17. Units of Measurement
Chapter 17
Units of Measurement
Steel
The waitress set a plate full of beef brisket in front of Simone and a chopped barbeque plate in front of me.
Her eyes widened. “This is a ton of food.”
I smiled. “It is, but we’ll take home whatever you can’t finish.”
She devoured her food like she hadn’t eaten in days. Then I recalled that the last time she probably ate was in the truck around ten-thirty. Seeing as she was eating for two, I was stunned she hadn’t bitten my head off sooner.
After she swallowed a bite of her cornbread, she tipped her glass of water toward me. “You have to tell me, where does one find a split-level hot tub? Or did an engineering brother jerry-rig that for you?”
I laughed. “You liked that, did you?”
Her lips quirked. “No, I wasn’t able to get in it. I just know some people who’d love that sort of set-up.”
Figured I knew who’d love that set-up, but kept that to myself. “As they say, anything can be had for a price. It was special order, not jerry-rigged.”
“Good to know.”
“Any of the women give you a hard time?”
She blinked at me. “More like only one of them didn’t give me a hard time.”
“Kendall, I assume?”
She nodded. “She seems so nice.”
I nodded. “She is the nicest person you’ll ever meet, and every man in a fifty mile radius takes advantage of that.”
Her mouth dropped open. “What?”
With a short shake of my head, I grimaced. “She sees goodness where there often isn’t any good.”
She nodded. “That’s sad. Is that why she’s a stripper at the Palace?”
“She told you that?”
“Not directly, but it was mentioned.”
“Yeah, I don’t remember how she got started. With as much money as she makes, she should be financially set but she isn’t.”
Her lips formed an angry pout. “Now that makes me mad.”
I lifted my hands. “She’s gotta make her own decisions.”
Those words reminded me of Circles. After Simone had gone outside, and after Torque, along with Tie, busted my balls about Simone, Torque ran down all the injuries. Both girls had broken noses and bruised ribs. One also had a broken arm and a deep cut on her other arm. Circles took the brunt of it. The doctors put him in a medically-induced coma to help his brain swelling because he’d taken many hits to his face and they believed he was repeatedly kicked in the head. From the lacerations, the authorities suspected brass knuckles had been used.
I figured it could be brass knuckles, or whoever did it wore enough rings they didn’t need brass. It was one of the main reasons I kept two rings on each hand.
Torque had told me that if Circles made it through the night, that would be the best sign for his recovery.
Simone shook her head and stared off to the side for a moment, pulling me from my thoughts. Then she focused on me with urgency. “Why was Josie there?”
My eyes closed for a long beat. No way I heard her right. I refocused on her. “What do you mean, Josie was there?”
“She’s the one who really gave me a hard time. Snickered when I wouldn’t get in the hot tub with them, not that I gave a damn, but boy did I take the wind out of her sails when I mentioned having a bun in my oven. Doesn’t take a super-sleuth to figure out she messed with your protection.”
I pulled my phone from my back pocket. “Yeah, and she shouldn’t have been there. My guess is she snuck in with another groupie, but it still shouldn’t have happened.”
Her eyes lit up. “Don’t run her off on my account, honey. It’ll be fun to mess with her later.”
I stared into her gorgeous brown eyes. “Jade, you’re better than that.”
Her head reared back. I loved surprising her. She stared down at her plate and then looked back at me. “Fine. You’re right. I should’ve had my fun when I had the chance. I’m just glad to know you didn’t forgive her for that shit.”
I glanced up from my phone. “No, I damn sure didn’t forgive that shit.”
The text app opened and I sent Torque a message to make sure she wasn’t anywhere on the property. For good measure, I sent a separate message to Tie in case Torque had left the compound.
“Is it normal for you to have a possible prospect spend the night at your house?” Simone asked.
I nearly choked. “Come again?”
“Rafferty said he isn't crashing at the clubhouse. I find it odd that you’d have him stay at your place while we’re here.”
Leaning back in my chair, I weighed my words. “You’re right, but I sprung this trip on him. Not cool to expect him to throw down for a hotel or motel room at such short notice. Plus, I’d like him to really see what my club can do for him. It’s difficult to show him that in Jacksonville since that chapter’s been fucked up for such a long time.”
She mulled that over for a bit. “Your place is fancy, I take it?”
I shrugged. “I wouldn’t say that, but it’s been remodeled with everything I want in a house.”
“And what do you want in a house?”
“Four bedrooms, split floor plan. Huge-ass covered deck with outdoor kitchen for entertaining the other chapter presidents when they’re in town. In-ground pool, great backyard, and a metric fuck-ton of privacy.”
She laughed. “I love it. Some people mix metaphors, you mix your units of measurement.”
“Privacy doesn’t have a unit of measurement, sweetheart.”
She nodded. “For you it does.”
I gave the waitress my credit card when my phone dinged with a text from Tie.
Since when do you give a shit about the club bitches?
It hit me that not all the brothers knew about the situation with Josie. I tapped out a reply.
Since that bitch fucked with my wallet and condoms, making me a Dad. Get her the fuck out.
Simone tossed a napkin on top of her plate. “I shouldn’t tell you this, but you’re freaking hot when you’re pissed.”
My eyes lifted to hers. “No, you shouldn’t tell me that.”
She stared at me. “Why not?”
I leaned forward and crooked my finger at her to do the same. Once her face was inches from mine, I whispered, “Because now I want to fuck you in the truck and that would get us arrested.”
She leaned back and laughed, long and loud. Three different men in the restaurant turned and stared at her. It took effort, but I kept myself from glaring at all of them. No question, she was stunning, but it hit me – she had that pregnancy glow. Her words from two days ago replayed in my mind.
The die is cast.
That was the truth. Watching her laugh like that, I couldn’t wait to watch her throughout the pregnancy.
She contained her laughter and shot a serious look at me. “That reminds me, were your security cameras installed by someone in the club?”
My brows drew together and I nodded. “Pretty sure, why?”
“Were they part of a kit?”
“Not sure, but probably.”
She nodded. “And they transmit through your Wi-Fi?”
“Hell if I know. Why do you ask?”
She nodded. “You need to reset the default password on the cameras if they’re on a network.”
“Why?”
She exhaled through her nose as if she were hiding a chuckle. “Most of those do-it-yourself camera networks have a default password and people don’t personalize it.”
“Your point?”
“It isn’t that hard to hack a default password, and with one of those cameras positioned on club girls in the hot tub, if someone hacked in they could stream or download footage of that and post it to certain types of websites.” Her eyes darted around to make sure no one was listening. “You know, sites that would get you the wrong kind of attention since I’m sure there’s probably something that makes it clear where the hot tub is located. Hell, your IP address would do that if nothing else.”
I tapped a finger on the table. “Let me make sure I understand what you’re saying, if the cameras have a generic password someone could hack into them, right?”
“Yes, that’s part of it.”
“Right, and if they did that, how could they…stream or post our video? Wouldn’t they only be able to watch?”
“They could do either. All I’m saying, is make sure you’ve changed your password to access the cameras. Though, repositioning that camera pointed at the hot tub would be a good idea too. Even if according to Kendall, Tie likes to watch in order to protect them.”
“Is that right?”
She widened her eyes at me. “I didn’t tell you that. I don’t need Tie being pissed at me on top of whatever grudge Torque has with me. Honestly, I cry bullshit on the protection excuse and so do some of the other women. That camera could easily be repositioned and still alert members to outside intruders.”
She was right. Seemed I needed to have words with my officers.
The waitress returned with my credit card, I scribbled in a hefty tip on the slip, stood, and led Simone toward the exit.
My ears were attuned to the sound of bikes and I paused midway to the door. Through the windows I saw three bikes roll into the parking lot. They weren’t Devil Lancers, and I acted on instinct.
“Don’t argue with me, go to the bathroom. It’s to your right. Stay in there until I text you.”
She gave me a hard look, nodded, then hurried to the restroom.
I strode outside, so this wouldn’t be public – or, more public.
The three men swung off their bikes and I saw it was the Corrupt Chrome road captain, Flip; their enforcer, Mug; and their Vice President, Sledge.
Sledge had brown frizzy hair styled in a mullet. He got toe-to-toe with me. “What the hell are you doin’ here? Where’s your fuckin’ bike?”
“What do you want, Sledge?”
He squinted his beady, brown eyes. “You givin’ us some kind of bullshit? Scar gave us your message. You aren’t calling the shots. Now that we know you’re in town, you’re meeting with Knuckles, tonight.”
After he gave me the run-down on Circles and the girls, Torque had told me about Mug cornering him at the Player’s Palace Thursday night. Seemed Mug needed to work on his enforcing skills because Torque had seen the attack coming, and laid Mug out on the sidewalk outside the club.
“Wrong. I won’t be in town tonight. He can meet with me next Saturday, or better yet, you assholes can get the hell out of Augusta and stop fucking with my club.”
Flip smiled at Sledge. “Guess we’ll have to run circles around this moron.”
I kept my eyes pinned to Sledge, but I saw Mug’s roundhouse coming my way and I ducked. Sledge moved closer, landing a sucker punch to my gut.
“What the fuck are you assholes doing?” a deep voice bellowed from behind us.
I straightened, still struggling to get my breathing back to normal. Jesse, the owner of the Great Times Barbeque restaurant lumbered out from the side of the building. He wore faded denim coveralls with a rust-colored t-shirt and a gray Georgia baseball cap which he’d turned backward. Very few people ever messed with Jesse because he had the build of a Mack truck and his six-foot six-inch frame towered over most people.
He came closer, his eyes narrowed on Sledge. “I asked you a question.”
Sledge stared at Jesse. “Our friend is having stomach problems. Maybe it’s food poisoning.”
Mug chuckled.
“Don’t fuck with me. I know he ain’t your friend. Unless you want real problems, get out of here before I call the police.”
“We didn’t do anything wrong,” Flip muttered.
“I saw you assholes corner this man, and so did half a dozen other customers. One of them might have it on their cell phone.”
Sledge blinked and turned his head a inch toward Flip. “We’re leaving,” he whispered.
“I thought so,” Jesse said.
My breathing had regulated, and I stood next to Jesse in the parking lot. We watched them leave.
He clapped a heavy hand on my shoulder. “You got that kind of trouble, I don’t mind you doin’ that Doordash shit instead of bringing those thugs to my door.”
I sighed and nodded. “You aren’t usually outside during a lunch rush. How did you know—”
“I might have had something to do with that,” Simone said from behind us coming around the side of the building – the same way Jesse had.
“I told you—”
She shook her head. “And I kept a low profile for as long as I could. The moment I caught sight of those bastards, I knew you needed reinforcements.”
Jesse grinned. “She’s a smart lady. My wife woulda charged right out here.”
I gave Jesse a dry look. “She wanted to do that, too. I happened to tell her not to before I came out here.”
“Shee-it, you know if you got trouble, you tell me, Steel.”
I nodded once. “Understand that, Jess, but this was something I had to handle on my own.”
He crossed his arms over his massive chest. “Posturing is gonna get you killed. You have the chopped platter?”
I nodded. “And she had—”
“The brisket, I already asked her. Another thing that makes her smart. Told Winnie to get her a tub of banana puddin’, then I’ll tell you to do the same thing as those assholes. Get out of here.”
I walked Simone to the truck, watched her belt herself in, and closed her door. While I rounded the tailgate, I debated my next move. My every instinct said she hadn’t listened to me, but I didn’t know that for sure yet.
At the red light about half a mile from the restaurant, I said, “I don’t like you coming to my rescue.”
She kept her gaze on the road, but I saw her lips twist. “Jesse rescued you, not me.”
“You were supposed to stay put.”
Her head turned toward me. “I’m not a figurine you can play with and put away. I’m going to do what I can to help you.”
“I didn’t need your help.”
“Sure, unless you wanted to spend the night in the hospital.”
“It wouldn’t have come to that.”
She scoffed. “Really? If Jesse had come out any later, Flip would have hit you in the kidneys and Mug would have landed that roundhouse you dodged. Nice move, bee-tee-dubs.”
The way she said the letters shined a light on our ages.
I glanced at her before turning right onto Winter Road. “You think I wouldn’t have caught them off-guard?”
“I know that when Flip pulled his gun, you’d have been in trouble.”
Aggravation welled inside me. “Did you ever go in the bathroom like I asked? Hell, how do you know their names?”
From the corner of my eyes, I saw she was staring at my profile. “I went in and turned back around. My gut said there was more than one bike out there and that concerned me. I grew up in the life, Steel. First thing I do is read a brother’s patches. No matter the club.”
Shit . She had a point.
Most other women I dealt with didn’t have a clue about men like me. Still, I needed to drive my point home. “In the future—”
She put her hand on my headrest. “If there’s a future, please consider I’m nothing like those bitches at your club. No offense to Kendall, she’s the only nice one of the bunch. From what you said, she’s a doormat though, which makes those others even bigger bitches because they should help her see the light.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but she kept going.
“I don’t dig you because you’re at the top of the Lancers’ hierarchy. I dig you because you’re sweet as hell in your tough-guy way – which makes it even better – and we’re both part of the same lifestyle. I can be myself around you in a way I can’t with anybody else.”
“Is that all?” I asked, giving her a brief dose of side-eye before turning back to the road.
“There’s also your wicked and devious tongue. It’s freaking magic.”
With a small head shake, I ignored her comment about my tongue. “You couldn’t be yourself with Jordan?”
She sighed. “He made me feel ashamed every damn time. It’s why I’m falling for you.”
My chest warmed and tightened at those words.
She kept talking. “I may not love what your club does, but I love being at your side to help you in my own way. Even if it apparently freaks you out.”
She was dangerous .
I pulled halfway down my hidden drive, put the truck in park, and faced her. “You won’t always be able to help. The past two times were flukes and those need to be the last two times you help me.”
With a pointed look, she said, “Me giving you head didn’t relax you last night? The security checks I recommended at lunch – closing off an opening for a breach is a way for me to help you.”
I stared into her bright, brown eyes. “You can’t mouth off about that, though. My brothers hear that a woman’s influencing me, we’re both fucked.”
She made a skeptical face.
I leaned forward. “This isn’t the Riot MC. We’ll both be fucked.”
“I don’t quite see how, but I’ll take your word for it.”
I exhaled a chuckle. “Do you really want to be by my side? Old lady to the mother chapter President – at your age?”
Her brows slowly rose. “Well, I wasn’t kidding about your tongue. It’s fucking divine.”
In a flash, I caught the side of her neck in my mouth and gently bit her. She inhaled sharply, her nails driving into my hair. I pulled back. “I’m serious, Simone.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I got that. Honestly, I didn’t plan pregnancy at my age, but I’m rolling with it. And the more I’m with you, yeah, the more I want to be by your side.”
My eyes searched hers for any hesitation or insincerity. There was nothing there but openness and honesty. God, I loved that. Finally, I said, “You’ll have to move.”
She gave a small shake of her head. “At some point. What do you want? Can you handle an ol’ lady like me – at your age?”
With my hand at the back of her neck, I pulled her face to mine and kissed her as hard as I could. “Smart ass, you’re gonna get fucked in the truck instead of in my house.”
She grinned. “That sounds great, but you didn’t answer my questions.”
I nipped at her lips. “No, I didn’t. Guess I’m in the same boat. Didn’t plan on getting you pregnant, but I thought about you for weeks afterward. Now the more we’re together, the more I want you around.” I kissed her again. “And I can handle you at any age, baby.”
She reached across the console for my jeans. “Good. You going to fuck me now?”
I kissed her again, but guided her hand back to her lap. “No. Gonna do that shit in the house where I have room to move.”