EXILE
The party at the Fire Hooch marked the end of my vacation.
Needing to get back to Baton Rouge, I grudgingly told Lula goodbye.
She planned to visit me in a few days when Dillon was with Jarred.
I only had to be patient for a short time.
Everything would be fine. Every single one of those reassuring words felt like a lie.
Zodiac and I rode our motorcycles while Nova drove her Mazda. We made decent time despite her wanting to stop constantly to piss or get a snack.
Baton Rouge used to feel like a fresh start. I loved the busy lifestyle I found in the city. Bringing Nova and Skylar there had offered a different kind of home. We fixed up our house and put down roots. Yet, as the city came into view, a gloom washed over me.
Zodiac took off in a different direction when we approached our suburb.
Once parked next to Nova’s SUV, I freed the girls from their booster seats and carried in their bags.
Nova started a load of laundry and worked on dinner.
We soon sat at the kitchen table while Ramen wandered around in the backyard as if searching for someone to entertain him.
Nova silently watched me for the entirety of dinner before asking, “You miss her, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Why did you come back home if you were just going to mope?”
“Because this is where we live. It’s where my club rides.”
Nova bit her bottom lip hard. “Lula will be here soon.”
“I know.”
“Are you going to mope until then?”
“Probably,” I said, leaning back and sighing. “Leave me alone on this, okay, Nova? I’ve never gotten hung up on a woman like this before. Let me adjust.”
“Hung up isn’t the right way to put it. You love her.”
Noticing the girls watching me, I mumbled, “Sure.”
“Don’t hide from your feelings, Dan.”
“I don’t think I am.”
Nova picked up her plate and walked to the kitchen. The girls stared at each other while filling their little mouths with buttered noodles. They were clearly feeding off my tension.
“Did you like it at Lula’s house?” I asked the girls who nodded in unison. “What did you like?”
“It’s pretty,” Lyric said and sighed. “I like her baby dog. Xena is my friend.”
“How about you?” I asked Skylar.
My niece shrugged, unsure how to explain. She reminded me of myself. I tended to hide in my head rather than put words to my feelings.
Nova stepped out of the kitchen. “Not that you asked, but I liked having people around.”
Studying my sister, I noticed she was falling into a bad mood.
“We never seemed to make friends around here,” I admitted. “Not with the neighbors or the moms at the park.”
“I blame the club guys. Most of them don’t have girlfriends, let alone wives.
The few old ladies are from Baton Rouge.
They have friends, so I’m always the outsider,” Nova said and dropped dramatically into her chair.
“I thought it was just me. Like, I’m not fun enough.
But Lula and the other Little Memphis foxes were friendly with me. ”
Exhaling deeply, I took my sister’s hand. “Lula wants to get a place down here. Something big enough for her and Dillon. I’ll be there instead of here.”
The girls stopped eating and watched me like I’d shit in their plates.
“So, you’d move out?” Nova asked in horror.
“Or,” I said and reached over to stroke the girls’ heads, “we could all move together to a new house.”
Skylar and Lyric looked around, seeming confused. Nova stared hard at me.
“I don’t want to live alone with the girls,” she said as tears pooled in her big eyes. “I’m afraid to be here without you.”
“Before you drove to Little Memphis, I felt torn in two directions. I don’t know how we’re going to make it work. But there’s no space for Lula and Dillon here. We’d have to find a bigger place with space for all of us to be comfortable together.”
Nova swallowed hard. “I like this house, but it also reminds me of when we first moved here. I fixed it up as if I were fixing myself. Now, the house is beautiful, but I still feel unfinished.”
“Lula is tight with her family. It’ll be difficult for her to live down here, even part-time, but she understands why I need you to be close.”
“I wish we could live up there,” Nova said and sighed. “I wasn’t really ready to leave.”
“Good news then,” Zodiac said from the shadowed foyer.
Nova screamed at the sound of his voice, and the girls quickly joined in. Skylar fell out of her chair and scrambled away from the scary man at the doorway.
“What the fuck, man?” I demanded of my president while I picked up Skylar and calmed her panic. “I could have shot you.”
“You didn’t even know I was here. Sloppy, Exile.”
Nova picked up Lyric and stared in horror at Zodiac. “Why were you spying on us?”
“I came over to talk to your brother. You should be more careful.”
“I had the security alarm on.”
“Oh, I turned that off,” Zodiac said and strolled into the room. “Do you have any pasta left over?”
“Yes, but you can’t have it, jackass,” I snarled as Skylar trembled in my arms.
“But I’m here to make your life better.”
Suspicious now, I asked, “How?”
“I think maybe moving you to Little Memphis would be a smart way to link clubs.”
“Oh, well, then, let me make you a plate,” Nova said and pulled out her chair for Zodiac. “Would you like a drink, too?”
My president sat down and smirked at Nova’s sudden helpfulness. Zodiac looked over the plate of buttered noodles and cold beer quickly set in front of him. Nova claimed Skylar’s empty seat and fed her still startled daughter.
“This thing with the lawyer is solid, right? You’re thinking marriage and kids, are you not?”
“Aw, a baby,” Nova said to me.
Offering her a little smile, I went stony-faced when I focused on Zodiac. “It’s been less than two weeks, but, yeah, I think she and I are the real deal.”
“I ask because sending you to Little Memphis to live would look fucking stupid on my part if you turned around and broke up in a few weeks.”
“Is that what you really want to do?”
“Yeah, I think the Jokers complicate matters, but Little Memphis is a solid place to have a foothold. Clint has ties to Rawlins, and I sense they’re planning to expand to Little Rock over the next decade.”
“Are we interested in Arkansas?”
“New Orleans is too mobbed up to take. Our club is plenty big enough to expand, and I like Clint. But this shit, where we can’t ride in Little Memphis, can’t stand. That’s why I want you to make a move up there.”
“Would I still be VP?”
“Of course,” Zodiac said and dug into his pasta. “You’d need to show up in Baton Rouge regularly to be seen and check on things. But you’d mostly be with Lula’s people.”
“Did you hash this out with Clint first?”
“No. I wanted to make sure you were on board before I brought an outsider into the conversation.”
Holding Skylar on my lap, I studied her. I felt Nova’s gaze on me. Lyric seemed overly focused on her food, even though she was no longer eating.
“What if we packed up and headed back to Little Memphis in the morning? Would that be too soon?”
Nova’s expression said it all. I hadn’t realized how lonely she was in Baton Rouge until we got back home today.
“I want to take my hats,” Lyric announced. “Dillon likes them.”
“I want to bring my dolls,” Skylar told me. “And my coloring books.”
Zodiac focused on his dinner until Nova and the girls were in their rooms, looking over what to pack.
“So, you’re selling this house?” Zodiac asked me and looked around. “Might want to see if one of the guys would like to spread out. Nova did a good job fixing up the place without making it too girly.”
“Do you want to move here?”
“God no. I’m not interested in suburbia.”
Studying him, I asked, “Are you still interested in Elle Reed?”
“Sure. One quickie isn’t enough.”
Frowning, I considered when he disappeared during the party. “Fucking her more than once might imply an affection you don’t suffer from.”
Zodiac shrugged and downed his beer. “She’s a good-looking woman,” he said before adding, “She bites, though.”
I chuckled when he tugged back his shirt to show bite marks on his shoulder.
“But I’m not going to chase a woman like you are. It’s not my style. She’s also got a kid, and I’m not daddy material. But you’re good with your nieces. You have a soft side with Nova. This thing with Lula could work for a guy like you.”
“Is that my president talking or my friend saying nice things?”
“Both,” Zodiac said and gave me a warm grin. “As your friend, I think this is what you need. But from a club standpoint, having your ass planted full-time in Little Memphis is a good thing. The Void is bound to make another move against the Crimson Guard soon. That’s why I want you settled there.”
Nodding, I hated the thought of someone coming after Lula again. I’d also gotten closer to her people. They weren’t just members of the other club. These people were becoming my family.
My sister popped her head out of the girls’ bedroom and smiled brightly. Despite how happy she was to return to Little Memphis, I worried I was putting a bigger target on her.
“Don’t pout,” Zodiac said after Nova returned to helping the girls. “You’re getting what you want.”
“A man should worry about his people.”
“To hell with your drama, Exile. Our lives have never been simple, and things will likely always be bloody and complicated. If I were you, I’d focus on what you’ve got and not on what might go wrong.
If you can’t do that, this life might not be for you.
The problem is that your woman is already in that life. You can’t really walk away, can you?”
“I need to keep Nova safe,” I muttered in nearly a whisper. “When I asked her to leave South Dakota with me, I swore she’d be safe. I haven’t kept that promise. I’m worried I am so focused on what I need with Lula that I’ll make things worse for Nova.”
“Your sister doesn’t like it in Baton Rouge.
She isn’t comfortable around the guys, even if they’re harmless toward her.
She needs a support system besides you. Chicks like Nova don’t want to be loners, and the girls are getting too old to give her a reason to get up every day.
They’ll be in school soon, and she’ll be fixing shit in this house that doesn’t need fixing. ”
Considering his point, I admitted, “The women in Lula’s circle wrapped around Nova tight.
I thought they might bully her. Nova has plenty of sass in the right element, but people push her around easily.
She might do well around those strong women.
Or she might end up with a bullet in her back again. ”
“That could happen anywhere,” Zodiac said, waving off my concerns as usual.
“If the Void wants to punish us by going after family, most of the guys don’t provide good targets.
But here you are living with your sister like a flashing target sign.
But in Little Memphis, she’ll be one of many targets. That ought to make you feel better.”
I chuckled at how fucking evil Zodiac sounded sometimes. He viewed people as pieces to be moved around his chessboard. The man could seem so cold, but he had stayed with Nova to keep her calm while I was gone.
“Any word from our snitch?” I asked Zodiac as he finished up his beer and pasta.
“No. He might be dead. If they’ve sniffed out their rat, they’ll take another run at Little Memphis. Just another reason for you to be up there in case trouble comes for Lula again.”
“And if it comes for the Black Rainbow instead?”
“You can use their fancy helicopter to get your ass down here quick.”
Despite sharing his smile, I felt strange, as if he was testing me. Did he want me to prove my loyalty by declining his offer? Zodiac was a sneaky guy, and he didn’t care about people like I did. But he showed no signs of pulling any tricks tonight.
Instead, Zodiac headed out, so I could let Lula know about the change in plans. I stepped into the backyard and made the call.
“Can we come back tomorrow?” I asked as soon as she answered.
“Yes,” she replied immediately.
I smiled at her enthusiasm. “Zodiac wants me to stay in Little Memphis most of the time.”
“Why?”
“Because he wants to piss off Tricky,” I said rather than go into details.
Lula sighed. “I miss you. We’ll make things work.”
The neediness in her voice alleviated my worries. I wasn’t the only one going through withdrawal. Sensible or not, I couldn’t live without Lula nearby.