Behind Blue Eyes (15 page)

“Mitch told me that you gave him money.” He sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, then stood up and punched several holes in the wall. “I get locked up and you ditch the most important thing I’ve ever given you or anybody, like it was nothing?” For some reason he pictured her taking it off while she fucked another man. “Jasmine, what the hell is wrong with you? You know what that ring represents, what it means to me. It’s us babe, it embodies us!”

“Are you kidding me right now? I didn’t toss it away! I didn’t know how else to raise money! I don’t have a forty-hour-a-week job! You didn’t want me to work full time. I didn’t have the money that was needed to help you.”

“You pawned it, right? You better not fucking tell me you sold it?” He glared at her. “So help me GOD, you better not open your mouth and tell me you sold it!”

“JASON, what did you expect me to do?”

“Nothing! The club has a lawyer!” He reprimanded her. “You’re not part of the club. You’re owned property! Act like it!”

“And you’re my husband. The club did come up with money but I wanted to help.”

“Did you pawn it?”

Jasmine hesitated. “No, I sold it to this guy on Craigslist.”

“Who is he?”

“I don’t know, some guy.”

“Is he local?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not asking for it back.”

“You’ll do what I tell you to do! You still have his info? I know you do, you don’t get rid of anything!”

She hesitated again before answering. She didn’t like the look in his eyes. “It’s on my phone. Nuke, babe, he bought it for his girlfriend so I can’t get it back! Nuke, that wouldn’t be right. I sold it and that’s that.”

“The club…” he started to say again.

She didn’t let him finish his sentence. “Nuke, it wasn’t enough! I sold my bike, too.” She was getting angry now. He was being impossible, immature and irrational!

“Fuck the bike! I can get you another bike!” He was fuming now. “The ring was custom made for you. NOT FOR SOME MAN TO GIVE TO HIS CUNT! I OWN YOU! THAT RING IS YOURS! YOU ARE MINE!”

“I know that, baby. I also understand that it was expensive, but Nuke, I…”

“I’m not pissed off about how much I paid for the ring, Jasmine, but you’re my wife! It was MADE FOR YOU!”

“Nuke, I wanted you out of jail. I wanted you safe.”

He shook his head. “What have I told you about playing the martyr, Jasmine?”

“I’m not playing the martyr. I’m winging this shit! I don’t know the correct do’s and don’ts on what to do when your man is in jail. This was the first time for me! That was something you didn’t bother to explain! You spent all of that time trying to make me the perfect sex slave, you didn’t bother to make a to-do list for me on what to do to get your lifetime-of-criminal-activity ass out of jail! I did what I thought was right!”

“Old ladies shouldn’t make decisions without permission!” He was pacing up and down in the tiny room. Then he turned and punched another wall.

Jasmine got up off the bed. “Screw you! No, on second thought, I don’t want to fuck you! You know what your problem is?” Jasmine was so heated that she stepped up close to him, pointing her finger at his chest.

“You’re running your mouth so go ahead and tell me!” His entire body was rigid with anger.

“Guilt! You’re a fucking sociopath and I’m the only thing you’ve ever felt guilty about!  You feel guilty that you got locked up and left me. You feel guilty that I sold things to help with your safety in jail. You don’t know how to deal with guilt! We’re a team, we’re partners in this. WE PROTECT EACH OTHER!”

“They teach you that in nursing 101, or was it your one semester of psych that made you an expert?” he shot back at her.

Jasmine waved her hands in the air. “I’m done! I’m not doing this with you! I’m going out there to have fun. You keep can keep being an ass if you want to!” She turned to walk away and he grabbed her by the arm and shoved her up against the wall. She hit with a hard thud and a picture fell off its nail. Jasmine couldn’t deny the fear racing through her body. “If you hit me in anger, Jason” she said, starting to cry out of fear, “it’s over; I mean it. I’ll fucking leave you and I won’t come back!”

He gripped her face hard. “I love you!” Nuke growled.  The he let her go and stormed out of the room.

She raced behind him. “FUCK YOU! NO YOU DON’T! YOU WOULDN’T BE WALKING AWAY FROM ME IF YOU DID!”

Everyone stopped and stared at them. No one had ever seen them argue over anything. Nuke didn’t respond as he made a beeline outside. He headed straight for her car. Opening the door, he climbed inside and dumped the contents of her purse onto the seat. He took her phone and began searching for the information on her ring.

“Oh hell!” Pipe moaned as he stopped drinking, holding his beer bottle in midair. “I knew he was going to off the deep end.”

“What’s going on?” Mitch asked him with the look of a concerned father on his face.

“She sold her wedding ring. You know Nuke. I told her that would be the one thing he’d be pissed off about.”

Mitch nodded as he sipped his beer. He then moved with the growing crowd that was heading outside to see what would happen next. He didn’t want this to turn into something Nuke would regret. He stopped and motioned for Vince, Jamie, Toby, Tech and Ice. He wanted them ready in case Nuke got out of hand. He also shot a look over at Pipe, who half-heartedly put down his beer and walked outside with Mitch.

Pipe didn’t want to be part of this. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to stand by and let a fight between the two of them happen. He leaned over toward the club president. “We’re going to need everyone if he starts beating the shit out of her,” he said loud enough for all of them to hear.

“Yeah,” Toby added. “Remember what he did to Cotton?”

The full patch members let out a low groan.

“Who’s Cotton?” Ice whispered into Jamie’s ear.

“An unlucky son of a bitch that pissed off Nuke on the wrong night. It was before your time, bro, and be thankful you weren’t here that night!” Jamie replied. “Though, if you look around hard enough, you might still find pieces of him.”

Ice frowned. He couldn’t tell whether Jamie was serious or not.

“Do we still have those Tasers?” Mitch asked Tech.

“Yeah, should I go get them?” Tech asked.

Kevin walked over to the group. “He’s going to fuck her up!” he said as he sipped his beer. “Not at all how I pictured this day.”

“No, never mind.” Mitch shook his head. “Just go get Brock. We’ll just beat him unconscious if it comes to that. See if you can find Roach and Mountain, too. I think they might be helping the band set up.”

“I still think we need the Tasers,” Tech said to Jamie as he headed off in search of the other club members.

***

“Nuke what are you doing?” Jasmine looked at the contents of her purse all over the front seat. “If you love me like you claim you do, then stop being such a jerk right now. We could be inside, in the bedroom, making love. Not out here with you being bat-shit crazy!”

“GO BACK INSIDE!” Nuke responded without even looking at her. He was obsessively scanning through her phone.

“Nuke, the ring doesn’t make us married. Our commitment to one another does.”

He climbed out of the car and backed her up against the vehicle. “Get the fuck back inside the clubhouse!” he said with an angry whisper.

“Nuke, I…”

“You going to stand there and keep disobeying me? You want to keep fucking arguing with me? Huh, you really want to do this right here, right now? YOU WANT TO KEEP FUCKING WITH ME? DO YOU THINK THAT’S A GOOD IDEA?”

The club members all moved in closer.

Never in their entire relationship has she felt the fear she was feeling now. “I didn’t do anything wrong!” Jasmine stared him in the eyes. “This is so stupid!” She glanced behind him and saw a half dozen Hells Vipers watching them.

She slid away from Nuke as panic pulsated through her body. She glanced at him one more time, then turned and walked back inside the clubhouse.

Nora moved to follow Jasmine. Medic stopped her. “I wouldn’t get into the middle of this if I were you.”

She hesitated. “I think I should go.” Nora suddenly felt terrified. She wasn’t prepared for this.

“I’d like for you to stay but if you want to leave, that’s up to you.”

“Under different circumstances, I’d love to stay here with you. I don’t believe that this is the right time for me to be here.”

Medic understood her concern. “Tell you what, lets chill for a bit. If in an hour or so you still want to leave, that’s cool, but I’d really like to talk with you, get to know you.”

Nora wanted to stay as much as she wanted to leave. She glanced over at Nuke, who was in a deep conversation with other members of the club.

The fight between Nuke and Jasmine was unexpected and it had made her a nervous wreck. “I don’t know. I really think I need to leave. ”

“How about instead I follow you home? We could get to know each other better.”

“Alright.” Nora felt relieved to be leaving and excited that Medic wanted to get to know her better. She walked over to Amy, “Can you tell Jasmine that I had to leave?”

“So soon? Honey, don’t let that fight scare you away. They’ll make up before the night is over with,” Amy said, but even she was filled with doubt. Nuke and Jasmine arguing was out of the norm.

“I’m following her home,” Medic spoke up.

“Oh, okay. I’ll let Jasmine know.

***

Jasmine grabbed a drink from the bar and slammed down half of the contents. She was fuming and it was making her even angrier how everyone was giving her side glances. Amy walked over to her. “What’s going on?” Amy whispered in her ear.

“I’m married to an idiot!” Jasmine finished off one cup and grabbed another.

“All men are idiots, but what are you two fighting about?”

Jasmine held up her left hand. “I sold my wedding ring to help raise money to protect his ass in jail! He’s being immature!”

Amy affectionately rubbed Jasmine’s back. “Sweetie, give him time. Let him calm down. He’ll be alright after a while. They don’t understand that we do what needs to be done to protect them, just like they protect us. It’s their egos. Us women, we’re the backbone of the club. That’s something they don’t want to admit. Sure, they take care of business, but who’s here to pick up the pieces when the shit hits the fan? We are.”

“He scared me,” Jasmine said as she looked into Amy’s eyes. “For the first time, I was truly scared of him when he pushed me up against the wall in the bedroom. I know Nuke has a temper but honestly it’s never been directed toward me. I’ve seen him in full-blown Nukeness towards other people but never me.”

“Did he hit you?”

“No, but I thought he was going to. We do domestic discipline, but that’s different. That’s not him abusing me. I don’t want our relationship to turn dark like that. I won’t put up with that. Has…has Mitch ever hit you?”

“We’ve had our bad times. We’re in a good place now.”

Jasmine shook her head. “I told him that if he hits me, I’m out. I mean that! I love him with all that I am, but I’m not staying if he starts that. No way!”

“Jasmine, just relax. You’re both upset right now.  On the positive side, your friend took off with Medic. He laid on the charm fast; he must be really horny tonight,” Amy laughed. “Now, come on. Let’s get shit-faced!”

Jasmine looked outside at Nuke. He still had her phone in his hand and Mitch was talking to him. A few other club members were still lingering close by.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea!” Jasmine and Amy locked arms and grabbed another cup filled with alcohol.

***

Two hours later, Nuke was still fuming. Kevin passed Nuke a beer as he leaned up against the doorframe. “Bro, you’re out of jail. We got beer, music and wall-to-wall pussy. Go have some fun. Fuck some random bitch. It’s not like Jasmine can do shit about it.”

Nuke glanced over at Kevin. “Shut the fuck up!”

Kevin shrugged his shoulders. “I’m only trying to help.”

“I didn’t ask for your help!”

Kevin shot him a look. “Screw you! Be miserable all night, I don’t give a fuck!” Kevin stormed off and headed out side.

Nuke made his way over to the pool table. He started a game with Toby. From the pool table, he could keep his eyes on Jasmine. She was hanging with Amy and Pam, drinking the night away. It pissed him off even more that she didn’t seem that upset.
She’s probably fucking around on him!
That’s why she so easily sold her wedding ring.
The negative thought immediately popped back into his head. He glanced over at Pipe but he had his tongue down the throat of some red-haired girl that Nuke didn’t recognize.

“You need to go kiss and make up with your wife,” Toby said as he took a shot.

“She’s the one that needs to apologize.” Nuke fired one of the balls into the pocket. His eyes cut toward Jasmine. She was dancing with Amy. He stood up from the pool table and watched her.