Blood in the Water (Kairos)

by Catherine Johnson

  Samuel had called Terry when they were still a couple of hours away and had asked him to gather everyone for a quick meet in the Chapel. He’d called Moira too to let her know he was going to be home half a day earlier than expected and even on the other side of the diner table Paul had been able to hear her strident tone as she questioned Samuel’s motives and his sanity.

  They didn’t exactly limp into the clubhouse, but they were all a little saddle sore. Moira and Ashleigh were perched on stools at the bar; the other patches were grouped closer to the Chapel doors in expectation and readiness. Samuel didn’t break his stride as he headed to the double doors of their sanctum, but he did cast a nod at Moira. Samuel hadn’t told her about his skid when they’d spoken; Paul wasn’t sure if she would look more pissed than she already did if he had. Ashleigh’s expression was all concern. Paul winked at her, needing to let her know that she could release the frantic worry that was etched on her face. The smile she gave him was worth those long, hard hours in the saddle.

  It was late so there was no chatter or joking around. Everyone seated themselves quickly. Samuel didn’t bother with the gavel.

  “I’ll make this quick, boys. We had a little encounter on the road today. Someone tried to run me off it.” There were exclamations from those that hadn’t known the detail of the reason that they’d been called into a meeting so late at night when their president should have been three states away.

  “Settle down. What’ve you got for us, Crash? Anythin’?”

  Crash leaned forward, rubbing his fingers over and through each other in what Paul had come to recognize as a characteristic tic. “Yeah, I ran those plates. They came back to a black Chrysler SUV. One that was stolen in Mobile, Alabama that mornin’.”

  “Well that tells us what we need to know.” Samuel pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “It was no retard on his phone. That had to be deliberate. We ain’t got no beefs that we know of, ‘cept the trouble we knew was headin’ our way from Mexico.”

  “You thinkin’ we need to lockdown, Boss?” Dizzy asked.

  “No. Not yet. But I don’t think it’d be a bad thing to stock up on some supplies in case we have to.” Samuel’s tone was weary.

  “I’ll get the Prospects on it tomorrow.” Terry stated.

  “That’s the other thing I wanted to speak to you all about. Might as well do it tonight.” Samuel leaned back, rubbing his palms over the arms of his the large wooden chair he occupied. “I wanna call the Prospects to a vote. I still think we’re short on bodies and all three of those boys are comin’ up fast on their year. Sinatra and Morse did good today. I wanna hear what y’all think.”

  Samuel looked to Terry first; he answered as Morse’s sponsor. Each patch took his turn to state his vote on each of the three Prospects, the vote on Sinatra being led by Dizzy and the vote on Geoff being led by Kong. By the time the spotlight returned to Samuel, the consensus was in. Sinatra and Morse had been unanimously voted in. Geoff had turned into a slightly more complicated issue. Dizzy had voted against him and nearly everyone else had added a caveat to their ‘yea’ vote. It wasn’t an automatic rejection, but it wasn’t a ringing endorsement. After a short discussion everyone agreed to vote again on Geoff’s rocker in a month’s time.

  Samuel ended the meeting with a tired smile. “We’ll give the boys the good news on Friday, we’ll celebrate then. Now I wanna get me a cold beer and a warm woman in that order. Pleasure doin’ business with you boys. Now get the fuck outta here.”

  Having been dismissed, everyone filtered back into the main room. The late hour and the promise of big trouble in the not too distant future added up to a subdued atmosphere. Anyone who wasn’t planning on sleeping at the clubhouse headed home.

  Moira rose when Samuel came out of the Chapel. He brushed off her questions and she dropped the subject of his early return. As much as she was showing the proper respect in the clubhouse, Paul didn’t doubt she was brewing a tongue-lashing for Samuel once they were behind closed doors. Ashleigh was a little more circumspect with her opinions. Before Samuel could steer Moira out of the door, his daughter hugged him tightly. That sight left a rancid feeling in Paul’s gut. He knew better than most just how much danger Samuel and the club were in. He could remove himself from the equation, but he couldn’t guarantee that that would reduce the risk substantially anymore.

  “You up for some company tonight?” He’d been staring into space and hadn’t realized that Ashleigh had come up to him.

  “Sure, beauty. Not sure whether I’ll be much fun to be around, though.” He was exhausted, but he wouldn’t, couldn’t, turn her away.

  “Good.” The sultry smile she gave him did much to revive his tired spirits. “Your place again? I don’t think you’ll fit in my bed.”

  “I’d like to try. But you’re right. Tonight is not that night.”

  He followed her out of the now almost empty clubhouse. He stifled his wince as he swung onto his bike. He loved this machine, it held a particular corner of his heart that nothing else would claim, but he could sure use a few hours before he sat on it again.

  The ride home felt mercifully short after the distances he’d covered that day. Ashleigh followed him to his house. They didn’t speak until they were in the bedroom. It felt surreally conventional in some ways, coming home as a couple after a hard day at work; but the faint lingering aroma of their sex that still perfumed the air in the room filled him with thoughts that were anything but. Sometime soon he wanted to linger, to take his time and explore every inch of this woman’s body; but for now, he wanted only to follow her lead as she stripped and climbed into the bed. He laid his kutte in its customary place over the chair in the corner of the room. The rest of his clothes he left where they fell. On his way to the bed he drew the curtains, intending to keep the emergent day at bay for as long as possible.

  He slid under the comforter and pulled her close. The sight of her body as she had revealed it had caused the majority of his blood to rush south. The feel of her satin skin against his own rough hide made him absolutely rigid with a need that he wouldn’t have believed he could have been capable of.

  He made to roll Ashleigh over, but she pushed at his shoulder. “Just lay back, baby. You’ve had a hard day.”

  Who was he to argue with the lady?

  “Condom?” She asked when she’d straddled him. Since she was rubbing her delightfully wet pussy up and down his cock, which was trapped between their bodies, it took him a moment to form an answer from actual words.

  “Nightstand.” He grunted.

  She grinned and leaned over him, resting her weight on a palm on his chest as she reached into the drawer and pulled a foil packet out. Paul groaned at the wet heat that seemed to engulf him even though he wasn’t yet inside her.

  She was sporting a wicked grin as she shifted back to give herself access to roll the latex over him. The feel of those slim fingers on his sensitive flesh was divine torment. When she rose up and grabbed his cock to hold it steady, Paul couldn’t help but take her hips in a death grip. He was probably bruising her. He didn’t give a flying fuck. As she sank down on his cock with a moan, he had to admit that it didn’t look like she cared either.

  The day caught up with him once he was buried to the hilt inside her. Concern, fear, guilt, anger, relief, tension, desire, care, and maybe something else...; it all combined at the base of his cock. Ashleigh was riding him in a languid way that felt utterly blissful, but it wasn’t enough for this moment.

  He tightened his grasp on her hips still more and pulled her body down as he thrust upwards. At the first deep hit inside her, Ashleigh almost threw herself backwards, she arched so hard. Paul kept tight hold of her and pulled her down as he drove into her over and over and over. In moments they were both grunting savagely, lost in the primal intensity of the fuck. Her skin was flushed and her delicious tits were bouncing in time with their movements, her sweet nipples standing proud.

  “Oh yeah
, beauty. Fuck. Fuck! Look at you.” Her wild abandon was mesmerizing.

  “Oh. Oh. Oh God. Ooohhhhh!” Ashleigh’s eyes flew open at his words, but he robbed her of the ability to speak by shoving himself ever more powerfully into her receptive body.

  Paul gritted his teeth so hard his jaw began to ache until, blessedly, he felt Ashleigh’s body start to spasm around his; then he let loose the fury of his release. Their mutual climax was punctuated by their screams of pleasure. The world was lost in flashes of white light for long moments until Ashleigh collapsed, spent, onto his chest. Paul held her tight to him, unwilling to let her go.

  Paul wasn’t convinced that he hadn’t blacked out for a moment there. He thought maybe Ashleigh had, until she murmured into the muscles of his chest. “I feel safer about Daddy bein’ so far from home knowin’ that you’re with him.”

  Paul didn’t respond. He didn’t think he could without the immense guilt he felt shading everything he said. He was the last person that Samuel should be safe with, or had been the last person. Things were different now. He realized that Ashleigh had fallen asleep; her breathing was deep and rhythmical against his skin.

  Dawn began to peek around the edges of the curtains. Paul’s softening cock slipped free of Ashleigh’s body, and he experienced a sensation a little like grief as it did so. He got up to deal swiftly with the condom and returned to the bed without delay. He pulled Ashleigh back onto his chest, cradling her head in his palm, his fingers threaded into the liquid gold of her hair. He simply needed to hold her as closely as possible. He was haunted by the fear that he would wake up and she would be gone. She didn’t stir as he positioned her comfortably over his body.

  Mexicans or Rabid Dogs. Whoever had made the effort to take Samuel out, it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered to Paul was whether Jimmy was going to try and undermine him. Either way he’d watch his back like a motherfuckin’ hawk; but if Jimmy was trying to complete from a distance the mission he’d given Paul, then Paul was going to have to keep watch on two fronts if he was going to have a hope in hell of keeping Samuel whole.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ashleigh couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this content and happy, despite the hangover that felt like it would never end. She had woken on Monday morning literally wrapped in Paul’s body. It had been possibly the best Monday morning in the history of the world. Ever. He’d evidently been completely exhausted after the mammoth journey he’d undertaken the day before and hadn’t so much as twitched when she’d left the bed. Rather than take any chance of waking him from the rest he obviously so badly needed, she’d dressed, left him a note on the pillow and returned home to shower and change for work. She’d been late, but she hadn’t cared; it had been more than worth it.

  They’d exchanged texts during the day when she’d been able to get to her phone in between rounds, examinations and minor surgeries. Something must have shown on her face or maybe in her distracted manner. No one commented, but she caught Michelle trying to peer over her shoulder to see who she was texting more than once. Michelle had made a few comments about how big the bikers in town were getting and whether there was something in the water. A couple of staff members who’d attended the fundraiser to show their support and who had seen Paul agreed wholeheartedly, but they hadn’t known enough to link the pointed comments to Ashleigh. Ashleigh had just laughed them off, and then while passing Michelle in the corridor muttered that the woman had no idea just how big those bikers really were. She’d left Michelle standing stock still with eyes like saucers. That image was still making her smile.

  Paul had been waiting for her when she’d finished work. He’d been sitting astride his bike in the parking lot of the clinic, looking every inch the biker pinup, but with clothes. He’d taken her for something to eat and then they’d discovered that her bed just wasn’t built for someone that was as massive as he was. There hadn’t been any club business to keep them apart for the past week, and there was a good chance that it would take wild horses to separate them now. She hadn’t planned to get involved so intensely, but it had just sort of happened. She wanted to see him, he wanted to see her, one thing inevitably led to another and they’d end up spending the night together, and now they were very definitely in a relationship.

  Ashleigh supposed that it would have happened anyway after Paul’s very public confirmation of his claim on her. Even though that had taken place before they’d barely even started anything, they’d had the eyes of the club on them after that. It was a little difficult to be cautious and take things slow when everyone already knew they were a couple.

  And now, one week later, she and every other member or relation of the MC was battling through the aftereffects of the night before to pull their weight for another one of Moira’s pet projects. If her mother even had a hangover she was keeping it locked down with an iron will and an oversized pair of Jackie-O-style shades as she directed this fundraiser for the town’s parks and green spaces.

  It was a fun day, with a percentage of the takings at each stall going towards the cause and donation buckets being rattled left, right and center. It had taken over the largest park in the center of town and it damn near looked like the whole town had turned out. It was sunny and hot, maybe a little too hot, but pretty much the perfect day for such an event. If nothing else the stands selling cold drinks would make a killing.

  Moira had arranged fairground rides from somewhere to complement the usual suspects from town, most of which had been present at the fundraiser for the animal shelter. The club was holding their usual barbeque grill, letting their inner cavemen out to play with the pretty fire. If anyone had suggested that anyone other than the MC lay slabs of red meat over glowing coals, there probably would have been bloodshed. Ashleigh, Michelle and another nurse, Rachel, had brought some of their prospective adoptees to form a kind of petting zoo. It was a mercenary ploy to collect donations and maybe have the kids fall in love with a rabbit, kitten or puppy that they were cuddling, which would make it hard for the parents to say no. Ashleigh wouldn’t release any of the animals to new homes that day, but they’d found before that when people saw the animals outside of their usual cages the adoption rate increased dramatically.

  Ordinarily Ashleigh would have been tucked up in bed nice and early the night before an event like this to ensure maximum energy levels, but her father had suggested she attend the after-Church Friday night party. He hadn’t mentioned it was because there was going to be an impromptu patch party. Ashleigh was definitely a daddy’s girl at heart, and the club was in her blood even if she couldn’t wear a patch, but she’d been feeling the love a little extra deeply this week after finding out about her father’s near miss the previous weekend. Her mother had told her to ask Paul about it, which was pretty much her daddy giving Paul the okay to talk about it. Ashleigh didn’t know the details of the club’s business, but she did know that what they did wasn’t always legal, and with that territory came certain risks. That didn’t make it any easier to hear about a direct attempt on her daddy’s life. Having danger and mortality paraded in her face made her want to stick a little closer to the people that she loved and cared for.

  Rachel was exhibiting a particularly fluffy rabbit to a family and Michelle was rattling the donation bucket at anyone who came within five yards of her. Ashleigh was overseeing two children who were in the process of falling desperately in love with a couple of Cavalier Spaniel puppies which had been brought to the shelter as an unexpected litter. They were all ears and eyes and excitable tail with just a scrap of dog in between it all. The sound of motorcycle engines caused Ashleigh to look up towards the main street that bordered the park.

  Something about the bikes and their riders struck her as odd straightaway. There were a few residents who preferred the Japanese and Italian crotch rockets; it wasn’t just that they weren’t Harleys. It was a second or two before Ashleigh put the unfamiliar bikes together with the blacked out visors on the full face helmets as
what had set off alarms in her head, almost at the same time as she saw the guns swinging up from their sides.

  Gunshots thundered through the air like something out of a movie. Ashleigh spun and dived over the kids who’d been holding the puppies, knocking the screaming children and the yapping dogs to the ground beneath her as bullets strafed the air over their heads. She couldn’t see anything but grass and couldn’t feel anything beyond wiggling limbs, furred and human. She could hear the chaos, roaring engines, the continued crack of the gunshots, the shouts and the screams.

  It seemed to be an endless number of heartbeats until the gunfire stopped. When it ceased, the world seemed almost silent, even though the shouting and the screaming continued. Yells and wails rang out, names and pleas for help, wild with frantic desperation. More heartbeats passed before her body caught up with her brain and Ashleigh scrambled up. She yanked the children that she’d flattened with her. They were hysterical with fear, as were the puppies they were still clutching, but after patting them down she was certain that all they were was scared.

  She pried the puppies out of their clutching fingers and turned to drop them back in their pen. That was when she saw that the bullets had caught one of the litter. One of the tiny puppies, an inquisitive red and white bundle of fluff, had all but been torn in half. Its littermates were mewling with terror and cowering in a corner. The sight of the massacred, innocent being swimming in blood struck Ashleigh dumb and flooded her eyes with tears. She barely even noticed that Michelle and Rachel were sobbing and hugging their own charges.