Behind Blue Eyes (20 page)

“Karma, got to love her sometimes,” Nuke replied.

“Apparently, Nick Kordell was still close to his ex-wife.  She put a reward out for any information on Holden and Tori. It’s hefty, quarter of a million dollars. The news did a whole story on Kordell. It was bad idea to kill that man. He was heavy into local charity work. Popular man down in Indy.”

“Quarter of a million, I should track down his ass and turn him in. Are we done fighting, Jasmine?” he asked her.

Jasmine nodded.

All or nothing

Nuke rolled over in the bed and opened his eyes. The room was dark and he was alone, but at least he was home. He could hear movement in the living-room.

He reached over and turned on the bedside light as he sat up on the side of the bed. He looked around the room and he finally spotted what he wanted, a pair of black lounge pants hanging on the back of a chair. He put them on and walked barefoot down the hallway and into the living room.

Jasmine was stretched out on the sofa, watching television.

“Where’s Kevin and Pipe?” Nuke asked as he walked into the room.

“They left a little while after I got back from the grocery store. I fed them first, of course.”

“Of course.” Nuke smiled at her.

Nuke walked over to his cut and reached inside the pocket. He pulled out his phone to check his messages. It was nothing that couldn’t wait. Just Rocket, who was blowing up his phone for some reason. Idiot! “I slept all day. I didn’t mean to do that.” Nuke stretched with a yawn as he walked into the living room and sat down in the recliner.

“You had a long night.” Jasmine glanced away from the television to Nuke.

Jell-O walked over and jumped onto Nuke’s lap. The orange tabby staked her claim as Stella, the Norwegian Forrest cat, took her spot on the opposite side.

“What are you watching?” Nuke asked as he tried to equally stroke each feline.

“HGTV.”

“Anything good?”

“Some show about flipping flea market stuff. You like building stuff, we should do this. We could make some extra money.”

“Naw, I’d rather do illegal stuff, it’s easier,” Nuke laughed. “I was thinking, do you want to take a trip somewhere, maybe go away for a long weekend?” Nuke asked. “We could rent a cabin up in Michigan or just get on the bike and ride, see where the road takes us.”

Jasmine tore her eyes away from the television. “I don’t know. We don’t have to go anywhere. I’m sure that the club needs you right now.”

“I think we should. Sometimes a change of scenery is good. Just get out of the city away from all of the drama for a couple of days. A week maybe?”

“No honey, that’s okay. We can plan something in a few weeks or maybe around our anniversary.”

“Why not now?” Nuke asked as he attempted not to overthink the comment she’d made about Pipe earlier. There was nothing going on between them, he reminded himself.

“I believe you, Nuke, that nothing happened. I have to find a way of not overreacting and thinking that you’re dead or in jail all of the time when I don’t hear from you. If I have a problem with us, I’ll let you know.”

He just stared at her and she turned her attention back to the television.

“You’ll let me know?” he repeated dryly.

“Yes, I’ll let you know if I can’t deal with something. I’ll talk to you about it,” she said without looking at him.

“You’re pissing me off, you know that?”

“How? What am I doing wrong now, Nuke? I’m telling you that it was me, not you. For some reason when I thought about being married to you, I didn’t imagine any of the things that have happened to us. That’s my fault. You think I would have known better. The Grave Walkers, Road Kill, Cindy, now your brother, jail, freaking fire bombs at the clubhouse. I mean, shit, can you blame me for thinking you’re dead somewhere when I haven’t heard from you?”

He stared at her for so long that she could have sworn that his eyes were boring holes into her. “Did you fuck Pipe when I was locked up?”

“You and I both have to stop being so insecure!”

“Answer the question!”

“No, I didn’t have sex with Pipe or anyone else.”

“It seems like you two bonded.”

Jasmine nodded. “Yeah, we did, but not like you think. He cared about my well-being when you were in jail. Don’t get me wrong, the club, they were there for me if I needed them. Pipe and Amy both looked out for me. Pam, too. I could cry in front of them.

“Did you cry a lot?”

Jasmine nodded. “Yeah. Most of the time I was by myself. I had a moment at work. Ended up going home early that day.”

“What happened at work?”

“I overheard some people talking. One of them said what did Jasmine expected to happen being married to a Hells Viper. They went on to talk about how the club is nothing but a gang and some other stuff.  For some reason, it just got to me that day. Instead of being my usual self and stomping over there and defending you and the club, I started crying. I couldn’t stop. Told my supervisor I was sick and I went home.”

“I’m sorry, Jasmine.”

“It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”

“It was my fault. I should have gotten rid of Holden as soon as I saw him. Now back to me being jealous. Are you attracted to Pipe?” Nuke held his breath and anger as he waited on her answer.

“Why, you offering a three-way? We’re too insecure for that right now.” Jasmine jokingly said and she immediately could tell from the look on his face that it was a bad idea.

“No, I’m not,” she quickly responded. “Nuke, you and I, honestly we really have to stop being this way. You would think that the both of us would be more confident in our relationship. I guess that might take a while for us.”

“You’re out of my league!” Nuke said.

“Have you forgot what you told me on our first date? How we both were there because we wanted to be with one another.”

“I wanted to fuck you. I was just talking shit!” He forced a half smile.

She tossed one of the couch pillows at him. “You meant it! You love me, I love you and neither of us is fucking anyone.”

“But you think he’s hot?”

Jasmine let out a sigh. “Oh my God, really? Just stop it! You should be happy to know that you have at least one decent and good friend that looked out for me.”

“He’s not that decent!” Nuke laughed.

Jasmine chuckled. “Alright, I’ll give you that.”

“Do you know why he’s called Pipe?”

“He said it’s because it’s his weapon of choice.”

Nuke shook his head with a smile. “Well this is one thing I can tell you. We all were prospects at the same time. Though Kevin and Pipe were patched in before me. I ended up going to rehab a few months later anyway. The club was having a cookout; it’s Memorial Day weekend, and the full patch members are working us like two-dollar whores. Top it all off, we can’t have shit to drink, smoke, nothing. We had to work security and be their fetch-me-this bitch.

“Remember, this is before I went to rehab so I’m going nuts. I need a fucking hit of something. I remember going to the bathroom and drinking down some mouthwash for a buzz. You would have hated me back then. I was a fucking mess. You wouldn’t have given me the time of day. I probably would have stolen your watch anyway,” Nuke chuckled. “We did meet when we should have. All things happen for a reason. I needed to become a slightly better person.”

“You’re a great person!”

“Thanks, babe. Anyway, this chick, she was whoring for this other prospect named…Dirt. She was his wife, actually.”

“Dirt?” Jasmine laughed. She loved his Hells Vipers stories. She was completely tuned in to every word he was saying. “Why was he called Dirt?”

Nuke laughed hard from his belly. “Grew up on a farm. He was dirt poor. He was also an overall-wearing, wife-with-no-teeth redneck to the core kind of dude. So Dirt was his name. He sends this wife out to fuck this hang around. Charges the guy twenty dollars. She comes back a few minutes later and hands him ten dollars. He’s pissed because he owed Pipe fifty. He slaps her around and tells her to go somewhere and make him some money.

“The party goes on, and a few hours later, she comes back, no money. Now Pipe is pissed off because he wants his money. Dirt is upset because he’s thinking Pipe is going to kick his ass. Dirt and his wife are arguing and she has this awful voice, sounds like she’s sucked on helium. Pipe is yelling at him calling him a little bitch. All three keep arguing and the sound of her voice is getting on Pipe’s nerves. Finally, he just snaps. He punches Dirt and the wife. He picks up this PVC pipe.”

“So he did use it as a weapon!”

Nuke moved his head back and forth. “Kind of. He hits him with the pipe and then he tells him to strip. Kevin and I are right there yelling at him to do what Pipe says. Dirt is scared and confused but he does it anyway. By this time everyone is outside watching. Pipe hits Dirt again, knocking him to the ground, then he says he’s going to shove the PVC up the redneck’s ass. Telling him how’s he’s a little bitch for not handling his woman.”

Jasmine’s mouth was wide open with shock. “Wait…wait a minute! He was going to fuck him with a pipe?”

Nuke nodded. “Yeah, he threatened to anyway. He’s got this anal object thing.”

“You do, too!” she laughed. “Holy fuck!” Jasmine still couldn’t believe it. “All of you are so weird!” She started laughing.

“Yep, and you fit right in with us!” He winked at her.

“Is that story really true?”

“Yeah, ask him. You two have bonded!”

Jasmine rolled her eyes. “I believe you. I just didn’t even imagine that was how he got the road name Pipe. Why doesn’t Kevin have one?”

“He’s boring,” Nuke laughed. “I use to call him STD. Dude has had so many of them, it’s a wonder his dick hasn’t fallen off. The name didn’t stick, but every other venereal disease did.” Nuke laughed so hard he started to choke.

His laughter was contagious, and for the first time in a long time, she felt good inside and at peace.

Nuke paused for a moment. “We disbanded the Disciples of Ares. They were the ones that firebombed the compound.”

His sudden disclosure took her by surprise. “What do you mean by disbanded?”

“We disbanded them. We broke up their club, dissolved their organization.”

“I watched cooking shows on Hulu last night,” she calmly replied, then she picked the remote and began flipping through the channels. “Your mother called me last night, too!” She tried to keep the conversation casual even though she was filled with questions for him. She kept them to herself.

“What did she want? To tell us about Holden being sought for questioning?”

“That was part of it. She asked if I saw the news. Mainly, though, she wants us to get together.”

“Aww, hell no! It’s too late for that shit.”

“I told her I’d let her know. I’ll tell her that it’s not a good time for us right now.”

“I can’t believe she called you for that! She knew I’d say no.”

Jasmine replied as she took a deep breath, “Nuke, I don’t have parents. Your mom seems to be reaching out to you. She knows that Holden isn’t the golden boy that she thought he was and you’re not as bad as she thinks you are.”

“No, I’m worse that she thinks!”

“Maybe so, but your mother is trying. Maybe you should cut her some slack. Parents fuck up, too.”

“It’s too late to play mom. I don’t need one now.”

“Okay, Nuke.”

Nuke turned his attention back to the cats. “We’re not going to my mother’s house,” he repeated.

“Alright.” Jasmine scrunched up her face. There was nothing but silence for several moments. Her moment of joyful, laughing inner peace was gone.

Nuke got up and the cats jumped down onto the floor. He sauntered into the kitchen. Moments later, Jasmine followed behind him. “Without reveling biker club secrets, can you tell me who she is? The woman from last night. The one you didn’t fuck.” She hated herself for bringing it up again, but it was driving her crazy.

Nuke cut his eyes over to her as he opened up the freezer. He took out a frozen pizza. He walked over to the oven and turned it on. He said nothing.

“How about this, can you tell me what you did with her?”

“I let her live because I don’t kill women.”

“Is that a club rule or is that a club secret, too?”

“No.”

“No, what? It’s not a club rule or no, it’s not a club secret?”

Nuke laughed. “As a whole the club keeps family out of it. Usually, that means women and children. Kevin is kind of null and void now after all that went down with the Grave Walkers. Pipe is…well, he’s Pipe.”

He didn’t have to spell it out. She knew that it meant Kevin had taken care of Cindy. Nuke had never said it out loud but she knew that Cindy was dead. The club doesn’t forgive that kind of betrayal.
G. F. V. D; God forgives, Vipers don’t
.

“Your two best friends. The dysfunctional Musketeers. The three of you have difficult relationships with women, including your mothers. You don’t talk to yours, Kevin grew up without his and Pipe saw his mother get murdered by his father because she was having an affair. You all hate women a little bit.”

“I let her live; that means I don’t hate women, and I certainly don’t hate you! She was drenched in that awful perfume. She offered to suck our dicks. I turned her down. I didn’t fuck her, either. I didn’t get a blow job. I just let her live.” Nuke opened the pizza box and placed the pizza on the pan, then slid it into the oven.