Choo-Choo (4 page)

Six

Choo-Choo ground his teeth.  He hated being locked down.  Preach had issued the order an hour ago after getting a call from Eddie.  Choo-Choo’s relief at hearing Josie had jumped at the opportunity to get the hell away from Eddie had drained away when the threats started rolling in.

“Got a call from Bulldog Jones a few minutes ago.”  Preach said as he leaned his forearms on the table.

Choo-Choo looked around the room at his brothers.  They all looked tense, especially Shadow.  This was all his fault.  He should have kept his dick in his pants and his nose out of whatever was going on with Josie, but he just couldn’t.

He looked up to find Mike studying him.  Mike’s blue eyes flashed and his jaw hardened.  Choo-Choo knew Mike had gone through hell for his woman and now she was in danger because Choo-Choo couldn’t keep his dick in his fucking pants.

He let out a breath and ran his hand over his head.

“Seems our Bastard friends are looking for friends.”

Shit, this was bad.  Bulldog was the president of the Kings MC and they had a lot of territory out west.

The room was silent.

“Looks like that little piece of ass is going to cause us a hell of a lot of trouble.”

“Eddie’s a fucking prick.  Everybody knows it.”  Mike spat in dismissal.

“Yes, and if this was Eddie we were dealing with I wouldn’t have a problem, but it seems it ain’t.  Poole is the one stepping up against us and that fucker has more pull than any of us knew about and he’s calling in favors.”

“What the fuck does Poole have to do with any of it?”  Choo-Choo frowned.

“Seems after they left out of here, Eddie traded her for that skanky bitch of Poole’s.  Your Josie is now Poole Crowe’s old lady.”

“The fuck she is!”  Choo-Choo roared, standing to slam his fists on the table.

“Sit down.  I’m guessing she doesn’t even know.  Sniper said they used her pretty bad before she could get away.  I doubt they ran anything by her while they shared her out in the open in a gas station parking lot.”

Choo-Choo melted to his seat.  Why had he let her go?

Bulldog isn’t looking to make a deal with them, but we need to stay on our toes.  If they are desperate enough to reach out to the Kings then they are reaching out to others too.  They told Bulldog we made a bad deal and tried to kill them.”  He shrugged.  “Nothing that hasn’t been done, but raises a few questions.  We don’t need this shit if we are going to continue with that business on the west coast.  We need that to run without a question and without anybody else muscling in on our action.”  He nodded to Choo-Choo.  “They are making threats I don’t want to think about right now.”

Choo-Choo and a couple of brothers had been working with an electronics distributer.  The Defenders protected the shipments if the buyers paid enough and if they refused the escort… the boys would hijack the shipment.  It was easy money and a whole lot of time on his bike and Choo-Choo loved it.  Now they would have to watch their backs a little closer.

“What are they threatening Preach?”  Moose asked, his brows furrowed.

“We took an old lady…”

Shadow stood slowly and made his way to the door like a puff of smoke.  Mike was less subtle, he barreled toward the door in a rush to make sure his wife and baby were safe.  The other men shuffled in their seats.

“I issued the lockdown for that reason.  Bring ‘em in, lock ‘em down, then we will let these fuckers know who they are messing with.”

It was the first time Choo-Choo had ever seen a resemblance between the president of the club and his son.  He wore the same hard look Shadow wore when he had to take care of nasty business.  Preach might have a few years under his belt, but he hadn’t gone soft.  His biceps were bulging against the sleeves of the black t-shirt her wore.  His hair might have more white than black in it now, but it only proved to make his appearance more forbidding.

“I’ve talked with our brothers out west and they have taken precautions with their old ladies and are ready to take these fuckers out if that’s what it comes to.  Nobody puts a fucking hit out on my old lady or my family!”

“They won’t go for a patch over Preach.”  Spec put in with a frown.

“We won’t be patching over shit.  We will be wiping them out.  It’s gonna be a Bastard extinction if they touch one of ours.”  He looked up with a sneer curling his lips.

“I hope your dick picked the right woman Choo-Choo, cause you’re stuck with that bitch for this.”

Choo-Choo dropped his head, but didn’t say a word.

“Fuck that Preach.  He ain’t the first man to cause trouble for his woman.  If the stories I’ve heard are true I think everybody at this fucking table did about the same thing.”  Choo-Choo looked up to find Tommy Rich taking his side, but Law rubbed his jaw and wore a sheepish look.

“Sit the fuck down Tommy!”

“No.  This is bullshit.  Shad went on a killing spree and massacred who the fuck knows how many people.  Who the fuck are we to throw stones?”

“Speaking of stones…”  Law tipped the end of the knife he was spinning in his hand at Tommy with a nod.

Preach looked like he would spit nails.

“Oh, you forgot Ink… He got caught with his face between Angel’s legs and almost lost his… stones…”  Law put in helpfully and earned a scowl from Ink for reminding Preach of that particular night.

“So we all have issues with reasoning with our dicks…”

Law was enjoying the show more than he should.

Shad walked back in and sat in his chair.  “Did I miss anything important?”

“Talking about stones man, we all got ‘em.”  Law sat back and continued to spin his knife.

Preach took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead as if it ached.

“Lacey safe?”

Shad nodded.

“Alright.  We got everybody in then?”

Shadow closed his eyes.  “Mrs. isn’t in Preach.  She’d gone out shopping and she’s not back yet.”

Preach frowned.

“Where the fuck is she then?”

Seven

Josie sat in a motel near Denver.  She was nervous.  Sniper had stayed with her one night to make sure she was safe and then had put her on a bus to Colorado.  Choo-Choo had asked her for nothing.  He had told her he would like to see her and that she was something special to him, but he knew she would need time to figure herself out so he was sending her someplace safe to do that.  He had given her and address and enough money to see to her ticket and a few clothes.  If she lived a hundred years she would never be able to pay him back for all he had done for her.

She shifted on the bed and reread the letter.  There was just an address.   Could she really just show up at this place?

She sighed.  What choice did she have?  She was squarely out of options.

She took a deep breath and grabbed the backpack she’d bought to carry her things.  She’d also cut off most of her hair so it would all fit up in her new winter hat.  She didn’t know how much trouble the Bastards would go to find her, but she would be careful just the same.

She knew they didn’t have any charters in Colorado, but she didn’t know who did and if they were allies or what.  She felt like a fool.  She had spent four years with the club and hadn’t once even tried to listen in on any business.  She just hadn’t cared.

Now she realized how stupid she had been.

She didn’t want any record of her journey out of town so she set out walking.  Her feet were healing nicely and she had worn two pairs of socks to protect them from the cold and help pad them.  The money Choo-Choo had given her had been enough for her to buy a good pair of sneakers at the discount store she’d gone to.  Also, a pair of jeans, a pair of sweats pants, two t-shirts, a sweatshirt, a warm jacket, socks, panties, and two sports bras.  She had also bought a few toiletries and snacks that she could carry along with her.  She hadn’t felt this rich since the last Christmas she had spent with her father.  Eddie had insisted that she wear the most uncomfortable clothes imaginable and only bought her things from the thrift store in town.  The only thing he bought new was her underwear.

Josie stepped out into the cold air and raised her face to the murky sunshine.  She was free and she was happy and she owed it all to one man.  She would repay him and she would do all she could to win him, but he was right, she had to figure herself out first.  She took a deep breath and stepped off the sidewalk.

“Well, here we go.”

Josie walked for over an hour and she was starting to question her sanity when an old Cadillac pulled up beside her.  It was an older model if Josie wasn’t mistaken, a really old model, but it looked as shiny as the day it rolled off the showroom floor.

A little old lady rolled down the passenger’s side window.

“Honey, I think you are headed my way.  Climb on in and warm up.”

Josie hesitated, but she was miserable and this woman couldn’t hurt her if she tried.

“Alright.  If you’re sure it’s not an imposition.”

The old woman smiled a pearly white smile.  “It’s no imposition at all my dear.”

Josie slid into the seat, careful to keep her feet on the rubber mat and sat her backpack at her feet.

“I really do appreciate this.  I’m going to…”

“227 Sycamore drive.” The woman finished for her.

“How did you know that?”  Alarm made Josie sit up straighter and regard the woman with more caution.

“Honey, I got a phone call last week from my grandson.  He informed me that he was sending someone special out to me and hinted that you needed to get your feet under you before you became really special.  Now I love that bot to distraction and I got an itch on my left ear this morning that told me to expect company.  So here I figured I might ought to get a few things from town since Harry, my son, was out working I had to drive myself and when I saw you well that itch turned into a burn so hot I thought I would have to drown it out.  So I know where you’re headed ‘cause it’s the same place I’m headed and I won’t lie and say I ain’t glad to have your help with the groceries.”

Josie felt a smile curl her lips even as her cheeks warmed and that spark was back in the middle of her chest.  “You’re Choo-Choo’s grandmother?”

The old woman rolled her eyes.  “That is a damned fool name if you ask me, but yes he is my grandson, but his name is Anthony Vega and mine is Pearl Vega, but you can call me Granny P, everybody does.  I suspect you are Josie.”

“Yes, Ma’am, Josie Landry from El Paso, Texas.”

“Well, you’re pretty enough and you have good manners, but I guess we’ll see what else you’re made of pretty quick.”

“I’m a hard worker and I’m smart.  I don’t know why Choo...I mean Anthony sent me out here, but I appreciate it.”

“Don’t jump the gun.  This ain’t no spa retreat.  I don’t know what you’re expecting, but I’m betting it ain’t what you’re about to get.  Anthony said you’d seen some hard times and had escaped.  He also said those hard times were on your tail so you need to be cautious.”

Josie’s eyes widened.  She hadn’t known for sure that they would even look for her.

Granny P. nodded.  “I didn’t figure you knew that part.  They have made some threats.  Seems our boy is keeping you safe even from the riffraff and from his own brothers.  I don’t know anybody else on the earth that he would protect in this way.  I thought it must be something you carried…”  She eyed Josie’s belly.

“Oh!  No.  I’m not…”

“That is curious then.  Well, we will get to the bottom of that.  First though we need to get you home and safe and then we can get you back on your feet and then we will see if you are fit for my Anthony.”

Josie didn’t know what to say to that.  She just wanted to figure out who she was and if it turned out that she could be with a man like Choo-Choo then she would certainly be grateful, but she would never again define herself by her relationship.  She was a real person.  It was time she lived like one.

Granny P. pulled up a long drive and stopped in front of a yellow house with black shutters and trim.  It was as neat as a pen.  Josie wasn’t all that shocked after seeing the car.  She helped lug all the groceries into the house and put them away as instructed by Granny P.  She remembered helping mama put away things when she was little and sitting on the kitchen counter while daddy cooked pancakes.

She shook her head.

She looked up to find Granny P. watching her.  “When?”

“Excuse me?”  Josie said trying to shake off the past.

“When did your father pass?”

Josie was so shocked she just answered.  “When I was very small.”

Granny P. nodded.  “That was it wasn’t it? The last time you felt like a real person.”

“It certainly changed everything.”  Josie nodded feeling like a weight had lifted from her shoulders in just admitting the truth.

“Did your mother blame you?”

“I can’t say.” 

Granny P. nodded.  “Well, so far I can’t figure out a reason why we can’t get your feet back under you.  Can you cook?”

“Yes.”

“Clean?”

“Yes.  I have been keeping house for four years.”

Her eyebrows rose.  “How old are you?”

“Twenty.”

The woman nodded as if that answered more than one question.

“Well we have work to do, if you’re willing.”

“I’m not afraid of hard work.”

“That’s a start.”