Jake (Demented Souls #16)

5

J ake wandered from group to group, checking in with his brothers and their women, making sure they had everything they needed and fetching a few things when they didn’t.

“Have you eaten anything?” London asked with one lifted brow when he stopped to check on Tuck and the others where they sat with Cowboy and Ava, the King’s president’s wife.

“Not yet. I’m headed that way now. I just wanted to make sure you all didn’t need anything first.”

“If we did, we can figure out where to get it. Get your food before it’s all gone.”

“No chance of that,” Cowboy said. “The option you want might run low or out, but we never run out of food.”

London tilted her head and turned her attention to Cowboy. “What do you do with the leftovers?”

“We find a local shelter wherever we are and donate them. If there isn’t one or they don’t accept donations of prepared food, then we pack it back up and take it back to Dickenson. We’ve got a place there that focuses on vets that we have a good relationship with. We donate to them often.”

She nodded and turned to Tuck, both brows lifted. “I like that.”

“I do too. We can get Lurch looking for a place like that we can work with in Gillette, and we’ll see what we can find in Tucson, once we’re down there.”

“I’ll take care of that here, at least the looking and finding out who to put Lurch in touch with,” Jake volunteered.

Tuck nodded, but didn’t say anything more. London looked at him, then toward the edge of the park where the large grill trailer sat, with several other tables nearby where the food was being served, then back to Jake, an expectant look on her face. He knew better than to argue.

“I’m going to go get something to eat. If you need anything, call out. I’ll be around.”

“It’s not your responsibility to play host, Jake,” she said, her voice gentle.

“Begging your pardon, ma’am. but since I’m the one who got this all set up and going, it kind of is.”

“Leave him be, sweetness,” Tuck said. “He’s a big boy, he can take care of himself.” He reached over and patted her hand, letting her know he was aware of her and what she was doing. A soft smile curved her lips as she turned and looked at him.

Jake wondered if someday he’d have someone look at him like that. He’d love it if it was Heather, but he knew better than to hold his breath. First, he had to get up the nerve to talk to her again.

He glanced around and found the rows of coolers and recognized some of them as the ones they had at the ranch. He headed for the coolers, grabbing an amber from a brewery in Wyoming. He’d tried several since moving to the ranch, and found he liked Black Tooth brewery the best. They were currently competing with Barrio in Tucson for his favorite.

After popping the top, he took a swig and looked around for Miles. He didn’t have to look far, Miles stood less than a dozen feet away from the far end of the huge grill trailer the Kings had brought with them, overseeing things as two men cooked and two more worked on laying food out for the buffet line that from the looks of it would go down both sides of the table.

Jake made a wide arc, being careful to go around the grill so he didn’t get in the way as he went to Miles.

“Need anything done?” Jake asked, as he stepped up beside the Kings’ road captain.

“Nope, we’ve got it handled.” Miles turned and looked at Jake, then back to where the men worked around him. “The only thing you can do is let people know we’ll be serving at noon and the women go first, like always.” Miles tipped back the coke in his hand, taking several swallows, before lowering the can and looking at Jake. “The Kings know the drill, and from what you said earlier, it’s similar to how you guys do it.”

“It is.” Jake checked his watch again. He wanted to go straight to Heather, but knew if he did, he wouldn’t finish making the rounds of everyone there. So instead, he turned and went in the direction opposite of where she stood near the presidents and started there.

By the time he made it through all the clusters of people, both Kings and Souls, there was still about twenty minutes until they began serving. He used the time to move closer to Heather. She no longer stood near the same people. That had made him wonder if she’d gone to him because she wanted to report something or if she just knew him and was being social.

Maybe his time in the military, then with the Souls had made him paranoid. But then again, he reminded himself that it wasn’t paranoid if they were really out to get you and too often in the recent past, people had really been out to get him and his brothers.

Now he just considered his musings as looking out for himself and his brothers. And someone had to. Gizmo and Krissi had the club’s tech needs under control in Tucson, but it had fallen to Jake to handle them here, and he didn’t feel nearly as qualified as he should be.

More often than he felt he should need to, he found himself calling south for advice or help, but he’d rather call them and be sure the club was taken care of than try to skate by on his own and screw something up. Still, it left him feeling incompetent, more often than not.

“Fancy meeting you here,” the voice of the woman he’d been thinking of drew Jake out of his thoughts. He turned to find her watching him.

“Hey, I was wondering where you’d gotten to.” He gave her his best grin, as if he hoped to charm her out of her panties, and he did, but not like he did most girls. Most girls were a means to an end, for both of them. He wanted to get laid, and they wanted to fuck a biker. They both got something out of it, and neither had any illusions. But Heather wasn’t like that.

Even if he hadn’t known her so long ago, he would have known that. She didn’t dress like any of the women who hung around a club, not the ones who belonged to one of the brothers or any of the many girls who hung around hoping for a ride on a bike, a biker or both.

Aside from that, there was something about the way she moved, the way she looked around, and seemed to always be on edge that screamed scared. Of what he couldn’t be sure, not without asking, and it was too soon for that. Yes, they had a thread of connection, because they’d known each other so long ago, but that’s all it was, a thread. Too thin and too fragile to risk breaking, at least not until he’d had a chance to try and strengthen it.

“Here and there. I’ve been around, mingling, as Matt calls it.” She glanced around, then looked down at her watch. “We’ve got a little time till they eat, how about we wander around a bit and catch up?” She waved around the park.

“Sure, but are you sure you don’t want to sit and talk instead?” He tilted the top of his head toward an empty picnic table not far away.

Heather shook her head. “I’ve had enough time sitting for a bit, and it will be another three hour ride home. I’d rather move around.”

“You got it.” He motioned for her to lead the way.

She hesitated, as if not wanting to be out in front, but a soon as she took off, he stepped up beside her. He’d only wanted her to decide what direction they’d be going. They walked several paces before either said anything.

“You guys moved to California, didn’t you?” She didn’t look at him as she spoke, but stared off into the distance.

“We did.”

“What’s it like there?”

There was something in her voice that told him it wasn’t just curiosity. Something told him she’d longed to go there, to see it herself. And something, or someone had prevented it.

“Totally different than Mobile. As in an entirely different culture. I could say that it seemed like a different country, and it wouldn’t be that far off.”

“But at least you didn’t have to learn a new language.”

Jake couldn’t help but laugh.

“I wouldn’t say that was entirely true.”

Heather looked at him and frowned. He could tell she wasn’t sure if he was messing with her or not.

“While yes, they do speak English, it’s an entirely different English than you speak in Alabama. And I’m not just talking southernisms. They have a whole different way of using the same language and I admit, it took me a while to catch on.”

He shook his head and turned to scan the area, making sure nothing was out of place. And nothing appeared to be, but he did notice Iceman watching them. Jake wasn’t sure if he was just keeping an eye on his cousin or if he was making sure Jake didn’t do anything that might hurt her. Not that he would, but Iceman had no way of knowing that. At least not yet.

He planned to make sure they both knew he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, but they needed time to be sure of that, both of them would.

“What did you do after school?” he asked. “Did you go to college like you planned?”

The ghost of a smile curved her lips as he reminded her of the plans she’d made back when they were both little more than kids. “Yeah, I went to USA, got my degree, went to work.” She shook her head as if she couldn’t believe she’d done all that or maybe that she’d done all that and still landed here.

“What do you do?”

Her smile disappeared. “What I do now is nothing. I’m begging a bed off my cousin and hiding from a mistake.” She turned to stare off in the distance.

“A mistake?” He couldn’t help but ask, watching her in hopes she might tell him more.