End Game (Sinners MC Book 2)

by Jennifer Hanks

  “You already said you liked what you were learning,” I pointed out.

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “I’ll take you on as an apprentice.”

  His face relaxed some. “What does that mean?”

  “Means you’ll learn on the job,” I explained. “You’ll have to do shit work too, just like we all did and still do, but you’ll learn how to be a great fucking mechanic.”

  His lips tipped in the beginnings of a smile, but almost immediately, it dropped. “Make a lot doin’ what I’m doin’.”

  “How much?”

  “About four hundred a week, give or take.”

  That was a lot for a kid, but not when you consider he was risking his life and his freedom if he got caught. “You work every day after school and on the weekends, you’ll do pretty well. You won’t make that, not to start, but you’ll have steady work and not risk being tossed in jail.”

  I waited and watched his face while he contemplated everything. “Okay.”

  I exhaled quietly in relief. “You able to leave the job you have with no retribution?”

  He shrugged. “Don’t know. I never tried.”

  “How long you work there?” Ritz asked.

  “Almost a year.”

  “You should have a good savings already, right?”

  He dropped his head but then lifted it to answer. “Foster dad finds my hiding places sometimes and steals it.”

  “How do you know?” I growled, hating this fucker even more than I already had.

  “Caught him.”

  “What happened?” I asked, already anticipating the answer.

  “He split my lip.”

  “Bastard.” Ritz cursed, and my blood ran hot with the adrenaline coursing through me. This fucker was going to pay.

  “From now on, you’ll keep your earnings in a locked box in my office.” He visibly relaxed when I made the declaration. “Your foster dad know how you’re making that money?”

  He nodded. “Yep.”

  “You tell him?” Ritz asked, but I heard the doubt in his tone. Getting anything from this kid was like pulling teeth. I couldn’t imagine he offered it to a man he obviously hates and for a good reason.

  “Didn’t have to.”

  “Why not?”

  “He got me the job.”

  I ran my hand through my hair. Christ, this just kept getting worse. I glanced at Ritz, and he nodded before I continued. He knew what I was thinking. We couldn’t let this kid handle this alone, and we wouldn’t.

  “We’ll go with you to tell your boss and foster dad you’re quitting.”

  His eyebrows rose. “They won’t like that.”

  “I don’t fucking care what they like,” I replied, but then thought of Josie and cursed under my breath. I wasn’t sure how I would tell her about this without telling her what I found out, but maybe I wouldn’t have to if I got Dominic back in her office. “You gotta do somethin’ for me, though.”

  His expression hardened again. This kid had seen and done way too much in his short life. He already expected the worst, but we could change that with time and patience.

  “What?”

  “Start meeting with Josie again. Every damn week if you have to so she’s not worried about you. Also, need you to tell her you got a new job and quit the old. That’ll keep her from following you around.”

  He relaxed back into his chair. “I can do that.”

  Ritz’s eyebrows rose. “You agreed to that pretty easily.”

  Dominic shrugged. “I like her. She’s not like other counselors. It’s like she really cares.” I nodded while he spoke because he was right; she was different. Not many would go to the lengths she had for these kids. “Plus, she wears those tight skirts.”

  Ritz snorted out a laugh, and I tried, but I couldn’t hold back my grin. Still, he needed to show some respect, so I gave him a reminder. “Watch it, kid.” He shrugged, but I could tell he understood. “You have any questions for me?”

  He nodded. “Just one.”

  “What?” I gestured for him to continue.

  “What’s your name?”

  This time, I laughed out loud along with Ritz and watched while this kid, who had been through so much shit, finally fucking smiled.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  BEAR

  “Higher on the right, Bear.” I dropped my head when Maggie’s soft voice spoke behind me. We’d been adjusting this damn sign for the past five minutes, and I knew we’d already had it higher on the right.

  “Maggie, maybe if you step back farther, it will look right,” I suggested, trying to keep my cool with her because she was sensitive, but I was starting to lose the little bit of patience I had.

  “Okay,” she replied quietly.

  “She’s right, Bear. The right side needs to go up.”

  Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Josie, who had been in the kitchen, was now standing beside Maggie and smiling. Rather than speak, I looked back at the sign displaying both Becs’s and Wyatt’s names and pushed the right side up while shaking my head.

  “Hmm…” Josie sighed, and I groaned, but then I heard Maggie giggle.

  Lifting my head, I glanced back again and saw the shitty smirks on the girls’ faces. “You fuckin’ with me?”

  “Us?” Josie’s eyes widened before she answered sweetly. “Never.” She moved away from Maggie while speaking. “It looks great right there.”

  I quickly taped the corner and turned toward the bar. Maggie was by the door murmuring to Gunner, but Josie was missing again. She’d been running around for the past two hours, making sure every detail she and Maggie had planned was completed. Crossing my arms over my chest, I leaned back against the bar and looked around the room. A room usually filled with men and women, drinking and just being rowdy, was now blue everywhere. Blue streamers, blue and white balloons, and I couldn’t forget that damn blue banner I’d just hung on the back wall by the pool table.

  My sister was going to love this, but even more, she needed this. She’d been having a hard time these past few weeks even though Wyatt was getting stronger. I started to see her fear of bringing a premature baby home, but we’d get through this. We’d gotten through a lot of shit in our lives together, and this wouldn’t be any different.

  I glanced at the clock behind the bar and saw it was almost four, which meant people would be coming soon. Josie should be leaving shortly to pick up Becs under the pretense of them coming to the clubhouse to pick up Maggie so they could go shopping for baby shit. It would be a nice surprise, and I had to admit this had been a nice thing for the girls to put together, but even nicer that Josie had thought of it. She kept surprising me, and I was a hard man to surprise.

  I hadn’t seen Josie in a week. Bull provided me with updates that all had been quiet at her place, but I asked him to stay on her. I’d needed to figure some shit out, including how to handle Dominic’s situation. After a meeting with Gunner, we came up with a plan. I’d already texted Dominic, and we were meeting with him tomorrow to get that shit done. I’d also had Hawk on my mind and was waiting impatiently for him to get back into town, considering the Widows hadn’t so much as looked our way in weeks. That should be encouraging, but it wasn’t. I knew those fuckers too well to be fooled by their silence.

  I glanced beside me when I heard Gunner’s voice. “Christ, it looks different in here.”

  “Okay.” I shifted my attention to the left when I heard Josie’s voice, just in time to see her step up beside Gunner. “I think everything’s done here, so I’m going home to change, and then I’ll pick up Becs.”

  “Why are you changing?” My eyes traveled down over her faded T-shirt and those tight black pants women wear. Fuck, she looked hot in those damn pants. When my cock jerked, I silently cursed my lack of control when it came to this woman and lifted my eyes to hers.

  She raised her eyebrows and glanced over at Maggie before facing me again. “I can’t wear this.”

  I shrugged. “Why n
ot?”

  Maggie giggled, and Josie tilted her head to the side. “Because I dropped food on my shirt when I was back in the kitchen, and I clean my apartment in these leggings.” When I only continued to stare, she shook her head and faced Maggie. “I’ll text you when we leave Bear’s place.”

  Maggie nodded. “Okay.”

  She reached out and squeezed Maggie’s hand. “Sorry I won’t be here when everyone comes.”

  Maggie gestured toward Gunner. “Gunner said he and Bear will stay for that.”

  “We’ll stay until you’re back with Becs,” I confirmed.

  Josie glanced my way and smiled before reaching out and hugging Maggie. “This was fun. I’m glad we got to do this together.”

  “Me too, Josie,” Maggie agreed.

  When they pulled apart, Josie grabbed her things from the bar top and headed toward the door. I watched her until she got to the door, refusing to hide the fact I was staring at her ass, not even when I heard Gunner snort.

  She pulled the door open, and I called out, “Skinner out there?”

  “Right here.” Skinner poked his head through the doorway.

  I’d asked Skinner to watch the door today because I needed someone with experience keeping an eye out for anyone who shouldn’t be on our property. “Watch her.”

  “Got it.”

  Josie looked over her shoulder, and her eyes met mine. They held for a long moment until she smiled softly, walked through, and let the door slam closed behind her.

  “I’m going to change too,” Maggie shared quietly, and Gunner leaned down to kiss her softly, whispering something. She giggled and shook her head before heading toward the stairs leading to the second floor.

  When she was out of earshot, Gunner spoke. “You good?”

  I jerked my head toward the room. “With this?”

  “All of it,” he clarified.

  “Whatever Becs needs.”

  Gunner grinned, but he knew I was purposely avoiding his question.

  When the door pushed open, we looked over just as Skinner walked through, followed by Luke and Cam Dimarco and their wives. Luke jerked up his chin in our direction before his eyes scanned the room, and his grin grew.

  Pushing off the bar, we made our way to him and stopped when we stood in front of the group. Luke was the first to speak. “Looks a little different in here.”

  “I think it looks great,” Sydney, Cam’s wife, said.

  “Me too,” Kate added with a smile. “I didn’t think decorating was one of your skills, Bear.”

  “I have many skills, sweetheart.” I grinned.

  She rolled her eyes and looked over our shoulders. “Are we the first ones here?”

  “Yeah.” Gunner nodded. “Josie went to pick up Becs, and Maggie is upstairs changing.”

  “Maggie’s upstairs changing, and you’re down here?” Cam teased.

  Gunner grunted. “I tried to follow, but she shot me down.”

  They laughed, and the door was once again pushed open. I watched as Skinner held the door open for more Dimarcos to walk in with their girlfriends and wives. They were followed by some girlfriends of club members, who a lot of MCs would refer to as old ladies, but we never had. My mom hated that term, so when my dad was president, he did away with it and instead just called her his lady, which pacified her. I didn’t understand it at the time, but that was a shift for us from a typical club, and by doing that, my dad was making a big statement that he wanted this club to run completely different.

  He’d been making progress until he was killed.

  For some reason, I’d been thinking about him more over the past few weeks and wondering if he’d approve of the direction I’d been taking the club. A club he fought so hard to clean up and push in the right direction of legal business while preserving the core values of brotherhood and freedom.

  After a few more people came in, Maggie arrived, and I could almost see her shrink into herself. A lot of people were already here, and still more were coming, which I had no doubt made Maggie uncomfortable. Gunner glanced at me over her head when she walked to stand beside him, telling me without words that we needed to stay until Becs and Josie arrived if for no other reason than to help Maggie. I jerked up my chin just as I heard a soft voice beside me.

  “The girls did a good job decorating.”

  Glancing to the side and down, I saw Candy standing beside me and frowned. She wasn’t friends with Becs. As a matter of fact, they’d never gotten along. Becs had told me more than once that I should toss her from the parties, but she’d never really caused any trouble.

  I wasn’t one to beat around the bush. “Surprised to see you here.”

  She smiled softly. “Maggie invited me. I’m kind of dating someone.”

  That was news to me. “Who?”

  She gestured toward the door where Dozer stood next to Skinner while a few more women walked through the open door. “Dozer.”

  I nodded, but I would make it a point to have a discussion with Dozer. He was young, and I needed to reinforce that club information stayed in the club. We’d had situations in the past where prospects thought it made them look tough to share stories with their girlfriends, and that never worked out well for us. Club information was between the members with absolutely no exceptions made.

  Glancing back down, I said what needed to be said. “Say anything to upset Becs, and you’re out.”

  Her expression was of shock, but I knew better. “I would never want to upset Becs.”

  “Just be sure you don’t.”

  She laid her hand on my arm, her face full of sincerity. “I never would, Bear, I promise. Becs and I have had our differences, but she needs all of us, all of her family right now.”

  There was no way in hell my sister considered Candy a part of her family, but I let that shit go. I didn’t want to talk to Candy anymore, and anything else I’d say would only encourage more conversation.

  “Skinner texted.” Gunner’s voice rang out loud over the crowd. When I looked his way, I saw Maggie typing out something on her phone. I’d guess the text came to her, but Gunner was sharing the information. “They just pulled in.”

  It had been smart on Josie’s part to put in the invite that it was a surprise, and she asked anyone who could get a ride to do so or carpool so that the parking lot didn’t appear too full for a Saturday. It had worked, considering a lot of men were here about ten minutes ago, and now the room was full of women. Hopefully, Becs didn’t pay too much attention to any odd cars parked outside.

  “Coming,” Gunner announced, and the whole room quieted.

  I saw a flash of blond hair first, and my stomach clenched. My mind was already considering the ways to get close to Josie before I shut myself in the garage or office for the duration of the party.

  It remained quiet until Becs walked in, and then the room exploded with noise and shouts of “Surprise!” I had no idea what to expect, but it would’ve never crossed my mind that my strong and usually cheerful sister would stop in her tracks, stare at the crowd, and begin to cry.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  JOSIE

  I wasn’t surprised she was crying. Becs had been trying to hold in her emotions since Wyatt’s birth, and she needed this cry to release her fears. Having a baby was emotional on its own, but having a baby with complications was a whole different ballgame, and Becs never gave herself permission to feel that.

  I swung my arm around her shoulders and glanced around the room, searching for her brother. I was unlucky enough to see Candy pressed against his side before he moved away from her and headed our way, his face full of nothing but concern. My eyes locked on Candy, who wore a small smirk while she watched Bear walk toward us. I shook off the feeling of jealousy before I lowered my head to whisper in Becs’s ear. The room had grown silent, and I recognized the sounds of uncomfortable shifting while everyone decided what to do or say next.

  “What do you need?” I asked softly.

  She wiped un
der her eyes. “A tissue and a big drink.”

  When I giggled, she looked at me and smiled. “You got it.”

  “Did you do this?” She gestured toward the room.

  “Maggie and I did.”

  When a shadow fell over us, we both faced forward. Bear’s eyes met mine briefly before he focused on Becs. “You good?”

  She sniffed. “Yeah, I’m good.”

  He gestured behind him. “May wanna tell them.”

  She smiled when he grinned and lifted to her tiptoes to call out over his shoulder, “I’m good.”

  I heard laughter and peeked out around Bear to see Maggie walking our way while the other women began to talk amongst themselves.

  Maggie moved right in and wrapped her arms around Becs. “Are you upset we did this?”

  “No.” Becs leaned back and smiled. “Just emotional since Wyatt was born. I don’t know why.” She glanced at us. “But this is amazing. I can’t believe you did this for me.”

  “All new moms deserve this.” I felt the heat of Bear’s stare, but I couldn’t look at him. We had one night—not even a night, more of an encounter—and it kept coming back to me in my dreams. I needed distance between us. We both did.

  “Okay.” Becs exhaled loudly. “I’m ready.”

  Maggie moved beside her, and together, they walked around Bear and into the crowd. I stayed back and watched, not really knowing many people and suddenly feeling a little out of place myself.

  “Thank you.”

  My eyes snapped up to Bear when his deep voice sounded. I knew he appreciated that we did this for Becs. He’d made that clear just in his actions today. “You’re welcome.”

  “Still like the shirts better.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “Shirts?”

  “Ones you gave Becs in the hospital.”

  My eyebrows rose when he mentioned them. I’d honestly thought he hadn’t liked them after his reaction. “You liked those?”

  He frowned. “You really askin’ me that?” I could see the sincerity in his expression and tilted my head, but when I didn’t speak, he did. “What?”