by Evelyn Glass
“Jess, look, I know it looks bad right now. Hell, it is bad. But the longer you stay out, the longer you and Scott defy the club, the worse it will be. You have to see that!”
“What I see, Mother, is that you care more about the Angels than you do me. Aren’t you the least bit worried what will happen to me?”
“No! Nothing is going to happen to you, Jessica. Val would never hurt you, and he won’t let anyone else hurt you either!”
“No? You could have fooled me by the way people were shooting at me!”
“That was a mistake! There’s no way Val would have ordered that!”
“Even if you are right, he’s just going to lock me up in that fucking café for the rest of my life. I’d rather die first than go back to that.”
“You don’t mean that,” Kat said, her voice completely devoid of emotion.
“I do mean it. I had forgotten what it was like to be wanted, to get up in the morning and not dread every moment of the day. Is that what you want for me, Mom?”
“Jess, I just worry about you, baby. You’re my little girl and I love you. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I’m not a little girl anymore Mom. I’m—”
“You’ll always be my little girl,” Kat said softly.
“—a grown woman,” Jess continued as if her mother hadn’t spoken. “I want to have a life, my own life. I want to choose what I do with my life, who I want be with. Is that asking too much?”
“No. But, Jess—”
“But, what?” Jess asked, cutting Kat off. “But I’m not old enough to know what I want? I’m not smart enough? What?”
“Why are you being like this?”
“Like what, Mom? Trying to be free to live my own life and not have it controlled by my mother and uncle?”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Jess said. “It’s clear that we can’t stay here. Maybe Scott and I will leave and never come back.”
“You just met him!”
“Yeah. And it may not last out the month. But as least I will be free of you, Val, and the Grim Angels. I’ll be free to make my own way, or fail trying.”
“Jess. Don’t go, okay? Just give me a day or two to talk some sense into Val. I warned him that we couldn’t protect you forever. Surely he must see that now. And if he doesn’t, I’ll make him see. Can you give me just until the weekend? Please, Jess. Just give me until Saturday morning. That’s only two days away. You can wait that long, right?”
Jess heard Kat stifle a sob and she thought it over. It was a risk, but she really didn’t want to abandon the life and leave the only family she knew. “I want something first.”
“Anything!”
“I want Scott’s bike back.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“The Angels took Scott’s hog. I want it back.”
“I don’t know anything about that!”
“Then I guess you better figure something out. That’s the deal. I want his bike back, tomorrow, and I’ll give you until Saturday. Otherwise, we’re gone.”
“How will you leave?”
“We’ve got wheels.” She thought a moment. “We found a pile of crap car for sale and bought it. It may not get us far, but it will get us out of Detroit,” she continued to try to deflect any retribution toward Ron.
“I’ll try to find out about Scott’s hog. But, Jess, don’t do anything you’ll regret later, okay?”
“Just find his bike. Call me when you have it and we’ll tell you where to leave it.” Jess punched the button on her phone ending the call as she seemed to sag a little.
“You okay?” Scott asked softly.
“No. This is so messed up.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry, Jess.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s my fucking family’s fault. I just don’t know what I’m going to do about it.”
“We should leave. Forget the bike. I’ll report it stolen. We can go back to Atlanta, pack my shit, and go somewhere to get away from all this.”
Jess tugged on Scott’s arm to start him walking toward the cash registers. She didn’t like him buying her clothes before, but any mood she may have been in to shop had been ruined by her mother’s call. “You’d do that? You’d just walk away from the Grim Angels?”
“Yes. This backstabbing isn’t what I signed up for. It isn’t supposed to be like this. It didn’t used to be like this.”
They held their conversation while they stood in line to check out. What they were talking about was not for outsiders. Once their purchases were bagged and they were out of the store, Jess picked up the thread again.
“Where would we go?” she asked. She didn’t want to depend on Scott, but she had never done anything other than flip burgers, and the thought of having to make ends meet on minimum wage scared her a little.
“I don’t know,” he said, tugging the door open on the Toyota so Jess could slip inside. “Not Atlanta, for sure. Somewhere there are no Grim Angels, that much is certain.” Scott nursed the wheezy Toyota to life, grimacing as a belt squealed when he revved the engine to keep it running. “This car is a piece of shit. We’ll be lucky to make it out of Michigan in this thing.”
Jess grinned at Scott’s obvious embarrassment. Ron had been driving heaps like this for so long she didn’t think twice about them anymore. “Why do you think I demanded your bike back?”
“How’s that going to work? The moment we arrive to pick up the bike, they’ve got us.”
“I don’t know. I just wanted Mom to know she can’t push me around anymore. I wanted something from her, and getting your bike back seemed like a good idea. Look at it as a test of her resolve. We’ll see how much she really wants me come home.”
Jess and Scott rode back to her stepfather’s house, speaking little, partially because they were lost in their own thoughts and partially because they had to shout to be heard over the wind and laboring engine.
Scott wheeled the Toyota into the drive and stopped, but didn’t open his door. Jess could tell he was thinking so she kept her seat, as well, letting him sort it out.
“We should just go,” he said suddenly. “You and me. Take your dad’s car and just get the hell out of Dodge. The longer we stay here, the more danger we’re in. If the Angels come here looking for us, your dad could get hurt.”
“Do you care?”
“Of course I care! He hasn’t done anything to me. He’s gone out of his way to help us when he could have left us twisting in the wind. Why would I want to see him hurt?”
Jess smiled slightly. “Just checking. You’re not like most of the Angels. They don’t go out of their way to hurt someone, but they don’t exactly go out of their way to prevent it either.”
“Didn’t you know that already?”
“That you’re different? Yeah, but I’m still learning just how different. How did you get mixed up in this anyway?”
“The club?”
“Yeah. To be honest, you look like an Angel, sort of, but you don’t act like one at all.”
“Nothing to tell. I like bikes and I hung around the Angels clubhouse. The President, the president before that asshole Jason, I should say, kind of took me under his wing. I worked around the clubhouse, sweeping, washing bikes, mowing the grass, whatever, for spending money. Mom did okay working for Delta, but there wasn’t a lot of extra money. I wanted a bike so bad I couldn’t stand it, so I did whatever I could to earn money toward that. Then I kind of became the mascot, and the rest, as they say, is history. I showed up one day with a barely running pile of junk, kind of like this car actually, and the guys all pitched in and helped me fix it up. It was funny how all these new parts kept being found in the back of the clubhouse, parts that just happened to fit my bike. For every part I bought, four or five more would get found.”
Jess smiled at Scott’s jab at her dad’s car, but also at the slight smile and faraway look on his face. “You liked it back then?”
“Yeah. A lot. But then things began to change. Jason, he’s a hard charger. Sergeant at Arms, then Vice-President, then, finally President. He was never satisfied, always pushing to grow the club, to make more money, to have more power and influence. It stopped being about enjoying the company of brothers and dealing a few guns on the side for spending money and more about the next score.”
“But you stayed? Why?”
“I don’t know. Stupid? Loyalty? I’ve known some of those guys for more than fifteen years. Even though I’m part of the,” Scott made tic marks in the air with his finger, “‘new generation,’ I feel closer to the old guys, the ones who have been around a long time.”
“You would really give up the Angels for me?”
“Yes. I can find another club. I can’t find another you.”
“Aren’t you just the sweetheart,” Jess said jovially as she quickly opened the door and got out of the car so Scott wouldn’t see her eyes fill with tears.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Did you find everything you needed?” Ron asked as Scott and Jess stepped into the house. He was bent over the sink, washing a head of lettuce, the kitchen full of delicious smells.
It had taken only a moment for Jess to recover from Scott’s confession in the car and get her sudden tears under control. “Yeah. Mom called while we were out,” Jess said and Scott watched as Ron froze over right in front of him.
His hands never stopped moving, but he went stiff, the looseness leaving his body in a flash.
“And?” Ron asked, his voice cool.
“And she wants me to come home.”
“Are you going?” he asked, his hands still busy tearing leaves from the head and placing the pieces in three bowls.
“Maybe. But not until—”
“Jessica,” Ron said, cutting her off. “You’re a grown woman, and you can make your own decisions. I won’t try to stop you, but you need to think about what’s important. I know you love the motorcycle gang…sorry…club life, but do you really want to live like that? The drugs and booze and parties, they may be fun now, but look what happened to Kathryn. I don’t want to see you go down that path. You have a bright future if you just choose to grab it.”
Scott held his tongue, not knowing if he should step into the other room so they could speak in private.
“I know,” Jess said quietly. “But it’s too late for anything else now.”
“It’s not too late!” Ron barked, giving the leaves in his hand a hard shake to remove the water and accentuate his point. “That’s your mother talking, not you! Listen to me, Jessica. You’re bright and determined. You can do anything you set your mind to. You just have to take the step.” He paused and looked at Scott as if taking the measure of the man. “You’re out of the gang, right?”
“It appears so, yes.”
“Appears?”
“Let’s just say I have recently made some career-limiting moves.”
“He pulled a gun on Val and then later shot two Angels. That’s how we ended up in this mess,” Jess supplied.
Ron’s eyes flicked back and forth between Jess and Scott. “You were kind of vague about why the club was looking for you,” he said to Jess. “That’s a little more than a ‘falling out,’ I should think. I’m surprised you’re alive so we can have this conversation. I met Val a couple of times while I was married to Kat. He’s not someone I would want to cross. Does he know you’re here? Do I need to get my gun?”
“You have a gun?” Jess exclaimed. She couldn’t be more shocked if Ron had said he had a unicorn shitting rainbows in his garage.
“Of course I have a gun. This is Detroit, after all.”
Scott couldn’t help but smile at Jess’s open mouth stupefaction. “You know how to use it?”
“It’s just a Beretta Pico. I’m no crack shot, but if you get close enough, you wouldn’t want me shooting at you. I go to the range once a month or so.”
“I can’t believe you have a gun!” Jess finally said. “How long have you had it?”
“Since before I married your mother. Why does that surprise you?”
“I don’t know. I just…”
“Just what, Jess? You can tell me.”
“I just…never thought you had it in you. You’re always so nice, quiet and kind.”
“You don’t have to be thug to carry a gun,” Scott said softly.
Ron smiled, nodded, and jerked a thumb toward Scott in agreement.
“That’s not what I meant. I’m just surprised, that’s all.” Jess leaned her butt against the counter. Her world was changing too fast for her to keep up and she was reeling.
Her idea of the Angels was shattering, the club doing things she would have sworn impossible only two weeks ago. Then there was Scott. He was every bit the badass his demeanor suggested he was, but he was also thoughtful, kind, and rock solid, letting her make her choices then backing them to the hilt. He was clearly his own man, but he didn’t feel he had to prove it by trying to run her life. Then there was Ron. She didn’t know what to make of her step-dad. He was the same as always, but different somehow. It was like she was seeing a new side of him she hadn’t noticed before, and she was still trying to get her mind around the fact that he carried a gun!
“I don’t know what to do,” she finally said, her emotions in complete turmoil.
“You need to do what is right,” Scott said.
“What’s right? I don’t even know anymore.”
“Let’s wait until Saturday,” Scott suggested. “Maybe your mom can talk some sense into your uncle. But if she can’t, we should just go.”
“Go where?” Jess cried, raising her hands beseechingly. “Where are we going to go that the Grim Angels can’t reach us?”
“I don’t know. But Detroit isn’t the place, and you know it,” Scott said calmly.
“How will we live?”
“We’ll find jobs. Somebody is always looking for a cook. Maybe I can find a job in a body shop or something. We just have to get settled someplace then we can figure out our long-term plan.”
“He’s making sense, Jess. You should listen,” Ron said softly before turning his back to them as he tended a pan on the stove. Scott didn’t know what Ron was cooking, but it smelled wonderful.
Jess nodded slowly. “I know, but this is my home. It’s where I grew up and where my family lives. I don’t want to leave.”
“I can understand that.” Ron said slowly. “But you haven’t been anywhere. There is a whole wide world out there you haven’t seen. Think about it. You have always been interested in history. Go, find some history in the old west, or New England. There is more to this country than Detroit, Michigan.”
“Sounds like you are trying to get rid of me,” Jess mumbled as she thought about his words.
Ron snorted. “Hardly. I just want you to get out and experience life. There is so much to see and do. But if you do leave, you have to stay in touch, okay, kiddo? If I don’t hear from you occasionally, I’m coming and taking my car back.”
“Yeah…about that. I’m trying to get Scott’s bike back. If I can, we won’t need your car. But thanks for letting us borrow it.”
“How do you plan on getting it back? Isn’t that going to be, well, to be blunt, dangerous?”
“Yeah, probably. If Mom actually agrees to get his bike, I’ll worry about it then. It’s kind of like a test, to see if I can trust her and Val.”
“And how will you know if you can trust her until it’s too late?” Ron asked as he dried his hands and returned to the stove.
“I don’t know. Scott and I will put our heads together and figure something out.”
Ron began to scoop half-moon shaped globs onto a paper-towel draped plate as he spoke. “I won’t be involved in anything illegal, but if I can help in any way…”
“Nothing illegal,” Scott agreed. “I’m not sure this is even a good idea. What are those? They smell great?” he asked, changing the subject.
&n
bsp; “Pierogi.”
“Pierogi? What’s that?”
“You’ve never had a Pierogi?” Ron asked, his surprise clear in his voice.
“Oh boy, you’re in for a treat then,” Jess added as she took the plate from Ron.
***
Jess and Scott moved about the kitchen, loading the dishwasher after dinner. Jess had insisted that she would clean up since Ron cooked. When Ron finally agreed, Scott offered to help, not because he enjoyed washing dishes, but because he wanted to be alone with Jess for a few minutes.