We still had no fucking clue what had happened to Brinks. Wrecker was frustrated as hell, and he was ready to turn the whole town of River Valley upside down to find him. Leo thought he would be able to throw his weight around and find Jenkins, but he came up short on every lead he managed to find. Oakley seemed to have a little bit more luck with his tactics, but at the end of the day, we weren’t any closer to Jenkins.
It was crazy to think Jenkins was able to outrun and maneuver Wrecker, Leo, and Oakley. The guy had to be living in a hole in the ground and not coming up for air.
“She texted me earlier.”
“Oh yeah?” If I would have been home, Wendy would have been much too busy to text her sister. Especially this late.
“She was just seeing what I was up to. I told her we were hanging out at the clubhouse.”
“What’d she say?” If I had known all of the girls were going to be at the clubhouse, then I would have brought Wendy and Adley.
“She was just watching movies with Adley.” Carnie sighed. “I was going to invite her over, but I knew she didn’t have a way to get here.”
“Yeah, I got to work on getting her a car.”
“Why?” Freak laughed.
“Uh, because when I’m not home, she and Adley are basically trapped there unless they walk to wherever they want to go.”
“I mean why do you have to buy her a car when hers is sitting in the parking lot.”
Carnie smacked Freak on the arm. “Hey! If she takes the car, then what am I supposed to drive?”
“Baby, you’re the one who told me that the car belonged to Wendy.” He leaned close to her and clucked his tongue. “Pretty sure you were chomping at the bit to go look at cars when she said she was heading back to Pines Peak.”
“That’s because I saw a Beetle in the paper I wanted but you drug your feet on it and it was gone before we could even go look at it. Now I just want to keep Wendy’s car, and she can get a new one.”
“Uh,” I chuckled. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how that works.”
Freak and Carnie argued back and forth as I made my way to the door.
“Church at four tomorrow,” Wrecker called from over by the bar.
I raised my arm in acknowledgment and pushed out the door. I loved this club and I would do anything for them, but after over six hours tonight, I was not eager to come back tomorrow. Especially now that I had Adley and Wendy at home.
“Slayer.” Cora sat off to the right of the door and motioned me over. She had a lit cigarette in her hand and a glass filled with amber liquid in the other.
“Surprised you’re not in there hanging out with everyone else.”
She shrugged and took a sip. “Not really in the mood to hangout.”
Cora never really was one to be social, but it had seemed like she was close with the other girls. “Everything okay?”
She glanced at me. “Brinks is gone?” It was more of a question than a statement.
“Uh, he’s doing some stuff for us…somewhere else.” Cora asking about Brinks was not what I expected.
She laughed flatly. “Eleven days ago, he stopped answering his phone.” She took a long drink from her glass. “Now ask me how I would know that.”
I looked around and wondered if I was getting pranked or something. Who the hell would have told Cora about Brinks going black almost two weeks ago. “Uh, well, how do you know that?”
She smirked and shook her head. “You bikers think you know everything.” She stretched her legs out in front of her. “Brinks fell into my bed months ago and not one person in this club knew about it.”
I tried to not act shocked, but frankly, I was flabbergasted. “Uh, well,” I cleared my throat. “How?”
There was no way I could pretend I knew Brinks and Cora were shacking up.
She shrugged. “Not really sure how it happened, but it did.” She took a drag off her cigarette and exhaled. “He told me he was heading to River Valley for a while but that he would be back.” Her eyes connected with mine. “He’s not coming back, is he?”
Cora was smart. She knew the ways of an MC since her brother had been the prez of the River Valley chapter of the Fallen Lords before he drove it into the ground. “We don’t know where he is right now, but we’re working on it.”
She shook her head. “You guys are clueless. He was there, and then, he was suddenly gone.”
“When was the last time you talked to him?”
Wrecker had said he tried to call Brinks a couple times the day Adley showed up at the clubhouse, but before that, he hadn’t been in contact with him for almost a week.
“The day before Adley showed up.” She stared out into the dim parking lot. “We talked for about half an hour, and then, I had to get off the phone to get some work done.”
“He tell you anything about what was going on?”
She shook her head. “He said he was trying to find my brother. That was all he would tell me.”
“You know you gotta tell Wrecker, right, Cora?”
She held up her half empty glass. “Got my liquid courage right here. I figured I could run it by you first to gauge how you reacted.”
I didn’t know how Wrecker would react to the news that Cora and Brinks were hooking up under his nose. Not that he would care, but now that Brinks was missing, Wrecker was going to want to know everything Cora knew. “I gotta head home, but if you want to wait until tomorrow, I can be there when you tell him.”
Cora shook her head. “I’m a big girl, Slayer. I don’t need you there holding my hand.”
Typical Cora. She really was a tough chick. “Whatever you want. Just don’t wait too long to talk to Wrecker.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled. “Run on home to Wendy and Adley then.”
Brinks was one crazy son of a bitch to be hooking up with Cora. I was halfway to my truck when she called, “You kiss her yet?”
“Who?” I yelled back.
“Wendy, you fool.”
“Maybe.”
Cora laughed loudly, and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.
“Be careful with both of them, Slayer,” she warned.
‘Yeah, yeah, Cora.” I hopped into my truck and slammed the door shut. I longed for the days and nights where I could ride my bike without worrying about getting frostbite.
Ten minutes later, I stepped into the house and locked the door behind me. The TV was on in the living room and part of me hoped Wendy was still awake. All the lights in the kitchen were turned off except for one over the sink.
My hope plummeted when I walked into the living room to see Wendy and Adley sprawled out on the couch, dead to the world. Wendy’s mouth was hanging wide open, and Adley was snoring lightly.
I turned the volume down on the TV, pulled the blankets over each of them, and headed up the stairs.
By the time I fell into bed after showering, it was close to one o’clock and my eyes were heavy with sleep. It had been a long fucking day, and even though I should have had a ton of things on my mind, I was asleep within minutes.
There was always tomorrow to figure everything out.
*
Chapter Twelve
Wendy
“That’s the last ornament, right?”
I held up the empty box and shook it. “Yup, that’s it.”
Slayer stood on the third to the top rung of the ladder and grimaced. “We probably should have gotten a few more.”
He wasn’t wrong. We had placed all of the ornaments on the tree, and there were quite a few sparse spots. “I can move a couple of them around,” I muttered.
“Wait!” Adley called. “We forgot some.” She ran into the kitchen and came running back with a plastic bag in her hand.
“Oh, hell. I forgot about those, too.” Slayer climbed down the ladder and helped Adley take the three boxes out.
Last night after I had texted Carnie, I had passed out on the couch and didn’t even know what time Slayer had gotten home. When I had wo
ken up, Adley and Slayer were down in the kitchen making pancakes and talking about putting the ornaments on the tree.
Thankfully, Slayer had a cup of coffee ready for me, and I just sat at the table slowly waking up drinking my coffee and just listening to them.
“Let’s put yours up first, Wendy.” Adley handed me a box, and I tried not to cringe.
Yesterday when we were picking out decorations and ornaments, Adley had spotted a store in a strip mall that was only Christmas. She begged and pleaded for Slayer to walk across the street to it, and of course, Slayer gave in.
Adley had picked out a llama with a red Santa hat and a cartoon motorcycle for Slayer. Each was personalized with their names. Then, she had found a gorgeous ornament of an intricately decorated stocking. She insisted since they were each getting an ornament with their names on them, that I needed one, too.
I placed a hook onto the gold string and moved to the side of the tree. If I hid it toward the back, then no one would see it when they came over. I was only here for a little bit and didn’t think I needed to have my own ornament with my name on it.
“No,” Adley protested. She grabbed the ornament from me and moved to the front of the tree. She moved a couple of the red and gold balls around and then hung my stocking ornament front and center.
“Good spot.” Slayer grabbed the motorcycle ornament and held out his hand for a hook.
I couldn’t help but snicker at the name on his ornament. “I still can’t believe your name is Dwayne.” I handed him a hook and cleared my throat. “Not that there's anything wrong with that.”
He grabbed the hook and scowled. “I’ll have you know that I was named after my great grandfather, thank you very much.”
I held my hands up defensively. “If it’s all the same, I'll just stick with Slayer or any other name I can think of that starts with an S.”
Slayer laced the gold thread on the hook and hung the motorcycle close to mine.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “We need to spread out the ornaments because we don’t have enough.”
“Wait,” Adley called. “I have an idea.” She grabbed a hook from me and hung her ornament right above Slayer’s and mine. She moved a few other ornaments and then stood back. “There, that’s perfect.”
Slayer and I stood back next to her, and I couldn’t deny that it really was perfect. The red, gold, and green balls were all over the tree except for the center where our three ornaments hung.
“Good job.” Slayer rested his hand on Adley’s shoulder, and he might have not noticed it, but she scooted a little closer to him.
I heard a phone ding, and I pulled mine out of my pocket but saw nothing.
“I think that was me.” Slayer grabbed his phone off the coffee table. “Oh, hell.”
Great. He was probably going to have to go to the clubhouse again, and he would be gone all day like he was yesterday.
“Can’t you just tell Wrecker to handle whatever is going on?”
Did the man really have to call a meeting every damn day?
“It’s not Wrecker.” Slayer’s head was bowed over his phone, and his finger hovered over the screen.
“Who is it then?” Adley asked.
Slayer looked up, and his face was pale. “It’s the lab.”
“Oh, hell,” I gasped.
“What do we do?” Adley wondered.
“It’s the results?” I had no idea he was going to get the results through email. Or maybe it was just an email to tell him that he could come in to get the results.
I was basically clueless through all of this. This was such a big deal, and for an email to basically change your life seemed crazy.
Slayer nodded. “I haven’t opened it yet.”
“Can I do it?” Adley asked.
“Uh, well…” I trailed off.
Slayer cringed. “What if it’s not…”
Adley sighed and held out her hand. “I can handle whatever it says.”
Slayer glanced at me.
I shrugged. “I mean, you would tell her right away what it says if you opened it, so I guess I don’t really see any harm in her opening the email.”
Slayer nodded and handed the phone to Adley. “Just click that link right there.”
Adley held the phone in her hand and sighed. “Here goes nothing.”
She tapped the link, and a new webpage opened. A graph with three large columns popped up, and we all stared at the phone.
“I have no idea what any of this means,” Slayer grumbled.
The first column had a bunch of numbers and letters. The second column said “Child” on top and then on each line had two sets of numbers. The third column said, “Alleged Father” and then had two sets of numbers on each line.
“Scroll down,” Slayer grunted.
Adley moved the graph down, and right there was the answer we were looking for:
Probability of paternity: 99.9998%
“You’re my dad,” Adley gasped.
“You’re my daughter,” Slayer whispered at the same time.
“Holy shit.” I slapped my hand over my mouth, and my eyes bugged out. “Sorry,” I mumbled.
Slayer chuckled and grabbed the phone from Adley. “I gotta say, I didn’t really doubt it, but seeing it in black and white makes this official.”
“So what happens now?” Adley asked.
“Well, I file this with the court and then it becomes even more official.” Slayer studied his phone for a second and let out a whoop. “You’re my daughter, Adley.”
I could feel the shift in the room now that we knew for a fact that Adley and Slayer were related. “This is amazing.”
Slayer smiled wide and shoved his phone in his pocket. “How about we celebrate?”
“Yes!” Adley hollered. “Can we get ice cream?”
“Sure,” Slayer laughed. His face fell, and he dropped his arms to his sides. “Except I forgot I have to go to the clubhouse this afternoon.”
“Oh,” Adley sighed.
Slayer smiled wide. “But you guys and come with, and when I’m done, we can go out for dinner and ice cream.”
“Really?” Adley gasped. “We can come with?”
Slayer nodded. “I should have brought you guys with me last night but I didn’t realize I was gonna be gone that long.”
“Yeah,” Adley muttered, “You totally should have taken us with you last night.”
Slayer laughed and pointed to the stairs. “Head up to your room and get dressed.”
“Do I have time to shower?” Adley asked.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. “What time did you have to be to the clubhouse?” I asked.
“Meeting is at four but we’ll get there a little earlier.”
It was just after twelve. “You should have plenty of time. Just save me some hot water.” I winked at Adley and she giggled.
She wiggled her eyebrows and giggled. “Maybe I will.” She jogged up the stairs with a wave over her shoulder to us.
Slayer pulled his phone out of his pocket and sighed.
“Looking at the test again?” I chuckled.
He nodded. “Sure am.” He dropped his phone on the coffee table then ran his fingers through his hair.
“So, what does it feel like?” I asked.
“Honestly?”
I nodded.
“It feels right. Before, we didn’t know for a fact she was mine, but even then, I could just feel that Adley was supposed to be in my life. I may have been twelve years behind on getting to know her, but now I can try to make it up to her for the rest of her life.”
“That’s great, Slayer.” I bent over and picked up a piece of loose tinsel. “I know it was a bit of a shock when she first got here, but it really does seem like you two are going to be okay.”
“Shock is an understatement.”
I draped the piece of tinsel on the tree and moved a couple of the ornaments around. “Well, hopefully now you can just get into a routine and just live.”
“Just live?” Slayer chuckled. “What does that mean?”
I waved my hand in the air. “You know.”
“No, I don’t.”
I turned on my heel and came face to face with Slayer. “Weren’t you just over there?” I gasped.
Slayer rested his hand on my hip. “But now I’m right here.”
“I am totally getting you a bell for Christmas,” I grumbled.
The heat from his hand melted through my clothes, and I leaned into him.
“I was thinking we could pick up where we left off last night,” he whispered.
“You mean when you kissed me and then disappeared and couldn’t even call to tell me that you were going to be late?” A smirk spread across my lips, and I rested a hand on his chest. “Is that what you’re talking about?”
Slayer’s other hand trailed up my arm and cupped my cheek. “Yup, that is what I’m talking about.”
“Hmm,” I hummed.
“Maybe I can help to make you forget about me leaving you when I really didn’t want to.” His thumb lightly swept over my lips.
“I guess it never hurts to try, right?”
“You are so right, sugar.”
Slayer’s lips covered mine, and I couldn’t hold back a moan.
“Even better than I remember,” he whispered against my lips.
My heart fluttered at his words, and I knew right then that I was getting in deep with Slayer.
His lips moved against mine, and his hand once again cupped my ass. He squeezed gently, and I moaned loudly.
“Slayer.”
“A month of you calling me everything under the sun, but you know my name and now, you moan it.” He nipped my bottom lip, and I let out a yelp. “You drive me fucking crazy, Wendy.”
I delved my fingers into his hair and cut off his talking with another kiss.
I was in control for half a second before Slayer took over and kissed me ‘til my knees were weak and his arms were holding me up.
“God damn, sugar. I’m a thirsty man, and your kisses are like water.”
I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against his.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
My teeth sunk into my lip, and I nodded. I was just trying to breathe. Slayer took my breath away, and I was struggling to catch it again.
Slayer (Fallen Lords MC Book 8) Page 8