If Rook had known about Sarah, he probably would’ve tried to do her, too.
Fucking motherfucker.
While he loved his brother, he fucking hated him sometimes, too.
He swung his attention back to the woman his brother better not dare touch. Not if Rook wanted to continue breathing. “You bring me lunch?”
“No,” was her answer as Rook and Reilly joined them.
“Hey, baby,” Rook said softly, leaning in to kiss her cheek.
Jemma turned her head and rolled her eyes again. “Really, Rook?”
Rook stepped back and let his gaze slowly slide down her from top to toe. “Fuck yeah. Lookin’ smokin’ hot today, Jem.” He shook his hand like it had been burnt. “Hard to believe you’re that big ugly fucker’s blood.” He said to Reilly, “This is how you should dress for work, woman. Shorts could be a little shorter, though.”
If Jemma’s shorts were any shorter, her snatch would be feeling a breeze.
“I’ll make a note of it,” Reilly said dryly.
“Is he always an asshole like this?” Jemma asked her.
Reilly grinned. “Yep. One hundred percent asshole, one hundred percent of the time.”
“I don’t know how you put up with it,” Jemma continued like Rook wasn’t standing right next to her.
“It’s easy. You do things to get him all worked up, then tell him to his face he won’t ever get a piece of this.” Reilly swept a hand down her body. She snagged her bottom lip between her teeth and gave Rook a sexy, slow wink and blew him a kiss.
“Saved your fuckin’ ass from that psycho motherfucker who wanted to bat your head right out of the park with a home run. Don’t forget that, woman.”
“It doesn’t give you the right to be a dick.”
“Ain’t a dick. Can’t help but appreciate a hot as fuck woman. If you ladies wanna make a Rook sandwich for lunch, I’m available.”
Both women looked at each other, then burst into laughter so loud it woke up Dyna.
Rook grinned and shrugged. “Just puttin’ it out there.”
Cage ignored his asshole brother, pulled Dyna out of the stroller and held her against his shoulder, murmuring nonsense to settle her.
Reilly pressed herself against his side and just about squealed. “She’s so adorable. Oh my God! How did you make such a cute baby, Cage?”
“Probably ain’t his, that’s how,” Rook teased, even though his brother knew the DNA test proved Dyna was.
“Doubt he’d put up with sleepless nights if she wasn’t,” Jemma murmured.
“Can think of way better reasons for sleepless nights than dealin’ with a baby. I got a list of them if you wanna help me check some off, Jem.”
“Give it up, asshole,” Cage growled, rubbing Dyna’s back. “Doubt you want Judge fisting your fuckin’ asshole, even as stretched as it is. If you hadn’t noticed, he’s got big fuckin’ hands.”
Reilly snorted. “Let me hold her.”
“Your hands clean?” he asked.
“Yes, I don’t diddle myself all day like you guys do. Never saw a group of guys who had to touch their dicks so much. Like you all have to keep checking that they haven’t fallen off.” Reilly pulled Dyna from his arms and began to do the obligated baby talk to his daughter while patting her diapered butt.
“Cage’s fell off the second he realized he had a kid. Now he’s just a big pussy.”
“I heard Cage was an asshole, Randy,” Jemma said, “but I’m beginning to believe it’s you.”
“It’s in the blood,” Rook said with a crooked smile. He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at their old man heading back in their direction. “Learned from the master.”
“Well, you seemed to have turned out to be a real charmer, Randy. I bet you can’t get any pussy besides the ones that have been shared by all your brothers and who aren’t allowed to say no when you drag them like the Neanderthal you are back to your room.”
Cage dropped his head and snorted.
“Most of the time, don’t even bother draggin’ them anywhere. Do them right on the spot,” Rook corrected her.
If his brother wasn’t careful, he would soon get a knee to the nuts.
“Like I said, a real charmer.”
“I can be charmin’ when I need to be,” Rook assured her, giving her a wink.
Forget Jemma teaching Rook a lesson, Cage was about to pop him in the face. “She don’t want your crooked-assed, deformed dick. Give it up.”
“That crooked dick hits all the right spots.”
Cage turned back to Jemma, trying to relax his fists and change the subject before things got ugly.
Whip was right, if they started fighting, not only would Dutch have a fit, but so would Trip and Judge.
He took another good look at Jemma since her attention was turned toward Reilly and Dyna. He couldn’t blame Rook for wanting a piece of her. But if anyone was going to get it, it was going to be him.
Fuck his brother. Rook wasn’t snagging this one from under his nose. “Where you goin’?”
The slight curl on her lips while watching Reilly and Dyna flattened when she turned back to him.
Damn.
“Probably just to Dino’s. We can walk from here since it’s nice out. I could use the change of scenery.”
“Gonna bring me somethin’ back?” Thinking about their loaded fries made his stomach growl a little.
She thrust out her hand, palm up. “Do you have money?”
He grimaced. She knew he didn’t. Every fucking dime he made went to pay Dutch back to get him off his ass and to buy shit Dyna needed.
Rook pulled out his wallet, dug out a twenty and slapped it into her open palm. “Two burgers and two loaded fries. I’ll buy this broke-ass bitch lunch today. He’ll owe me a quick hand job later.”
Reilly scrunched up her face. “Gross! You might have to move up that mountain with those inbred Shirleys. Dutch said they do family circle jerks.”
Rook laughed. “Yeah, everyone stands in a circle and grabs the dick to their right. Don’t matter if it’s their brother, cousin, uncle or father.”
“Sounds like you’ve taken part in it,” Jemma said. She frowned at Cage. “Who are the Shirleys?”
Fuck. “Judge or Deke didn’t tell you about them?”
She shook her head.
“Will tell you all about them,” he purposely added, “at dinner.”
She ignored the last part. “How do you boys want your burgers?”
“Pink, warm and juicy in the center, just how I like my pussy,” Rook said.
“I’ll make sure to tell them to pound your meat extra hard before they form the patty.”
Rook smirked. “You can pound my m—”
“Brother,” Cage growled. “Medium rare. For both of us. Thanks, Jem.”
“You ready?” Jemma asked Reilly.
“Yep! I need a break from Stud Muffin here.” She handed Dyna back to Jemma, who strapped the baby into the stroller. “Let’s hit it.”
“I’d like to hit—”
Cage shoved Rook toward the garage, cutting off his remark.
“Later,” Cage called over his shoulder as the women headed toward the sidewalk.
He turned before going into the darker interior of the bay and stopped to watch the two women make their way toward the center of town.
Jemma looked natural pushing a stroller with his daughter. He couldn’t pull his eyes away until she was out of sight. Even when Rook elbowed him and said, “You know I’m fuckin’ with you, right? Can see you got a hard-on over her even though she’s not stickin’.”
“Fuck you, asshole.”
Rook laughed all the way into the garage where it echoed back at him.
Chapter Fifteen
Six blocks separated Dino’s Diner from the garage. Both businesses were on Main Street with the diner closer to the center of town and Dutch’s Garage at the west end. While taking the long stroll back, Jemma took her time checking out the busines
ses along the way. Usually when she came home for a visit, Lottie wanted to make her homecooked meals and Deke and Judge would join them, so Jemma rarely went into town. She wasn’t aware how much things had changed over the years.
All for the better, from what she could remember.
The town was still quaint, and for the most part quiet, but Jemma noticed more tourists were coming to Main Street to shop the locally-owned businesses. Most came to the area to enjoy the nearby Pennsylvania Grand Canyon whether by hiking, biking, horseback riding or whatever.
Jemma didn’t have to wait for dinner for Cage to tell her about the mountain clan, Reilly spilled the info she knew. Reese’s younger sister admitted she didn’t know everything but knew some key things.
Like the basics of what happened to Autumn. How Sig saved her. About Levi. About one of the local cops and his wife, an OB/GYN, adopting the baby Sig’s ol’ lady had by the former leader of the Shirley clan.
She learned the Shirleys considered themselves a “sovereign nation,” a group who didn’t follow any laws but their own.
All of it sounded kind of worrisome.
Reilly said something big went down on the mountain after the clan abducted an already pregnant Autumn, but none of the guys would tell the twenty-four-year-old exactly what.
If the current club was anything like the Originals, the retribution probably involved mass death and destruction.
She’d have to ask Judge, who, as the club’s enforcer, would know the details. Whether he’d share them or not was another story. Jemma wasn’t a member and also being a woman, he’d probably tell her that club business wasn’t her business.
However, Dyna was her business, and the baby was club property.
Hearing about these “inbred hillbillies” who cooked meth, made moonshine and had a stash of guns made Jemma worry even more about her brother stepping into their father’s boots as sergeant at arms. Her brother was responsible for the safety of everyone under the Fury’s protection. That also meant if any violence went down he’d be front and center.
Deacon probably would be, too.
Lottie fretted over and despised the fact they were both wearing Fury colors. Jemma could see why. This wasn’t a weekend riding club, this was a motorcycle club. This wasn’t a social club, this was a lifestyle.
One they’d protect any way they’d need to.
Jemma only hoped Judge did it with a cooler head and more smarts than Ox. Trip was nothing like his father Buzz who ruled the original Blood Fury with an abusive fist. She’d heard a few comments here and there about Trip having the same temper as the former Fury president. So did Sig. But both were doing their best to keep it under control.
Trip, for the club and Stella. Sig, for his “Red.”
Their women seemed important to them, unlike the way the Originals treated theirs. That made Jemma optimistic, but it didn’t settle her fears.
She had no idea if the Shirley clan existed when Buzz and Ox ruled the Fury. If they had, she didn’t remember hearing about them, not even as a kid growing up with Lottie and Walter. Possibly, they’d kept to themselves or had been, at the time, a much smaller group.
Hearing everything Reilly told her over lunch turned Dino’s famous loaded fries in Jemma’s gut to a slab of concrete.
Jemma might have waited until later for Cage to explain if Reilly hadn’t seen a sketchy vehicle slowly traveling down Main Street toward the end of town where all the chain stores, like Walmart and Target, were located. Justice Bail Bonds was also at that end of town.
“Did you notice that rust bucket had no plate?” Reilly had whispered after the primered, four-door sedan with the missing exhaust passed them.
“I wasn’t paying attention.” She was too busy checking out the new stores in town and window shopping.
“I wonder if a couple of Shirleys were in that car. I’ve been keeping an eye out ever since I was warned about them. The boys said their cars are never inspected or registered. They don’t have driver’s licenses or insurance, either. They never bring their vehicles to Dutch’s to get repaired, they do it themselves.”
Jemma had looked for the car but by then it was too far in the distance with a cloud of smoke billowing from behind it. “Why do you need to keep an eye out?”
“Because they hate the club,” the blonde answered.
“Because of Autumn?”
“Yes. And whatever the club did to them to get her back after they stole her.”
Stole was an interesting word Reilly used. Jemma gripped the stroller handles more tightly as ice settled in her veins. “So, they went up there to get club property back and did whatever they needed to do to achieve that goal.”
“Yes,” Reilly practically whispered. “But they won’t tell me what. They always give the answer that,” she dropped her voice as deep as she could to mimic one of the guys, “club business ain’t your fuckin’ business.”
Jemma grimaced. She hated that shit.
Reilly might not be official club property, like the ol’ ladies, but working at Dutch’s, as well as being Reese’s sister, she was under the club’s protection.
Just like Jemma was.
Now they were almost back to the garage, with Jemma pushing the stroller with an awake, but quiet, Dyna, and Reilly carrying the wax-paper sack of take-out from Dino’s for the two Dietrich brothers.
She was sure their food would no longer be hot, but she doubted either would care if they were anything like her brother and cousin. They’d hoover food hot or at room temperature. And cold pizza was like cocaine.
A half block away from Dutch’s, Reilly suddenly put on the brakes, grabbing Jemma’s arm to haul her to a stop.
“What the hell?” she whispered and nudged Jemma with an elbow to the ribs. “There’s that fucking car again. It’s such a piece of shit, it has to be them.”
Jemma turned her gaze toward the sedan Reilly was staring at. It was now parked at the curb along the same side of the street they were walking. They would have to pass right by it.
From where they stood, she could see what looked like two male figures in the driver and passenger’s seats, but only the back of their heads were visible.
Her heart leapt into her throat. “I don’t think it’s much worse than that Honda Cage sometimes drives.” Jemma wasn’t sure why she mentioned it or even if that mattered. It didn’t. But maybe she was trying to soothe her own fear. If the Shirley clan was dangerous and, if the club had done a bunch of shit to their family, then they might want revenge.
The parked vehicle was close enough to observe any activity at the garage.
“What do you want to do?” Reilly whispered, her blonde head close to hers so they wouldn’t hear her, since all four windows on the sedan were open.
What did she want to do? “What do you mean?”
“Should we cross the street?”
“For a half block?” Jemma asked, apparently a little too loudly since Reilly shushed her.
“They’re giving me the creeps.”
“They’re not doing anything but sitting there.”
“They don’t give you the creeps?” Reilly asked with surprise.
Fuck yes, they did, now that Reilly had told her about their existence. “We don’t even know who they are.”
“Who else drives around town without a plate?”
“Someone who lost it and doesn’t realize it?”
Reilly snorted.
Jemma pressed her lips together and pushed the stroller. “We’re being ridiculous.”
“I hope so. But what if they try to grab us?”
Her heart began to thunder as they got closer. What if Reilly was right? She was spooking the hell out of Jemma. “They have no way of knowing we’re a part of the club.”
Right? Was she assuring Reilly or herself?
“Maybe. Maybe not. They grabbed Autumn right out of Sig’s apartment. They had to have been watching The Barn to know where she was.”
Jemma’s step
s faltered, but she didn’t want to stop so close to that car, so she pushed on. “What?”
Reilly lowered her voice to the point Jemma almost couldn’t hear her. “Yes, they were watching the farm. Maybe they still are.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “Maybe they’ve been watching all the businesses!”
“Reilly, you’re freaking me the fuck out,” Jemma hissed, the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck now standing. Why hadn’t anyone thought to warn her about them before this? Especially with Dyna!
She and Cage were going to have words tonight. That was after she had words with her brother and cousin.
She’d been living on the farm for a few weeks now, why hadn’t anyone thought to tell her she or Dyna could get snatched or attacked by some toothless, Deliverance wanna-bes?
Now she wasn’t scared. Hell no, now she was angry.
Men were so stupid sometimes!
With a little growl, she walked faster. Both of them moved closer to the edge of the sidewalk farthest from the street. That, at least, would give them time to fight or scream if those men in the car tried anything.
Holy shit, it was bad enough being home in Manning Grove brought bad memories to the surface, now this. She couldn’t get out of this town fast enough. She was going to flood every employment website with her resume when she got back to the trailer.
Reilly grabbed her forearm and dug her nails into Jemma’s skin as they quickly walked past the car.
Jemma tried to act as if everything was normal, and, without being too obvious, let her eyes slide toward the car as they passed. She couldn’t see too much but from what she did, she’d describe them as typical mountain men or rednecks. Their hair and beards were unkempt, and their heads followed both Jemma and Reilly as they passed.
She shivered, like a ghost had run its fingers down her spine, once the car was behind them. She didn’t like that vulnerable feeling and kept her ears peeled for any opening car doors or footsteps behind them. Her paranoia was at a level one hundred on a scale from one to ten.
They heard nothing except the start of the exhaustless engine and the transmission clunking into gear, but by then their feet were hitting the edge of the garage’s lot. They’d be within hearing and vision range for the guys in the shop.
Blood & Bones: Cage (Blood Fury MC Book 5) Page 20