by Nicole Fox
And then?
I was coming back for Ember.
Chapter Eighteen
Wheeler
The ride home was one of the most somber that I’d ever had. There was nothing about it that made me feel like I was really heading home. Home was where Ember was. Home was where Ember was, and Ember wasn’t out here on this open road, and she sure as hell wasn’t there to greet me when we rolled up on the Big Sur clubhouse.
They were waiting.
There were a few stationed out in the front of the house. They looked like wannabe thugs, standing there trying to be menacing. I knew every one of them there, and I wasn’t scared of them. I was an enforcer, one of the biggest, and there wasn’t a damn thing that any of the current Sons members could do to stand against me.
I didn’t see any of the boys that I had sent this way to keep an eye on things among the bikers that were outside.
That … was a problem.
I had Boss and the boys to back me up, however. I pulled up and slid off my bike. Leech came striding out of the house, strutting his stuff like he had something to prove.
“And look here what the cat dragged in,” he said. He smirked at me. “I thought I told you to stay lost.”
“That was before you decided you were going to put Satan out of commission and take the head of the club yourself. You’ve overstepped your boundaries, Leech.” I wasn’t going to pull any punches. I got right to the point.
Leech didn’t look too concerned with that fact—though there were wary eyes on him as he approached me. Did the others not realize what he done? Had no one thought to give consideration?
“You come here accusing me of hurting my own father,” Leech said, as though he were an innocent babe over a snake in the grass. “When you up and hightailed it out of here at the first sign of trouble? You shack up with Boss, and then you bring them here, rolling up like a bat out of hell. Yet you have the nerve to ask me my intentions, Wheeler? Are you fucking stupid?”
“Almost as stupid as you are.” I looked around to the others. “He’s been skimming product, which I thought was pretty obvious. As obvious as the fact that he’s the one that shot Satan. Was anyone around? Did anyone see? Yet somehow there were cops here, there was an altercation, Satan got hurt. But there was no one here to confirm or deny the fact that there was something that happened here.”
The people around us shifted. Leech sneered.
“Come on. Who’s gonna believe you? You ran out. You left. I stayed. I took care of Satan. I took care of this club—”
“Just like you took care of it by getting us into this situation to begin with?” I shook my head. “No. I’m not buying it. Where’s Bones and Elise? I know they’ll vouch for the fact you’re a seedy little fucker.”
There was a quiet around the group. They looked around.
Leech grinned.
“Bring Bones out.”
One of the others walked into the house. There was silence, and when the other came back out, I narrowed my eyes.
He had Bones by the arm. Bones’ face was a bruised mess. He looked like he had gone through the ringer, and I was pissed off.
“The fuck did you do?” I turned my attention to Leech.
“He thought that he would try to get fresh and roust the club from me after Satan,” he said. “Seems he had the same notion you did. All sorts of wild shit about me doing things I shouldn’t be doing. I had to teach him a lesson, but obviously this was something that you were trying to enact from the start.”
I laughed. I honest to God laughed.
“Is there anyone here who honestly believes this shit? After everything that happened? Do you really think that this is the right course for the Sons?”
Where there had been hostility when I arrived, there was apprehension now—questions. They had apparently not tried to put two and two together yet. Until I brought it up. Until it was me and Bones that had brought it up.
Things Leech should have always known.
I had more sway in this club than he did.
Slowly, the boys started moving away from Leech. Like he was a disease. Like there was something wrong with him. He watched this with a growing rage reddening his face and making him flush with frustration.
“What the fuck are y’all doing? Get your asses back over here.”
One by one, the Big Sur boys joined me where I stood with Boss and the others. We outnumbered the fraction of a group that remained on Leech’s side.
“You can do this the easy way or the hard way, but you’re going to step down as president, Leech,” I said.
He sneered at me.
“Or what? You’re gonna do it? Don’t make me fucking laugh.”
“I’m not going to tell you again, Leech.”
He was fuming. His temple popped with the vein throbbing as he grappled with his choices—stand his ground and lose for sure, or leave with at least his life even if he wasn’t left with his dignity.
Leech was just that. A leech. He had no spine and no real guts and push come to shove, that showed more than anything else did. He snarled at me, coming down the front stairs.
“You’re gonna regret this,” he huffed. His eyes were crazed. He was a madman. “You’re going to regret this. Fuck you. Fuck all of you!”
No one followed him as he got on his bike, and I didn’t make to stop him. his threats were empty and I knew that he wouldn’t be coming back. Not anytime soon. Not if he was smart. I let out a breath.
That could have gone worse.
Way worse.
I looked around. There were men staring at me, some in admiration, and others in apprehension. I knew why. I knew that they were likely wondering what my next move was.
“All right,” I said. “This is how it’s gonna be. No more drugs. No more guns—no more of that shit that was pulled at the festival.” I looked at each of their faces as I spoke. “This shit has gone on too damn long. We’ve had to do too damn much to build up this club only to have it fall by the wayside. Until Satan gets out of the hospital, I will be acting president, and if you have a problem with that, Leech is that way. Am I understood?”
There were ayes all around.
I turned to Bones.
“Fill me in.”
It turned out that Leech had completely taken over after I’d left. He had spun a tale of me walking out on the club to everyone involved, and they’d bought it—why wouldn’t they? I was gone. Then there were the reports on the news. Leech had done fine work convincing Satan that I had done it on purpose. That I was abandoning the club. When I sent the other chapters out and over, he’d made it out like I was sending them for a takeover. They weren’t looking to pick a fight, and they weren’t looking to be scorned either, with lies.
I didn’t blame them for leaving.
I got things as much in order as I possibly could while Satan was out of commission. On the third day, I finally made it to the hospital to visit him.
He had been unresponsive after being shot. I found out that it was in the chest, point blank. Leech hadn’t even been the one to bring him in, and that pissed me off even more. When I came to visit him, though, I was told it was the first day that he was opening his eyes, and that it was a miracle that he was beginning to speak.
I sat down beside him. He looked more fragile in the hospital bed than he had ever looked in his bedroom.
This was a fucking mess. And the sad part? I had no idea if leaving or staying would have ended up with a better result.
“Hey, Satan.” He smiled at me as I sat and took his hand. It was cold.
“Hey …” He coughed. “We’ve had a … rough bit of it …” He coughed again.
“Yeah. We have.”
I filled him in on everything that had happened since he had been in the hospital. In turn, he filled me in on a little something.
“It was Leech,” he wheezed out. “Who shot me. He tried to convinced me to burn you from the chapter … I couldn’t … not even after everyth
ing he told me you did.”
I was angry, but I wasn’t surprised. I’d guessed as much.
“It’s fine. He’s gone now. And when you’re back on your feet—”
“I want you to have it,” he interrupted.
I paused.
“What?”
“I want you to have the chapter,” he said. “Everything you say you’ve done … it’s the right thing. Everything you’ve already done has been the right thing. There’s no one else that I would rather have take over for me than you.”
“Bu t… you’ll be fine,” I said. “You’re not dying—”
“No, but I will. Eventually. And before I do … I want to take a backseat.” He coughed. Then, he smiled. “Besides, it’ll be good for you, you know? You’re bringing a child into the world … You should—”
My phone started ringing.
“Goddammit.”
I held my finger up to indicate I’d be a second.
It was Boss. He’d headed back to San Diego that morning. Why was he calling now?
“Hey, Boss, what’s up?”
“Wheeler, it’s Ember. Something big’s gone down here—”
Chapter Nineteen
Ember
I had gotten so used to Wheeler’s presence that it was strange to not have him with me anymore. I loved being able to be around my mother again, don’t get me wrong. I had … missed her. Like any child misses their parent.
I missed Wheeler, too.
There had been something that felt like it should have been said when he left. I’d felt it in his kiss, the way he’d lingered, the way that he didn’t really want to pull away.
I had fallen for him. And that was the damn kicker, because I shouldn’t have fallen for him. Where had the time gone? It was like we’d gone through every step that was supposed to take years and years in a matter of moments.
It made me lightheaded.
It was a few days after Wheeler left that my mother asked me if I could go run some errands for her. It wasn’t anything that I was particularly jazzed about doing, but it would get me out of the house and give me a little distraction from my thoughts. I wanted to call Wheeler and see what was up, check in, but I knew that I shouldn’t be a distraction. He would already have enough going on on his end of things, and I wouldn’t want to spoil that for him in anyway.
I had another wig tossed onto my head, the blonde one that was my favorite, and the same sundress that I had worn when I’d found out that I was pregnant (that had been at least a smooth- sailing conversation with my mother; it wasn’t like it’d come as a shock to her, at the least.)
I took my mom’s little beaten up Suburban into town. She was convinced that I wouldn’t need my disguise, but with the ways things had gone, I wasn’t going to leave it up to fate, either.
It was a brisk, sunny day. I strode with a confidence that might have been a little fake-it-till-you-make-it. I was still getting used to the fact that I was pregnant. Growing a little life inside me.
I would have to talk to my mother about how she’d handled the mental process of working through that one.
I picked up a few things from the store, mainly a small amount of supplies for the trailer that my mother needed. I didn’t mind getting them for her and splurging on the nicer amenities that I knew she wouldn’t pay for herself. It was a little busy, so it took a while. I decided that since I had some time to kill, I would go ahead and sit in at a little diner and get something good to eat. I was feeling a nice, homemade greasy burger, and there was a joint in town to die for. I wasn’t feeling pregnancy cravings yet, but I figured I’d get in a decent bite to eat before they totally wrecked my good taste in food.
I walked into the diner, the bell chiming to alert my arrival. A waitress called over to me.
“Hey, hun! Seat yourself and I’ll be right with you.”
I took a booth near one of the big, sprawling windows. There were little menus already set onto the table and I thumbed through.
Mushroom Swiss burger …. Bacon cheddar … Double bacon and cheddar jack … Build your own burger …
“Hey, hun.” The same voice from before greeted me, and I looked up to see a cheerful waitress looking down at me. “Sorry for the wait. What can I get you for a drink?”
“Dr. Pepper.”
She scribbled that down.
“All right, and are you ready to order, or would you like some more time to think on that before you’re ready?”
“No, I think I’m good to order now,” I said. “I’ll take the mushroom Swiss? Double decker it. With potato wedges and slaw on the side.”
She jotted that down, nodding.
“Will that be it?”
“And … a milkshake?” God, a milkshake sounded good. “Chocolate.”
“That’ll be coming right up, sweetie.”
The waitress flitted off, and I was excited to get my hands on my food. I was starving after walking around for the better part of the morning, and ready to get myself fed.
I hadn’t paid attention to the man sitting in the booth opposite mine. But as I was watching outside, the people passing by, I was startled when he leaned over my booth and started speaking to me.
“It’s always nice to see a woman these days with a healthy appetite.”
That voice.
I didn’t want to believe it, but when I looked the man in the face—it was Jameson! I initially started to panic, until I realized that he didn’t recognize me.
I laughed a little, playing it off. I didn’t need to be having a conversation with him.
“Yeah, well. It’s been a long day,” I said. I turned my attention back to the window and hoped that would give him the hint to leave me alone. But this was Jameson that I was dealing with, and I knew that he wasn’t a man that paid attention to subtlety—let alone to anything else, either.
“My name’s Jameson, by the way,” he persisted. “Jameson Mathers. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”
I shook my head.
“No, sorry.”
He still didn’t get the hint.
“Ha, that’s all right. Though it’s kind of nice to not be recognized. But.” He leaned over farther, in my space. He had his phone out. “Maybe this will jog your memory.”
He showed me a picture on his phone of him, from one of the interviews that he’d given about me. Anger rose up in me, but then I thought—what if I could use this against him somehow? Jameson loved to talk.
I pulled out my phone discreetly while pretending to be absorbed in his little news article. The phone wasn’t fancy, but it did have a recorder on it.
“Oh, yeah, I know you!” I said, as fake as possible to make it seem like I was star struck. “It’s insane about what happened with the music festival. All those people …”
“Yeah, it was a real tragedy.” I had to resist rolling my eyes as he laid it on real thick for me. “It’s hard to believe that such a thing happened, but it did, so that’s what we have to deal with, you know?”
“I just can’t believe that someone would, you know. Work with a bunch of bikers to set the place on fire,” I said. I leaned close to him. “Is it really true? All of it? There’s gotta be more to it, right?”
He ginned at me, and I knew that I had him hooked.
“Well.” He leaned closer to me. “If you really want to know something. I made most of it up,” he admitted. “At least about Ember. She didn’t set the place on fire, but yanno. She had all that equipment there; she was just as culpable. And then she ended up being seen with that biker.” He laughed. “Funny thing is, she actually tried to put the fires out.”
I gasped. “Why did you lie?”
“Lie? Baby, it wasn’t a lie. It was … Spinning a story. There you go. Spinning a story. A damn good story, if I do say so myself. Listen, look at it this way, they were gonna pin it on someone anyway; might as well put it on some two-bit piece that meant little. Hell, I didn’t even have to really lie when it came to the drugs. It was one
of the Sons who dealt the drugs that were at the festival to begin with. Leech? Something like that. It was perfect. It’s not like I was gonna go down for that. Besides. I’m Jameson Mathers. I can do what I want to do.”
I had that all on tape. Every little incriminating lie that Jameson told, laid out there for the world to see. I couldn’t control the grin that was on my face, and I laughed a little.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, giving a laugh of his own, though it was unsure. Like he wasn’t in on the joke.