by KB Winters
She scribbled a few notes and handed the sheets to Gunnar before hurrying from the room.
“Thank you.” Gunnar’s words were sincere and the tired, terrified look in his eyes nearly made me melt. Nearly.
“I’d do anything for Maisie.” Without another word, I held the door open and gestured for him to go first, since Maisie was once again, asleep in his arms.
“Seriously, thank you.”
“Not necessary,” I told him and averted my gaze. Gunnar had done me a favor and it took me until that moment to realize it. He was right, last night was just a physical release and nothing more. We shouldn’t repeat it and that was all well and good, because when he wasn’t being a total dickhead, Gunnar was kind of a nice guy.
Nice guys were trouble.
Too much trouble, and I had enough of that all on my own.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Gunnar
“So we’re really doing this, becoming a motorcycle club?”
Wheeler was the most skeptical of the bunch because Special Ops guys were suspicious and cynical by nature. He kicked his feet up on the twin bed and grinned.
“Are we gettin’ hazed or some shit?”
I shook my head and scraped a hand over my face, making a mental note to apologize to Cross for all the shit I’d given him over the years. Looks like it would be returned a hundred fold with these clowns. I’d asked Saint, Holden, Wheeler, Cruz and Slayer to meet in the bunkhouse to discuss what was next for Reckless Bastards, Opey, Texas Chapter.
“No hazing, just a probation period for all of you. Do what I say and prove you belong, which I know you all will, and we’re good. Got it?”
They all had questions, and I tried my best to answer them because this was the start of everything. A new brotherhood. A new family. A new MC.
Cruz frowned. “I thought these clubs were only for white boys.”
I snorted, but it was a common misconception.
“Some clubs operate that way, but the Reckless Bastards don’t. The Mayhem chapter has some black members, some Hispanics and some white boys. All of them are the same Bastards no matter what color they are. We don’t fuck around.”
Cruz seemed satisfied with my answer, and Slayer clapped him on the back.
“What are you worried about, blue eyes? You’re whiter than all of us.” That sent everyone into a fit of laughter that would have been more in line in a high school locker room.
“Fuck you, Big Foot.”
Slayer ran both hands through his long hair, shaking his head dramatically.
“Women love this hair, gives ’em something to hold on to when the dick just feels too good.”
He rolled his hips and made a lewd gesture that made everyone laugh again and my shoulders relaxed. It wasn’t official yet, but we were brothers.
“Better keep them away from big dick Holden over there or your dick will never feel too good again,” Cruz joked and slid a teasing glare to the quiet cowboy.
Holden, for his part, flipped them off and went back to his sandwich. Holden already said he was searching for something more, something deeper and the MC would be just that thing.
“Any other questions?” Everything was in place. Cross had already sent the incorporation papers by messenger so everything would be official once they all passed prospect status.
Slayer raised his hand even though I’d told him not to do that shit because we weren’t in school. He grinned when I glared at him. “What’s going on with you and Peaches?” he asked.
I groaned, but all the others chimed in their desire to know the details too.
“Nothing. Cross asked me to keep her safe so that’s what I’m doing.”
Each of them received a deadly stare to let them know I didn’t appreciate this line of questioning.
“Come on, Gunnar. We all know you’re fucking her but what we want to know is are you gonna wife her up?”
“Fuck no. I ain’t wifing nobody up, least of all a woman with trouble following her everywhere she goes.”
That wasn’t fair to Peaches, but when it came to who I let around my sister, fair didn’t fucking come into play.
“That’s harsh,” Holden scolded. “We’ve all found trouble a time or two through no fault of our own, and Peaches is as solid as they come. Willing to help whenever she can. Plus she saved our asses on opening night.”
That was all true, but beside the fucking point.
“Questions answered. If there’s nothing else, we all have shit to do. Don’t we?”
At my words everyone jumped to action, Saint and Slayer headed to the club to get it ready for the night’s festivities, while Holden gathered the rest to help with ranch duties. We always had plenty of chores to do on a ranch this size, which meant our days were long as shit, taking even more time away from Maisie. It didn’t matter that she was still curled up on the sofa, feeling sixty percent better. But for a boisterous little girl, it might as well have been six percent.
Another reason I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of a woman or a relationship.
When all the guys dispersed, the ranch seemed too fucking quiet, and I made my way to the office inside the main house and sat down to do paperwork. Except I couldn’t fucking focus and I knew why.
Peaches.
Holden was right about one thing. She was solid as fuck, helping me out with Maisie when I didn’t deserve the help. She’d done more than she needed for The Barn Door, upgrading the surveillance system with an option to review the property and the club remotely, and even added security to the main house. I knew I didn’t deserve any of it, not after the way I acted on opening night. I meant every fucking word, but in hindsight, I could have been less of a dick about it all.
Even the day she helped with Maisie, working her magic to make sure my little girl wouldn’t have to wait all day to get home and into bed. I was an asshole. Something about the woman brought it out in me, and I needed to do better.
A car sounded in the distance and I didn’t know why, but I was instantly on edge. And on my feet, heading toward the front door with the nine millimeter I kept locked in the office drawer. The car was nondescript, navy blue, four doors and boxy, just like the dark haired man who stepped from the car in blue jeans, heavy duty black work boots and a plain black t-shirt. Everything about the man screamed “government worker.”
He spotted me and waved and I stepped onto the porch with my arms folded across my chest. “You lost?”
He flashed a smile and did his best to appear non-threatening which only made him seem like a bigger threat.
“Nah, heard you might have some cattle for sale?”
“You heard wrong.” There was no way in hell he’d heard anything of the sort from anyone in Opey because the locals were dying for any information on who’d bought the Hardtail and what they planned to do with it. Martha never stopped talking about it.
“I won’t ask you a second time. You looking for something?”
He held up his hands with an aw, shucks smile that was as phony as three dollar bill. “The name is Agent Farnsworth, and I have reason to believe you might know someone I’m looking for.” He paused, I guess waiting for me to appear shocked or some shit, but I stayed silent.
“Name of uhm, Peaches? I wander if that’s her real name. Do you know?”
“Don’t know anyone by that name.”
“You sure? Because I have reason to believe—”
“I don’t give a fuck what you believe. I said I don’t know anyone by that name, Agent. Is that all?”
He took a step forward. I pulled the gun from behind my back. “I said is that all?”
“I’m just leaving a card in case your memory returns.”
“Not necessary. You have sixty seconds to get the fuck off my property.” The best thing about Texas was that a man didn’t just have a right to defend his family and his property, he was encouraged to do just that with very few questions asked and the weapon of his choice.
His
dark brows rose, and even though his lips stayed fixed in a smile, I saw that hint of wariness creep into his gaze. “You’d shoot a federal agent?”
“Are you a federal agent? I didn’t see a badge.”
And that car didn’t have government plates. In fact, it was more like a car that was trying not to be too flashy and draw attention to itself. When the asshole didn’t produce a badge, I aimed the gun right between his eyes. “Thirty seconds.”
He took a step back and then another. “You have no idea what this woman is involved in and if I were you—”
“You aren’t me, so don’t presume to tell me what the fuck to do, think or feel. Twenty seconds.”
“She’s committed some serious crimes buddy. This won’t end well for you. Or your little girl.”
I could have let him get to me. I wanted to jump off the porch and pound that motherfucker into oblivion. Instead I aimed at the rock beside his foot and shot. “I see you around here again the next shot goes between your eyes.”
“I’m leaving.”
“You have five goddamn seconds so I suggest you hurry the fuck up.” The fucker finally got the message, ran for his car, and slammed down on the gas to get the fuck off my ranch before he even shut his driver side door. But that didn’t stop the acid churning in my gut or the sense of doom that settled right beside it.
I’d come here to get Maisie away from this kind of trouble, this exact fucking danger, and it had followed me. No, not the danger, the woman.
Fucking Peaches.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Peaches
Three fucking days. That was how long I gave Gunnar to tell me about the guy who showed up on the ranch looking for me while sneaking in a threat to Maisie. Three goddamn days and he said nothing. Not one fucking word about the potential danger because at least one of the assholes had found me.
I thought long and hard about approaching him with what I’d heard, but another fight wouldn’t help anything so I waited. And waited, hoping that Bob fucking Slauson would get off her fucking ass and call me to let me know what was going on. She hadn’t and neither had Gunnar, goddammit.
Even Vivi didn’t have any new information for me. I was getting worried and a worried me could be reckless, which was the last thing this place needed. We had vets suffering from PTSD, three women completely unable to take care of themselves, and a little girl who didn’t deserve the trauma she would endure. All because of me.
I had to get away from here. For real this time. With me gone, the danger would bypass the ranch and follow me to wherever I headed next. The problem was getting off the ranch unnoticed, which was no longer possible thanks to all the security I’d added to the property. It wasn’t impossible just…difficult.
I’d have to wait until Gunnar and the guys were busy at The Barn Door or those closed door meetings they’d been having more and more frequently. Only the Lord knew what they were up to in there, and I had enough problems of my own to worry about. But those meetings were my key and there was another one coming up soon.
That was when I’d make my escape.
“You can’t.” I turned at the sound of Martha’s voice and found the older woman staring at me with a frown on her face. “Whatever it is you’re thinking, you can’t do it. Not to that girl and not to Gunnar.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell the old woman to mind her own business, but Martha was a nice old lady so I shrugged. “You don’t know what’s going on Miss Martha.”
“Maybe not, but I know a troubled soul when I see one and at this place. I’m surrounded by troubled souls. I know enough to know you’re planning to run off like a thief in the night.”
“My stay here was never permanent, Martha.” I said the words as much for her sake as for mine. Being around Maisie made me feel light and free. Happy, even. “I have to leave. That was always the plan.”
“No, you don’t.” Arms crossed with her chin lifted high in the air, Martha was doing a damn good impression of a bulldog. Short, stout and stubborn. “You don’t,” she insisted, her voice quieter this time.
I sighed and dropped down on the bed, happy that I was smart enough to shove my packed bags into the closet and away from nosy housekeepers and inquisitive little girls.
“I can’t tell you anything other than I have to.” I wouldn’t waste my time arguing with her.
“Maisie will be devastated.”
It was the only thing guaranteed to kick me right in the gut, the idea of hurting Maisie. “She’ll be sad, and she’ll probably even cry, but she’ll start kindergarten, soon and then first grade, and then second and that’s what matters to me.”
Like everyone else in her life who’d abandoned her, Maisie would eventually forget about me, but I could live happily on the run knowing she was having a normal life. The kind I’d always dreamed about having.
“Oh dear, what kind of trouble are you in?”
“The kind that doesn’t mind taking out any and every one in its path, Martha. Trust me, this is the best thing I could do for her. For you and your daughters too. For everyone.”
“Everyone but you,” she grumbled and took a seat on the edge of my bed right beside me. She bumped my shoulder with a sad sigh. “You can’t fight this alone.”
“Sure I can. I have to. It’s how I fight every battle.” And that was what this was now, a battle. Bob hadn’t reached out ,which meant it was up to me to do something before the next person came looking for me.
“That’s no way for a woman to live.”
“It’s the only way I know how, Miss Martha. You’ve been so kind since I’ve been here, thanks for that. But I need to do this, and I need you to keep this conversation to yourself.”
I could see the hesitation and the instinct to argue in her light brown eyes. “Don’t tell me you can’t make that promise, Miss Martha. We both know if you tell Gunnar he’ll go Neanderthal and try to fight this battle, which isn’t his battle to fight.”
The moment Gunnar stepped between me and the CAD, Maisie would be their target. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to go.
“And what’s so wrong with that? That’s a man’s job, to protect the people he loves.”
Her soft wrinkled hands wrapped around mine, eyes deadly serious and equally fearful.
“He doesn’t love me, Martha. My best friend is married to one of his closest friends and me staying here was a favor.”
She still wasn’t convinced so I went in for the kill. “He can’t win this battle Martha, I almost certainly won’t win it either, but I don’t have a precious four year old counting on me.”
I knew the moment the words registered, because tears began to well in her eyes. “You mean?”
“Yes. I probably won’t make it out of this last bit of trouble I’ve found myself in, and if Gunnar tries to help, he won’t either. That’s why I have to leave. Soon.”
Her shoulders fell in defeat, and I relaxed just a little. “You’re wrong about one thing, that little girl is counting on you. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she’s crazy about you, thinks you hung the moon, Peaches.”
I smiled. “She means the world to me, and that’s exactly why I have to leave. Gunnar came here to give her normal, and that’s exactly what she’ll have.” One way or another.
“I’ll keep your secret for now, but not forever.”
“I don’t need forever, Martha. Thank you.” Because she looked like she needed it, and maybe because I needed it, I leaned in and hugged her tight. “Everything will be fine.”
“Everything but you?” One tear slipped from her eye and it gutted me. No one had ever cried for me before because no one had cared enough to, except Vivi, but she was too tough to cry.
I nodded and flashed a small smile at the kind older woman. The fact that Martha’s tears were for me only strengthened my resolve to leave. The further away I was from the people on Hardtail Ranch, the safer they would be.
“There’s only one person who’ll miss me M
artha, and she’s got her own life now.”
If I made it out of Texas alive, I’d call Vivi one last time before disappearing. Forever.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Gunnar
It was a rare quiet day on the ranch and things felt oddly calm, a feeling that took some getting used to. At first. But after a long, lively breakfast with Maisie followed by a couple hours helping Holden and the guys with the ranch chores, a relaxing rest of the day was just what I needed. The fact that I didn’t even remember what it felt like to be relaxed didn’t seem to matter one damn bit because the closer I got to the main house, now with a light yellow paint job requested by Maisie, the stranger it seemed until I realized why.
Peaches. The woman was normally everywhere, in very few clothes making it damn near impossible to ignore her. To avoid her. Both of which I’d been doing for a while now.
At first it was anger because that asshole showed up looking for her, and then it was simply self-preservation. But without Peaches in my face, bugging me, and making me laugh, making me want her, things were a little too damn dull.
My smile hit the moment I set my foot on the bottom step of the back porch. It it only grew as I climbed the stairs and pushed into the kitchen, certain I’d find her having coffee and cake over a chat with Martha.
But she wasn’t there. Neither was Martha for that matter. “Martha?”
No answer from her either, but the sounds coming from upstairs took me to Maisie’s room. If there was one person who would always know where to find Peaches, it was her. “Hey Maze…where’d all this stuff come from?” Her room looked like Christmas in July. Presents everywhere. Clothes and shoes, a pink laptop, toys and even a guitar.
Her big blue eyes were as happy as I’d ever seen them as she held the little guitar in her hands, pigtails lopsided as they always were. “Peaches bought it for me. She said it was because I’m such a good girl.”
“She’s right about that. You are the best girl,” I told her and tapped her nose with my finger. I knew Peaches loved Maisie, but something about this felt off. “Did you thank her for all this?”