by KB Winters
“Marisol,” she said, her chin hitched defensively. “Who the hell are you?”
“I’m the guy who’s about to put a bullet in Stitch’s ass. Stitch! Get your scrawny ass out here.” If he wasn’t ready to go, I’d head to Reed’s place without him.
The door opened wider and the kid appeared, pulling a black t-shirt over his head and flicking long black hair that he really needed to cut. “Hey, Gunnar.”
“Why the hell are you so surprised when I said nine in the morning?” A quick look at my watch said it was seven minutes til the hour. “Why aren’t you ready?”
He wore that shit eating grin that made me want to punch his nose just to see it vanish, and raked a hand through his long damn hair that made me want to punch him twice. “We got a late start.”
“Too fucking bad. We need to get on the road so I can get back. To Maisie, remember?” Ever since my mother died and I took custody of Maisie, I had the feeling that maybe the MC life wasn’t for me. I loved my brothers and I’d come close to death on many occasions for them but shit like this made it hard to remember that. “This is your deal and today is the day it happens but you’d rather fuck around? You got five minutes or I’m gone. With or without you.”
With a nod, Stitch stepped back and let me in. “We’ll be ready. I promise.”
I froze and glared at him. “We? No offense sweetheart.” I took another glance at the pretty chick and turned back to Stitch. “We don’t involve chicks in our business. Ever.”
“Give us a minute, will ya Marisol?” Stitch asked and she nodded and disappeared into one of the rooms down the hall, giving me time alone with the kid. “Look Gunnar, I know this isn’t ideal but she’s got this crazy ex and he’s been stalking her. Showed up inside her apartment when she woke up and I couldn’t let her go back, not last night.”
“Cut the shit, Stitch. And tell me the goddamn truth. Tell me exactly what the fuck you’re mixed up in. All of it. Be specific.”
I knew he was nervous because of the way his hands kept raking through his hair. Yet when he spoke, I felt the blood drain from my body. Worse, I felt the tension seep under my skin and take hold of me, making me worry. Making me angry. “Jesus fucking Christ, Stitch! A cartel? A goddamn cartel. When you step in the shit, you step in it up to your waist, don’t you?”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” he insisted angrily and with a hint of that immature petulance that made new patches and prospects such a goddamn thorn in my side. “We just need to stop at Marisol’s place on our way to Reed’s.”
“I swear to fuck—I could murder you with my bare hands right now dumb ass.” I walked away from him and out of the apartment, whipping out my phone to dial Cross because this was something he needed to know. Every time one of the Reckless Bastards got involved with a Goddamn woman, she came with trouble.
Every fucking time.
“Yeah Cross, we’ve got a problem.”
“Hey Gunnar, I can’t really talk right now. Let me call you back in fifteen.”
“I’ll be on the road in…fuck!” He ended the call and it took every ounce of self-control I had not to smash my phone, go grab Maisie and keep driving until I ran out of gas. But I made a promise and unlike some people, I was a man of my word. “Goddammit!”
Three minutes later Stitch and his girl came strolling down the stairs like they were going to walk hand-in-hand around the county fair or some shit. Disgusted, I started my bike and peeled out of the parking lot ahead of them, eager to get away from this situation before I said or did something I couldn’t take back.
My anger combined with my desire to get the fuck away from Stitch made the drive up to Reno fly by, mostly because I pushed the limits of speed the entire drive up. The whole morning had me wondering why the fuck I’d even bothered to come back to Mayhem. I’d never planned to once I knew Maisie was my responsibility.
But the Reckless Bastards were my family. Plus, I figured there was nowhere safer to raise my kid sister than surrounded by big bad bikers who’d protect her with their lives. Even the dumb shits like Stitch.
Since I wasn’t a complete asshole, I stopped at the same rundown apartment building we’d stopped at the week before, and twenty minutes later, Marisol pulled her car in and Stitch parked his bike right beside her. “Stay in the car,” he barked and pointed my way. “Gunnar, a little help?”
“Aww, man. What the fuck is really going on? She can’t go inside her fucking apartment now?” I knew I was being a dick but I couldn’t help myself. “You think he’s inside?”
“I think he could be in there, waiting for her.”
I’d come across my fair share of crazy exes but something about this story didn’t add up. Shit. “Stitch, tell me right now. Are you fucking a cartel boss’s girlfriend?”
“The dude is married, Gunnar. Fucking married!”
“You really are a dumb son of a bitch who only thinks with his cock, aren’t you? It doesn’t matter if he’s married. You know what this could mean for the club? For each and every one of us, including the women and children?” It was like he was trying to kick up as much shit as possible.
“It’s too late for that. Let’s just go and do a sweep of her place and then we’ll be on our way.”
“A sweep? You watch too much TV, kid. And what if this is some goddamn setup by her? How well do you know her? She wouldn’t be the first chick to create drama for fuckin’ sport.” I followed him up the concrete steps and waited while he opened the door.
Stitch stepped inside and I followed, coming to an abrupt fucking halt about five feet inside the small space. A small Hispanic man sat on the sofa in white pants and a light pink shirt with expensive looking cufflinks. If there had ever been any doubt about his identity there was a big ass ‘S’ on his belt buckle and the snakeskin cowboy boots were a dead fucking giveaway. “It’s too bad you had to involve someone else in your theft.”
“Theft? What the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t steal anything, asshole.” Stitch was all fired up and ready to fight because clearly, the dumb ass didn’t notice the other four goons armed with automatic weapons, two on either side of us. Or he was too stupid to care.
“That’s where you’re wrong, guerro. Marisol is mine and you are trying to steal her from me.”
“I wasn’t until you went bat-shit crazy and broke into her apartment! Now, yeah I am.”
“Goddammit man, shut the fuck up!” I ground out. This wasn’t the time to get into a pissing match, not when they had us outmanned and outgunned. “Learn when to keep your fucking mouth shut.”
Stitch glared at me. “What the fuck are you talking about??”
I spoke into Stitch’s ear. “Look around, kid. Figure out what the fuck I’m talking about?”
“Listen to your friend and you might stay alive long enough to see another day.” The guy was smarmy as fuck but he had that wild-eyed look of a man who wouldn’t hesitate to fight dirty or kill for fun.
“Look, man I don’t fight over chicks.” Stitch had taken it down a notch. Being reasonable. “Not fucking ever, so tell me what you want.”
The guy sprang out of his seat. “Marisol is not just a chick, you imbecile! She is a beautiful woman and more importantly, she is mine. I will never let her go.” I read the truth of his words all over his face. It was written in the upright way he held himself, shoulders squared and spine straight. The deadly ice in the depths of his gaze.
“Either way,” I stepped forward in an effort to keep these assholes from beating the fuck out of each other. “He didn’t know she belonged to someone else. It was an honest mistake.”
“Bullshit!” He was barely five feet tall and looked more like an extra in a Telenovela than a big bad cartel boss. “He knew. You fucking knew.” He pointed an accusing finger at Stitch, who leapt forward and threw a punch that sent the man falling backwards until he split the coffee table in half. “You are dead, motherfucker.”
“Carlito, are you all right?”
All four men moved closer, weapons hanging loosely at their sides as they closed in on me and Stitch. “You don’t want to do this,” I warned them.
“Si, we do,” one of Carlito’s henchman said. The man was tall and thin and he looked like a brawler, which was a good thing, because I was ready to fucking brawl.
He threw a punch. “Suit yourself,” I said, ducking and rising with an uppercut that sent him flat on his back. I jumped on top of him, wailing on him with hammer fists until he was bloody and his eyes started to swell. A blow landed on my back and sent me flat on top of the other asshole.
Two sets of boots kicked and stomped on me, over and over again until I could barely take in a breath. I sure as shit couldn’t look up without risking taking a boot to the head.
“Get up,” one of the accented voices commanded and I took my sweet time. “I said get the fuck up!”
“I don’t speak Español asshole!” I chuckled to myself when he started to pull me up, spitting some blood out on the unconscious asshole before I got to my feet. “Shit. Dick licker,” I shouted when that piece of shit punched me right in the fucking side.
“You’ll be licking dicks soon,” he warned with more joy than I liked to hear following those words.
“The pink shirt was a dead giveaway that you fellas were on some gay shit.”
“Gunnar!” Stitch’s voice grabbed my attention for a brief moment. He was down on the floor with the remaining armed dickhead’s foot on his chest.
“You okay?”
“Been better but he hits like a bitch.”
I smiled at the little smart ass and slid one hand into my pocket, reaching for my blade. Carlito stood again, glaring at all of us. “You’re outnumbered.”
“Not by much,” I told him with confidence. “Why don’t you tell us what the fuck you want, Carlito?”
“There are four of us and two of you.” He grinned and took a step forward but froze in his path when I flexed in his direction. “Keep this puto away from me!” His order was part fear and part anger.
The asshole to my right grabbed the back of my shirt, leaving his body exposed which gave me the perfect opportunity to act. The blade came out of my pocket and I jammed it into that motherfucker’s neck.
I let go of the man, taking my blade with me. Blood squirted all over the fucking place as his eyes widened in shock and he smacked one hand over the hole in his neck. He tried to sputter out a few words, but he was bleeding out too quickly and once he fell to his knees, I knew it was over for him. “I think that puts it at three against two unless this guy right here wants to be a hero.”
“Gunnar, watch—” Stitch’s voice rang out, but I didn’t hear his warning because something hard crashed down on the back of my skull and everything went fucking dark.
Chapter Nine - Cross
“Ewww, you guys are always kissing!” Beau’s disgusted groan tugged a smile across my lips as they pressed against Moon’s. “Come on!”
Moon stepped back, fingertips to her lips like she was trying to keep the heat of the kiss right on those plump lips I loved to taste. “I can’t wait to remind you of this moment when you finally realize how amazing girls are.”
Beau shrugged and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “I like girls but kissing is gross. Are you done?”
I smiled at the kid and winked. “Almost.” Before she realized what I had in mind, Moon was in my arms, her lean curves flush against my body, hard and aching despite the pint-sized audience. I lowered my head to hers with a wide smile before our lips touched.
“Gross!” Beau’s pout didn’t deter me this time, not when Moon’s tongue slicked across my bottom lip and not when she opened up and gave me a taste of the apple and cinnamon pie she’d eaten earlier. “Stop it, please!”
Eventually I put the kid out of his misery and pulled back, but I couldn’t let Moon go. I wouldn’t. Not now that I’d finally started living again and it was all because of her. “Only because you asked so nicely, kid.”
“Is lunch ready yet? I’m hungry.” Beau was always hungry but he was as scrawny as a grasshopper and I had no fucking clue where he put it all.
“Didn’t we just eat breakfast?”
Beau stomped over to me with a serious look on his face as he tried to climb my leg, his favorite activity when he wanted to feel tall. “Mama says I’m a growing boy and I need my vitamins!”
I looked at her with an arch to my eyebrows. “So you’re to blame for this behavior?”
Moon’s face lit up beautifully, the way it always did when Beau and I were together. She never said a thing, but the pure joy she felt was written all over her face. Her hair was loose, spilling around her shoulders and back, over her blue and pink and purple dress that cupped her tits and highlighted her strong arms. “If you’re asking am I responsible for the world’s greatest son, the answer is yes.”
“Thanks, Mama. You’re the best too.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek and I couldn’t help but smile at my little family.
“What about me?”
Moon pressed her lips to my cheek and, unsurprisingly, Beau did the same thing on the other side. “We think you’re the best too, Cross, don’t we, Beau?”
Beau nodded. “Yeah. We love you, Cross.”
Damn, how in the hell did a kid barely able to take care of himself get to me? I couldn’t answer that, but the way his big blue eyes were filled with love and affection made me realize how ready I was for this. Love. Family. “I love you guys, too.”
“Now that we have that settled, wash your hands and grab the dishes. We’re eating in the backyard.” Moon loved her backyard and we’d spent the better part of the past year turning it into even more of an oasis than it had been. There were more flowers and a larger vegetable garden, a bigger table so she could entertain her new crop of girlfriends. My favorite was the hammock where I loved curling my body around hers and watching the stars.
It was sappy as hell, I knew it, and I also knew if the guys saw me they would tease me relentlessly. “I’ll grab the dishes and you can set the table,” I told Beau and he darted off to wash his hands.
“Thanks for watching him this week, though I wonder if I should be thanking you.” With a hand to my chest, she smiled up at me with love in her eyes. “The fact that he hasn’t stopped talking about it means you probably gave him tons of junk, let him stay up late and watch scary movies.”
“I plead the fifth,” I told her and planted another kiss behind her ear, pants tightening at the way she sighed and leaned into me. The phone vibrating in my pocket pulled us apart. “Hang on, babe,” I said reluctantly as I answered it.
“Hey Cross, it’s Reed. I just want to see if you’d changed your mind about doing business together. No hard feelings if you have, but I need to know.”
“Is this some kind of bullshit, Reed? Because this isn’t how I do business.” Moon’s fingers dug into the tension hardening my shoulders and it felt so fucking good I wanted to groan.
“No, it’s not bullshit. I expected Chris and Gunnar yesterday afternoon but I haven’t seen them. I called Chris, but he didn’t answer and that’s not like him. I don’t have time for this. I have a business to run.”
Shit, that wasn’t like Stitch. Despite his youth and sometimes over-eagerness, he was as solid as they came. “My bad, Reed. But fuck, I expected them to be on their way back here by now.”
Reed fell silent. I had to remind myself he wasn’t part of the MC and was probably freaking out right now.
“I know he’s been seeing a girl in Reno, Cross, but all I know is that her name’s Marisol. I wish I could be more helpful.”
“That’s a good start, Reed. I need to find my men first but I want to make this deal happen. Do you think you might find your way down near Mayhem anytime soon?”
“I’ll let you kn
ow. And please, let me know when you hear from Chris.”
“Will do, man. Thanks.” I ended the call and a string of profanities ran through my mind, enough that it would’ve made Moon blush. “Fuck!”
“Tell me what’s wrong.” Moon’s soft voice was right by my ear, her tits pressed against my back as she wrapped her arms around my waist.
“It’s Gunnar and—”
“Mama, Aunt Rocky is here!” Beau was over the moon about all the new kids in his life. I thought it was because he got to be the older and wiser cousin but Moon believed it was just happiness at more friends to play with.
Rocky walked into the back yard, pink t-shirt falling off one shoulder while her cut-off shorts showed miles and miles of leg. Maisie held one hand and Dallas held the other, at least until he caught sight of Moon with all her colorful patterns and noisy jewelry. “Gunnar never showed up,” she said with an angry pout but I could see the lines of tension and fear around big green eyes.
“Yeah, something is up.” I didn’t know what, not yet, but I had a feeling it was nothing good. “Shit!” All I wanted was one full year with no drama. No bullshit. No more beefs. But that was too much to ask. I dialed Jag but I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t answer so I tried Savior next and informed him of our missing brothers.
“Shit. I’ll round up the guys. What else?”
“Rocky and Moon are with me so I’ll get them to the clubhouse but we need to check their places. Take one of the prospects with you to Gunnar’s and I’ll send Max to Stitch’s place.”
“Got it.” Savior ended the call and I let out a long, deep breath. The shit was happening again. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. When I looked up, Moon and Rocky had worried looks while Beau had taken the other kids away to play. “We don’t know anything yet, ladies except no one has heard from them or seen them since early yesterday.”
Rocky moaned. “Fuck. Another lockdown? If you guys keep this up, I’m going to have to start grocery shopping for the clubhouse because your food choices suck.” That was a fair complaint and I responded with a shrug.