The Devil in Her Bed (Heartless Devils Motorcycle Club Book 1) (10 page)

“Come on, Dad,” Jenny said as she opened the door to the Heartless Devils’ Chevrolet Tahoe.

It had been a bit over a week since her father had a heart attack while trying to rescue her from some very nasty business. He had suffered some significant heart damage, but after almost a week in the hospital, he was finally being released.

John Carter eased himself out of the wheelchair the orderly was holding and Jenny helped him into the front seat.

“Everyone is treating me like an old man,” John groused as Jenny shut the door.

“It’s because you
are
an old man,” Asher Lowe quipped from the driver’s seat with a grin. “Too damn old to be running around like you were.”

“I wouldn’t have been running if some asshole
hadn’t stolen my bike. Still, I guess I can’t be too mad since you used it to save my daughter.”

Jenny Carter crawled into the back of the SUV. “Well, the next time, take someone else’s bike. You’re the President after all!” she added.

“There had better not be a next time,” John replied solemnly.

“Amen to that, brother,” Asher agreed as he put the truck in gear and eased away from the curb.

“So tell me what’s been happening,” John said as they turned south toward the clubhouse. “Nobody would tell me
shit
when I was in the hospital.”

“Because everything is under control. Slovoski is running the club until you get back on your feet. You need to worry about one thing, and that’s getting better.” Asher looked at John and grinned. “You need to hurry it up, too. He’s starting to look mighty comfortable at the head of the table.”

John snorted. “We’ll see about that. The ticker might be acting up, but I’m not ready to hang up my jacket just yet.”

Jenny reached from the back seat and placed her hand on her father’s shoulder. “And nobody wants you to.”

“Especially after Jenny got done with them,” Asher added with another grin.

John twisted in his seat to look at her.

“The day after we were fished out of the drink, she showed up at the clubhouse and started kicking ass and taking names. By the time she finished, the entire club was jumping all over themselves to follow her orders. The John Carter genes run strong in that one,” Asher continued.

“I did not!” Jenny protested.

“The hell you say!” Asher replied with a chuckle. “You weren’t the one having to clean up the piss in the floor!”

“What did you say?” John asked her.

“Nothing! I just told them that my father wasn’t going to be laid up by something as minor as a heart attack, that you would be back, and if I heard even a whisper of doubt about that, they would have to answer to me.”

John added his chuckle to Asher’s as he glanced at the driver. “So how long did it take you to clean the floors?”

“Hours.”

“Here you go, Dad,” Jenny said as John carefully stepped out of the SUV. He wasn’t moving well, but he was moving.

“I think this is stupid! I am perfectly capable of staying by myself.”

“Not going to happen,” Asher said as he pulled open the heavy wooden door leading into the clubhouse.

Inside the room was a sea of black leather and smiling faces. The moment John stepped through, leading the way, the room broke into a loud roar of approval. The Boss was back!

John wouldn’t cry in front of this bunch, but the welcome made him want to. There had been a trickle of visitors to the hospital, but this show of support made it clear the entire club was behind him. He smiled broadly as he raised a hand in acknowledgement of the support, shaking hands and accepting light back-slapping hugs.

“Why are you bunch of losers here?” John asked as the ocean of black parted before him. “Isn’t there something you should be doing? This club doesn’t run itself, you know.”

The men chuckled but made no move to leave. They wanted to be here for the surprise.

Asher and Jenny guided John down the hall and turned him into the first room of the dorm as Asher shoved the door open and stepped back.

John made it two steps inside the room before he stopped and looked around. The dorms were set up with four rooms to each side of a hall with a bath between, and shared by every two rooms. But not this room, not anymore. The center wall had been knocked out between two rooms and the combined space had been converted in a cozy, if small, apartment consisting of a bedroom and living area. Fresh paint, new flooring and ceiling tiles, and some personal items from his house, made it home.

John swallowed hard and stepped into the room, Jenny and Asher following. Kenny Slovoski, the Vice-President of the club, and a few of his closest friends joined them.

“What do you think?” Jenny asked.

“Whose idea was this?” John asked, still shocked over the effort the club had made for him.

“It was Asher’s,” Kenny said. “We were talking about how to keep an eye on you for a while. Asher came up with the idea of opening a couple of the rooms up. Easier for everyone because there’s always someone around. The guys have been busting ass on it all week.”

John glanced around his room as Asher carried his bag into the bedroom. “I can’t thank you guys enough.”

“Hey… we’re the only club in Miami with a Presidential Suit. Just another reason why the HDs kick ass,” Kenny said with a grin. “Come upstairs. There is something else to show you.”

John led the way, slowly, up the steps to the offices, Asher one step behind in case he needed help. Gasping slightly, he made his way to his office, opening the door and stepping in. It was his office, but it had never looked so good. The wood in the room gleamed with fresh varnish and polish, the ratty carpet had been pulled up and hardwood had been put down in its place, and the entire room had received a fresh coat of paint.

“We’ve decided to spruce the entire place up, and we started here,” Kenny continued as John stood open mouthed in amazement. “No more cigars for you… so we figured we would clean the place up a little. One thing led to another and…”

John turned to look at his family. Not just Jenny, but the entire Heartless Devils Motorcycle Club. “I don’t know what to say.”

“How about ‘thank you’?” Jenny suggested with grin and a stage whisper.

Jenny looked up as the deacons clomped down the stairs. She smiled at the strange terms the club used – “deacons” for the group of men that guided the club, “attending chapel” for having a meeting. It was almost as if they didn’t want to admit they were a club… or maybe that was just a tongue-in-cheek way of poking fun at what they did.

“How’d it go?” Jenny asked as Asher approached. She may be the President’s daughter, but that didn’t give her access to the inner-workings of the club.

“I think we have a plan. Your dad is going to turn over most of the day-to-day operations to Slovoski… at least for a while.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah. Ease him back into it. They have put me in charge of tracking down the ‘puppet master,’ as we call him. We have to find out what’s going on there.”

“That’s good, too.”

“Yeah. They wanted to pull me off your protection detail to focus on that, but I convinced them we were already stretched too thin. But there are going to be times when someone else is going to have to provide your protection.” Asher held up his hand to silence her budding protest. “It’s the way it has to be, Jenny. It’s either that or someone else entirely.”

Jenny fumed a moment, but then relaxed. “Okay, fine. Maybe I can help.”

“No. Absolutely not. You have enough on you plate with school. Besides, this is club business.”

“School will be out in just a few months, and I have a vested interest in finding out who this puppet master asshole is.”

Asher nodded. “And we will. But for now this is on the down low, okay? The last thing we want is to spook him.”

Jenny gave him a crooked grin. “What are you saying? Are you saying that I’m not subtle?”

“Of course you’re subtle. Like a bat to the side of the head.” 

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