Sax

by Tory Richards

  Annie leaned in as if she didn't want anyone outside of the group to overhear. "You think she had someone call Crickets posing as Sax?"

  Before I could answer Bobbie hissed, "I wouldn't put anything past that bitch. She's been sleeping her way through the guys, and it doesn't matter if they're taken or not. I caught her coming on to Demon the other day and tore her a new one. Made it clear that she needed to keep her fucking hands off my man."

  "I don't know," JoJo said in a thoughtful tone. "She's been clinging to Sax like a leech. If she wanted you out of the way, she wouldn't do something to keep you around."

  That was true. But doubt still lingered.

  "Did you mention this to Sax?" Raven questioned.

  I shook my head, remembering that Sax had told me that said he hadn't been with anyone else since we’d broken up. "Like I said, it was just a thought, and he's going to look into it."

  "Speak of the devil—I mean ‘bitch.’"

  I turned in the direction of Ellie’s gaze and saw Goldie coming down the stairs with Loco. She was clinging to him, which seemed to be her MO, as if they were a loving couple instead of a club girl with a satisfied customer. I shook my head with disgust. Loco chose that time to catch my eye and grinned, shooting me a wink. He was such a man-whore, but I couldn't help but return his smile.

  "Who's doing dinner tonight?" It was getting close to that time again.

  "The club girls are doing the honors tonight." Ellie gently ran her fingers through her daughter's soft curls while the toddler slept, splayed out on her folded legs.

  "If I know Lulu, she'll do most of the work. The others don't put any effort into anything but fucking." There was bitterness in JoJo's tone.

  "I wish Lulu would see that she's way too good to be a club slut," Raven murmured. "She's so sweet and giving, and she would make a great old lady."

  "Too late for that." This came from Bobbie. "You know these men won't make anyone who's slept with his brothers an old lady."

  No one mentioned the fact that Bobbie had come to the club as a club girl, but Demon had taken a liking to her from the start, so none of his brothers would sleep with her. Demon hadn't known that at the time. It had turned into a big mess, but it all worked out in the end.

  "I think she was in a bad place when she first came here," JoJo quipped.

  "Well, it's their loss," Ellie spoke up. "I bet if she were to leave here or find someone outside the club that one of these jerks would be sorry they didn’t make a move on her."

  I nodded, believing the same thing. But which brother would it be? Certainly not Loco, he liked variety, and swore he'd never be pinned down. Chewy didn't seem to give her a second thought, unless he was in the mood. Snake? Spider? Dancer? For a while she'd been fond of LD, but that hadn't worked out.

  Raven sighed. "Guess time will tell."

  I saw Cherry, Mitzi, and Lulu heading toward the kitchen, minus Goldie. I searched the bar and found her rubbing all over Snake. Did she think by keeping herself busy with the men that she was going to get out of helping with the food? It wasn't my place to speak up.

  "Huh!" Once JoJo got everyone's attention, she nodded toward the table where Goldie and Snake were making out. "Guess she thinks she's too good to help the others with dinner." Disgust was thick in her voice.

  Bobbie immediately stood up.

  "Where are you going?" Ellie asked, her eyes growing wide.

  "To remind that bitch that she's here for more than sucking dick."

  As the president's old lady, Bobbie had every right to say something to Goldie. In fact, all the old ladies did, but they rarely used their power. Bobbie stormed over to the table and put her hands on her hips. Whatever she said broke Goldie and Snake up. I wished I could hear what was going on, but I smiled anyway, knowing that Bobbie wouldn't hold back. Judging from Goldie's expression, she wasn't intimidated by whatever Bobbie was saying and looked ready to mouth off to her, until the door opened and Demon walked in. It was as if someone had flipped a light switch, and suddenly her expression softened and became more receptive to Bobbie's interruption.

  Demon, seeing his old lady confronting a club girl, pivoted in their direction. He put his arm over Bobbie's shoulder but remained silent, letting Bobbie handle the situation. Within seconds Goldie scooted off Snake's lap and disappeared into the kitchen. Demon whispered something down at Bobbie, and gave her ass a hard slap before walking away.

  "I'm not sure I want to eat anything she's had a hand in," Raven murmured worriedly.

  "That was epic!" Annie whisper yelled when Bobbie returned. "Even though we couldn't hear what was being said."

  Bobbie sat down, a satisfied smirk on her beautiful face. "That one's trouble."

  "I think we can all agree on that." Ava was giving me signs that she was getting hungry by trying to stuff her fist into her mouth. "I think I'll take Ava upstairs and feed her, give her a bath."

  "You'll be back down for dinner?"

  I nodded at Raven. "I have nowhere else to go." I got to my feet, pulling Ava up with me, and sighed. "Can't wait for lockdown to be over."

  Three days later, I got my wish. By the time Tuesday rolled around, lockdown was over and I was on my way home.

  Sax hadn't taken up my offer to share his bed, and the knowledge that he was pulling away from me was crushing. But what had I expected? He was a prideful, alpha male who'd been wronged by someone that he'd trusted. He’d been gone from the club more than he was there, as were most of his brothers, and if any of the old ladies knew what they'd been up to, they'd kept it to themselves. I only knew how the men looked when they returned, their eyes dead their faces haggard.

  They hadn't been out there having fun.

  I carried Ava through the front door of our little house, took one look, and then released a breath of relief. Apart from for the dust, everything looked the same, as if we'd left long enough to go shopping and had come right back home. I set her down in the playpen and returned to the car to retrieve our bags. As I went to close the trunk I happened to glance across the road, and nearly had heart failure.

  There on the shoulder was a man leaning casually against his bike, arms crossed, and legs crossed at the angles. He was watching me, a slight smile on his clean-shaven jaw.

  Who was he?

  How had I not heard his approach?

  Had he been there all along, and I just hadn't seen him when I’d pulled in?

  My gaze flickered over his attire. His cut revealed that he was in a club, but I wasn't close enough to make out which one. For the first time I felt the isolation of where I lived, the fear of being all alone out here. My eyes darted to the door as I wondered if I could outrun him if I had to. So far, he hadn't made a move.

  And then he did.

  Chapter 25

  Sax

  The first thing out of Bull's mouth when I answered my phone was, "Got eyes on Holly, Brother."

  A breath of relief escaped me as I realized I wouldn’t have to worry about her and Ava now that they'd left the clubhouse. "Thanks, Brother. Who?"

  "Frenchie. Been a prospect for a year. Good man."

  I didn't like the sound of his name, considering how some of us got our road names. "Frenchie?" I frowned. "Do I want to know?"

  Bull snorted. The fucker. "Doubt it."

  "You trust him?"

  "Wouldn't put him on her if I didn't."

  The background noise I heard revealed that he wasn't at the clubhouse. "Where the fuck are you?"

  "Morning Glory. My uncle's nursing home."

  "Thought he was in Wells."

  Bull snorted. "I moved him to Vegas when I became enforcer for LD, Brother."

  That made sense. I knew his uncle was the only family that Bull had. The man had been in poor health for years. Heart problems, if memory served me correctly. I had to give Bull credit for seeing to his care.

  "How's he doing?"

  "Good. Now. Had a heart attack a few months ago, almost lost him. Was in intensive care
for a week. Hates being in a wheelchair, but it doesn't keep him from getting around and hitting on all the nurses." There was a smile in his voice.

  I'd never met his uncle, but I could picture the old coot riding up and down the hallways with a leering grin on his whiskered face, bothering anyone he came across just because he was cantankerous and lonely.

  "Glad to hear it, Brother."

  "Frenchie will be on Holly days. Jolly and Morton nights."

  I frowned. "Why two?"

  "Hell, you been out to her place? It's isolated as shit, and pitch black out there at night. Don't want a brother falling asleep, so LD suggested two."

  If LD had ordered it I wasn't going to question it. He knew what Holly meant to me. Now that he had an old lady, something none of us had ever expected would happen, he was in a more understanding place with regard to brothers and their women. He was protective as fuck over Jolene.

  "How long you and Holly gonna keep this shit up?"

  "'Till it's over, Brother." I kept my answer short, my tone making it clear that I really didn't want to discuss it. Hell, we could talk all day about fighting, fucking, and killing, but none of us wanted to talk about our personal feelings involving our women.

  Bull snorted, but was smart enough to let it drop. "What are we telling her when she asks why she has a prospect on her?"

  "Nothing. She's been with the club long enough to figure shit out on her own. She knows we've been involved in some shit lately, big enough to go on lockdown. She'll figure out that there are still loose ends that need taking care of."

  “Loose ends,” meaning Radar, the last remaining Dunlap brother who was a club member and still out there. We knew that we hadn't taken out all the fucking Knights, but all of the key players making the decisions were gone. After the shit that had gone down with Toledo, the Knights had fallen like dominoes. Between Vegas Watchdogs and us, we'd ambushed two more meetings they'd set up with their suppliers in flesh and weapons, letting their contacts live with the warning that they there would be consequences if they chose to do any more business with the Knights.

  Word in our world spread fast.

  "Got church, Bro. I'll check in with Frenchie later to make sure introductions went smoothly."

  "Thanks." I slipped my phone back in my pocket and followed my brothers as we headed toward the meeting room for our own church.

  Demon was already at the head of the table with a huge ass cup of coffee sitting in front of him. Our president looked strained and dog-tired. Long nights and longer days had taken a toll on all of us, but at least now we could breathe a little better knowing that our sacrifices had not been for nothing. Unfortunately, we'd lost three soldiers during the shootouts that had occurred, but every single one of us understood that we could forfeit our lives on any given day.

  We took our places at the table, and the last brother into the room closed the door. Someone let out a long groan. Mental exhaustion was just as draining as physical, and it was obvious from the expressions on some of my brothers’ faces that they'd been pushed to their limit. I felt it too, but none of us would complain. We'd done what we had to to take care of our MC and our families.

  Demon cut right to the chase, swinging his eyes to where Cole was sitting beside him. "Anything on Radar?"

  Cole's mouth took on an unpleasant twist as he shook his head. "Nothing."

  "Fuck!" Demon swore, pounding the table with his fist. "I want that fucker found!"

  "Know it, Prez," Cole growled back. "Got eyes on the house now."

  "Fuck, we all want to find Radar!" I reminded Demon, drawing his eyes to me. He glared at me for a minute, and I could tell that he was about to explode with frustration. "Want this shit done with."

  "Anyone tried talking to the mother?"

  "We killed four of her sons, dumbass," Loco said matter-of-factly, earning him the finger from Chewy. "Not there to talk, there to watch."

  "We'll keep tails on our old ladies until he's found and put in the ground."

  My mind immediately went to Holly and Ava.

  "Have all the girls we rescued been taken back to their homes?" Oz questioned in a serious tone.

  Over the course of a week, we'd found seven more women being held for auction. Destroying the Knights' porn studio hadn't stopped them from grabbing girls off the street or from producing more videos. We'd found proof of that in one of the houses we'd raided.

  "All except one, Brother."

  That was one good thing that had come out of all this—those innocent girls had gone home. At my response, Oz raised a brow inquisitively. "One of the girls is an orphan and just turned eighteen. She had nowhere to go, so she's staying here until we can figure out something."

  I half-expected someone, particularly Loco, to make a crack about her becoming a club whore, but the circumstances of her situation caused him to keep his mouth shut, and no one else had anything to say.

  "What about all the damage caused by those drive-bys? Are the repairs done?" Demon inquired, before taking a sip of his coffee.

  Oz opened up his ledger. "The bullet holes have all been plugged, if that's what you mean."

  Demon's growl warned him that he wasn't in the mood.

  Oz read over the page in front of him with a slight smirk on his lips. "Had to replace windows and a mirror, some liquor. Bought a new tattoo machine. Good news is everything was covered by insurance."

  "Construction site damage too?" I asked.

  He nodded. "Covered under vandalism."

  "Why a new tattoo machine?" Demon frowned.

  The grin on Oz's face was telling. "Can we help it if that old broken machine we had in the back got struck by a bullet?"

  I laughed, as did some of the others.

  The look on Demon's face said he was pleased. We had top of the line equipment in our tattoo shop, so it would have been an expensive replacement. "What else?"

  "Coffers are full. Still raking in the money from Crystal's Palace and Naughty Secrets. The packages and extra services we added a while back have really paid off."

  "Hey, do the brothers get a discount for a night with one of the girls?"

  "Loco, man, you ask this fucking question all the time. Why pay for pussy at a brothel when you can get it here free?" Snake uttered with irritation.

  Loco grinned like a lecher, his eyebrows dancing. "Tired of the same old snatch."

  "What about Goldie?" Dancer smirked, his blue eyes meeting Loco's across the table. "She's a tight little bitch." He spoke like a brother who knew firsthand.

  Loco grimaced in humor. "Careful, Brother. I think she has an agenda."

  So did I. "We're not here to discuss pussy."

  Cole's eyes flashed my way. "Ya know, Brother, since you became VP you're not as fun as you used to be."

  I gave him a grin and the finger. He slapped his hand over his heart as if I'd wounded him. There were a few chuckles, but it was obvious that there wasn't much energy behind them.

  "Okay, okay," Demon interrupted, leaning forward and steepling his fingers. "Sax is right. Let's get back on track." He yawned. "Shit. Getting too fucking old for all these late nights. Let's hope things stay quiet for a while. Keep your eyes and ears open for signs of Radar and anyone still wearing their colors."

  Heads nodded in response.

  "Proud of you brothers. Now get the fuck out of here. I'm going home to my woman, gonna sleep for a fucking week."

  He was lucky to be going home to Bobbie. Shit, I’d once had that with Holly. Going home to her had made the day's shit that I'd faced worth it. Now I just went to my room here and kicked back.

  As everyone but Cole and I got to their feet and headed toward the door, I leaned back in my chair and stretched. I'd heard from Holly after she’d gone home that the DNA kit had arrived in the mail. I wanted to get that test done yesterday.

  Demon looked us over. "Church is over, Brothers."

  Nodding, I said, "I'm going to take a ride to Vegas. Holly has the DNA kit. Need to go g
ive her a sample."

  "You want Ava to be yours?"

  I wasn't surprised by Demon's question, only that it had taken him this long to finally ask. My gaze flicked to Cole. The man was happy as a pig in shit that his old lady was going to have his baby, but I couldn't dredge up the same enthusiasm over the possibility of being a father. Unwelcome flashbacks had haunted me lately, ever since I'd come back and found out that Holly had a kid. I wasn't sure how I was going to react when I finally found out the truth, because I was fucking scared.

  Scared that Ava was mine.

  Scared that she wasn't.

  "Don't know how I'm supposed to feel, Prez."

  "A baby shouldn't come between you and Holly." His tone was respectful.

  I took a deep breath and released it slowly. "She's the one who let it, instead of facing me with the truth."

  "You gonna ever forgive her?" Cole asked in a hard tone.

  My head snapped his way. "Would you?"

  "I love Raven, Brother. More than I've ever loved anyone. Would lay my life down for her without blinking an eye. She makes me whole. Gives me a reason for breathing. So yeah, I would forgive her. Life's too fucking short."

  I clenched my teeth and looked at Demon. His expression revealed that he agreed with Cole.

  "You going with him?" Demon asked Cole.

  "Yeah. Figured I'd go for the ride."

  "Good. Better to have backup." He rose to his feet, yawning loudly.

  Cole chuckled. "Should we follow you home, old man? Make sure you get there?"

  Demon’s face split into a wide grin. "Fuck you, Brother. Worry about your own ass." He rubbed the whiskers over his lower jaw. "You going to come back tonight?"

  "Planning on it."All I had to do was give Holly a sample, and then I would turn around and come back.

  That was the plan.

  Chapter 26

  Holly

  I'd just put Ava down for the night when I decided it was a good time to call Samson about getting my job back at Grinders. As I waited for someone to pick up, I put my phone on speaker and quickly slipped into my sleep shorts and tank top. The thin material clung to my still-damp body. My long hair was still dripping and clinging to my skin.