He was sitting on his bike when she got back. He looked somber.
2
Janice paced the floors of the little house she had shared with Marty for the last few years. She hadn’t heard from Marty and she had promised to call when they stopped somewhere for the night. She knew Ace wouldn’t let anything happen to Marty but something was different about him and that had Janice wondering what had really brought him back to Georgia.
It was after midnight when her phone rang and her heart hit her toes. Her hand shook when she picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey Janice. I know Marty was supposed to call but she conked out the minute she got back to the room so I thought I’d let you know she’s ok.”
Janice let out a long breath. “I appreciate that Ace. I was beginning to worry.” She reached up and rubbed at the soreness at the base of her skull.
“Figured you might. You want to tell me a few things about her? She said she doesn’t have to pay for school and mentioned some trouble with the law, but didn’t get into it.”
“She is a whiz with computers. She’s on a full scholarship. Could have gone anywhere, but she’s still a kid. Started college at sixteen so she didn’t want to go anywhere. Her grandma was sick and she just couldn’t so she stayed here. She arranged for a wealthy old coot to give her grandma a really beautiful funeral. She has been looked at a few times, but nothing stuck. She’s not bad. Almost like Robin Hood in her own way. She doesn’t drink or smoke. The worst thing she has ever done to act out is chop off her hair. She will be like a lamb in a lion’s den up there Ace.”
“Fuck. I’ll put her up with Preach and his old lady until I can figure something out. I’ll make sure it’s known that she’s off limits too. Not sure what else I can do. The boys will be sniffing around her like a pack of hungry wolves.”
“She’s nineteen Ace. For heaven sake.”
“Like that shit matters her mama was about that age and I was too damn old for her too.”
“I remember. Don’t you dare let some ass wipe ruin her life the way…”
“The way I did Janie’s?”
Janice wanted to bite her tongue off. “No. That was her choice and Janie never regretted anything, except you leaving her. You have to know that Ace.”
“It wasn’t my choice. I wanted her to come with me.”
“I know. She wanted a normal life. The club scared her.”
“I know that too. I should have stayed.” His voice was low and filled with regret.
“She wouldn’t have let you Ace. You would have resented her and she wouldn’t have that. She loved you too much.”
Janice heard the sigh on the other end of the phone. She knew something weighed heavily on Ace.
“Ace, are you alright? Is something going on?”
“Not really, but I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“You got it Ace. You call me if you need anything or if she gets to be too much.”
“I will Janice and I appreciate this. You don’t know how much. I know you could have said something and she’d have stayed there.”
“I know what it’s like to be young and want to live.”
“I appreciate it.”
Tell me that in a month.” Janice laughed as she pictured the trouble Marty might cause Ace in a month.
Ace let out a laugh and disconnected the phone.
Janice felt like something monumental had just happened. Janie would have wanted this. She would want her daughter to know Ace and love him, but would she have wanted her only daughter to run off to be with the men who had taken Ace from her so long ago? Of that Janice was certain the answer was no.
She undressed and crawled into bed. Janie had always been terrified of the men that surrounded Ace. Janice had been intrigued. If Tank had asked Janice to run off and make a life with him she would have jumped at the opportunity, but Tank hadn’t asked. Janice had secretly resented Janie having it all. She had loved her like a sister, but there had been times when she wanted to lash out at the woman for keeping Marty from her father. Janie had been adamant about her decision to raise Marty to have a normal life, but she had never lied to the child.
Janice sighed. Was she only encouraging Marty to be with Ace as some kind of sick revenge toward her friend?
Tears leaked out of her closed eyelids.
“Damn you Janie. Damn you for having happiness and throwing it away while I never even got the chance. Damn you for making all of us love you so much. Damn you for working too hard and damn you for dying and leaving all of us to try to go on without you.”
Janice rolled over and buried her face in her pillow. Cancer hadn’t cared how much they had all needed Janie, it took her anyway.
“It should have been me. No one would have missed me. You could have had a life with Ace now and been happy.”
Life was so unfair. It never let anyone find what they wanted until it was too late to claim it. Life never allowed you to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labors. All it did was force you to work harder while life passed you by and made you an old woman.
Janice had carried a torch for Tank for twenty years, hoping that someday he would come back for her but no, he had found someone else and made a life and then been killed. Janice couldn’t believe that she hadn’t known he was dead. She had looked for him every day, every time she heard the sound of a motorcycle she had hoped. She had wasted her life waiting on a man that didn’t even want her and now she had nothing to show for it.
She thought of all the opportunities she’d had as a young woman. She could have gone to school, married, had a dozen babies, but she had done nothing but wait. Thinking back now she knew she had been a fool. Tank hadn’t made her promises the way Ace had made them to Janie. Janice wondered if she had just wanted something to share with Janie, something to bring them closer. That really was the beginning of their friendship. They had known each other but they hadn’t started hanging out until the Defenders rode into town.
Janice tried to sleep, but her mind swirled with memories and regrets. She had nothing to show for her life other than the diner and Marty, but Marty wasn’t even her child.
Now she wondered what she would do without Marty and the dream of Tank. It seemed like everything had disappeared in one day and she was at a loss as to how to continue. Maybe she needed a change.
3
Ace was nervous. He hated the feeling. He would rather be shot than feel those damned butterflies swarming in his stomach. He had called Preach, but hadn’t told him the details, just that he had a surprise and he would need to see Preach when he arrived with it. Something valuable.
Preach had sounded curious and Ace knew the man suspected something. They had been friends too long and Preach could read Ace like a book even when he tried to hide things. Ace knew that Preach would welcome Marty and the brothers would accept her, but how would Ace live with having a daughter? He didn’t even have his own place. How would he handle the brothers watching her and lusting after her? Would he go ape shit the way Preach always did or would he let her make her choices? She leaned heavily against his back and he felt his protective instincts rear up. He knew he would fight for her the way he had all the other club kids, but she would be different.
He took a deep breath as he drove the last few miles to the compound. He had watched Preach worry over his daughters and it had aged the man more than dealing with the Devils. Living a life with the Defenders wasn’t safe, but it was all he knew. What if something happened to Marty because of him he felt his heart shutter. It was the reason he and Janie had called it quits. He admitted, deep down, that it was the reason he had gone back now. He had hoped she would welcome him back, give him a chance at a normal life for a while. He loved the Defenders but he was getting too old for this life and he knew he was running out of time to be with Janie. He had hoped to find a sort of retirement and a quiet death with the only woman he had ever loved, but instead he found a daughter to protect and a
reason to fight on to make sure she found a good life for herself.
He caught sight of the gates and felt Marty tense. He reached down and patted her hand where it rested against his hip.
“No fear now, they can smell it.” He felt her tense for a second before she relaxed again.
“Oh gee thanks that helps so much.” She shouted over the engine.
Ace laughed then. She had spunk, that’s for sure. She would be able to handle the brothers, but maybe they wouldn’t be able to handle her.
“Suck it up and hold your head up. You are Defenders royalty and you damned well should act like it. Make me proud.”
He heard her snort and laughed again. She was like Janie. She might be terrified but she wouldn’t show it and he had always respected that.
Marty was scared shitless. She had only met a few bikers in her life and now she was about to walk into the inner sanctum of one of the biggest and baddest of them all. She would piss her pants, but she knew she couldn’t show fear and she knew Ace would protect her.
Ace stopped the motorcycle and she climbed off. He did the same and nodded when he gave her a once over. Apparently her jeans and hoodie would do to meet his brothers, she hoped so because she was not wearing anything more revealing than that.
They walked toward the imposing structure and Marty felt her heart speed up. She heard high pitched laughter and loud music from the back yard. She couldn’t be one of the women who simpered all over these men. She couldn’t do that. She gritted her teeth and concentrated on breathing. When Ace stopped she was so focused on walking that she bumped into his back and let out a curse. She peeked around his broad shoulders to find a man that looked familiar standing in the moonlight. He was looking at her with a frown.
“This your surprise? We don’t need any more unchecked whores Ace. She can’t be around until Spec gets her checked out. Not after what happened with Rider. You sure she’s even legal? She looks about sixteen for fuck’s sake.
He was staring straight at her as if she were something he would scrape off his shoe and that made her madder that a cat in a bathtub.
“Let me tell you something mister. I’m no whore and you can kiss my ass for suggesting it. I’m nineteen years old and I look every day of it. I don’t know who you think you are…”
Ace was smiling again, but the other man looked like he wanted to rip her head off and feed it to her. He lifted his hand and Marty went to scramble out of his reach when Ace caught the hand that was about to strike her.
“This is Marty Cross.”
He let his words hang in the air for a few beats and Marty watched curiosity cross the man’s face as his anger vanished.
“Janie’s?”
Ace nodded and pulled Marty in front of him. “And mine. Marty, meet Preacherman, the president of the Defenders MC and my brother by choice.”
Marty held out her hand and studied the man before her. “I’ve seen your picture. Mama had some. She said you were a tough son of a bitch, but I’ve never known if that was a bad thing or not.”
She watched a smile transformed his face. “Janie was a corker and we didn’t always see eye to eye. I think she blamed me for taking Ace away from her.” He took her hand in a firm but warm grip.
Marty shrugged. “You’re right, she did, but she said he’d have stayed if he really wanted to so she didn’t hate you.” She wet her lips. “So what do I do now? Do I have to take a blood oath or something?”
Preach laughed and slung his arm around her shoulders. “This one will stir things up Ace. Good luck with fatherhood brother. She didn’t get her looks from you. You may wish she had after the brothers get a look at her.”
He led her into a dimly lit room with a bar running along one wall. There were pool tables in the back and tables and couches around the room in a loose sitting area. A huge television stood against the front wall and some action movie was playing, but all eyes turned to Marty when she walked in the room. She felt eyes crawl over her like spiders and she bristled, ready for a fight, but Preach gave her a squeeze that she knew was meant to comfort her. It didn’t really help.
She let her eyes slide around the room and then wished she hadn’t when they landed on a red haired woman grinding on the lap of a man who looked to be enjoying her more than was decent in public. This was a whole new world and Marty felt like she had just stepped through a mirror into an alternate universe.
“Listen up brothers!” Preach’s voice boomed above the noise and the men quieted.
“We have a new member of the family!”
“Little young for you isn’t she?” She heard one call out and she narrowed her eyes. Preach ignored it.
“This is Marty Cross and she is Ace’s kid. She gets respect or I’ll know the reason. Make sure anybody not here gets the news. I’d hate to gut a brother for being and ignorant sonofabitch, but I will.”
And that was that. The men went back to whatever they were doing and Preach leaned down to kiss her cheek.
“Welcome to the family Marty. Anybody gives you shit, beat the hell out of them or let me know. I hope you’re happy here. Ace can introduce you to some of the women and see about getting you a place to stay.”
She couldn’t help the smile she gave him. “Thank you. I didn’t know what to expect here…”
“No one ever does.” He winked at her and walked away from the noisy room without a backwards glance.
Marty watched him leave. He was a man of confidence like she had never seen before and she respected him and feared him in equal parts. She let her eyes drift around the room. She figured most of the men felt the same way about Preach. Maybe they would leave her alone.
4
Marty woke the next morning to the sound of motorcycles and groaned. She buried her head under her pillow and tried to go back to sleep, but it was no use. The asshole kept at it. She was not a morning person. She tugged on a pair of shorts and stomped to the window and shoved it open. There was a glass of water on the bedside table so she emptied it on the asshole who kept revving his engine. She heard a curse before she closed her window with a satisfied smirk. She climbed into her still warm bed and curled up just before her door burst open.
She sat up, ready to curse at whoever thought they had the right to storm into her room and then laughed at the man who was standing in her room dripping.
“It’s rude to be loud before nine in the morning.” She lay back down and closed her eyes. She heard his heavy footfalls and thought he had left her to sleep until she felt the water hit her in the head. She came up fighting and sputtering curses that would make a sailor blush.
“Damn you, you sonofabitch. Who do you think you are?”
“Name’s Mike Allen.”
“Mike?”
“Who the hell do you think you are throwing water on me? I ought to pull your ass out of the bed and toss your ass out that fucking window.”
“Mike is a shitty biker name…maybe they should have called you Kitty.” Marty knew she should shut up but her mouth would not listen to her brain.
He took a step toward her and she held out her hands.
“Try it asshole and you’ll have to swallow your food around your balls from now on.” Marty was tired of playing.
“Shut the fuck up. You don’t get to talk to me like that. My biker name as you put it is.”
“I’ll say whatever the fuck I want to whoever I want. Now get your ass out of my room!” She was standing in the middle of her bed with her hands on her hips, glaring down at the rather handsome man in her bed room at eight in the damned morning. No, not her bedroom. The room she had been given last night at the club house… the motorcycle club, club house… she may be screwed. She didn’t show fear, but she felt it begin to swirl in her stomach. When the man stepped toward her she screamed as she leapt off the bed and ran from him.
She had no idea where to go. She ran down the rough wooden stairs and into the common room where she saw several men she hadn’t seen the night before
and they were looking at her with hungry eyes. There were a few women, but they looked like they were half dead and wouldn’t be much help. Panic rose in her and she desperately searched the room for a friendly face. There were none. What could she do? The man from her room caught up to her and grabbed her arm before she could get away. She screamed.
“Parlay!”
The man froze and frowned at her as if she had lost her mind. “What?”
“Parlay.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” He looked so confused that it was almost cute. His nose was scrunched up and his brows were furrowed over his too blue eyes.
Marty noticed another man walking toward them and tried to get away, but the man, Mike, held firm.
ACE (Defenders M.C. Book 4) Page 2