Mace’s Madonna (Pagan Souls of Cherokee MC #5)

Jessamy Chapter 6

The past several days have been confusing for me, and the reason was Mace. He went from ignoring me to finding any excuse to talk and spend time with me. I still spent time with the other Pagans, but in the evening, when most would gather in the clubhouse common area, he was the one who barely left my side.

If he was trying to make up for not wanting me here, he was doing an excellent job. I wish I knew if he’d had a change of heart or if it was because Agony made him. During the day, I was alone, or if one of the ladies were home, I’d hang out with them. Wire would often spend some time with me if they were at work. He had funny stories to tell me, and he’d show me things he could do on his computers. He got me to play a video game to help pass the time. I had no hope of beating him, but it was fun. The one he played with me had a lot of history in it and dealt with knights and stuff. Wire would leave me to spend time with the others in the evening.

Except for Arif and Aliya, I was sitting with the ladies and the kids tonight. The men were having church. The first time I heard that, I thought they were attending a religious church and wondered why the women and kids weren’t invited. It had been Tana who explained what it meant. I found it funny they called their meetings church. They had them on Thursday nights unless there was reason to have one on another day. I was curious to know what they talked about. The women told me they weren’t told everything discussed there and that it was considered club business. It was something they had to get used to. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about that, but I didn’t have to contend with it since I wasn’t an old lady.

I passed the time by working with Cara and teaching her phonics. Most places no longer taught those. They taught sight words, but I didn’t like that method. It was easier, but when kids encountered a word they didn’t know, they didn’t know how to sound it out. Sometimes, newer doesn't mean better in my book. Cara was bright and seemed to be catching on.

The guys had been in church for about an hour when Dare came out. Expecting to see the others behind him, we were surprised to see he was alone. He came to our table, where all of us women were gathered. He was staring at me. My heart leaped.

“Jessamy, would you mind coming with me? We have something to show you.”

“Uh, yeah, sure I can, but I thought women weren’t allowed in church,” I muttered.

“It’s not typical, but it can happen,” he answered.

“Cara, honey, I have to go with Dare. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Keep practicing,” I told her as I slowly came to my feet.

“Okay, Jessa,” she said happily. She found my name a little hard to say, so she called me Jessa. I didn’t mind.

I followed Dare to the church doors. He opened them, and we walked inside. I hadn’t been in here. Pagans surrounded the large table. In the middle of the table, their patch was burned into the wood, and it was on a flag mounted on one of the walls. Dare gestured me ahead of him and then shut the doors behind us. He retook the lead and showed me to a chair he pulled out for me. Taking my seat, I glanced around the table at them. There were faint smiles, but nothing like they typically gave me.

I settled my gaze on Agony. “Agony, is there something wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing wrong. We didn’t mean to scare you, Jessamy. Sorry. We thought it best to have you look at these photos here rather than out there. Tell us if you recognize anyone in them.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best.”

Several printed photos were slid over to me. I began to go through them. The first few were of men who I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t until the fourth one that I gasped as I recognized that one. I’d never forget him.

“That’s him! That’s Leland, the one with the semi-truck,” I told them. Just looking at his hateful face, fat body, and greasy appearance made me want to puke. The memory of his fists hitting me made me wrap my arms around my middle.

“Are you sure?” Hulk asked.

“I’m positive.”

“She said she’s positive. Can’t you see it’s bothering her? Get rid of it,” Mace snapped from across the table.

The picture was quickly removed, and I wasn’t sure about the next few. They were pictures of red and silver semis, but I couldn’t tell if they were his.

“I don’t know if one of these is his. I never saw the side door clearly enough to know what it said. When he put me up there, it was dark. When I escaped, I was concentrating on getting away. I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry, honey. Keep going,” Wire assured me.

There was a low rumbling sound from one of them, but I wasn’t sure who. There were more pictures of unknown men. I was ready to be done when I came to the last ones. I spread them out to skim them together. Again, I recognized faces. I pointed to two of them.

“These are the men who kidnapped me in Cottonwood. And before you ask, yes, I’m sure of it. Where did you get these? If you have these, that means you know who they are,” I stated excitedly. Dare took them out of the pile and put them with the one of Leland.

“I wish that’s what it meant, but we don’t know who they are yet,” Agony stated.

Disappointment and confusion hit me. “Then how do you have their pictures?”

“These are pictures Wire printed off surveillance video from our security cameras at the Pagan Depot and in the area of your town where you told him you were taken. He didn’t find any video of the actual abduction. As for your escape at the Depot, the view of Leland’s truck was obscured by others. We’ve added more cameras since then to help with that. The blond man was found lurking outside the women’s bathroom and pushing on the door around when you were there. We hoped it was him when we saw him speak to a woman and leave,” Agony explained.

“If you don’t know who they are, how can that be helpful? They’re just faces,” I said dejectedly.

“They’re much more than that. I can put these through various programs using facial recognition software.” Wire grinned.

“How? Isn’t that stuff restricted to law enforcement and the government?” I asked.

“Usually. But we happen to have friends with connections. I’m not without my hacking abilities, too. It’ll take longer to hack individually into them, so I’m asking for insider help to do it,” Wire added.

“Insider help?” I asked at a loss.

“One of our friends’ clubs has a hacker. He and his old lady are two of the best in the world. And it so happens they still do work for the government from time to time. They used to be theirs at one point, but their club mainly has them these days,” Knight informed me.

“The government uses bikers?” I asked in astonishment.

“The government uses whoever they can. Many of their elite hackers are people they caught, and rather than prosecuting them, they made a deal for the hackers to work for them,” Wire explained.

“Did they catch you?” I asked.

He winked at me. “Not yet, but then again, I’m not at the level of Smoke and Everly.”

I let this sink in before I asked my next question. “While they’re trying to ID these men, what do we do? Just sit and wait?”

“You will, but Wire will keep working,” Dare stated.

“Working on what?”

“Reports of women who went missing around the same time as you did. I’ll start with Nevada and then go from there. Since you don’t know which states you were in when they joined you, and even if you did, that doesn’t mean they were from those states. I’ll work my way out from you,” Wire explained.

“That’ll take forever,” I protested.

“Then I guess you’ll just have to move here and stay. It won’t keep us from working to find and stop those bastards, but it’ll make things simpler,” Hulk said as he winked at me.

I couldn’t help but grin at him. “Well, I guess if I got the next new house being built here, I might think about it,” I joked.

I knew Hulk was in the process of building his house. It was just in the beginning stages. He’d shown me his plans one night, and I had to say he had picked a great one. A huge grin spread across his face, and he leaned slightly forward from the opposite side of the table.

“Jessamy, all you have to say is you’ll be mine, and that house is all yours, sweetheart.” He winked and blew me a kiss.

I started to laugh when I heard someone say, “Oh fuck.”

Right behind those words, I heard a growl. To my astonishment, Mace and others were on their feet. Voices were shouting. I was pulled out of my seat and hustled to the door by Dare.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Let us take care of this. Go back with the women. It’ll be okay,” he hastily said before I was pushed out the doors, which were closed and locked behind me. In a daze, I wandered back to the common room.

“What did they want?” Eliana asked.

“Why do you have that look on your face?” Joli asked.

I dropped into my old seat while Cara was off entertaining Atticus. I quickly informed the other five women about what the guys had shown me and said about finding them. Then, I explained what happened at the end. They all gave me knowing looks when I admitted I was lost about what had happened.

“You don’t know?” Natalya asked disbelievingly.

“No, do you?” I responded.

“Honey, they wanted you out of there so they could settle Mace down before he and Hulk went at it. I’m surprised he hasn’t lost it and gone after someone already, though my money would’ve been on Wire,” Joli admitted. The other ladies nodded as if they agreed with her.

“You mean a fight?” I clarified. They nodded. “Why would Mace and Hulk, or Wire, for that matter, get into anything? I was teasing Hulk, and he was doing the same back.”

“Oh, we’re positive. Mace is gone on you, and whenever one of the others spends time with you, it makes him crazy. He’s been the most worried about Wire, but with Hulk saying what he did, he’s now got another contender. I guess his restraint snapped,” Tana said smugly.

“Wait, you think Mace likes me?” I half-shrieked.

They laughed at me. I was trying to absorb it and think when Eliana added something. “Oh my God, Tana, you said that the next guy would meet his woman in the next three months. And look, it’s happened.”

“Well, that’s one less guy I have to put on the dating app,” Natalya said.

“You’re putting them on a dating site? Did they ask you to do that?” I asked, stunned.

“No, but I’ve been threatening them with it. It’s not like any of them lack females for sex. I thought it was time they found something more. Those bunnies and hang arounds who come slithering in here after we leave aren’t what they need. When are they going to stop fooling around with them?” Natalya muttered.

“Not until they meet the right one, just like your men didn’t,” Tana said.

I tried not to think about the women who came here late at night. I’d accidentally seen them one night when I came out looking for something to snack on. I’d seen enough to have me beating a hasty retreat and not coming out again after the old ladies, Tana, and the kids left. Luckily, none of the guys had seen me. What had me going was the sight of a redhead hanging onto Mace as he played pool. He didn’t appear to mind.

I wasn’t about to believe their assertion that Mace had any kind of feelings for me, though my heart beat faster at the thought. However, I could easily see him with that woman or any of them from that night. I fought not to imagine him with them. The others, I wished, wouldn’t be, but that was because they were friends, and I didn’t want them to be used. Mace was different.

“You’re wrong about Mace. He doesn’t have feelings for me other than wanting me to leave. Good luck getting them to go on actual dates rather than take what those women freely give them. They’re men. They won’t. I hate to dash, but I have a headache. I think I need to go lie down. It’s been wanting to come out all day,” I told them. It wasn’t a lie.

They tried to get me something for it, but I assured them I’d take medicine in my room. It took all I had to calmly say goodnight to everyone, especially under the scrutinizing eyes of the old ladies. I didn’t relax until I was safely locked in my room. There, I sat on the bed and tried to quell the sickness in my stomach. I refused to let myself hope. It would only be worse in the long run. Shit, I needed to get out of here before others suspected my feelings for Mace. It would be beyond embarrassing if they did.