by Ivy Black
“Funny,” he replied, twisting his head to look down into my eyes. “I was about to blame you.”
His lips found mine in the moon-illuminated darkness, and my heart leaped up. If I had any stamina left, I might have tried to get us going again, but my legs were already sore. We’d done enough for tonight, and now that I knew he was staying, we had plenty of time.
Outside, a new band started playing, one of my favorite lesser-known bands from Hoppa. “Hey, wanna head to the party?”
“You expect me to dance after this?” Colin yelped.
“Maybe just sway?” I started to sit up, and my back screamed at me. “Oof, yeah. Definitely just swaying.”
He grinned and placed a hand on my cheek. “We can do whatever you want.”
Despite what both of our bodies were attempting, we managed to avoid falling back into each other again long enough to get dressed and then, slowly and carefully, descended the ladder to the clubhouse. The desert air was much cooler now that the sun had set, but the rager roared on despite that. Hand in hand, we walked back around to the front of the clubhouse, only stopping when I glanced toward the door and remembered Lockjaw.
“Oh, let me check on my dog,” I said.
Colin released me, and I skipped over and opened up the clubhouse door. All the bliss I felt ran away when I saw Taylor sitting on the couch, petting a sleeping Lockjaw. I glanced up toward the wall that divided the bulk of the clubhouse from the loft. Though the ceilings were high and there was a lot of distance between the couch that Taylor was sitting on and where Colin and I were in the loft, I had no awareness of just how loud we’d been or if it could be heard from where he was.
“Hey,” I greeted. “I was just coming to get Lockjaw.” I had planned to get Lockjaw some food and water and leave him behind, but I had no idea what Taylor might do.
“He’s pretty comfortable,” he replied. “Why don’t you just leave him here with me?”
“No.” My head was shaking before I could stop it. “He probably wants to get out. Pee and stuff.” I smacked my leg. “Come, Lockjaw.” Lockjaw immediately hopped to attention and tried to jump off the couch, but Taylor held him down. Lockjaw struggled against Taylor’s hold, even snapping at Taylor’s hand to try and get free so that he could come to me. “Taylor, let him go.”
Tears were already filling my eyes when Taylor lifted his arm, allowing Lockjaw to jump off the couch and rush over to me. I didn’t give Taylor another look, only led Lockjaw back out the door. By the time I got to Colin, I was sobbing.
“Tess?” Colin rushed forward, but his attempts to grab me failed when I crouched to wrap my arms around Lockjaw. Colin knelt next to me and put his hand on my back. “What happened?”
“He definitely heard us,” I said. “I thought he was gonna hurt Lockjaw.” My mind tortured me, showing me images of Lockjaw and Colin cut up into pieces like Adley. “I’m afraid he’s gonna hurt you.” I hugged Lockjaw close, and he licked my face.
“Taylor?” Colin asked, and I nodded. He wrapped an arm around me and one around Lockjaw and pulled us close to him. “I told you already. I’m not afraid of him.”
“You may not be,” I sniffled, “but I am.”
Chapter Seventeen
Phantom
All the mornings previous to that one, waking up alone either in my bed back in Rumble, in some shitty motel while I was on the run, or even in Tess’ guest bed didn’t even come close to the feeling of waking up in Tess’ bed next to her. My arms were curled around her stomach, holding her close to me, and the smell of her coconut shampoo and the lingering scents of her sweet perfume wrapped around me and made me lightheaded in the best way.
She still had her eyes closed and was breathing in and out softly. There wasn’t a thing in the world I wouldn’t do for her. The night before was playing on repeat in my head, and not just the amazing lovemaking, but how quickly we left MiD after Taylor freaked her out about Lockjaw. My eyes drifted down to where the dog was curled at the foot of the bed, also snoozing away. For the fact that he was a dog, I’d grown quite attached to him, too. The way Tess panicked was understandable, and I was more than happy to bring her back home early and make love to her until Taylor’s threats were far away from her mind. I just wished I could protect them permanently. Keep them out of his insane clutches.
After giving Tess a gentle kiss on the shoulder, I flipped back the covers on the bed and started to climb out. At first, I just sat up, but then I stood, being followed almost immediately by Lockjaw, who stirred and hopped down in response to my movements.
I crouched down and scratched Lockjaw’s ears. “Morning, buddy.” He stretched, sticking his butt in the air first as he stretched backward, then leaned forward, craning his neck up. “Want some breakfast?”
Lockjaw sprang into action and was out the bedroom door before I even stood back up. My neck cracked as I twisted my head to either side, and my back followed suit. Comfortable though the bed was, running around with Nick the whole day prior and then going at it with Tess more times than I could count after finally opening those flood gates had left my body more than a little sore. Baths weren’t really my thing, but one might be in order to get my muscles back in line.
With a sigh, I took a step toward the doorway to go and get breakfast started, but my arm was snatched, and my weight gave as I was dragged back into the bed. Tess crawled until she was on top of me and kissed me before speaking.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked, a sultry huskiness to her voice.
“I was going to go get breakfast started.”
She lifted her satin, spaghetti-strap pajama top off and tossed it to the side. “Breakfast is right here.”
There wasn’t a world or parallel universe in which I would complain about that. I braced my hand on Tess’ back and flipped her over until she was between the bed and me, and her hands were a flurry of movements over my already bare chest and stomach while we made out in earnest.
It’d been such a long time since I’d done something without the fear of rushing or what came next. Even though it was just a morning romp, I didn’t worry about getting to breakfast, rushing off to Hoppa’s to meet with the club, or anything that didn’t involve drinking in as much of Tess and her beautiful body as I could.
When we’d finally finished, Tess started to laugh. It was a sweet sound, and I couldn’t help but join in.
“What?” I asked.
“It’s just so ironic,” she responded. “For, like, a whole fucking month, getting you into bed was like pulling teeth. Now all I have to do is touch you, and”—she snapped her fingers in the air—“you’re in.”
I turned my head so that I could kiss her cheek. “That was before-Colin. I don’t know what his problem was.”
She looked at me. “Thank God we got rid of that guy.”
“Good riddance.” A gruff bark from the direction of the doorway brought our attention to a very irritated Lockjaw. I snorted. “Sorry, bud.”
That time, when I tossed back the covers, Tess didn’t stop me. I leaned down over her to give her one more kiss and then fought to drag myself out of the room and start breakfast. Lockjaw got his dry kernels first, but he ate them while staring at me as I cooked, having not gotten the additional cooked meats he usually got when the humans had their breakfast.
“He’s such a brat,” Tess said as she walked into the room. She bent over and looked down at him. “You do realize that most dogs aren’t as spoiled as you.”
He looked back at Tess as if to say, “What does that have to do with me?” and continued crunching away at his food as if we’d given him a servant’s gruel for breakfast.
Tess and I enjoyed a light conversation while we ate the bacon and eggs that I made for us, then after getting a little distracted taking a shower, we finally found ourselves dressed and on our bikes, headed for Hoppa’s.
It seemed like most of the club had already arrived when we were finally pulling into the lot, so we were
intentional in not lingering. We headed straight in to convene with the club for the after-MiD meeting. Tess would probably have to attend some specific officer meetings, but I also had to find some time to talk to Nick about the Unchained Dogs and about the information he was working with that was sure to get them all killed. No truly good plan had occurred to me about how to get the information to Nick in a way that wasn’t suspicious. The only best way I could think to get the knowledge across to him was to tell him the truth, and I was heavily considering it. I’d been living half a truth in Hoppa for long enough, and if I was planning to stick around, at the very least, Tess and Nick needed to know the truth. They both trusted me, and I trusted them. Surely if I told them the truth, they’d understand why I’d hidden it from the beginning, right?
Though they both needed to know the truth, who to tell first was a bigger conflict than I was expecting it to be. On the one hand, having Tess know before Nick could serve as a backup plan for when I told him. However, if Nick reacted badly and found out that Tess knew, as well, he could take it out on her, which was the last thing I wanted.
Tess would probably never forgive me, but I needed to come clean to Nick first. Only then could I tell her the truth. She wasn’t an unreasonable person, and I was confident that if I could just get her to listen to me, she’d understand. The bigger battle was getting in and out of a conversation with just Nick, and I prayed that the truth didn’t get a bullet in my brain the second that I said it. As soon as I had an opportunity to pull Nick aside, it was finally time to come clean.
“Hey!” Nick greeted Tess and me as we walked in. “You’re late.”
“Yeah, sorry. We overslept. Partied a little too hard,” Tess explained.
Across the room, Taylor was glaring at us, and his glare was new. The hatred behind his eyes had his pupils dilated wider and looking much darker than normal. The only thing that really scared me about Taylor was that he was going to do something that I was going to have to kill him for. If he truly tried to hurt Tess, Lockjaw, Nick, or myself, I’d have no choice but to end him for good. Things in Rumble had been a little more murderous for me than I would have liked. I didn’t want that life in Hoppa, but if Taylor continued to pose a threat to the new family I was building, I wouldn’t stop until he was under the ground.
“Well, MiD went amazingly. Best turnout we’ve ever had and,” he said and paused as he held up a stack of envelopes that he tapped against his hand. “Dues are the best they’ve ever been.”
One by one, Nick went around the room, handing envelopes to Avery, Bernard, Bullet, whose real name I still hadn’t learned, and Taylor. When he got to where Tess and I were situated near the bar, he handed an envelope to Tess, and then he held one out toward me.
So as not to insult Nick, I took the envelope despite the glares I was getting, and when Nick walked away, I leaned toward Tess. “What’s this?” I whispered.
Tess took her envelope and tucked it into her back pocket. “He just said it’s dues, weirdo.”
Fortunately, only officered club members were around because it probably would have gone worse than it already was going with all of the officers looking at me like they wanted to chop my head off.
“I thought only officers got paid,” I replied.
She side-eyed me. “Dad gave you a very specific and important role in preparation for MiD. He kept you by his side almost the entire time and had you join our exclusive, high-officer meeting. What do you think you are?”
It didn’t take a bylaw expert to know that the treatment I was getting from Nick was far outside the realm of what was normal or accepted, but though I was nearly tempted to return the money and ask Nick to start treating me more normally, when I flipped through the earnings in the envelope, my eyes nearly came tumbling out of my skull.
There was close to five grand in the envelope.
I quickly folded the top down again and moved it to my back pocket as well. There was no way for me to know if everyone else got the same amount, or if Nick’s preferential treatment was extending even to this, but there wasn’t a single day when I was with the Unchained Dogs that I got more than a grand in a single sitting. It was more than enough to get me to Munich, and even enough to get Caid and me situated once I got there. Glancing over at Tess with Lockjaw at her side, my brain started to wander.
It was even enough for a second passenger and her animal companion.
“Jeez, you look like the man just offered to give you a prostate exam,” Tess joked. “If you really don’t want it, I’ll take it.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but Nick’s voice cracked out and interrupted me before I could. “Okay. Now that the money’s all squared away, let’s talk about how the meeting went with the Raging Vipers and the Blazing Rebels.” Avery’s hand shot into the air, and Nick pointed at him. “Yes, Bullseye?”
“Squared, you know I’m not about to start questioning you, but this is getting a little out of hand.” He motioned over toward me. “CJ isn’t an officer. Payment, fine. He did a lot to help us get ready, but someone who’s barely been around a month shouldn’t get such sensitive information.”
“CJ was in the meeting,” Taylor said suddenly from the back of the bar.
“What?” Barnard barked. “Why? He’s not an officer. Even we are not allowed in those meetings.”
“I decided that having our new secretary in the meeting was important,” Nick responded.
Secretary? Although his words flipped me upside down internally, I held my best poker face as everyone, Tess included, turned to look at me with shock.
“Secretary?” Tess asked before turning to look at her dad. “This may sound like a shock coming from me, but we didn’t vote on that.”
“Exactly!” Avery barked. “The bylaws say—”
“All officers must be nominated by an existing officer and voted and approved by a majority vote,” Taylor finished. “All of which, CJ was not.”
“I like CJ, obviously,” Tess said, “but there’s a certain way that we’re supposed to do things.”
The fear in Tess’ voice was similar to that when her dad first invited me into the meeting the night before at MiD. In this situation, I agreed with her whole-heartedly. Nick’s blatant disregard for the rules was going to get me killed.
“I’m fine with earning my position,” I said.
“Nicky,” Bullet started.
Suddenly, Nick pulled a gun out of his waistband, stuck it straight up in the air, and shot. The bullet pierced the bar ceiling with a deafening crack and sent splinters of wood flying everywhere. With just as much calmness as he might have if he were doing laundry, Nick set the gun down on the bar’s corner and crossed his arms.
“I’m the fucking president,” Nick said. “I know what’s best for us.” He pointed at me. “CJ is a new era that’s going to take our club to the next level.” The hushed tone in his voice was still terrifyingly loud in the silent room. “But, I understand your concerns, so let’s do things the right way.” He glared around the group. “I’m nominating CJ for the currently vacant position of Secretary of the Steel Knights. All in favor?”
Tess looked at me, and with a sigh, slowly raised her hand. “Aye.”
Nick turned and tossed a leer down at Bullet, who, after a long stare off, raised his hand into the air. “Aye.”
Bernard was next in Nick’s crosshairs, and he held out for much longer than Bullet but soon realized Nick wasn’t planning to relent. He held his hand up, not even extending his arm to do it. “Aye.”
Nick’s gaze shifted to Avery, but Avery had already caught on. He held up his hand. “Yeah, aye, Nicky,” he said, but he shook his head and rolled his eyes.
Finally, Nick stared over at Tayor. “That’s a majority vote.”
Taylor glared back at his father. “So it is.”
I locked eyes with Tess, and I knew that we thought the same thing at the same time.
This isn’t good.
Suddenly, all of my plans we
re shifting dramatically. Nick was a great guy. He’d welcomed me into his club and his family, and he had treated me better than anyone ever had in my entire life. That didn’t change the fact that he was forcing me into a position that wouldn’t be good for me, him, or Tess.
He was making it so that staying wasn’t an option.
The confidence that I had that I could tell Nick the truth about where I’d really come from and not have him behave irrationally was abating fast. He was becoming a wild horse, and if his brotherhood’s reactions were any indicator, he’d never been like that before. I had to leave, and it had to be soon so that things could return to normal before everything he and those before him had built came crumbling down.
“So, with that sorted, does anyone have any objections to getting on with what I fucking wanted to get on with?” No one responded, so Nick grabbed his gun, slid it back into his waistband, and then continued. “Good. We spoke with the Blazing Rebels and the Raging Vipers last night, and they’re going to help us in a few different ways, the main of which will be helping us plan an ambush. That will only happen after we’ve done some reconnaissance. One of you will take one of the members into Rumble to see what you can see. Is there a volunteer?”
When my hand went up, it was met with a melody of scoffs and gasps of disbelief.
Nick pointed at me. “CJ?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Nick recoiled a bit. “You don’t?”
Luther was a paranoid psychopath who kept more guards stationed around Rumble than the Secret Service kept around the White House. If two people he’d never seen before came wandering into Rumble, he’d know within minutes, and if they weren’t Oscar-worthy liars, he’d blow their brains out before they were a hundred yards inside the city limits.
“No. The plan you laid out about the rumor, that’s good, but we shouldn’t do it in the desert, and we shouldn’t wait…” I didn’t want to sound too knowledgeable, but I knew Luther had rushed off impulsively toward an enemy more than once, mostly because he was a lunatic who loved to fight. “If it were me, and I suddenly heard that my rival gang was battling with itself, I’d try and take immediate action, maybe even before I could rally all of my allies to help. I would assume there was enough conflict that I could take advantage with just a few men.” I cleared my throat. “That’s just me, though.”