by Shyla Colt
“She looks good on the back of your bike, brother,” Tiny said.
He couldn’t say fuck you to the President, so he let his expression speak for him.
Tiny laughed and clapped him on the back. “You don’t even know how fucked you are yet.”
Trust me, I know, boss, I’m just past the point of giving a fuck. Rocky kept his eyes on her as she spoke with the different men on his way inside the building. Wary of the other crew, he stalked over, wound his fingers in her hair and kissed her, cutting off her conversation in midsentence.
Her body relaxed into his and she moaned in the back of her throat.
They broke apart and he grinned. “We’ll finish this later.” He leaned in and brushed his lips against her ear. “Had to let the other crew know you were spoken for.” With a quick pat to her ass, he strode away, more pleased with himself than he should be.
Chapter Six
Evonne leaned back against the couch, pleased to have downtime with her friends. As things happened it was harder and harder to have moments like these.
“So how are you doing?” Juliette asked.
Evonne glanced up from her seat on the couch. “Better. Rocky’s been taking me to the gym two or three times a week. It helps me work out aggression and not feel—like a bump on a log, waiting for something to happen to me.” She sighed. “That’s the hardest part, the waiting. I mean, how does a man just disappear? How did this even happen?”
Juliette took sip of her wine. “That’s a question I asked myself many times and never came up with a satisfying answer. I could tell you all day long how people are fucked up and it’s not your fault. But it’s something you have to reconcile with inside yourself. Anytime we’re deceived by others, we look to ourselves. Why didn’t we see it? How was our radar so busted? Truth is…some people make a living out of lies. It’s as easy as breathing to them and their survival depends on their seamless performance. Why us? Luck of the draw? I don’t know. We’re not psychos and a sit-down one-on-one with them is out, so we’ll never fully understand it.”
“How do you deal?” Evonne whispered.
“I decided letting it affect me too much would be allowing Peter to win. I worked too damn hard for that to happen.” Juliette shook her head. “Mine is different. My scars run deeper and it took over a year to really get out of the corroded forest of my mind. It kills me now, watching that poison spill over into your lives.” She shook her head.
“Hey, you couldn’t stop this.” Evonne reached out and grabbed her hand.
Juliette laughed. “And yet I still feel responsible.”
She gazed intently at Evonne, and they exchanged knowing expressions.
“Jeez, aren’t we in Mary Sunshine mode,” Evonne joked.
Juliette laughed. “Let’s talk about something else, like you and Rocky.”
“What’s to tell?” Evonne shrugged.
“Are you kidding me right now? I’ve never seen him like this with anyone else,” Juliette said.
“Well, I’m pretty sure he’s never been ordered to keep an eye on someone before,” Evonne said.
“No, no.” Juliette shook her head. “It’s so much more than that.”
“What more is there? He’s familiar with me? We spend a lot of time together. Of course it looks different from his other relationships with women,” Evonne said, refusing to give in to Juliette’s train of thought.
“No, not women, biker bunnies. He never saw them as living, breathing people he had an interest in. They were just a hole,” Juliette said.
“T.M.I.” Evonne wrinkled her nose.
“But it’s true and you know it.”
“Yeah, I have no grand illusions when it comes to his past.” Evonne shrugged. “But it doesn’t affect us. I’m not trying to be wifey.”
“Yet, you pretty much are.”
Evonne sighed. “Come on, we mess around and live together.”
“And you ride bitch, while he stares down anyone who halfway shows any interest,” Juliette said.
“Safety,” Evonne said. She could do this all day.
“Bullshit. The murder in his eyes has shit to do with safety and everything to do with possession,” Juliette said.
“So we made a deal that while we’re doing what we’re doing it’s exclusive. No big deal, Jul.”
Juliette’s jaw dropped.
“What?” Evonne asked.
“You don’t even know how big of a deal that is!”
“Why?” Evonne asked.
“Because…it places a restriction on him! All these years in the M.C. and Shooter has never seen him like this. I heard him and Moose talking about it the other day, wondering what he was going to do when shit gets back to normal.”
“What do you mean? We’ll go our own ways,” Evonne replied, ignoring the tightening in her belly and the twinge in her heart.
“You expect me to believe it’d be that easy?”
“Yes, I mean—no. I’m used to living here and spending just about all of my time with him. It’ll be an adjustment, but neither of us came into this with eyes closed.”
“So stubborn,” Juliette muttered. “Look, I can’t tell you what to do, but I think you need to open your eyes and observe what’s going on from an objective point of view.”
“Jul, no, that’s exactly what I don’t need to do. All that overthinking, dissecting things bit by bit and weighing the risks carefully…landed me here. I’m not going back to it. Right now, I’m just living and seeing where the road takes me. You know, the way I used to when I was fun.” The regret over letting fear dictate for so long stung. She dropped her head, ashamed.
“You went through a life-changing event. Of course you changed. The doctor said it was completely normal, given your injuries. Why beat yourself up now?”
“Because in retrospect, I didn’t just change, I stopped living. I’ll never get those years back.”
“No, but look at how much you’ve accomplished. You might’ve shifted your focus, but you didn’t stay in your room with the curtains drawn and languish, by any means. Be proud of that. Maybe it took you time to find your way here, but you’re here now, and you’re putting all the pieces of yourself together. Time well spent is never wasted.”
Evonne laughed. “How do you always manage to do that?”
“Do what?” Juliette asked.
“Make sense out of all our crazy?” Evonne said.
“It’s a gift?” Juliette shrugged.
“Thank you for that, Jul.” Evonne laughed. “I needed a kick in the ass to get me moving away from my pity party.”
“It’s okay to look back, just don’t get stuck and turn to ash.”
“Wow, biblical references?”
Juliette laughed. “You get stuck looking at the past and all the bad, you sort of do turn to a pillar of ash because it consumes you. Eats you up from the inside out, kills your joy and ruins your future. Trust me…I’ve had a long time to think about this.”
Evonne nodded. “So you—you think you see something between us?”
“I know it. What it is exactly, only you two can decide. If that’s what you want.”
Evonne thought back to the time she’d spent with Rocky. Being with him felt good, right even. “I don’t know…” She shook her head. “He’s not what I ever would’ve imagined for myself, but he’s what I need.”
“Yeah, I’m familiar with that phenomenon,” Juliette replied. A gentle expression crossed her face, turning her into a modern Madonna painting.
“Marriage looks good on you.”
“Thank you, we’re happy.” Juliette giggled. “It’s crazy how our lives are turning out, you know?”
“Yeah.” Evonne nodded. “I mean, Joey the first to get pregnant?”
“I know, and Moose tries to play it off, but he’s so stoked about it.” Juliette snickered.
“It’s kind of adorable, but never let him hear you say that.” Evonne joined her snickering.
“So what are y
ou going to do?” Juliette asked.
“Figure out what I want and go from there…I guess.” The thought of leaving Rocky behind cold turkey would be like an addict trying to kick a habit with no intervention. He was a welcome addition she hadn’t known she needed so badly. She couldn’t help but meditate on the things Juliette pointed out. Rocky was different now; they both were. Being in the high-stress situation had pushed them into a comfort zone that normally took years to achieve. Evonne glanced at the clock. “We should move this into the kitchen, so I can start dinner.”
“Wow, the domestic level is high with you,” Juliette teased.
“Well, we both have to eat.” Evonne shrugged. “It makes sense to do it together.”
“Mm-hmm.” Juliette gave her a doubt-filled expression. “Can I help?”
Together they made a chicken and rice meal that fit his protein requirements with a sauce on the side to spice up the flavor for her.
“Not that I don’t appreciate you hanging out, but usually you and Shooter are glued at the hip.”
“Some kind of club business going on and I didn’t want to spend my day off alone. I figured by now, you’d be climbing the walls.”
“Some days, I really do…” Evonne paused. “I, um—I got back into drawing though. All the spare time I have now, it only made sense.”
“That’s awesome, Evonne!” Juliette glanced up from the verde sauce simmering on the stove and grinned.
“Yeah. I missed it more than I realized.”
“I remember a time when you forever had charcoal smudges on your fingers or paint on your clothing.” Juliette shook her head. “We’ve all changed so much over the years.”
“I think we were all so worried about making it and proving ourselves, we lost sight of a lot.” The urge to succeed had allowed her to accomplish what needed to be done on little sleep, too much stress and a dead social life. She’d given up everything her early twenties were supposed to yield in hopes she’d be set. It worked in some ways. “I have to say, though, you’re handling this incredibly well, Jul.”
“What do you mean?” Jul asked.
“The biker lifestyle.”
Juliette paused. “Most people don’t know what it’s like to have their freedom stripped away. I do. So for me, their lifestyle isn’t from a place of control or fanaticism. It’s from a place of choice, freedom and unconventional beliefs. I like their rules. They make me feel secure. They have a protocol they rarely deviate from and a code I find honorable.” Juliette shrugged. “It made me view things from a different perspective.”
“It’s freeing in a way when you strip everything down and focus on only the things that matter,” Evonne agreed.
“Exactly. You’re close enough to understand. We all do. I think Hil would too if she wasn’t so stubborn.”
“She’s going through her own upheaval. It’s hard to trust after betrayal,” Evonne noted. “I worry about her researching this sex club, and the victims the founders left behind.”
“Me too.” Juliette sighed. “I keep it to myself because I don’t want her to clam up. I’ll be happy when this is all over.”
“You and me both. Are you staying for dinner?” Evonne asked, hopefully.
“Is that okay? I don’t want to overstep or anything.”
“Girl, please. If there’s a meeting, chances are he won’t even be in ‘til really late.” Evonne shrugged. “Usually, he gives me a heads-up though.”
“It was a sudden thing. I doubt he knew.”
“I wondered why the prospects kept popping in all day.”
Juliette chuckled. “Do they always come to the door?”
“No, which makes me wonder what’s going on. Usually, it’s just drive-bys and keeping tabs on the surveillance cameras outside.”
The girls exchanged a concerned look. Perhaps they were about to get exactly what they asked for—for things to be resolved.
* * * * *
Rocky pulled his bag out of the locker and swore. Ten missed messages all from the brothers meant bad news. He redialed Shooter. Next time I won’t leave the phone on vibrate or forget to bring it with me.
“Yo, Rocky, we were about to swing by,” Shooter said.
“Yeah man, I’m getting ready to head home now. What’s going on?” Rocky said.
“We got a lead, time to come together and figure out our next move,” Shooter said.
Rocky’s thought instantly went to Evonne. “Someone at the house?”
“We got the prospects on it and members doing drive-bys. Juliette is there with her, so she won’t be alone.”
“Okay, good. So, I’ll head over to the clubhouse.”
“Yeah, and be quick, Prez is looking ready to get this shit on the road,” Shooter said.
“Roger.” Rocky hung up the phone, wondering what the hell he was about to find himself into, and how long he had left with Evonne. The relief that flooded him should have worried him, but he’d accepted weeks ago, shit with Firecracker would be complicated.
Seated beside Maverick a few minutes later, he leaned back in his chair and appraised the situation. Specs and Gadget had their laptops out, Tiny looked tense while Shooter and Moose looked pissed.
“About fucking time, brother,” Shooter said.
“I know, had my phone in the locker,” Rocky said.
“Now isn’t the time to go off the grid,” Tiny grumbled.
“Won’t happen again,” Rocky said.
Tiny nodded. “Good. Give him the rundown.”
“Levi finally used one of the accounts we have monitored,” Specs said.
“That’s good, right? We got a bead on him.”
“No, it was in town. Less than a mile away from Evonne’s house.”
“Son of a bitch,” Rocky swore. “He’s not going to touch one hair on her head.”
“No, but I think it’s a message. He used that as a warning to show us he hasn’t forgotten about her,” Tiny explained.
“He fucking needs to,” Rocky sneered. He tightened his fists, ready to take the bastard’s head off his shoulders.
“Brother, it’s not my practice to get in your shit, but Evonne is Mayhem. What are you doing? You screw her over and we’ll have two pissed old ladies and tension we don’t need.” Tiny stared intently at him.
It was nothing he hadn’t thought himself, but his obvious emotional attachment to Evonne left him exposed and irritated. A hush fell over the room. He’d never had a steady since he joined Mayhem, so this was a big deal and they all knew it. “Fuck, man, I’m keeping her… She just doesn’t know it yet.”
Tiny threw back his head and laughed.
“Fucking told you, bro,” Shooter said, pointing at Moose who shook his head.
“Those bitches are fucking deadly,” Moose mumbled.
“Another one bites the dust,” Hawk piped in. “Be careful, brothers, commitment is spreading like a contagious virus.”
“Nothing wrong with settling down,” Tiny said, narrowing his eyes at Hawk. “Maybe you should try that shit.”
“Oh, fuck no! Some bitch telling me what to do, when to come home and watching my every move. There’s a reason I left home,” Hawk said.
Tiny rolled his eyes and smirked. “You’d be lucky if you ever found a broad who’d put up with your shit anyways.”
“Hey, I’m a fucking joy to be around,” Hawk drawled.
Laughter erupted, killing off at least the top layer of tension in the room.
“I want to tighten ranks. Make sure you know where your lady is at all times and if she goes out, she’s got someone with her. I don’t trust that psycho…unpredictable as fuck. We any closer to putting this thing to bed?” Tiny said.
“Working on it. They keep their trail cleaned up and their witnesses scared as hell or so paid up they won’t talk,” Gadget explained.
“Do we have someone working them for information?” Tiny asked.
Gadget and Specs exchanged a glance.
“I know you a
ren’t thinking about keeping something to yourself, ‘cause that’ll get your ass beat,” Tiny warned.
“Hil is helping. We figured a female might get more out of the victims, considering,” Specs said.
“And let’s face it, she’s a total bulldozer. If anyone can change their minds it’ll be her,” Gadget added.
“You’re speaking a lot of truth there,” Tiny agreed. “Keep me posted and tell her to be careful, will you? I know we have people looking out for her, but if she does have success, shit could get even uglier fast.”
“I’ll tell her,” Specs said.
“Like she’ll listen,” Shooter huffed. “She does whatever the fuck she wants.”
“Someone needs to rein her ass in then,” Hawk said.
“You volunteering?” Tiny said as he stared him down.
“Fuck you. I’d wring her pretty little neck and spank her ass.” Hawk lifted his chin.
“Maybe that’s what she needs,” Moose said.
“Hmm.” Tiny ran his hands over his stubble. “I need to think on that.”
Hawk narrowed his gaze and Rocky bit back a smile. They might be two of the scariest motherfuckers around, but together they were hilarious. They couldn’t be more like brothers if they had the same DNA.
“Any other orders of business we need to tend to?” Moose asked.
“I think we covered it for now. Keep your phones close and your guard up. I got a feeling shit’s about to go off around here,” Tiny instructed. “Now go do what you got to do to blow off steam while you can. If shit gets bad we’re going to a lockdown and you’ll be climbing the walls.”
Moose called the meeting, banging his gavel on the table.
They all stood and Rocky’s thoughts turned to Evonne. The time for bullshit between them had passed. He was ready to put a claim on his shit. The thought of Levi thinking he still had a stake in her at all had him ready to go home and tattoo his brand where everyone could see it.
“Headed home to the little woman?” Casanova asked from his position holding up the bar.
“Yep.”
Casanova’s jaw dropped and Rocky smirked. “Have fun with your hand tonight, brother.”