by Carly White
“Why Phil? There are many girls that would love to go out with you.”
“Yeah, but none of them are like you.”
Lou liked that answer and it made her smile. “I will think about it Phil.”
Vengeance
A Motorcycle Club Romance
By: Tia Parker
Vengeance
Chapter 1
Chris hadn’t felt as good as he did in that moment, beyond the time when he got his first whiff of fresh air from being released from jail. That second or two where he could close his eyes to remember the last sight a little longer.
That was how he felt when he saw her. Chris spied a tall blonde bombshell from across the small eatery that he was leaving, their gaze meeting for a moment. How had he not noticed her? Chris now saw the last few minutes that were wasted on anything but her, as the ones that were a waste of his life.
She was sitting down in a corner booth and it didn’t matter that she was dressed all proper and he was not. It didn’t matter that she looked up at him for only a moment before looking away. Chris could tell instantly, that he was not her type, but it didn’t matter, nor did the fact that she was sitting across from a man that was giving him an evil look. Chris just smirked as he passed. What mattered was he had found her.
One of the last things his cousin Ray had told him, their last party together before he went off to the police academy was that he would know. He had recently found his ‘one’ and was determined to find Chris one as well. There was something in the way that he felt in that moment of eye contact with the woman that he would always remember as the moment when he met his wife.
But he was not there for romance. Chris was in the town of Ashland for a reason. He was there to settle a score and with his gang behind him, Chris had enough power to finally finish it. The blonde was a distraction and as he got on his bike to make a house call, Chris was worried that he wouldn’t see her again. He saw her blue eyes look his way through the large pane of glass and he just knew that he would see her again.
Chris took off towards the small farm house that he had to pay a visit. It was bad enough that he had to be in the backwards city, but he had lost some necessary items that he needed to complete his business. Pulling up to the red barn that looked older than the house, Chris got off his bike and started towards the closed door. The paint was peeling off and as he touched it to slide it open, little pieces of it came off in his hand. Rubbing it off on his leather jacket, he grimaced at the smear it made.
“Are you that fella I talked to earlier on the phone?”
He nodded at the buck toothed man sitting on an old fold out chair. The man didn’t get up and instead gestured towards a table to the left of him. Chris was skeptical of many things, but he was suddenly easier to imagine he was in the right place.
Picking through the array of weapons, his eyes went to an under/over shotgun and he picked it up. It was all he needed and like the beautiful blonde that he was going to marry, he was sure that it was the gun that was going to kill Wade Westin.
“Classic.”
“Yeah, a little pleasure with the business end. That is all I need.”
The man looked disappointed, but Chris left enough for his troubles to put a smile on his face. Chris could have done without the sight and was quick to get out of there before anymore of the filth of the place got on him. He felt better when he had the gun in his back flap and he was on his way back to the bed and breakfast he was staying in. It had been a long day and Chris was almost eager to sleep just so he would dream, knowing that he would dream about her.
***
Sandy went back to trying to pay attention to the man across from her. Ronald was trying to tell her a joke, though he had been sidetracked by one of the other diners and had boggled it all up and she wasn’t sure if it was over and she was supposed to laugh, so she just smiled back at him.
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“What did you think?”
“It was good Ronald.”
“You weren’t even listening to me, were you?”
“Of course I was. I just…”
He just made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat and Sandy wasn’t sure how she felt about that. This was there second official date and the more she got to know about Ronald, the more she realized that he just wasn’t the one for her. He was judgmental and always looking down his nose at everyone. He was handsome and when he wanted to be, charming, but there were other times that she was appalled to be with him.
If she was honest with him, she would tell him that his joke, like the few others before that she had listened through were distasteful at best. But she was there and his father was friends with hers, so she had to at least have some level of decorum. Her father was in finance or something like that. She wasn’t sure, but he worked with a lot of powerful men and she didn’t want to make anyone mad for being rude. So she suffered through a retelling of the joke and it was just as bad as all the rest were.
It was a shame really. The man was tall and good looking with tanned skin and blonde hair. The blue eyes were a set, but as soon as he opened his mouth, all of that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was what was coming out of his mouth. Then he had that look of lust in his eyes again and she just hoped that the smile she was forcing reached up to her eyes enough. It was enough for a man like him that couldn’t be bothered with what others thought of him.
“Well Ronald. Thanks for a lovely lunch, but I really must get back to class. I have an assignment that I have to go grab from the house before it starts.”
He looked like he was upset from her departure and she wasn’t sure if that was a show or not. She realized that she didn’t care and Sandy was already trying to think of a way to break up with him. Was it okay to break up with him in a text message? She wasn’t sure, but she really hoped so.
Ronald moved in to kiss her and she turned her cheek, not wanting to feel his wet lips on hers again. Once a person was disliked, it seemed like everything about him was undesirable. She waved goodbye to him before her face fell and she kind of shivered him off. That was going to be the last time she saw him. Sandy didn’t care who his family was.
Getting in her car and going across town to her house, it took several minutes to get through the gates while she waited for a few others in the hilltop community to put in their personal codes. It was strange to have to go through all of the security every time she wanted to go home, but her father had insisted on it. It was to keep them safe he had said, but she never did understand what exactly it was supposed to be keeping her safe from.
Pushing her way into the house, Sandy said hello to the maid before she made her way upstairs to her bedroom. She threw her coat on the bed as it was warming up outside. “Are you going to be in for dinner tonight Miss?”
She nodded to Maria, but wondered why she asked. “What’s going on tonight?”
“Your father is having some guest over that will be for business.”
“So I am being kicked out?”
The maid blushed under her dark skin. “Of course not Miss, but I was asked to see if you wouldn’t be here.”
Sandy was sick of the secret meetings. The way her father and his associates were acting, it was as if they were in the midst of saving the world half the time. It was always a secret, but in the end, she really didn’t care what it was. The men he worked with were all stuffy and their sons were no better. “Let him know that I won’t be in for dinner then. I have plenty of work that I can do for a research paper at the library.”
Maria felt bad that she had to bring up such things. She was more often than not, the go between for the two family members and she wondered why it was that way, but she would never ask such a thing. Maria saw the hurt in Sandy’s eyes, but she didn’t get involved. It was a rule that she had for the family’s she worked for, but as the years went by, it was hard not to get attached. “Don’t worry Sandy. I will make goat tonight and next tim
e he will take them out instead.”
Her idea made Sandy smile and she was back to her old self quickly, asking questions about Maria’s day. Maria’s days were always more interesting and the older maid always got ahold of the best gossip. It was like she had ears everywhere and she was always filling Sandy in. She never told her anything about her father and his dealings, but everyone else was up for grabs.
The subject of the day turned to Ronald’s father and Maria picked up on the look from Sandy. “What, is he not as charming as Mr. Gerare?”
Sandy shook her head. “I didn’t much care for his father either.”
Maria blushed a little. “He is far too friendly sometimes.”
It was shocking to hear Maria talk like that. It didn’t make her feel any differently about Ronald, but it made her realize then that the maid had a better love life and more potential suitors than she did. That was the thought that Sandy carried with her to class.
Chapter 2
After class Sandy wasn’t able to go home, so she went and got some dinner with one of her friends. The food was alright, but Sandy was restless and wanted to go home. Nicole saw it, but didn’t ask why. Sandy was in her own world and after it started to get dark, she bade her farewell and took a drive before finally going towards her house. The guard waved to her as she keyed in her code at the gate.
It was late when Sandy finally made it back to the house and she was surprised to see cars still lining the driveway. All of them were dark with tinted windows and many had drivers waiting on standby for them to leave. It was always that way with her father’s friends. They all came in with the best, wearing the best and paying everyone around them to do it all for them. Her own dad hadn’t driven a car in years.
She sighed to herself, wishing that they would all be gone and hoping beyond hope that she wasn’t set up with someone else. All of the good intentions sometimes drove her crazy. She was only twenty one and it wasn’t time for her to be settling down. All Sandy wanted to do was have fun.
The front porch lights were off and after she tried the door, she found it locked and Maria nowhere in sight. Sandy decided to go around back to get in through the sliding glass doors by the pool, but she stopped and moved towards the house and into the shadows.
She saw her father and he looked to be yelling at someone. There were several other men around him and then Sandy saw what was in his hand. It had been the palpable fear that had made her hide. Her father was holding a gun, pointed towards the man in a suit that he was yelling at. Sandy wasn’t sure who he was, but when her father squeezed off a shot from gun, the crack echoed in her ear for several minutes.
Sandy had to cover her mouth to stop the sound from coming out. She couldn’t believe it and as she watched the remaining men talking over his body, she realized that her father wasn’t the man she thought he was. It was becoming clear to her that everything she knew about him was wrong. It also made her feel vulnerable. She didn’t want to be there suddenly, wishing that she had not just seen that. Wishing she would have just stayed over at her friend’s house instead or went to the library that she was supposed to go to anyways. There was so many other places that she wished she was, anywhere but right there in that moment.
Stuck without an idea of what to do. She saw the men start to go back into the house and two of the drivers were coming up the driveway. Slinking down as low as she could, they passed by her only a couple of feet away from her and Sandy didn’t know how she wasn’t seen. As the passed by her and didn’t stop and pull her out of the bushes, she breathed out.
They would know she was there because of her car. She had to go in and face them, there was no way that she would be able to just disappear. Sandy had never feared her father before as she did then. The last thing she wanted to do was do what she was doing. Her hand went to the front door and she knocked loudly.
There were a few minutes to wait, but she could hear voices and then she saw the door open slowly. “Ah Sandy. I was wondering when you would be home. Why are you knocking?”
“Because the door was locked dad.”
He seemed surprised and she realized then how good of a liar he was. He had her fooled, everyone fooled. There wasn’t a look of regret that he had killed a man only just minutes before. There was nothing but a smile and then he pulled her in for a hug. She was stiff against him, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“We were just finishing up here. Why don’t you go upstairs for a few minutes?”
She nodded and started up the stairs, relieved to be away from him. There was no way that she was going to argue with him. It was hard to even look at him and she didn’t look back. Sandy was in unchartered territory and she found herself in the shower, under a hot stream of water until the water turned frigid. She felt as numb as the cold skin on her. Lying down, Sandy didn’t even change into her bed clothes. She just stayed up, staring at the ceiling until she finally passed out.
***
“Do you think she knows?”
Wade wasn’t sure, but the drivers seen her come up several minutes before she knocked on the door. He remembered the way she felt against him. His daughter knew something. She looked at him differently and he would always see it in his mind. The day she found out the truth about him. Sandy saw it all, but he didn’t want anyone else to know about it. He had always wanted to keep her out of it. What he was and where the money came from for her expensive college, the house, cars, everything.
“No.”
“Well she was walking around and could have seen something.”
Wade just looked at him for a moment before he shrugged. “She didn’t, but I will talk to her and make sure. Sandy is my daughter and there is no bigger loyalty. I trust her.”
Malcom wasn’t so sure, but Wade didn’t care. He was the one who had brought him into the deal and wasn’t going to be bullied. What did he expect him to do, off his daughter? There were some things that trumped business, and family was one of them.
“Of course Wade. I just know that she is not used to those kinds of things and may be struggling to deal with it.”
He knew that it wasn’t the case, but Wade just nodded, thanking him for his concern. In his world, there was no empathy or sympathy, just money and profits. Wade had come a long way in his life from those tactics and since he is finally at the top of his game, he wasn’t going to let anything knock him down. He still remembered robbing people for a living, barely scrapping by. Wade refused to be like that again.
“Are we going to talk about what Johnson told him before he died?”
He shook his head. “No, not today. I have some people looking into it. We will know soon enough. I hear that he got out too long ago. The man should have taken the case and moved on.”
“You don’t think he hasn’t?”
“No, I killed his family. You don’t ever let that go. He will be back here soon enough. Just wait and all will be revealed. You know that Johnson squealed like a pig. He never was too bright.”
Wade waited till he was out of the room before he finally sat down, his hands pushed through his dark blonde hair. It was the one thing that he had been afraid of, Sandy getting involved in his world. She was supposed to stay out, but their meeting had run over, so he was partially to blame. Wade had lost his temper like he usually did, but he hoped that she hadn’t seen him shoot the man, but he knew in his heart that she had. What would she think of him?
Chapter 3
Chris woke up in the small bed that barely accommodated his large frame. It was his second night in Ashland and he was already ready to leave, finish what he started and go back home finally. There was a long list of things that he had been waiting to do since he walked out of Gollum Penitentiary and none of them included waking up with a bad back from a crappy bed. He had spent enough time in a crappy bed, to know that he didn’t want to live like that anymore.
As he walked back and forth in the small space, feelings of being in the solitary confines flashed back and he found
himself moving out the door to the outside. Taking a deep breath, it was a reminder than he could do it. He wasn’t trapped anymore, but free. It was also a reminder that if he wanted to stay that way, Chris couldn’t get caught.
Moving back into the room once his nerves leveled out, he turned on the shower and waited until the whole room was steamed up before he got in. The water wasn’t hot enough and he sighed, just another reason to get out of there as soon as he could.
Getting out, he wiped the steam off the mirror and ran a hand over the stubble on his face. Chris didn’t even recognize himself when he looked in the reflection, the last three years had hardened him and it was hard not to see it. His dark eyes looked tired even though he had just woken up. It was no doubt the stress of what was ahead for him.
After getting dressed and making a few phone calls, Chris took off towards the small diner on his bike. He was there to meet his old cell mate and hoping to catch a glance of that blonde again. When his eyes took in the restaurant though, she was nowhere in sight. It was a little disheartening, but Chris had a feeling that he would see her again. He had faith, something he hadn’t had in a long time.
Sitting down in front of the tall Italian, Chris ordered a coffee from the waitress that went round. There were only a few pleasantries before the two men got down to business. The Black Riders was started while Chris was in jail and Vin would always be his second. When he had first gone to jail, he had no idea how he was going to make it and if he didn’t have Vin as a bunkmate, he may not of. The man always had his back and through the years they were together in prison, Vin had heard a lot about Wade. Chris wasn’t like most men that claimed innocence in jail, he actually didn’t do it.
“So we have found him?”
Chris nodded his head, pushing his hair back from his face. He couldn’t help but smile a little. Vin knew how long he had been waiting for this and the man’s face cracked into his own grin. “Aye, Johnson would have given us his whole family’s address if we would have asked for it.”