Biker Bound: The Lost Souls MC Series (16 page)

“Before you showed up I was thinking about going to see my mom.”

“That would work for now,” I say, ending in a yawn.

“You should get some sleep,” she tells me.

“If you’re leaving me in the morning, I don’t want to waste time sleeping when I could be with you.”

“I thought you said you’d come and see us?”

“I did,” I growl, as if I would go back on my word.

“Then the morning won’t be goodbye will it,” she smiles, “Get some sleep and in the morning I might even let you buy us breakfast.”

“You can have anything you damn well want.”

She moves in closer and kisses me softly before turning around with my arm around her waist, her back flush against my chest. I half turn and reach out to turn the lamp off.

“Goodnight Slade,” she whispers into the darkness.

“Night darlin’.”

I had no intention of wasting time by sleeping whilst I have her in my arms but as soon as I heard her relaxed, sleeping breaths, my eyes closed and I was gone.

When my eyes shot open I forgot where I was until I caught the vanilla scent of Kristen’s hair. The time on the bedside table clock read a quarter to six.

Lifting my head to peer over at Zach I see he is still fast asleep in his cot.

Pushing up closer to Kristen, my cock strains against my jeans to the point of pain.

There’s no way I’ll be able to fall asleep again now. Not able to stop myself, I slide my hand under her camisole and into her bra. It seems it only takes my touch for her nipple to harden. Pinching it between my thumb and fore finger, I lightly roll it around until I get a response. My girl doesn’t keep me waiting long before she softly groans and arches her ass back into my groin.

“Come and shower with me,” I whisper in her ear.

“Now?” she asks, sleepily.

“Well, we’re not exactly alone are we and I need to shower,” I press by point by pressing my hard on against her.

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh,” I whisper back.

Kristen is finishing up in the bathroom as I step outside to call Cas feeling on top of the fucking world. Showering with Kristen has just made all future showers without her redundant.

They aren’t coming back with me but knowing I haven’t lost them is enough for now.

Cas answers on the fourth ring sounding tired and agitated.

“What’s goin’ on? I expected your call hours ago,” he snaps.

“Yeah sorry about that,” I sigh, “Kristen is good, and she isn’t going to say a word to anyone. She didn’t say much about the guy at the store but she said she got the impression he didn’t know what was going on.”

The line goes silent for a minute.

“Okay, when will you be back?” he asks, sounding a lot less stressed.

“I’m going to grab some breakfast then head back when they leave.”

“Are they not comin’ back with you?”

“Not yet, she’s heading up to see her mom.”

“Okay, when you get back see if you can find some footage from the store.”

“Sure.”

As usual there are no goodbyes. Pocketing my phone I go back into the room to find Zach waking up and Kristen still in the bathroom.

“Hey little guy.”

I pick him up out of the cot and feel his legs kicking in excitement.

“Hey, you’re gonna be going to see your Granma soon and I won’t be around for a while, so I need you to look after your momma.”

The little boy’s floppy blonde hair falls over his eyes, it doesn’t bother him but I brush it away anyway.

“Can you do that for me? Will you look after your momma?”

“Mom-ma.”

It’s like all the air has been sucked right out of my lungs. I’ve never heard his voice before and the surprise of hearing it now blows me away.

In all the excitement of his first word I turn to take him into the bathroom so Kristen can hear him too, but she’s already heard. Standing frozen in the doorway she has tears in her eyes.

“Did he just say momma?” she stutters in shock.

“Yeah he did.”

A sense of pride washes over me.

“Say mom-ma,” I urge again.

A few moments pass in silence and Kristen’s hope begins to fade.

“Mom-ma,” Zach shouts, with a cheesy grin on his face.

Kristen jumps up and down and bounces across the room until she is standing in front of us holding her arms out. I pass Zachery over and watch in fascination as she holds him tight in joy.

“I was beginning to think he’d never say anything,” she cries.

He repeats it three more times before she gets him dressed and we are heading across the street to the diner for breakfast.

After Zach is in his highchair and occupied with some of his bricks and the waitress has taken our order, Kristen and I are alone to talk.

I haven’t seen her this happy before, she has been waiting a long time to hear her son say something and when his first word was mom-ma, it was the icing on the cake for her.

“You’re simply beautiful when you smile.”

“I have a lot to smile about this morning,” she beams, grinning ear to ear, “It looks like you have a good effect on us both.”

“That’s real good darlin’,” I grin, just as big as her, “I’ve been thinking, with you two not coming back with me, I’m not sure how long I can wait to see you again. So as soon as you’re settled at your moms, I want to come up and take you out on our first date. I’m sure your mom will watch Zach for you?”

“Of course she will,” she says, “Give me a couple of days to wrap my head around everything and you will be the first one I call.”

“Fuck that, you’ll call me the minute you arrive and I know you’re safe at your mom’s.” I disagree, then add more softly, “Will you do that?”

“Of course I will.”

Over breakfast we steer clear of club talk and fall into an easy conversation asking questions about each other. From what movies we like to what music we listen to. She tells me more about working in her dad’s pawn shop and I’m amazed at how well she handled herself in some of the stories she tells me about. Her father’s death made aspects of her vulnerable but it is his life she shared with him that makes her strong. I don’t need to have known the man to know he would have been very proud to have her as his daughter.

“Do you have any good memories of your father?” she asks.

“I don’t really have any, good or bad.” I say honestly, “I didn’t let his absence get to me. My mom was fantastic with me and my sister. She was all we ever needed.”

“You said before that your lives don’t mix now so you must have reconnected with him at some point?” she digs.

“The first time I saw him again I had just graduated high school. He showed up and stayed around for a few weeks before disappearing again. Lily was upset but like anything else in my life, I got on with it. The next time he came to town was right after I patched into the club. All he saw is that it was a gang. He made a few scenes before I told him he was nothing to me and his opinion meant even less.”

She tucked into her eggs before speaking again.

“Why did you join the club?”

I push my plate away and wipe my mouth with a napkin.

“I had no intention of going to college. I got a job at the local gas station because I wanted to make life easier for my mom. She brought us up single handed, sometimes working two jobs so she could afford to put food on the table and clothes on our backs. She never once complained about it but she constantly looked tired not that she would admit it. Anyway, I was working the night shift and it was dead quiet, I was bored and on my computer. I didn’t particularly know what I was going to do until I wondered how hard it would be to hack into the school computers. I won’t bore you with details but that night I changed teacher’s records, payroll figures, things like that. It took them weeks to put everything right,” I laugh at the memories.

“Did you get caught?”

“Sort of,” I huff, “Eventually they traced the IP address back to the gas station. I was questioned along with the rest of the employees but the station never kept records, never needed to so they couldn’t prove I was working that night. It made the paper and that’s when Michael came to see me. He was interested in what else I could do. At first I continued to deny it was me and he laughed, he said he liked my determination to keep my mouth shut. A couple of weeks later he came to see me again. He knew I was only working to help my mom, he knew about everything. He made me an offer, he said I could make more money in one job with him that I could in a year at the station. I was naturally curious and accepted his invitation to one of the parties at the club. It was a party like no other I had ever been to. The drinking, the stories that I heard being told and the women…well, there were women there,” I say quickly, “I felt more connected to them in one night than I did to my friends I had known for years. The next morning I went back to Michael to see what he wanted from me. He was intrigued with my technical abilities and how it could help the club. He spoke about the kind of money I could earn and by the end of the morning I was a prospect.”

“Prospect? That’s when you’re on a trial right?” she asks.

“Yeah, my trial was slightly different to the others. I was asked to do certain checks using the computer. I was patched in when Michael saw I was an asset to him.”

“Sounds like you got all that you wanted,” she smiles.

“I did and I didn’t even know I was looking for it. The club has always been a second home to me and one day you’ll see the good times always outweigh the bad times.”

“Maybe.”

Not wanting to go down that road again, I quickly change the topic of conversation.

“Anyway, as much as I don’t want you to go, you should get on the road, I don’t want you to still be driving tonight.”

“Sure.”

She takes care of Zach while I settle the bill. It suddenly occurs to me she left her things at mine yesterday and has no luggage with her.

“What about your stuff? You don’t have anything with you.”

“I have the essentials with me, the rest I can buy new.” She assures me as we cross back over to the motel.

It takes her less than five minutes to round up her things and leaves me with Zach while she hands the key back to the office.

“Remember what I said little guy, you look after your momma and I’ll come and see you in a few days.” I say, as I buckle him into his car seat.

It dawns on me that I’m not only going to miss Kristen but Zach as well. The little guy has grown on me.

“That’s the key handed in, I suppose it’s time to go,” Kristen says from behind me.

I close Zach’s door and turn around pulling her against me.

“Please drive carefully,” I urge her.

“I always do.”

“And call me when you arrive.”

“Sure will.”

I don’t want to ask what I’m about to ask but it has to be done.

“I appreciate you’re going to talk with your mom while you’re there but can I ask you not to say anything about how Billy really died? I don’t like asking you to lie to your mom but there’s too many people who rely on that night remaining buried.”

She looks into my eyes rendering me speechless and brings her arms up and around my neck.

“I doubt she would believe me anyway.” She says, before leaning up and leaning in.

I lean in too and press my lips to hers. The kiss is not too hard but not soft, it’s not fast but it isn’t slow either. It’s perfect.

“You should really get going before I take you back with me,” I growl.

“I really should,” she agrees coyly, not making any moves to pull away from me.

After not long enough she finally pulls away and heads to the driver’s side.

“I’ll look forward to our first date,” she smiles flirtatiously.

“You should, it’s going to fuckin’ ruin all future dates you’re not going on as you’re mine now,” I laugh.

“We’ll see,” she winks.

“Yes we will.” I promise.

I watch her go until she pulls out into the traffic and disappears out of sight.

Now she’s gone I allow myself to think about the guy who started all this shit at the store. First thing I’m doing when I get back is tracking down that motherfucker.

It seems Oak had done his own investigating this morning and had gone straight to the source.

Pretending his car had been damaged in the store’s car lot yesterday while he was supposedly shopping, he had asked to view the CCTV footage to find the culprit and their registration details for insurance purposes. And luck was on our side when not only did Oak witness the whole scene between Kristen and the guy, he actually recognized him. He is the son of an old drinking friend of his.

As soon as I got back we were called into the back room.

“Kristen said he was a messenger,” I remind my brothers.

“Still, we should pay him a visit and find out who gave him the message.” Sparky speaks up from my left.

“Fuckin’ right we should,” I agree.

“And we will. This guy, if he chooses to believe what he’s been told, could create more trouble for us. I don’t think any of you will disagree that our mystery fucker is behind this. We need to find out who it is and now,” Cas says, from the top of the table.

“Here here,” Oak roars.

“Then let’s go, all of us and try to intimidate rather than use force.”

Everyone agrees and we go to stand.

“Oh and before we leave, Alannah wants everyone and I mean everyone at the wedding. She wants to use the land behind the club to fit everyone at the reception so it will be busier than usual around here over the next few weeks.” He informs us.

“It’s goin’ to be a fuckin’ crackin’ day,” Oak adds in proudly.

“As long as Lana has everything she wants, that’s all that matters to me,” Cas says.

“She will. Come on, let’s go find this fucker.” I say, running out of patience.

It turns out the guy’s name is Gregory Simms and I went to high school with him. To say he was full of fear when he saw us all on his doorstep was an understatement.

I had planned on being calm and civil but the moment I saw him, thinking of him talking to Kristen, nearly fucking up everything I’ve wanted, all calmness I had evaporated.