by KJ Dahlen
Deke sat back in his chair and studied the other man carefully. Finally, he asked, “Who is Greg Matthias?”
Bam Bam frowned. “He’s my dad why? What’s all this got to do with him?”
“We found that he might be the one common factor in this mess. Thirty some years ago, he gave testimony to the police on an attempted murder case that sent a man name Travis Paulson to prison.”
“Who the bloody hell is Travis Paulson?” Grizzly wanted to know.
“He’s Gerry and Jackson Turner’s father. The boys went to live with Michael Turner after his stepson Travis was convicted and sent to prison. He died in prison about two years later and Michael raised the boys after that.”
“And my dad is the only connection you could find?” Bam Bam looked confused.
“That’s all we’ve found so far,” Deke admitted.
“Well, I’ll certainly ask him about this.” Shrugging he admitted, “I don’t know what this all means but it could be something.”
“I think you should ask him about this soon, very soon,” Deke suggested.
“Like before we get the Hellions knocking on our front door soon,” Sam grumbled.
Bam Bam glanced at the clock on the wall and noted the time. “I’ll call him right now. We need answers as soon as possible.” He got up and went back to his bedroom.
Half an hour later, he returned and saw Grizzly had made a pot of coffee. He poured himself a cup and came back to the table and sat down. “The Greg Matthias in your files is my dad. He remembered the case as clear as if it happened yesterday. He knew Travis Paulson or Turner as he always called himself when he was a young man. He also remembered Travis’s boys. He’s coming here tomorrow morning and he said he’ll answer any questions you have then.”
“And you didn’t know any of this?” Sam wanted to know.
“I was a kid when this all went down. My dad said he was never asked to testify in court, so there’s no way I would have remembered any of it.”
“You must have heard everyone talking about it though?” Deke suggested.
Bam Bam nodded. “Yeah, I heard about the case. It was a home invasion/robbery gone bad. Travis broke into this older man’s house thinking he had money or something he could hock but he found the old man sleeping. Travis beat the old man almost to death before the police got there. One of the neighbors heard the fight and called the cops. He barely got out of the house but managed to get away before the cops arrived. They spoke to neighbors and such and by the time they found him, my dad they knew pretty much who was responsible. They picked up Travis and had him dead to rights on evidence rather than anyone’s testimony. The old man survived and was able to point him out in court. My dad thought he was done.”
“Guess not,” Sam stated.
“I guess not,” Bam Bam agreed. “It was years later after we all grew up that Gerry stole my wife and child away from me and then years after that, Jackson tried to kill my daughter. Now we’ve come full circle it seems.”
“But what does it all mean?” Bumper sked.
“Who knows?” Bam Bam stated. “It doesn’t mean anything to me, but it must mean something to Gerry and Jackson. What exactly that is, would be anyone’s guess.”
“Maybe your dad has some answers,” Deke stated. He glanced at the clock and took note of the time. “Ok it is late now. We’d better all get some sleep.”
After they all left, Grizzly sat at the table with Bam Bam for a while. After a few minutes, Grizzly finally asked, “What the fuck in going on here man?”
“I have no clue brother and that’s the truth,” he told his oldest friend. “I’m not even sure my dad knows anything. He was as surprised as hell when I asked him about the case. I mean that was thirty some years ago. But then he said something that really shook me.”
“Oh and what was that?”
“He remembered the kind of man Michael Turner was.”
“What kind of man was Michael Turner?” Grizzly raised a brow at him.
“One of the worst my dad claimed. He was a drinker and he got downright mean when he drank. His wife stayed away from the people of their town as she was usually covered in bruises. Then when the grandsons came to live with them, she simply disappeared. After that it was Michael and the boys.”
“She disappeared?” Grizzly said.
Bam Bam shrugged. “That’s what he said. I have no idea.”
“Well, let’s hope he’s a little clearer tomorrow.” Grizzly yawned. “I’m going to bed. All this stress is draining me. Besides, I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a day from hell.”
Nix and Wiley laid in the bed they shared. Nix was confused by the revelations she discovered tonight. She had a father. What she couldn’t understand was why her mother never told her about him.
She always knew her mom wasn’t happy where she was but she never knew why. Or why she would never acknowledge her. Did she remind her of a man she hated or what was her deal? Was this Bam Bam so bad? What had he done to her that she’d left him like that?
She remembered asking her mom several times who her father was but her mom would just shake her head and tell her nothing.
She hadn’t noticed it but while she was thinking about the past her fingertips had been skimming the skin on Wiley’s chest. She became aware of her actions only when he groaned slightly at her touch. Nix looked down at his chest under her fingertips and smiled.
Her thoughts focused on the here and now rather than the past. She pressed the tips of her fingers into his skin a bit and began touching him rather than skimming his skin. She heard him catch his breath as her hand roamed his wide chest.
She began tracing one of his tattoos. It was a dragon along his hip and it pretty much led to the V that disappeared into his boxers. Wiley may have been a bigger guy but she could testify that there was no fat on him at all. His skin was toned and warmed by the sun.
She began to trace the dragon’s backbone and as she traced the tip of the tail Wiley grabbed her wrist and whispered, “You’re playing with fire woman and unless you want to feel the burn please stop. I’m already crazy hot for you.”
Nix smiled in the darkness then leaned over his chest and poked out her tongue.
When it touched his skin, Wiley hissed. “I gave you a way out and you didn’t take it, now you have to follow through.” He pulled her on top of him and grabbed her ass. Grinding her core to his crotch he allowed her to feel just how hard her was.
Then it was Nix’s turned to groan. She felt her wetness spread and soak her panties as he rubbed her over his hardness. She lowered her mouth to his skin again and began gliding her tongue over his chest. She licked and nibbled her way over to his nipple and then she delicately licked his nubbin.
Wiley groaned and lifted one hand to the back of her head. He pressed her head into his chest as she licked and began suckling his skin into her mouth.
Wiley tugged her shirt over her had and tore her panties off her hips. He lifted her half off him and closed his mouth over her own breasts. His mouth covered her nipple and he began sucking the tip. Using his tongue and his teeth he bit down on her gently.
Nix arched her back and ground her core on the hardness beneath his boxers. Wiley lifted her body onto his belly as he ripped his boxers down his thighs. He then grabbed her hips and lifted her off him only to impale her with his hard, hot cock.
They both groaned as she wiggled down on him even that little bit more. She ground her hips on his. Moving from side to side, she found a rhythm that drove them both crazy. She found that she like this position a lot. Then Wiley couldn’t take it anymore and his hands gripped her hips and lifted her off him only to slam her down his length again and again.
Nix arched her torso and threw her head back as she rode him. She never knew this feeling before and she didn’t want it to end. Every nerve in her body sparked to life and she felt electrified. When she came down on his cock, he rammed into her from below. Both were panting and sweat rolled and
mixed together as they worked their way to the abyss.
“Baby,” he grunted. “I need you to come, I’m right there.”
“Yessss,” she hissed as she flew over the edge.
He went to mover her off.
She refused to let him as she tightened down on him.
Sweet...” he panted hard. “Dammit...” he came inside her and painted her walls with his hot seed. He held her hips to his and his fingers bit into her skin. His mind went blank as jetted into her. When everything was quiet and they were basking in the bliss of their coupling Nix laid down on his chest.
They were both limp as they caught their breath. Neither of them could move for the longest time. Nix lifted her head and looked at him. The moonlight coming through the window barely showed his face but she could see enough to know his eyes were open and he was staring at her in awe.
She smiled then traced his collarbone. “That was awesome,” she whispered.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up so he could reach her lips without bending or breaking his neck. He kissed her hard and with an open mouth. When the kiss broke they were both panting. “It was more than just awesome woman, it was like touching heaven. And coming inside you...”
She looked down at him in wonder. She lifted her fingers and traced a small scar he had on his cheek. “I’m so glad I found you. No matter what happens I’ll never forget you. Being here with you has been worth everything I went through as a kid.”
Wiley frowned at her words. They weren’t what he was expecting at all. “Are you thinking about going somewhere?”
Nix closed her eyes. “I can’t and won’t stay here and put everyone here and in Bam Bam’s MC in danger. I need to take off. At least that is my fate. Not anyone else’s.”
“What’s coming is not because of you or your dad,” he insisted. “And you aren’t going anywhere sweetheart. It wouldn’t do you any good to leave anyway. Moses, his riders, Turnkey and his buddies would still come here and try to take us out. We just have to understand why they feel the way they do. But if you run when they’re done here, they will track you down and take you out too. You stand a better chance if you stay right here. Besides, I’m not letting you go anytime soon so don’t you even think about leaving or it will be me tracking your ass down.”
Nix read the look in his eyes and knew he was telling her the truth. He would track her down and bring her back. That’s if he survived the coming war. “But—”
She was interrupted by Wiley’s harsh words, “There is no but.” He growled. “We’ll get the answers we need. Between Deke, Trudy and Zipper thy will find the reason why these two have such a hard on for you and Bam Bam. Then we can deal with the reason they want this war. None of us wants to fight but to protect our own, we will stand our ground. But you aren’t going anywhere.” He looked over into the corner of the room and saw the large lump of dog sleeping there. “You not only have me and the rest of the guys, you got Shadow to protect you. You don’t have to fear being here.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “But when they come here, people are going to get hurt. You don’t know the kind of man Moses is but I do. I watched that man everyday for the first thirteen years of my life. He wouldn’t ever do the right thing just because it was the right thing, he’d give you his word and then laugh when you expected him to keep it.”
Wiley nodded. “I’ve known men like him before. They have absolutely no honor and are about as two faced as you can get. But Deke isn’t like that and he won’t tolerate his members being that way either. These are all good men. Strong willed and they have a sense of duty... they will follow Deke into hell.”
“That is exactly what I don’t want. Blood shed for no reason.”
“Oh, there’s a reason.” Wiley nodded. “What that reason is we just don’t know yet, but we will. Then we’ll deal with the real problem. One way or the other, Moses will pay what is owed. Both of them will. I can guarantee that.”
Nix moved off the top of him and settled at his side. She laid her head on his chest and stared into the darkness. Wiley didn’t say anything for a moment then he wrapped his arm around her and held her to him. “We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, no one does but please don’t leave me. I couldn’t stand it if I lost you.”
Nix nodded rather than answer him. No one had ever wanted her before, not like this. She did feel so d safe with Wiley, but he could get killed fighting a war like this. She didn’t want to lose him either but she didn’t know if she could stay here. She laid there for quite a while before she realized he was sleeping.
Her mind was chaos as she realized she couldn’t leave. Not until she knew the reason why her life had begun under a cloud and she lived every day for thirteen years being afraid. She needed to know what that fear was for. Then the next ten years she spent every day looking over her shoulder, searching for her personal boogey man. She found him four years ago then lost him again but now he was back and this time, she could face him or run. Running might be easier but staying and facing him would cost her a great deal more.
Nix sighed as she laid there and listened to Wiley’s heart pounding in his chest. The rhythm of his heartbeat soothed her enough to allow her to fall asleep.
Chapter Eight
It was barely seven in the morning when an unknown vehicle approached the compound the next morning. He stopped at the gates and beeped his horn. When someone came from the clubhouse to ask what he wanted, Greg told him he was looking for his son Bam Bam.
The gate opened. Greg drove through and parked. He got out of the vehicle and looked back watching the chain link gate close slowly.
The club member stood there waiting until he could latch it again. Then he turned and ushered him into the club.
Deke, Sam, Gator, Bam Bam along with Grizzly and Bumper were sitting there waiting for him. Bam Bam got to his feet and held out his hand. “Dad, thanks for coming.”
“Any time son. I’m just not sure why I’m here. Nothing happened thirty years ago that would warrant any of this.”
Deke nodded at the extra chair at the table and then when he and Bam Bam sat down, he pushed the paperwork toward Greg. “We’ve all read the paperwork from the trial and the conviction of this Travis Turner and we don’t understand it either.”
Greg sighed. “No one ever knew that Travis really wasn’t a Turner until the trial. When they read out the name Paulson, no one knew who that was. Travis’s stepdad never legally adopted him but he called himself Turner from the day they got married.” He ran his hand over his head. “It all came out in court just how Michel raised him. Then the details of the home invasion came out every one was shocked at the rate of violence Travis subjected the old man too. That alone was enough to convict him. And it did convict him, well partly convicted him. The fact that Travis had absolutely no remorse for his actions and he didn’t give a damn if the old man was dead or alive is what really sent him to prison. The old man barely lived through the attack and was bed ridden for the next two years until he eventually died.”
“But what did you have to do with that?” Deke wondered.
Greg shrugged. “That’s just it. I didn’t have anything to do with the trial. The police questioned everyone not just me. Why Michael Turner focused his rage on me is something I’ll never understand.”
“Did you say anything to the police that would make them certain Travis did the deed?” Sam asked.
Greg slowly shook his head. “The cops asked me if I thought he was capable of doing something like this and I did agree with that. But hell, so did everyone else. Travis was a bully and he had no problem using his fists against the people who tried to stand up to him. He’d been in and out of jail most of his life. Usually, for assault crimes.”
“Did anything happen after the trial was over?” Gator wanted to know.
Greg thought long and hard about it for a moment then slowly nodded his head. “After Travis was convicted and sent to prison, something did happen. For a
while, I thought someone was following me. Mind you, I couldn’t prove it but it was just a feeling I had. Then about two weeks later someone ran me off the road. They put me in the ditch but it would have been a whole lot worse if they’d have waited until the next corner but they didn’t.” He shrugged. “The driver drove away before I could get out of the car and back on the road.”
Bam Bam frowned. “Were you hurt? I don’t remember any accident.”
Greg shrugged. “I was banged up but not really hurt. That was just before Michael Turner left town with the boys. God only knows what happened after that.”
“Where did he move to?” Deke sat up in his chair. Looking over at Sam and Gator, he looked back at Greg.
“We were living in Phoenix at the time but Michael moved the boys to Mesa. He kept to himself and raised the boys on his own.”
“Well shit,” Deke growled. “That doesn’t really help us much does it?”
“No not really.” Sam shook his head.
Bam Bam thought for a moment then said, “What really doesn’t make any sense is why Moses and Turnkey would turn their anger or rather Michael’s anger onto me and mine. Why would he take my wife away from me then turn her into a club whore? If he no longer wanted her, why didn’t he just let her go on her way? Why would he keep a child of mine a secret from me from the time she was born then when her mother died, not contact me to demand money for her keep? Why would he hunt her down for ten years?”
“Wait a minute...” Greg held up his hand. “You have a daughter? Since when and by whom?”
Bam Bam looked over at his father. “Oh, I guess I didn’t mention that last night did I?”
“No, you did not.” Greg acknowledged.
“Well, I didn’t know until I got here myself.” Bam Bam nodded. “When I walked in here, I saw a woman that looked a lot like Milly, my first wife. You remember Milly don’t you?”
“I remember her.” Greg frowned.
“Well, I saw this woman that looked like Milly except she had brown eyes like mine instead of blue like her mother and she has dark hair like mine including the white streak that every single person in our family has had when they were young. Including you dad, you had it too until you went grey all over.”