by Jamie Begley
“For now. I want to see my nieces and nephew before I get started with the whores and liquor.”
Cade caught an inexplicable expression cross Stud’s face at Calder’s words.
“We’ll stop by Sex Piston’s parents’ house first. She’s there with the kids.”
“Shit, Sizzle know I’m coming?”
“I told her yesterday.”
“Fuck, she probably made me a cake.”
Cade couldn’t understand why the man looked so upset about someone making a cake for him, but he didn’t have time to question any of the brothers as they drove away from the prison.
He thought the brothers would pull away and head back to the clubhouse when Calder and Stud turned down a side street. When they pulled in front of a house, he remained sitting with the other brothers while Stud and Calder went inside.
Cade’s head turned when he saw movement on the side of the house. Jane was playing with a little girl who was running around the yard. She ran up behind the squealing little girl who laughed when Jane tossed her into the air then deftly caught her. Placing the small girl on her hip, she sat down on a swing with the child on her lap. Jane was talking softly to the little girl while running her hands through her hair. When the little girl tried to wiggle free, Jane reached into her pocket and pulled out a candy bar. Breaking it in two pieces, she gave one to the child. They sat quietly, eating their treat.
“Don’t go there, brother.” Cade turned his head at Bear’s comment.
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means you were smart enough to walk away once. Dozer almost fell for her, but he put the emergency brake on.”
“Dozer and Jane were together?” Cade asked sharply.
“No, he wanted a fuck; she wanted something more. Dozer didn’t want any woman to have him by the balls, though. She’s the type that gets under your skin and doesn’t let go. Hell, there’s not a brother here who hasn’t imagined their dick in her mouth, until she talks and ruins it. When I want a piece of tail, I don’t want to fuck Marsha Brady.”
Cade barely held his fury in check at the way Bear was talking about Jane.
“A man would have to hide her face to be able to walk away from that sweet piece. The brothers and I all like variety. Besides, Sex Piston would castrate any brother who did her girl wrong.” Bear stared at Jane with a wistful expression. “There’s two types of women men like us need to stay away from.”
“What are they?” Cade asked, becoming amused by Bear’s forlorn expression.
“One is a woman who makes you think of home and kids. The second is the kind who twists your nuts into a knot.”
“Which type is Jane?”
“Brother, she’s both.”
* * *
“Can I have a Miller Lite?” Cade heard Jane ask Stud, who was standing behind the bar for the beer.
“Sorry, Fat Louise, I just gave Bear the last one.”
Cade was standing at the bar with Calder, Dozer, Bear, and Gina. Demie was sitting on a stool next to them. When Stud told her he didn’t have the beer, she gave a pretty pout that had Cade’s cock twitching in his jeans.
She was dressed in a cream sweater that was loose and fell off her smooth shoulder and dark leggings that were covered by a tiny black skirt. She looked sexy as fuck.
Bear, who had been about to raise his beer to his mouth, paused before handing it to her. Jane’s silvery eyes glowed with happiness, as if he had given her a damn diamond ring.
“Thanks, Bear,” she said, taking the beer. “Crazy Bitch will appreciate it.”
Cade almost laughed out loud at Bear’s expression.
“You have food at the table?” Stud questioned sharply.
Cade thought Stud was overly concerned about Jane drinking on an empty stomach.
“Yes, Crazy Bitch brought us all sandwiches from the Vegan Factory.”
“Cool.”
“Can I get a bottled water?”
“Sure thing.” Stud handed her one.
As she turned away from the bar, their eyes met before she jerked her gaze away, catching Calder’s.
“Hey, Calder, it’s nice seeing you again.” Her honeyed voice had his balls clenching into a vice.
“Hi, Fat Louise. You’re looking sexy as usual. Makes me realize what I was missing in prison.” Calder took a step forward, grabbing her to pull her into his body, hugging her close as his hands went to her ass.
Cade couldn’t prevent his jaw clenching when he saw the blatant sexual touch.
Jane merely laughed, pushing him away and then nodding her head towards Gina and Demie. “I see you’re making up for lost time.”
“You know it.” Calder’s expression darkened as he lifted the bottle of whiskey he was holding to his mouth.
Cade couldn’t hide his countenance quick enough to prevent Calder from seeing his reaction.
“Well, enjoy yourself.” Jane left the men all staring as she walked away, clutching the drinks in a tight grip.
Calder placed his arm around Gina’s shoulder yet looked towards Cade.
“We gonna have a problem if I take Gina out back?”
“Hell no. You can fuck your brains out with any bitch here, and I wouldn’t care,” Cade answered him. The exception being the woman he was still watching walk away, Cade thought to himself.
Calder stared back at him astutely. “Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
“In that case”—he placed his other arm around Demie as she slid from the stool—“like Fat Louise said, I’m going to make up for lost time. But I’m not a brother who minds sharing.”
“Me, either.” Cade placed his beer on the counter before following Calder from the clubroom, unable to keep his gaze from Jane’s table as he passed.
She refused to glance up, but her friends at the table gave him disgusted looks. Although they couldn’t be more disgusted with him than he was with himself. Still, he didn’t stop going in the direction he was heading, despite knowing nothing was going to happen in the bedroom that could compare to the night he had shared with Jane.
When he had been a kid growing up in Arizona, his mother had made him stand next to her as she stood on a corner holding a sign “My son is hungry.” He had been forced to stand there without shoes on because she said it made people feel sorry for them. In the burning heat, she had begged for money to feed her and his father’s habit. Even now, he remembered the burning heat scorching his bare feet until he couldn’t take it any longer, and his mother would let him stand in the shade until the stoplight turned red. The humiliation burned almost as badly as the pavement as they handled those who gave them money, forced to endure their pitying gazes until he had grown too large to generate their sympathy.
Life hadn’t become any easier after that. He had taken a job in a local restaurant as a dishwasher until he had graduated high school. He had sworn as he had stood at that metal sink that, when he turned eighteen, he would leave and never look back at the family he left behind, never let himself be tied down with feeling responsible for anyone again. He had lived by that code ever since, and he had never regretted it once.
Until now.
Chapter 21
Cade pulled his bike into the small gas station. Looking around, he saw the gas pumps didn’t take credit cards and the station itself was run down.
Getting off his bike, he walked toward the open bay, seeing Stud working on a bike.
“Hey, Stud.”
Stud paused with the wrench in his hand. “What brings you out here?”
Cade moved closer to the bike Stud was working on. “My bike is a piece of shit. Dozer told me you built the one you ride. That’s a nice one you’re working on now.”
Stud stood up, picking up a shop rag to wipe his hands. “It’s already sold. I make custom bikes, but I only build two a year. This year’s orders have already been taken and paid for.”
Cade stared down at the beautiful bike. It might be worth waiting around for,
although he had already stayed in town four months longer than he had thought he would. Each day, he had woken with the intent of getting on his bike and leaving; instead, he had found some lame excuse to stay for another day.
He had never stayed in one place as long as he had Jamestown. He felt the burning need to put Jamestown behind him, yet he hadn’t left, placing most of the blame on a bike that had more mechanical problems than it was worth. If he was going to hit the road, he needed a new bike.
“I couldn’t talk you into doing three?”
“My bikes are expensive,” Stud warned.
Cade’s lips twitched. “I think I can afford it.”
Stud went to an old refrigerator and pulled out two beers, tossing one to Cade. “Christmas is coming up in a few months, and I have four kids and Sex Piston to buy for. I can build you one next. Rock isn’t expecting his until March.”
Cade stiffened when he heard Rock’s name. The Blue Horseman was from the West Virginia chapter, but since Pike had transferred for a new job, Rock had moved to the Jamestown chapter to replace Pike. He was a nice guy, but the beef he had with Rock was Jane. The brother was on her like flies on shit.
“I’d appreciate it,” Cade said, opening his beer and taking a drink while Stud studied him quizzically.
“You got a beef with Rock?”
Cade guessed he hadn’t hidden his reaction to Rock’s name. “No beef.”
“Sure,” Stud laughed, setting his beer down on the worktable. “Way you’ve been hitting the sheets with every bitch in the club, you can’t blame Fat Louise for getting her some, too.”
“Is she getting any?” Cade asked, despite himself.
Stud paused for a split second as a look Cade couldn’t decipher came over his face. “I don’t know, brother. You’ll have to take that up with her. I learned long ago to keep my nose out of the business of the brothers and the bitches.”
Cade nodded his head, setting his own beer down on the worktable. “Let me know how much I owe you for the bike, and I’ll get the cash for you.”
“Will do. Be careful riding that piece of shit until I can get yours built.”
“I will.”
“You going to hit the road as soon as it’s done?”
“Yeah. Hung around here too long already.”
“You don’t like Jamestown?” Stud began working on the bike again.
“I like it too much, but I travel, it’s what I do. Left home the day I turned eighteen, joined the Marines, did my time in the service, and got out. There are a lot of jobs open for a man who wants to sell his skills to the right buyer. Moved from town to town, taking the jobs I wanted, and I turned down those I didn’t. I made enough a couple of years ago to retire, and the job I took for Jane’s father was just icing on the cake.”
“Ever go back to see your parents?”
“Fuck no. My old man was a junkie who knocked me around whenever he wanted, and my ma stood back and watched. Don’t even know if they’re alive or dead; don’t care enough to find out, either.”
“Don’t guess I blame you.” Stud reached for the wrench. “Ever think the reason you’re a nomad is because you’re searching for a family that’ll have your back?”
“No. Don’t want a family. They tie you down and destroy you.”
“On the other hand, they can have your back when no one else will. The Blue Horsemen and the Destructors have your back, whether you want them to or not, so you might as well learn to live with that fact, brother.”
* * *
Cade went back to the clubhouse with Stud’s words repeating over and over in his mind. He had drawn closer to the brothers over the past months, despite himself. He refused to acknowledge Jane had any part in his staying. Even if she did, it wouldn’t have mattered. He wasn’t ready to stop roaming, and from the expression on her face that day, she had been cut hard by his actions. Wounds like that didn’t heal overnight, if ever.
He needed a fucking drink to take her image out of his mind. The other women he had found himself with since then had failed to do so. Cade didn’t think the liquor would help any better, although he was at a point where he was willing to try anything to drive the feel of her away for a few minutes.
Going to the bar, he stood next to Dozer and Bear. Both were arguing back and forth on who they were going to fuck that evening.
A little while later, the door opened, and Sex Piston and her crew came in with Stud. Cade admired the man who was able to handle being around the women constantly.
He noticed Jane wasn’t with the crew again that night. He hadn’t seen her in a couple of months. At first, when he had made an ass of himself, she had come to the club every night with one of the bitches in tow, as if to show him she didn’t give a shit, but her visits had gradually tapered off until she never showed at all anymore.
Stud left the women sitting at a table and came to the bar. “June, give me drinks for the girls, and I’ll take a whiskey. I need it.” Stud winked at the brunette, whose tits were showing through the white T-shirt she was wearing.
The clubhouse door opened, and Jane’s father came inside looking like he had the first time Cade had met him, like he was so scared he was about to shit himself.
“What’s he doing here?” Cade asked Stud, who gave him another weird look that he couldn’t decipher. Cade was beginning to get the feeling that something was going on he didn’t know about.
He watched as Montgomery approached Sex Piston’s table.
“Sex Piston, I’ve been looking for Jane. Where is she?”
“Why do you give a shit?”
Montgomery was obviously startled by her harsh question. “She’s my daughter, and I haven’t seen or heard from her in over two months.”
“And you’re just now getting worried? Fuck off!” Sex Piston snarled.
“I’ll call the police and report her missing!”
“Call them. I’ll tell them she’s working at Popeye’s, on top of her hospital job.”
“What? Why is she working there?”
“Because she’s trying to keep a roof over her sorry mother’s head.”
“But I succeeded in getting my money back, and I made sure her allowance was restarted.”
“Look in the account, and you’ll see she doesn’t touch it. She doesn’t want a dime of your money, never has. That’s why she’s always given it to her mom and that bitch daughter of yours.”
“Why wouldn’t she…? I don’t understand.”
“Because, what did you do when you got your money back two months ago? You and Bailey went running back to New York. Who the fuck do you think got that money back for you?”
“The banks—”
“Bullshit. Those banks didn’t give a fuck whether you recovered your money or not. Jane went to The Last Riders and asked for their help. Knox is a computer engineer, and Crash is a computer nerd. They stole the money back for you.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Jesus! You’re so fucking stupid. How did you make that money in the first place?”
“I need to go see her…” Montgomery turned yet was stopped by Sex Piston’s harsh words.
“Stay the fuck away from her. She doesn’t want to see you right now or anyone else who’s hurt her. She wants to be left alone. You go near her, and I’ll kick your ass.”
“Is she in trouble? I can help—”
“You can’t help her now. It’s too fucking late.” Sex Piston’s voice grew tight. Cade had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what came out of her mouth next. “You’ve never been a father to her. You left her behind then flaunted that blond bitch in front of her as the daughter you loved and cared about more. When she was a teenager, you let her stepmother and Bailey both torment her about her looks until she started calling herself the name they would call her when you weren’t around. Only when Bailey took off did you remember you have another daughter.
“When Bailey disappeared, you made sure to let Jane know how upset you were that s
he was in danger, leaving no doubt in Jane’s mind that you wished it was her instead of Bailey. She even knows that, when Cade asked you who to save if it came down to the two of them, he was to leave Jane to die and save Bailey!” Sex Piston’s voice rose until she was yelling at the ashen man.
“How does she know that?”
“Because you told your wife, and she relayed it to Bailey, who threw it up to Jane, you fucking asshole! If someone asked me that fucking question, I would have shot them then found someone else to do the job. Get out of my face before I beat the shit out of you.”
Montgomery grabbed onto the back of a chair. Cade wasn’t sure if it was more to hold himself up or to use in self-defense if Sex Piston decided to attack.
“I have to go see her to make things right.”
“You’re never going to make things right for her. Right now, dealing with you is the last thing she needs or wants. She had a miscarriage and needs peace right now, and I’m going to see she gets it. Go back to New York and wait a few months. Maybe then she’ll be more able to deal with your guilty conscience.”
“She was pregnant? Who…?”
“It doesn’t matter who the father was. He didn’t care about her any more than you do. Get out!” Sex Piston lunged to her feet, and both Killyama and Crazy Bitch held her back as Montgomery fled the club.
Cade stood as still as if someone had punched him in the gut. “It was mine, wasn’t it?” he asked Stud hoarsely.
“Yeah, brother, it was your kid.”
Chapter 22
Jane filled the large cup with soda then snapped on the lid. Looking at her watch, she saw she had thirty minutes left on her shift. She had already finished her clean up, so she would only have to clock out when her shift was over.
Carrying the drink to the counter, she handed it to the man waiting.
“Thanks.” Rock took the drink, giving her a smile.
“You’re welcome.” He always stopped by at the end of each night to give her a ride home. Jane appreciated him offering. She had hated to call Killyama when he was already here, so she had accepted the rides. “I won’t be much longer.”
“Take your time. I’ll sit at a table until you’re ready.”