Beautiful Outlaw (18 page)

He moves his hands up to cradle my face.  “You’re fuckin’ perfect.”

Before I have a chance to respond, he grabs a hold of the back of my head and pulls me forward. I tilt my head up to look at him.  There’s a look on his face that I can’t quite name.  He slowly leans down to meet my lips with his, and brushes a kiss across them.  His lips do not leave mine as he starts a gentle assault on my senses. This kiss is unlike any other he’s given me before, it’s tender and slow, but no less consuming. 

He gently caresses my lips, taking his time.  When he finally licks across my bottom lip, I’m left breathless with desire. His tongue glides into my mouth and slides across my own. My arms wrap around the back of his neck, holding him to me. He releases the back of my head and both his strong arms encircle my body, while his sinful mouth claims me as his own. Much too soon he pulls away, his eyes meet mine and I can see the burning need within them that I’m sure matches my own.

“Come on, baby. Let’s go home, so I can take you in our bed.”

Making Plans

Bowie

After cutting off my bike, I pat Shay’s leg.  “Jump off, baby.”

She does as I say, without even wobbling.  I look to her feet and up to her face, taking in her beautiful body on the way.  “See you got your biker legs.”

“Yeah, it’s not so bad.  The first time I rode with you my legs felt like jelly for hours,” She replies with a smile, before taking a step back.

I slide from my bike and throw my arm over her shoulders.  Turning to the house, I notice my old Chevy sitting in the back.  I point it out to Shay and say, “Tomorrow, we’re gonna work on driving.  When you get the hang of it, I’ll get you something better to drive.”

She stops, forcing me to do the same.  “You’re going to teach me to drive?”

I look down to her and nod.  “I’m on the road a lot, so you got to be able to get around.”

“When I was young, Dad used to have a truck just like that.  He would let me drive it on the back roads, so I kinda know how but I’m not ready to brave traffic.” She stares at the truck, a small smile on her lips. 

I can just imagine a young Shay, the one Lock told me about, driving with her dad.  “I bet you gave him hell.”

“No, I didn’t.  I was the perfect daughter.”

She was, fuck, no one else would have done what she did.  My woman gave up everything for her family.  She gave up her whole fuckin’ life for them.  “Yeah, babe.  You still are.”

She smiles but I can see sadness; it’s as if she just remembered her mom’s death.  She hasn’t mentioned it since we left North Carolina, but the shadows I’ve seen in her eyes let me know it is never far from her mind.  Just like always, Shay does what she has to.  Right now, she has to move on.

I push her forward, stepping onto the front porch.  “You need to start studying for your test.  It took Priss four times to pass the written part.”

“She was just nervous,” She automatically defends my sister, using the same words that Priss does every time I give her shit about failing.  “I don’t have to take the test anyway, I already have my license.”

It’s my turn to stop in my tracks. “How the fuck do you have a license, when you don’t know how to drive?”

“Jeremy had one made for me, when he gave me all my stuff for my new life.”

Huh, guess the boy in blue isn’t so squeaky clean after all.  “Good, then all we gotta do is get you behind a wheel.”

I step forward and open the door, pulling her in with me.  As soon as we step through the door, Tin walks out of the kitchen with a beer in his hands.  “I thought you were just stopping at the clubhouse to grab your shit?”

We continue into the room as I remove my arms from Shay and head towards the fridge.  Grabbing a beer for myself and Shay, I hand it to her and answer my brother.  “We got held up.  Cash started his shit as soon as I got off my bike.”

“More trouble with the Sixes?”

I shake my head.  “Nah, he had a few things to say about Shay.  I put a stop to it.”

“How’d you do that?”

“He grabbed my boob and said I was his property.” Shay answers for me, shooting daggers in my directions.  “And he did it front of everyone.”

Tin barks out a laugh, and I fight a smile of my own.  I have no fuckin’ clue how I didn’t notice her fire the first time I saw her.  I reach out to grab her chin, attempting to pull her in for a kiss but she’s too fast.  Shay sidesteps me and walks to the fridge. I watch as she puts the beer back, before pulling out a bottle of water.  She cuts her eyes to me.  Then she leans against the counter.  “I don’t drink beer.”

I ignore her attitude and turn my head back to Tin.  “He thought he was forcing me to claim her, but I already planned to do it anyway.  He just forced me to do it in a way she didn’t like.”

He looks to her with a smile on her face.  “I’m sure she didn’t like that.”

I don’t even have to look to know she is shaking her head.  “She didn’t, but she took it like a champ.”

Tin Man opens his mouth to say something else but shuts it when someone knocks on the door.  He shouts out a come in, and seconds later Rollo and Tag are in the room. The kid is carrying a bag, looking nervous as fuck.  He stops just inside the door, his eyes searching the room.

Rollo puts a hand on his back and pushes him forward.  “He’s your trouble now.  If I was you, I’d gag his ass.  The little prick may have balls, but he doesn’t know when to shut his smart fuckin’ mouth.”

“You’ve been giving him trouble, boy?” I ask, my voice hard as steel. I want to help the kid out because I’ve been in his shoes, but I’m not gonna take any shit from him. 

“Hell, yeah he has.” Rollo answers for him.  “He kept bitching until I let him pack his shit from the barn.  I told him it was just crap anyway, but the little fucker wouldn’t leave it behind.”

“It’s all I got.” He says in a quiet voice, one about to break. 

Before another word can be said, Shay is walking across the room.  She stops only a few feet in front of him.  “Would you like a bottle of water?  They don’t have anything else but beer.”

“I’d rather have a beer.” He mutters out as he takes it from her hand.

She gives him a look that clearly says that is not happening.  “Water will have to work, until I can get to the grocery story.  What do you like to eat?”

I feel the corner of my mouth lift.  She is so much like Nina, seeing a lost soul and trying to fix him.  “Baby, he’s gonna be staying with us for a while so you can find out what he likes later.  For now, just take him and show him his room.  It’s the last door on the left and ours is up the stairs at the end of the hall; give us a few minutes.”

She hesitates before catching the mood in the room.  The tension went up a notch the moment Rollo came in, and it didn’t have a fuckin’ thing to do with the kid.  He’s here to give us a report on Cash’s latest fuck up.  Shay doesn’t know this, but she’s smart enough to figure out this isn’t the place for her.  Finally, she nods and motions for Tag to follow her.  As they walk down the hall, I hear her ask him his name.  He starts to say Nate but catches his self and replies, “Tag.”

We stay silent until we hear the door to his room shut and the sound of Shay climbing the steps.  “Okay, what happened while we were gone?”

“Before we start, are you gonna tell me who the kid is that’s gonna be sharing our house?” Tin says, pulling a joint out of his cutt and placing it between his lips.

I shake my head.  “We can talk about it later.”

His eyes narrow on me but he doesn’t argue.  Instead, he lights up his joint and takes a hit.  Then, he looks to Rollo.  “Tell us, what did dear old dad fuck up while we were on the road?”

“Cash being Cash,” He says as he walks to the fridge and pulls out the beer Shay just sat back in there. “He’s called a meeting about the Sixes.  He wants to call in the Hellions to ride against them.”

“Roundman’s not gonna go for that,” I say with a shake of my head, knowing the Hellions president won’t fall for my father’s shit.  “He’ll know we’re in the wrong, and he won’t put his boys on the line.”

“That’s what I said, but you know your father.  He thinks everyone bows down to him.”

“Well, he’ll find out when he rides in alone,” Tin adds, hating Cash as much as I do.

“That’s the problem, Cash won’t be riding.  It’ll be us.  He is gonna send the three of us down there in two weeks.  There’s another drop, and Toke will be along for this one too.”

I fist my fingers, wanting to run my hand through the bastard’s face. Instead, I pull out a cigarette and light it up. “I don’t need a watchdog; none of us do.”

Tin takes a seat at the table and tosses back his beer.  As soon as the last drop is gone, he looks to me.  “He is talking this shit with the Hellions, knowing Roundman won’t play; it’s all a fuckin’ game. He wants us gone, and he’s gonna do what it takes to make it happen. He thinks he can throw up a smoke screen, but we’re not fuckin’ idiots.”

“Shit,” Rollo mumbles.  “I think the same damn thing, but his problems aren’t going to end with us.  There are a lot of boys that are not liking how he is running things.”

“Yeah, but none of them are blood.  Tin and I are his sons, and your dad was an original.  We could make something happen, but the rest of the brothers are stuck putting up with his shit.”

Tin barks out a bitter laugh as he holds out the joint for Rollo to take a hit.  “I have no power.  I’m just the spic bastard he doesn’t claim.”

The room goes quiet, tension picking up even more.  What he says is true, if it hadn’t been for me, my brother wouldn’t even be wearing a patch.  Sometimes, I have to wonder if I made the right decision by forcing the issue.  I had to pull in every favor and play every card I had to get the vote to swing my way.  I wanted him to be part of the Savage Outlaws, but now I wish he was as far away as he could be from our fuckin’ father. 

Finally, Rollo speaks, after taking the joint from Tin’s hand.  “It’s time we made a play, stop his shit.  I know he’s your father, but we gotta do something.”

“I’m gonna call a meeting.  If he doesn’t step down, I’ll put him in the ground.”

Tin lets out a low whistle.  “I know he’s a bastard but are you sure you can do it.”

I think about it for only the briefest of seconds and know my answer.  Do I want to kill him, no? Will I kill the motherfucker before he kills me? Hell yeah!  “I can do it.”

My Home Too

Shay

I wake up, when the bed dips and Bowie settles in behind me.  He throws his arm over my body as his lips settle on my shoulder.  “It’s time to wake up, baby.”

Opening my eyes, I see sun peeking through the wooden blinds and fight the urge to go back to sleep.  I was so tired, I didn’t even look around after he sent me upstairs.  I just stripped off my jeans and crawled into bed.  “What time is it?”

“A little after seven,” He answers as his denim covered legs rub against my bare ones.  “I gotta get you to Nina’s.”

“Why?” I ask, sleep still clouding my brain. 

His arms tighten around me and his lips move to cheek.  “I gotta go to the clubhouse.”

“We just left there.”

He chuckles before responding.  “When I came up here, you were already out.  You slept through the night. I’ve been awake for nearly an hour, already took my shower and shit. Tried to wake you up to take it with me, but you were dead to the world.”

I pull from his arms with a jerk and sit up.  “I didn’t even make Tag anything to eat.  He must be starving.”

Tag seemed so lost when I left him in his bedroom alone.  I don’t know his story yet, but I know it has to be sad.  A kid like him shouldn’t be on his own.  He should have parents to love him, someone to care for him. 

Bowie’s arm snakes out and pulls me back to him.  “He’s fine, baby.  That kid damn near demolished my fridge. I don’t know where in the fuck he put all that food.”

Turning my head to look at him, I start to ask the questions that have been on my mind since Tag walked in.  “Who is he?  I mean, who is he to you?”

“Rollo found him camping out in the barn behind the clubhouse, so I took him in.” He shrugs as he explains, playing it off as if what he did is no big deal, but it is.

“Where are his parents? Won’t they be looking for him?”  I can’t imagine not knowing where my child was, if I’m ever lucky enough to have one. 

“I don’t know who his dad is, doubtful that he does either.  His mom’s a club whore.  She’s probably on her back under one of the brothers right now.  She doesn’t give a fuck where the kid is.  If she did, she’d have made sure he had a roof over his head and food in his belly.”

Good Lord, what kind of woman just let her child fend for himself? “Does she know he’s here?”

“Doubt it,” He says as he lets me go and swings his legs over the side of the bed.  “If she does, she won’t fuckin’ care.”

He grabs his boots and starts the slide them on, ending the conversation.  As soon as they are on, he stands up.  “Now get your ass up, I got shit to do.”

“Why do I gotta go to Nina’s?”

“Like I said, I got shit to do,” He says as he walks to other side of the room and grabs his cutt from the back of the closet door.

“But why can’t I stay here?”  The thought of exploring his house has me excited.  It’s an older two-story house, with a beautiful wrap around porch.  The years have battered the white paint covering it, but I can tell that it once was a beautiful home.  I didn’t get to see much of the inside yesterday, but I saw enough to know it needed a good cleaning.

He turns to look at me, studying me still sitting in his bed.  “I’m gonna be gone.”

Something about the way he says that makes anger bubble up inside me.  It’s as if I shouldn’t be here without him, and that pisses me off.  He said this was my home, but he’s not acting that way now.  “I thought you said yesterday that this was going to be my home too.”

He nods, narrowing his eyes at me.  “It fuckin’ is.”

“Then why can’t I be here without you?”

“You’ll be alone.” His answer comes out with a loud breath.

“If I was at Nina’s I’d be alone, so I don’t see the difference.” Nina will be at work by now and Priss would be on her way to school, so I would just be sitting in her house all alone.  Any other day, I’d be working too but I doubt I have a job now.  I never even thought about calling them when I left for North Carolina, so I’m sure they’ll fire me as soon as I walk in the door of the salon.