“Something tells me that the night was anything but usual but he doesn’t want to tell us.” Pipe elbowed Nickel. “What do you suppose happened?”
“Brother, with a kid around, anything could have happened.” Nickel bit into the apple and chewed thoughtfully. “Though Adley is a hell of a lot older than Cole. She could be going through some teenage shit that I am in no way looking forward to.”
“Is it teenage shit?” Pipe asked me.
“I don’t even know what that means.” Teenage shit didn’t sound fun. Though, Adley wasn’t technically a teenager.
Nickel whispered loudly. “You know, periods, boys, and shit like that.”
Oh, hell no. I was not ready for any of that shit. “I fell asleep at seven, assholes. None of whatever you just said is going on.”
I’d rather tell these assholes I went to bed like a grandpa than talk about Adley going through puberty.
Nickel busted out laughing, and Pipe shook his head.
“What a fucking wuss.” Pipe clapped me on the shoulder. “Chickened out and just went to bed.”
“I was fucking tired, asshole. And Adley was already in her room. You really think she wanted her dad barging in to hang out with her?”
I really didn’t know what she wanted but I thought back to when I was twelve and knew I wasn’t hanging out with my parents in my room all night.
“Weird as hell to refer to yourself as a dad,” Pipe chuckled. “Straight-up never saw that shit coming.”
I sure as hell didn’t see it coming either. “Well, I’m living it.”
“Church!” Wrecker bellowed.
We all moved through the common room and down the hallway to church.
“Anyone know what the hell this is about?” Boink asked.
I sat down next to him and shrugged. “Not a fucking clue.” I had enough shit on my plate so I hoped like hell it wasn’t anything I needed to help with.
Wrecker sat at the head of the table and waited ‘til everyone sat down before he started. “How are things with Adley?” he asked.
“Uh, I guess good.” I cleared my throat. “I think I pissed her off this morning, and I’m not sure what I did.”
Freak chuckled. “Sounds like us dealing with our ol’ ladies.”
“Here, here,” Maniac agreed. “Last week, I woke up and Wren was pissed off at me. I have yet to figure out what I did, but I know it was something I did in my sleep.”
“You’ll get the hang of it,” Wrecker called. “Let us know if you need anything.”
I nodded and assumed we weren’t having church for something to do with me. That was a relief, but my interest was piqued to know what the hell was going on.
Wrecker cleared his throat and rested his hand on the table. “I asked Pipe to get in contact with Brinks since we hadn’t heard from him in a couple of days.”
“Oh, hell,” Boink called. “Whose bed did you end up finding him in?”
Pipe looked at Wrecker and sighed. “I didn’t find him.”
“What the hell do you mean you didn’t find him?” Nickel questioned.
“I mean, I can’t find him. He was in River Valley keeping an eye on Jenkins and just hanging around to get the pulse of the town right now.” Pipe cleared his throat and rested his hands on the table. “Had a contact I have there do a check for him after I couldn’t get him on his phone.”
“He ain’t answering his phone?” Boink hissed.
Pipe shook his head. “No.”
“So what in the fuck are we doing?” Freak exclaimed.
Wrecker held up his hand to silence everyone. “I just got off the phone with Oakley. He didn’t even know that we had sent Brinks down there so he’s already behind the ball on trying to help us.”
“Well, why don’t we talk to someone who can actually fucking help us?” Nickel growled.
This was some serious shit right now. Brinks, a main member of the club, was missing.
“I also called Leo,” Wrecker replied calmly.
Fucking hell. Wrecker had called in both big gun connections we had.
“I’m heading to River Valley this afternoon, and I need a couple of you to come with me.”
Everyone volunteered at once to go with.
“Put your fucking hand down, Slayer. No fucking way I’m going to have you come with. You got your own shit to deal with right now.” Wrecker shook his head. “I’m gonna take Pipe and Freak with me.”
“You sure Alice is going to like you heading out of town with her being pregnant?” Boink asked.
“She’s not popping that baby out for at least another three months. I’m hoping that we roll into town, figure out what the hell is going on with Brinks, and be back by the end of the week.”
Nickel shook his head. “You have no idea what the hell you guys are walking into, Wrecker. Why don’t you take more of us to give you more cover?”
“That’s why I put calls into Oakley and Leo. They both have men already headed in that direction. I need to have my ass covered in River Valley, but I also need to keep things safe here with all of the girls.”
“Are we thinking Jenkins has something to do with Brinks disappearing?” I asked.
Wrecker shrugged. “That is the first thing we are going to figure out, but at this point, we don’t really have anything to go on other than Brinks ain’t answering his phone and we can’t get in touch with him any other way.”
“We gotta move all the girls into the clubhouse?” Maniac wondered.
Wrecker shook his head. “Not right now. Keeping you guys here is a precaution. Just carry on like you normally would. We don’t need to alarm the girls. As far as they will know, we’re just headed to River Valley for club business.”
“Are we really still thinking that we can tell our ol’ ladies it’s club business and they aren’t going to ask any more questions?” Freak laughed.
Laughter and groans sounded around the table.
“Well, for the time being, that’s all we are going to tell them.” Wrecker nodded to Nickel. “You’re in charge while we’re gone. Just keep things running like business as usual.”
“I’m not sure exactly what that is since we always seem to have some kind of shit going on.” Nickel smirked and elbowed Pipe. “Maybe that means going to bed at seven every night.”
And here we go. I figured they were going to give me shit about passing out last night, but I had hoped with Brinks missing they would forget about it. I was wrong.
“I am never telling you assholes anything.” I flipped them both off and scowled.
Wrecker pounded his fist on the table. “Yo, can we focus on Brinks right now, fuckers?”
Pipe and Nickel wiped their smiles off their faces and cowered a bit in their chairs. They both muttered sorry under their breath and stared at the table.
Wrecker shook his head and stood. He towered over us with a grim look. “I’m gonna say this, and you assholes better hear exactly what I’m saying.” His tone was firm, and the words that came from his lips were not what I expected. “This is bad. One of the worst things we’ve dealt with as a club. One of our brothers is missing. Let’s fucking hope we bring him home alive.” Wrecker walked out of church without a backward glance.
No one said a word.
Brinks missing weighed heavily on all of us.
We were a club.
A family.
And we never left anyone behind.
*
Chapter Eight
Wendy
“Long day?”
My eyes fluttered open, and I smothered a yawn with the back of my hand. “More like a boring day,” I mumbled.
Slayer stood over me with a bowl in one hand and beer in the other. “Scoot over.”
I looked at the space next to me. “Why can’t you sit there?”
It was a big couch. There was no reason why he had to sit exactly where I was sitting.
“Because I want to sit where you are.”
I wrinkled my nos
e. “That’s a horrible reason to make me move.” I nodded that the bowl in his hand. “What do you have there?”
“Ice cream. Scoot over and I’ll share with you,” he reasoned.
I tipped my head to the side. “I could just get my own ice cream.”
He nodded. “You could, but then I would just take your spot when you get up. If you scoot over, you don’t have to get up to get your own ice cream.”
Either way, I was going to get scooted over. “You don’t play fair, Smead.”
Slayer quirked his eyebrow. “Smead?”
I scooted over on the couch. “Yeah, from Peter Pan. Captain Hook’s first mate.”
I had been so bored today that I had actually Googled unique names that started with S.
Adley had only come down from her room to eat lunch then headed back up before she had even finished chewing. I cleaned the house, made a shopping list, sat on the porch for an hour, and scrolled social media for the rest of the day. Here I thought keeping an eye on Adley would be hard but it was just straight-up boring.
Slayer sat down next to me and set his beer on the coffee table.
“Are you really going to drink beer with ice cream?” I curled my lip in disgust.
He shoved a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth and shrugged. “I like both. Why no eat them together?”
He reached for the beer, and I turned my head away.
There was no way I could watch.
Slayer chuckled, and I glanced over my shoulder at him when I heard the can hit the table again.
“Not exactly the best combination, but not bad.”
“Maybe I’ll just get my own ice cream.” And maybe sit on the other end of the couch.
Slayer was pressed up against my side, and I could feel the heat of his body radiating through my clothes.
He chucked and handed me a spoon. “Knock it off, sugar. I got enough ice cream for the both of us.”
I peeked into the bowl and saw a thick ribbon of caramel over the ice cream. “Did you put half of the jar of caramel on it?” I swirled my spoon through the sugary goodness and lifted it to my mouth.
“Doesn’t seem like you should be complaining about it since you’re enjoying it.”
I licked my spoon clean and let out a moan before I could stop it.
“Jesus, sugar.” The words rumbled from Slayer’s mouth, and a warm feeling washed over me.
He had been calling me sugar lately and given up calling me any name but my own. I wasn’t sure what it meant other than I like when he called me sugar.
“Is there any ice cream left?”
Adley’s words startled me from enjoying Slayer’s words.
“Sure is,” Slayer called.
I cleared my throat and scooted away from Slayer. I shouldn’t be enjoying the sound of his voice or the heat from his body. I was there to help with Adley and then get the hell out of there.
Adley walked into the living room with an ice cream cone piled high and plopped down on the couch next to me. “You guys want to watch a movie?”
This was the most Adley had talked to me since this morning. It was a nice change from the broody teenager she had been all day. She wasn’t even a teenager yet, and I could tell Slayer was going to have his hands full with her.
“Only if I get to choose what we watch,” Slayer replied.
Adley shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Hey,” I protested. “I’m already watching a movie.”
Slayer snagged the remote off the coffee table and flipped the channel. “I am not watching your cheesy movie shit.”
“Maybe I’ll just head up to bed and pass out for the night,” I grumbled. I was going to have to get a TV for my room so I could watch what I wanted.
“You ain’t that tired,” Slayer mumbled. He landed on a show about celebrities singing in masks and tossed the remote on the table. “This looks dumb enough to be entertaining.”
A man dressed in a dog costume belted out a popular song, and I had to admit that he was damn good.
“I have no idea who that is, but he can sing.” Adley licked her ice cream cone and kicked her feet up on the coffee table. “Who do you guys think it is?”
Slayer and I glanced at each other. Whatever had happened with Adley this morning was obviously in the past and things were back to her actually wanting to talk to us.
“No damn clue,” Slayer laughed. “Celebrities aren’t really my thing.”
Adley guessed a name of an actor who I didn’t know.
“Maybe it’s Vanilla Ice?” I suggested. I really didn’t know who it was, but he was the only celebrity I could think of that would do a show like this.
“Who?’ Adley laughed.
Slayer shook his head. “How the hell do you even know who that is?” he asked me.
I shrugged. “I watched a lot of VH1 growing up. They played all the oldies from your time. You know, a long time ago.”
Slayer moved the ice cream out of my reach and grabbed his beer.
“Don’t you dare,” I hissed.
He held the beer above the ice cream and slowly tipped it into the bowl. “Take it back,” he warned.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
The beer was at the mouth of the can, and it was so close to ruining a perfectly fine bowl of ice cream.
“Like you weren’t calling me old.”
I shrugged and tried not to care if he poured the beer. I did, though. “Those words never came out of my mouth. You are older than me, though. By a…”
My words trailed off.
Slayer quirked his eyebrow. “By a what?”
I bit my bottom lip. Did I dare say it? He was more than ten years older than me. Though it was hard to tell most of the time.
I glanced over at Adley, and she had a huge smile plastered on her face.
My eyes traveled back over to Slayer, and I decided I wasn’t too tired to get up and make my own bowl of ice cream. “A lot,” I enunciated clearly. “You’re much older than me.” I batted my eyelashes and stood.
Slayer tipped his beer the rest of the way and poured the offending liquid over the sweet and delicious ice cream. “I’d like to see you eat that disgusting concoction.” Slayer dropped the empty can on the coffee table and stirred the ice cream and beer together. “Just like a root beer float.” The ice cream turned a light brown and thinned out.
I gagged and covered my mouth with my hand. “You are disgusting,” I hissed.
He pressed the bowl to his lips and took a slurp of the grossness. “Mmm, tastes like my childhood.”
Adley rolled with laughter.
“Your childhood tastes like beer and ice cream?” I visibly shook and closed my eyes. “I can’t even look at you right now.”
I tried to hoist my butt up off of the couch, but Slayer’s hand clamped down on my leg and held me down. “Where are you going?” His voice was light and he was trying not to bust out laughing.
“Adley, help me,” I called.
Adley was giggling so much that she couldn’t even string two words together. “Grab…my…” More giggles bubbled from her lips, and I managed to grab her hand.
“Pull,” I pleaded. I opened my eyes when I heard the sound of Slayer’s bowl of grossness hit the coffee table. “Help me, Adley.”
My first problem was I was relying on a twelve-year-old who couldn’t control her giggle.
“My ice cream,” she gasped.
Another round of giggles took her over, and I lost my grip on her hand.
“Oh, I got ya now!” Slayer’s other hand clamped on my waist and yanked me toward him. “Adley, join the strong side.”
“Never!” she screeched. She catapulted herself over me and landed half on Slayer and half on the floor. She jarred Slayer’s hold on my waist, and I planted both of my feet on the floor, grabbed the other arm of the couch, and pried myself out from his grasp.
“Victory!” I held my arms over my head and hopped from foot to foot like Rocky
Balboa.
Slayer grabbed both of Adley’s arms, lifted them over her head, grabbed her ankles, and lifted her off him. He raised her up, slipped out from underneath her, and she landed on the couch. Her cone had landed on the coffee table, upside down, and she couldn’t get a hold on her giggles.
Slayer and I both had huge smiles on our faces and couldn’t get a handle on our laughter either.
“That was so much fun,” Adley gasped. Her eyes opened brightly, and I had never seen someone look so innocent and happy. “Let’s do it again!”
*
Slayer
I shook my head and tried to wipe the smile off my face. “Two against one isn’t fair.”
“It is when you’re bigger than both of us!” Adley’s laughter bubbled from her lips, and she smiled wide.
“Besides,” Wendy echoed, “Someone needs to clean up the mess you made.” She grabbed the ice cream cone off the coffee table and laughed. “The one who started the nonsense has to clean up.” Wendy held the cone out to me.
“Oh really?” I grabbed the cone and shook my head. “I see how this is going to go. You two are going to gang up on me, make a mess, and then make me clean it up.”
“Yup!” Adley shouted.
Wendy followed me into the kitchen and grabbed the ice cream from the freezer. “Just add a scoop to the top.” Her tone was light, and I could tell she was fighting off another laughing fit. She grabbed the ice cream scoop from the sink and dug a huge scoop out of the container. “I still can’t believe you poured your beer over our ice cream.”
“Ours?” I chuckled.
She glanced up at me. “Uh, yeah. Remember, you bribed me to move over with it? Now I gotta make my own bowl.”
I shook my head and walked back into the living room with Adley’s cone. “Here, girly.”
She grabbed the cone and moved back over to where she had been sitting. “Thank you.”
“Heads up,” Wendy called.
A wet cloth sailed through the air and hit me smack dab in the center of my chest.
Adley sputtered with laughter, and Wendy gasped.
“Whoops,” Adley sang.
I grabbed the cloth before it hit the floor and looked at Wendy. “You are going to pay for that.”
Slayer (Fallen Lords MC Book 8) Page 6