Sons of Mayhem 4: Snakes and Angels (3 page)

Nicole

I sat in the library, my books propped in front of me, completely immersed in not studying. Finals were coming up soon and I had four papers to do by the end of the semester but they barely registered in my mind. All I could think about was the club, Jase, motorcycles, and death. The death of Brodie, the deaths of the unknown Mexicans.

My accounting professor had taken me aside after class the day before.

“Look Nicole,” he’d said, “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you’re going to have to get it together. You were heading to graduate
cum laude
. But the last couple of weeks you’ve really let yourself slip. I
want
you to pass this class, I really do, but you’re going to have to help me here.”

“
I’m sorry, I’ve just had a lot on my mind. I’ll focus. I promise.” I’d told him.

“
Is there anything I can do?” he’d asked.

I
’d let a wry smile begin to form on my lips before I realized what was happening. He’d raised his eyebrows at me before I managed to blurt out, “No. There’s nothing. I’ve just had some things on my mind, that’s all. I’ll fix it. I promise.”

“
Alright then. Remember I’m here to help, if you need anything…” His look was earnest as his voice trailed off and I knew he meant it. But what could he do? What could he have done those last couple of weeks? Nothing. Nothing unless he’d stopped me meeting Jase. And who could have predicted that?

I eyed the pile of books in front of me, but found my eye drawn to my silent cell phone sitti
ng next to them instead. I tapped the button and its bright screen came to life.
Three missed calls
. I sighed. I had to speak to him soon, but not yet. I needed to sort through things in my own mind first.

I let my eyes close and before I knew it I was bac
k on that motorcycle. I’d always had a strong imagination, but just recently it had started to run away from me. Perhaps it was the sudden introduction of so much excitement into my life. It was a shock to my system I suppose.

My arms are wrapped around hi
m as we sail down an empty highway. My ears are filled with the growl of the engine and the rush of wind as we whip by the desolate landscape. The sun is setting and I lose myself in the motion as I rest my head on his shoulder and breathe in the now so familiar scent of leather and musk and mint and man. The bike vibrates under me, through me and I squeeze his leg to let him know I’m there. I’m always there. The bike’s vibrations suddenly get louder.

I blinked and opened my eyes. The screen of my phone was
lit up with another incoming call as it buzzed on the desk in front of me; despite being on ‘silent’ it still made a lot of noise as it shook on the wooden desk in front of me. I looked at the screen. This time it wasn’t Jase, it wasn’t Lucy, and it wasn’t a classmate.

Sheriff Perez
. I’d dully input his number into my phone from his business card the other evening while lying on my bed lost in thought. Why? I don’t know. I hadn’t intended to call him, but then again my phone was full of dozens of numbers I never called or received calls from. A pizza shop in Phoenix from a road trip, an ex-boyfriend’s mother I’d never even met, a shop I’d applied for a part-time job in but never heard back from. ‘Friends’ I hadn’t spoken to in years. Dozens of them. I never deleted numbers, just kept adding them, just in case.

What does he want?
I was going to ignore it, but I wanted to go outside to clear my head. Then I could get back to studying. Or, rather, start studying.

I clutched the vibrating device as I made my wa
y outside. The girl at the desk next to me gave me an annoyed look as I left.
So-rry
I thought but didn’t say.

“
Hello?” I answered. I never knew how to answer in situations like this - was I supposed to acknowledge I knew who it was? Or pretend I had no idea who was calling?

“
Hello Nicole. It’s Sheriff Perez here. How have you been?”

“
Fine.”
What do you want?

“
I need to speak to you about something. Can I pick you up in thirty minutes?”

“
I — What ab—”

“
I’ll be at the front gate.”

“
Okay bu—”

“
See you then.”

What the hell.
He’d hung up before I could form a coherent sentence.
What does he want?

I sighed and went inside to grab my books. I looked a wreck. I needed to go back to my room and brush my hair at least, maybe change out of the ugly t-shirt I was weari
ng too.
I’ll hit the books later
.

***

We sat across from each other in a booth at the Hamilton Family Diner. I’d spent many happy mornings here with Lucy and other friends (often met that night and soon forgotten), feeding ourselves with eggs and bacon and coffee after a night of partying and no sleep.

That all seemed so far away now. Innocent memories of a time and a person I
’d left behind

I sipped a coffee, still unclear as to what I was doing there. I hoped it wasn
’t about Jase. But of course it was, albeit indirectly.

“
I wanted to apologize for the other day, at the station.”

I ran my fingers around the rim of my cup.
Sorry huh?
A small glow burned in my stomach, not from the hot drink but from a feeling of satisfaction at having this ‘big’ man apologizing to me.

“
I was rude.”

“
You called me a prostitute.”

“
I was caught up in the moment. You saw the news, you know what happened. I thought you might have been involved in some way.”

Bullshit. If you thought I was linked to it how come you
’d let everyone else go by then? “Uhuh.”

He sighed.
“I lost the case you know.”

Down the back of your sofa?
“Lost it?”

“
Yep. Happened in my backyard and now I’m not allowed near it.” He looked disappointed. More than that, he looked defeated, as if he’d had something very precious forever taken away.

Good
. “Why?”

“
First the FBI came. Then ATF. Now Homeland Security. Federal fuckers all want a piece.” He shook his head. “Sorry,” he said as he realized he’d cursed.

I
’ve heard a lot worse than that.
“Well maybe you can find a missing dog or something.”

He laughed as if I
’d said something very funny, apparently not realizing I was mocking him.

“
That might make me more popular.”

I took a big sip of my drink.
“So.”

“
So?”

“
You brought me here.”

“
Right. Well, I wanted to say I was sorry. That’s all. I was out of line.”

“
That’s it?”

“
Yeah. And I thought it’d be nice to have coffee with you.”

Are you fucking kidding me?
“What do you mean?”

“
You know. We could do it again, if you like. Have coffee. Or dinner.”

Is this guy for real?
“I don’t date guys who call me a hooker, sheriff.”

He frowned.
“I told you, I’m sorry about that. Surely you can understand I’d had a rough night.”

I shook my head, not saying anything. His look turned cold and a chill ran through me.
Uhoh. He looks mad.
I wasn’t prepared for what he did next.

“
You’re happy to let a biker club gangbang you, but you’re too good for me? Slut. You filthy, fucking, slut.”

I gasped at his sudden change in demeanor and my head swung around wildly as I looked to see if anyone else had
heard what he’d just said. They hadn’t.

He leaned in close. I leaned away, pressing my back against the booth
’s cushioned partition. He rose to his feet and leaned over the table, his face next to mine. Spittle flicked across my face and his sour breath washed over me as he spoke.

“
I gave you a chance slut. You could have had me.
Me
.” His finger jabbed his chest. “But you choose them? Whore. You’re a whore. And they’re going to ruin you. Those degenerate fuckheads are going to break you, use you up and toss you in the trash. And I’m going to watch.”

His eyes were wild as he jabbed a finger into my chest.
“I’m going to watch what you become, and when you coming crying to me for help I’m going to laugh, and laugh, and laugh. And you will come crying to me. Oh yes you will. You’ll come crying, and begging, and pleading for help. But you won’t get it. Not from me. Fuck
you
.”

He jabbed his finger into me one final time before stalking away. I looked around the diner but no one had seen a thing.

I don’t know how long I sat there shaking. I held the cold coffee cup in my hands as I ran through the events over, and over again.
What could I have done differently?

When I had calmed down somewhat I came to the conclusion that the sheriff was an asshole, and quite possi
bly a crazy one at that.

He
’d left me at the diner alone without a ride back. It was too far to walk; the only thing to be done was to call someone. I considered calling Jase, but I’d been avoiding his calls all week. I’d look like a bitch if I called him up to ask for a ride.

I sighed when I realized what I needed to do.

“Can you call me a taxi?” I asked the waitress. She gave me a strange look — she’d probably never been asked that before.

I drank another cup of coffee while I waited. It took an hour bef
ore the car finally pulled up, and for the second time in a week I found myself heading home in a taxi after another bizarre meeting with the local sheriff.

Jase

The long-haired bearded man looked him up and down.
“What the fuck is this shit? I told ‘em I wanted a nineteen year old with big tits.”

Jase grinned at Bigfella.
“I don’t think there are many nineteen-year old big breasted lawyers Bigfella.”

He grunted in disappointment.

Jase sat down on the chair opposite. “We’ll get you a real lawyer soon, a good one. But for the moment you’ve got me. I wanted to speak to you without every other fucker in the visiting room listening. So I’m your legal representation for now.”

Bigfella clapped him on the shoulder, he seemed pleased.
“Fuckers can’t listen in here, right?”

“
Right.”

“
I’m sorry Jase. I shouldn’t have beaten that guy so hard. I fucked up. But he was trying to kill me.” The older man sighed.

He gave a reassuring smile.
“We all would have. When someone comes at you with a goddamn knife you don’t fuck around. It’s kill or be killed.”

“
I know. It pisses me off though. The assholes dropped the charges on the murder of the Mexicans.”

“
Yeah?”

“
Yeah the bitch from before finally made her statement.”

“
So now you’re just in here because of that Mexican fuckhead who tried to stab you?” Jase shook his head at the unjustness of it all.

Bigfella nodded, his beard swinging.
“Yep.”

Jase sighed.
“Things have been pretty crazy the last couple of weeks.”

“
They sure have.”

Should I tell him about the deal wit
h the Koreans? Of course I should. It’s why I came here today, isn’t it?
“Things have changed. Even since you got in here. We’ve made some decisions.”

Bigfella nodded.
“As you have to. You’re in charge now.”

“
Me and the Doctor.”

His half-smile was somewhat
quizzical. “Yeah. But.
You’re
in charge, right?”

“
I don’t know. I mean, no, I guess. What with Brodie, and you, I kind of let Doc take the lead. I just wanted to get revenge.”

Bigfella ran his fingers through his beard as he spoke.
“Look, I know we ended up in that ridiculous situation of having two VPs,” he spat into the corner of the room before continuing, “but back then we didn’t know how things would be. Fuck. I should have seen it coming, put a stop to it. We could have done without one for a while…”

A surge of pride ran through Jase. It meant a lot to have the old man say that, to express his confidence in him. And to say that
he
should be running the club. “Thanks. I’ll let the Doctor know.”

Bigfella frowned.
“But shit, I’m in here still. I don’t get to make the decisions. You gotta’ sort this on your own. It’s up to you, but you put two captains on a ship you’re gonna’ end up on the rocks.”

Jase nodded.
One more thing to deal with.
And I still haven’t told him about the drugs.
“Listen. There’s another reason I wanted to speak to you in private. We’ve made some decisions I think you should know about.”

Bigfella sighed.
“You did? The Doctor did? The club did?”

“
The club. All of us. We—”

Bigfella didn
’t let him finish. “If you made the decision and it passed the vote then it’s done. I told you. When I’m in here I’m nothing.”

“
But—”

Bigfella shook his head.
“I don’t want to know.
Really
. I
don’t want to know.
”

He knows.
Jase let out a sigh. “Okay. We’re going to get you out though. We’re gonna’ find the best goddamn lawyer and prove it was self-goddamn-defense.”

The older man
’s shoulders shook as he chuckled. “One with big tits, right?”

Jase laughed.
“Of course, that’s the most important qualification,” he joked.

Bigfella looked at him grinning.
“You know what else we’re going to do?”

“
What?”

“
We’re gonna sue these motherfuckers. Putting me in that position? Fuck, that’s gotta be worth, what, ten million?” His grin was broad. “A hundred million? This time next year son, we’re gonna be on a big fuckin boat with some big booty young bitches and some old-ass whisky.”

Jase laughed.
“I hate fucking boats.”

“
Not when we’re sailing like that you won’t. Then maybe a club ride. A club ride across the entire US-mother-fuckin-A.”

They laughed together before settling i
nto quiet contemplation.

When Jase left his mood was melancholy.
It’s never going to happen, is it? Can it?
He’d wanted to tell Bigfella so much more, to ask his advice, to get his guidance. But the older man hadn’t wanted to give it. It was up to Jase to make the decisions now.

He headed off back to the clubhouse, his mind running a mile a minute.
So much shit to do. Move the Doctor out of the big seat, find this Carlos character, make the schedules for next weekend’s security work, start thinking about Lonnie’s show, and… Nicole. What happened to you Nicole? What are you doing? Why don’t you answer the phone?