Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC (27 page)

"How did you feel about that?" she asked me.

"Not very good." I finished drying off the last dish and placed it inside the rack. "After you left, Jolene went into this
diatribe
about respect. And how the men of the club don't actually respect their women even after they're made an 'Old Lady'. She made it seem as if it was just a title that really had no meaning outside of being number one in just a line of many others."

"Jolene
would
say something like that," she muttered. She moved across the kitchen and headed over to the fridge.

I spun around on my heels and leaned back against the sink. "What's the deal with you and her? I mean, if it's none of my business you can just tell me and I'll back off. But you seemed to get up from that table pretty quickly when she first started going on about--"

"There's just a lot of history between us, that's all. I've known her practically since she was a child."

I nodded. "I remember River mentioning something to me about that, vaguely. I can't remember the entire conversation or the exact details of what he told me, but--"

"She was seventeen when she had him. Did you know that?"

"No."

She averted her eyes and stared directly at the wall. "She was just seventeen, just like you... And scared out of her goddamn mind about it all. She was attacked by two men, and Wolf..." She paused. "
Found her
on the side of the road." She shook her head. "I remember the first time I saw her in the hospital. She was beaten and bruised and bloodied but still able to hold onto her little boy." She turned back to me. "River saw a piece of her in you when he found you out there that day. It's something that deep down, even if he didn't initially remember it on the surface when you showed back up here again asking for his help, that he never truly forgot."

"Do you think part of the reason that, aside from the club, his helping me has to do with Jolene?"

"It could. But there could also be other factors in there too," she said. "Not just you or even about the club, but about himself."

"What do you mean?" I asked, though she had no time to answer when River suddenly peeked his head inside the kitchen and cut his eyes between us.

"I'm gonna head on out," he told us. "But can I talk to you for a second?" He stared right at me and nodded out toward the club.

"Sure." I followed after him and we headed over to the bar.

He turned to his side and leaned against the edge of it. "How was all this shit for you today? With the old ladies and everything?"

"It was interesting to say the least." I laughed. "I learned a lot with regard to how they feel about the other women around here, as well as each other." I shrugged. "At the end of the day, I'm just glad that Avery was able to meet some other kids her own age, as well as your daughter who she seemed to take to pretty quickly, and have some fun. Everything about today kept her from asking me questions about her father that I'm still not ready to answer just yet, so thank you for that alone. If nothing else you saved me the trouble of--"

Before I could even get out the next word, I heard what sounded like a loud, bloodcurdling scream coming from the back of the club; so loud that it nearly jarred me out of place where I stood.

River stood up and away from the bar and clinched his fists and was making his way toward the back until Verna came rushing out and nearly bounded directly into him.

She peeked around him and looked over at me. "It's Avery," she said. "She--"

I raced around the bar before she could even manage to spit out another word, then darted down every hallway there was, with both Verna and River on my tail, until I finally reached the room we shared together.

When I stepped inside, I found my little girl sitting on the bed and staring at the floor. "Avery?" When she didn't respond, I glanced at both River and Verna, then walked over and kneeled down in front of her. "Avery?" I placed my hands on her knees, then moved the other one up to her face. Her eyes closed as she shoved her cheek into my hand. "Did you have a bad dream?" I asked her. She nodded. "What was it about?"

"I don't know," she said. "I don't know, but I saw blood in it."

"You saw what?"

"Blood." Her eyes widened as they remained focused on the floor. "I saw blood."

"What kind of blood was it? Whose blood did you see?"

"I don't know."

"Okay, well is that why you were screaming?"

"No," she said.

I dropped both of my hands back to her knees and tilted my head. "Okay, baby, then why were you screaming? What happened?"

"I don't know where it came from," she told me. "I don't know where that blood came from, but it scared me. And I wet the bed a little, so I got up to go to the bathroom. But then I remembered that we weren't at home and I wasn't in your room." She shook her head. "There wasn't a bathroom in here. So I went to the bathroom that we used this morning."

"In River's bedroom?"

She nodded. "And I saw a man in there on the bed, and a woman on top of him; her face was down between his legs and--"

"Oh my
God
."

"Christ." I turned back to River and he dropped his head and pressed his fingers against his eye sockets so hard that for a split second I wondered if he was actually trying to pop his own eyes out of his head.

I turned back to Avery and moved closer to her. Ducking my head, I tried to get her to focus on my eyes instead of that floor. "What did the man look like that you saw when you went in there?"

"I--" Her eyes suddenly shifted over and when I turned, I saw Tiny moving in and standing behind River. He looked both smug and pissed the hell off at the same damn time while switching his eyes between the both of us.

"You." I hopped up from the floor and moved forward like a wild animal on the attack of its prey, but River quickly turned and stepped in front of me before I could get to him. I wasn't sure who the hell he thought he was protecting more in this situation, me or the tub of lard standing on the other side of the door.

Tiny opened his hands and tilted his head and while staring right at me said, "Sorry."

No he wasn't. His tone was crude, callous and careless. He was no sorrier than I would've been in ripping every working limb from his body and tossing them into the nearest incinerator.

"You're sorry?" I snapped. "You're sorry." I pointed behind me while attempting to shove River out of the way, though he stood firm and unmoving. "My KID just walked in on you getting a fucking blow job--"

"Mama--"

"Sorry!" I shot back. "From God only knows who or
what
." I dropped my hand to my side and rattled my head. "What the hell were you even thinking?"

He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes; from the look he gave me, I could tell that he was wondering how and where in the hell I managed to get such nerve in even speaking to him as I did in his own place of business. It was clear that no other woman ever had, and if they did, they sure as hell didn't last long thereafter.

He flared his nostrils like some kind of raging bull and grinded his teeth so hard that I could actually hear the sound of them scraping together. "I was thinkin' that some goddamn KID wouldn't have been bustin' up in that room and watchin' me FUCK--!"

"Yeah, fuck in my goddamn room, asshole," River snarled in a low voice. I couldn't see his face, but I had a feeling just from the sound of his voice alone that he was more furious than I was, though I was sure his reason behind it was completely different from mine altogether. "And in my goddamn bed."

"It's a community bed, motherfucker. And it hadn't gotten any goddamn use outta you for nearly a goddamn year ‘til just a few nights ago when you decided to pump up that nineteen year old bitch."

River peeked back and me and swallowed hard before turning back to his brother and exhaling so sharply that both his shoulders and back moved up and down in response. "Let's head outside and take a fuckin' walk, asshole." He threw his hand into Tiny's back and shoved him out of the room.

Verna stepped forward practically wringing her hands together as her face turned bright red. "Can I get her anything?"

I turned back to Avery and shook my head. "No," I told her. "But you can get me something."

"What's that?"

I crossed my arms and turned on my heel. "The number for the nearest cab company," I said. "There's no way in hell I'm keeping her here another night, or any other night after that."

Chapter Eighteen

River threw a hand into Tiny's back and shoved him out the door of the club. Even after they reached the parking lot, he kept shoving a hand into him, hitting him harder and harder each time until the man tripped over his own feet and damn near hit the ground.

He spun around then, and got in River's face, stepping up so close he could feel his goddamn breath blowing straight into his mouth. He smirked, then took a few steps back and pulled a cigarette from the inside of his cut and shoved it between his lips.

"That was good, motherfucker," said Tiny. "Real,
real
fuckin' good."

"What the fuck are you talkin' about, asshole?"

"Makin' her think you really give a shit about her kid walkin' in on me gettin' sucked off. Lil piss shoulda kept her ass in the fuckin' bed."

"She had to go and
take
a fuckin’
piss
in the goddamn bathroom, asshole."

He shrugged. "Sounded to me like she couldn't make it there first." He chuckled and threw a flame over the tip of the cigarette. He inhaled quickly and tilted his head back to blow out the smoke. "You think after that goddamn defense that her mama’ll be willin' to fuck you somethin’ serious now?"

River threw his hands into Tiny's chest, grabbed onto his cut and jacked him up. Tiny nearly dropped his cigarette, then turned the lit tip toward River's leg, ready to jam it right into his thigh. Even as River felt the heat getting to him through his jeans, he stood firm. But when he couldn't take much more, he shoved Tiny back into his own goddamn bike so hard that it knocked both him and his bike to the motherfucking ground.

Tiny laughed and rolled over to his knees. He shoved his palms into the ground and forced himself back up to his feet. He reached down for his now wet cigarette as it had fallen in a puddle of water, and shoved it back between his lips despite the burned out flame.

"We'll settle this eventually, motherfucker," he said. "In the meantime, why don't you go and make sure your girl hasn't flown the goddamn coop."

"That's what this shit was about," replied River. "You tryin' to get her the fuck outta here despite knowin' that we need her--"

"No we DON'T
need
her, asshole, we never fuckin’ did which is the shit you don’t seem to be gettin’. Your cock might be in need of her pussy, but that's about fuckin' it." Tiny looked behind him and leered. "‘Sides, even
if
I
tried
gettin' her the fuck out, you think after that you could actually get that bitch and her kid to fuckin' stay?"

His smile grew just as River turned to see Mia and Avery standing in the doorway of the club and holding hands, while the strap of her purse was hanging in the other.

River glanced back at Tiny. "I'll deal with you later."

"Yeah, whatever, asshole." Tiny reached down for his bike and tried lifting it from the ground.

River headed over to Mia and Avery, who stared up at him with tears in her eyes. "She alright?" he asked Mia.

"No, she's not alright," she snapped. "She just walked in on one of your club members getting a blow job. She's downright traumatized just like I would be if I had walked in on the exact same thing. Hell, she might even need therapy after seeing that--"

River raised his hands to her in a defensive manner and shut his eyes. "Calm down here, alright? Ain't nobody gonna need any goddamn therapy. Look." He shuffled around her and moved back into the club. And when he looked over at the bar, he saw a set of bags sitting on the bar stools. He spun around to Mia and made a face. "You plan on goin' someplace?"

She lifted the strap of her purse up on her arm and nodded. "I can't stay here anymore, she can't stay here anymore --
We
cannot stay here anymore, I'm sorry--"

"Babe--"

"No, don't. I knew this was a bad idea from the very beginning and I told you that. I tried to adapt to it for the sake of my kid and for our safety, I tried, I really did. But a few days around here is all I can take."

Verna peeked her head around the corner at them and hissed. "Cab's on its way," she said.

"You called yourself up a goddamn cab?" asked River.

"Styx told me that you screwed with the wires and my car engine to keep me from going anywhere else, so it’s not like I had that much of a choice,” she said.

“
Asshole
,” he muttered.

Mia moved her hands up to Avery's ears and sneered. “And this place, as it is, may as well have a sign out front that reads ‘Pussy Eating Playground and Shit Hole’ instead of what’s out there now. So
yes
, I called myself a cab," she said under her breath.