This time around, Jordan didn’t seem hesitant to go to the bar. It was almost like she was excited to go. We rode on my bike, with her arms around me and she was quick to jump off and head out towards the bar doors when we reached.
When we walked in, we saw that everyone had already assembled for Church. Lila and Girth were there too, and both of them were looking nervous.
“What did you find at Fred’s place? These two are refusing to tell us!” Lewis said, the moment we walked in. Lila and Girth had clearly not filled them in on what I’d found.
Jordan stood behind me as I faced the rest of my Club.
“Girth was right. Fred had a personal history with the Hell’s Drifters which he never told us about,” I replied.
Lewis jumped off his stool, flinging his can of beer to the floor.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I found letters and notes, all the evidence I needed to find out the truth. Fred had borrowed money from them to start a business, and he spent the rest of his life trying to repay that loan,” I explained.
There was silence in the bar as I stood in the middle of my brothers. Lewis was glaring at me, like I’d just insulted him.
“What kind of business?” I heard Abe’s voice behind me.
“I’m not sure, it doesn’t matter. It was thirty years ago. All I know is that the business failed and Fred never made the kind of money he was hoping to,” I continued.
“Thirty years ago? That would be before he and I became friends, long before the formation of the Marked Skulls,” Lewis mumbled and I nodded my head in agreement.
“Why didn’t he ask me for the money, later?” he growled and Lila stepped in this time.
“Daddy, you knew Fred. You knew how he was. He would have done that to protect us, he didn’t want our MC to get involved in his problems,” Lila said but Lewis was shaking his head.
“I thought he used to tell me everything. He should have told me that he was in trouble with the Hell’s Drifters. I would have given him the money no questions asked, he knew that too!” Lewis was raging. He was going through the same emotions that I had when I first found out the truth.
“It wouldn’t have mattered. Fred managed to pay the money back to them in full many years ago. They wanted more. He was a slave to them for life—their own personal money making machine,” I said. My brothers were staring at me in shock. They didn’t know whether to believe what I was saying about their beloved Fred. None of us had a clue that he was being hounded by the Hell’s Drifters. He hadn’t given us any indication of it.
“What happened?” Marcus asked, despite the fact that all of us knew exactly what took place. It wasn’t so hard to connect the dots anymore.
“He decided to stop paying them and they came after him. That’s what happened,” Lewis filled in the silence and everyone went quiet. We were all imagining the moment that Fred got shot, again. We were all thinking about how we could have helped him, saved him; if he would only have come to us, if we knew what was going on in his life.
“He wanted to keep our MC out of it. He didn’t want us involved in this, daddy. He was hoping that if they killed him, the debt would die along with him,” Lila was saying in a shaky voice. Even though she had some time for the news to sink in; I could sense that she had still not gotten over it. Neither had I.
Lewis’ face was red with anger, he had his fists curled up like he was ready to punch something.
“I don’t give a shit if they think that Fred’s debt is paid now. I want him dead. I want that whole MC destroyed for what they did to my friend. They fucking ruined his life!” Lewis growled.
I heard Jordan whimper behind me. All this talk was affecting her too.
“That isn’t all,” I said and the others looked at me again. I hadn’t told Lila and Girth this either, and now Lila had her brows crossed as she stared at me.
“That’s not all? What more could there be?” Lewis growled through gritted teeth.
“Fred was determined to not let his problems affect the people in his life. Just like he didn’t tell us what was going on to protect us, he did the same with his family,” I said, watching all of their faces. Everyone in the bar was in shock.
“His family? You’re fucking making this up. Fred didn’t have a family. I knew him for fucking twenty years!” Lewis was angry again. His shoulders were heaving as he stood in front of me. If he could, he would breathe fire from his nostrils in fury.
I clenched my jaws and stared at him.
“Fred was in a relationship with a woman called Sarah Avery, during the time that he was trying to get his business up and running. He was trying to find the means to provide for a family,” I explained.
Lila gasped and her hands were clasped over her mouth again.
“Fred was in love?” she mumbled and her father threw her a threatening look.
“I think I would have known if he was sweet on some chick!” he roared and I shook my head.
“They couldn’t be in a relationship for very long. His business tanked around the time that Sarah got pregnant. Fred knew that the Hell’s Drifters were going to come after him for the money once they got word that his business had failed and that he had no means of paying them back,” I continued, against the looks that the others were giving me.
None of them could comprehend that there was so much about Fred that we didn’t know.
“Fred had a kid?” Lewis murmured in sheer disbelief.
“Fred had a daughter,” I said and stepped aside, so that Lewis now had a clear line of vision to Jordan. He stared at her for a second, before his eyes grew wide. His mouth hung open as he looked at Jordan.
Jordan was beautiful, and now her cheeks were flushed under the steady gaze of Lewis and everyone else in the room.
“She is Fred’s daughter?” he asked, in a deep guttural growl.
Lila squealed and went rushing towards Jordan, throwing her arms around her neck and pulling her close in for a hug.
“Oh my God, Jordan…I’m so happy that we’ve met!” Lila was gasping as the two women hugged.
“I still don’t fucking understand,” Lewis mumbled.
“Jordan didn’t know. Fred was missing from her life. He didn’t want Sarah or Jordan to get tangled up in his debt with the Hell’s Drifters. If they found out that he had a wife, and a daughter…” I said, but Abe had cut me off.
“They’d use the two of them as leverage against Fred,” he said, in a ghostly quiet voice. I nodded my head.
“He gave up his family because he didn’t want to put their lives in danger,” I added.
“What was he doing outside Jordan’s apartment building?” Lewis asked.
It was Lila who had connected the dots now. She pulled herself away from Jordan and smiled at the woman I was falling for.
“He was coming to see her. He wanted to meet his daughter before the Hell’s Drifters got to him. He knew that the end was near and he didn’t want to die without seeing his daughter. Maybe he wasn’t even going to go to her door. Maybe he just wanted to see where she lived,” Lila said, in a breaking shaky voice and then she broke down again.
Girth came up to them and pulled his girl into his arms. Lila was sobbing, she couldn’t get over how sad Fred’s last moments on this Earth were. That he had died with the knowledge that his long-lost daughter had seen him getting shot.
Lewis had been silent all this while. I heard him taking in a deep breath, before he stepped in Jordan’s direction.
“I want you to know that you will always have the Marked Skulls’ protection. I will use every man in my Club if that is what it takes to keep you safe. Fred was like a brother to me, and I’m going to protect his daughter,” Lewis said, and Jordan stared back at him firmly and then nodded her head.
“Thank you, that is the next best thing to getting to know my father,” she replied, and I felt relieved as I watched Lewis hug her tight.
20
Jordan
Girth had dropped Lila and me over to my apartment, and then he left to join Rodeo and Abe.
“What do you think is going to happen today?” I asked Lila, as I made mugs of coffee for us. Lila rubbed her thighs with her hands as she sat on the couch. She looked a little nervous even though she was putting up a brave front.
“I’m not sure. The boys aren’t telling me much about their plan, which means that it’s something that I won’t like,” she said, as I brought the mugs over to her. I sat down beside her on the couch, and I had a sudden vision of the way Rodeo had held me that morning—with his tongue between my legs, making me come violently. My pussy throbbed just from the memory of that moment when my orgasm took over my body.
“What do you think that means?” I asked, sipping some of the coffee. I noticed that Lila was refusing to meet my eyes. I could sense that she was worried, and I had never seen her worried before.
“It basically means that they’re going to do whatever it takes to get that man,” she replied, and our eyes finally met, and she looked away from me. I forcibly gulped the coffee down my throat. I didn’t want to imagine what ‘whatever it takes’ meant. As much as I wanted my father’s killer dead, I also didn’t want Rodeo to be hurt.
“Do you think they’ll be safe?” I asked in a weak voice. Lila looked up from her coffee mug and then forced a smile on her face. She reached for my hand and clasped it tightly.
“Whatever happens, I’ve learnt not to worry. I’ve spent most of my life worrying for my father’s safety, but I don’t want to do that with Girth. I trust him to be safe, to do the right thing. No matter what happens, I will always be proud of him and I won’t ever fall in love with any other man. Nobody will even come close,” Lila replied.
My throat had gone dry. I couldn’t imagine living a life like that, where the man you were in love with; lived on the edge. When you could never be sure if he would return home to you. It was exactly the life that my father had tried to shield my mother and me from. But what had that done to mom? Now I knew exactly why mom had been depressed…she was always in love with Fred. She couldn’t lead a life by herself. No matter how dangerous her life might have been if she stayed with him, it would have made her happy if they were together.
I smiled weakly at Lila. I understood her better now. I understood what it took to be in love with a man like Girth…or Rodeo.
“I can see that you’re worried for him,” she broke the silence and Lila had a twinkle in her eye. My cheeks flushed and I dragged my gaze away from her.
I nodded my head, there was no point in hiding it anymore.
“I can’t help it. I can’t help how I feel anymore…I know it sounds silly. We don’t even know each other…” I was fumbling with my words. The concept was still completely complicated in my head. Lila squeezed my hand again, she was smiling.
“It isn’t silly. I told you; that’s what happened with Girth and me. One minute I was happy with my life, I couldn’t wait to leave home and move to New York and build a new life for myself, and the next minute—I couldn’t imagine living my life without Girth. He had completely rocked my world and I’m so glad that he did,” Lila’s words were a relief. It was like she understood me, and didn’t judge me for my sudden feelings for Rodeo. She knew what it was like to fall for a man like him.
“And you are Fred’s daughter. Do you have any idea what that means to Rodeo, to me—to all of us?” Lila was smiling again.
“I know they were very close. Rodeo was telling me stories about him, and I enjoyed listening to them. I would have loved to get to know him,” I said, and I could feel the tip of my nose beginning to turn red.
“I wish that too, but I’m glad that you found your way into our lives anyway. You have no idea how happy it makes me that Fred’s daughter is my friend now,” Lila said. I felt pinpricks on the back of my neck. I felt happy that she thought of me as a friend, because I loved having her around.
We were smiling at each other again.
I bit down on my lip when I remembered what I’d said to Rodeo earlier.
“I told Rodeo that I wanted the killer dead. I’m worried that he’s out there, putting his own life and Girth and Abe’s at risk because of what I said,” I told Lila and she shook her head.
“He was going to do it anyway. I saw the look in his eyes when he first found out that Fred had been shot. He was going to get the man whether he met you or not. Maybe now he’s more determined but nothing was going to stop him anyway,” Lila said and I gulped.
“I can’t believe that I ordered him to kill the man,” I said squeakily and Lila pursed her lips together.
“He was going to kill you. If Rodeo doesn’t get to him first, he’s going to find an opportunity to get to you. He’s not just going to let you live because Rodeo saved you from him once,” Lila said and I could feel a cry rising up my throat. How could I forget that I had nearly died the previous night?
“But how is killing the shooter going to solve that? Aren’t they still going to come after me?” I asked and Lila had a soft smile on her face, like she knew something that I didn’t.
“The Hell’s Drifters won’t care about you as a witness once the shooter is dead. He is the one you can lawfully identify to the cops. There is no way to prove that he had anything to do with the MC, that Fred’s death was connected to the Hell’s Drifters. They’re only trying to get to you now because the shooter is still alive,” Lila said. She knew what she was talking about. She had spent her entire life around Motorcycle Clubs and I nodded my head. I understood what she was saying. Killing the shooter would serve two purposes—it would avenge the death of my father, and also eliminate the reason for Hell’s Drifters to come after me.
“I just want them to be safe,” I told her and Lila smiled.
“Rodeo is going to come back to you, just like I know Girth is going to come back to me tonight,” she said, but I couldn’t stop worrying. I wanted to see him again. I needed to feel his arms around me. There was no other way I could feel safe unless Rodeo was there with me. I knew that Lila could see that in my eyes.
“Go on, Jordan, say it…you need to say it out loud,” she urged me. Her friendly face and her comforting presence; pushed me towards the inevitable. I needed to first admit it to myself, before I could admit it to him. If he even wanted to hear it, if this was something he even wanted.
With my cheeks flushed and my neck hot, I looked Lila in the eye and parted my lips to speak.
“I have feelings for Rodeo. I’m falling for him,” I said and Lila squealed with excitement and clapped her hands.
Within seconds, we were hugging again.
“I don’t care how hard Rodeo fights this, I know the truth. I know he feels exactly the same for you!” she exclaimed excitably.
I laughed as I hugged her back.
“It’s going to take more than just your seal of approval!” I retorted and Lila laughed.
“He’s going to come around. It’s not going to take him long to realize that he’d be a fool to allow a woman like you to escape. He’s learnt his lesson from Fred,” she said, tilting her head to the side. There was warmth and confidence in Lila’s eyes which made me hopeful for my future with Rodeo.
All I could do now was hope for his safe return, hope that he accomplished his mission and that we could move on with our lives, together. I couldn’t wait.
21
Rodeo
Abe and Girth joined me outside the Hell’s Drifters bar again. I had been staking out the place for the past hour when they arrived.
This wasn’t the ideal situation—it was going to be the three of us against every Hell’s Drifters member who was inside the bar. I hadn’t seen the killer yet, but my gut told me that he would turn up.
It was getting dark now, and the three of us stood at a distance from the bar, where we had a direct view of the parking lot and the door.
“What’s the game-plan?” Abe asked me as he lit his cigarette. Girth and I looked at e
ach other, and my hand drifted automatically to the gun at my waist.
“I don’t have one,” I replied and Abe drew in a breath and nodded his head.
None of us, not even Girth, had found ourselves in a situation like this before. We were grossly outnumbered. But the truth was that if Lewis sent all the members of the Marked Skulls to join us, the Hell’s Drifters would still outnumber us. They were a significantly bigger club than us. We were the underdogs and we practically didn’t stand a chance against them.
Launching an attack on them, on their own territory was basically a suicide mission.
I looked over at Abe and Girth, both of whom were staring firmly ahead. I was grateful to them for coming here with me, but I wished that they hadn’t. I didn’t want to drag two of my brothers into the pit with me. There was very little chance that all of us were going to get out of there alive.
For me, this was a matter of vengeance. I was avenging Fred’s death, and I was doing what Jordan wanted me to do. I hadn’t told her exactly how dangerous the shootout was going to be, because I didn’t want her to feel guilty—and I definitely didn’t want her to stop me from going either.
“You guys don’t have to come with me,” I grunted and they both swung their heads to look at me. Abe had a hint of nervousness on his face, which he quickly wiped off.
“You need backup, brother,” Abe said with a grin.
“This is my job,” Girth added, in his calm growling way. I clenched my jaws and looked back towards the door and waited.
I couldn’t see the killer’s bike parked outside, which meant that he wasn’t inside the bar.
“I’m going in first,” I declared, without meeting their eyes.
What I said, basically translated to—I’m taking the first bullet. Neither of them said anything. We just continued to look ahead.
The roar of his bike was loud in our ears. The three of us saw him riding towards the bar at the same moment. My hand went to my waist and I pulled my gun out. This was it. It had to be now or never.
Marked Skulls MC Series: Books 1-5 Page 27