Sanctum: A Motorcycle Club Romance Novel (16 page)

“
Spouting your business?
Christ, man, we
’
re in a motorcycle
club, since when is it news when we get pussy?
”
said
Drake.
“Unless…”
His eyebrows went up, eyes behind his sunglasses wide.
“
Unless
it
’
s secret pussy. Or
forbidden
pussy. Are you sticking it to Oliver Jr.?!
”
He poked fingers into Jase
’
s
chest again and Jase swatted his hand away.

Jase got low and close to his face.
“
Drake,
this is not a fucking joke,
”
he
said.
“
If
you say a word of this to Henry or anyone else, I will beat the shit out of
you.
”

“Dude, I
’
m
just here to congratulate you on your victory,
”
said
Drake with his hands up in surrender. He had that shit-eating grin on his face
he always got when he talked his way out of a punch.
“
That
is some prime beef on your grill.
”

“Don’t
fucking talk about her
like that,
”
said Jase, stepping away
from him.
“
Just keep your mouth
shut, alright?
”

“
You have my word,
brother. But you
’
re probably
kidding yourself if you think Henry can’t smell that, too.
”
Drake laughed and straightened his sunglasses before
he headed out into the parking lot. Jase took a few deep breaths to calm his
anger, and then followed him.

The rest of the men waited by the bikes,
and nearly finished with their post-coffee smoke. Jase lit his own and took a
puff before he spoke.
“
So what is the
feeling about this guy?
”

“
That he hasn’t had a hot
meal in ten years,
”
said
Drake with a chuckle from the seat of his bike.

“He
’
s
the only person to mention seeing the Crosses at the roadhouse. I don’t know
what to make of that,
”
said
Beck.

“
If I remember the map of
the bar from the sheriff
’
s
report, Ned
’
s table was
somewhere near the back end of the roadhouse. If they weren’t being crazy, and
they left early, I say they could have gone unnoticed on a busy night,
”
said Henry.

“
And why did they leave
early?
”
said
Drake.

“
Is it possible they knew about
the shooting? Could they be in on it?
”
said
Jase.

Henry and Beck exchanged glances. The
younger generation of Black Dogs had little interaction with the Rebel Cross.
“
Sure,
they could be involved in a shootout, but it still doesn’t explain why they were
involved in
this
shootout, or what they were looking for,
”
said Henry.

“
If they were looking for
bikers, maybe they were trying to settle a score,
”
said
Drake with a shrug.

“Haven’t
heard about anything
like that down the pipeline,
”
said
Beck.
“You
’
d
think a club with beef that bad with the Crosses would have spoken up by now.
And it wouldn’t explain the drive-by at Maggie
’
s
unless the beef was with us, and I can’t find anybody who has heard of one.
”

Something was nagging at Jase.
“
Ned
said their table left a few half-empty pitchers of beer. Party night at the
roadhouse, pitchers started, that sounds to me like they were planning on
getting comfortable, and something changed the plan.
”

The group was silent for a minute. Finally
Jase continued,
“
If we had planned
the shooting in a place we knew some Black Dogs might be hanging out, we would
try to clear them out, right? Not just to keep them from getting hurt, mind
you. But if what we were after was tied to an MC, and we mowed down members of
every club
except
our own, we
’
d
basically be solving the case for the cops.
”

Henry said,
“
They
’
re
looking mighty suspicious right now. We have to follow up on this, quietly. It
seems very unlikely these two things are not related.
”

Jase couldn’t believe how messy this
entire thing was getting. A few days ago, his biggest concern was fine-tuning
the angry speech he was going to give his ex-girlfriend who had just blown back
into town. Now he was unraveling a criminal plot to murder her that was
beginning to look bigger than any of them expected. He rubbed a tired hand over
his face and hair.

Henry pulled up his phone and got on the
line with Tommy back at the clubhouse. He had him go through some of the club
’
s
paperwork to find an old contact Henry knew at one point who had a line with
the Rebel Cross. It had been a few years since they had spoken, thanks to the
Crosses being mostly non-existent in LeBeau
’
s
world, but it seemed to be the only lead he could follow for the moment while still
remaining under the radar.

“
Until we have a better
handle on this thing, I don’t want it getting out that we
’
re
checking out the Rebel Cross,
”
said
Henry as they loaded up.

“Gotcha, boss,”
said
Jase. He straddled his bike and pulled his phone out of his pocket to give it a
last check before he put his gloves on. He had a text from a number he didn’t
recognize.

It said simply:
“Sorry.”

Jase stared at it as the bikes rumbled to
life around him. For a few seconds, he contemplated a response to Maggie.
Instead he dropped the phone into his cut pocket and finished putting on his
gloves.

~ THIRTEEN ~

All she could think about yesterday
morning, before the drive-by, was getting as far away from Jase as possible.
Now that she had her wish, Maggie wanted to take it back.

It wasn’t that she was ready to talk about
walking out on him, quite the opposite, but the sudden vacancy created by his
absence felt so much darker and absolute now. Maybe it was just stress-induced
trauma making everything look bigger and meaner than it actually was. Maybe it
was because the feelings she’d had for Jase had never been killed, but merely
buried alive, and now they tore through the dirt of her mind, bent on
reclamation. Even if he didn’t talk to her, even if he spent all day in a
different room of the clubhouse, Maggie wished he had stayed.

Tommy and Ghost did their best to keep her
cheered up and occupied. At first, she had hidden away in her room like a
stubborn teenager, planning to tick away the day in isolation. A quiet knock on
her door and an invitation to lunch had changed that. They let Maggie pick
whatever she wanted and sent Ghost out to pick it up. To their delight, she
felt like nothing more than a giant, greasy pizza and a bunch of beer. They
kicked up their heels in the den as they ate, the jukebox playing softly
against the wall.

“
Now, this is my kind of assignment,
”
said Ghost as he lowered a line of dangling cheese
into his mouth.
“
Think about those
jerks out there in the hot sun, all beer-less.
”

“
Well, thinking about that
just makes me feel like a lazy dickhead,
”
said
Tommy.
“
Shouldn’t
we be helping?
”

“
We are helping,
”
said Ghost. He gestured his beer bottle to Maggie.
“We
’
re
supposed to keep her alive, and eating is part of being alive.
”

Maggie popped an olive into her mouth and
raised an eyebrow.
“He
’
s
got you there, Tommy.
”

“
In that case,
”
said Tommy with a laugh as he uncapped another beer.

The three of them had a pleasant few hours
doing a whole lot of nothing but eating pizza, drinking beer, and telling
stories. Maggie didn’t know either one of them well, so she had the pleasure of
hearing fresh tales from the exploits of the MC, instead of the rehashed
greatest hits from the old timers. It didn’t completely distract her from
thoughts of Jase. Like a sea monster in the ocean of her mind, he always
lingered just beneath the surface of any thought.

Some mechanical problem interrupted the
meeting, and Ghost went out to help one of the rookies with an engine on a
bike. Maggie didn’t quite feel up to spending one-on-one time with anyone, even
someone as nice as Tommy. A group tended to keep things light, but duos invited
secrets. She just wanted to breathe for a while. She told Tommy she was going
to take a nap in her room, and mostly did that. But first, she squirmed around
a while trying to fight off the urge to contact Jase.

In a moment of weakness while Ghost was
getting the pizza, Maggie had asked Tommy for Jase
’
s
cell number as a precaution. Tommy had given it up without a second thought,
for obvious reasons, but Maggie
’
s
motives weren’t so pure. She was hurting. She couldn’t believe how badly she
missed him. She hated thinking about him out around danger, alone, without her
—
as
if some childish part of her heart thought she could protect him. And her guilt
about the night before was crushing.

After four or five false starts, Maggie
decided to keep her text message simple.
“Sorry.”

She waited for him to reply for about an
hour-- enough time that she knew, rationally, he had looked and decided to
ignore it. The first fifteen minutes of waiting gave her chest pains so bad,
she thought she was having a heart attack. But by the last fifteen minutes, it
had melted and dulled to join the chronic mix of pain that had settled
somewhere between her heart and stomach. She knew in her mind that she didn’t deserve
a text back. Everything she was doing just displayed her cowardice. But she had
hoped for one, anyway.

You don’t
deserve a lot of the things you get.

The thought hurt her, but Maggie knew it
to be true. Last night proved she wasn’t the only one with leftover feelings
burning her world down. But she didn’t deserve whatever feelings Jase still had
for her. Anyone could see she just brought trouble.

Maggie did fall into a light nap for a
while before the rumble of approaching bikes woke her with a start. Her dreams
had been tense, not quite nightmares, but still enough that she woke surprised
by the sweat on her clothes. She took a shower and changed, but afterwards a
quick glance at her phone on the nightstand confirmed there were still no new messages.

Maggie ran a brush through her curls and
tried to get her head on straight. Jase would be back soon, and she still had
no idea what she was going to say to him. She went into the den for a few
minutes to check in with Tommy and steal a pack of smokes from Ghost. Some of
the bikers on smaller tasks arrived back to the clubhouse first, and the den
started to get crowded with loud, smoking dudes passing around beers. Maggie
didn’t have the energy for it. She took a few beers and her fresh pack and told
Tommy she was going to go out back. 

“
Do you need me to come
with you?
”
said Tommy.

“I’ll
be fine, I’ll stay
close,
”
said
Maggie.
“
Just
poke your head out every once in a while, right?
”

Tommy seemed settled with her answer.
Truly, Maggie wasn’t in any hurry to put herself in danger, but the backyard of
the clubhouse didn’t strike her as vulnerable. The huge space had once been
used as a range before Rudy
’
s
opened, but now it was just for barbeques and summer nights. It had a full
privacy fence on its perimeter with motion sensor lighting. And then there was
the clubhouse-full of heavily armed bikers just feet away to consider.

Maggie opened the back door. Twilight was
already beginning to fall, the sky a swirling mix of pinks and blues that hung
in the still air. The yard was empty. Maggie walked the extra feet out to the
northern fence where a large picnic table had been set up and sat up on the
tabletop, making herself comfortable before she tore into the beer and smokes.

Night had all but arrived before the
clubhouse door opened again. She turned to wave at who she assumed would be
Tommy checking up on her. But instead she saw Jase, hands in his pockets,
hesitating under the porch light.

Maggie felt her chest tighten. The
cigarette in her hand began to tremble.

“Fuck,”
she whispered to herself.
She looked away from him and took a good long drag. She heard his footsteps
approaching in the grass and quickly stamped out the smoke.

“
Not in the mood to party,
or what?
”
said Jase from behind her.

Maggie didn’t
turn. She took a drink of beer.
“It
’
s
too loud in there.
”

“Yeah,”
said Jase.
“
That
kind of aversion happens a lot after trauma.
”

“I
’
m
fine,
”
said Maggie on impulse. She winced at the harsh edge
on her tone that she hadn’t intended.

“
I didn’t mean
…”
Jase
’
s voice trailed off in
the dark. He let the misunderstanding die and just stood in silence for a few
moments. Then he said,
“
We found some good
leads today. Sounds like your ex had some connections to an MC around here that
’
s
probably helping him out. I think this might be close to over.
”

“
That
’
s
great news,
”
said Maggie, though she
was barely processing what he told her. She realized she still hadn’t found the
guts to turn and look at him. She did her best by offering him a beer, and
giving him a pained smile when he accepted it. Even then, she could only look
for a few seconds.

Jase opened his beer and tossed the cap
carelessly at the picnic table. He took a long drink.

Maggie cleared her throat.
“
I
sent you a text
…”

“
I got it,
”
said Jase.

Maggie nodded and stared at the beer in
her lap until Jase came around the table to stand in front of her. He said,
“
Does
that mean you want to tell me what the fuck happened last night?

Maggie looked up at him. Even in the low
light from the porch, she could see the twisted expression on his face, the
pain in his eyes. She uncrossed her legs and sat on the table
’
s
edge. “
I
don’t
know, Jase, I just...I got mixed up.
”

As if to calm his nerves, he finished his
beer off while she talked and dropped the bottle to the grass.
“
So,
what, you just fucked me because you were confused?
”
said Jase, a little louder than she would have liked.
She looked back towards the clubhouse and saw nothing but empty light.

“No,”
she said.
“
No,
it
’
s not like that. I mean I
didn’t
….”
Her thoughts rushed through her head, clogging the
channels in their efforts to escape at the same time.

Jase seemed to take a step back. He looked
off towards the horizon where stars had begun to bloom into view, and breathed
deeply.
“I
’
m
not trying to stress you out, I
’
m
sorry. After everything you’ve been through
…”

“
I want to be honest with
you,
”
she said, grasping her hands together.
“
I
just can’t
get it out.
”

“
What if I go first?
”
said Jase. He watched the night sky.

“Okay…”
She wasn’t sure if it was
worse or better.

Jase swallowed and looked at the ground.
“I
’
m
sorry for what I did at the roadhouse. I shouldn’t have
…
I
don’t know what came over me.
”
He shook his head.
“
I
mean, yes, I do know. I know what came over me. I just
…
didn’t
expect it.
”

Maggie nodded, even though he wasn’t
looking at her.
“
I didn’t expect
it, either. I expected the anger
…
and
the hate. But not jealousy.
”

Jase cursed to himself and turned to look
at her.
“I
’
m
sorry for all of that. I was being a child.
”
He
shook his head.
“
When I sat there
in that kitchen listening to your house get sprayed with bullets, all I could
think about was how our last big interaction was going to be me hauling you out
of the roadhouse like a typical jealous ex.  I thought about how you were going
to die afraid, and thinking I hated you. And I can’t
…”
He turned away and swallowed hard.