Game Changer (Hell's Saints Motorcycle Club) (16 page)

Then he had flipped her over and took her again. Then over one more time. She felt his mouth on her and she opened wide for him. And he took his time. Tasting her honey, his tongue sliding over her clit and pushing its way deep inside her. God, she tasted sweet and clean and new. He fingered her and watched her face as she started building. Her eyes on his the whole time. Then just when she was almost there he took his fingers away. She shuddered and looked at him with those beautiful big blue eyes pleading with him to finish her. He moved his big body over her smaller one and pulled her to him. He slung her legs over his shoulders and drove himself home.

We were back at the farm house with Pinky and Prosper getting ready to head out to the services for Lilah and that’s all I could think about was the incredible night, middle of the night, and very, very hot morning I had spent with Diego. Under him, on top of him, clasped tight to him, and every other way imaginable.

Wow.

I was dressed in my new blue pencil skirt, my new white blouse and some seriously high heels. Diego had told me (yep,
told
me) to leave my hair down and I had. Minimum make up, large silver hoops and I was done. Diego had a new button down white shirt under his cut and black leather pants that laced up in the front, black biker boots and a black and silver belt. He looked beautiful.

And I felt beautiful standing next to him.

The services were lovely. Pinky and Prosper had decided to combine the viewing with the church services and the church was packed. The church was progressive and allowed Pinky and Prosper to do as they saw fit to honor Lilah. There was a slide show, a number of eulogies and ending the ceremony was Prosper and I playing guitar to one of Lilah’s favorite songs.
Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen
. I thought the last verse was particularly relevant. When we hit the chorus it surprised me to hear the congregation (such as it was, a sea of blonde and leather) sing along.

I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Prosper, Diego and Reno headed home two days after the services. Pinky had asked me to stay behind with her and Dolly to get things settled. I was happy to do that. Despite the tragedy of it all, those were some of the best days I had ever spent. Later on, I would draw on these memories as a source of solace and strength. Glad to have had that time.

Pinky and Dolly brought me right into the fold and we had long mornings sitting at the coffee table pouring over my treasure book of photographs that Prosper had rescued from my childhood. Some of the pictures were events I remembered, some I didn’t. There were pictures of my mom and my dad and Claire and I as babies. Candid shots. Claire and I in a bath tub, Claire sleeping in dad’s arms, my mom pregnant with Claire holding my hand and smiling that sweet sad smile that I remembered so well. If the pictures and the memories made Pinky uncomfortable she didn’t let on and I loved her so much for that my heart was near to bursting. What a gift they had given me. Claire and I had mattered, we had been seen. We had been loved. I couldn’t wait to share them with my little sister.

Pinky had decided to put the family home up for sale. We helped her do that. The three of us drove into town and met with a realtor. The realtor came out, assessed the property and told us what we needed to do to get a fair and quick sale on the house. We did those things. Pinky hired some painters and had the kitchen floor replaced. We spent the week packing and cleaning and threw a lot of stuff out. A lot. There didn’t seem to be much that Pinky wanted to keep as reminders of her childhood and I completely got that.

Once I walked in to find Pinky sobbing in Dolly’s arms and when Dolly’s eyes met mine it was with mutual understanding. Not one of the three of us had had an easy life. Packing up the remnants of that kind of life could dredge up a whole lot of muck, and that week poor Pinky was knee deep in it. That’s why, Dolly explained to me later that day, that Pinky had needed her girls with her at this time. Then Dolly thanked me for being there.

Her girls
.
Thanked me.

I wondered how it could be possible that these two brave, generous, loving women didn’t know what a gift their acceptance and love was to me.

Over the week I spent with Dolly and Pinky, we shared a lot of our history. It didn’t happen all at once and there was no pity party. It happened in between moments of laughter and tears and morning coffee and late night margaritas. Pinky shared some hilarious moments with Prosper and I laughed until I cried. Dolly, not to be out done, also shared stories about her man. Big badass biker stories in their testosterone fits and macho moments. They also shared their tender most loving memories and that had made me cry in a different way. I wondered for the millionth time what it would be like to have a man love me, really love me like these women had been loved.

When I returned to the compound with Dolly and Pinky things began to take on a sort of rhythm that felt good I continued to live in Prosper’s rooms and continued to work at Reds. Pinky and Prosper still owned the lake house which was about twenty minutes away in the direction of Ruby Reds. They lived in a modern raised ranch a few miles away. Prosper had explained to me that “in the days when he was whoring and drinking” that he spent a lot of nights at the club house, but now he mostly wanted to be where Pinky was and that was the ranch house a few miles away.

He then went on to say that while I could consider that rooms mine, he figured I would want to have more of a place to stay eventually. He wanted me to know that I could consider the lake house my home if that was something I wanted. Wow. I wanted that. I
so
wanted that, but that was something Claire and I had to decide together. My little sister was never far from my mind and always
always
in my heart.

My days were filled with Reds and the rest of time I was at the compound. It became easy for me to be there. I was getting to know the brothers and their women and they were getting to know me. Slowly. I still kept to myself a lot but slowly I felt myself being drawn in. Prosper and I played music together in the evenings a lot and gradually I became a part of the firelight and laughter that I had feared as a child. Sometimes I would help Jules cook. Pinky and I decided to start a garden. Nice.

Things were good, but there was much I had left unsettled back in Willows Point and I knew that I would have to face it eventually. Claire and I were going to plan what came next. It had always been Claire and me planning what came next and this brief parting made no difference.

So my life was in a holding pattern.

Diego. He was gone when I had gotten back on some MC business. He had called me every day and just checked in.

So our calls basically went like this.

“Hey Babe.”

“Hey.”

“How’s it going?”

“Pretty good. You?”

“Pretty good is not an answer babe.”

“Oh.”

“So, I’m gonna ask you again. How’s it going?”

“Not bad.”

“Babe.”

He’d ask me a few questions about my day, but never divulged much himself so at times the conversation felt stilted and forced. I tried not to think too much of it. Really, our relationship thus far had been based on sex and arguing. Or so it seemed. I wasn’t sure where Diego fit in my life or
if
he fit in my life or
if
I fit in his.

And I gave Ellie some thought.

I did.

I thought a lot about Diego’s relationship with her. I had been around the club long enough to know the difference between the old ladies, the girlfriends, and the whores. Most times the guys would have all three. Some even had the added fourth. A wife had home with kids. Fidelity was a not in the Badass Biker Dictionary. Except maybe for Crow, and who knows what that was about.

I stayed away from the girl posse. Despite everything, or maybe because of everything, I was still a watcher. When it came right down to it, I really honestly and truly didn’t know what really had gone on between Diego and Ellie. Sure, Diego had denied anything serious between the two. But I wasn’t stupid, and neither was Ellie, crazy mean maybe, but she was no dummy. Ellie didn’t seem like the type who would have stuck around if she hadn’t felt there was some
there
there.

I just didn’t trust that she would just walk away from Diego or from what she thought was going to be the life of an old lady. The way some women dreamt of a house, a husband and a minivan full of kids, these biker chicks dreamt of wearing property patches and filling in the back seat of a Harley.

She was gone. For now. But I had
no
doubt.
Not one shred of doubt
that we hadn’t seen the last of the train wreck that was Ellie. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t in the path of her oncoming.

I didn’t talk about it, didn’t feel the need to share, and tried not to think about it, but the Winston sisters had survived a lot.
A lot
. Claire and I, honestly we had barely survived what it took to grow up healthy and whole in a house headed by Jack Winston. Sitting here now, in our safe place, I was mad at myself for not seeking Prosper out earlier.

The years after my mother died hadn’t been pretty. Not by a long stretch. Despite the promise that Prosper had made to my mother, he should not have brought us back to my father. Jack just didn’t have it in him to be the sole caretaker of two little girls. Jack’s version of “doing what the good daddies do” basically meant instead of going out to drink, he stayed at home to drink. Sometimes I had found myself furious with my mother. Had she really been that naïve about the kind of man my father was? She never ever should have made Prosper promise not to separate us from Jack. In doing so, she had sentenced Claire and me to a life I couldn’t imagine that she would have wanted for us.

Nobody had ever touched us. Jack had kept us safe in that way. Our house was a safe place to be in
that way
. Even when his friends came over. The rough big loud shadow people. They stayed outside. “Not even to piss.” I heard him say once. “You don’t go in that house where Maggie’s babies are, not even to piss.”

Maggie’s babies. Not his. Maggie’s. Except for the fact that Claire and I had the exact shade of his deep violet blue eyes and shared his long thin nose, I had often felt such a disconnect from our father that I doubted his parentage. I had spent a lot of time that summer at the lake house searching Prosper’s face hoping to find some resemblance to us. It didn’t escape me that Prosper was about as far as you could get from the perfect father figure ideal, but he would have been better than Jack. By a lot. At eight years old I knew that.
At eight.

So because our father basically sucked, our only hope had been me. Sure, I could have used that address that Prosper had given us years ago. But, the straights never seemed dire enough. Sure, I was cooking and cleaning and getting Claire and I off to school as far back as I remembered, but oddly enough, there always was enough money to get us through.

Getting Jack to remember to pay the bills though, that was another matter. After having the electricity shut off twice, I knew I had to step up. So at the tender age of ten years old, while other kids were playing with dolls and going to birthday parties, I was teaching myself how to manage the household finances. I would put together little envelopes once a month with amount dues on them. Then my dad would fill the envelopes with cash and I would go to Pete’s Variety where, for an extra three dollars, you could pay your utility and cables bills.

Our dad never once made me worry about not having enough money. Although he was gone sometime, he never seemed to work at anything steady and we paid for everything in cash. Everything. Doctors, dentists, and one trip to the emergency room when I fell out of a tree and broke my arm were all paid for in cash.

My father also kept two guns in the house and they were both loaded. One he placed in the drawer by his bed and the other was, of all places taped behind the toilet. Claire and I knew never ever to touch them. Knowing they were there never made us feel safe. They had made us feel the very opposite of safe.

You would think that with the men we had for role models in our young lives Claire and I would have had the sense to look for something better. Neither one of us dated until way later. Just like with the friends’ thing, our situation hadn’t exactly been conducive to dating the boy next door. We kept to ourselves. When we finally made that leap, we both picked men who abused drugs and then had abused us. Yep, baby sister and I were not too smart when it came to choosing men.

Now here I was in the heart of Wrong Man City. The irony did not escape me. But here in that City of All Wrong, was also Pinky and Prosper. There was also Viking God who made the best home fries I ever tasted and who winked at me when he thought I was sad.

And there was Diego. Who I was hoping wasn’t Mr. Wrong at all. Who I was beginning to hope with all my heart, was the man I could finally make a home with. I was hoping that in the heart of the City Of All Wrong. I had finally found my Mr. Right. Maybe.

“Report in.”

Prosper had the gavel in his hand and was seated at the head of the table behind closed doors. It was a few days after Lilah’s funeral. Prosper had left the women behind to do whatever they had to do to clean up the rest of Pinky’s family shit. And shit it had been, if it had been up to Prosper he would have burnt that fuck house to the ground. He knew what had happened to Pinky behind those walls. But Dolly was there and his Raine was there too. Pinky had been determined to try and make some green from that shithouse and maybe she was right. Maybe it was time she got some back for the misery that had been her life. So he had left her to it.

Diego, Reno, Jules, Pipe, and Crow were at the table. Gunner, Ever, and Riker had driven up from Willows Point to sit in on this one too.

Diego and Crow, looking a little worse for the wear were sitting opposite from each other scowling. They both had swollen knuckles. Diego’s lip was split and Crow was trying to hide it but he grimaced every time he moved.

Prosper knew it was coming and it had.

The minute Crow pulled up on his bike Diego had gone for him at a full run.

At a full fucking run.

Then the two of them had gone at it like damn kids. Cocksuckers. Stupid brainless motherfucking dumbass sonsofbitches. Brother going after brother. Took Prosper and three members to pull them apart. Not gonna fucking happen. Never gonna fucking happen that his boys were gonna fight over a woman. Even if, no especially if, that woman was Raine. Neither one of those shit heads were good enough for her anyway. After watching them almost kill each other, Prosper had booted them right in the ass and kicked them both all the way into a meet.

Prosper had known Diego and Crow for a long time. Too fucking long and he was too old to be playing referee like some kind of father to two horny sons. He told them that too. One of them as bad as the fucking next. Crow making his play for Raine knowing that D had made it clear she belonged to him. Although Prosper had to fucking give it to Crow, when that whore Ellie had given him that in by trying to lay claim to Diego, Crow had stepped right up to take it. Then he went ahead and let that bitch wife of his interfere in the way he always did. If there was ever a cunt, Crow’s ex was one. That goddam fucking wife of his had been playing him against the club for too long. You love the man, you love the life. Every brother and his woman knew that. Every woman but Crow’s. Pain in the fucking ass.

Crow had been a wild child when Prosper had found him dumpster diving and living on the street just outside a reservation in South Dakota. He had been a skinny, wiry kid with hollow high cheek bones and dirty black hair. He was Apache, but looking at him had still had made him think of Maggie. But then again, Maggie had been gone by then and most things came around to making him think about her.

Prosper had bought him a meal and got his story. Three meals to be exact. Kid had eaten three twelve ounce steaks complete with three baked potatoes and three salads with bleu cheese dressing. He had washed it down with 6 glasses of chocolate milk.

Then when they were leaving the steakhouse, Crow had made an excuse to go back to the table and he had pocketed the tip. Sonofabitch, Prosper had never seen anything like it. He reminded him of that pick pocket in that fucking Dickens book they had made him read in school. The kid had balls, and he was hungry. Hungry in a way that all the steak and chocolate milk in the world couldn’t fill. Prosper liked him, right away and a lot.

After the meal, Prosper had had a sit down with the Artful Dodger. Crow had been pretty much on his own after escaping a coked up mother and the string of men who she fucked to keep her in booze and snort. He had run away after one of his mom’s johns tried to get Crow to suck his dick. That’s how he told it, just like that.

He had been twelve years old and living in a gutted out apartment building. Ever mindful of bullshit, Prosper decided to assess the situation for himself and if it was as bad as the kid said Prosper was gonna get him away from that. Prosper had Crow bring him around to where he was staying, and the situation was not only as bad as Crow had said, it was a hell of a lot worse.

Prosper brought Crow back with him and gave him a job working around the club. Smart little fucker he was. Pinky got him enrolled in school and the little bastard got straight A’s. Crow had been encouraged by some goddam guidance counselor or do good teacher to “realize his potential.” He tried for college and got in. Prosper had been proud of the little shit.

He lasted two years and met that bitch Jaci during that time. Fancy fucking Jaci. Tiny tits, small mind, no heart. She looked down her nose at everyone and everything. Crow lasted a couple of years away from the MC. Then something happened and he was back. He had left school and he patched in. He lost Jaci in the process but to Prosper it was no loss at all. Crow had married her in Vegas. Stupid dumb fucking kid. Guess he was still married to her. At least that’s what Diego said when he charged after him.

Prosper ran his hands over his face at the thought of the big fucking mess. Diego had his own motherfucker of a fucked up situation that Raine knew nothing about. No one did but Prosper. Jesus, he wasn’t looking forward to that shit coming out. Maybe it wouldn’t. That shit was pure pain for D.

Fucking MC wasn’t anything but a big damn cocksucking soap opera lately.

But they had other business to discuss. The find that had brought Raine back to the fold had unveiled some very interesting shit. The MC was still dealing with the fallout from that. Drugs and gun running were something the Hell’s Saints stayed away from. Prostitution, money lending, adult entertainment was where their off the radar money came from. The legal enterprises were also pretty lucrative. Ruby Reds and the three other bars did really well. None of the brothers were hurting for green.

That whole Jamie mess had created a turf war that was threatening to cut into a neighborhood where the Saints had their biggest adult entertainment enterprise. Negotiations had to be put in place to stop that and quick. Prosper didn’t want any of his girls getting hurt in some drive by. Not to mention how bad that would be for business. His high priced escorts had some pretty high profile locals in their books. Town and city officials, cops, business owners, the fucking president of the Chamber of Commerce and a few prominent physicians. Yeah, Willows Point and surrounding area had their predilections.

There was also the matter of the sonofabitch Gino, the rapist and woman beater. The MC had gone in and tossed his house but he had disappeared. Raine had said that he had dealings with Jamie through Claire and once Jamie had been found dead the guess was the bastard had gone into hiding.

Gino was a dead man walking.

That was for sure.

Diego had wanted to be the one to pull the trigger but Prosper told him that he was going to have to wait in line. Prosper was gonna take his time killing that bastard. And he was going to enjoy it. But first they had to find him. Willows Point was Gunner’s territory and a half days drive from the south charter.

It was also where Claire was in rehab. Claire’s time was over and Raine was going to be going to go to the Point for the family meeting this week. She also had to clear up some stuff with the house. Depending on where Claire stood with the rehab, Prosper was hoping both girls would decide to come back to Crownsmount and build a life. They could have the lake house. Raine could keep working at Reds and they could find something for Claire. Or nothing. Prosper could afford to support his “girls” and Pinky was all for it. But one thing was for certain, as long as that cocksucker Gino was alive, Raine wouldn’t be going anywhere near Willows Point without one of the brothers along.

As far as Crow and D went, Prosper didn’t give two shits one way or another if Raine took one over the other as her man. Or neither. As long as she was happy, it was all good with him.

“Where the fuck is he?” Prosper growled looking at Gunner.

“No fucking idea.” Gunner shook his head. “He houdinied himself right out of town. Vanished.”

“Connected?” Prosper lifted his eye brow. “How can it be that this little pussy ass disappeared if he ain’t connected?”

Nods around the table.

“Shit going down with Claire and Raine being back in Willows Point for even a fucking day and that cocksucker anywhere in that vicinity ain’t gonna happen brothers. I put his name out there and the Los Rojos became real fucking interested. Gino fucking Abbiati has some connection somewhere.”

“I checked in with my boy Gianni. He don’t run with his crew.” Riker added.

“Those goombahs stick together. You trust that dago to give it to you real Riker?” Reno asked.

“Yeah. I hear ya bro. But in this case, I know Gianni ain’t lying. His kid sister got jumped a couple of years ago. Gianni caught the asswipe and strung him up. Took him three days to kill the guy. Gianni takes rape real fucking serious. He offered to take him down himself if we ever got a hit on the motherfucker. So maybe those dagos do stick together but ginny or no. Gianni’s crew ain’t protecting him.”

“Raine know anything, Boss? She have any idea where the asshole could be hiding?” Crow asked.

“Leave Raine the fuck out of this.” Diego snarled. “Don’t even fucking mention her name at this table. As a matter of fucking fact, Breed, don’t you fucking ever mention her name at fucking all.”

Crow’s neck muscles stiffened and the muscle in his jaw started clenching. He put his hand on the gun he wore inside his cut.

Gunner, for the first time in his life, actually did an eye roll.

“Not this shit again.” Riker muttered underneath his breath.

“You stupid fucking Spic. Your shit’s so jealous that you have your head up your ass when it comes to keeping her safe. Raine. Raine. Raine. Raine.” Crow leaned over the table.

“Not only am I gonna say it at this table. I’m gonna be calling it out when you fuck up and she’s lying under me. ‘Cause brother you’re just one stupid whore away from that happening. When was the last time you talked to that skank from hell, Ellie, brother? She been calling the fucking club nonstop. Jules was thinking about having the shit changed out of the phone number.”

Diego roared and went charging around the table and Crow roared and charged to meet him half way.

It took the rest of the brothers to pull them apart.

“ENOUGH!” Prosper roared. “You pissants settle this another fucking time. Diego you fucking figure this Ellie shit out so Raine doesn’t get caught in the middle of some more fucked up shit or I’m going to string you up by your balls. I fucking mean it.”

Then he pointed at Crow.

“Crow. Shut the fuck up. Just shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down.” Prosper scrubbed his hand over his face and felt about 80 years old. Grown men acting like babies.

*****

Reno could not believe this. He was getting a mother of a headache. He had had enough.

Jesus Christ! Over pussy. Brothers fighting over snatch. Dis fucking gusting. Ever since she walked into the door of the MC fucking hell rained down on them. Prosper going around blubbering like she a long lost daughter. Crow and D at each other’s throats. Jules just about tripping over himself to make sure her every fucking need was met. You would think Raine Winston had a snatch of fucking gold. Reno couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t Fucking Stand It. Even his own mother, getting shitfaced on the plane and taking that fucking walk down memory lane. Some things better left alone. One good thing was that at least Crow had gotten rid of that crazy eyed bitch Ellie.
There was something off about that one. Gone but not fucking forgotten. Crow was right, bitch was calling the club nonstop. Fucking drama. This couldn’t get any worse.

Then it did

“Reno. Snap the fuck out of it.” Prosper barked.

Reno looked around the table. All eyes on him.

“Yeah Boss?” Reno answered.

“Raine’s got to go to Willows Point and meet up with Claire. They got some shit to do at that house. Claire gonna need some stuff. She left everything behind at that puke fest Jamie’s house. Cops all over that shit. Raine’s got to settle things at the grandmother’s house. You gonna be with my girls. Fucking white on rice until they are done. You feel me?”

Yeah. I feel you. You want me to babysit the golden snatch and her junkie whore baby sister.

“I feel ya.” Reno nodded.

“No fucking way. I’m handling this. No fucking way anybody but me going to the Point with Raine.” Diego butted in.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP. LAST TIME D” Prosper was done with this shit.

Crow grinned and leaned back in his chair.

“Crow I need you to go up North Chapter. They are opening a new bar. Need your fucking expertise on that shit.” Prosper looked at Crow.

“Got that.” Crow nodded.

“D, need you to head east. Brothers up there might know something about Gino’s connection to Los Rojos or whoever the fuck else that name rings a bell with. Gunner, you good to go with?”

Gunner nodded and Diego visibly relaxed. He wanted the cocksucker off the streets ASAP. If Prosper wasn’t gonna send him with Raine, at least he could do what he needed to do to bring that cocksucker in. Gunner was a good man to have at your back too. He had been Special Ops and was expert at weeding shit out. Together they should be able to flush out Gino.

Gavel went down once more. Church was over.

It sucked that Diego would be gone when Raine got back, but consolation was that so would Crow. Plus he didn’t know why the fuck Ellie was still trying to reach him. He wasn’t taking her calls on the cell so she had started to call the club. What the fuck. He would deal with her shit as soon as he could. He didn’t want Ellie interfering with him and Raine. Raine had been through enough of her bullshit.