Black Dogs Motorcycle Club: Full Series Box Set (2 page)

“
Jase, what if I can’t?
What if Henry won’t
let us?”
she
said.

“
He will. We
’
ll
make
—“
Jase was interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle
rumbling down the neighborhood street. Both he and Maggie froze and looked at
each other.
“
What is he doing coming
back this early?
”
said
Jase.

Maggie saw the look on his face, and gave
him a sarcastic one of her own.
“
I
thought we didn’t have anything to worry about from him?
”

Jase frowned and made a soft, grumpy noise
at her. He walked over to the window and stuck his fingers between the blinds
to get a look outside.  Maggie stood behind him with her arms crossed and
listened to the bike pull into the driveway and park.

“Oh,”
said Jase as he let out a
breath.
“It
’
s
not your dad, it
’s just Will.
”

“
Like that
’
s
any better,
”
said Maggie as she moved
to put some clothes on. Jase was right behind her, stepping into his jeans and
fumbling his white shirt over his head. By the time he had his cut on, they
could hear Will
’
s soft knocking on
the front door.
“
What’s he doing
here?
”

“
How should I know?
”
said Jase.
“I’ve
been busy the last few hours.
”
He
nuzzled up to her as she pulled her hair out of her shirt. As upset as she
felt, she couldn’t resist his embrace, but the kisses she gave him were short.
She followed Jase down the hall to the front door.

Will leaned patiently against the porch
railing, chewing on a toothpick and staring into the dark sky. He turned to
them with a smile.
“
Hi,
guys. I
’
m sorry to
interrupt.
”

“
Everything okay?
”
said Jase as he straightened his cut.

Will tossed the toothpick into the garden
as he straightened.
“Henry
’
s
been looking for you, he needs you for something, but you weren’t picking up
your phone.
”

“
Yeah, I turned it off,
”
said Jase.
“
For
a reason.
”

“
Well, he
’
s…
insistent,
”
said Will with a soft shrug.
“
I
said I might know where you were.
”

Maggie stepped up to the doorway.
“
You
didn’t tell him, did you?
”

Will shook his head, pursing his lips.
“
Not
that you two are a secret, or anything. But I think we all have an unspoken
code to, uh
…
move around the facts.
”

“
How
’
s
that?
”
said
Maggie.

In a bit of embarrassment, Will
’
s
lopsided smile made an appearance.
“
I
think Henry knows exactly where Jase is when he
’
s
not answering his phone, and he doesn’t mind me offering to be the one to
possibly catch you in the act.
”

Maggie sighed heavily. Next to her, Jase
said.
“
He
really needs me to come right now?
”

“Captain
’
s
orders,
”
said Will.

“You don’t say,”
Maggie
said in a flat voice. She felt emotions rising and turned away from the men at
the door. She heard Jase speak softly to Will for a few moments.

Jase came up behind her as she stared at
the dark living room fireplace and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He
nuzzled into the side of her hair and kissed her.
“I
’
m
sorry, he says it
’
s
important.
”

“
Shocker.
”

He held her tighter, as if his embrace
could wipe away the truth. Maggie felt tears running down her cheek and wiped
them away nonchalantly. In the dark, he couldn’t see.

“
Just stay with me,
”
said Jase into her ear.
“
I
don’t
want to lose you. You
’
re
my world, you know that don't you
?”
He
squeezed her again.
“
You have been my
world for a very long time.
”

Despite herself, Maggie sighed and nuzzled
into him. She planted a few tiny kisses on the side of his warm face.
“You
’
re
mine, too.
”

He held her for a few more moments before
he released her, leaving her feeling as cold as she ever had.

Maggie trailed Jase to the front door like
a ghost, clinging to his hand. Before he walked out, he turned and kissed her
deeply.
“
Just
hang on for me, okay? Things will smooth out.
”

Even though she didn’t believe that,
Maggie gave him a tight, teary smile, and a nod. She said nothing, only kissed
him on the side of his mouth.

“
I love you.
”

“
I love you too,
”
she said.

After one last lingering embrace, Jase
finally pulled away from her and headed down the porch steps towards the
driveway. Will was already on his bike; he gave a smile and a wave up to
Maggie, and she returned it. Jase climbed on his waiting bike, shiny and chrome
under the steady glare of the streetlights. She felt her heart race a little at
the sound of them revving up, and waved at her biker boyfriend one last time as
he backed out of the drive.

As they pulled away, Maggie
’
s
face turned to look down the hallway towards her room. Under the bed, she could
see the shadow of the suitcase she had already half-packed. She stared at it as
she listened to the bikes disappear into the night.

~ ONE ~

FIVE YEARS LATER

Just
breathe. Deep breath, girl. You
’
re
not about to walk into a gunfight.

Her own advice was useless. As soon as her
SUV passed by the sunny yellow sign welcoming her into the town of LeBeau,
Maggie felt her heart begin to pound in her chest like an angry drum line. She
gripped the steering wheel tightly and tried to focus on the road. It was a
beautiful spring day and despite the town
’
s
small population, the streets bustled with activity. She wondered if it had
been a particularly terrible winter. The folks seemed eager to be out in the
sun and warmth. She didn’t feel the same. She wanted nothing more than to find
a cold, dark cave to crawl into and never come out.

It had been over five years since she
’
d
been back in her hometown. Five years, and yet hardly anything looked
different. Cleaner, maybe; there was a sparkle to the place she didn’t remember
from before. But maybe that was just nostalgia shining up the ugly parts of her
memory
…
of which there were plenty. She noticed a new-fangled,
big box supermarket chain on Vine Street and wondered how hard her father had
fought to keep that monstrosity out of town. Wasn’t hard enough, apparently.
The parking lot was bustling with shoppers who seemed to be enjoying it well
enough. She thought she saw an old friend from high school, Misty Walters,
loading up groceries into a minivan stuffed with three screaming kids. She
couldn’t help but snicker at that, and it made her mood just a little bit
lighter.

Lighter, that is, until she pulled up to a
stoplight right next to four men on motorcycles, wearing the black leather cuts
of her father
’
s club, the Black
Dogs. She stole what glances she dared from behind her sunglasses, to see if she
recognized any of them. Or worse
—
to
see if any of them recognized her. The SUV was new, but Maggie didn’t feel like
she looked that much different than she had years ago. As the light seemed to
linger on into eternity, she finally turned nonchalantly to examine the men.
One of them met her gaze. He smiled approvingly and nodded his head, but it
wasn’t a smile that said he actually recognized her. The other three couldn’t
have cared less, staring straight ahead as their bikes rumbled like wild dogs
beneath them. Maggie didn’t recognize them, either, and the tightness in her
chest loosened just a little bit. The light changed, and the four roared off
down Main Street without a second glance at her.

Maggie followed Main Street until she
arrived at her destination. Dot
’
s
Diner was one spot in LeBeau that had never, and would never change. She could
still hear Dot’s strong, smoke-stained voice in her head:
I would gladly
watch this town burn down around my ears before that!
She had been one of
the originals to set up shop in LeBeau, just like Maggie
’
s
father. The old guard that tried their damnedest to keep things the way they
had always been. When she was a teenager, Maggie had loved Dot, but had thought
her foolish in her steadfast stubbornness. Now, though
…
now Maggie wondered if the old lady hadn’t been on to
something all along. Change brought pain and darkness and turmoil. Change was
trouble.

The diner was more packed than the
supermarket had been, just like Maggie remembered. Even at the latest hours,
there never seemed to be a shortage of customers waiting for a warm piece of
pie and a cup of coffee. And, just like Maggie remembered, a good chunk of the
parking lot gleamed with chrome motorcycles, all lined up in a pretty row like
they were contestants in a beauty pageant waiting to be judged. The MC
practically lived at Dot
’
s—
at
least when they weren’t at the clubhouse. As she waited to turn in, Maggie
noticed the four bikers from the stoplight walking into the diner, clapping
each other on the shoulders and laughing at something.

Are you sure you wanna do this?
A
little scared voice in the back of her mind asked.

What else am I supposed to do?
Maggie answered herself.
I need them. I have no choice.

She could have gone straight to the
clubhouse, she knew. But she was too cowardly for it. After all these years
trying to prove to herself that she was half as tough as her father, in the
end, she simply wasn’t sure that she was. She couldn’t even face him, not yet.
She wasn’t ready. The thought of walking into that clubhouse and seeing the
stern grey eyes of Henry Oliver looking down at her from his redwood throne
filled her with a dread so strong, it made her want to swerve back for the
highway and leave this place forever.

And then there was the thought of facing
Jase.

A honking horn behind her broke the
hypnotics of her inner dialogue, and Maggie shook her head to clear her
thoughts as she took a careful turn into the diner
’
s
parking lot. She parked her SUV and killed the engine. It took her a solid two
minutes to get the guts to push the door open and step out of the car. When she
felt her hands itching for a cigarette, she knew then that her coward
’
s
heart was stalling, and would stall forever unless she did something about it.

“C
’
mon,
you bitch,”
she said to herself in an angry, hissing
voice.
“
Are
you an Oliver, or aren’t you?
”
Hearing
her family name out loud sent strength through her blood, and she put herself
on a forced march to the diner
’
s
front door before she lost the momentum of her bravery
—
such as it was.

She walked into Dot
’
s
Diner and was immediately hit with the full weight of homesickness and
nostalgia that had been building the whole drive home. She saw the Wilsons in
their corner booth, the same damn spot they had been sitting in at Dot
’
s
for longer than Maggie had been alive. Some of the waitresses were certainly
new, yet there was a vague familiarity to some of them, as if she remembered
them as schoolchildren. The friendly bellowing laugh of Roy the cook sailed out
from the kitchen. The diner was alive with sensory input: the clinking of
silverware, the din of conversation and laughter, the sizzle of cooking food,
the smell of coffee and bacon and hash. It was busy enough that no one
immediately paid her any mind as she stood in the front foyer. Finally one of
the waitresses saw her and headed over with a big genuine smile.

“
Hi there, ho
n!”
she said.
“
How
many’ll it be?
”

Maggie was caught a little off guard. She
wasn’t there for the food.
“Oh, I, uh…”

“
You can sit at the bar if
you like, sugar.
”
The
waitress handed her a floppy plastic menu.

“I
’
m
not here to
…”

“
Lord, is that Maggie
Oliver?
”

Celeste, one of the diner
’
s
oldest and most experience waitresses, peered from behind the giant glass case
that twirled the pies and cakes around like they were showgirls to be ogled at.
She came around with her arms opened wide and sunshine in her eyes.
So much
for doing this my way
, thought Maggie to herself.

“
Maggie, oh my Lord! I
can’t
believe it
’
s
you!
”
said Celeste as she wrapped Maggie in a strangling but
loving hug. Her uniform smelled like cigarette smoke, burnt coffee, and the
lingering scent of the same cheap perfume her husband bought for her every year
for their anniversary. Celeste always loved it.

Maggie was surprised to feel her tension
and worry melt almost completely away for that moment she was wrapped in
Celeste
’
s arms. She hugged
her back and felt tears pooling up in her eyes. For that brief moment, it was
like she had never left LeBeau.

“
Honey, you look so
beautiful!
”
said Celeste as she
pulled away from Maggie to give her a once-over.
“
Look
at you
…
you
’
re
grown up into a proper lady. I can’t believe my eyes.
”

Maggie smiled, and felt a tiny tear run
down her cheek.
“
Hi Celeste. Boy, I
didn’t realize how much I missed you.
”

“
I missed you too, sweet
girl. We’ve all missed you. It
’
s
been too long. Your pa hasn’t come into the diner yet today. Have you already
seen him?
”

Mention of her father made Maggie
’
s
tension resurface in her muscles, and she gave Celeste a tight smile.
“
No,
not yet. Actually, I was stopping by to
…”
Something
in the air made Maggie stop. She turned and looked out into the large dining
room to her right. The place was filled with black leather cuts, the gathered
members of the Black Dogs from several nearby towns in for a lunchtime break,
laughing and drinking coffee. In the midst of them, one had stood up and was
staring at her from across the room.

It was Will Bowers. He didn’t look a day
older than when she had left. Always a handsome man with boyish features, now
he had supplemented them with a gruff chin-stubble and mustache the color of
rust, same color as his soft curly hair.

Will was never an emotional guy. It was
only those who knew him well who knew how to read him, and right now Maggie was
reading an entire novel
’
s-worth
of emotion on his seemingly expressionless face. It was all in those deep brown
eyes which stared at her, unblinking.

Maggie slipped out of Celeste
’
s
grasp and maneuvered around the chairs and tables into the dining room. She
gave the waitress
’
s shoulder a tender
squeeze as she did so, and Celeste didn’t interrupt or protest. The old woman
was wise enough to know what was happening.

Will moved to meet her halfway. Maggie
’
s
nerves began to sing a warning song, unsure how he would react. She did not
want to begin this new and terrifying chapter in her life by being publicly
humiliated in this place.

But when he finally got in front of her,
Will just smiled his gentle, lopsided smile.
“
Maggie,
”
he said, quiet as always.
“I
can’t
believe it
’
s
you.
”
His eyes were searching her face, looking her up and
down, as if he was trying to dedicate every detail of this moment to memory.

“Hi Will,”
said Maggie,
giving him a small and shaking smile. She licked her lips, ready to launch into
the speech she had been planning and rehearsing, over and over, just for the
moment she would inevitably run into one of the boys from the MC. But before
she could, Will wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. At
first Maggie only tensed up in surprise, but then she melted into it and hugged
him back even tighter.

When they pulled away from it, Maggie
realized the entire group of Black Dogs had stopped whatever they were doing to
watch the reunion. She didn’t recognize any of them, and doubted they knew who
she was. They were simply shocked by Will
’
s
public display of affection. Will didn’t seem to notice or care.

“
What are you doing here?
”
Will
asked, though it was more gentle than
accusatory.

Maggie blinked a few times and tried to
gather her thoughts. The entire rehearsed speech had flown from her mind.
“I,
uh…
I decided it was time to come home.
”
 She finished with another tight smile,
“
Things didn’t work out in Eagleton like I had planned.
”