Bash, Volume II (4 page)

“You’re really going to throw me away because of the cussing thing?”

“That’s a big part of it, but if it were the only issue I’d probably try to come to some kind of compromise.” I shrugged. “You think my dad and my biker family are second class citizens. They’re my
family
, Thomas. We might be able to put all of that on the back burner for a fling, but if it turns into more than a fling it’ll be a deal breaker, and can only lead to heartbreak for both of us. Maybe I’m being an ostrich with her head in the sand, but I don’t see them as the evil villains you seem to think they are.”

He sighed, looked out my picture window at the Tennessee River a few moments, and finally looked back to me to say, “I feel protective of you. Something inside me wants to save you from them. You’ve been on the inside all your life, and you can’t see how they look to the rest of the world.”

I sat back and gave him what I was sure was a smart-assed smirk, but I couldn’t make it anything else as I said, “I’m the one who protected you from the Disciples, not the other way around. My daddy taught me to defend myself, and Duke’s had me in the clubhouse workout room sparring with me since I’ve been back, to make sure I didn’t lose my edge while I was away at school. What kind of protection do you think you can give me?”

“You’re friends with criminals! It’s only a matter of time before they land in jail, and I don’t want to see you go down with them!”

“What part of ‘
I’m not involved in club business’
are you not understanding?”

He shook his head. “If there’d been a raid while you were staying there, you’d have been taken in along with everyone else.”

“Yeah, my mom got taken in once on a raid, and was home in a few hours. Dad came home the next day. Nothing came of any of it. All charges were dropped against them both.”

Fifteen minutes later, his words were beginning to sound like threats. “If you get taken in and you’re my girlfriend, my subordinates will have to sign off on letting you go since I’ll have ties to you, but they
will
, because I’m their boss. If you and I don’t have a relationship, it’s
me
who signs off, and if you break it off with me because of your criminal friends then it’s gonna lead me to believe you’re as guilty as them, and I’ll hold you as long as I legally can, and throw every charge at you with an
ounce
of a possibility of sticking.”

“Careful,” came Brain in my ear, his voice deceptively soft. He was as pissed as me, but he wasn’t ranting and raving, and I shouldn’t either.

We’d long since finished eating, and I stood and gathered our plates. “We’re done here, Thomas. Whether we become friends or enemies is entirely up to you. I prefer friends, but I can work with being your enemy, if you so choose.” I settled the dishes in the sink without making them bang and clang, wanting to show my mega-self-control. “Here’s my promise to you: Neither I, nor anyone from the RTMC, will threaten you with physical violence. However, if you come after me, or them, for personal reasons, we’ll
destroy
you politically.”

“Excellent. Now get rid of him,” said Brain.

I walked past Thomas to go to the door, and he grabbed my arm.

“Let go of me.”

“You don’t make a threat like that and get away with it.” I could smell his pain, the way his chest muscles hurt from the effort of holding me, but it didn’t show on his face or in his eyes.

“It’s time for you to go, Pickering. We’re done here.”

He didn’t let go of my arm, but his demeanor changed. I’d startled him by calling him by his last name, and I told him, “Thomas is the man who made me fall in love with him a little bit with his eyes, his lips, and his fucking
belt
. Pickering is the District Attorney trying to keep me from breaking up with him by threatening to cause me legal problems if I’m not his girlfriend. Get out of my apartment,
Pickering
.”

He dropped his arm, but didn’t move. “I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”

“Don’t try to convince me you said something else. Just go, before you dig a fucking deeper hole.” I walked to my door and opened it, standing beside it so I was clear I expected him to walk through and get the fuck out.

He stopped a foot inside. “I’m not giving up on us, yet. I’ll give you time to cool off and then we can talk again.”

“I’m calm. I put the dishes in the sink without breaking them, and you’re still standing,
and
your nose is still all straight on your face like it’s supposed to be. No temper here, no reason to need to calm down. You want to be friends, great. You want to be enemies? Not what I’d choose, but it won’t be the end of the world.”

He stood still and looked at me, his expression neutral, probably his courtroom poker face, and I added. “Two steps and you’re out. I’ve asked you to leave multiple times and you’re still here.”

“Don’t let me find out you’re fucking one of them.”

He left, and I closed the door behind him as softly as possible, not wanting to let him say I lost my temper even a little.

“For the record, I arranged for this recording because Thomas Pickering scares me — not physically, but legally. I now see my instincts were right, and I’m worried he’ll abuse the power afforded him by the voters of Hamilton County, so I’ll be hanging onto multiple copies of this recording as proof of his verbal legal threats against me.”

I heard a slight click, and Brain said, “Okay the recording’s off. Unplug the charger and both cameras will be turned off. I’m turning the picture frame off from here, and I’ll get it back later. I don’t want to come in now, as it’ll arouse suspicion. Stay put, but keep sharp. Call me if you need me, or just plug the charger in and I’ll know right away, and can see and hear whatever is happening.”

I unplugged the charger, and put the picture frame in my sweater drawer, tucked between the sweaters. I trusted Brain, but I’d still be happy when it was out of the house. Which got me to thinking. I grabbed my phone and went out on the balcony.

“You okay?” Brain asked as he answered.

“How can I be sure he didn’t put a bug in my apartment? They’re so tiny, how would I know?”

“I’ll arrange to arrive with Bash tonight so it looks like we came together. I’ll do a sweep, and will get the picture frame while I’m there.” Brain was always so patient with me. Even now, when I was probably being silly, he didn’t seem the least exasperated with me.

“Thanks, Brain. I appreciate it.”

“Not a problem. We need to stay on our toes with him, and making sure he can’t hear whatever happens in your apartment is smart.”

Bash

I heard a Harley, and recognized Brain’s engine as he slowed and pulled into the parking lot.

“You got a minute?” he asked as he came in and sat in one of my chairs, his long legs stretched out in front of him.

I held up a finger as I listened to Bobcat on the phone, and then told him, “Okay, teach him some manners, but don’t go alone. Gonzo isn’t too far away — if he can free up some time, take him. Otherwise let Duke know I said you need backup, and why. It’ll be nice if you can take Tiny or Dozer.”

We were using Brain’s new encryption app, so we could talk without anyone overhearing, but I was still careful about what I said.
Teach him some manners
was code for mess him up a little, but not so much he’ll need a doctor. Our girl wasn’t physically hurt, but her clothes were ripped and she was crying, and the john hadn’t negotiated for a girl who liked it rough.

I disconnected and nodded to Brain, who said, “Angelica asked me to put recording equipment in, so she’d have a record of her conversation with Pickering. I think you need to hear it now so you can get pissed off and get over it before you see her. Dozer and Tiny can’t help Bobcat because they’re in the parking lot in a cage — my insurance you don’t go beat the hell out of the District Attorney before you can calm down enough to see reason.”

My temper flared to life, but I remained seated as I told Brain, “If he hurt her, nothing any of you can do will keep me from killin’ him.”

“She’s fine, and she more than held her own with him. Just listen, then we’ll talk.”

By the time the recording ended, a red film had settled over my eyes. Tiny and Dozer were in the office, standing on either side of the closed door. I couldn’t take all three of them, and we all knew it. I had my gun, but I smelled theirs as well and they were just as fast as me.

No one said anything for several long moments, and Brain finally said, “Talk to me, Bash.”

“I’m gonna take a trip to Ringgold before I go to Angelica’s.”

“Thought you were going to try to get to her house before dark. Make sure she’s safe.”

“I need to fight someone. If I see Pickering in the parking lot, it’ll be his face if I don’t beat on someone else, first.”

“Let’s go out back,” Brain said with a smirk. “I’ll volunteer Tiny’s face.”

Tiny chuckled. “I’ll swap punches, but you don’t get any free ones.”

“Swapping punches won’t help. Need to beat the shit out of someone.” The fights in Ringgold are only open to shifters, and the manager knew what I was capable of. If I walked in, he’d put me with someone who could handle me. Or, alternatively, someone who could heal from having their skull bashed in, just in case they couldn’t handle me.

But Brain was right — Angelica didn’t need to be home alone tonight. “
Fuck
. What’s the game plan?”

“Angelica wants me to be sure Pickering didn’t plant a bug. I’ll arrive with you and do a sweep for electronics. As far as I know, nothing else is planned.”

“You’re too calm,” said Dozer.

“No, I’m not. I can’t take all three of you on at once. Plus, I like my desk. I start fighting you, it’ll get destroyed. I’ve told you I need to fight someone.”

“So why don’t we see if Dawg can hang out at Angelica’s while you go to Ringgold.”

I shook my head. “No. I told her I’d be there as quick as I could. Send the video to my computer so I can watch it on a bigger screen. If I can’t beat the shit out of someone, we at least need a game plan.”

In a Pack, the Alpha can override a wolf’s temper and force him, or her, to be calm. Should the Alpha be close to losing it, the Pack can work together to help the Alpha calm down. It takes most of the pack working together to do it, but it’s a nice safety mechanism.

Lone wolves have to hold onto our tempers, our wolves, our humanity. Duke isn’t our Alpha, he’s our President, and he can’t force us to do anything with his will alone. We have control of our lives and our willpower — our choices and actions are our own, but this means we must actually
control
ourselves.

So, I went through the video again, watched Pickering’s facial expressions, his body language, listened to the tone of his voice. I studied it objectively and locked my emotions down until I couldn’t feel anything.

“He can make life difficult for the MC as a whole, and for you in particular, if you give him reason to hate you.” Brain’s voice was soft, matter of fact. He wasn’t warning me, wasn’t suggesting I act one way or another, merely pointing out a fact.

“Yeah. I like Princess’s idea of destroying him politically.” Because once he no longer had power, beating the shit out of him without going to jail became a possibility. Brain didn’t need to know the last part, though.

“Me too, but let’s look at it as a long game. In the meantime, what do you need to do here, before you can go to her place?”

“Ya’ll hang out somewhere else. I’ll meet you in ten minutes.”

“They’ll hang out with Slick. I’ll chill out on your sofa,” Brain said with another smirk.

I rolled my eyes, made a few phone calls, and put my laptop in the safe, which Brain had rigged so if anyone got into it without the proper authorizations, an electro-magnetic pulse destroyed all electronics inside.

We parked a block away from Angelica’s apartment and Dawg was waiting for us as we pulled into the lot. Tiny and Dozer came, too, but I didn’t argue. If I saw Pickering they’d help keep me from killing him.

A woman was getting groceries out of her car and trying to deal with a toddler as we came through the parking lot, and she looked at us with fear. I looked to Brain, and he nodded and walked to her, stopping about two parking spaces away to tell her, “Ma’am, we’re here visiting someone who just moved in, but you look like you have your hands full. I can help you with your groceries, if you’d like.”

She looked at him with fear, and the rest of us walked towards Angelica’s apartment. He’d do better on his own. I’m told bikers tend to be scarier in groups than alone, and Brain could charm the pants off any woman. He didn’t do it anymore, but didn’t mean he wasn’t still capable.

Bottom line, though, if we scared the residents and they complained, Angelica might get kicked out for bringing unwanted visitors to the complex. We needed to make friends with the residents — make them feel safe with us around, not scared.

Dawg went ahead of me, as if he were making sure Pickering wasn’t waiting around the corner. He knocked on Angelica’s door, but when she opened it I was the first in. I pulled her to the side of the door, wrapped my arms around her, and held her head to my chest as I smelled the top of her head.

“I got it from here, guys. Thanks,” Dawg told the two huge enforcers, and they grunted and left.

“Brain let you watch it, didn’t he?” she whispered in my ear, and I remembered she was paranoid he’d planted a bug.

“Yeah, he wanted me to see it and deal with it before I saw you again. He’s makin’ friends with a neighbor, helpin’ her carry groceries. Should be here in a minute.”

“Not scaring the neighbors is good.” She pulled her head away and looked at Dawg. “Thanks for coming. There’s beer in the fridge, if you want to grab some for the three of you.”

He glanced at me first, making sure I was good with him making himself at home in my Princess’s apartment. I gave a tiny nod and he went to the kitchen.

When Brain arrived, he found two bugs — one under the table, where Pickering had sat to eat, and one plugged into an outlet behind the dresser in the bedroom. Pickering had gone to the bathroom while Angelica was cooking, and he must’ve made a detour to plug it in.

Brain made sure we saw them, and told us, “Just got a text from Duke. He’s recommending we pull Angelica back to the compound.”

I nodded — if we planned it right we could use these bugs to our advantage. I hoped Angelica understood what he was saying and went along with it, and I looked at her with caution because I could smell rage and frustration coming off her in waves. The teenage Angelica would’ve started ranting and raving, but the adult Angelica merely said, “Fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck.
Shit
. I’ll pack for one more night.”