She blinked.
“Can you talk?”
She widened her eyes.
“Maybe,” she whispered. “I love…” Her eyes rolled in my direction. She blinked and then looked at Smokey. “Both of you.”
“We love you, too.”
“I uhhm. I can’t remember…”
Smokey looked at me, and then at Eddie. “Don’t worry about what happened that night. You need to get better so we can get you out of here.”
I hoped she’d never be able to remember what happened. I feared I’d never forget it, but to think of her recalling the events of that night made me feel ill.
“My arm hurts,” she whispered.
Smokey sighed. “It’s broken.”
“That sucks.”
“Could be a lot worse.”
She blinked a few times, and then looked at the cup of ice. After Smokey gave her a few more ice chips, she continued.
“I want pie. Apple pie.”
Smokey laughed. “I’ll check with the doctor. Maybe in a few days.”
“Someone was. A guy tried to. Where’s my ring?” she stammered.
I held up my hand. “Right here, waiting for you to wake up.”
She blinked.
Smokey looked up. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
I turned toward the door. Dressed in a burgundy set of scrubs and a new pair of tennis shoes, P-Nut sauntered into the room.
“Someone order a sexy nurse?” he asked.
“What in the absolute hell are you doing, Nut?”
“They wouldn’t let me up here for three days. Fellas downstairs said she woke up, so I went and bought these. Had to do something.”
“You crazy prick.” Smokey looked him up and down, and then shook his head. “What’s covering your tattoos?”
I hadn’t noticed until Smokey said so, but the tattoos that covered P-Nut’s forearms were gone.
He peeled a flesh-colored sleeve up his arm and exposed the tattoos. “TatJacket. Got it at the same place.”
Smokey shook his head and laughed, honestly out and out laughed, for the first time in days.
P-Nut wedged his way between me and the bed. “What’s up, Ed?”
“Just chillin’,” she whispered. “You?”
“Same. You’ve got a pretty big fan group downstairs, kid.”
“Do I?”
He nodded. “I don’t know. Maybe twenty or thirty. Sometimes more, sometimes less.”
She looked at Smokey.
“Don’t look at me,” he said. “I haven’t so much as left this room.”
She looked at P-Nut. “Who?”
“Most of the time, Richard’s down there. His parents came a few times. Some of Red and White’s best. The FFMC. Their Ol’ Ladies.”
He looked at Smokey. “And, that piece of shit Tank kept comin’ by and askin’ questions. I told him to kick rocks, and he hasn’t been back since.”
“Red and White?” she asked.
“Hells Angels.”
She nodded.
He looked at Smokey. “That Bama fucker’s been here three days.”
“He’s good people,” Smokey said.
“Don’t know about that. The fucker kept tryin’ to talk to me, so I went and sat by some family that was waiting on grandma to get out of hip surgery for a while. Then, I sat with some sexy bitch while she waited for her husband to get out of heart surgery. Bitch was a MILF, I’m tellin’ ya. Pretty much been bored to death waitin’.”
P-Nut was weird, but I really liked him. Having everyone together, as strange as it seemed to admit, made me feel like we were a family. The thought of a room filled with people who cared enough about Eddie’s welfare to stay and wait for the three days was comforting. It proved just how sincere Smokey’s friends were. They were an extension, so to speak, of our immediate family.
While P-Nut talked to Eddie, I held her hand in mine. Within no time, I was daydreaming about living a life that also included the child Smokey and I shared. After getting through the situation we were in, we’d undoubtedly be able to handle anything that life tossed our way.
Anything at all.
Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Three
Smokey
Eddie was finally home, and short of a few stiches and a cast on her arm, she appeared unchanged. I couldn’t help but wonder how the trauma she had been through might affect her, but as she had yet to discuss the events of that night, I had no idea what to expect.
It seemed all she remembered was a man trying to take her ring, and short of asking about it once, that night was never spoken of again.
While Sandy worked her shift at the seafood restaurant, Eddie and I sat at the kitchen table and ate apple pie.
She took a bite of the pie, and then a drink of milk. “It feels good to be home.”
“I bet. I can’t stand hospitals. Places creep me out.”
“I don’t think I like them, either.”
I admired her for a moment, and then cut a piece of pie with the edge of my fork. “Pie’s good. It was nice of Richard’s mom to send it.”
She looked up. “Do you think you and Sandy will get married?”
Her question caught me off guard. I stared at the pie for a moment, and then looked up. I knew how I felt, but had no idea how Eddie would feel knowing.
One thing I couldn’t do, however, was lie to her.
“I think we will, eventually, why?”
She shrugged. “I really like her.”
“What would you think if we did?”
She poked her pie a few times, and then looked at me. “I’d like it.”
“Would you?”
Her eyes lost focus and she gave a slow nod. “Yeah. I would.”
While I fidgeted with my pie, my questions about that night were answered.
“I uhhm. He came up behind me, and grabbed my shoulder,” she said, her voice without emotion.
I looked at her. Seeing her go through the hell of reliving that night would kill me. “Eddie, I don’t think it’s a good idea--”
“I’m okay. Let me tell you what happened.”
I wanted to know, I just didn’t want her to tell me.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”
I let out a sigh and pushed myself away from the table. “Okay.”
Her eyes dropped to the table. “He asked for my ring, and I told him no. Then, he grabbed my arm. I uhhm. I hit him a few times, but it’s different. It’s not like kyorugi or shihap.”
She let out a sigh and looked up. “He uhhm. He hit me in the face and knocked me down--”
“Ed…”
She raised her good hand. “Let me talk.”
It hurt to hear it, but if she needed to rid herself of the memories, I needed to let her.
“Okay.”
“He kept trying to take it, and I poked my thumbs in his eyes, you know, like you taught me.”
I grinned and nodded. “Good for you.”
“He uhhm. So, he was hitting me and stuff, and I screamed for Sandy. And then I blacked out or something. It gets weird after that. But then, I heard her.”
“Sandy?”
“Uh huh.”
She began to poke her pie with her fork. “She uhhm. She screamed. I remember that. She uhhm. She said…”
She inhaled a long breath and looked up. “Hey mother effer. Get off my daughter.”
I chuckled and cried at the same time. I quickly wiped my eyes and looked at her. “She said mother effer?”
She shook her head. “She said the other one. She screamed it.”
I hoped it was all she remembered.
“Is that all you remember?”
She shook her head. “I remember the sound of the gun. And then of her pulling him off of. She uhhm. She pulled him off me. And she talked to me. She called me my baby. And she said she loved me.” She met my gaze. “You call me baby.”
My throat tightened.
I swallowed hard and I nodded. “Yeah, I do.”
“I remember the ambulance guys. They were talking on the way to the hospital. Said the guy was dead. She shot him in the head.”
“Eddie, it’s not anything that needs to be--”
“I’m glad she shot him, dad. I hate to say it, but I really am.” She huffed a sigh and raised her cast. “Look at me. I mean, really. Yeah, he needed to be shot.”
I couldn’t agree with her more, but refrained from giving an opinion.
“I’m just glad it’s over,” I said.
She smashed her pie with the tines of her fork, and after flattening it into a pile, she looked up and nodded. “Yeah, me too.”
I pushed my plate to the side.
Two months prior, marrying Sandy was unthinkable. Now, it was all I could think about. It had very little to do with Eddie’s question, though. I desperately wanted to do everything right, be married, have a family, and raise our baby in as conventional of an atmosphere as a 1%er and a former stripper could.
I looked at Eddie. “What if it was sooner, rather than later?”
“What if what was sooner?”
“Sandy and I getting married.”
She smiled. “Far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better.”
Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Four
Sandy
Eddie and Richard were on a date, and Smokey and I were on pins and needles since she’d left. While Smokey went to the bathroom for what seemed like the tenth time of the night, I sat and listened to the music.
The doorbell buzzing caused me to jump from my seat.
“Get that, will ya?” Smokey shouted from the bathroom. “Probably Cholo dropping off a check.”
I walked to the door, opened it, and gawked at who stood on the porch. He was dressed differently than he was at the police station, but I’d never forget his face.
Detective Watson.
My throat constricted and my mouth went dry. “Do you. Do you have a uhhm. A search warrant?”
He blinked and then coughed a laugh. “Excuse me?”
“If you don’t have a search warrant, you can’t come in. House rules.”
“I need to talk to your significant other,” he said.
“Sorry. No can do.”
“I think he’ll want to hear what I have to say, and I do believe you owe me a favor.”
I heard the bathroom door open and then close.
“Smokey, the cops are here.”
“What?”
Smokey stepped between me and the door, and looked at Watson. “You lost?”
Watson shook his head. “Need to talk to you for a moment.”
“Concerning what?”
He glanced over each shoulder, and then met Smokey’s hardened gaze. “May I come in?”
“Afraid not.”
He looked at me. “I saved your ass, and you know it. All I need is five minutes.”
“What’s he talking about? Smokey asked.
“He uhhm. He’s the one that got me the attorney.”
“Sounds like a cop move,” Smokey said. “Save the girl to get to the Ol’ Man?”
Watson shook his head, and then rolled up the edge of his shirt sleeve. He turned his muscular bicep toward us and revealed a tattoo.
He cocked an eyebrow. “Look familiar?”
Smokey studied the tattoo, and then nodded. “Might have seen one like that before.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Navy SEAL,” Smokey said. He looked at Watson. “You want a fucking cookie?”
“Sorry, just had a donut. I’m full.” Watson said, stone-faced. He cocked his head to the side. “Let’s say I’m looking out for your President’s best interest.”
“Go talk to him,” Smokey said. “Time for me to shut the door.”
Watson chuckled a dry laugh. “He’s a prick. And it’s not him I’m worried about right now, it’s you.”
“Afraid I can’t help you,” Smokey said.
Watson shrugged. “Guess you won’t mind doing a twenty-year bit in club fed? By the time you get out, your daughter will be five years older than you are now.”
Smokey spit out a laugh. “Haven’t done anything. And, I don’t scare easy. Go pull someone else’s cock, cop.”
“At the hamburger joint off Highway 8.” Watson cleared his throat and then widened his eyes a little. “The guy at your bike? The fight that special agent Brickman got into? It was a set-up. Your prospect, Tank? He’s a special agent with the ATF. Name’s Brickman. The other guy was an ATF underling.”
Smokey’s face went stark white.
He pulled the door open. “Come on in.”
Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Five
Smokey
I paced back and forth in P-Nut’s garage, debating on exactly what I needed to say. I was convinced I needed to say nothing, but I knew resolving the situation on my own was impossible.
“What in the fuck, Brother?” P-Nut asked. “When was the last time you came by at 1:00 in the fucking morning? Hell, you never come here.”
“Just give me a minute.”
Sitting on the steps that led to his house, he took a drag off his cigarette. “Ed’s okay, ain’t she?”
I paused and turned toward him. “Yeah.”
He blew the smoke down at his feet and then looked up. “Sandy okay?”
“Yep.”
I started pacing again.
“New baby healthy?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Smoke, you’re making me itch.” He stood, scratched his forearm, and let out a half-assed growl. “What the fuck’s going on?”
I stopped, took a long breath, and then looked up at the ceiling. “Shut the garage door.”
Concern covered his face. He stood, pushed the wall-mounted button, and the garage door closed.
I looked at him and let out a sigh. “Tank. The prospect?”
He nodded. “What about him?”
“He’s a federal agent. ATF. His name’s Special Agent Brickman. He was investigating Meathead for a felon in possession tip that the ATF got from one of the Savages, and after he busted Meat, he just kind of fell into my lap.”
He started scratching his head. “I fucking knew it. Cocksucker.” He looked at me with crazy eyes. “How you want me to take care of it?”
“We need to think. Make a plan.”
He pressed his hands to his hops and shot me a glare. After a long pause, he shook his head. “You’re fucking scared.”
“That’s not it.”
“Face your fears,” he said. “You say that shit all the time. Face your fears. If you’re scared, just say it.”
“That’s not the case.”
“The Smoke I been knowin’ would be on the road right now, ready to whack this cat into pieces with a hatchet. Something’s stoppin’ you.”
I stood and stared, not quite sure if he was right, or if I simply needed to make a plan.
He looked at me with narrow eyes. “How’d you find out?”
“Got a tip from an outsider. Checks out, though. Even saw pictures of him from the academy and all his credentials. It’s legit.”
He nodded. “All I need to know.”
I considered what he said. Taking care of the situation without a plan would be a recipe for disaster. “We can’t just do it. We’ve gotta watch our backs. And, we need to give it some thought. Serious thought. If we just kill this prick, they’ll come for us. We need to make it look like something else. Fuck, I don’t know. Set it up and make it look like an accident.”
“We ain’t doing shit, Smoke. I’ll take care of that cocksucker.”
I shook my head. “He’s not your problem,” I said. “He’s mine.”
“Beg to differ with you, Brother. Your problems are my problems.”
“Not this time.”
He crossed his arms, and looked me up and down. “This time more than any other time, motherfucker.”
“Just take it easy. We need to t
hink about this. Last thing I need is this prick setting me up on a crime.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. You got Eddie, Sandy, a new baby coming. Shit, Brother. Last thing you need is some rotten fed planting a hot piece in your bags or putting a kilo of crank in your house. Rotten pricks. I’ll take care of this.”
“We’ll take care of it.”
“Okay. Sounds great. Draft up a plan, and have your people get with my people. We’ll do lunch and decide when we can get it scheduled,” he said, his voice thick with sarcasm.
“What are you saying?”
“Nothing.” He shrugged. “We’ll figure something out.”
“I’m serious, Nut. I came here to get your opinion. The last thing I need is you going solo on this deal, and end up doing something stupid.”
He shot me a look. “Now I’m a dumbass, huh?”
“Didn’t say that.”
“You think all I do is dumb shit?”
“Didn’t say that, either.”
“I’m smarter than you give me credit.”
“You’re the most solid fucker I know, Nut.” I let out a heavy sigh and looked right at him. “But you’re fucking nuts.”
“No shit,” he said with a laugh. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“We need to give this some serious thought.”
“Go home and get some rest,” he said. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
I was exhausted. He was right. I needed to get some rest, wake up fresh, and think about it. “My mind’s going a hundred miles an hour right now.”
“Mine too. Get some rest, Brother. Think about it. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
I nodded. “Nervous as fuck, Brother.”
“Makes two of us. Glad you found out, though.”
“Makes two of us.”
“I’m gonna hit the rack,” he said. “Too much for one night. I’m itching all over.”
“I’ll head out.”
“Shiny side up,” he said.
“I’ll do my best.” I turned toward the door. “Open the door?”
He pressed the button. “Give them gals a hug for me, would ya?”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Will do.”
I tossed and turned all night, getting very little sleep at all. It bothered me that Nut thought I was scared.
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