by K. J. Dahlen
Georgia stared at the cuffs on my wrists. “That’s it. And people wonder why I don’t have a man in the picture. Damn it!” she ranted as she threw her coat over her arm and strutted out of the bar.
My gut feelings had never steered me wrong before. As anticipated, things had just gone from bad to—worse.
Chapter Nineteen
Jax
I sat up in my bed and groaned, running my fingers through my hair. Fatigue had fallen like a ton of bricks on me. But I wasn’t one to wallow in self-pity. My back was still practically mummified in thick bandages, making it difficult to breathe and nearly impossible to sleep soundly. The window had been left ajar to let some air into the room. And I’d woken up several times during my restless night to the sound of Sheila screaming and crying from her bedroom in the Border Patrol main building.
Bruno had called with intention to visit me. All the while, I waited…my mind was on Antonio. Could it be possible that somebody in our MC had been involved in saving his useless hide? Could someone have helped Antonio to survive? The answer was yes. I had no clues as to whom. No witnesses. No evidence. I’d strongly considered going to see what condition Antonio was in. My curiosity also wanted to see with my own eyes that he really was alive. If anybody found out, this would bring disgrace to Bruno’s family. When Bruno had called and said he wanted to visit me, I knew I owed him that. It had been Bruno who had always been there for me. So, I waited.
The doctor leaned his head into the room, “Good news. I’ve just got your blood report back. Your vitals look good and your system appears to be normalizing. I don’t know how you’re walking, but you’re doing it.” He nodded then turned and headed back to the door.
I’ve been doing a lot more than walking. Dumbass doctor didn’t even know what all I’d been able to do.
As the doctor went to close the door, Dagger pushed it open with his hand. The doctor moved aside for him to enter, and Dagger took Doctor Sarma’s place in the doorway. His dark eyes held mine for a second. “I’ll keep watch over Chloe and Sheila. Sheila can’t be left alone after what happened. According to Chloe, she isn’t opening up to anybody right now,” he paused and took a breath, running a hand over his face. “I couldn’t be with her last night but I’m here for her now.”
I nodded in agreement. Sheila would need care. She didn’t look hurt physically but no doubt she would have a great deal of psychological trauma to contend with.
Dagger looked troubled for a brief second then that cold mask slid back into place. “Anyway. I wanted you to know as Chloe is trying hard to help her mom.” He gave me a nod and left the room.
I knew Chloe would have to be there for Sheila. I missed her the second she’d left the room last night with her mother’s screams bouncing off the walls. But I understood what she needed to do.
I faced the window and saw Bruno pull up outside. He was all handshakes and smiles with men from Border Patrol. As though he’d let down his guard like when he’d talk to family. The man was an intimidating force and an enigma. He had vetted all these men or had them checked out before he ever made this ride to the compound. I knew him well enough to know this.
He headed toward the building. I watched as he came in through my door.
He looked the same as ever. Black overcoat, meticulously shaven. Fierce. And Formidable.
Dropping the black bag he carried onto the floor, Bruno moved toward me.
“How are you, Bruno?” I asked, warmly. I held out my hand to meet him.
A beaming smile streaked across his face. He swiftly walked over to me and embraced me. He was silent.
I was silent to. He didn’t want to tell me, but I’d already heard what he’d done to my right hand man and I wasn’t happy about it. Marco had called me with a heads up on this. But even if I had been there I knew I couldn’t have stopped it. Part of me felt an anger that I should be the one in control over my own club. Bruno wasn’t president anymore, but I had too much respect for him to say this.
Without any preamble, Bruno told me, “I’ve arranged a sit down with the men who financed Roy’s shop.”
I sat still for a moment at this news.
“We’ll have to travel to it. The sit down is housed in an old betting shop not far from Balboa Park.” He looked me over. “You look in good enough shape to ride.” His eyes almost sparkled with this statement as he assessed for himself the shape I was in.
I almost smiled. The doctor hadn’t even guessed at what all I’d been able to achieve, yet here Bruno was, ever knowing, just by one look. He did look happy to see that I was in better shape than anyone had guessed.
I got dressed in the leathers Dino had brought to me a week ago. Then we headed out on our bikes. It felt damn good to be in the game again. My bike restored. My health nearly restored. Soon, I would be all the way in. To restore my club. Setting it to rights after my near fall to a bullet had derailed my plans.
I wasn’t quite evening when we arrived; the sun was just beginning to set. We went to a steakhouse in uptown Coronado, a fancy restaurant with its own parking lot and leather coated menus. It had a large oak door with a big brass knocker in the shape of a ram’s head. It was evidently an excellent money maker. I’d been to my fair share of business meetings before, but in all my time working at Bruno’s MC, I’d never attended a sit down like this. It was no business of mine. It was only something they did within his crime family.
Marco had arrived before we did and had secured a table. He smiled at me as he sat and waited for us to sit.
I briefly smiled back. But I wasn’t in a jovial mood. This could make or break my Chloe. The fucking crap she’d been through on the account of stupid ass Roy and his careless life. I almost smiled though as I remembered that careless life was over, much to my satisfaction. I stared out the window chewing a piece of tasteless gum and waited for these sharks to arrive.
Bruno had told me he wanted me to listen and learn. In preparation for the sit down, I was given the following orders by Bruno: be respectful at all times, remain quiet unless you are told to speak, do not respond to any of their questions, and don’t do anything to offend them.
The two men arrived and headed to our table.
Marco sat up straighter as he assessed the men. No doubt, it was unnecessary for him to do so. He already knew more than anyone as to who they were, what they did, and what they had for breakfast today. All the way back to their great grandparents even. Marco had been in the mafia since before he was born, really. There was no hole you could hide your assets, yourself, or your deeds from this man. This was why Bruno kept him with the club and there were too many times to count when Marco had paved the way for deals and operations with his stealthy knowledge.
I sat silently at a table with the two men who’d accused Sheila of refusing to pay the loan sharks back their money. To my surprise, both men were fairly even tempered and did not appear bloodthirsty at all, at least, in Bruno’s presence.
“How much are you owed?” Bruno asked gruffly in his usual way.
“Somewhere north of $100,000,” the man replied with a toothy grin.
Bruno saw through his BS immediately, but he gave him a huge grin. “$100,000? Marco, pay the man!”
Before the loan shark could complain, Marco had $100,000 in cash planted on the table in front of him in a briefcase he’d ficked open.
Bruno dealed square.
“It’s done, right? I pay and we’re through,” said Bruno.
It surprised me however, there were only a few people in this world Bruno would give away money to and all of them were family.
The loan shark who sat opposite chain smoking looked him in the eye and told him, “The debt was never Sheila’s to begin with but I’d be a fool not to accept the money for the debt.” Like as if he would never lay blame on an innocent woman and that was something he would never condone but he would take the money from Bruno.
“So, it was you who killed Roy?” I asked, now defying Bruno’s orders. Y
es, I knew they hadn’t, but I couldn’t help it though, rage was sitting squarely in my chest over this whole fucking mess. What it had done to Sheila and Chloe.
The loan shark chuckled. “It wasn’t us who killed the sorry bastard.”
Out of nowhere, Jessie walked into the sit down remarking, “Sorry to hear about your leg.”
The man’s amusement faded fast as now, he looked confused. His leg?
Then Dagger reached for the knife at his side so swiftly that none of us actually saw it happen in real time and stabbed the loan shark not once but twice. The first strike sank deep in his meaty thigh and the man screamed. Dagger’s second strike was lower almost at his ankle. His blade sliced through the back of his ankle severing the Achilles heel.
The man screamed again and again.
His men rushed toward him but Bruno’s guards stepped up and prevented them from getting close to their boss. Finally, the screaming stopped. Nothing could be heard after that except for a grown man sobbing.
Few words were wasted. His men were allowed to collect him but before they could carry him off, Dagger got right in his face, “This is over as of this minute. If you come after my wife again, I will kill you. If your men come around her looking for retaliation, they will be dead before they can get back to you. Understand what I’m saying?”
The man nodded slowly.
“Say the words, so we can all hear you scum bag.” Dagger growled.
“It’s over and w-we won’t bother your woman a-again,” the other man whimpered.
Dagger reached over and patted him on the cheek. “Good boy,” he muttered.
In less than fifteen minutes, the sit down was over.
We all got up and left the room. Half an hour later, I was back at the clubhouse and back in my own bed. I was still dressed but I was also weak and to lay down again was better for me. Bruno told me he would make sure Sheila and Chloe would be returned to Coronado while we were at the meeting. They hadn’t arrived yet when we got there, so we had to wait for them to arrive.
At first, Bruno responded with stoicism. His gaze swept over my body, examining my injuries. He didn’t allow emotion to show on his face, no matter that he was feeling it. Then he gave me a wide smile. “When I look at you now, Jax, my boy, I see you again as the regular kid. The young man who did everything and anything he was told to prove himself worthy of my club. You were the son I always wanted and you worked your ass off for the Devils, and that was good enough for me. Then after ten years I find out that you’re my own boy.” Bruno shook his head with a smile.
My entire body stiffened. This was the last thing I was expecting to hear. Those years of training with Bruno had been long and hard. A decade of paranoia that Bruno would catch me, thinking I’d caused Dagger’s death.
I sucked in a breath as I lifted my brow. A shuddering breath escaped me. His own boy?
“This one’s for you, son.” Bruno’s eyes flashed with a warm paternalism. “Your father was not a military officer. I am your dad.”
I swallowed hard. I opened my mouth twice to talk but I couldn’t say anything. In the end, I gestured toward the chair beside my bed.
Bruno sat down.
Mom would never talk about how my father died. She wouldn’t tell me anything about him.
“You remember how Annie and I took you in?” he asked.
I nodded. Though it seemed a lifetime ago, I remembered. Had instinct somehow brought us together? I asked myself.
Bruno went on, “I heard how your own father supposedly passed away and your mother left you at the age of seventeen? Well, your mother didn’t quite leave.”
“That woman didn’t have a single maternal instinct in her,” I interrupted. She’d let me believe my father had died when I was a baby. “Where is she?” I asked curiously.
Bruno drew in a breath and gave a slow shrug. “After Jumper was shot, she gave us the slip. I received a call saying that she’d called to Mexico and is trying to get out of the country. She goes by the name of Tori. Tori De Grasso,” he paused, “The Viper. She’s already angered a woman from the Chinese Triad and that will catch up with her one way or another. I’m waiting for your word on what you want to do about her.”
The Viper was my mother? My body shook and I thought I might throw up right in front of him. I held all my emotions in though. “Leave her. Let her forever live with what she’s done,” I ordered. I didn’t want to stir up any more trouble with the cartel than we already had. Life for my mother would be miserable.
I glanced around the room, looking anywhere but at Bruno. “I’ve asked Jesse to join the Devils,” I told him. For the first time, I was standing up to Bruno. “As President of the Devils, I believe Jesse would be an asset to this club. He won’t be treated like a new prospect. He will be treated as one of us, as an equal with respect and dignity.”
Bruno smiled, “I’m with you, son.”
Stunned, I could only stare at him. Would his surprises never end? Then I realized he knew Jesse had saved my life by taking me into his compound. In light of knowing this, Bruno gave Dagger his stamp of approval. Besides, they had to have conspired together to deal with those loan sharks the way that they had. Always two steps ahead of me, as usual.
We both heard a thump from the other room and frowning I got up as Bruno followed me out to the main room. We found Kelsey sprawled out of the floor.
I held my breath as I approached the girl. She’d passed out on the floor and it didn’t look as if she were breathing.
I bent down and my hand shook with a mild anticipation as I felt for a pulse in her neck. I knew about such things because having grown up in this life, I’m not proud to admit that I had seen it done, and been ordered to do it many times before. I had a strong feeling Kelsey had overdosed. “She’s still alive and fighting,” I said.
Taking her hand, my eyes trained over the track marks that peppered her forearms.
“I’ll take her to the hospital in my car. I’m not having another ambulance and cops sniffing around my…” Bruno paused, correcting himself, “…our clubhouse. You stay here. I need you fit and well.”
I stood in the doorway, leaning my body against the wood doorframe watching Bruno carry Kelsey out to his car. Dino had warned me that Bruno didn’t know Antonio was still alive. This I could hardly believe. Bruno usually knew things before we did. Then my phone rang and when I answered I heard, “It’s Antonio,” Marco said.
“What?” I asked quickly. I watched as Bruno’s driver opened the door and he disappeared into his sedan.
“He’s disappeared…” Marco said.
I wrapped my fingers into a tight fist around my phone and stared across at Bruno’s sedan as it pulled out onto the street.
I sucked in my breath, feeling every muscle in my body contract angrily at one time. How many shocks am I to receive in one day? “Fuck, he just doesn’t give up!” I hung up the phone in a fury. I didn’t have the composure to ask how or why it happened. I just needed him found. And killed. I hated that slimy bastard with every breath he drew. It shook the life out of me now with my new knowledge… to think that a sorry excuse for a human was my own half-brother.
I glanced around at the grounds that surrounded the clubhouse shrouded in translucent April mists. I sensed that the bastard was close. I phoned Marko back and told him, “Call Dagger and tell him to keep Chloe and Sheila at the Patrol clubhouse until I find the little bastard. I’m not giving him a chance to get to either of them.”
Little did I know… I would get another shock soon.
Chapter 20
Chloe
There was a rustle at the door. I glanced up from the bed and caught a glimpse of my mother in the mirror above the dresser. As the door opened, she dropped her head, hiding her tears.
Jax then appeared in the doorway, looking determined. There was a storm brewing behind his electric green eyes which he tried to soften with a smile. “I’ll be back soon,” he said, his voice abrupt and intense. “I
promise.” He’d used those two words often. I Promise.
“Does this mean I can go back home now? To your apartment?” I asked.
He shook his head.
All I wanted was to go back home. I couldn’t stay in this whore’s bedroom above the Border Patrol clubhouse any longer. I need to go somewhere where I could sleep deeply without waking every hour. “Dad has refused to take me unless you agree to it,” I added.
Jax let out a sigh.
“And mom is getting on much better now,” I lied. I got up and walked over to him, gripping his muscular arm and tugging at it.
“Chloe, I really need to get going. I honestly don’t think that’s a good idea. Not yet,” he admitted.
I looked up at his impassive face.
Unwavering. Resolved. Protective.
Inching closer, I circled his waist with my arms, showing him that I was his and with him was the only place I wanted to be. I stared up at him and a flame lit in his eyes. “Jumper is dead so we have no threats. And the Bloods…I take it they were caught?”
Jax nodded, and I knew I’d convinced him. “Yes, they were caught. I’ve got a real mess to clear up now.”
“I can’t stay here all that time. So, dad can take me and mom back to your place?”
Jax’s fingers followed a winding path from my cheek, down my neck, to my collarbone. He let out a short breath, “Fine, you can go back home. I’ll see you later,” he said, and brushed a kiss on my lips. He turned away with a small smile and a lingering look.
I watched him from the door, moving across the hall and disappearing down the stairs.
Mom sighed. “He’s a keeper that one,” she remarked, as I walked back to the bed.
Before I could respond, a thud of footsteps moving towards the door caused me pause. I ran over to the door and pulled it open, “Miss me already?” I asked.
It was my dad.
My cheeks instantly heated with embarrassment as I stepped backward to let him into the room. “Jax gave his permission for you to take us to his apartment,” I told him. A flicker in my father’s eyes told me he wasn’t happy about this. “He said I can go back, seeing as the Bloods and Jumper are out of the picture,” I informed him.