Whiskey Neat (The Uncertain Saints MC Book 1)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  “Make sure you watch your back. Wouldn’t want some overzealous inmate doing anything bad to you.”

  With that parting comment, I left, smiling.

  The next fifteen years would be absolutely terrible for him, and I promised about four prisoners cigarettes once a week if they ensured it.

  Money well spent.

  ***

  One day later

  I stared at the man who’d shot my child.

  Stared at him so long that his body was strung tight with tension.

  “I’m tying up loose ends,” I said finally.

  The man was a cocky little asshole, one who’d been hired by Perry to fake a drive by shooting and had given the man what he’d thought was a ‘fake gun.’

  The man hadn’t known what he was getting into.

  But that didn’t negate the fact that his hand had been the one holding the gun that’d killed my baby boy.

  His finger had pulled that trigger.

  Whether he’d meant to do it or not, was beside the point.

  It was time for him to be a man.

  Own up to his mistakes.

  “You should’ve told the cops what had happened in the first place instead of running to that piece of shit Perry. He didn’t protect you. And you shouldn’t have been protected in the first place. You should’ve realized that this whole goddamned thing was fucking wrong. That it wasn’t right. If you needed money, you should’ve gone and gotten a job like the rest of the world has to do,” I growled.

  Ellis Perry’s best friend, Carter Womack, looked like he’d been through a thousand wars.

  And he had.

  “Let’s go,” I said, pointing to the police station. “Make sure you tell them what I told you.”

  The club had had him locked up at headquarters for days while we extracted every single bit of information from him.

  Now that we no longer needed him, it was time he went to where he was forever going to be.

  His court appearance was just formality.

  He’d be going to prison.

  He’d spend the rest of his life behind bars.

  Or he’d die.

  I’d given him that option—but he’d asked to be put in prison—so he could think about his sins for the rest of his life.

  And I was happy to oblige. Not that I believed him when he said he wanted to think about his sins for the rest of his life. The little fucker thought he’d get out, that someone would break him out if they had to. That wasn’t going to be the case in this instance, though.

  The man didn’t deserve anything less.

  None of Perry’s goons did.

  I wouldn’t stop until every last one of them either died or spent the rest of their lives paying for what part they played in my son’s death, whether directly or indirectly.

  I didn’t believe in Karma.

  Karma was something that people that weren’t willing to defend themselves believed in.

  Karma was the coward’s way out.

  Life’s a bitch, and karma comes in the form of my fists for those that think they can get away with taking the easy way out.

  ***

  One day later

  “Keep up your meds,” I said to my father as I opened the door to the car.

  My father glared at me as he stood up, wincing only slightly as he put weight on his weak leg.

  He’d been shot in the back, just above his left hip.

  The bullet had clipped a nerve as it passed through, and dad was still having trouble putting too much weight on it without it collapsing out from under him.

  Hence why I’d brought him to my mom.

  Which had been where he wanted to go in the first place.

  Apparently, they’d been carrying on right under my nose for years, and neither one had thought it important to tell me.

  “He has to stay off his leg as much as possible for the next week. He needs to start physical therapy within the next four days, here are his papers,” I told my mother as my father walked away from both of us.

  My mother smiled up at me.

  The smile quickly died as she caught the look in my eyes, then narrowed her eyes.

  “What’s wrong with you?” She asked softly.

  I shook my head.

  “Nothing you can fix. Gotta go.”

  I ignored her urging me to wait, and instead walked back to my side of the car, dropped my ass into the seat, and took off down the road, getting out of there as fast as the gas pedal would let me.

  Where, I didn’t know.

  But again, anywhere but there.

  Chapter 23

  I hate being sexy, but I’m a bearded man. I can’t help it.

  -Fact of Life

  Lenore

  Karma was a bitch.

  And I hoped Griffin’s balls rotted off.

  I hated crying. It made my head hurt.

  But right now I couldn’t make myself stop.

  I’d been crying for three hours now.

  I’d gotten out of the hospital to find myself dropped off at Griffin’s house.

  Alison had picked me up, and she’d taken me to Griffin’s house…where there was no sign of Griffin anywhere.

  Alison handed me a rhinestone-encrusted tiara keychain, and had waved goodbye in less than twenty minutes.

  Woodenly, I’d gone into Griffin’s house and was flabbergasted at what I saw.

  The entire place was furnished.

  No more did it have second hand knockoffs.

  Now the whole place was decorated in the rich colors that I loved.

  Blue. Teal. Light brown.

  The kitchen was redone.

  The floors were wood instead of linoleum.

  And on the table, in the very middle, was a note.

  “The house is yours. Alison got a crew to update it for me. I put it in your name as of last week. ILY. Be safe. – G,” I’d read aloud.

  And now here I was, eating a gallon of ice cream with Doogan laying at my feet.

  The fridge had been stocked with all of my favorite things.

  Whole milk. Chocolate syrup. My favorite brand of vanilla ice cream.

  After walking throughout the entire house and realizing that Griffin had sufficiently erased everything that was him out of it, I sat down on the couch with my ice cream and started to think.

  I was wearing a pair of Queen underwear, an exact replica of the ones I’d lost in the fire, eating straight out of the bucket.

  I was sitting on the new couch, really missing Griffin’s old one, and wondering what in the hell I was supposed to do.

  First things first, I had to find him.

  I wasn’t supposed to be doing much walking around due to the gunshot wound to my head, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

  I should’ve known the man would do something like this.

  Mr. I’m No Good For You.

  I’d thought we’d gotten past that, but apparently we hadn’t.

  I’d woken up only minutes before nurses had said a large, sexy man, fitting Griffin’s description, had shown up at my door with flowers.

  From what I could conclude, Griffin had heard Remy’s warning to me to stay away from him.

  Whether he heard my declaration of love or not was yet to be seen, but I knew how Griffin’s mind worked.

  He’d already felt terrible for my being shot.

  I hadn’t had to see him to know that he was feeling that way.

  Griffin was a martyr.

  If he thought I’d have a better life without him, he’d leave, no questions asked.

  To top it off, he’d heard Remy, a man he’d felt threatened by since the very beginning, telling me to be aware that Griffin would always have trouble following him, and I just knew Remy’s words were the tipping point of his guilt.

  Oh so slowly, I stood up and made my way to the back bedroom that used to be Griffin’s to find pants.
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  I’d always wondered why he’d not used the master.

  But I’d yet to ask why.

  I made a mental note to do so when I finally got him back where he belonged.

  I opened the first drawer I came to and nearly hit my knees at seeing exact replicas of my favorite pants replacing the ones that perished in the fire.

  Except they were brand new without that little stain at the front pocket.

  I continued to dig, finding that he’d replaced nearly every single thing in my wardrobe down to pinpoint accuracy.

  He’d spent the last two weeks being a very busy boy.

  These actions were not the actions of a man that didn’t care for his woman any longer.

  These were actions that say he loved his woman.

  And I finally realized that there may be an easier way to get him to come back to me without me looking for him at all.

  Smiling a tad bit manically, I slowly threaded my feet into my pants, and zipped them up.

  They were a little tighter, and I thought that maybe soon I should start working out, and possibly give up all my sweets and carbs.

  Especially, if I was going to be wearing a wedding dress in my future.

  ***

  Operation Convince Griffin to Come Home- Day 1

  “No,” I said to my mom that was sewing my new biker bitch vest. “The lettering looks more like this,” I said, showing her a picture of Griffin’s motorcycle club ‘cut’ as he called it.

  If this was going to work, it needed to look authentic.

  It needed to be something that would draw everyone’s attention.

  And with it being under such close scrutiny, it needed to be perfect.

  “Take a chill pill, darlin’. This is only what it’ll look like at first. I still have to widen the letters, and change the background color. Just go sit over there and let me do the work,” my mother admonished. “And stop picking at the scab on your head.”

  “I’m not picking at it. I’m touching it. Do you think it’ll scar?” I asked.

  “No,” my mother said, but her concentration was no longer on me.

  It was on the ‘Property of Griff’ leather vest I was asking her to make for me.

  I’d read up on what ‘biker bitches’ did to please their man on the internet.

  The first thing I saw was the ‘Property of’ patch.

  Women usually wore it because their ‘old man’ gave it to them.

  I was going to wear it because I wanted everyone to know I was Griffin’s.

  If everyone knew, then that’d take away his excuse that I was safer without him.

  Mostly because I’d be insinuating myself into his world whether he wanted me there or not.

  Starting with the pretty vest.

  An hour and a half later, I was modeling my new vest.

  “What do you think?” My mother asked.

  I smiled excitedly at her.

  I loved it.

  I would’ve jumped up and down in my excitement, but the sudden movements still hurt to do, so I would have to do with clapping my hands.

  “Alright,” I said, walking into my mother’s arms. “I’m going to get out on the town, let everyone see me. Starting with the bar that the boys like to go to.”

  My mother shook her head.

  “Don’t get yourself in trouble,” she said, shaking her finger in my face.

  I laughed.

  “See ya, thanks again for making this awesomeness,” I told her as I walked out the door.

  But my first stop wasn’t the bar.

  It was too early yet.

  After doing a quick run by my store to see Apple, the prospect that’d been working my store for nearly three weeks, I walked next door to Annie’s, my new friend that I’d met just last week.

  She’d been at the hospital, of all places, letting her comfort dog, Morelli, do his thing on the hospital wing.

  When she’d come in my room with that huge ball of fur and slobber, I’d fallen into instant friendship with both Annie and Morelli.

  It’d been during our short conversation that I’d realized we were neighbors.

  Annie had opened up a small shop where she did nails, hair, and massages out of the front room of her business.

  She lived in the back two rooms.

  “Annie!” I called as I pushed through the front door. “I need your help!”

  Annie smiled as she walked through the back entry.

  “Hey girl, you up for that haircut finally?” She asked.

  I nodded my head. “Abso-fucking-lutely,” I confirmed. “I want about eight to ten inches cut off, and I want to straighten it. I’ve got some impressing to do tonight.”

  ***

  Three hours later

  “Are you sure I don’t look whore-like?” I asked Annie.

  Annie shook her head. “No. You look fine. And your ass in those jeans looks amazing.”

  Annie was a straight talker; I’d come to find out.

  She didn’t waste time giving false platitudes.

  As we entered the front door of the bar, I had to curb the urge to squirm as nearly every eye in the place landed on me…and the vest I was wearing.

  Shit.

  “You’re doing fine,” Annie said smoothly. “Keep going.”

  I did, walking straight up to the bar and completely ignoring the table of bikers at the back of the room.

  I knew they saw me.

  Knew they’d see the Property Patch the moment I sat down and gave them my back.

  I moved to the very furthest bar stool and sat down, keeping my back to the room as I smiled up at the bartender.

  “I’d like a Coca-Cola, please,” I said.

  The bartender nodded then looked to Annie. “You?”

  “I want a Jack Daniel’s and Coke, please,” she said.

  I raised a brow at her.

  “I got my own problems, girly,” she laughed. “If you only knew.”

  I waved my hand in the air. “I’ve got nothing but time.”

  A loud slam startled me, and I turned my head to see the back of Griffin’s back as he pushed through the door to the bar, hastily making his exit.

  I smiled.

  Day one seemed to be a success.

  ***

  Operation Convince Griffin to Come Home-Day 2

  “Now what are you going to do?” Annie asked me from her perch on the new couch that Griffin had bought.

  It was so comfortable.

  And I couldn’t wait to snuggle with him on it.

  “Well,” I said. “I wore the vest to get gas today. And to the supermarket. As well as to my shop to check in on Johnny. I’m out of places to wear it to.”

  “How about a photoshoot?” Annie suggested. “With just the vest…and your underwear.”

  I raised my eyebrows at her.

  “Well…that could be kind of fun. Do you know someone that does photos like that?” I asked.

  She nodded. “I do.”

  I just shook my head. “Well you’re just a Jack of all trades, aren’t you?”

  She nodded. “Photography is my passion. The other stuff is just things I needed to learn how to do to make the pictures I take beautiful.”

  That made a lot of sense, how those would go together.

  “Okay. Where do you want to do it?”

  ***

  Griffin

  Operation Convince Griffin to Come Home- Day 6

  “You’ve got a package at the office,” Wolf said. “I set it on your desk in your office.”

  I blinked.

  I was never at the office…or at my desk, for that matter. Most of my work was done from the field or from home. It wasn’t often that I even saw the inside of those four walls.

  “Who’s it from?” I asked as I walked out to the boat.

  I was staying on Peek’s houseboat.

  It was cowardly, but it was the only w
ay I knew that Lenore wouldn’t follow me.

  I figured the bayou gave me a little bit of added protection from any surprises on Lenore’s part.

  If she didn’t know where I lived, she couldn’t show up unannounced, and I wouldn’t have to break my promise to myself to protect her from me.

  It was bad enough that she looked so good in the Property Patch she’d had made.

  With my name on her back, I felt like I was on top of the fuckin’ world.

  When she’d entered the bar wearing that and those tight jeans molded to her ass, I’d nearly lost my nerve and broke my promise.

  But I’d somehow managed to gain enough composure to leave before I did anything stupid.

  But the last week hadn’t been easy.

  She was actively trying to kill me; I was sure of it.

  First the vest.

  Then the provocative clothes.

  The new look with her beautiful long red hair cut to mid-back had nearly brought me to my knees.

  Then she’d told Johnny she no longer needed him to work anymore, because she was taking the store back over.

  Yesterday I’d had a box of things delivered to me via Johnny, who was now working for her part time and getting paid.

  When I’d opened the box and saw the fleshlight, lube, and porn DVD starring, you guessed it, a hot red-head, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay strong for much longer.

  Now I was at the point where I was just seeing how far she was willing to go.

  And an hour later, as I arrived at the office and walked into my office to see the package, I knew I didn’t have anything left in me to resist her.

  “Holy fuckin’ shit!” Wolf exclaimed.

  I covered the photos, the beautifully provocative photos of my woman, and shot Wolf a glare.

  “Get the fuck out of my office,” I snapped.

  Wolf held his hand up. “Sorry. I was just seeing if you wanted to go over a case with me. But I can tell you have a lot more…sexier…things on your hands.”

  Indeed, I did.

  And a hard on to go with it.

  Chapter 24

  Always love a woman for her personality. They have multiple, so you can choose.