by KJ Dahlen
Michael wouldn’t put it past the other man but what if he didn’t do it? Would Digger still kill him when he found out someone else took everything he had left?
He couldn’t imagine the other man would. He demanded his own back and more. Michael began gathering what Digger asked for. Six million dollars in cash. That left him with very little, less than two million in cash and gold.
Then he went back to retrieve the peyote he had left. That wouldn’t be enough but it was all he had. Michael’s heart burned as he put what he had into a duffle bag.
Looking to the fading daylight, he growled as he picked up the bag and walked toward the door. Stepping down, he turned to the other man and glared. “You fucking bastard. How the hell did you get into the trailer? Into my safes? You’ve taken most of what I had and this is all I got left. I hope you fucking choke on it.”
Digger just raised his eye brow. “I have no fuckin’ clue what you’re taking about old man.” He pushed off the trailer and grabbed the bag from Michael. “I didn’t break into your trailer, or into your safes. If you’ve been robbed, call the fucking cops but do not lay the blame on me for shit I didn’t do.”
“Now what?” Michael asked. “You’ve taken everything I had left. Which means we’re square according to your word. I’m going to take what little I got left and just go.”
“Oh, I don’t think so old man.” Digger shook his head. “I’m not quite done with you just yet.”
“What the fuck does that m-mean?” Michael stammered. “I paid you back plus interest and gave you the peyote I had left too. What more do you want?”
“You gotta pay the price for your disrespect,” Digger informed him. “Did I come to your town, make a deal with you and then try to rip you off? No, I didn’t. I made a deal with you and I expected you to keep your word. You lied to me then tried to cheat me. That, in my world is disrespect. I don’t let anyone do that to me. This is my city, my rules.”
Three men joined them from different directions. They wore the same cut as Digger, the Satan’s Fury. These men were huge and Michael knew if he tried anything, they would beat him to death right here in the parking lot. No one would stop them and no one would be dumb enough to call the cops for help to break up the beating. He’d heard that the Satan’s Fury run this town and the police as well as everyone else followed Digger’s orders.
“What are you going to do with me?” Michael asked more than a little nervously.
“Well now, that depends on how well and how quickly you learn your place.” Digger nodded at one of his men.
His man stepped forward and wrapped a collar around the old man’s throat. Michael didn’t dare move and he tightened the leather band to almost too tight. The leather bit into his skin and he could hardly breathe.
When the man stepped back, Digger stepped into Michael’s face. “Disrespect usually costs someone their lives in my camp, but you have a skill I happen to need at the moment. My chemists can’t figure out your exact formula for Vison Quest. You are going to teach them how to make it.” Digger checked the collar’s tightness and slapped Michael’s face none too gently.
“Each time you fuck it up, we start all over again, and the collar gets a little bit tighter. You have three chances before the collar will strangle your ass, so I wouldn’t fuck up too much if I were you.”
Michael tried to swallow hard but the restrictions on his throat wouldn’t let him. He finally realized something just then. He had done this same thing to his four sons all their lives. He was the one who gave the orders and they carried them out. They all knew that if Michael wasn’t happy, they would pay for his displeasure. Now that the shoe was on the other foot, Michael realized what he’d done.
He also knew it was his own sons that had taken his money and gold. He’d bet it was his oldest son, Joshua that betrayed him. He’d spent a long time away from Michael’s control. Plus, he’d always been good with locks.
Michael silently cursed his son’s actions. If he hadn’t intervened, Michael might be halfway to the border of Mexico and far from Digger’s reach.
Digger gave him the coldest grin yet. “Oh, you best lock up the trailer and give your keys to Milo. He’ll drive it back to the compound for you. You are riding with me. I don’t want you to take the wrong turn and end up driving south when the compound is north of town.”
Michael locked the door and held up the keys.
One of Digger’s men grabbed them and Digger snapped a leash on the collar around his throat and led him to another truck parked nearby. Michael had no choice but to follow the other man.
Chapter Twelve
Kalinda stood at the window of her house and watched the battle between her father and Renegade. She had never felt so powerless in her life. Not even when she was three and Renegade’s grandfather dropped her off at the orphanage.
Jack came up behind her with Rosa in his arms and wrapped them both in his massive arms. “Maybe you shouldn’t watch that.” He suggested. “It’s bound to be bloody and that’s not something you can unsee.”
“No, I have to watch this,” she whispered. “Renegade doesn’t owe me a thing, yet he is standing up for me, putting his own life on the line. He’s taking my place in a death match. The least I can do is watch it. As much as I hate what’s about to happen, I hope Renegade shuts him down.”
“You realize there is a history between both of them that has nothing to do with you right?” Jack asked.
She nodded. “I think my mother was his cousin or something. Besides all that, when Indian blood is mixed with white blood the Indians don’t like it. The apache thinks they are the chosen ones and to dilute the pure Apache blood with any other blood is just wrong in their eyes.” She looked up at Jack. “I remember my mother telling me that John was special to me and he would always protect me because he loved her and that I was part of her so he would always protect me.”
Jack shook his head. “No wonder the other man hates Joshua.” They both turned to watch the fight Joshua and Renegade were in. Jack knew this would be important to Kalinda so he didn’t say anything else.
When Renegade tripped over Craig’s feet Kalinda growled. Jack grabbed her in his arms and held her tight. By the time the fight ended with Joshua calling for death and Renegade refusing it, Kalinda turned and rushed outside.
Jack watched as she wrapped her arm around the injured man and assisted him inside. Creed was going to take him to the clubhouse but Kalinda made them help him to Jack’s house.
Jack put the baby in her playpen and helped clear an area for the man to get fixed up in. He brought towels, water and bandages out.
He knew this is what Kalinda wanted. He also knew this man would be a part of her life forever and he would just have to get used to that fact. He was her family. Good family too and she needed to have that after all that had happened to her.
Renegade sat down on the sofa and looked at Jack with an apology in his eyes.
Jack nodded at him. “You belong here. You’re family.”
Creed and Daniel worked on cleaning up his many nicks and cuts. Joshua had been a brutal opponent.
Renegade didn’t say a word the whole time. He just stared straight ahead. Finally, when they were done he sighed deeply.
Kalinda knelt in front of him and took his hand in hers. “Why?” she asked him. “Why would you stand up for me?”
Renegade looked down at her and smiled. “I had to, you may not remember this, but your mother was my cousin. Her mother and my father were brother and sister. She accepted me when being only half Apache just wasn’t done. I know my parents loved each other very much and because of that, she accepted me. What happened to her should never have happened but this is all I could do for justice. Justice for your mother.”
“Thank you.” She smiled through her tears. She got up and went to Jack. He wrapped his arms around her and just held her, while she sobbed softly into his chest.
Renegade stood up tall and asked her, “Do you
think what he said about your mother was true?”
Kalinda turned to face him. Wiping her tears away, she looked him in the eyes. “No I don’t believe it. Whatever happened back then I know she was caught in a situation not in her control. I always thought Joshua was my father, but after what he did to my mother and sister, he doesn’t deserve that title. I hope he goes back to jail for the rest of his miserable life. I hope he dies in prison and I pray that I never have to see him, his brothers or his father again.”
Renegade nodded. “There’s something you might be interested in though. You have shares of the tribal money coming. You were accepted into the tribe at two years old. Your money has been set aside all these years waiting for you to claim them. My great grandfather made sure of that.”
Kalinda looked over at Jack but didn’t say anything. She didn’t want the money but she didn’t know how he felt about it. She had made it on her own, working to support herself all these years. She knew the orphanage got money for her care from the state every month.
“You do also have a grandfather and an aunt that would love to meet you. They are your mom’s family,” Renegade told her. “They asked me a couple of years ago that if I ever ran into you I should remember them to you. You do have more family than just your dad’s family.”
“They want me?” she whispered. “They really want to meet me?” She was shocked. She’d been alone for most of her life, but now she had a family. It was sort of a shock.
“Yeah, baby girl.” Renegade smiled. “They want to meet you and get to know you. They have remembered you every year in their prayers. My grandfather wanted them to take the money set aside for you but your granddad never would. He said the tribe should wait until you came in person to claim it. I never told you before, considering you couldn’t even go home because of this mess. But you can now, whenever you’re ready.” Renegade hesitated then asked, “What was it you remembered from the day your mother died? What your dad was hoping you were asleep for?”
Kalinda wet her lips and brought the truth to light for the first time in nineteen years. “I think my father and his family didn’t find the mine. The Crockett brothers found it. They were the ones who explored the mine first. The only mistake they made was telling the first people they found that they found gold. My dad and Michael fought with the boys and they beat the boys with rocks in their hands, then they carried their bodies into the mine and left them there. Then Michael must have went down and bought the land the mine was on. I don’t know what happened after that. My mom wanted the whole tribe to benefit but dad told her the proceeds belonged to the Moon family. My mom was going to tell the elders about the mine. He couldn’t let her do that.”
“So all that gold and money they made in the nineteen years should have been the tribes, not the Moon’s.” Renegade shook his head. “Wow, no wonder they felt they had to kill you. You were the only one who could bring the truth to light.”
Creed looked at his brothers and shook his head. “We found Joshua’s truck hiding in the woods. There is a lot of cash and gold in the truck. We were going to turn it over to the police when they got here. But now I think it belongs to your tribe.” He chuckled, “There is enough peyote there to put them in prison for a very long time anyway. We’ll leave that in there just for kicks. The cops can tie that into the drugs and they’ll have shut down at least one designer drug ring.”
“Maybe, maybe not son,” Silas told them as he walked into the house.
“How so, Grandpa?” Creed frowned.
“When one of the boys told us the Michael was in Austin and the fact that they had made a deal with Satan’s Fury MC. I made a call. That Traven also said they cheated the MC by not adding the peyote into the mix when they made the pills they sold the MC. We may not like what Satan’s Fury stands for but once upon a time, we did work with them. I felt I owed Digger an update. I put in a call to him and let him know about the pills and the fact Michael cheated him. By now, he knows where Michael is and he’s gotten his money back.”
Silas turned and looked at Kalinda. “I didn’t figure you would care what happened to him.”
Kalinda shook her head. “I don’t even know the man.”
“At any rate, Michael will not make it to court and will probably die a violent death.” Silas looked at her carefully.
Kalinda shrugged. “He’s one who deserves it. The world might be a better place without him and his sons in it.”
“That’s kind of brutal isn’t it?” Creed asked.
She turned to look at him. “This is a man that ordered his sons to murder me. I was and still am an innocent victim in all of this and not one of them was willing to overlook that order. First, I was mugged and almost beaten to death four and a half years ago, then six months later I was run off the road. I survived but either event could have killed me and I never would have known why. Then earlier today, I could have been shot and killed in my own home. If Renegade hadn’t seen that red dot, I would have been assassinated on my own couch. Then again, tonight the man I thought of as my father would have ended my life, if Renegade and Jack hadn’t stood between me and him. Is it brutal? Maybe... but no more brutal than he’s been to me all my life.”
Creed held up his hands and backed away slowly.
She turned to Jack and in front of his family she asked, “I hope that the events of this day hasn’t changed how you feel about me. If it does it will about kill me but I will leave with Rosa if that’s what you want.”
“You try and leave and you’ll find out just how much I want you to stay right where you are,” Jack grumbled. “You and hat baby belong to me now and forever, woman. Nothing will ever change that and this is about as bad as it gets.”
Kalinda moved toward him and when she got close enough, he hauled her into his embrace. “I can’t let either of you go and I’m not going to.”
“What about the tribal money?” She looked up into his eyes.
“That is a decision you have to make. I don’t have a claim on it. We don’t need it and I can provide for you and Rosa. You have family that I have a feeling will be good for you to meet. You don’t even need to see the Moon family again, if that’s what you want.”
“I think the gold and the cash should be returned to the tribe,” Silas voiced his opinion. “The peyote should be turned over to the cops.”
“We can tell the police the brothers tried to kill Kalinda and got Renegade instead,” Creed suggested.
“Is this really what you want Kalinda?” Renegade asked. “You have the final say. The money and gold are yours as the only member of the Moon family, not going to jail.”
Kalinda looked over at Jack but he wouldn’t say anything. This was her decision not his.
She turned to Renegade and nodded. “That sounds good enough to me. I don’t want the gold or the money. It should have belonged to the tribe all along. As far as the money, the tribe set aside for me? I don’t want it. I may be entitled to it but I don’t want it. I haven’t been a part of the tribe for most of my life and whoever my father is, it doesn’t matter now.”
“Sweet child,” Renegade began but was interrupted by Jack’s growl. He turned to glare at the other man but looked at Kalinda again. “You have the right to know who your family is, we all do.”
Kalinda shook her head. “You don’t understand. I have a feeling that if it isn’t Joshua, it could be his own father or one of his brothers and that is one thing I don’t want to know. It doesn’t matter to me. Not one of those men mean anything to me at all. I am my mother’s daughter and that’s what matters to me. Oh and if my mother was never married to Joshua then I have no claim to the Moon’s name or legacy either.” She shrugged. “That is something I can handle better than having the Moon legacy to live up to.”
No one said a word about her statement. There was nothing they could say.
Silas left first then Creed motioned for Renegade to come with him to the clubhouse. Then Jack and Kalinda were alone with Rosa.
“Are you all right?” Jack asked her finally.
“No.” She shook her head. “But I will be. It will just take me a little time to get used to the things I know now. And finally, maybe the nightmares won’t ever return. At least I hope they never do. I found my answers and they weren’t pretty but at least I know it all now.”
“Did you mean it when you said you didn’t really want to know who your father really is?” he asked.
Kalinda nodded. “I don’t need to know. I’m more than happy to know Joshua wasn’t married to my mother when I was born. I have the right to her name now and that’s what I want. I don’t want the Moon name. I don’t want anything to do with that family at all. I hope one day, I can meet my grandfather and my aunt, because they were part of my mother’s family but the Moons have done nothing I want to lay claim to.”
Jack nodded as he wrapped his arms around her. “Besides, now you’re a Young.”
“And I like that idea very much.” She smiled at her husband. “I like that very much.”
Jack leaned down to kiss her. His mouth came down on hers hard and within moments she was lost in the pleasure that always took them when they were together. Jack broke the kiss and glanced behind her at the baby. He found Rosa was asleep so he picked Kalinda up and rushed her down the hall to their bedroom.
He tore at her clothing, only taking off what was necessary for their coupling and then pressed her up against the wall. Kissing her as if his life depended on it, his hands roamed along her body. He couldn’t get enough of this woman and he probably never would. He was relentless as he kissed her and worshipped her skin. Fumbling with his zipper, he freed himself and without thinking, he plunged deep into her wet hot core.
She screamed as he went balls deep with his first stroke and Jack hissed at how good it felt. But then every time they came together, it felt good. He pumped in and out and lost himself in all that was her.
He never cared who she really was, or what her last name was. Her lack of a last name was almost a bonus because this way, she was his and his alone from day one. But now that she knew the truth, he realized it didn’t matter who she was. She was still his and that’s what mattered to him.