A Family Man

A

FAMILY

MAN

Sarah Osborne

THE FREAK CIRCLE PRESS

A Family Man. © Sarah Osborne  2014

All rights reserved

Sarah Osborne has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this book under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

For the wonderful ladies of the freak circle.

Thank you for the love, laughs and support.

I could never have done it without you.

A very special thanks for all the hand holding and ass kicking goes to Susan Fanetti.

No one gets me quite like you.

This one's for you all.

ONE

"Uncle Joe!" The little girl was completely unfazed by the fact that the huge, long haired, leather clad, muscle bound man astride a big black Harley had killer written all over him. When you're four years old, you only really care about the candy in his pocket and that riding in front of him on his bike is the most thrilling thing in the world.

Joe ’Tiny’ Taylor, hit man, enforcer for The Freaks MC and, right now, best person in the whole wide world, dismounted and, picking up the little girl, placed her on his hip. "Hi sugar. You got a kiss for your Uncle Joe?"

She planted a sticky kiss on his lips and he laughed. "Ugh, what have you been eating?"

"We made cakes. Auntie Beth let me lick the bowl." She frowned. "You got me candy?"

Joe made a show of searching his pockets. "Uncle Joe, it's in that pocket, silly." Rolling her eyes, she reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a lollipop. "You are very silly, Uncle Joe."

"I know, sugar. How about I take you home. Beth will be worried."

Again, those baby blue eyes rolled. "Auntie Beth won't be worried, she heard you, and I am four you know."

Joe grinned. No, Beth wouldn't be worried. Just grateful for the five minutes' respite that he had provided. He set her on the ground and walked with her to her small, run down home. She ran ahead. "Beth. Joe's here."

Beth turned from the kitchen sink, where she was washing up after an obviously messy baking session. "Hey."

He crossed the small kitchen and kissed her softly. "You look like you've been having fun." He frowned as he looked around. "Where's Maria?"

Beth shrugged. "I dunno. She called me the day before yesterday, freaking out as usual. As soon as I got here, she took off. Haven't seen her since." She dried her hands. "She swore to me she was clean. How am I supposed to do this, Joe?"

Joe's eyes fell on the little girl sitting at the kitchen table, licking her lollipop. "She ain’t your responsibility."

"No, she isn't. But if I don't take care of her who will?"

"I'll talk to Ma. Reckon her and the rest of the coven can organize something. They can keep an eye on her."

"Joe! They are not a coven."

He grinned. "Whatever. You'd change your mind if you saw them cackling round the table when I walk in." He tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "You have school, a future. I know you love Amy—we all do—but you cannot let your sister ruin your life as well as hers. Let me talk to Ma."

Beth smiled. "What would I do without you?"

"You'll never have to find out." He kissed her forehead, before turning and tousling Amy's hair. See you later, sugar.

Beth watched through the window as he vaulted the fence and stalked next door to his mom's house. She couldn't remember a time when Joe wasn't part of her life. It was his mom who made sure she and Maria had hot food inside them or let them sleep in the spare room when their junkie mother was too stoned to take care of them—a family trait her sister had inherited—or when they were hiding out from the latest crazy boyfriend. If it wasn't for Joe she would have never have had the courage to leave her abusive husband or go back to school.

She looked down as her niece stood next to her, licking her lollipop, a thoughtful expression on her face. "I really love Uncle Joe."

Beth picked her up and kissed her sticky cheek. "You and me both, Amy."

Sophia Taylor looked up from her bridge game as her son walked through the door. "Joe! What a lovely surprise, you never said you were coming."

He walked over and kissed her cheek. "Was passing, thought I'd drop by."

He rolled his eyes as his mother flashed her friends a triumphant look. They were very competitive, regarding their offspring's visits. "I saw Beth. Maria's taken off again."

"Oh no, she was doing so well." Sophia looked over to her friends, the coven. "I'm sure we can take care of Amy. Beth needs to get back to San Francisco." She gathered up the cards. "I'm sorry, ladies, we'll continue our game tomorrow and discuss how best to take care of Amy. But right now I need to make dinner for my son." She gave Joe a smile. "Why don't you keep Beth company for a while. I'll call you when dinner's cooked."

Joe sighed. His ma was constantly trying to throw them together. She would never give up on the idea that they were perfect for each other. It wasn't that he didn't like Beth, he did. A lot. But she was destined for better things than a second rate life as the old lady of a nomad.

He watched as his ma bustled her friends out of the house. He knew they would take care of Amy. This neighborhood may have been poor, but it was close knit. They would always look out for one another.

Sophia knew that her son thought she was a silly old woman sometimes and that the idea of him and Beth was ridiculous. She knew different, though. She firmly believed that if Joe was with the right woman, he'd settle down in one place. She knew he'd never give up that club of his, and in some ways she was glad of that. It may have been the cause of many a sleepless night, but it had also calmed him down. Without it, she was sure he'd have ended up like so many of his peers. Drifting aimlessly through life with a serious drug habit, or worse. She wasn't entirely sure what he did for the club, but she was pretty sure it was bad. But at least all that violence inside him was focused now. He no longer lashed out the way he used to. Hurting those he loved the most.

"Joe." She smiled. "Why don't you go and get Beth and Amy. I've cooked enough for four."

Later, full on fajitas, they crashed on Sophia's ridiculously comfy sofa in front of the television. Amy climbed onto Joe's lap and, closing her eyes, stuck her thumb in her mouth. "I lub you Joe." She mumbled.

"I love you too, sugar."

"You gonna stay wid us?"

"I can't, sugar."

"Jus' tonight?"

Joe sighed. He needed to be in Seattle by tomorrow night.

"Okay. But I'll be gone before you get up."

She nodded and snuggled deeper into his chest. "Will you put me to bed?"

"Sure."

"And read me a story?"

"And read you a story."

He sat on the edge of the bed in his ma's spare room, reading Winnie the Pooh and stroking her hair. She looked up. "Uncle Joe."

"Yes, sugar?"

"If you married Auntie Beth, you could be my mommy and daddy."

He shook his head. "Don't think I'd be a very good daddy."

"You would. You could buy me lollipops every day."

She closed her eyes and he sat with her until he was sure she was asleep. Then Joe Taylor, hitman, enforcer and best person in the whole wide world, climbed on his bike and rode off into the night.

TWO

The feeling of his Harley as it hugged the road was the best feeling in the world. Joe loved to fight, loved to fuck. But this, weaving through the traffic at ninety, senses alert, was what he loved best of all. The knowledge that one slip, one lapse of concentration would leave him a greasy mark on the asphalt just heightened the pleasure. Shit, there

Were times when he thought it was even better than sex. The roar of the engine drowned out any noise in his head, and by the time he reached Seattle, thirteen hours later, he had reached an almost Zen-like state of calm.

His brothers, Bugs and Barney, were sitting on the steps of the clubhouse discussing whether or not the girl in front of them was a natural redhead. They looked up as Joe killed his engine and approached. "Hey, bro."

He hugged his brothers and sat on the step next to them. "What's happening?"

"Not much." Barney indicated the redhead. "Just trying to figure whether the collar matches the cuffs."

Joe grinned. "They don't."

"Fuck." Barney handed over a ten dollar bill and, getting to his feet, marched into the clubhouse.

Joe rolled his eyes. Those two would bet on anything. "So which one of you was planning on finding out?"

Bugs shrugged. "It'd have to be me, man. There's no way that fucker was gonna tell the truth."

Joe laughed. "Looks like I saved you the trouble, bro." He moved to follow Barney.

Bugs rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks."

Joe headed straight for the flophouse out back. If he was lucky, he would be able to get a couple of hours sleep before Samson, the Nomad president, turned up with Fingers and George.

"Hey, big guy. Want some company?"

He looked the blonde up and down. Bit too skinny for his tastes, and he'd prefer it if her tits were real. "Sure." He watched her ass as she sashayed to one of the dorms. What the hell. A fuck's a fuck at the end of the day.

In the end
Joe managed a whole six hours sleep before his fellow nomads turned up.

They had a protection run to Alaska, escorting a truck to Anchorage. Joe hated the Alaskan runs. They were cold, miserable and they would be on the road for eight days. Too long, even for him. But the purse was extremely good and he liked to be able to help out his ma whenever he could. She only had a small pension. And, well, he owed her.

~ oOo ~

  
It was a month before he got back to Fillmore. As usual Amy was there before he'd killed the engine. He swore that child had the ears of a bat. "Uncle Joe!" She raised her arms to be picked her up. Frowning when he didn't comply. "I need hugs, Joe."

He shook his head. "You sure you're not too big for hugs? Now you're nearly five and all."

"Course not. C'mon, don't be so mean."

With an exaggerated sigh, he picked her up and kissed her cheek, chuckling as she thrust her hand into his inside pocket. "You only love me for my candy."

Amy giggled and unwrapped the lollipop. "I love you cuz you give the best hugs."

"Sure you do." He looked over to her house. "Is Mommy home?"

Amy nodded. "She said a real bad word when she heard your bike."

"I'm sure she did. Why don't you go an' see Nana Sophie. I need to talk to her."

"You gonna shout at her?"

"Maybe a little."

"Joe, Mommy cries if you shout." She stuck out her bottom lip and he felt like a complete shit. The kid really didn't need this.

"I promise, I won't make Mommy cry, okay, sugar?"

"Okay." She tightened her grip on his neck as he carried her to his ma's house.

Sophia smiled and hugged her son as Amy ran into her living room and switched on the television. "Did she tell you Maria's home?"

"Yeah. Can you watch her while I go next door?"

"Joe, are you sure that's a good idea?"

He shrugged. "Probably not." He turned on his heel and headed out of the house to confront the woman next door.

Maria Miller looked up as Joe barged into her kitchen, his face like thunder. "Don't start, Joe."

"You really think I ain’t gonna say anything? You can't keep doing this, M." He ran his fingers through his hair and looked down at the woman in front of him. His mother might have spent half her life trying to push him and Beth together, but while Maria was around it was never going to happen.

Everyone had a weakness, an Achilles heel, and for Joe it was Maria. There had never been a time he hadn't loved her. There was no transgression he wouldn't forgive. He knew that their relationship—if that was what it was—was toxic. He had tried time and time again to walk away. But every time, the call of the siren lured him back. Nothing, not her drug habit, not the fact that she had got herself knocked up while he was locked up in county, not the lies could keep him away.

He covered the space between them in two strides. "This has to stop, M." He ran his fingers through her hair. "What was it this time?"

She shrugged. "It just gets outta control sometimes. I'm trying. Really, Joe, I am." She laid her hands against his chest. "Maybe if you was around more…”

"Oh no. You don't get to use that excuse, M." He pushed himself away from her. "You gave up that right five years ago." He took a deep breath. There was no point in going over old ground. She wasn't his old lady and was technically free to be with anyone she wanted. But when he found out she was pregnant, he'd wanted to kill her. He had thought he would hate that baby when she looked at him with another man's eyes. He had no idea who the her father was. It wasn't important. He loved that kid like she was his own, and would lay down his life for her.

"You gotta think of Amy. These binges, they have to stop. You ain't a kid anymore, you have responsibilities. It ain’t fair on her or Beth. Shit, M. It ain’t fair on any of us."

"I'm sorry." She looked at him through her thick black lashes. "I don't mean to hurt anyone. I'm a fuck-up, I know. May be it would be better for everyone if I was dead."

Joe swallowed. She was stunning. Those big brown eyes, like liquid chocolate, coupled with her creamy complexion and blonde hair was a heady mix. The years of drug abuse, the binges, had done nothing to diminish her beauty. "Don't." He croaked. "Don't ever say that." He brought his mouth, crashing down onto hers.

He lifted her off the ground, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. "I love you, Joe."

"No, you don't. You don't love anyone."

Sophia sat opposite Amy and laid out the dominoes. "You okay, sweetheart?"

Amy nodded and stuck her finger up her nose. "Joe promised not to make Mommy cry.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow. "Don't pick your nose, dear. Joe doesn't mean to make your mommy cry. You know that, don't you?"

"I know. He just gets mad cuz she goes away." She licked her lollipop and picked up a domino. "Does Joe love Mommy?"

"I think so."

"But he ain't gonna marry her."

"Wouldn't you like him to marry her?"

She shook her head. "It would be nice if he was my daddy. But they yell all the time." She looked up at the woman in front of her and her finger found its way back up her nose. "I think he should marry Auntie Beth. They never yell." Sliding off her chair, she made her way to the fridge. "Nana Sophia, can I have some juice?"

"Sure, sweetheart." Sophia smiled. Out of the mouths of babes.

~ oOo ~

Joe lay on his back, one arm behind his head, the other wrapped around the woman next to him. Not for the first time he wondered what it was about her that made him so weak.

They had grown up together. She had always been wild, crazy. Even as kids, despite the two year age gap, it had been her who instigated most of the shit they got up to.

As the oldest, he’d always taken the blame. From when they got caught stealing candy to when the principal walked in on them smoking weed in the classroom in high school, Joe took the rap. He was the one who led her astray.

She had been his first. He was seventeen and Maria a few days away from her fifteenth birthday, when she had seduced him.

As a teenager, Joe hadn't shown much interest in girls. No, that was a lie. They hadn't shown much interest in him. He was lanky and awkward, uncomfortable in his own skin. He was only really comfortable around her. She saw something in him that, at the time, no one else did, and by the time he had grown into his body and girls started to throw themselves at him, the die was cast. Joe was in love.

Maybe if he hadn't been such a dick and fucked any girl that looked his way, she wouldn't have looked elsewhere. But by the time he had discovered the MC in nearby Bay View, Maria was already hanging with a bad crowd and dabbling in things she shouldn't. Maybe he should've helped her, but he was so wrapped up with prospecting that he didn't notice the change in her until it was too late. They were young, little more than kids. At best their relationship could be described as volatile. They would fight, cheat on each other, take off for weeks on end, before crawling back into each other's arms, for the best make-up sex ever.

Joe sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Maria frowned. "Running out on me again, Joe?"

"Ain’t running out on ya. Got shit to do."

"Sure, you have. Same old, same old, ain't it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Joe gritted his teeth. "What do you want, Maria?"

"That's all I am to you, ain’t I? Just a fuck. Maybe just once you could stay the night.”

"You know that's a bad idea."

"No, I don't."

Joe stood up and pulled on his jeans. "We've talked about this, M."

"No! You piece of shit. You've talked about this. It's bullshit, Joe. You're just using Amy as an excuse."

"Maria." He sat on the bed and took her hands. He really needed to diffuse the situation, before she blew up on him. "I care about you. But you're bad for me. An' I'm bad for you." He laid his hand on her cheek. "We hurt each other. That little girl don't need to see that shit. She's got enough to deal with."

"What with her having an unstable, junkie mother, and all."

"That's not what I meant."

"Yes it is."

"No it ain’t."

"Well, what is it then, huh? Don't wanna get down off that pedestal she's put you on? She ain’t gonna be a little girl forever, Joe. Sooner or later she's gonna see you for the asshole you really are."

He stood and pulled on the rest of his clothes. She'd hit the nail on the head. Not that he'd ever admit it. He couldn't bear the thought of seeing the disappointment in that little girl's eyes. "She needs stability, M. Me being here ain’t gonna give her that. Watching us going at it all the time is going to hurt her. You might not care whether she gets hurt or not, but I do."

"That's a low blow."

"Don't make it any less true. I know you love her, but you're selfish, M. Don't you remember how you felt when your ma took off, or you came home an' she was out cold on the sofa? Why would you wanna put your own kid through the same shit?"

"I don't." She climbed out of bed and stood, naked before him. "When she was born, I swore to myself, I wouldn't turn into my mother." She sighed. "I don't know why I do it. You're right. I'm selfish and weak and pathetic and right now I really hate myself."

He pulled her into his arms. "I'll try to be around more. It must be tough on your own."

"This ain’t on you Joe." She wrapped her arms around his waist. "You should stay away from me. I'm poison."

Joe gave a short, humorless laugh and kissed the top of her head. "I would if I could, baby girl."

Amy was lying on her stomach on his ma's floor, watching the television. She looked up and smiled as Joe walked in. "You gonna watch Little Mermaid with me?"

"I can't, sugar. I'm allergic to mermaids. They make my eyes fall out."

Amy sat up and looked at him skeptically. "Really?"

"Really."

"Okay." She picked up the remote control and switched off the TV. "Will you draw with me?"

"Sure." He pulled her to her feet and sat her at the kitchen table, before going to the same drawer where his mom kept the paper and pencils as she did when he was a kid. "So what should we draw?"

"Unicorns."

Several unicorns later, Amy's eyes started to close. Joe stroked her hair. "You tired?"

"No."

"Oh I think you are. How about I take you home?"

"And put me to bed?"

"And put you to bed."

"And read me a story."

"And read you a story."

"Okay." He picked her up and she snuggled into his neck. "I love you, Joe."

"I love you too, sugar."

Sophia looked up from her knitting. "Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Night, Nana Sophia." Amy stuck her thumb in her mouth and closed her eyes, resting her head on Joe's shoulder. "Joe?"