Chapter Thirty-Six
Ryder
I was at the clubhouse today while Ellie and our girls were at the store. Nav was keeping tabs on St. Matthews. King kept him locked up for four days before accepting he had told us everything he knew. We knew he had run home to New York, so my girls were safe.
But something was bothering me.
I didn’t know what it was, but I had a bad feeling.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure why I was even here today, other than King demanded it.
“Hey, man, how’s it going?” Shotgun asked as he sat on a stool beside me at the bar.
“It’s going,” I replied.
“How’s the family?”
I looked over at Shotgun. He’d grown up here in Diamond Creek and had been a few years behind me in school. There was nothing remarkable about him, but he was a good kid.
“They’re good.”
“Think you’ll be keeping your nanny?”
The hand holding my beer paused halfway between the bar and my mouth.
“Why the fuck are you asking about my nanny? You know she’s only nineteen, right?”
“Yea, I know,” he said. “Think you could put in a good word for me?”
I placed my beer on the bar and turned to look at the kid sitting next to me. Before I could rip him a new asshole and threaten his life, my phone buzzed.
Pulling it out of my pocket, I saw a text from Beck, telling me to get to the bookstore now.
He must have seen the look on my face because he stood with me.
“What do you need?”
“I gotta get to the bookstore,” I said absentmindedly.
“Prospect, tell King we’re going to the bookstore, then call Blade and Jack,” Shotgun instructed.
Shotgun followed me outside, and I jumped on my bike. I had taken it this morning and left Ellie my truck in case she needed it. Jessie had been using hers and staying in Ellie’s trailer.
There wouldn’t be many more days left before the bike would have to be put up for winter, so now that I was in the club, I took every opportunity to ride it.
It didn’t take long before we were pulling up outside my store. Walking in, I heard a voice I hadn’t heard in two years, and prayed I’d never hear again.
I stood behind my ex-wife, trying to calm my anger.
“What the hell is going on here? Why is my daughter calling you mama?”
“Because Ellie is her mother, not you. What the fuck are you doing here?” I snarled.
Tammi whipped around and smiled. “Ryder, baby, it’s so good to see you.”
She stepped forward, as I stepped back from her grasp.
“Why are you here?”
“It’s your birthday soon, and well, I saw online how well things were going with the store and wanted to come home and be a family again.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Beck barked at Tammi.
“Ryder, why is she here? You didn’t marry her, did you?”
“What the fuck, Tammi? Why would I marry Beck?”
“You two always had that thing. Rachel too, but I knew you would never bother with her. Though it is nice to see she lost the weight.”
“Bitch,” Avery coughed.
I hadn’t realized she was here. Avery knew what the girls had been through. I suspected she was partly the reason Tammi had taken off in the first place. I needed to thank her for that.
I walked over to Ellie, wrapping my arm around her shoulders.
“This is my wife. And the mother of my children.”
“Ryder, marrying you doesn’t make her a mother. I gave birth to those girls. I am their mother and always will be.”
She was so smug. She had no idea what she had given up. I wondered if she had even read the divorce papers.
“Actually, you aren’t. Ellie adopted them the day we got married. Their birth certificates have been changed to reflect that.”
“You can’t fucking do that. Those are my children,” Tammi shouted.
“Children you hurt and left,” Avery screamed at her. “Yea, bitch, I know everything. I know how you hurt Tabby. She was a baby!”
Tammi paled and shrunk back, but Avery wasn’t letting it go. Shotgun stood behind Avery. He shook his head at me when I moved to intercept Avery as she railed at Tammi.
“How does a mother starve her children because she’s too lazy to take care of them? How does a mother leave a baby in a dirty diaper for so long that she gets open sores? Tell me why their father had to hire a nanny to take care of them because their mother refused to? I know about the bruises Tammi. I took pictures. You won’t get away with what you did to that baby!”
I didn’t look at Rachel, I couldn’t. I knew she would question why I hadn’t said anything. I knew she would be upset that I hadn’t told her, or that I hadn’t done something sooner.
“Listen, you little cunt—”
Tammi didn’t get the rest of her threat out because Avery pulled back her fist and punched her. We all heard the crack of her nose breaking. The bell jingled when the door opened, and the sheriff walked in.
Shotgun grabbed Avery around her waist, hauled her up over his shoulder, and walked to the back of the store.
“What’s going on, Beck?”
“Hey, Sheriff,” I said, stepping forward. “I asked Beck to call you. This is my ex-wife. I would like to have her arrested for child abuse. There is a warrant out for her arrest. We just haven’t been able to find her until now.”
“You can’t arrest me,” Tammi muttered. Her hand was holding her nose, trying to stop the bleeding.
“What happened here?” the sheriff asked, glaring at his daughter.
Beck held her hands up, palms out. “Wasn’t me. She only has herself to blame.”
“Fuck you, Beck. Sheriff, I want to press charges against Avery Sterling.”
The sheriff looked around. “Where is Miss Sterling?”
Tammi looked around the store. “She was here a minute ago.”
“Dad, Tammi is insane. Avery isn’t here. She’s with Shotgun.”
“Is that right?” The sheriff looked at his daughter. We knew he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t say anything.
“Ms. Thomas, you need to come with me.”
Sheriff O’Rourke read Tammi her rights, pulling her hands behind her back to slide the cuffs on.
“This isn’t over. I will fight you and have the adoption challenged, and then I will take the girls away from you.”
“You won’t. You should have read those divorce papers you signed. You also signed away your rights to my daughters. Ellie will be the mother they deserve to have.”
“You son of a bitch.” Tammi lunged forward, but the sheriff caught her before she could get near either of us.
“We will talk later, Beck.”
“Yes, Daddy,” Beck said with a grin.
The sheriff just rolled his eyes at his daughter and dragged Tammi out of the store. I hoped we wouldn’t be hearing from her again.
“Ryder,” Rachel called.
“I know, Rach. I didn’t tell you because I was ashamed. I was ashamed I had missed so much. It was Avery that clued me in to what was going on, and I already had Matlock working on the divorce by the time she left.”
Rachel walked over and hugged me. “You should have told me,” she whispered.
“I know,” I conceded. “By the time I realized how bad it was, she had left. I pressed charges anyway. Nav found her to send the divorce papers, but by the time we got the warrant, she had moved on.”
“That’s why she doesn’t talk,” Ellie rasped.
I turned back to my wife, and the way she held our daughter broke my heart. I knew pregnancy hormones made her cry easily. But Ellie was more than that.
She loved deeply.
And the love that she had for our girls was so much more.
“You’re safe now, baby. No one will ever hurt you again,” she whispered.
“Mama,” Tabby said, and Ellie hugged her tighter.
“How did you know she was here?” Ellie asked.
“Beck texted me.” I turned to my oldest friend. “Thank you.”
“I told you I never liked the bitch.” She shrugged.
Rachel laughed and hugged Beck. “I am so glad you came home.”
“Same,” I said, winking at Beck.
“So, think Shotgun will bring Avery back?” Lily asked. “She was my ride.”
“I can give you a ride, Lily,” Grace said. “I need to get ready for work, anyway.”
Grace and Lily left. Beck, Rachel, and Sam hung around a bit longer before Rachel suggested we come to the clubhouse for dinner.
“What do you think, Ellie?”
“You know, I think that’s a great idea. It has been a long day, and I am ok with letting someone else cook for me.”
“Why don’t you call Jessie and have her meet us there?” Rachel said.
Ellie smiled at the invite. I knew it meant a lot to her that the old ladies had taken to Jessie. Ellie had told me her concerns because Jessie tended to rub people the wrong way. My only answer to that was ‘Have you met the old ladies?’ She laughed and agreed there was nothing to worry about. Jessie would fit in perfectly.
We met the others at the clubhouse for dinner, but it ended up being a quiet night. Only about half the guys were here. A few were at the bar in town. King wanted at least two men there every night, watching out for the women in town, with more being on watch over the weekends.
I would be added to the rotation as well. I had asked for the weekend shift so my parents could keep the girls and Ellie could come with me. I didn’t ever want to hang out at a bar without her, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to go with me every time, especially since she couldn’t drink.
There were only a handful of guys milling around the clubhouse after dinner. I noticed one of the men not here was King, which was odd.
King, it felt like, was always here. When I asked about him, Cash said he was out for a ride. Gunner was mumbling about him being out alone. As the Sergeant at Arms, it was his responsibility to watch out for the brothers. He believed King should always have someone with him, preferably one of the enforcers—Jingles or Ghost.
I got it though.
Sometimes you just needed to be alone. I imagined being president of a motorcycle club was stressful even if they weren’t a 1% club anymore. Keeping a bunch of guys in line couldn’t be easy.
“Yo.”
Hearing someone call out, I looked up and saw Tank with his phone to his ear.
“Where are you?”
We only heard one side of the conversation, but that one question had us all stopping to listen, knowing our president was out alone.
“Yea, I can be there in about ten minutes. Gotta get the rig.”
That didn’t sound good. Tank was the wrecker driver for the garage the club owned, The Silver Bearing.
When the club moved in, they opened a few businesses. They balked at the tradition of naming businesses in the drab way this town was known for. Places like The Bookstore were named long ago and just stuck.
The only one that was different was the bar. For some reason, Jake Hardy, who owned the bar, decided to rebrand two years ago and renamed it The Queen’s Diamond. There were some murmurs around town, but after a few weeks, people seemed to just accept it.
That had me thinking, maybe I could do the same with the bookstore. I’d have to talk with Ellie and see what she thought.
“What is she driving?”
She? That got everyone’s attention.
“A ’65 ’Stang? Nice car. What’s she doing out in the middle of nowhere with a car like that?”
The voice we all assumed was King’s got louder, and Tank winced.
“Yea, ok. I’m on my way.”
“What’s up?” Cash asked.
“King was out on 80 and found a woman broken down. I gotta get the rig and ride out there and tow it back.”
“What kind of woman?” Jack asked.
“What the hell do you mean, what kind of woman?” Cash questioned.
“Well, will he be bringing this woman back here?”
“Fuck if I know. He didn’t want me asking questions, just said to grab the rig and get out there quick. I heard Dec in the background, though.” Tank looked over at Beck.
“I mean, he is the sheriff. I would imagine he would stop if he saw a woman stranded on the side of the road.” She laughed.
Seeing the look on Tank’s face had me asking, “What is it?”
“Well… there was a lot of yelling in the background. Not sure what was going on, but it didn’t sound good. King and Dec were yelling at each other.” He looked at Beck again.
“When aren’t they yelling at each other?” Beck asked.
“Could hear the woman yelling, too. I gotta get over there,” he said and rushed out the door.
“Maybe I should call my dad,” Beck said, biting her lip.
“Give him a bit, babe. We don’t know what’s going on.”
“This is why the asshole shouldn’t be out alone,” Cash grumbled.
“We have to get the girls home, but let me know if anything happens,” I said, helping Ellie to her feet.
“Will do,” Blade responded.
We got the girls together and said our goodbyes.
“Do you think everything will be ok?” Ellie asked.
“Yea, probably just a stressed-out woman, or maybe a disgruntled one. Breaking down sucks and can make some people agitated.”
“I wish you could have stayed longer, but we only brought one vehicle.”
I reached over, taking her hand in mind. “There will be plenty of nights I have to be there late. I would rather be home with you when I can.” I squeezed her hand to let her know I meant what I said. “Although, there was something I wanted to talk to you about. Something for you to consider.”
“What?” she asked, watching out the window.
It had only been a week, but I wish she didn’t get nervous every time I told her we needed to talk about something. I told her I wasn’t giving her up, and I meant it.
“Jack and Sam are building a house on the club land. I was thinking maybe we could do the same thing.”
She whipped her head around so fast I feared her neck might snap.
“Really?”
“Yea. The apartment is going to be too small before long, and I like the idea of you and our children being behind the gates. Protected, no matter what.”
“I think I would like that. I love being at the clubhouse, but the girls can’t stay there late at night, and the back and forth can get to be a lot. What would you do with the apartment?”
“We could rent it out. That way there would still be someone around at night to kind of watch over things.”
“Maybe Avery would like to live there, or Lily. Maybe they could both live there.”
“Maybe,” I chuckled.
Ellie had a way of getting ahead of herself when she got excited. But damn, did I love seeing her excited.
“I’ll tell King we want a spot tomorrow. Jack is asking his brother to come up to build his house. We could wait for theirs to be done, or we could hire someone else.”
Ellie placed a hand over our child that was nestled inside her. “How long does it take to build a house?”
“I’m not sure. We can talk to Jack and see what his brother thinks. We don’t need to decide tonight.”
“Ok, that’s a good idea.”
Ellie was quiet for a minute, staring out the window. She turned back to me and asked a question that had no real answer. There were rumors, or rather murmurs, I had heard from the guys, but no one really knew the answer to her question.
“Do you think there’s something going on between King and Grace?”