Beautiful Outlaw (25 page)

What more can there be? “Tell me.”

“During the last phone call, Cash gave him an address.”  He goes quiet for just a second, before continuing. “I don’t think it’s to your house.”

The only other place I can think of Cash sending him is to the club, but surely he isn’t that much of an idiot.  “If that mother-fucker shows up at the clubhouse, those boys would bury his ass.”

“I’m not sure, haven’t been there in years, but I think he gave him Nina’s address.”

“That bastard is a dead man walking,” I roar out causing Shay to let out another whimper.

I turn my head and my eyes meet hers.  Instinctively, I move to her. I can see the tears spilling over her lashes and each one that falls feels like a knife to the gut.  Not knowing how else to comfort her, I turn away from her again.  Then, I ask Lock another question.  “Why the fuck would he send him there?”

He’s quiet for a moment, before he finally responds.  “It makes no sense to me, unless Cash thinks Laura’s still living over there.”

“He knows Shay lives here,” I growl out, reminding him that Laura is gone and Shay is his sister now.

“Then I would say he’s cleaning house.”

The chill that was already in my blood reaches my bones.  “What are you talking about?”

“Cash may not know exactly how fucked up Marcus is, but he has to know he’s a deranged motherfucker to make his woman hide from him.  He probably thinks he’ll take out anyone that gets in his way of getting his wife back.”

My anger turns into pure fury, as I listen to him talk. In other words, my father is hoping that Marcus will hurt Nina.  He’s hated her since the day she quit letting him fall in and out of her bed.  When I moved in with Nina, his hatred only grew.  He probably doesn’t care that Priss could be there when Marcus shows up and she could get hurt too. 

Lock lets out a cough, before adding his own thoughts. “At this point, I think Cash is right.  Marcus would hurt anyone that got between him and Shay.”

“I’ve got Priss here, but I’ll have to send Tin after Nina. We’ll keep them safe,” I reply.

Shay climbs from the bed and walks to me.  She grabs my arms and look up to me with questions in her eyes.  I merely shake my head for her stay quiet and mumble to her. “I said they’ll be safe.”

“There’s something else, man,” Lock says, and I can hear the fury in his voice.

“What?” I bark out, not sure I can handle much more. 

He hesitates before answering.  “Marcus said payment would be made after proof the thief had been taken care of.”

I shake my head in confusion, even though I know he can’t see the movement. “I have no fuckin’ idea what you’re talking about.”

“I’m assuming you’re the thief, Bowie.  You took his woman, and he wants you to pay.”

A slow smile creeps across my face.  “Good, that means Cash will be focused on taking me out.”

He tries to say something more, but I cut him off.  “I gotta get busy, brother.  I’ll call you when I have an update.”

“I’m flying out in about an hour.  It’s the earliest flight I could get.” He replies.

“No, man.  This shit isn’t going to be legal, so you need to keep your ass where it is.”

His voice is hard when he says, “I guarantee that when I get my hands on that bastard, nothing I do to him is going to be legal,” Before I can respond, he ends the call.

I pull in a deep breath, trying to control my anger, then look to Shay. “Get your ass dressed.  We gotta go.”

“I need to go away.  I can’t let anyone get hurt because of me. Just let me go, please,” She pleads with me. 

I ignore her words and pull away from her.  I grab my jeans from the floor and start to pull them up my legs.  By the time I have them on, Shay’s grabbing her own clothes.  Tears are streaming down her face and her words come out on a choked sob. “I can’t let Rachel or Nina get hurt because of me.  Please, just let me go.  Marcus won’t bother them if I’m gone.”

“You don’t have to worry about him anymore,” I shake my head, denying her wish. “I’m about to make you a widow.”

My Fault

Shay

I climb from the back of Bowie’s bike and look around.  The entire parking lot is filled with cars and trucks, some are even parked on the grass at the side of the clubhouse.  When I was here before, there was never more than a car or two.  The lot was always filled with bikes.  The bikes are still here, but the vehicles outnumber them two to one. 

Turning my attention back to Bowie, I say, “There are a lot of people here.”

He simply nods and motions for me to follow him. We head to the side of the clubhouse where Tag is now parking Bowie’s old truck.  Once he and Rachel climb out Bowie nods towards the door.  I walk closely beside him, holding Rachel’s hand in mine as she carries the kitten in her other hand.  Looking over my shoulder, I see Tag is only a few feet behind us carrying Butter’s food and litter box. His eyes are clouded with anger, but the slight tremble of his body proves fear is lurking somewhere below the surface.  I try to smile at him, but it comes out more of a grimace.

Bowie’s hand lands on my shoulder, drawing my attention away from Tag.  “Come on, baby.”

As we step inside the clubhouse, I notice a drastic change from my last visit.  It’s eerily quiet, no music or laughter filling the room.  We barely make it to through the door, before Nina rushes over to us.  She comes straight to me and wraps her arms tightly around my waist.  “My boys will protect you,
cariño
.”

She lets go so quickly I nearly fall on my butt.  Turning to Bowie she starts to speak in Spanish.  Her words are coming out so fast that I can’t make out a one of them. Her voice rises with each word she says, letting me know that she is furious at the situation.  Bowie tries to respond, but she cuts him off each time. 

In the middle of her tirade, Tin-Man man walks up and slings an arm over her shoulder.  “I already told you, Mama.  We’ll keep Shay safe.”

Bowie looks to him.  “Did you call everyone in?  I want a complete lock down.”

His words surprise me.  I didn’t realize the entire club would be part of this. I look around and notice, for the first time, that even though the club is quiet, it is packed. Women and children fill every seat in the place. I never realized I was putting so many lives in danger. I have to bite my lip to keep from begging him to let me go again.  If he would just let me leave, all these people would be safe.

“I did,” Tin-Man says with a nod.  “The boys that rode up north got in about an hour ago, so everyone, all the brothers, are home.”

“Does everyone know that Cash is behind this shit?” Bowie asks, his voice sounding cold.

“I spread the word.  Most of the brothers are out for blood.  They’re thinking that if he’ll go after your woman, theirs could be next.”

“Are all the families here?” Bowie asks.

Tin-Man nods again.  “Yeah.  Everyone but Red is back.  He called in and said that Lila was at a doctor’s appointment, so he was gonna have to ride to Owensboro to get her.”

“What about the girls?” I ask, finally feeling brave enough to join the conversation.

Bowie’s eyes cut to me.  “What girls?”

“Lila’s daughters, where are they?” She has only brought the kids to my house once, but I fell in love with them the minute I laid eyes on their two little faces.  The twins, Hanna and Olivia are not quite two years old.  They both have their mom’s big green eyes and love to laugh.

He looks to Tin-Man.  “Did Red drop his girls off?”

He shakes his head.  “Shit, man.  I didn’t even think to ask.  They’re probably with Lila’s mom, so they’ll be fine.”

“No,” Bowie says with anger in his voice.  “I want everyone connected to us here.  The brothers are right about Cash.  He’s a vindictive son of a bitch.  He’d use anything as leverage, even kids.”

A chill works its way through my body, as I think of either of those children being hurt.  Marcus has never physically hurt me, so I can only pray he wouldn’t hurt the girls either. But knowing Bowie’s father is involved, I’m not sure if anyone is safe. 

Tin-Man nods, while pulling his phone from his pocket.  Bowie doesn’t wait for an update on the girls, just grabs my hand.  He pulls me across the room, while the others follow behind us.  He leads me down the hall and into his room.  Looking from me, to the rest of his family.  “I want y’all to stay in here.”

“Why can’t we sit out there with everyone else?” Rachel asks, placing a hand on her hip. 

I can tell she’s ready to throw one of her teenage tantrums, but Bowie stops it.  “You’ll stay in here, because I fuckin’ told you to.  I’m warning you right now, I’m not taking any shit from you today.”

Without giving her time to respond, he looks to Tag.  “I’ll have another man on the door, but I want you to stay in here with the girls.”

“I won’t leave them,” Tag says as he straightens his shoulders.

With that, Bowie walks from the room without even saying goodbye. I look around to the people I’ve grown to love over the last few months and blurt out, “This is all my fault. I’m so sorry.”

I’m President

Bowie

I walk into the main room and look around, until I spot Rollo.  I lift a finger in the air, letting him know to round up the boys.  “Time for church.”

Not waiting to see if he followed my order, I head to the chapel.  When I step inside, I see the empty table.  I look to the head of the table and see my chair; the chair I have wanted to sit in my entire life.  I walk over to it and finally take my place as President of the Savage Outlaws MC, fulfilling the destiny my grandfather laid out for me.

A few minutes pass before my brothers join me.  Tin-Man takes his seat in the VP chair, and Toke attempts to sit to my left in the Sargent at Arms spot.  I shake my head and say, “I’m willing to give you a chance, seeing you voted to out Cash, but I’m going to have my own men by my side.”

“I can understand that,” He says, leaning towards me.  “But choose wisely, brother.  These men may call you President now but that doesn’t mean they have your back.”

I can tell by the look in his eyes that he knows more shit is headed my way, and that’s something we’ll have to talk about soon.  There’s something else we need to talk about first.  “What the fuck is going on between you and Nina?”

“It’s not the time to talk about that.”

“Maybe not, but I still want an answer,” Tin says, entering the conversation. 

I swear I can feel the anger flying off him.  I try to ignore it and focus on Toke.  “I’m telling you right now, if you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”

“That’s not gonna happen.  She’s mine, and now that Cash is out, I’m gonna make sure everyone knows it,” Toke’s eyes move to Tin.  “I’ve spent the last ten years taking shit from your dad just to keep your mom safe.  I promise you I’d give my life for hers.”

He waits for a response from Tin, one that never comes, then looks back to me.  “Now, let’s get church started. You got some shit that needs to be handled.”

For some reason, I get the feeling he’ll be by my side every step of the way.  Taking a chance, one that I hope doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass, I make a decision.  “Take the Road Captain’s seat. Trade patches with Rollo, when the meeting is over.”

Something in his eyes shift, letting me know that I made the right choice. “Appreciate it.”

I lift my chin, acknowledging his words, then look to the room.  “Some of you were on the road yesterday, so you may not know what the fuck is going on.  Just to get a few things straight, I’m your President now.  You answer to me and only me. Anyone got a problem with that?”

“About fuckin’ time, as far as I’m concerned. That bastard was gonna get us killed if shit kept going on like it has been.” One of the boys that wasn’t here for yesterday’s church says before asking, “Who’s gonna be sitting beside you.”

“Rollo is now your new Sergeant at Arms,” I motion for Rollo to step forward and point to the chair beside me.  I give that a second to sink in and say, “You can see Tin’s already in the VP’s chair, and that’s where he’s staying.”

A few grumbles come from the boys, but I put a stop to that shit right away.  “If you have a problem with the color of my brother’s skin then take off your cutt and hit the fuckin’ door. Tin-Man’s my VP, and he’s gonna get the respect he deserves.”

The room quiets down, not one brother walking out the door. “Now, we got a problem with Cash.  I know Tin and Rollo filled y’all in, but I need you all to understand I’m not pussy footing around.  This time, the old man has gone too far.  When I find him, I’m gonna take his ass out.”

“What the fuck did he do that justifies us killing him? I’ll respect your place as our President, but I ain’t voting to take one of my brothers out on your say alone.” Comes from one of the boys that voted against me.

“The bastard went after my woman.  Not sure how he found out, but he discovered she was running from some shit in her past.  He brought that shit to our front door,” I say, doing my best not to jump over the table and knock the fucker’s teeth down his throat.

“Cash needs to go down.  If not, he’ll never stop trying to get the gavel back,” Homer says, then looks to Topper.  “I know you didn’t want shit to go this way, but Cash fucked up going after Bowie’s Old Lady.  If we don’t put a stop to this shit right now, he could move on to our families next.”

I wait for his response, hoping he sides with me.  Topper may not hold an office in the club, but he holds a lot of power with the boys.  He’s our oldest active member.  He’s worn a cutt longer than any other man here, and the brothers respect the hell out of him for that fact alone.  Either way, with or without his agreement, I’m going after Cash.  Still, I hope I have him by my side.

Topper leans back in his chair, before he replies.  “I’ve been here for a long damn time.  Now, I’ve seen three generations of Bailey’s hold the gavel.  I kept waiting for Cash to be the man that Tobias raised him to be.”

Hearing him talk about Grandpa causes a spark to light inside me. I know my grandfather would be rolling in his grave if he could see what a piece of shit his son turned out to be.  “Cash is never gonna be the man Grandpa was.”