Jennifer's Choice

by Erin Osborne

  I wish more guys were going, but I know they’re busy and they need a break from watching over the kids and us too. The only reason that they’re not going with us is because Slim thought that we’d be okay with just my men in the middle of so many people.

  Pulling up, I leave everyone after kissing Wade and my men. I have to meet my class in one of the classrooms to get our cap and gowns before lining up to take our seats. We don’t have much time before the ceremony starts, and I know that I need a breath of fresh air. So, after grabbing my stuff, I head out the front door and sit on one of the benches.

  It’s not long before I feel someone sit down next to me. Turning my head, I see a man that looks familiar. I offer up a small smile and turn my attention away from him. The man looks gaunt and frail as he sits back against the bench. He honestly looks like he’s ready to fall over if a stiff wind blows through. My thoughts instantly turn to my dad, and I wonder what he’s doing now. I wonder if he’s gotten the help he so desperately needed before I left home.

  “You’re that ungrateful that you can’t even fucking say hi to your dad,” the man spouts off, venom lacing his voice as I turn my head back to him again.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask, letting his tone roll right off my back.

  “I found you and figured that now would be my chance to talk to you. You owe me, you little fucking slut. Don’t think that I don’t know you’re fucking that motorcycle gang,” he says, causing my face to pale.

  “It’s a club, not a fucking gang. You’re the only criminal I see here. Or are you too fucked to remember beating me to the point that I was in the hospital? That I lied to protect you when the cops and CPS showed up to take me away from you. That’s right, it’s my fault. Everything that happened is on me. Fuck you! I don’t owe you a damn thing,” I tell him, standing up to make my way back inside the building.

  “You owe me everything! It’s your fault that I lost your mom. It’s your fault that I lost everything,” he says, grabbing onto my arm to the point that I know there will be a bruise in its place.

  “Get the fuck off of me! Leave me the fuck alone, and I never want to see your fucking face around me again,” I tell him, wrenching my arm from his grasp and using my I.D to enter the school.

  I’m shaken by the encounter with my dad. I almost want to get Wood or Boy Scout, but I don’t. Instead I get in line with the rest of the men and women that I went to school with and wait for us to be given the signal to make our way to our seats.

  I don’t pay attention to the audience or anyone around me as I try to wrap my head around the fact that my father found me and wants money. If he’s saying that I owe him, then he wants money. With the way that he was looking, I guarantee that he’s doing more than just drinking. Hell, for all I know, he was doing drugs when my mom died and I just didn’t know it. What fifteen-year-old girl wants to think of her parent doing that shit? Not me.

  Suddenly, I realize that everyone else in my row is standing and getting ready to make their way to the side of the stage. I stand up and follow along without looking at anyone. If I take the chance and look at my men, they’ll instantly know something is wrong and I just want to forget the encounter altogether. It’s not going to be that easy though.

  “Jennifer Parker-Reed,” my school’s Dean says, “Jennifer is graduating with honors with an accounting degree.”

  I walk across the stage, grab my diploma, and shake the Dean’s hand before turning to look out at the audience. Tears fill my eyes as I see every member of the Phantom Bastards in attendance. They’re standing, clapping, and a few even whistle as I smile and begin to make my way back to my seat for the rest of the ceremony. Thankfully, the class isn’t that big because I want to get out of here.

  We’re back at the clubhouse to celebrate when all I really want to do is go home. I have to go to Phantom later because Cory’s sitter has to bail out early. I told her I’d help everyone close up. So, I sit at a table in the corner while everyone gets their drinks, food, and talk amongst themselves. Wood and Boy Scout make their way over to me with plates of food piled high. They know that something’s wrong and have been waiting to talk to me about it. I know them enough to realize that our little talk is gonna happen right now.

  “What’s wrong, Spitfire?” Wood asks, sitting down and sliding a plate in front of me.

  “I went outside for a breather before the ceremony started. A man showed up on the bench next to me. It was my dad. He yelled, told me how I owed him, and grabbed me,” I tell them the short version while pulling my sleeve up to show them the bruising on my arm.

  “What the fuck? How did he even find you?” Wood yells out, gaining the attention of those around us.

  “I don’t know. He knows that I’m here with you guys because he said I’m fucking all of you,” I tell them.

  “I’m on it,” Boy Scout says and leaves the table to go talk to Fox.

  “We’ll figure it out and find where he’s stayin’. He won’t bother you again, Spitfire,” Wood tells me, making me believe his words with the conviction behind them.

  “I have to go to Phantom tonight. Cory needs to leave early. I’ll just be helping close up. I’ll probably leave here in a few minutes so that I can do some paperwork first,” I tell him, knowing that he’s going to blow a gasket about it.

  “What the fuck? This is your party. Can’t someone else go in?” he asks, watching as Boy Scout sits back down with us.

  “Well, Kim and Sally are both here, and they’ve been drinking. Trinity is watching the kids in the game room. And I need to hire more people. I haven’t had a chance to do that yet,” I say, knowing that it’s my job as manager to fill in when it’s needed.

  “I’ll go with her. We’ll get it done and then come back. It shouldn’t take us that long,” Boy Scout says, knowing that it might calm Wood down a little bit.

  “I don’t fuckin’ like it. But that’s the only way you’re goin’,” Wood says, digging into his food and not pushing the issue further.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Boy Scout

  WE’VE BEEN AT the club for a while now. Everyone has just been ushered out after last call and the doors are locked. J spent most of the night in the office catching up on paperwork while I helped Cora close up the VIP section. It’s not going to take us long at all to clean up and make sure that everything is taken care of. Especially once I made sure Cora understood that she wasn’t leaving until the downstairs was taken care of too.

  J comes out and goes to help Ryan take the garbage out. I don’t want her doing that shit, but she copped an attitude and did it anyway. Ryan is back inside, but there’s no sign of J anywhere. I ask him where she is and he tells me that she was right behind him when they came back in. He thought she was making sure that the back door was locked and didn’t wait. Stupid motherfucker!

  Walking down the back hall, I check the office to see that it’s empty. Same with the bathroom. Opening the back door, I hear a commotion coming from by the dumpster. As I round the corner, I stop dead in my tracks. There’s a man standing behind J with a gun held to her head. Her face is filled with fear and something else that I’m not sure of. Without a doubt, she feels like this is it for her and our unborn baby.

  My body is vibrating with fear and outrage over the scene before me. I’m barely hanging on right now seeing my girl be threatened with a gun to her head. The only thing I want to do is reach for my gun and kill the son of a bitch that’s standing behind a woman that’s pregnant. What a fucking coward!

  “Get the fuck outta here. This doesn’t concern you,” the man yells, pushing the gun further into her temple.

  “What seems to be the problem here?” I ask, keeping my voice as calm as I possibly can.

  “This bitch owes me, and I’ve come to collect,” he says, taking his attention off of J.

  “Money? I’ve got her money right inside. Why don’t you come with me and I’ll give it to you?” I say, trying to get him away from my wom
an so that I can kill this sick fuck.

  “I don’t believe you,” he says, greed beginning to take over the feral look in his eyes.

  “I promise I won’t try anythin’. Just come with me and I’ll get you the money and a drink before you leave,” I respond, still trying to get him away from J.

  He shoves J away from him and I see a look of relief fill her face. It’s short-lived as I wait for her to scramble to her feet and I pull the gun from the back of my jeans. She gets to my side as quick as she can just as I fire and put the man down. J screams at my side and buries her face into my body. I can feel her trembling in fear as she tries to look at the man lying in the ground with a bullet hole between his eyes.

  “Who is he?” I ask, cradling her head to me so that she can’t see.

  “My dad,” comes her whispered reply.

  “Fuck! I’m sorry, baby,” I tell her, wishing it had been anyone else but him.

  “Don’t be. He was gonna kill me and didn’t care that I was pregnant. He called me a no-good whore and said that I’d be better off dead.”

  “Gotta call for a clean-up J. Go back inside and I’ll be right there,” I say, pulling my phone out to call Wood and Slim for the Prospects to come get rid of the body and make sure all evidence is gone.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Wood

  IT’S BEEN A few days since Boy Scout killed Jennifer’s dad in front of her. She may not have seen the aftermath, but she was still there. I know he tried his best to shield her from anything, but sometimes you just can’t. Thankfully, it hasn’t affected her, and she isn’t mourning his loss. I guess it’s kind of hard to mourn someone when they haven’t been in your life for so long and only came back around for what you could give them.

  I just got to the clubhouse when I hear the loud rumble of several bikes pulling in behind me. Since most of the guys are here, I turn to see what the hell is going on. My blood begins to boil when I realize it’s Snake’s Revenge. Pulling my gun, I never take my eyes off the guys as I back up to the door and fling it open.

  “Get Slim and get the fuck out here. Now!” I yell in, not knowing who’s behind me in the clubhouse. “Women and kids kept back! We got snakes here.”

  I hear the shuffling of boots hitting the floor and bar stools scraping across the floor. It doesn’t take long at all for every member of the club to be at my back. I slide over when I feel a hand on my shoulder and see Slim standing there. Every single guy has his gun out and pointed at the men now climbing off their bikes.

  “It’s about time you show your fucked-up faces,” Slim roars out. “Guess these snakes are only good at hidin’ and comin’ out when they feel they can do the most damage. What’s changed?”

  “Where the fuck is my son?” an older man asks, stepping out in front of the rest of the men. Looks like we found the President.

  “Got no clue who your son is,” Slim says as Killer and Stryker come to flank us.

  “Bullshit! Got word that you got him, brought him here, and killed him. I want to fuckin’ know where he is! I know you fuckin’ took him!” he yells, spray flying out of his mouth as he walks even closer to us.

  “I’d say that we’d help ya look for him, but I don’t have it in me today,” Slim answers.

  “You bitches think you run this territory and you don’t. I’m gonna dismantle your fuckin’ club, take your women and kids while you all rot in the bottom of a hole or in prison. I will destroy your club along with Satan’s Anarchy. If I still feel the need for bloodshed, I’ll start on the Wild Kings too. Slim, you’re a bitch, and I’ll deal with you later on,” he says, turning his back in disrespect.

  “You guys ain’t gonna do shit except for get back on your bikes and go crawl back in your hole. You’re good at sneak attacks and threats, but that’s about all it is. You’re startin’ a war that you won’t win,” Stryker says, stepping forward as a car pulls in the lot. Cam, one of the house bunnies, gets out of her car and before she can take a step further, we hear the fire of a gun and watch her go down.

  We fire at the Snake’s while they retreat. I know we hit some of them, but none of them fall within our gates. Stryker and Hound run over to Cam while the rest of us continue firing. Doc, who just happened to be here today, runs over to her while I move back toward the clubhouse door. The fucking women and kids are here today. Everyone was just hanging out before I got done taking care of something at the apartments. Fuck!

  “Close the fuckin’ gate! Someone go make sure everyone inside is good. Make sure the kids are calmed down, and the rest of us will take care of Cam,” Slim yells out, putting his gun away. “And someone make sure there’s nothin’ here. Won’t be long before cops get here if they’re tryin’ to take our club down. All guns get put up but mine.”

  We all know what we’re supposed to do now. There’s a man for everything that Slim just yelled out, and we’ve had to do it more than once. Boy Scout and I run in to check on the girls and kids. My eyes immediately seek out Jennifer and Wade. I see them sitting on the couch, Wade cradled against her chest as he cries. All the women and kids are scared to death right now, and I can’t blame them. Snake’s Revenge just fucked themselves by pulling this shit with them around.

  The rest of the night, we make plans and keep everyone here on lockdown. The mood is melancholy with the loss of Cam. She was an innocent victim that showed up here at the wrong fucking time.

  Jennifer and Wade are in the room resting while we’ve had church and figured out how we’re going to make sure our businesses stay open and we keep making money. Renegade knows the situation and that we’re changing our runs up for now. It’s not what we want, but sometimes you have to do things to protect the ones you love.

  Our next goal is to bury Cam. She was a good girl. Had been with the club for about two years now. The rest of the house bunnies are crying and trying to find comfort with the men that are single.

  Slim is locked in his office, alone, making calls to the other clubs that need to know what’s been said, and seeing if they’ll be willing to help out if we need it. Personally, I don’t know that we’ll need help with these pansy ass bitches. But, I’m not the President so that’s not my call.

  Jennifer has pretty much stayed in the room all night. She’s very shaken up by the events of the past few days. Between her dad threatening to kill her and then hearing Cam shot in the parking lot of the clubhouse, I’m surprised that she hasn’t started to back away at all.

  Instead, she’s just been trying to stick to herself and Wade. We’re in the room with her as much as we can be, but she knows we have work to do. We’re trying to talk her into going to the doctor so that she can have a checkup and make sure that everything is okay with the baby, but she doesn’t want to go right now. She’s been relaxing and she has an appointment tomorrow. I swear it’s gonna look like the entire club is with us when we go. But, I’m not taking any chances with my family. I’ll die before anything happens to them.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Boy Scout

  SNAKE’S REVENGE HAVE gone back underground. For a club saying that they’re going to war with us, they sure as fuck aren’t doing anything about it. So, we’ve got round the clock security at the clubhouse, and the women and kids are there most of the time. It’s the only way that we can protect them.

  When J has to go to Phantom, we have no less than four patches and two Prospects on her. It doesn’t matter if she just goes to check in and do her ordering and other paperwork, they have her back.

  She had an ultrasound done almost three weeks ago, and we found out that we’re having a little boy. J already has a name picked out and knows how she wants to decorate the nursery. So, Wood and I have been working on that at night while she’s sleeping. And I have to say, our son has more Harley Davidson stuff than any other baby I know of.

  The room has been painted in a light blue. Alex surprised us all and painted some murals on the walls. Right behind the crib is a motorcycle with a bear r
iding it. The bear has a cut on with our club colors. Above that is his name-Colton Anthony.

  On the opposite wall he’s painted our colors and has framed pictures of different bikes. We’ve put all the furniture together and it’s set up. Now all that’s left to do is put the finishing touches on the room. We’re leaving that up to J to work on when she can.

  I love being able to tell that a baby is growing in J now. She’s got a bigger belly, and we’ve recorded the heartbeat so that we all can hear it whenever we want to. Wade even likes listening to it before going to bed every night. He’s gonna be a good big brother. Even though he’s almost two, you can tell by the way he is with the other kids that he’s around.

  Yesterday was a big day for our family too. I am now Wade’s dad. We went through the process and I adopted him. No one knew that’s what we were doing or anything else. Honestly, it’s just something for our family to be concerned with. I mean the club is part of our family, but we wanted to keep this between us. They’ll know eventually, and I’m sure that we’ll have a big party because of it. We’ll take any reason to throw a party.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Jennifer

  WORK HAS BEEN crazy lately. The weather is getting hot as hell, and I guess that’s everyone’s cue to come out in droves to party and get drunk. I’m not going to complain though because I love the work. There’s only been a problem or two as far as Killer or Stryker having to step in and take care of issues.

  One guy had me pinned against a wall as I was coming out of my office. He thought I was some party girl that he could have his way with and didn’t like me telling him no. Killer stepped up and made sure the guy was kicked out and not allowed to come back in. That’s the first time, other than when my dad showed up, that I’ve been scared at work.