When we entered the kitchen, three women I had never seen before were standing around an island, each holding a glass of wine and laughing. They paused when they noticed us.
“Girls, this is Layla. She’s Copper’s friend who will be staying here with us. Layla, these three nuts are married to club members. From left to right, Tiffany, Lauren, and Andrea,” Leigh said. All eyes shot to me. I tried not to squirm or fidget while they silently appraised me. Leigh cleared her throat and said sternly, “Not that kind of friend.”
The group collectively exhaled and smiled. Tiffany was the first to speak. “It’s nice to meet you, Layla. Would you like a glass of wine?”
“Yes, please, if you don’t mind,” I said quickly, eliciting giggles from everyone.
“Sorry about our initial reaction. We don’t associate with the whores. Leigh doesn’t either. So, we weren’t sure how to respond when she introduced you,” Andrea said.
I shrugged, “You weren’t the first to think that, and I’m sure you won’t be the last. No harm done.”
“Leigh, what are you over there doing?” Tiffany asked.
“Making something to munch on.”
“Just toss a bag of popcorn in the microwave,” she suggested.
“I wholeheartedly believe popcorn was created by the Devil himself, and I refuse to make it, let alone eat it,” Leigh stated before joining us at the table with the tray of cheese, crackers, and fruit she put together. “Dig in. I need you to soak up some of the wine you’ve ingested. It’s too early in the day to deal with your drunk asses,” Leigh said jovially.
Lauren winked, “We’ll slow down and give you time to catch up.”
Leigh took a seat at the table and grabbed a glass of wine, “Well, in that case…” Laughter erupted around the table. It was obviously a well-practiced routine between the women.
We spent most of the day in the kitchen talking. By the time Leigh showed me to Judge’s room, I had each of the women pegged. Tiffany was the polite one, Lauren was the wild one, and Andrea was the blunt one. Their personalities seemed to complement each other well, and I found myself slightly envious of their bond. Maybe one day I would be blessed with similar friendships.
After a quick shower, I crawled into bed. Drinking wine for the better part of the day left me feeling sluggish and sleepy, until a ringing phone from somewhere in the room scared the ever-loving shit out of me.
I sat up and immediately noticed the phone on the nightstand. When I saw Copper’s name on the screen, I couldn’t answer it fast enough.
“How is he?” I said as soon as the call connected.
“He’s doing okay, Locks. He’s woken up a few times since the surgery. He seems to be the same as he was before the explosion.” Copper chuckled, “He’s pissed about his hair, though.”
“I would be pissed too if half of my head was shaved,” I said. Bronze had beautiful long hair—though, he probably wouldn’t like me calling it beautiful. “When he gets home, I can fix it for him, if he wants. I’m thinking he could totally rock the shaved on one side, long on the other look.”
“I’ll tell him,” he said softly. “He also asked me to apologize to you for him. He doesn’t remember the argument with me and demanded I tell him about it. I did, and he said, ‘You have to call her and tell her I’m sorry. Do whatever you have to do to express my profuse and sincerest apologies.’”
“All is forgiven. If he hadn’t said those nasty things about me, his condition wouldn’t have been brought to your attention until later. If him calling me a whore saved his life, I’m okay with that,” I said honestly. I knew Bronze didn’t mean it. Don’t get me wrong, his words were painful to hear, especially in front of Leigh and the other club members, but I knew he wasn’t speaking his true feelings about me.
“You’re an incredible woman, Locks,” he said.
“You’re pretty incredible yourself, Copper.”
After a few beats of silence, I added, “Enough of the sweet shit. I’m starting to feel the urge to vomit.”
His booming laughter filled my ear. When he quieted down, I asked, “Whose phone did you call? I saw your name on the screen and answered without thinking about it.”
“It’s your phone. Judge didn’t tell you?”
“No, I haven’t seen him since he took you and Bronze to the hospital.”
“He must’ve left it in the room when he was getting his stuff. I asked him to pick up a phone for you a few days ago. You would’ve gotten it sooner, but the snowstorm messed that up.”
“Copper, I can’t accept this. I’m sure it cost a fortune and—”
He cut me off, “You can and will accept it. I’ve already told you the club will take care of you, which includes your safety and that means you need to have a phone. I don’t want to hear any more about it.”
“Fine. Thank you for the phone,” I said flatly.
“You can thank me when I get back,” he said huskily.
After we ended the call, I stayed in the bed and tried to fall asleep for hours. I tossed and turned to no avail. In the early hours of the morning, I finally fell into a restless sleep filled with unpleasant dreams.
Chapter Twenty-One
Copper
Bronze’s surgery was a success, and he only had to stay in the hospital for a few days. After giving it much thought, we decided it would be best for him to recover at Phoenix’s place in Croftridge. Bronze wasn’t happy about it, but he eventually agreed it was for the best.
My club had been at Boar’s place for a little over a week. It was past time to take care of our problems and get back to Devil Springs. Even though Boar insisted we were welcome to stay as long as we needed, I still felt like I was a week behind thanks to the snowstorm and Bronze’s delayed complication from the explosion. Just thinking about what could have happened to my brother because some stupid fucker bombed our clubhouse had me fuming.
Crammed into the detached garage on Boar’s property, I called Church to order. “Brothers, we’re not leaving this room until we have a plan in place. Blackwings don’t run and hide; we face our problems and end our troubles.” A chorus of grunted agreements sounded throughout the cramped space.
“Spazz, did you get anything else on Amos Brown?” I asked.
“No, Prez, not a fucking thing. Whoever wiped his identity did a damn good job. I did get some info on the new VP. He goes by Asp, but his real name is Donald Jensen. He’s thirty years old and has been with the club since his early twenties. He’s been arrested numerous times for a variety of crimes, including murder, but they’ve never been able to make anything stick. As far as family goes, parents are deceased, no wife, no children, two siblings, both are also deceased.”
“His parents and his siblings are deceased? Was it an accident or did he kill them?” Judge asked.
“Parents died when he was a teenager; his father was stabbed in a bar fight, and his mother overdosed a few years later. From what I could find, the sister died in a fire last year, and the brother’s body was found floating in the river nine days after the sister died,” Spazz said.
“Names?” Batta gruffly asked.
“Parents were Gregory and Trina Jensen. Sister was Crysta Jensen and brother was Kevin Jensen.”
I banged my fist on the table. “We need proof that these fuckers are the ones who attacked our club!”
“Sorry, Prez. That’s all I’ve been able to get. I’ll keep looking,” Spazz said nervously.
“I think some of us need to go back to the clubhouse. They can’t attack us if they don’t know where we are, and we can’t catch them if they’re not doing anything,” Tiny interjected.
“Good idea, Tiny. We’ll leave the families here with the prospects and a handful of brothers while the rest of us return to Devil Springs. All in favor?”
The vote to return to the clubhouse was unanimous. We determined who would be staying with the women and children and decided to ride out first thing the following morning.
I didn’t like the idea of leaving Layla behind, but I liked the thought of her getting hurt or killed even less. Hopefully, she would understand and not put up too much of a fuss about having to stay. She and Leigh had developed a friendship, and she seemed to get along with some of the other Old Ladies. She would be okay without me for a few days. Honestly, I wanted to send her to Croftridge with Bronze, but I couldn’t do that without Annabelle finding out they’re sisters which wasn’t an option until the babies were born.
I dismissed Church and went in search of my girl. I hadn’t been able to spend much time with her since we arrived and I was going to make up for it the moment I found her. As luck would have it, she was in the camper and had just stepped out of the shower when I walked in.
“Hey,” she said shyly. “Give me just a minute to get dressed and I’ll make us something for dinner.”
“There’s plenty of food at the main house,” I said gruffly and followed her to the small bedroom.
“Copper,” she gasped when I yanked the towel from her and pulled her body against mine.
“Been thinking about you all day,” I murmured against the soft skin of her neck as my hands moved over the curves of her body.
When my hand reached the apex of her thighs, she dropped her head back and moaned. My fingers found her center wet and ready. “Seems like you were thinking about me, too,” I mused.
“Mmmhmm,” she agreed with a slight nod of her head.
“What were you thinking about?” I asked and reached to pull my wallet out of my jeans.
“This,” she groaned. “You coming in here and fucking me.”
“Yeah? Did you touch your pussy while you were thinking about me fucking you?” I asked while I made quick work of opening my pants and slicking a condom down my shaft.
“No,” she breathed. “I wanted to, but I didn’t.”
“Good. Hands and knees, Locks,” I said and gave her luscious ass a light slap.
She eagerly climbed onto the bed, and I was buried inside her seconds later. “Layla,” I groaned and took a minute to just enjoy the feel of her body surrounding mine before I started to move.
By the time we were finished, I needed a shower and she needed another one. Needless to say, we never made it to the main house for dinner.
The next morning, she walked me to my truck to say goodbye. I pulled her against me and wrapped my arms around her. Then, I said fuck it and covered her mouth with mine in front of the whole damn club. I didn’t know when I would see her again so this last kiss needed to tide me over for a while. The sounds of hoots and hollers caught my attention. Without breaking the kiss, I lifted my middle finger in the air and silenced the bunch of immature jackasses.
When I finally pulled away, Layla’s cheeks were pink and her lips were swollen. I contemplated taking her back inside for another round before I left because I couldn’t get enough of the woman.
She placed her hands on my chest and said, “I can’t believe you did that. The women are going to be all up my ass once you leave. They thought we were only friends.”
I made a snap decision in that moment. I can’t say the thought hadn’t occurred to me before, because it had, but I hadn’t given it any serious consideration. Still, I knew it was the right thing to do. Without warning Layla, I turned her in my arms to face the onlookers and announced, “She’s my Old Lady. Show her the respect she deserves or you’ll answer to me.”
I heard Layla gasp as the boisterous bunch fell silent. Placing my lips against the shell of her ear, I whispered, “You know what that means?”
She nodded and turned to face me. “I do, I think. Do you mean it or did you do it to protect me?”
Holding her gaze, I answered honestly, “Both, Locks.” She grinned. “Give me one for the road,” I said, yanking her closer. The little vixen kissed the ever-loving shit out of me without an ounce of shame.
When we broke apart, her eyes were shining with unshed tears. “Stay safe, Copper.”
Caressing her cheek, I told her, “I’ll do my best. I’ll call you tonight. Stay in the house, and stay out of trouble.”
“Yes, sir,” she said with a wink and gave me a salute before stepping away from my truck. With that, I pulled onto the road and led the caravan back to Devil Springs.
The drive back took a lot less time than it did when Layla and I made the trip there. The snow and ice had long since melted away and it looked like the majority of the fallen trees had been cleaned up.
Seeing the clubhouse when I pulled through the gates sent a flurry of mixed emotions through me. It was always good to be home, and the clubhouse was as much my home as my personal residence was. However, seeing the section that was bombed had me ready to explode with rage. I had to keep reminding myself it could have been worse. It could have been much worse.
“Prez!” Judge shouted. “You need to see this.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and a feeling of dread washed over me. I took quick strides to my brothers gathered by the front doors. “How did that get in here? We locked the gates before we left. And what about the fucking cameras? Did they miss this, too?!?” I roared.
We had surveillance cameras scattered around the property that were set up to notify us if and when any motion was detected while we were away. Judge assured me the cameras had been updated to the highest level of security in his reach. He even consulted with Spazz, Byte, and Shaker’s girl, Keegan, to make sure the camera feed couldn’t be hacked again.
Judge shook his head, “No way, Prez. My phone has been blowing up since we arrived because I haven’t turned the motion notifications off yet. Hell, I got at least twenty alerts that were nothing more than a squirrel running through the lot while we were in Reedy Fork. I’ll go on inside and start checking the feed.”
“Hold up. We need to clear the building first. If someone got past the gates, they could’ve easily entered the building,” I said.
We divided into groups and started clearing the clubhouse and surrounding buildings section by section. With each clear called out, a little bit of tension was relieved.
As soon as the last section was cleared, Judge took off for his room, assumedly to review the camera feeds. I returned to the front of the building and picked up the manila envelope with my name written across the front.
I took it to my office and dropped heavily into the chair behind my desk. I knew whatever was in the envelope was something I did not want to see. I also knew that I had to look. Pussyfooting around it wasn’t going to do me any favors. Exhaling slowly, I ripped the fucker open and dumped the contents on my desk.
On top was a photo of a girl who looked vaguely familiar. Behind it was a photo of a young man I didn’t recognize. The third photo I recognized immediately. Gnaw. What the fuck? I put it to the side and quickly looked through the rest of the contents—photos of Octavius, Scream, and Belch.
Behind the last photo, I found a handwritten note. “All dead. All killed by Blackwings. No more Disciples die by the hands of Blackwings. Now, Blackwings will die by the hands of the Disciples.”
I carefully gathered the note and the pictures and stepped into the hall. “Church! Now!” I bellowed.
“We’ve got our proof, brothers,” I said and tossed the envelope onto the table.
I gave them a few moments to pass the stack around and look through the pictures. “I’m sure you all know the Croftridge chapter is responsible for the deaths of Octavius and Gnaw. As for Scream and Belch, we were told Aim and Asp were responsible. Regardless, it wasn’t anyone from Blackwings. Now, about the other two pictures. Any of you know who they are? The girl looked a little familiar, but I couldn’t place her.”
Judge straightened in his seat. “Isn’t she one of the club whores from Croftridge? I can’t remember the girl’s name. She was always drooling over Phoenix, even after he found Annabelle.”
Recognition dawned. “Yeah, I think you’re right. I’ll check with Phoenix. Okay, what about the guy?”
“What’s going on, Copper?” Phoenix asked, his voice full of concern.
I put my phone on speaker and placed it on the table. “We decided to come back to the clubhouse, just the brothers for now. Found an envelope by the front doors with pictures of Octavius, Gnaw, Scream, Belch, and the two I sent you. The note said all were killed by Blackwings, and there would be no more Disciples killed by Blackwings because they were going to kill us first. I know about Octavius and Gnaw, but the other four have me stumped. I thought Aim and Asp killed Scream and Belch. How the fuck does that fall on the Blackwings?”
Phoenix cursed. “The girl was a club whore, but she was a mole for the Disciples. She’s the one who helped Octavius escape. When we found Octavius and Gnaw in the warehouse, she was there, but she was already dead. One of them shot her in the head before we arrived. Her brother was a prospect for the Disciples, and he’d been trying to kidnap Annabelle and did help with kidnapping Nathan. I can’t say for sure, but I bet the guy in the picture is her brother. Scream claimed he knew nothing about what Gnaw was up to and said he didn’t want any trouble with my club. He took care of the prospect as a show of good faith, so to speak.”
“Names?” Batta asked.
“The whore’s name was Crystal, and her brother’s name was Kevin. I think their last name was Jenkins or something like that.”
“Fuck!” I roared.
“What?” Phoenix yelled.
“Jensen. Their last name was Jensen. They’re Asp’s brother and sister,” I explained.
“This doesn’t make any sense. Why would he come after you? Their deaths weren’t on the Blackwings, but if he’s trying to blame us, he should be coming at me and mine,” Phoenix said.
“True, but what about Scream and Belch? Maybe they think we had something to do with their murders,” I mused.
Copper (Blackwings MC - Devils Springs Book 1) Page 13