The water is warm as I try to relax, but I can’t. There is too much going on with the club, and this ride to Florida won’t be easy.
Drying off, I simply wrap the towel around my waist before walking into my room where Amy is standing over my duffel bag, filling it on my bed.
I wrap my arms around her shoulders from behind, and she jumps at the contact before realizing it’s me.
“You smell good,” she says, continuing to pack.
“Soap works wonders.”
She laughs, and I wish she did more of that.
She turns in my arms and wraps her own around my waist, resting her head on my shoulder. “Gonna miss you, Frisco.”
“Gonna miss you, Amy.”
“Ride safe,” she whispers before pulling back.
Tipping her chin to make her look at me, I lick my lips before I softly press mine to hers. She opens slightly, and I slip my tongue into her mouth. A moan escapes her as she explores my mouth. I feel her body tremble as she holds me tight, wanting more.
Groaning, I pull away, ending our kiss with a quick peck then trailing the hair of my goatee across her cheek. “Can’t do this and then leave you.”
She bites her bottom lip, looking contemplative. “Club comes first.” The tone in which her words comes out isn’t jealous nor malicious; it’s more matter of fact. She simply accepts this part of my life.
I don’t know how to take it.
I also don’t have time to dwell on it since she happens to have my bag packed, and I really do need to get on the road.
She leaves me to my thoughts and to get dressed. Then, with a soft kiss good-bye, she sends me on my way.
***
Danza rides with me as we make the thirteen-hour trip to Jayne Wheatley’s home where she lives with her daughter, Shannon Watson, Paul’s only child. As soon as we cross into Georgia, we are on alert for any sign of Fury.
Pulling up to a non-descript residential neighborhood, I can’t help wondering how the ol’ lady to Paul Watson could live in such a cookie-cutter place. The house is cream stucco with Spanish-style roofing tiles. Palm trees sit at the corner of her driveway on each side.
We don’t hide who we are when we ride straight up on our bikes into the cement driveway.
Nothing could prepare me for going up to Jayne Wheatley’s front door. The doorbell chimes like any other. The door opens.
The woman in front of me is a shadow of someone I once knew. My heart stops, and questions fill my mind as to why she’s here.
“Frisco,” she whispers as I look deep into the hazel eyes I used to worship.
“No fuckin’ way,” Danza says over my shoulder.
I wish I could say time has done her good, but it hasn’t. Her hair is brittle and sticking out wildly. Her face is wrinkled, but not in laugh lines like someone who lived a full life. Her lips have the marks of a woman who has smoked one too many cigarettes. The wrinkles from taking too many drags no longer fade away. And she’s tan to the point of looking leathery.
Her eyes, though … They kill me.
The life is gone; the fight is gone. The woman who pushed so hard for me to choose her is a mess in front of me.
“Tilly …” I begin, wondering what the hell to say next.
“Mom?” I hear a teen voice calling out.
“Stay in your room. I’ll be right there,” Tilly orders back.
“We’re looking for Jayne Wheatley,” Danza says as I try to register why Matilda would be here of all places.
“You two need to go. Any other brothers you have with you need to turn around and hit 95 North and don’t look back.”
“Tilly,” I say her name again.
She shakes her head at me.
“Fuck,” Danza says, running his fingers through his hair crazily.
“I’m sorry, Frisco.”
“Sorry?” I repeat as I try to click the pieces together. “Loving me was part of a play with Watson? You’re Jayne? You set me and my club up?”
She doesn’t answer, but she looks to Danza. “I’m sorry for the time you lost.”
His eyes grow wide.
“I’ll fucking kill her myself,” Danza says as we both start to mentally figure out what she’s talking about.
Instead of continuing to stand on her front porch, I step into the doorway. Instinctively, she moves back as Danza follows me into her space.
“You better talk, and you better do it now if you want Shannon to even make it to tomorrow.” I have never threatened a child before today, but this woman singlehandedly tried to rip me from my Hellions family.
Tears fill her eyes. “I guess it’s time you know the truth.”
“Truth? Do you even know the truth yourself?”
“Frisco, before you think of hurting her, you should know, she’s yours.”
Gripping both her shoulders, I pin her to the wall outside the house. “Bitch, don’t you play games with me. You named her after Paul Shannon Watson. Don’t think saying she’s mine somehow will save her ass or yours.”
“I deserve that and more. Kill me. I don’t care, Frisco, but don’t hurt her. She’s the only thing I have good in my life.” She pauses, and there is a heaviness in the air as my mind races. “I did love you, Richard. I wanted you to choose me, start over away from all of this, just you and me. I didn’t want to be a pawn in Paul’s game anymore. Once I got to know you, I really did care for you.”
I don’t know how to take her words. I don’t know what to think about anything right now. And I don’t have to, because Danza cuts in, his words pulling out my anger once more.
“Why’d you apologize to me? Say it, cunt. Say the words. Tell me how you cost me and my brother three years behind bars. Tell me how you did it, bitch,” Danza says while I try to fight my urge to kill her and go see for myself if I really have a daughter or not.
She blows out a breath. “You deserve to hear me say it. I set you up. The day I kept Frisco home, I had been in touch with authorities. I set you up.”
“You fuckin’ cunt!” Danza roars. Even though he already knew what she would say, it’s hitting him hard. “I lost years with my wife and child because of you! I fucking lost my mind because of wheels you set into motion.”
The sound of Harleys pulling up gets our attention. I release Tilly to move to the hallway to see her daughter for myself before I deal with the members of Fury MC who are sure to be outside.
Pulling out our Glocks for protection, Danza and I proceed to clear out of the doorway and get farther into the house just as shots are fired.
I turn in time to see Tilly take a hit to the chest and fall. She doesn’t scream, doesn’t try to get out of the opening; she just takes what’s coming. And inside, it kills a little piece of me.
“Get the kid,” I say to Danza as I rush over to the woman I once cared for.
She’s bleeding heavily as she takes another bullet to the leg and arm from the entryway. Getting low, I reach out and drag her toward me. Then I extend my arm out and fire wildly into the yard as I settle her head on my lap. The sound of someone cursing can be heard as I see Tilly has blood coming out of her mouth.
“Frisco, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. She’s yours,” she chokes out as my jeans are saturated in her blood. “She’s yours, Frisco. You gotta believe me; she is yours.” The words strain to come out. “Promise me you’ll keep her from Paul. He doesn’t know. I just wanted a place to belong. He told me he’d give me that.” She gasps for air as blood trickles from her nose and mouth. “He lied, Frisco. He gave me hell, not a home. Don’t let Shannon go back to that.”
The shots are still coming as Danza drags out a dark-haired teen girl behind him. Her eyes meet mine, and I swear I’m looking in a fucking mirror.
“Mom,” she calls out from behind Danza, trying to see her mother, but the two of us are in her way.
“Shannon, my sweet, go with them when they say go. I love you, and I’m sorry.” Tilly fights to keep her voice steady and not scare her da
ughter.
“If she’s mine, I’ll keep her from Paul,” I give my word right as Tilly’s eyes close and her head falls back.
“Gotta get the hell outta here. She goes with us,” I tell Danza, getting to my feet.
The same second I spit out my orders, Shannon sees her mother and wails hysterically.
“Shannon’s inside,” I hear one of the assholes outside say. “Get out of here now! Prez won’t want her hurt.”
Well, thank fuck for that since she may very well be mine after all. I can’t help wondering if Watson already sees that for himself, too. I’ll kill him before he makes another play on my brothers, my club, and if she’s mine, my daughter.
Take A Stand
“Boomer and I aren’t far behind you,” I say to Frisco over the phone.
“We have a complication,” he replies, and I can hear the stress in his voice.
“Spit it out,” I snap as Boomer and I make our way to their location in the van.
“Shannon’s mine,” Frisco says without hesitation.
“How? Fuck! Does Watson know?”
“No. Jayne is Tilly; Tilly is Jayne, however you want to look at it.”
“Get Shannon safe and then meet us at the rally point. Fury goes down tonight, and your girl comes home with her family.”
It takes less than thirty minutes for Frisco to make the contact necessary to tuck Shannon away in a safe house with him. They need time together, and well, we have a club to take down. I don’t know all the details of how he knows she’s his, but just as Frisco has never questioned me, I will never question him.
Danza catches up to us, and in quick succession, we have eyes on Fury’s compound. From our location in a house a mile away, Boomer gets busy creating the packages necessary to take out their entire facility.
In the meantime, I make a call that’s been decades in the waiting.
“Only one person from North Carolina that’d be calling me,” Watson answers. “Blaine Reklinger, took you long enough.”
“Fuck you, Watson.”
“Should’ve stayed out of this so long ago,” he tells me. “Since ya didn’t, I’ve had my own fun fucking with you when I’ve had the opportunity.”
“I should have put a bullet in you years ago. I didn’t, and for that, many others are going to suffer today. I’m taking your whole club out. Consider this the only warning you’re gonna get.”
“I’ll be waiting for you, and this time, it’s me who’s gonna put your name on a single bullet and blow your brains out.” He laughs. “Your reputation proceeds you. I know all about your one round rule, Roundman. To me, you’re nothing but a joke.” He disconnects before I can reply.
I want the whole motherfucking clubhouse up in flames.
It’s not five minutes after our chat that the club begins to move, all of them in for a lockdown. Predictability in our lifestyle isn’t smart. I would be wise to remember this for myself in the future.
This is a line we have never crossed before. Always, we keep women and children out of club problems. Today, I can’t do that. Fury killed Rocky while he was on a family day with his wife. With no integrity to keep Marie safe, they set into motion the crash that left their daughter parentless. Well, whoever has aligned themselves with Fury dies today, and whether it was deserved or not will not be on my conscious.
Years ago, I let them go free, and for years, they have played with me and my family. Today, I take them all out. I won’t have to look back again.
While they are busy in the hustle and bustle to get their members all accounted for and locked into one place, Boomer and our boys are using boats, robots, and their military skills to get small packages in place, surrounding the building and the open swamp around it. Fury was smart to set up away from society, but they also made themselves vulnerable. Their own cars are strapped with bombs they don’t even know about.
***
Nine hours later, in the middle of the night, I watch Paul Watson come out from behind his gates. He stands out front, looking around, looking for us.
Coming out of the shadows, I confidently approach.
“You’re one stupid motherfucker, Blaine Reklinger.”
“You think?”
He gives me an arrogant smile. “You’re a dead man.”
“You think?”
“I know.”
“Funny. I know some things, too. I know you thought you had Dia, yet you never even had a taste of that pussy. Let me tell you, it was fuckin’ honey. I know you thought you had the upper hand on Clive. That shit bit you in the ass. I know your uncle got you out of Dodge and made you Fury’s bitch to pay back the club for what you cost them. I know you’re so far up my ass you let your woman suck my brother’s cock, fuck him, and have his baby, all so you could send me to prison for a nickel that I didn’t even serve the whole sentence of.”
He says nothing, but the shock shows at my admission of Shannon’s paternity.
“She may have your name, fucker, but she’s got Hellions’ blood runnin’ in them veins. Don’t worry, though; we’ll teach her what family really is.”
“Fuck you, Reklinger. You still don’t know shit.”
“I know you paid a guy to have some drinks and drive his truck into my brother’s car, killing him and his wife. I know you got by with that one. But, cocky fuck like you, that wasn’t good enough. You had to claim it, own it, and now you’re gonna pay for it.”
“It’s done. And if you try a damn thing right now, you’re a dead man. I got eyes, Reklinger.”
I laugh in his face. “You should know you’re not the first man to go after my club. You’re not the first to come along and try to touch my family. You’re not the first man who thought he had me by the balls. You should know I always win.”
I pull out my revolver. I spin the clip.
“You should know each bullet in this gun has your name etched into it for every single time you’ve crossed me. You should know I’m gonna put each one of these in your chest. At the same time you’re going down, so is your club.”
I fire the first shot into his chest right as Boomer hits the switch, blowing up the front of the clubhouse.
Shots start to fire around us when I calmly send the next round into Paul, and Boomer sets the next explosion.
Each time I put a bullet in Watson, Boomer sends the club up into more of a fury of flames.
I fire the final shot and stand over the man who is now lying in a pool of his own blood while his empire burns behind us. The heat from the flames singes my eyebrows, but I stay still, watching him die. My skin is red from the temperature rising around me, but I remain steady, watching him die.
I feel no mercy. I feel no sympathy. I feel no satisfaction.
A good man died because of the man in front of me. A good man died with his wife, leaving behind their daughter because of the man in front of me. I lost family because of the actions of the man in front of me.
Tonight, he dies. Tonight, Fury MC dies. Tonight, the Hellions ride free from the chains of the past, free to go into the future.
I drop the gun over his body and walk off, not looking back. My club will clean it up. Nothing will come back on us.
I climb on my bike then hit 95 North without a single word to anyone.
Tonight, I ride free. Tonight, I am free from what started it all. Tonight, the Hellions ride as a club of our own making, and never again will one person from Fury touch my family.
The Hellions have always and will always be about protecting our own at all costs.
A Lesson in Family
What the hell do I do now? I have a daughter. I have an eighteen-year-old daughter who has no clue who I am and just watched her mother die at the hands of the men she thought were her father’s men. Shit was complicated before, but now, I don’t even know if there is a word to describe the mess I’m in.
Having Shannon climb on my bike behind me felt strange. There have only ever been two women on my bike: Tilly, or Jayne—I need to
sort out who she really was—and Amy. With Tilly, she always held on tightly, but in a stiff way, never letting loose. Amy went from timid and shaking to now climbing on and feeling the world around her as we ride.
I feel Shannon’s body tremble as she tries not to hold me. My daughter’s hands barely touch my waist as I pull off to get her to the safe house.
The place belongs to an old buddy I made long before the Hellions. He builds racing bikes for the drag strip. He has a small room over his bike shop we can crash in for a bit and sort out what’s what before I take her home to North Carolina.
I laugh to myself as I pull into his drive, thinking of the boy who never had a place to call home, yet here I am, thinking about taking my own child to the place I now call home. What a twisted road life has taken me on.
Shannon is visibly shaking as we dismount. I see the tear streaks down her face. The good inside me wants to comfort her. The man who has been fucked over one too many times wants to hold on to the hope that she’s not mine, even as my heart screams she is.
“Let’s get inside, and then we’ll sort shit,” I spit the words out then try to stop myself from cussing.
I shake my head and make my way upstairs, sending a text to Mikey as I go so he knows who’s here and why I’m in his spot.
Lifting the third rail of the porch, I find the hidden key and get us in.
The space is a simple loft with a kitchenette, a queen bed, and a sofa. There isn’t much in the way of privacy with a tri-fold screen being the only thing to separate the toilet and shower from the rest of the space. Beggars can’t be choosers. I’m just thankful to have a place I know we will be safe for a little while until I can sort things with Shannon and get back on the road.
The ping of my phone gives me the info that Fury has been handled.
Guilt hits me like a punch to the nuts. Will Shannon hate me for what my club has done? The only man she’s ever known as her father is dead, and it’s by my brothers’ hands.
He had it coming. Truth be told, if we could bring him back to life for each of us to have a turn at killing him over and over, he really deserved it. We aren’t a club to typically take down an entire facility. Women and children are normally protected, but with Fury, they used a woman against us when Paul sent Tilly—well, Jayne—to seduce me and tear us apart from the inside out.
Originals Ride: Hellions Motorcycle Club (Hellions Ride Book 8) Page 9