by Jessie Cooke
She laughed. “I’m sure it will. You have a good night, Ash.”
“I will,” he said. “On my way to the airport to pick up my old lady. Explaining all of this should be fun.”
Knowing Mackenzie, Daria didn’t envy him. She gritted her teeth together and said, “Ick, good luck with that.”
She started to get in her car and Ash stopped her again. “Daria?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you like him?”
She wondered if Sledge told Ash they’d slept together. She also wondered if Ash was going to go straight to Sledge and tell him whatever she said. They were so close that the answer to both of those questions was probably yes. Deciding that honesty couldn’t possibly make things worse she said, “I do. I’ve always liked him. I just didn’t know how to be my own person back then. I do now…but I don’t think he’s going to give me a chance to prove that. As a matter of fact, I’m sure of it. He just wants me to go back where I came from and let him get on with his life.”
Ash looked toward Sledge’s trailer and back at her. “You ever wonder why you being here would even matter if he didn’t care? He’s not big on talking about his feelings, but I know him. I know that he moved on from most of that shit that happened to him as a kid. But I also know that nothing hurt him as much as what you did…” She flinched and he said, “Sorry, I’m not trying to make you feel bad. My point is, it wouldn’t have hurt him as much as it did if he didn’t care so much, and he wouldn’t be in such a pissy-ass mood now that you’re back, if all he wanted was for you to go away.”
“He’s in a pissy mood with everyone, not just me?”
Ash chuckled and gestured at his face. “You can’t tell?”
“Oh, shit! Sledge did that to you?”
“I gave as good as I got.” Daria had seen Sledge. She made a face that said she wasn’t sure she believed that, but she let it go. “Okay, he’s a big guy, but I held my own. Point is…Sledge and I have never been in a fight…ever. Something is eating at him, and I don’t think it has anything to do with me.”
“I’m sorry…we went out the other night…” She saw realization dawn on Ash’s face. He hadn’t known…but he did now. She figured she might as well just disclose it all. “We ended up back at my hotel room. He was honest with me up front about what he was and wasn’t looking for. I was the one that expected too much, and I guess that pissed him off…I don’t know. I’m sorry, though, if this was about me, putting him in a bad mood. I’ll stay away.”
“I think it was about you,” Ash said as she finished getting into the car, “But I still doubt that it’s because he wants you to stay away. How long you have left in town?”
“About two weeks.”
“Leave me your number…and let me handle the big guy in there…I have an idea. I’ll give you a call if it pans out.”
Daria didn’t know what Ash had in mind, but it sounded better than just going away and never seeing Sledge again. She gave him her number and said goodnight. She still felt like crying, but at least Ash’s wanting to help her gave her something she didn’t have when Sledge closed the door in her face…hope.
Ash bought flowers. He stood waiting for his gorgeous old lady to appear. She was due in from New York after several days away, working. He’d missed her like crazy. He couldn’t wait to see her, touch her, hold her…make love to her. What he wasn’t looking forward to was explaining his broken nose. She was going to be pissed, both at him and Sledge. Mack wasn’t a very big thing, and most of the time she wasn’t scary…but when she got pissed, sometimes Ash could swear that her head spun around on her shoulders. He stood holding the flowers now, kind of in front of the bandages on his nose…like that was going to make a difference. When he first caught sight of her, she had a gorgeous smile on her face. The closer she got to him, the more the smile slipped. It was completely gone by the time she was close enough to touch him. He tried to hug her, and she stepped out of his reach.
“What the hell happened to you?”
“It’s kind of a long story. How was New York?”
“Huh-uh…you first.” She cocked out one hip, put her hand on it, and raised an eyebrow. She was digging in until he told her what happened.
“Sledge and I kind of got into a little tussle.”
“What the fuck? Sledge did this to you? What did you do to him? Have you both lost your minds? Oh, fuck! What did Wolf say?”
“Baby, my head is kind of aching. Could we talk about this at home?” She looked like she was going to say no, but thought about it and finally said:
“Okay, but I want to know everything.”
“You got it. Let’s get your bag and get out of here.”
The drive from the Yosemite International Airport to the club was a short one, and Ash was grateful for that, considering the daggers Mack was shooting in his direction. He knew she loved him and never doubted her loyalty or fidelity…at least not since he was able to discover why she left him at the altar and work through all of that. But when it came to Sledge, Mack had a soft spot that she’d had since they were thirteen years old. He’d only seen her threaten violence twice in their lives, and both times had been toward someone that hurt Sledge. She loved him like a brother but also sometimes Ash thought she had almost maternal type feelings toward him. She was going to be a great mother…a mother bear, though, and no one better ever think about hurting one of her cubs. Tonight, he got the feeling she was more worried about what he’d done to Sledge than what their friend had done to him.
Once they had Mack’s things unloaded and inside the house, Ash took one of the pain pills they’d given him in the ER and sat down next to his old lady on the couch. “Now,” she said. “Will you tell me what happened?”
Ash recounted the story, beginning with the mood Sledge had been in all week and ending with Wolf reaming their asses. He was planning on bringing up Daria, but his perceptive love was all over it first. “It’s that bitch, Daria! She has got him all messed up again. I should have kicked her ass ten years ago!” She jumped up off the couch with her arms folded and wearing what Ash jokingly referred to as her “mean face.” He was trying to keep a straight face, but it was hard. She looked like a pit bull puppy, ready to tear someone’s ankles apart. She wasn’t finished either, and Ash was her next target. “This is why I was so mad at you for smiling at her at the gym and being so welcoming and even defending her! I knew she was toxic. Poor Sledge. Is he okay? Have you talked to him?”
“Poor Sledge? Your old man has a broken nose, if you haven’t noticed.”
She sat back down. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry. Does it hurt a lot?”
“Like a motherfucker.”
“Well, I’m sure I can do something to take your mind off of it,” she said, seductively, rubbing his thigh. As if on cue, his cock began to swell, that quickly. “But first,” she said, taking her hand off his leg. Ash groaned. “What are we going to do about Sledge and that witch?”
Ash sighed. “Please don’t get mad, okay?”
She gave him a look that said she couldn’t promise anything. “Why? Are you going to defend her…again?”
“It’s just, baby, like I told you the other night when you were so mad at me…we all made mistakes when we were kids.”
“What she did was not a mistake. It was mean-spirited and meant to hurt him.”
“I know…”
“And what I was so angry with you about the other night was you comparing her to me. What I did to you was…”
“I know, baby. You thought you were protecting me and God, I love you for that. What Daria did was mean…but baby, people change. I honestly have the feeling that she’s sorry, truly. I also think that she likes him, a lot. They went out…and they had sex…”
She was on her feet again. “Are you fucking kidding me? He slept with her? Is he crazy?”
Ash chuckled, and Mack glared at him. “I think he really likes her, Mack. I don’t think he ever got over her. Think about it…you think he�
��d ever do this to me if he wasn’t torn up inside? By torn up, I don’t mean having flashbacks to being bullied. I really believe that even though he has some residual problems with his social skills over that, he’s over it. What I don’t think he ever got over was Daria.”
“Great. Just great. I don’t like her. What are we going to do about this?”
“Well, we could mind our own business.” Mack rolled her eyes and Ash chuckled again. “Or we could help them get together.” That netted him another look like she thought he’d lost his mind…but he’d broached the subject, opened the door to it, so to speak. He had confidence his old lady would figure out what the right thing to do was. He reached for her and pulled her down onto his lap. “We could also table this discussion for now…and I could make love to my old lady. God, I missed you.”
Mack smiled, leaned in, and gave him a soft kiss on his sore lips. “You’re pretty torn up.”
“Not from the waist down,” he said with a grin.
Mack laughed and stood up, pulling his hand so that he stood up with her. He wrapped his hands around her waist from behind and she said, “How about a blowjob?”
“Fuck yeah.”
“And then you can lie on your back and do nothing while I ride you until your cock is as deflated as your nose.” Ash laughed all the way down the hall. God, he loved her.
17
Ash and Sledge were geared up to ride up to the new property for a long, hot day of work…their punishment for fighting like fools. There was also some fucked-up equipment in the shop that Wolf was planning on docking their pay for…but all in all, they’d gotten off pretty easily, and they knew it. Sledge had already been getting on his bike when Ash made it out to the parking lot. His big friend looked sad and ashamed when he saw Ash’s face. It looked even worse the next day thanks to the bruising and swelling. As Ash slipped onto the back of his bike Sledge said, “Are you okay?”
“Will be,” Ash said.
“Fuck. Are we okay?”
“Will be,” Ash said, again.
“I’m so fucking sorry.”
“I know. It’s okay.”
“It’s not, but thanks for saying so.”
Ash nodded, and the two men pulled on their helmets and riding gloves. Ash took off first and Sledge followed him. They turned onto 99 North and took it to the exit for I-168 toward Clovis and the Sierra Nevadas. Their new property was located north of Clovis but not all the way into the foothills. Bruf’s brother had been in charge of a compound for white supremacists in the foothills and it had been shut down fairly recently by ATF and the FBI. Luckily, since there were still Feds crawling around everywhere up there, their property was far enough southeast of that it shouldn’t draw too much attention. They’d had their warehouse there for years and so far, the cops hadn’t had any reason to go there. It was just dumb luck that the property right next to it had come up for sale recently and when it did, Ash’s sister Charlie had jumped on it…and then gift-deeded it to the Skulls and Ash was using his own money to build the houses on the site. His generosity was one of the reasons Sledge had so much respect for his friend. The fact that he worried as much about his friends, Sledge in particular, was another. He felt so bad for attacking him like he had, and he was going to do whatever it took to make that up to him…if he could.
When they got off the highway, they turned onto a country road that was lined with open fields and meadows; some had cows grazing in them, and in others, horses ran along the fence line, chasing their bikes. After about five miles of winding, twisting roads that were about to lead into the foothills, Ash turned again, and Sledge followed him. The warehouse came into sight as soon as they turned, and Ash pulled up in front of it and parked his bike. Sledge parked next to him and shut his off. He hadn’t been up to the warehouse since they started building. He wasn’t surprised to see all the equipment and building materials, but he was surprised at how much they already had accomplished. There was already a two-story frame built for the clubhouse and the areas where the mobile homes and trailers would park were smooth, and it looked like they were doing work to connect the fresh well, as well as the sewage lines. Sledge climbed off the bike, took off his helmet, and said, “Damn, they’ve put this together fast.”
Ash pulled off his helmet too and dropped it onto his handlebars. “Yep. The foreman is a beast.”
Sledge raised an eyebrow. “The foreman we’re supposed to take orders from?”
Ash grinned. “Yep, one and the same. Here he comes…” Sledge looked toward the pickup that was raising dust along the road they’d just traveled. There were two men in the truck. Sledge didn’t recognize the man driving, but he knew the other man; he was one of the Skulls.
“What’s Maz doing with him?”
“Maz never told you that he’s an expert in masonry?”
Sledge shrugged. “I only understand about half of what he says.”
Ash laughed. Maz was raised by a French woman and learned to speak French first and then English, with a French accent. Sometimes he mixed up the two, but if you reminded him to speak English, he would. When Sledge first met him, he was jealous. The guy was average-looking, but women crawled all over him for some reason. Ash told him it was the accent. Sledge wondered if that was all he’d needed all those years ago—maybe he should have learned Latin or Spanish or some shit and then he wouldn’t have been a virgin until he was almost nineteen years old.
The truck parked and the two men got out. The foreman was an older guy with arms that looked like he worked out daily and a belly that hung over his jeans and said otherwise. He had a few wisps of hair on top and Sledge wondered why he wouldn’t just shave them off. The man pulled off his sunglasses as he and Maz came toward them. “Where’s your bike?” Ash asked Maz when they got closer.
“Obtenir de nouvelles pipes badass.” Sledge looked at Ash like “See what I mean?” Ash looked like he was trying to suppress a smile.
“English, Maz?”
“Shit, sorry. Getting new pipes. Wait ’til you see them, they’re badass.” The accent was still thick enough that he was hard to understand if you didn’t listen closely, but Sledge understood enough. Maz was upgrading his bike.
Ash shook hands with the foreman and then introduced him to Sledge. The man’s name was Harvey Donaldson. Harvey seemed mild-mannered enough at first…but Sledge soon found out what Ash was referring to when he said the man was a beast. He barked out orders and seemed to be everywhere all at once, overseeing what was being done, and ready to tell the men working for him how to do it better. He had a crew of about a dozen men, Ash, Sledge, three prospects, and Maz working with him that day and except for a half an hour break for food, drink, and smoke, he worked them solid the entire ten hours. Sledge thought he knew why things were going up so fast.
At the end of the day the two men practically limped back to their bikes. Harvey and Maz had just taken off and the rest of the crew were already gone. Sledge climbed onto his bike, groaning as he did, and Ash laughed. “Kicked your ass?”
“Fuck yeah, aren’t you tired?”
“Whooped.” Sledge started to put on his helmet and Ash figured now was as good a time as any to bring up the subject he and Mack had hashed out the night before and again over breakfast. “I saw Daria last night.”
Sledge froze…for just a second. After that he turned toward Ash and said, “Where did that come from?…Kind of random.”
Ash chuckled. “Not random, I just hadn’t had a chance to tell you.”
“Why would you think I cared?”
“Don’t get all pissy again. I just thought I’d mention to you that we talked.”
Sledge’s shoulders stiffened. “Talked about what?”
“What do you think? We talked about you.” Sledge wanted to know what was said, but he didn’t want to ask. He lifted his helmet again and Ash said, “She really likes you.”
Sledge sighed. “It doesn’t matter, Ash. Daria and I could never be anything more than…”
He hesitated, and Ash said:
“She told me you fucked.” Sledge looked shocked and Ash said, “She didn’t say it like that, but I got the gist. She likes you, Sledge, a lot.”
“She doesn’t even know me,” he said. “Besides, fucking is the only thing she and I will ever be able to do together because we can do that behind closed doors and there won’t be anyone to judge us…or her, actually, for being with a guy like me.”
“Maybe she doesn’t give a shit what people say about her anymore, did you think of that? She’s all grown up.”
Sledge put his helmet on top of his head and just before he pushed it down he said, “Yeah, I noticed.” Ash was still grinning at him as he started his bike. Sledge started pushing his bike backward with his feet to turn it around and that was when he saw it…just a lick of a flame coming from behind the warehouse. He shut off the bike, slammed down the kickstand, and jumped off, pulling off his helmet as he ran. He was almost around the side when he heard Ash yelling after him, but he didn’t stop. There was a large, dry bush up against the back of the warehouse and it was on fire. It was about six or seven feet long and sat right up against the building. The building was metal, but the flames looked like they were licking underneath it, trying to get to the wooden frame and inside where it could meet up with enough firepower to set the entire countryside ablaze, along with all the lumber and construction equipment that was parked around front.
“Fuck!” Ash yelled when he came up behind him. “Dirt!” Sledge was already kicking the dirt up onto the bush, but that wasn’t going to be enough to put the fire out. He looked around, but there was nothing but dirt, rocks, and brush around them. Bending down, he scooped up as much dirt as he could hold in his hands and Ash did the same. They both threw the dirt on the bush, but the small amount only seemed to aggravate it. While Ash continued to work, Sledge ran back around front. He grabbed the edge of one of the large nylon covers draped over their construction supplies and pulled. It didn’t come loose.