,” I said quietly.
I knew Sloane was hurt, but she tried to play it off. “Well, pff, YEAH – cause you’re a DUMBASS.”
I played along to let her save face. “Maybe.”
“Besides, it was just a hypothetical question.”
“I know.”
It wasn’t.
I guess we’d gotten too close to uncomfortable truths, because she abruptly said, “Alright… you take care of yourself, Jack.”
“You too, Sloane.”
Then she surprised me: “And… good luck with her. She doesn’t know how good she’s got it.”
“Thanks, Sloane. For everything.”
“You’re welcome. Bye.”
“Goodbye.”
I hung up the phone and put it in my pocket.
It felt good to leave that piece of the past behind me.
I imagined another piece of the past in my mind’s eye – the face of Lou Shaw, bloody and angry, his eyes staring at me.
That piece was behind me now, too.
“Burn in hell, you son of a bitch,” I muttered.
Then I went back inside, peeled off my jeans, and got back in bed.
This time I couldn’t resist getting right up next to that gorgeous body.
“Mmm,” she murmured sleepily, eyes closed, and smiled as I spooned her. “Where’d you go…?”
“Just stepped out for a second… but I’m not going anywhere else,” I whispered in her ear. “I’m staying right here.”
Her hand slipped down below my waist and lightly grabbed my cock… which began to immediately get hard.
“Good,” she purred.
182
Fiona
There was a lot of hot sex that morning, too.
After we showered and ate breakfast, we were summoned to the DEA field office, where we were interrogated by a seemingly endless horde of government investigators. Two days, twelve hours a day, nothing but repeating our stories ad nauseam. But Fordham was as good as his word: after the questioning was done, the DEA let us go.
As he walked us out to the parking lot, Fordham asked, “So what’s the play? You going to stay in Richards and try to rebuild the gang?”
“Motorcycle club,” Jack corrected him.
“Potato, po-tah-to.”
“Mm,” Jack grunted, then shook his head. “No, I was thinking I’d go up north and try to start over.”
I looked at him in surprise. This was the first I’d heard of it.
“There’s nothing left for me here in Richards,” Jack continued. “If I stay, I’m just the guy who sold out his club.”
“I think you mean gang,” Fordham said mischievously.
“Tomato, to-mah-to,” Jack said.
Fordham chuckled.
“Speaking of starting over,” Jack added, “I could use some help. Back when he was trying to get me to come in, Peters said he’d told the insurance company I’d torched my own house and body shop, which means I couldn’t collect. Is there something you can do about that?”
“Yeah, he needs to pay his friends,” Sid said. “Me, specifically.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Fordham said.
I spoke up. “My car got burned up in the fire, too – can you – ”
“Yes, yes, okay,” Fordham said, waving us off. “I’ll put it on the list.”
I was annoyed that he was brushing it off like that. I thought of my photo book of Ali and said, “Everything we owned got burned up.”
“Yeah, well, I had a lot of evidence disappear in a fire the other day, too,” Fordham said. “A certain meth lab.”
Uh oh.
“I noticed in all your testimony that you never gave up your source for the rocket launcher,” Fordham continued.
“Just a guy from LA,” Jack lied.
“Uh-huh. That ‘guy’ wouldn’t happen to be your ex-wife, would it?”
My stomach dropped.
“No,” Jack said, keeping an admirable poker face.
“Uh-huh. Tell her and her Bastards to keep their noses clean, or I might have to come knocking on her door.”
“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet. She wasn’t part of the original deal, so I’ll let her slide – for now. You keep your nose clean, too, Pollari. I don’t ever want to run into you again, unless it’s over a cold beer at a bar someday.”
“It’s a deal,” Jack said. “What about Kade?”
“What about me?” a familiar voice asked.
As we all turned around, I cried out in delight. Kade was walking towards us stiffly. He wore jeans and a crisp white t-shirt, but with a noticeable bulge of bandages under the fabric.
Jack laughed and gave him a big hug with a couple of back slaps. “Goddamn it – you had me worried, you son of a bitch.”
“I’m a tough fucker to kill,” Kade said unemotionally as he hugged back. “I heard you are, too.”
“Thank God,” I said, and then my eyes bugged out: after Kade stopped hugging Jack, he leaned over and embraced me.
“Oh my God, Kade’s hugging me, guys!” I whispered loudly.
“Don’t get all mushy about it,” Kade said as he let go of me.
Jack asked Fordham, “So… everything’s cool with Kade, right?”
“He’s part of the deal,” the DEA agent said.
“But the rest of the club – ”
“As I told you, it’s out of my hands. If they were there at the drug buy, they’ve got to answer for it. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.”
Jack looked dour, but he nodded.
Fordham looked around at our group. “On behalf of the DEA, I want to thank all of you for your help. And, on a personal note, I want to thank you for myself… and for Eddie. You got the sonuvabitch behind his murder, and for that I’ll always be grateful.”
Fordham shook our hands one by one.
“So… are we free to go?” Jack asked.
“Yup. Just as soon as you give me the keys for the Escalade and the Harley.”
Dammit!
“Really?” I asked playfully. “Really?”
“They were a loan to help with the investigation. Not a gift.”
“After all we did for you guys – ”
“ – you don’t have to go to jail,” Fordham finished.
Jack and I both grumbled as we handed over the keys.
“Take care, you crazy kids,” Fordham said, then looked at Sid. “See you around, Marine.”
Sid gave him a casual salute, and Fordham walked back into the building.
“I think Eddie would want me to keep the Escalade,” I called out. “For all my trouble.”
“No he wouldn’t,” Fordham said without bothering to look back over his shoulder.
Fordham’s parting shot was funny rather than annoying – partly because it was true. Eddie had been an asshole to me, sure, but he’d been trying to bring down a bunch of psychopaths. He’d given up his life to do it. Even if I’d hated the guy at the time, he was just doing his job – and he apparently hadn’t given me up to Lou, even at the very end. He’d gone down fighting, and that was something I respected the hell out of.
Jack brought me out of my reverie. “Where should we go?”
“You’re welcome to crash at my place until you figure stuff out,” Kade offered.
“Okay, sounds good,” Jack agreed, then turned to Sid. “You mind giving us a ride, old timer?”
“Don’t think this ain’t goin’ on the bill,” Sid said as he led the way to his Oldsmobile.
“Well, it’s Friend Prices,” Jack said good-naturedly.
“Unh-unh. Friend Prices ended the other night.”
“Since when?”
“Since I had to toss Bessie off the tower.”
“…Bessie?” Jack asked, bewildered.
“His rifle,” I said.
Jack turned to Sid. “You name your gun
s?”
“Don’t – ” I tried to warn him.
“Just her,” Sid said. “I got her in a pawn shop in Memphis, right after the war – ”
“Which one?” Jack asked. “World War I or II?”
“The Revolutionary,” Kade added without missing a beat.
“Hardy har, you fuckin’ hippies,” Sid snapped. “One more crack like that and you’ll be walkin’ home.”
183
We said goodbye to Sid thirty minutes later.
I hugged him and thanked him for everything. Jack gave him two thousand that Kade had stashed in his apartment, and promised to pay the rest in the coming days, once he’d gotten his life back together.
“Make it sooner rather than later,” Sid said.
“I’ll do my best.”
“Don’t do your best, just fuckin’ pay me. We ain’t that good ‘a friends.”
Jack laughed, then stuck out his hand. “Thanks again.”
“Yeah, yeah – remember, it’s always nicer to say ‘thanks’ in cash,” Sid said, but shook Jack’s hand anyway. “See you, Viking.”
“See you,” Kade said unemotionally, then went back inside without any further ado.
“Rude,” Sid called after him, then turned to me. “You need a ride back to LA, Fee?”
I hesitated. I glanced at Jack, then opened my mouth to answer –
Jack beat me to it. “She’ll be staying with me for a little while.”
A little while, I thought bitterly, a pang in my heart. Whatever the fuck ‘a little while’ means.
“Bonin’,” Sid snorted.
“Sid – ” I started.
He pointed at me. “Remember – Friend Prices don’t include you, so you settle up with Easy Rider here on your own.”
“It’s fine,” I said.
“I get my cut first, though, so whatever he owes you, take it out in bonin’.”
“SID – ”
“See ya next week, kid,” Sid said as he slammed the car door and drove off.
I watched the Oldsmobile disappear down the road.
“Will he?” Jack asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Will he see you next week?”
I looked at Jack, not sure whether to be cross or hopeful. “I don’t know… I guess…?”
“What do you have back there, besides your job?”
‘Hopeful’ started to win out.
“Not much… but this guy I like? He’s talking about moving up north and didn’t mention anything about me.”
Jack smiled. “Doesn’t mean he wasn’t intending on taking you with him.”
“Yeah, well, women like to be asked.”
“Mm. He’d be an idiot not to.”
“Yeah. He would.”
He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled me to him, and kissed me.
Ohhhhhh…
I could do this all day…
When he pulled away, he looked deeply into my eyes. “Come with me.”
My heart skipped a beat, but I was still a little afraid. Which was funny – after nearly dying multiple times at the hands of a psychopathic biker, I was a little afraid about a future with the hottest guy I’d ever met.
Who I just happened to be in love with, too.
“Where are you going to go?” I asked.
“Don’t know.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Don’t know that, either.”
“You’re making a real good case,” I said sardonically.
He laughed. “How about this: we’ll find a little place, maybe in a beach town near the ocean… and we’ll fuck all the time, day and night, except when we’re making love reeaaal slow… and whatever else happens, we’ll figure it out together. How’s that sound?”
My panties were about to melt. Plus my heart skipped a beat or two, as well. “That sounds pretty good.”
“I want to start my life over… but I want to do it with you by my side.”
“Okay,” I whispered, right before he kissed me breathless.
184
Three months later, we got married.
It was a private little ceremony on a deserted beach with sweeping cliffs and sandy shores – me barefoot in a silky white dress, and Jack in jeans and a black t-shirt. My parents were there, along with my sister and a couple of friends from LA. Kade was the best man, although there was a conspicuous absence of anybody else on the groom’s side.
I thought of Ali the entire day. In fact, my ‘something old’ was a photograph of her and me as kids. I might have lost my photos in the fire, but my mother was able to make copies of some of them from our family albums. It was the best wedding present she could have possibly given me.
Ali’s absence hurt, but the pain had mellowed now. Her killer had paid for his crimes, and it seemed to me that she was finally at rest.
Or maybe the part of me that had hung on to her was at rest. Either way, I was finally letting go: of the pain… of the past… of her.
It felt good to heal.
Sid was at the wedding, too, grumpy as always. “I finally found a good PI,” he complained to anybody who would listen to him, “and then she goes off and falls for some motorcycle gang hoodlum. Who still owes me money.”
At least he didn’t mention anything about “bonin’”.
At the reception, though, Jack presented him with a check for the remainder of the ‘Friend Prices.’ Fordham had been as good as his word, and the insurance money for Jack’s house and shop came through – not to mention payments for his Harley, truck, and my car.
It was a lot of money. Enough to start a new life.
Once Sid got his money, he couldn’t have been happier. And he made it a point to show everybody the check. “He ain’t so bad – and, hell, it’s an open bar.”
My family wasn’t happy that I was marrying a biker, but I told them that they could either come and be happy for me, or they could stay at home. Either way, I was getting married.
They came. Of course, when my sister and mother met Jack, they understood right away. With a guy that hot, any woman would.
My dad took a little while longer to come around… but Sid helped him see the light over a bottle of scotch.
We ate and drank for a while at a little crab and beer joint we’d rented on the water. Then, a couple hours later, Jack and I got on his brand-new Harley, and Kade got on his bike, and we rode away in a shower of rice thrown by Sid and my family.
We traced the beautiful line of the coast, and then Kade peeled off for our new hometown by the seaside while Jack and I continued north on our honeymoon.
We stopped for dinner at a romantic little place on the water, and watched the sun set over the ocean in a fiery display of purple- and orange-tinted clouds.
After dinner, as twilight turned the sky a deep violet, we came out to find a young guy in his early 20’s staring at Jack’s shiny new Harley. The bike – freshly bought with insurance money just a few days before – stood out amongst the cars in the lot.
The kid was tatted up with long hair, though he had a fresh innocence to his wide eyes. His old, dinged-up motorcycle was parked nearby.
“Can I help you?” Jack asked. I could tell he was tense – which made me tense. Could this stranger be a ghost from his past? Maybe a hired gun out for revenge?
“That’s a beautiful bike,” the kid said, reverence in his voice.
“Thanks,” Jack said, relaxing. He gestured to the kid’s ride. “Nice Panhead.”
“Eh,” the kid said, and shrugged. “It’s pretty beat up.”
“It’s a classic, though. Gotta admire the classics.”
“Yeah…” The kid looked at Jack’s leathers. They still had the Midnight Riders insignia on them, even though the club was basically dead. “Are you in an MC?”
“Once upon a time.”
“What happened?”
“A lot of bad things.”
“But a couple of really good things, too,” I c
ountered, and Jack looked at me with a smile.
“Did you leave the club?” the kid asked.
Jack shook his head. “The club left me more than I left it. I was president for a while… and then it was over.”
“Huh,” the kid said, and watched as we got on the Harley. “Do you live around here?”
“About an hour south, down near Timber Cove.”
“Cool… do you think you might start another MC some day?” he asked hopefully.
Jack looked at me. “I don’t know – what do you think?”
“Maybe,” I said.
“Maybe,” Jack agreed, with the smallest trace of a smile.
“If you do… do you think I could join?” the kid asked.
“I don’t know. You ever dealt drugs or run guns? You ever shot or stabbed somebody? You ever been to prison?”
“No,” the kid said, obviously crestfallen. “No, I haven’t.”
“Good,” Jack nodded. “Then you got a shot at getting in.”
“Ha,” the kid said with a grin. “Cool… well… maybe I’ll see you around?”
“Yeah. Maybe you will.”
We watched the kid take off, and then Jack looked back around at me. “You ready, Mrs. Pollari?”
“I’m ready, Mr. Pollari.”
He kissed me, and then we put on our helmets and he fired up the engine. We rode out of the parking lot – the last glowing traces of the sunset on our left, and the future up the road ahead.
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And many thanks to Patricia Schoon for all her hard work on this book. She's been my editor for the last five or six works I've released, and she makes my life a whole lot easier - not to mention my books a whole lot more readable. Thanks, Trisha!
Midnight Obsession: A Midnight Riders Motorcycle Club Romance Part 4 Page 41