by London Casey
I watched the mirror and after a few seconds, I smiled.
But then the car turned, following me.
It was trying to keep a small tail though.
I sped up and eased through the first stop sign and stopped completely at the second.
The car came up over the ridge, still following.
“Shit,” I whispered.
I turned left, then another left, going back to the main road.
The car continued to follow me.
I spotted a gas station and decided to stop there.
I pulled in and up to a pump.
I watched carefully in the mirror as the car crept along the road, right next to the gas station. The driver turned his head and we looked at each other. Chills went up and down my spine.
The car continued down the road.
The second it was out of sight, I hurried to back up and get out of there.
I sped away and sped the entire way home, constantly checking my rearview mirror.
There was no sign of the car anymore.
Once home, I changed Ellis, fed him, and got him down for a nap.
I ran to the window and stood there looking out the curtains like a creepy neighbor trying to spy on the neighborhood.
There was still no sign of the car.
I spent the rest of the day constantly checking to see, waiting for the car to return.
Each time I did, I thought about Kye. He’d know what to do. He’d know how to handle this.
Shit, Back Down Devil MC would be able to help…
chapter twenty-three.
(kye)
“Just process the fucking paperwork without getting grease marks all over it,” Marty growled. He punched a stapler and then tossed the papers to the side.
I stood in the doorway, sweating my ass off.
Marty’s office was air conditioned. He had pictures of half-naked women on the walls along with a picture of his wife and kids on his desk. He was miserable, just like the rest of us working stiffs.
“I’ll do my best,” I said.
“Fuck your best. Do what I say, asshole.”
I gritted my teeth. I wanted to put a tire iron to the side of this guy’s head. But I stayed calm. I backed off.
“I’m out for the day,” I said. “We’ve got three leftover for tomorrow plus whatever else comes in.”
“Be here early,” Marty snapped. “Don’t fuck around. And no fucking lunch dates anymore, okay? Christ, Kye. You want to tongue fuck your girl, do it at home. My old lady doesn’t bother me at work.”
“Right,” I said.
“Right?” Marty asked. “Is that some smart ass comment?”
“No. Not at all.”
Marty stared me down. Finally, he said, “Get the fuck out of here.”
So I did.
I walked to my truck and climbed inside. I slammed the door and gripped the steering wheel. The door to the main office opened a second later and Marty appeared. He took out a cigarette and stuck it between his pale lips.
Sometimes I thought about hitting the gas pedal and taking him out.
Shit, I used to be able to have that kind of power, you know?
Power. Respect. Honor.
Those were the words that came with the leather cut. I had those words in the palm of my hand. Now I was just slugging through eight hours - usually more - for a damn check every Friday. Dakota had offered many times to get a job herself but I refused. I was going to take care of my family. I didn’t want her running off to some shit job at night while I was home with Ellis. That was our time to be a family.
“Family,” I whispered.
I left the garage and cruised along the back roads. I cranked up some music and put the windows down. I stuck my arm out the window and tried to capture a little of what used to be.
I shut my eyes for a few seconds. Stupid move, I know.
I still had my motorcycle but riding it didn’t feel the same. It didn’t feel as strong as it did before. It didn’t sound as loud. It didn’t have the same purpose and meaning to resonate with anyone in and around Daurian.
I opened my eyes and turned along a bend.
I checked my mirror and saw a car tailing me.
No big deal, right?
Except this car… the driver wasn’t doing much to hide from me.
He was in a hoodie with the hood up and big sunglasses on his face. More than that, he was flying right up on my ass.
The old outlaw blood kicked up inside me and I quickly slammed on the brakes. If the car hit me, it would have been decimated. My truck? Maybe a little ding in the back panel.
The car laid on the horn and flew around me. Crossing across the yellow line and flying right by.
No license plate.
I slammed the gas pedal, my tires crying out, and I tried to chase after the car.
I made it around another turn and saw three motorcycles coming down my way.
My brothers.
It was Cash, Max, and Jasper.
They saw me and quickly did what they needed to do to swing around and begin to follow me. Looking at the motorcycles in the rear view mirror was like torture to me. When I had the space, I pulled to the side of the road. The three motorcycles came around me and blocked me off. It felt like I was getting pinched for a second.
I threw open the door and hopped out of my truck.
Cash, Max, and Jasper all climbed off their rides.
“Look at this,” Cash said. “A grease monkey.”
I threw the finger. “What do you want?”
“No hug?” Max asked.
“I’m filthy,” I said.
“We’re all filthy,” Jasper said.
I never knew what to expect when I met up with the guys. Sometimes I wondered if they weren’t watching me on purpose to make sure I wasn’t turning on them. The old phrase about enemies and friends, right?
I hugged Max. I shook hands with Cash. I faced my old VP, who was still VP for Max and Cash.
Jasper hugged me and grabbed the back of my neck. “Ah, fuck, brother, we miss you.”
“You see the car that breezed by me?” I asked.
“Looked a little worried,” Cash said.
“No plates,” I said. “Riding my ass. Guy was wearing a hood. Might want to look into that. Kind of strange.”
“Maybe some asshole looking to rob you,” Max said.
“Yeah right,” I said. “Anyone with half a brain still knows my affiliation.”
“Except your girl,” Cash said with a raised eyebrow.
“Are you saying Dakota doesn’t have half a brain?” I asked.
“You said it, not me,” Cash threw back.
“Easy guys,” Jasper said cutting between me and Cash. “We’re not here to talk about that.”
“Then why are we here?” I asked. “I’m supposed to be getting home from work.”
“How cute,” Max said.
“Fuck yourself,” I said.
Jasper put a hand to my shoulder. “We were going to cruise by the garage and look for you. Ask if we could invite ourselves for an after work beer and a little conversation. We have some information.”
“Information?” I asked.
“About your situation,” Jasper said.
“No, brother, I’m out, remember? I gave up the cut. I gave up the table.”
“You gave up a vote,” Jasper said. “You still have the right to know shit.”
“Thanks for that, brother,” I said.
Jasper gave me his hand. We shook hands.
“Follow me home,” I said. “Dakota is going to be thrilled to see you outlaws.”
Cash and Max laughed.
I climbed back into my truck and looked at my brothers as they started their motorcycles again.
A thought came to me.
You could take the cut off the outlaw… but that didn’t make the man any less of an outlaw.
**
I walked into the kitchen and Dakota stood over a pot
of sauce. Ellis was in his highchair, playing with some toy keys.
I put my hand to Dakota’s belly and kissed her cheek. “That smells great.”
“You don’t,” she teased.
“I smell like a shitty paycheck.”
“Hey,” she said. “That shitty paycheck puts food on the table.”
I laughed and kissed her cheek again.
I slipped away and walked to the highchair. I leaned down to my son. He reached for me, a big smile on his face. Right then - that exact fucking moment in time - all the bullshit was worth it. Marty screaming at me. People getting pissed that their cars broke like I was the one who did it.
When I kissed my son’s forehead and smelled his hair, it made me smile.
It gave proof that the decision Dakota wanted me to make was worth doing. I hated not being involved…
“Hey, darling, how much sauce and spaghetti do you have?”
“Why?” Dakota asked.
“Oh, there’s the little outlaw,” a voice said.
Next thing I knew Cash, Max, and Jasper were in my kitchen.
Cash opened the fridge. He grabbed three beers and stood up.
Dakota gave him the devil eyes.
“Sorry,” Cash said. “Did you want one too?”
“Dakota,” Max said with a nod.
“Max,” she said.
“Why don’t we take this out back?” Jasper asked. “But not until I say hey to my favorite future outlaw.”
“Cut that shit,” I growled at Jasper.
He loved to take jabs at Dakota.
Her face was as red as the sauce.
Cash and Max walked through the house and out the back door. Jasper stopped and put his hand to Ellis’s head.
“Little man,” Jasper said. “Getting so big.”
“Speaking of that,” I said. “What’s with Prez’s old lady?”
“Nothing yet,” Jasper said. “They’re scheduling for her though. Eden can’t take much more.”
Dakota cleared her throat.
Jasper grinned. “I’ll be outside, brother. See you.”
I waited for Jasper to exit before I turned.
“How pissed are you?” I asked Dakota.
“I want to dump this sauce on your head.”
I smiled. “Better than being at the clubhouse.”
“True. Do I have to feed them?”
“I don’t know. They want to talk about something. It involves me.”
“Hey, Kye, speaking of that…”
“What?”
I saw hesitation climb across Dakota’s face.
I grabbed her wrist. “Hey, what?”
“I might be making stuff up… but I swore I was being followed today.”
“What?” I asked. My heart jumped up to my throat.
“I know…”
“Dakota. Are you being serious right now?”
“Yeah. It was this car. The guy had a black hood up with sunglasses on.”
“Shit,” I growled.
“What?”
“Nothing,” I said.
“Kye, I was probably just making something up.”
I stared into Dakota’s eyes. This was why I could leave the club but my shit would never leave me.
“I don’t like it,” I said. “Let me go talk to the guys.”
“I don’t like it,” Dakota said and smirked.
“You’re lucky I like you,” I whispered and kissed her.
“You like me,” she said, her lips still touching me. “We have a baby. We live together. Yet you like me.”
“Darling, you know how I feel. You know I love Ellis. And you know I lo…”
Ellis threw a toy and it smacked against my ass.
I looked back and he started to pound on his tray.
“I think the beast is hungry,” I said.
“Yeah. Go have your conversation and beer. Then send them home.”
“Are you going to scream at me like Marty does?” I asked.
“The only screaming in this house is from the bedroom,” Dakota said and winked.
Shit, I loved her. I really loved her.
It was hard to talk about or bring up, mostly because Dakota felt that I had to love her because of Ellis. That was bullshit. I didn’t have to love anyone.
I exited the house and met the guys at the little patio table out back.
I grabbed my beer and took a big drink.
Fuck, it was good.
And fuck did it suck that I couldn’t have a beer in the middle of the afternoon.
“How are you doing?” Jasper asked.
“Miserable,” I said. “But I have my family.”
“Amen,” Max said.
“I’ll keep it simple,” Jasper said. “This shit is heating up. Night Soul are still trying to work out a deal. They have a middleman working with the Russians.”
“Fuck,” I said. “Ivan? Backstabbing…”
“No,” Max said. “He’s not hurting anyone. Just dealing normal. Night Soul was smart enough to get someone in the middle.”
“So call Ivan,” I said. “Tell him what’s happening.”
“He won’t give a shit,” Cash said. “Plus, it’s the middleman that we want. He’s the one who set you up. That body was planted and used as leverage. Either against Ivan or against the MC.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Jasper said. “They’re working smart. And working in silence.”
“That car following me… Dakota just said something about a car following her.”
“Ah, fuck,” Max said. “That’s not good.”
“Probably wanting to know why you’re not wearing a cut,” Jasper said.
“See, that’s why this is fucked,” Cash said. “We need you at the table, Kye.”
“Easy, Cash,” Jasper said. He looked at me. “Look, you do what you have to do here. I get all of that. This is about what happened to you and how we can make sure you’re safe. The club is safe.”
“Someone following your old lady?” Cash asked. “That’s not good.”
“I know,” I said. “I need to figure this out.”
“Well, shit’s getting crazier,” Jasper said. He took out a piece of paper and handed it to me. “Look at that now before you eat dinner.”
I unfolded the paper and it was a picture of the old man - Henry - from the house. With a nice big bullet hole in his forehead.
“Ah shit,” I said and folded the paper back up.
“Looks like someone wasn’t happy about us crashing his house,” Jasper said. “The thing is… either Night Soul or our mystery guy did this. But it was made to look like we did it. Chief Danielson and the PD are all over our ass. That includes you, brother. Just giving you a heads up if the police start poking around.”
“Shit, maybe it’s good that you are earning straight,” Max said. “Out of the cut. Gives you a better image.”
“Yeah, right,” I said. “So this Henry guy is dead. Night Soul are using some middle guy to run a deal with Ivan. Just typical business, huh?”
Cash clamped a hand on my shoulder. “And to think you’d rather fix broken fucking cars…”
We all shared a good laugh with that.
The back door opened and Dakota came walking out with Ellis.
“Kye, your son wants you,” she said.
I took the baby and Dakota gave me the eyes. The eyes that said a few more minutes before I turn into a crazy woman.
I held Ellis in my arms and he stared at the three outlaws.
“This is what matters to me,” I said. “I’ll protect it no matter what.”
“We’ll make sure things calm down,” Jasper said. “It’s hard to promise anything since you’re not at the clubhouse though. You get that, right?”
“Yeah I get it.”
“Keep your eyes open wide,” Max said. “Anything else happens and we’ll be in touch.”
“Okay,” I said. “Thank you for including me on this. Working under the
hood of a car is just…”
“Prison,” Cash said.
“Yes,” I said. “That’s exactly what it is. Prison.”
“At least you get to go home and get laid,” Jasper said.
“Probably not tonight,” I said. “You assholes pissed off Dakota.”
“Want me to go talk to her?” Cash offered. “I can be as smooth as butter.”
“Moldy butter,” Max said.
“You two,” Jasper said. “Out front.”
I hugged both Max and Cash and then left along the side of the house.
I stood with the VP as he took Ellis’s tiny hand and shook it. “It’s always good to see you… all of you. Trev talks about you everyday, brother. He gets it. We all get it.”
“I just have to keep my family straight right now,” I said.
“You need any money?”
“No. Not a chance. I’m good here.”
“Okay.”
“Hey, this shit… it has to end.”
“Yes it does,” Jasper said. “We’re close. Once we ID this middleman then we can attack. That’s why we’re staying clear of Ivan. We’re staying clear of Night Soul. It’s not worth it yet. The middleman… that’s the key.”
“You think he was driving the car following Dakota and then me?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Just tell her to be careful, okay? I’ll have some prospects casually poke around here and there. Check on your family. You have my number if something changes. You have your gun, too.”
“I’m solid,” I said.
I hugged Jasper. He slapped my face. “You’re not meant for this life, Kye. You can be an outlaw and a family man.”
I nodded.
Behind me I heard, “Dinner is done…” then the door shut.
“I gotta roll,” I said.
“So do I, brother. So do I.”
I stood there in my backyard, stinking of sweat and grease and watched Jasper walk away. I felt a lump in my throat rise up at the sight of the Back Down Devil MC patch on his back.
I swallowed it down and nodded. I bounced Ellis in my arms.
“Soon, Ellis,” I whispered. “Daddy is going to fix everything. I promise.”
chapter twenty-four.
(dakota)
My tongue rolled over the head of Kye’s cock. I was on my knees before him, like he was my master. I slid my lips down to his thick shaft, trying to see how much I could take of him.
He had gotten out of the shower and walked into the bedroom and there I was, waiting for him. One pull of his towel and he was standing naked.