"He thought I was you." I figured that, because Moody hadn’t said a word. His eyes moved over me, landing on my bare feet and boots. "Finish up. We need to go."
He started to leave my bedroom. "Moody! What did Martin say?"
He paused by the doorway and glanced back at me. "Do you really want to hear what he wants to do to you?"
I sucked in my breath, my eyes rounding in shock. The memory of his finger inside me caused my blood to turn cold. I couldn't find my words to answer Moody. After a minute he disappeared and I slipped into my boots.
Chapter 26
Moody
I knew that I was in trouble when the possible ramifications of fucking Bailey without a condom finally hit me. How could I have been so fucking careless? In the moment I hadn't given it a thought or had a care that I was filling her with my seed. It had felt too fucking good fucking her bare. Christ, I wanted to do it again now. I wanted to feel her heat swell around my dick; I wanted to lose myself inside her goodness.
I had to get my head out of my ass and get back on track. I always used protection. I never fucked a woman facing her. I detached myself from them as soon as the fuck was done. I knew that made me sound like a selfish prick, but I was a selfish prick. I did those things that way for a fucking reason. Women were good for fucking and that was all. I didn't need one in my life, not in the capacity that Maggie had been. She'd ruined the whole fucking dream of having a family. She'd taken that away from me.
Bailey scared the shit out of me because I wanted her, but so did Martin.
While Bailey had been dressing I'd received a phone call from Benjamin Graves. I'd been expecting it. He had the SD card, and I'd listened to the sound of his gloating as he threw it in my face. He'd been practically gushing over the fact that he’d finally gotten his hands on it. I could almost picture the glee on his face, and would have given anything to have been there to see his expression when I'd finally told him that there was more than one copy. The silence that had followed had been telling. I couldn't believe that he hadn't expected us to make a copy.
"You're lying!" Graves had finally said after a full minute of silence.
I laughed at his stupidity. "You're an idiot. But go ahead and make trouble for MCs and find out how that works for you." I knew he wouldn't take that chance. He'd come after me because he’d known definitively that I’d had a copy, but he didn't know who else had one. "You underestimated the wrong people."
I could just imagine the thoughts going through his head, now that he knew he'd never be free of the incriminating evidence against him. And he had no idea who to go after. That was the beauty of it. He'd gone into politics with a promise to the people that he couldn't hope to fulfill.
"Of course," I began after a long pause, "as long as you leave MCs alone, you've got nothing to worry about, from us anyway." I grinned. "So tell me, who did you trick into ransacking my office?" I didn't really expect him to answer, but I still wanted to know. "What's her name?"
"Someone you'd never suspect," he responded with a self-satisfied snort. "She's done work for me before and she’s never been caught." The smugness was back in his tone.
My hunch had been right. A woman had stolen the card. I'd suspected as much when I’d found the golden tip of a nail in my drawer. I'd racked my brain, trying to recall the women I'd run into at the bar who had painted nails that color, other than my girls, but the truth was, I'd never been interested in their fucking nails. I'd hung up on the fucker when I'd heard Bailey's slightly raised and panicked voice coming from her bedroom.
I could have told Martin that he'd never get his hands on the card now that Graves already had it, but I wanted to get my hands on Martin for what he'd done to Bailey and Holly. As long as he thought that he still had a chance, he'd stay in the area, and my gut was telling me that he wanted Bailey almost as much as he wanted that SD card.
We were about ten miles away from the Desert Rebels’ compound when I noticed a lone rider coming up on us, fast. He was too far away for me to see who he was, but I could tell that he was wearing a cut. As he grew nearer I could see that he was wearing dark shades, and a mask that had a skull on it covered his face from his nose down. He gave me a signal that he was coming up alongside me. Bailey's slight jerk revealed that he'd caught her by surprise. I looked over at the rider, and he pulled his mask down so that I could make out his features. We exchanged nods, and then he raced off in front of us.
Cole must have had to make a run into town for something. His bags looked weighted down, and he had a package tied to the back of his bike. We arrived at the compound close behind him. Smoke billowed out from behind the building, and the familiar aroma of barbeque saturated the air. The sound of children's laughter and music followed the noise of my bike shutting down. Bikes and cages were all over the fucking place, and so were people. I helped Bailey off.
"Hey, sweetheart!"
"Cole," Bailey greeted with a smile, accepting his bear hug.
I tramped down the feeling of jealousy that struck me as I dismounted my bike. "Brother." We did the man-hug thing and then stepped back. I made sure that I had his attention. "She's with me." That was all I had to say. Cole's slight chin lift told me that he understood that Bailey was off limits. "You need help with that?" I indicated the load on his bike.
"Naw, I got it, brother." He shot Bailey a friendly smile. "Your friend's out back."
"Thanks." She took a step away from me.
I reached out and grasped her arm, meeting the question in her pretty eyes. "Remember what I told you the other day. This is a family cookout so there shouldn’t be any trouble, but some of the single men may still make a move on you." She was dressed similarly to all the other women at the barbecue, but there was something about Bailey that set her apart from the rest. Her wild, red hair for one, and those sparkling green eyes for another. But it was more than that, something that I couldn't put a finger on.
"I'm a big girl, Moody," she smiled with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "I won't let anyone cart me off that I don't want to."
Was she testing me? I didn't like it. "Do you plan on going off with someone?" I growled.
She laughed, the sound light and airy. "Are you worried?"
That’s when it hit me--she thought we were becoming something. What the fuck was I doing? Giving her the wrong impression, that's what. I didn't want to hurt Bailey, but I didn't want her thinking something was happening between us that could never be. We weren't an item, surely she knew that. Sex didn't equal a relationship. Her tone, the softness of her expression, and the teasing glint in her eyes exposed a woman who was feeling on top of the world. Fuck, I hoped that I wasn't the cause.
"Not worried at all," I said, realizing that I had to set her straight. "You can fuck whoever you want, baby." I watched her face fall, and then darken to the point that her freckles disappeared.
"You know what, Moody? You're an asshole!" I was surprised that her eyes hadn't set me on fire.
Several heads turned our way. "You just figuring that out?" I smirked.
"No, you remind me of it all the fucking time!" Her tiny hands curled into fists.
I almost laughed. "You want to hit me with one of those?" I asked, nodding towards her hands.
"No," she snapped. "I want to kick you in the balls!" She began to stomp away.
"Where you going?"
"To find someone to fuck!" she called out without turning around.
Like hell! I thought to myself. I stood there for a minute shaking my head. Jesus, I needed to get my head on straight. The woman was twisting me up inside, making me do and say shit that didn't make any sense. I was beginning to contradict myself, too, telling her that she was mine when I was fucking her face to face, warning Cole away from her, and then practically telling her to go find someone to fuck. Shit!
I heard a snigger and turned to see that Cole was still standing there. "Fuck, brother, you better keep that one," he said jokingly, although I sensed that there was al
so a ring of truth in his statement, too. "If I didn't think you were full of shit, I'd go after her myself." He grabbed his stuff and took off.
The. Fuck? I should go after him and pound him into the ground. I made my way around to the back of the building, and just missed being run over by a group of kids racing around the corner. I came to a dead stop and they parted like a wave and went around me. I heard several chuckles, and I followed the sound to the large smoker at the side of the lot. Killer and Demon were standing there watching. Once it was safe to move, I joined them.
"Where did all the kids come from?"
"Look around you, brother, there's a lot of us here with families now."
I did as Killer suggested, finding Bailey with Holly and Sax as my gaze scanned the area. It appeared that Holly was fitting in nicely. There was a hulluva lot more members now than there had been the last time I’d been there. "Are these all Desert Rebels?"
"Most are," Demon answered, while bringing a beer up to his lips. "Some are friends from other MCs."
"Any news on your friend Martin?" Killer asked.
The man was sick, his color giving it away. "As a matter of fact, he called earlier today, smug as hell and full of threats." I pinned my gaze on Bailey, who was laughing at something. "He wants that card bad, but Graves called, too. Whoever stole it from my office already gave it to him."
"Does that prick know there are more copies out there?"
I couldn't stop the grin from spreading across my face. "He does now." Both he and Demon sniggered. I shrugged. "The only reason he came after me was because he knew that I had a copy. He has no clue who else has one."
"I'm sure he can make an educated guess." Killer lit a cigarette, saying out the corner of his mouth, "Bet he was surprised."
"Pissed."
"Dumb fuck." Demon took a couple of steps over to a trash barrel and dropped his bottle into it. "If he knows what's good for him, he won't be going after any MCs.”
"Yeah, just one law abiding citizen we don't have to worry about," I smirked.
"I see you brought back that pretty lady."
I didn't like the way that Demon was staring at Bailey. "Where's your old lady?"
My question pulled his gaze back to me. "She ain't coming back. Got the divorce papers a couple of days ago."
"You don't seem too broken up about it."
He shrugged. "Should have happened a long fucking time ago. Got married when we were teenagers 'cause she was pregnant."
That was news to me. "I didn't know you had a kid."
"Don't. Bitch wanted to get married to get away from her parents, lied about it."
"There are tests for that shit, brother," Killer grinned.
"Yeah, well, what the hell did I know at eighteen?" he sneered back, returning his interest to Bailey.
I laughed along with Killer. That explained why Demon and his old lady hadn't been faithful to each other. I wondered why it had taken them so long to divorce. Demon was in his mid-thirties now. "Brother," I said in a low snarl, drawing his attention back to me. "Get your mind off Bailey, because it's not going to happen."
His laugh revealed that he understood more than my words. "A man can dream, brother," he responded, rearranging his dick with a leer.
I couldn't fault him for that.
A mild commotion drew my attention to where three club women had joined a group of single brothers. I knew a lot of MCs that didn't allow their club whores to attend family gatherings, but Killer had always made an exception for his single brothers. As long as the girls showed up in clothes and behaved around the old ladies and children, they were welcome.
"Well, now, I see relief in sight," Demon joked, taking off in their direction.
"Take it inside, brother!" Killer yelled after him. He looked at me. "Don't need to give the old ladies a reason to stop coming."
There was a cooler next to the smoker. I reached down and grabbed a beer. Every once in a while I glanced over at Bailey to make sure that she wasn't doing anything to get into trouble. As long as she stayed with her friend, she'd be good. Right now she was sitting at a picnic table with Holly, Sax, and some others, and sipping on a beer. She fit the scene, and seemed at ease with the others. Once in a while she would reach up and brush her hair, which seemed to have a life of its own, away from her smiling face. The way her shirt fit against her tits revealed how round and perfect they were.
Shit. I pulled my gaze away, noticing more than one brother watching her. I couldn't blame them for wanting her.
"So, what's the story with her," Killer inquired, nodding in Bailey's direction. "You won’t need to protect her forever. Martin finds out that card is gone, he'll leave the area."
"It's not just the card he wants," I reminded Killer. "And I want him for what he did to Bailey and Holly."
"They're not your problem, brother," he pointed out, dropping the butt of his cigarette and grinding it beneath his boot.
"They became my problem when he came after something that belonged to me and involved them."
"Then why don’t you use Bailey to draw him out?"
"Thought about it, but don't forget, he ran with the Sacramento Reapers. If he was any good at it, he'll smell a trap a mile away." I wasn't sure that I could use Bailey as bait now. Even a solid plan had weaknesses that could cause the whole thing to backfire.
"Don't know much about the Sacramento Reapers," Killer admitted. "Did you call their president, Hermes?"
"Yep. Claims he doesn't know anyone named Martin Hale, and he could have been any one of the three brothers who recently left the club." I watched Demon walk off with one of the club women. "Said nothing good about any of them." He'd also said that his MC and the Dirt Devils' weren't friends.
"That's possible. You know MCs, especially outlaw MCs; a lot of the men have secrets they take with them to the grave. Hell, I don't even know your real name, brother."
I'd told him a long time ago, but he must have forgotten. I gave him a thorough look, noting the subtle changes in his appearance apart from his gray pallor. He was thinner than I'd ever seen him. "Fuck, brother, you're sick."
He was in the process of taking a drink, the bottle pausing halfway to his mouth, his stress-free expression growing somber. He slowly lowered his hand, not breaking eye contact with me, and then he took a deep breath. "Colon cancer, brother. Just told Demon and Cole the other day, they are the only ones who know."
"Christ, how bad?" I didn't know much about colon cancer except that it was bad if it wasn't caught early.
His expression said it all, backing up his next comment. "Gonna die, brother, stage four, and it has spread. Got a couple of months, maybe a little more, left."
I was in shock. "You're not treating it?"
He shook his head. "Naw. Don't want to spend what time I have left sick from the treatments and in hospitals, especially if it's not going to save my life. Want to go out my way."
I could understand that. The kind of life we lived, we all felt the same way about dying. Killer wasn’t old by any means, but he'd lived a couple of lifetimes. He'd lived the way most hard-core bikers wanted. I knew why he hadn't told the rest of his brothers that he was on his way out--he didn't want to appear weak in their eyes, and he didn’t want their sympathy. He wanted them to continue looking at him like the strong, fair president he'd been for most of his life.
I turned my attention to what was going on in the yard. It looked like every other cookout. There was some dancing, kids were everywhere, running around and laughing. Some were sitting down and eating. Cole had joined Bailey. They both had plates of food in front of them, and they were talking and laughing like old friends. I felt a stab of something inside and ignored it, refusing to believe that it was fucking jealousy.
"Don't worry about me, brother," Killer said, drawing my attention back to him. "I've lived a full life."
There was nothing I could say to that except nod. "Will you be passing the reins to Demon?"
He laughed, a
nd said gruffly, "Fuck, no! I plan to go out as president. The brothers can vote him in if they want him."
That would just be a formality. Demon would make a good president.
"Come on, brother, I'm hungry. Let's grab some food before these animals eat it all."
That sounded like a good idea.
Chapter 27
Bailey
Three days. Three fucking days and Moody hadn't said more than five words to me. He was avoiding me for some reason, going out of his way not to be alone with me, even at the bar. I shouldn’t be complaining. He wasn't the friendliest person to be around. But still, after the fantastic sex that we'd had on the sofa I'd thought that we'd moved past his unpredictable up and down moods. I’d had my first indication that this was not the case when he'd ignored me at the Desert Rebels' cookout.
I thought back to that day. It had been great seeing Holly again, and seeing how happy she was. The more time I spent with her and Sax, the more I accepted that their feelings for each other were real. I was so glad that she'd found someone, and who better than the man that she'd given her virginity to? What surprised me more was how content she was at the clubhouse. She'd told me that the old ladies were friendly and eager to explain how things worked. As her friend, their friendliness had carried over to me.
I'd found myself thinking that I wasn't jealous that Holly was making new friends, I was jealous that I wasn't part of it. Being at the cookout had made me see that the club had a true family atmosphere, one that neither Holly nor I had had growing up. Neither of us had siblings, and this is what had drawn us together as kids.
"I'm in love, Bailey," Holly had said to me in a quiet moment when Sax had taken off for some drinks.
Gazing into her eyes and knowing her as well as I did, I had believed her. It wasn't infatuation shining back at me, but something close to awe, as if she were surprised that she was in love, too. I'd hugged her, expressing my happiness, telling her that I liked Sax. Then Cole had joined us, and our girl moment had ended.
Furious (Nomad Outlaws Trilogy Book 3) Page 20