Fractured & Formidable: The Sacred Hearts MC Book V (14 page)

Revelator…

I was amazed as hell she let me keep the two pictures I
snapped of her as we were having sex. I thought for sure she’d nix them as soon
as she saw them seeing as they showed her, head thrown back, body arching so
provocatively from her face all the way to her navel. Her hands where she had
them planted on my chest, caused her arms to bracket those gorgeous tits of
hers, bringing those lush globes front and center for the camera lens. Jesus
Christ. She was one heart stopping, beautiful, no, gorgeous, no, fine… hell,
all of the above! Woman.

We spent all damned day in my bed and I kept her nude for as
much of it as I could. It had been forever since I spent that much of a day
making love to a woman, and I showed her a few more positions that made her
scream in pure bliss. I made sure to keep her hydrated but couldn’t feel bad
about leaving her sore. I’d brought her to the club with me when I had to be in
church, and immediately Everett had marched up to her and hauled her off to
chat with the girls.

It wasn’t lost on me that Red forwent some of the shit in
her bag, opting for boots, jeans; a tank top camisole thing with lace edging
the top and a cardigan that she conveniently left off the shoulder I had drawn
on. Man, if I had known how much she would love me drawing on her… I am so glad
I didn’t resist temptation on that one and I was already planning for there to
be a next time. I never imagined my preacher’s daughter would be such a fucking
wild child at heart. I fucking loved that shit. What’s more, I loved seeing her
happy.
I settled in next to Trigger and he looked over at me, eyebrow
cocked.

“What’d you do? Spend all day gettin’ laid?”

“Yup.”

He looked surprised and then grinned, “Shit. Me too!” we
pounded fists and Dragon called the meeting to order.

“Right so we got a few things to go over. First, we paid our
little buddies over the county line a visit last night. A little eye for an
eye. Took down one of their meth-lab operations. Now nobody got themselves
dead, because you know, that’s just not how we roll anymore if we can avoid it.
But I think we sent a pretty clear message, so I need you boys to be on your
toes,” there was a sweep of murmured agreement and nods.

“We have some intel that our antics last night have
definitely pissed in their Cheerios, so you all need to be careful. No riding
alone. Keep yourself armed, and if you got something preventing you from
carrying legal… well who fucking cares? It’s gotten to that point. Neither side
is backing down which is what it is,” Dray said.

Dragon spoke up, “Got some other business to attend to.
Gettin’ on toward the beginning of the month, so if you got your dues, pay
Reaver. If not, well you got until next meet to get ‘em in. Anybody need the
floor?” I shot a look over to Dray and he gave me the signal that he had this,
so I settled back in my seat.

“A lot of nasty stuff been going down lately. Every man in
here is pretty much here for the same reason. Lookin’ to get out of the life,
settle down some and work towards something better. A lot of you guys know we
didn’t ask for this fight and are standing your ground with us, and we
appreciate that more ‘n we can say… but a lot of us, me included, are feelin’
like we’re back sliding into the heavy shit.” There was a heavy silence and
some uneasy looks. A few of the guys nodded at what Dray was saying, Trig being
one of them.

“How many of you here have spent longer than five minutes
with my girl’s bestie, Mandy?” Dray asked. Guys looked at each other and hands
cautiously went up. I smiled. Most, if not all of the room had their hands up.

“I’m gonna give Revelator the floor to explain what’s up.”
Dray sat down and I stood.

“So, uh, how many of you guys actually
like
my girl
enough to get up early tomorrow?” Most if not all of those hands went up again.
I nodded, “Here’s the deal…” I spelled it out for them and by the time I
finished there were a lot of grins, some feel-good, others downright feral.

“Now, I don’t want to sound like a pussy, but I’d really
like to do this for her, and us, both to remind us that there are other ways of
handling shit than fucking shit up and breaking faces, and because with all the
shit that’s been going down, we need to do something to at least try to balance
the scales some. May not tip ‘em far but for some of us, we can at least feel
like we’re taking a break from digging our way straight to Hell.” There were
murmurs of agreement and several nods. I took my seat. I think this had more to
do with the guys liking my Red than it had to do with me but a win was a win in
my opinion, no matter how down and dirty or how close you came, whatever you
had to do to come out on top.

“Okay, so for those of you that are down for this, meet here
at nine o’clock tomorrow morning. Data is our road captain so, you figure a
route to take and shit, got it?” Data nodded at Dragons words. “Good, I think
that about covers it. Anything else?

The meeting devolved into a few questions about how Trig,
Dis and I were making progress on our business. We’d received an acceptable pay
out from the insurance and were just waiting on a check. Still having trouble
scouting a location to open up but had some promising ones lined up. As soon as
we had the money we could look at getting a space and setting up shop.

Several of the guys stepped up to volunteer getting us up
and running, by pitching in spare time on interior work in whatever space we
got. Saving on labor for remodel work would be a huge boon and some of it we
could trade out in slinging ink. After about another hour, Dragon officially
wrapped up the meeting and we sent Dis back to let the girls out of their cave.

None of us were surprised when none of them came out.
Happened like that with the new setup sometimes. I hadn’t seen Ghost at the
meeting but then again, I hadn’t been at the last one. Trig said he was getting
Shelly moved in to his house, so it didn’t surprise me that Ghosty boy played
hookie. We all had lives outside the club and sometimes those lives demanded we
miss out on a church meeting so that we could keep a roof over our heads or
food on our plates. Didn’t mean we made a habit of not comin’ because that shit
just didn’t fly. If it was a more permanent situation like work gettin’ in the
way with no way around it, then arrangements could be made.

Like in Lucky’s case. Blood before anything, especially
where his parents came in. They were good people. He came up and stuck out his
hand. We clasped and pulled into each other for a hug.

“Good to see you back man!” I declared.

“Shit, me!? Look at you! ‘bout time you stopped fucking
around and joined up!” he cried.

I grinned, “Yeah, yeah it was,” I agreed.

“Y’know, Unkind would be real proud to see you wearin’ that
cut and prouder still to see you keepin’ out of trouble,” he said. Lucky and
him, well they had been best buddies. In fact, Lucky would have probably been
right beside Unkind the day he died if he hadn’t lived up to his namesake. He’d
been pulled out of town for work that morning to a site outside of his usual
area. Lucky, like a lot of us guys, was as blue collar as they came. We caught
up for a bit but I had to get going. I had an afternoon/evening workout to put
in and I needed to hit the grocery store and shit. The day was promising to be
a long one with a super early start to it the next day, so I needed to get home
and crash if I was going to make it all work.

I found my Red curled up on the floor in front of the media
room’s big black leather couch. The girls all laughing and talking. I bent down
and placed a kiss on her forehead.

“See you tomorrow, Sugar,” I promised her. She smiled up at
me.

“Services let out at eleven. Everett’s going to church with
me. Can you meet me at my parents at noon?” she asked me softly.

I smiled, “Whatever you want, Babe. What time do you guys
eat dinner?”

“On Sundays? Between two and three. Sometimes later, just
depends on what we’re cooking,” she said it as if eating dinner that early were
a perfectly normal thing to do. I smiled wryly. For her it probably was. I
kissed her again.

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” her eyes lingered on me as I left the room and damn,
but I didn’t want to do it. I wanted to take her home with me, sleep with her
warm, soft body tucked in to my own, but I really didn’t want to ruin the
surprise I had in store for her. My girl was loved. Loved by a lot more than
just me and her best friend, and tomorrow I think she was just going to get an
idea of how many people’s lives she touched in a positive way.

At least that was what I was hoping for.

Mandy…

Everett and I arrived at my father’s church before anyone
else. It was generally how it was for me. Get here about ten minutes before any
of the parishioners arrived, that way my father, mother and I could stand at
the door and greet everyone as they got there. The perfect picture of what a
family should be. As idyllic American as a Norman Rockwell painting. It was the
first time that I could ever remember doing it with such an angry resentment in
my heart.

It was all lies. All of it. Every single bit of it was complete…
complete…
bullshit.
There. I said it. Every bit of it was complete and
total bullshit and I was incredibly angry, but you would never know it by the
polite smile I held on my face as I shook hands with Mr. DelBene or when I
leaned forward to let old Mrs. Wainwright kiss me on my cheek.  

The congregation was lined up out in the cold as we swiftly
shook hands and smiled and said hello, ushering them into the warmth of the
church. Everett stood beside me, smiling and saying hello, my mother and then father
bracketing me in on the other. I had talked for a long, long time with Everett
the night before and had made the decision for myself to make a valiant effort
to let the anger go. To tell my parents outright what I thought, how I felt and
to tell them I would be living my life my own way from now on and would not be
taking anymore admonishing remarks from them. To tell them that if my father
did indeed ever lay a hand on me or my mother again? Well… They would never see
me again.

I looked up startled at the roar of pipes.

“Oh my!” my mother exclaimed. I looked over to Evy who had a
satisfied smile on her face, like the cat who had gotten the canary. The
parishioners all turned, some open mouthed, some with wary expressions and some
with open hostility as The Sacred Hearts streamed into the church’s parking
lot, and I mean almost all of them. I did a head count… only three were absent
that I could see.

The men of the club got in line with the rest of the
congregation and Everett slipped behind me and my parents taking up post beside
my dad, making it so I would be the first in line for the greetings. Dragon
came up to me.

“How you doin’ Red?” he asked with a wink and gave me a hug.

“Fine, um it’s good to see you!” I said weakly, at a
complete loss.

Next was Dray. Then Doc, then Chandra, Trigger and Ashton
next, followed by Reaver with Hayden and Zeb, Data, Blue! One after the other
after the other, each one of them with some of the sweetest things to say. ‘We
love you’, ‘we support you’, ‘you’re beautiful’… an endless parade of positive
things but what’s more,
they told my parents these things.

More than once I heard one of the men say to my mother, “You
have a very special girl,” and when they reached my father they each looked him
in the eye and said things like “You don’t have anything to worry about, Sir.
We like/love/have your daughter’s back.” It was all a little overwhelming and
then Zander was in front of me, his eyes sliding over me in careful
consideration and I didn’t care that half the church or my parents were
watching. I hugged him and kissed him, a chaste press of lips compared to what
we’d done yesterday, and with a final look, thumb caressing the side of my neck
in a secret, loving touch, Zander let me go and went to my mother.

“Doing okay?” he asked her softly. She smiled at him and
nodded. I swallowed a bit apprehensively as he stepped up to my father.

“Good to see you sir.” Zander stuck out his hand and my
father shook it, all smiles that didn’t even come close to reaching his eyes but
instead of hostility, like I expected to see, my father’s eyes were carefully
considering. Zander’s were flat and cold by comparison.

“And you,” my father said shortly, following up with,
“Please make yourself comfortable, and thank you for coming.”

My dad smiled and I was surprised to see that he meant every
word that he was saying. Zander gave Everett a quick hug and followed his
brothers into the church. My father didn’t spare us a glance as he went inside
and Everett and I bracketed my mom as we headed up to our places in the very
first pew.

My father settled behind the lectern at the front of our
church and looked out over his flock. He spared a look for my mother and I
almost gasped, it was a look of sadness but at the same time held such warmth
and commitment. I can’t ever remember seeing him look at either of us in such a
way.

“I have stood up here and spoken about judgment countless
times over the years. Specifically, about how we should not fear being judged
except by one being and one being only… God.” My daddy paused and bowed his
head, collecting his thoughts and I realized that he was completely off of his
planned sermon, that this was new, that this was something unplanned and
completely improvised. Something that he
never
did.

“I am guilty of being a judgmental fool,” he said plainly as
he stared out over the congregation. Murmurs swept through the crowd.

“Many of you, I’m sure, have noticed our guests this morning.”
A slight nervous chuckle and some good natured ones from The Sacred Hearts.

“They are here at my daughter, Autumn’s, invitation. Let us
take a moment now to greet them.” Murmurs and handshakes, and even a hug or two
from some of the older ladies went around. I smiled, and people retook their
seats.

“Our Good Book has plenty to say about judgment, and the
passing of judgment that we have on our fellow man. Most popularly we remember
the book of Matthew, chapter seven, verse one which states; ‘Judge not, that
you be not judged’. Let us look beyond the first verse of that chapter and read
the entire passage, which goes on to state ‘For with the judgment you pronounce
you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the
log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take
the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You
hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see
clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.’ Matthew, chapter seven
verses one through five.”

“Brothers, sisters all, what do you think Matthew is trying
to tell us?” he asked, which of course was a rhetorical question but Duracell,
pushy as ever stood up and answered it anyways,

“He’s sayin’ don’t judge someone because they sin
differently than you!” his pronouncement was met by laughter and Blue pulled
him back down into his seat beside him in the pew. “What? He asked!” Duracell
cried and this was met by yet more laughter. My father even cracked a smile.

“Well, yes, that is one way to look at it,” my father
agreed, “And you put it quite succinctly brother…”

“Duracell!” Duracell called up and there was more laughter.
Duracell gave a cheeky grin and I couldn’t remember a time that a service had
been more informal and fun. It was quickly turning into an almost Sunday school
for grownups with the addition of the MC. Well some of them. Dragon reached
forward and smacked Duracell in the back of the head and with a grin muttered
something to the younger man. Probably about having some respect. Blue was
smiling, which he almost never did and I caught Zander’s eye, who winked at me
and puckered his lips in a kiss in my direction. The lot of them were
incorrigible!

“Yes, well, you’re correct brother Duracell,” my father
seemed a bit flustered and my mother blushed faintly. I squeezed her hand.

“Let us now turn to Romans, chapter two verses one through
three for a better understanding of what brother Duracell is saying. It states,
‘Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in
passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge,
practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls
on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those
who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the
judgment of God?’” My father paused in his reading and took his glasses from
his face, folding them neatly and setting them above his bible.

“Now, I didn’t know that my daughter’s friends were coming
today, and no offense to our guests, but I have to ask, how many of you thought
something negative upon their arrival? Be honest now…” hands went up in the
air, tentatively.

“What if I told you that they were here in defense of my
wife and daughter, that the man I have presented to you; that I, am in fact, a
deeply flawed individual?” the church was so quiet that you could hear a pin
drop.

He confessed the whole thing, his jealousy, his hurt and his
rage, his controlling nature, how he let his hand fly entirely too much and too
often and how he was not the man the church thought he was, just all of it. We
all sat in stunned silence as he brought his sermon full circle, back to the
scriptures that he had initially quoted.

“And so with a heavy heart I confess to you my guilt. I have
been a judgmental fool. I have spent years judging my wife, even after I spoke
to her of forgiveness. I have spent years judging my little girl…” he sobbed,
he actually sobbed, “for a mistake that she didn’t even make and I cannot
apologize enough to her and to my beautiful wife. It took these men, my
daughter’s guests, to show me just how wrong I’ve been. Specifically you, young
man,” he gestured to Zander, “And I don’t even know your name.”

Zander stood up and with that smile, that endearing grin of
his that made butterflies take off in my stomach every time I saw it he said,
“John Alexander, most folks just call me Zander but my brothers here call me
Rev or Revelator. Out of all the names and titles I got though, really, I’m
just the guy that loves your daughter.” He looked at me when he said the last
and I think it was honestly, in that moment right then and there, that I fell
completely and endlessly in love with Zander.

My father brought the service to an end after requesting to
speak with the deacons and other leadership of the church directly after. As
always, there was a social in the church’s basement which all were welcome to
attend and my father asked ‘his daughter’s friends’ to please stay for
refreshments and the congregation to welcome them.

I think nearly everyone stayed, as much from being rattled
to the core by my father’s pronouncements, as out of just sheer curiosity when
it came to the bikers in their midst. Everett, my mother and I, did our best to
play gracious hostess to everyone, none of us having the faintest idea what was
going on behind my father’s closed office doors. My mother and I exchanged
worried looks and remained silent. My father would do, and always did, whatever
it was he did, and we were almost always along for the ride in some capacity or
another, and this was much the same.

Zander found me in fairly short order and I stared at him
for long moments and tried not to think the worst of things. Still, a small
voice in the back of my head wondered… did they threaten my father into his
confession? Zander grinned at me.

“It’s written all over your face, Sugar, and no… I just
asked my brothers who wanted to come with me today. I wanted to show my support
for my best girl, my only girl and wouldn’t you know it? Just about all of them
thought it would be a fine idea. Ghost wanted to be here, he just couldn’t make
it on a kind of movin’ Shelly into his place.” I nodded dumbly.

“Thank you,” I said finally and hugged myself to him.
Zander’s arms curved around my body and he held me tight.

“Anything for you, Red. You should probably know I
did
initially talk it over with Dray and he sent Duracell to kick your dad’s ass,
but then I thought about you. You’re sweet and forgiving and all the things
that are right and good in the damn world and I got to thinkin’ and well, this,
showing up here… I thought it might be a better way of handling things this
time so I called Duracell off and asked the club and here we are.” He drew back
to look at me and I couldn’t stop my smiling. I grinned and touched the side of
his face reverently and said,

“Good call.”

Zander barked a laugh and hauled me in to a tighter hug than
before, smacking a kiss on my lips that made me blush, before letting me go
enough to introduce my boyfriend to some curious parishioners.

It was a good day.