I made Rosie breakfast as she fed lil’ Mike. She was so sweet with him, and I smiled as she made sure to give him exactly the correct amount of food.
“Daddy says bulldogs can get fat really easily, and so we have to be very careful with how much we feed him,” she told me.
“He is a very affectionate dog, isn’t he?” I said, as I watched him rub his face against her leg before diving into his food bowl, sloppily consuming his food in a messy frenzy of saliva and snorting and slurping.
He finished quickly, his brown eyes pleading for more from Rosie.
“No, lil’ Mike! That’s all you get, boy.” Rosie sat down on the kitchen floor, hugging and petting him. He began licking her face, and her giggles filled the house.
It was weird being here without Mike. Especially since it was the first time I had seen his home. But I could see Rosie was very comfortable, and that made me happy.
“Reaper usually makes me pancakes,” she said, quietly petting lil’ Mike as I stirred the batter. I felt terrible about Reaper. Mike’s face had been filled with worry when I saw him at the clubhouse, and when he told me what the doctor said, I could feel him shaking. I agreed with him that Rosie didn’t need to know about Reaper just yet, so when she mentioned him, I kept my voice calm.
“I bet they’re awesome! Hopefully, these will be almost as good as his!”
She smiled up at me, her eyes curious.
“Do you like my Daddy?” she asked.
“Sure, I like him, honey. Your Daddy is a very nice man.” I wasn’t sure where this line of questioning was headed, but I was determined to tread lightly.
“I think he likes you, too,” she said quietly. “I’ve never seen him smile at anyone else that way.”
“Oh.” I said, at once elated and yet at a total loss for words.
“It’s okay, though,” she said. “I like you too, Ms. Daisy.”
“Oh, honey,” I said, walking over to her and leaning down to hug her. “I like you, too! And I’ll tell you what, Rosie. If we aren’t at school, you can just call me Daisy, okay?”
“Okay, cool.” She jumped up and hugged me quickly before running down the hall to her room. “I’m going to go play in my room, let me know when the pancakes are ready!”
In a flash, she was gone. It was all so simple for kids. Rosie didn’t seem to question why I was there, or how long I was going to be there. She just accepted it. And her acceptance made it all so easy.
It made me hopeful that if or when the time came to tell Rosie that she was going to be seeing a lot of me, she would be just fine with it.
I was just putting the pancakes on the plates when I heard a soft thump outside. When I saw lil’ Mike start to growl at the door, I put down the spatula and walked to the front door. I peered out of the peephole, and saw nothing at all. Slowly, holding back the growling bulldog with my foot, I opened the door. Everything was calm and peaceful, only there was one thing missing.
Sonny.
I took three steps out the front door and froze when I saw his boots sticking out from around the corner. He was lying in front of my truck, unmoving. My first thought was Rosie, and I ran back in the house to find her.
I was two steps down the hall when I saw them. I froze, my heart stopped in my chest.
Todd and Rosie were standing near the back door. A creepy smile was spread across his face, and he had one hand on Rosie’s shoulder and a gun in his other hand, pointed directly at her.
Lil’ Mike growled at my side, and I picked him up and held him in my arms to keep him from charging them.
“Hi, Daisy,” he said.
“Todd.” I was stunned. My mind raced as I tried to assess the situation. My gun was still in the truck inside my backpack, entirely too far away to do me any good.
“It is so good to see you, Daisy,” he said. The fact that he was touching Rosie made me sick to my stomach. The first thing I needed to do was get her away from him.
“Rosie, come here, sweetie,” I whispered. She didn’t look scared, but she looked confused. I sighed with the tiniest bit of relief when he didn’t stop her from walking over to me. I put my free arm around her, and stood slightly in front of her.
“What are you doing here, Todd?” I said. Growling, lil’ Mike struggled to get away from my grip.
“Now is that any kind of a greeting, sweetheart? After all this time? I’ve missed you so much, Daisy.”
“What do you want, Todd?” I asked. Surely, he didn’t expect me to possibly maintain any sense of politeness? His demeanor was making the hair on the back of my neck stand up, not to mention that there was a man unconscious outside. No, there was no way Todd was here for polite conversation.
I had to get Rosie out of here. I had to get to my gun somehow. The fact that I had a kitchen full of knives dawned on me as well.
“What do I want?” Todd said, as he began casually strolling around the living room. He put his gun in the waistband of his slacks, and began picking up pictures as he went along, looking at them as if he were a guest for dinner.
I knew then that I couldn’t make any sudden movements. I couldn’t take a risk of Rosie getting hurt.
“Who are you?” Rosie asked, leaning into me and putting her arms around my legs as she stood beside me.
“Who am I?” Todd asked, turning to face us. He walked over and bent his knees, crouching down to look into Rosie’s eyes. “I’m Todd, honey. And you’re Rosie, right? You’re in the second grade, am I right?”
My skin crawled. I didn’t want him anywhere near Rosie, let alone know anything about her. I cringed thinking about what else he knew about her.
Rosie nodded, taking a step away from him, and hiding behind me slightly. Kids could smell evil even better than adults.
“Todd, I want you to leave.”
He stood up and took a step towards me, standing so close to me I could smell him, but just out of the dog’s reach. The scent of his familiar aftershave sickened me. I raised my chin defiantly.
“Leave.” I said firmly.
“Oh, Daisy,” he said, smiling at me. “I’m nowhere near ready to go just yet.”
“What do you want, Todd?”
He leaned in so close I could smell his breath this time, and it took all my willpower not to vomit on him. The fear. The hate. The anger. All of these things, mixed with the pure disdain that I felt for him, churned up inside me and I had never felt sicker in my life as his lips began moving mere millimeters from mine.
“I want you, Daisy. You’re mine. God told me so. I’m not leaving without you, my love.”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
MIKE
I sat outside the clubhouse door with Demon, watching the smoke of his cigarette float up into the sky. Sam had been working on Reaper for hours and there was still no change in his condition. I was ravaged with equal parts of fear, guilt and rage. I took a long draw off of Demon’s cigarette, and poured a shot of whiskey down my throat.
I was hoping to fight off the demons inside of me, but today they were winning.
“Do you think he’s gonna make it, boss?” Demon asked. I knew I wasn’t the only one worried. It never ceased to surprise us when one of us got hurt. We went around like we were some kind of band of invincible beasts, like nothing could penetrate us, like we were fucking untouchable or something.
Days like this rattled us. It reminded us that we were mortal. A fact most of us spent our days trying desperately to deny. But our bloody comrade was doing his damnedest to prove us all wrong.
“Of course he’s going to be okay,” I said, a little too gruffly, before grabbing the bottle and walking away into my office. I just wouldn’t accept any other outcome.
My phone rang and I groaned when I saw it was Kelly. I wouldn’t have answered it at all, but I had a feeling she might have some hint of what the word on the street was about the shit that went down at the hanger.
“Hey Mike,” she said, her voice instantly making me snarl.
“What’s up, Kelly?”
“Just checking in. Thought you might know something about a bloody airplane hanger we found outside of the airport.” So she didn’t know much, after all. “We found a whole bunch of blood, and no bodies, except one.”
“Just one, huh?”
“Yeah, our mutual friend, Jackson Sullivan. Thought you might know what happened?”
“Nope.” I was pretty sure she was just shooting in the dark. If she had anything concrete to tie us to the scene, she would have said so right away.
“Word on the street is there were a lot of bikers in that area. Cretins. And I did hear last week that you were supposed to be doing a job for Sullivan.”
“Cretins, huh? Well, then it sounds like you’re barking up the wrong tree to me. The Gypsy Riders decided not to take that job.” Taking the van instead of our bikes to the job was a good idea.
“Yeah, I guess. I just thought you might have heard some chatter about it.”
“Nope, not a word, sorry.”
“That’s alright. How’s Rosie doing?”
I hated hearing my daughter’s name roll off this bitch’s tongue. Every time she said it, it sounded like a threat to me.
“She’s great.” I wanted off the phone. She obviously had no information for me, and was completely useless to me.
“So, Mike. When do I get to spend some time with you again?”
“You mean when do you get to blackmail me again?” I asked. I remembered the photos in my desk and smiled at the fact that I wouldn’t ever have to touch her again. It felt good to have my power back, even if she didn’t know it yet.
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic.”
“I’m busy, Kelly. I got a lot of shit going on right now. Maybe some other time?” I wasn’t in the mood to unleash my newly gained knowledge of her secrets just yet.
“Yeah, yeah…but don’t wait too long, Mike. I like your cock.”
She hung up without another word, and I rolled my eyes as I put my phone on the desk. I was so sick of her bullshit.
I picked up the phone again and dialed Daisy’s number. It rang three times before going to voice mail, and the sound of her sweet voice filled my bruised heart with happiness. She was like a sweet, healing salve for my soul.
“Hey baby, just checking in on my two favorite girls. Call me.” I said after her voice mail beeped.
I knew Reaper was going to be okay. And as long as I had Reaper and Rosie and Daisy in my life, I knew that I would be okay, too.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
DAISY
Todd and Rosie sat at the breakfast table, plates of pancakes in front of them, with Todd’s gun sitting next to his plate.
“Daisy, sit, sit! I love pancakes, don’t you Rosie? I’m sorry I interrupted your breakfast. You know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, don’t you Rosie? Have you learned that in school yet?”
I sat down at the table, my mind racing as I tried to figure out a way out of this.
Todd reached over and grabbed both of our hands, startling us both.
“Let’s pray,” he said, before bowing his head, his hand gripping mine tightly. “Heavenly father, thank you for this food. Thank you so much for guiding me here and showing me the light of your pure love. Amen!”
He raised his head and I watched him with disgust as he let go of our hands and began digging into the pancakes in front of him. He slathered them with butter and syrup, and ate sloppily. His table manners had always disgusted me, and he knew it. He had defended himself more than once by saying that as long as you said Grace before eating, how neatly you ate didn’t matter at all to God.
I looked over at Rosie, and saw her eyes were glued to his gun on the table. Regret filled my heart. I should have known Todd would show up, and I should have kept my distance from both Rosie and Mike. We never would be sitting here if I had done that.
“These are great, Daisy! You always were good at breakfast!”
I scoffed at him.
“Yeah, because you threw a hissy fit if something wasn’t cooked exactly to your specifications,” I said. I looked at his gun, fantasizing about grabbing it and blowing his head off, but Rosie was sitting mere inches from him, and I just couldn’t risk it.
“Oh, don’t be so nasty, Daisy! It’s important to know how to cook properly.”
I responded with silence. The last thing I wanted to do was get into some ridiculous conversation with him about the past. I needed to get him out of here, or get us out of here, whichever was safest, fastest and easiest. If Rosie wasn’t here, I would have had two bullets in his head before he knew what was happening.
“What’s your plan here, Todd?” I asked finally, after he had eaten the last of the pancakes on his plate.
He looked over at me and met my eyes. Evil shined from his soul as he replied eerily.
“I already told you, babe. You. You’re my plan. Together, we are God’s grand plan!”
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
MIKE
Sam walked towards me as I sat at the clubhouse bar, waiting impatiently for any news of Reaper. I was grateful to see her. Sitting at the bar and not hearing some awful jokes being thrown around by Reaper was completely foreign to me. He was always there. He had always been my side.
“How’s he doing, doc?” I asked hopefully, unable to read the expression her face.
“Not good. It’s very touch and go. I had to give him a blood transfusion and at this point, we just wait and see. There’s not much more I can do. It’s up to him to fight at this point.”
“I see.”
“I’m sorry I don’t have better news, Mike. I know how close you two are.”
“Yeah. Thanks, doc,” I said, putting my head down on the bar. The waiting was the most frustrating part, and she just told me I had to wait some more.
“I’ll stay here with him. I’ll let you know if there’s any change, okay?” She patted my back, and when I didn’t look up, she turned and walked away.
“You’re the best, Sam. Thank you so much,” I said to her as she walked back into Reaper’s room.
Sandman was sitting beside me and heard the whole exchange.
“Boss, if there’s anything I can do let me know, okay?”
“Sure, man, thanks. All we can do is wait, I guess.”
“Yeah. Want another drink?” he asked.
“No, I’m going to go take a nap in my office. Wake me up if you hear anything.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
I walked back to my office and pulled my phone out to call Daisy again. When she didn’t answer, I frowned and put the phone down. I had called Daisy’s cell twice in the last few hours and still hadn’t been able to reach her. The last thing I wanted to do was bug her, and she would probably call me back at any moment. I laid down on the couch in my office, put the phone on my chest, and drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
DAISY
“Todd, this is not going to end well. You need to leave. Let us go. Please.” I was trembling at this point, the ropes digging into my wrists.
Todd had tied us both up after breakfast. He pulled the kitchen chairs into the living room, tying us up with some rope he had stashed by the back door. Rosie and I struggled against our bonds. She was crying loudly, calling for her Daddy, and yelling for Sonny outside. She didn’t know Sonny couldn’t help us.
After a few moments of her constant crying, Todd put a strip of duct tape over her mouth.
“Children should be seen, and not heard, sweetheart. You talk too much,” he said, before taping her mouth shut as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“You monster! Let her go! She has nothing to do with this, with us. Please, Todd? It’s me you want, not her!”
“You’re right, my angel. But unfortunately, you have chosen to get yourself all mixed up with a bunch of sinful outlaws.” His lips stretched across his teeth in a sickly sneer as he leaned in to me. “You’re dirty now, Daisy. You’ve been soiled by these p
eople. I saw what you did with him. And all night long, too! What kind of whore have you become?”
He reached up, pushing a lock of hair behind my ear and then trailing his fingers down to caress my cheek.
“Todd, please,” I begged. “I’ll do anything you want, just let her go.”
“No, way. She’s part of my plan now that you’ve so selfishly inserted her into our life. It’s all your fault, Daisy,” he said, standing up and walking away from me. He had forced me to lock lil’ Mike in Rosie’s bedroom before he ate the pancakes, and I could hear him growling and scratching on the door down the hall.
“Todd, no. This is just between us. She’s just a student that I’m looking after, that’s all.”
“Oh, now come on, Daisy. You underestimate me. You should know I’ve done my research. I’ve been watching you for months, sweetheart. And you were doing so good on your own! You found yourself a place to live and a job, started going to the gym, too, huh? I was so proud of you, Daisy. To see you venturing out, moving away from our small town, and having adventures of your own? I felt like my little bird was leaving the nest. It was so awesome to see you fly, my little dove.”
He was walking in circles around our chairs.
“But then, you took the wheel from Jesus, didn’t you? You steered down a dark road, and now look where you are! See what’s happened? All because of your sinful heart, Daisy!”
His voice was rising, filling me with dread.
“And now! Now, I have to clean up your mess. Just like always, huh, Daisy? It’s up to me to make you clean again, to make you pure again. You can’t do it yourself, I can see that. You’re blinded by the false promises of lust and wanton debauchery! Do you really think you’d have a good life with a bunch of criminals? A bunch of dirty thugs?”
He shook his head, his eyes clouding over with anger as he looked at me.
“No. I can’t let you be dirtied. I can’t let you ruin yourself like this.”
RAW: THE ULTIMATE MC COLLECTION Page 51