Pursuit: Blood Bandits MC (14 page)

“I didn’t mean from people like him,” she pointed out, her voice sour.

“You don’t know him,” I said. “And I know that sounds like my typical response. Especially when you had a problem with Eric. I was wrong then, but I’m not wrong now. Jesus, I’m not talking about marrying the man. Just letting him help me, because I need all the help I can get.”

“You don’t think he’ll…kill him, do you?” Her eyes were wide.

“No. I wouldn’t want him to, though he wants to.”

Mom gasped. “Kara!”

“Come on. Haven’t you wanted to? When I told you everything that happened?”

“Well, yes, but I wouldn’t do anything about it.”

“We can’t assume he would either. Just relax. It’ll be okay.” I wasn’t sure how, but it had to be. It just had to be. “In the meantime, let’s put this behind us and enjoy the rest of the day with Emma. I don’t want her thinking there’s anything to be afraid of, especially from Dom. I need her to trust him.”

“Whatever you say,” Mom said, much in the way she would have delivered the line, “It’s your funeral.”

I sighed, shaking my head. Like I didn’t have enough on my plate.

“Hey, Mama?” Emma finished her picture, bringing it to me.

“That’s beautiful, sweetheart. You’re such a great artist. You wanna hang it on the fridge with the others?”

She gave me a shy grin, ducking her head. “No. I wanna give it to Dom. Can I?”

“Sure, honey. When he gets back.” I kissed the top of her head, deliberately avoiding my mother’s scornful gaze. Yes, I knew how dangerous it was for my little girl to become too attached to him, but there was nothing else I could do. If I had any hope of the next however many days going smoothly, she had to like Dom. Otherwise, she’d only heap a lot more trouble onto an already crappy situation.

Dom

The last thing I thought I would see when I came out of the bedroom was the kid. I was glad Kara had caught me before I made up a stupid bullshit story about how I…did something that meant I had to be in the bedroom instead of on the couch.

I was glad for the ride on my bike, too. I needed to clear my head, and riding was the only thing that ever really did it for me. The night with Kara had been good—better than good. It had been the first night since I lost Lauren that I had felt really happy with a woman. Not, like, cheesy romance happy. Not the kind of happy that only happened in movies. But real happiness. Comfort. Connection. I didn’t know how much I’d missed it until I had it again.

I didn’t know how much I had missed my clubhouse until I pulled up in front of it either, and I had only been away a day. Less than a day. How was it possible that so much had happened in so short a time? It felt like weeks instead of hours.

From the number of bikes out front, I could tell most of the club had spent the night in the bedrooms we kept on the second and third floors. It was always safer to give the guys a place to sleep it off after a good party. We were already in enough trouble with the law. We didn’t need the guys getting themselves arrested or God forbid killing somebody. Or themselves.

When I walked through the front door, all I could smell was vomit. “Oh shit,” I said, holding my nose. “Who the fuck puked in here?” I looked around, and the sight of club members and groupies stretched out over every flat surface made me laugh and cringe at the same time. I had missed a hell of a party. I wasn’t sure if I was jealous or glad.

Spike was asleep on the pool table, a blonde whose name I didn’t know in his arms. She wasn’t wearing a top, and her big, fake tits spilled out. Rat had fallen asleep with a woman’s hand down his pants, the woman on top of him. Like they had been in the middle of making out or more before they both passed out. I saw Jax stretched out on the couch in Chase’s office, and I went there to talk to him. I didn’t care about waking him up—I looked forward to it, actually.

“Oh fuck,” he groaned when I shoved him. “What the hell happened?”

“I was gonna ask you the same thing,” I said, snorting with laughter. “It looks like the last fucking days of Rome out there. And it reeks of puke. We’re gonna have to get a cleaning crew out here to take care of the smell.”

“Nah, have a couple of the prospects do it. That’s what they’re for.” He had a point, and I shrugged it off. I stepped back, letting him slowly sit up like he was testing to make sure sitting up was even a good idea. “Holy hell. I can’t believe we partied that hard, man.”

“I was thinking the same damn thing. I guess when you’re sober, you see things clearer.” I leaned against Chase’s desk. “Where’s the big man, anyway?”

“Upstairs. I saw him go up there with Trisha early on in the night.”

I nodded. He would never have cheated on his old lady. Trisha was a patient woman, but she told him straight-up that she’d cut his balls off if she ever found out he cheated on her with one of our regular girls. That got me thinking.

“What about Evie and Layla? You have fun with them?”

Jax groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face, then looking at them in horror. “Oh fuck. Did I even wash my hands after?”

“Oh, come on. You’re fucking sick.”

He stumbled to the bathroom just off of Chase’s office, washing up, then washing his face. He came back in, hair slicked back. “I feel a little more human now,” he said. “Yeah, they drained the life outta me.”

“So both at once, huh?”

“It was either that or let one of ’em go off with Rat. He’s a good guy and I’m glad he’s in the club now, but I’ll be fucked if I let him take one of them away from me.”

I laughed. “Yeah, Rat’s not in that league yet. Maybe one day, when both balls drop.” He was sorta the club mascot in a way, the young, skinny kid who nobody would thought would patch into a club like the Blood Riders. Looks deceived. He always came through when we needed him, and could be just as tough and cold as any of us.

“What about you, man? Where have you been? You didn’t say last night…or maybe I just don’t remember.”

“Y’all have to rethink starting parties in the afternoon.” I laughed. “I’m surprised you’re still alive.”

“Yeah, well, whatever. I’ll put it to the vote during the next meeting.” He leaned back, one hand over his eyes like it hurt just to see the light. “So? Where were you?”

“Remember the waitress from the diner?”

“How could I forget? Tits and ass for days, brother.”

I held back the urge to knock him around for saying shit like that, since he didn’t know what went on between us. I wouldn’t have cared if he said it about Evie or Layla, though, and I had fucked the shit out of them, too. More than once. What did that mean?

“I was there.”

“At the diner?”

“No, at her apartment.”

Jax raised his hand, looking at me. “So, what, you’re seeing her now or something? Is she gonna be your new old lady?”

“Don’t go that far,” I said. “I’m not even seeing her. I was there to keep her and her kid safe.” I gave him the quick-and-dirty story, finishing with, “And that’s where you come in. Chase gave me the idea that if he’s such a crotch to his wife and probably all women, he’s probably that way all over the place. Including in his business.”

“So you think he’s probably doing some shady business?” he asked.

“What do you think? It’s likely, right?”

“I think it’s more than likely. I think he’s probably doing more than just giving people money for charity. He’s probably fucking with the books, laundering, doing all kinds of shady shit. I mean, you talk about them living in a big place, and he’s got all this money. At his age? I saw the guy leave the diner. He couldn’t be older than you.”

“That’s it, right? I thought that, too. Why’s he so successful, so young? What if he’s doing one of those, whaddya call ’em schemes?”

“A Ponzi scheme?” Jax snickered.

“Something like that. Maybe not that, exactly, but something like it. Like the way those assholes got rich right before the housing market collapsed. They collected high commissions off of shit loans. I’m sorry, but that’s the only way a person could all of a sudden get as rich as him. It doesn’t make sense otherwise.”

“Did Kara say anything about that?”

“No, just that he went from being a grad school student to having a ridiculous career in, like…” I did the math, “…three years.”

“That’s weird. Okay. I’ll look into him. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, though.”

“Anything. Find out the clients his firm handles, I guess. Find out what they’re all about. There has to be some sort of whispering going on somewhere. We’re near Flagstaff, but we’re not Flagstaff. We’re still a small town. Word gets around.”

“You’re right about that,” he said, smirking. “Like the way word gets around on us.”

“Well, right. That’s what I mean. People have to be talking about him, even if they’re bragging about how much money they make with his firm. I remember watching this thing on the news about that one guy, the one who’s in jail now…what’s his name…I don’t remember, but he ran one of those schemes. Some big shot they interviewed said his clients always bragged about how he made profits every quarter, every single time. And he said that’s impossible. There have to be losses sometimes, too. That should have been the first red flag. Who knows? Maybe there’s a red flag out there with Eric’s name on it.”

“And you think maybe his clients are talking about how great he is.”

“Right. That’s what’s gonna shoot him in the balls. I know it.” The more I talked about it, the better I felt about it. I was sure we would come up with something. It only made sense.

“I’ll get on it as soon as I don’t feel like I’m gonna die,” Jax said, slumping down on the leather couch.

“Don’t hurl on that thing, or Chase will kill you. Hell, I might kill you—that might be mine one day.” I left him there, going back out to the lounge to put on a pot of coffee behind the bar. By that time, Chase was coming downstairs with Trisha. He looked about as disgusted as I felt, and held his nose when the smell hit him.

“Oh, fuck me. What the hell happened?”

“Your club got a little outta hand, prez. That’s what happened.” I grinned at him.

“Shit, they’re not my club right now. I’ll take off the patch and hand it to you if it means getting to forget I ever saw this.”

I laughed, then deliberately slammed the door to the cooler to get everybody up.

“Come on. Up. Let’s go.” Chase nudged them—he wasn’t gentle, either. Spike almost fell off the pool table.

“What did you do that for?” he asked, holding a hand to his head as he got up. “What did I ever do to you?”

“I think you puked somewhere around here, that’s what. You’re always the one who ends up drinking until he pukes. You could never handle it.”

He shook his head. “I think it was Rat. He was the one doing shots, like, all night. I told him to slow down, skinny shit.”

“You’re probably right,” Chase said. He nudged an unconscious body under the pool table. One of the prospects. “Hey. Drake. Who the fuck told you that you could party last night? One, two drinks, minimum. I swear to Christ, I can’t go to bed with my old lady without shit going to hell around here.”

“I only had two drinks, Chase. Swear to God.” Drake stumbled to his feet, weaving back and forth. I turned my head so Chase wouldn’t see me laughing.

“Right. Take a shower, clean your ass up, then clean this place up. Find your buddy Frankie, too. He’s probably around here somewhere.” Chase shook his head like a disappointed parent, his eyes scanning the room.

Trisha only smiled indulgently, waking the girls. “Oh, Chase, don’t be so hard on them. They deserve a little party every once in a while.” Very much the forgiving mother. The two of them never had kids, but in a way, Trisha acted like every one of us was her kid.

“I don’t wanna hear it. Puking in my clubhouse. A bunch of punks.” But he didn’t really mean it. I could tell he liked the liveliness of his club, how rough and dirty we played. “I hope this whole place isn’t covered in cum.”

“Oh, Chase.” Trisha shook her head. “I always tell the boys to wrap it up. We don’t need any more little ones running around the clubhouse.”

That made me laugh, and Trisha laughed with me as she helped the nameless girl off of Rat’s still unconscious body. The girl looked at her hand like she couldn’t believe she’d spent the whole night with it down somebody else’s pants. I laughed again, drinking my coffee.

“How did it go last night?” Chase asked. I shrugged. “Oh, that good, huh?”

“What went good?” Trisha poured herself a coffee. “What am I missing?”

“Nothing, dear. Your husband is giving me shit.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“He’s shacking up with a waitress at the diner on the other side of town,” Chase told her.

“What? You are?” She looked thrilled. “I’m so glad! What’s her name? Maybe I know her.”

“Kara, but we’re not shacking up. I’m just staying there until her ex-husband clears out. She’s scared of him. That’s as far as it goes.” I shot Chase a warning look. He held his hands up.

“Hey, I’m just calling it like I see it,” he said, grinning.

“That is so noble of you, sweetheart. I always thought you were the nicest of all these idiots. Including you.” She smirked at her husband, then turned back. “I’m sure she appreciates it. He’s bad news, huh?”

“The worst,” I said. “But it’s more than that. She’s got a kid. It’s real complicated.”