Chapter Nine
Jack
“Church, now,” King declared to the room. “Call the others to come in.”
I stood there, watching Sammy walk down the hallway.
“Jack,” King said, his hand squeezing my shoulder. “Come on, brother, we need to talk about this shit.”
“Yea,” I replied absentmindedly, still reveling in all the shit Sammy had just hit me with.
I followed King into church, collapsing in my chair.
It wasn’t long before everyone made it back to the clubhouse and gathered around the large wooden table.
King slammed the gavel on the table, letting everyone know they better shut up and pay attention.
“Ok, for those who don’t know yet, Jack has a daughter he didn’t know about.”
“What the fuck? Daughters seem to be coming out of the woodwork in this club lately,” Zero crowed. “Any of you other bastards have children you don’t know about?”
“How the fuck would they answer that if they don’t know about them, asshole?” Tank challenged.
“You know what I mean.” Zero slumped back in his chair and shut his mouth.
“Everyone, shut the fuck up,” King yelled. “Jack.”
I looked up at my president. I was only half listening to the grumbling, still thinking about what Sammy told me.
“Yeah, Prez?”
“You claiming Samantha and Charlie?”
“Fuck yes, I am!”
Blade sat quietly by my side when King asked for the vote. I turned to look at my best friend. He hadn’t voted yet, and I was getting angry waiting for him to vote for my old lady.
“Jack, are you sure?” Blade asked.
“What the fuck, man?” I couldn’t believe he was asking me that. “Did I question you when you wanted to claim Beck? Hell, man, I encouraged you to tell her the truth and make her yours. Now you’re questioning me? Knowing I’ve wanted Sammy since I met her? Charlie is my fucking daughter. I’m not giving her up.”
“I’m not asking you to give up your daughter. But you don’t have to claim Sam to have your daughter. You can co-parent her together without making Sam your old lady.”
Blade looked away as soon as he finished speaking, and I just stared at the side of his head.
“What the fuck?”
“I’m just saying she lied to you, man. For five years, she kept Charlie from you. You want an old lady you can’t trust?”
“By the time she found out, we were in Nebraska. She didn’t know how to find me.”
“Bullshit,” Blade snapped. “She could have gone to the mother chapter to get word to you. Hell, she could have told you two years ago, when she saw you at The Diner. Fuck, man, she could have not cheated on her husband and slept with you to get pregnant.”
My brothers grumbled their agreements. Those who hadn’t been in the main room for the big reveal were shouting out questions, not understanding what was going on.
I sat there, stunned.
My best fucking friend would not vote in my old lady.
“Fuck you, Blade.” I stood from the table. “Fuck you.”
“Jack!”
I ignored King and walked to the door.
“JACK! Sit your ass down. We have shit to go over.”
“I’m not sitting next to him. I’ll stand here,” I said and leaned against the door.
“Fucking children. Jack, sit your ass down,” Gunner barked, moving over into my chair and leaving his chair open .
“The vote for an old lady has to be unanimous. Blade?” King asked.
My former best friend voted no.
He voted no.
“So much for having my back, brother.” Furious with him, I sat there with my hands balled into fists, barely resisting the urge to punch him in the face.
“Jack, you know I love you. You may not think so, but this is me having your back. Sam has a lot to answer for before she can be an old lady. She also needs to not be married to someone else,” he reminded me.
Shit.
He was right. Sammy was still married. She couldn’t be my old lady until she got divorced.
“Sorry, Jack.” King winced but at least had the decency to look sympathetic.
“Hey, King?” Ace questioned. “For those of us still in the dark, could we get an explanation? I mean, I didn’t know Sam was married for starters. So what’s going on?”
King quickly went over the highlights of what Sammy told us. Listening to him tell my brothers everything had me getting angrier. Not at Sammy. At her husband, at Blade, and at myself. But not at Sammy. She had been through enough.
“Alright, everyone. It seems Samantha’s husband doesn’t know where she is. But he has found her in the past. It could just be a matter of time before he locates her again. So, I want someone at The Diner every shift she’s working. Charlie will have a brother with her twenty-four seven. No exceptions.”
“Do we know the husband’s name? Maybe we can petition for a divorce with the courts. He would get served and either sign them without issue or he would come up here and we’d know to expect him,” Matlock suggested.
“That’s not a bad idea. Nav, can you get his address? He might not be in the same place he lived with Samantha,” King instructed.
“Sure, what’s his name? ”
“Derek,” I murmured.
“Um, Derek what? I need a last name,” Nav prodded.
I looked up at him. “I don’t know.”
“Well, what’s Samantha’s last name?” he teased.
I placed my elbows on the table and dropped my head into my hands, and mumbled.
“What?” Gunner asked next to me.
“I said I don’t know,” I replied a little louder.
“You don’t know her fucking last name?” Gunner fired at me.
Shaking my head in shame, I refused to look up at any of my brothers.
“Fucking Jackass. And you wanted to make her your old lady? You slept with this woman, had a kid, and have been trying to get back in her pants for the last two years, and you never thought to ask her goddamned last name?”
I glared at Gunner. “Watch it, brother. You may be a big motherfucker, but anger and rage can take down giants.”
“Alright, let’s get back on track,” King interrupted. “Jack, get Samantha’s last name and get it to Nav.”
King slammed the gavel on the table, and everyone stood up and walked out.
I remained seated. I wasn’t ready to move yet.
“Jack.” The voice was quiet. I lifted my head and looked at my brother. He didn’t talk much, so when he did, we all listened.
“I’ve got your back, brother. No matter what. You want Samantha as your old lady? We’ll get her unmarried any way we have to. You want to beat the shit out of Gunner? I’ll hold him down while you do it.”
He could do it too. Probably the only one who could.
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
Big Ben nodded. He stood from his chair and walked out, leaving me sitting at the table alone.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there thinking about Sammy and Charlie and everything I had learned. What I did know was, my woman was upstairs, probably frightened and confused. She needed me. The thought had me standing and heading upstairs to my room. I wanted to hold my woman. To let her know she wasn’t alone and never would be again.
I woke up in bed alone.
Lifting my head, I looked around the room. My eyes focused on the open bathroom door. There were no sounds coming from anywhere. Sammy wasn’t here.
I jumped out of bed, quickly showered and got dressed. When I walked out my door into the hall, one of the club girls stopped me.
“Hey, Jack.”
“Hey, Amber,” I greeted her quickly, brushing by her to get downstairs.
“Jack!” she called out.
I turned back, waiting for her to continue.
“We all like Sam. We don’t want to see her get hurt.”
“I would never lay a hand on her, Amber. You know me better than that.”
“There are other ways to hurt people, Jack. A couple of us were in the main room when she told you everything. You don’t know what she’s endured.”
“I heard every word she said, Amber.”
“Yes, you know what she experienced, but you don’t know what she endured. People always think that women can just walk away. It doesn’t work that way, Jack. Most women only get away through death. Sam got away with her life. More importantly, with Charlie’s life. She needs to be shown how much strength, courage, and determination that took. She needs to be reminded that she is strong. She survived the worst shit dished out to women. If you can’t do that, then walk away. Let someone who can, step in for her and for Charlie.”
I walked the few steps back toward Amber and got in her face. She didn’t cower, in fact, she stood up taller. She was letting me know she wasn’t afraid of me.
I had to respect that, but still.
“Are you telling me to walk away from my daughter? And her mother? You want my daughter to grow up without her father, so she ends up a whore in some other MC like you? Don’t ever try to tell me to walk away from my daughter again.”
Amber took a step forward. I expected her to back down. Instead, she got in my face and snarled.
“If you can’t be the man she needs, back the fuck off.”
Then she turned and walked away.
I stood there, staring after her. It pissed me off she came at me that way. But I had mad respect that she had Sammy’s back.
Continuing down the stairs, I headed right for the kitchen. I figured that would be where Sammy was.
I was wrong.
Hash was making breakfast, and Romeo, Mimic, and Blade were sitting at the table.
“Morning, Jack, you hungry?”
“Yea, Hash, thanks,” I replied, walking to the coffeepot. I poured myself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter to drink it. I wasn’t sitting at the table.
Yeah, I was acting like a child. And maybe he had some valid points, but Blade had pissed me off, and I didn’t want to talk to him yet.
“Hey, Hash, has Sammy eaten yet?”
“She’s over at my place,” Blade said without looking up from his plate.
“Why the fuck is she at your place?” Apparently, he didn’t even like her. Why would she be over there?
He lifted his head and glared at me. “Because your daughter spent the night there last night.”
Shit, he was right. I dumped my coffee in the sink, placed my cup in the dishwasher and walked out without another word to him. He chose not to do the same when I heard his voice as the door closed.
“Asshole. ”
I jogged across the road to Beck’s place and knocked on the door before opening it and walking straight in. Knowing Blade was at the clubhouse meant there was no chance I would walk in to the sight of his bare ass in the kitchen.
Hearing laughter coming from another room, I followed the sound through the kitchen and into the living room. What I found had me getting angry all over again.
Fuck, when would I get this under control?
Beck and Sammy were sitting on the couch. That didn’t bother me. It was the woman sitting on the floor, holding my daughter, that had my blood boiling.
“Hey ladies, what are you up to?” I asked, trying to keep the rage out of my voice for Charlie’s sake.
“Daddy!” Charlie squirmed, trying to get up, and Carrie held her firm. I glared at the woman and walked over to pick up my daughter. Charlie hugged my neck. She was always so happy to see me.
“Hey, Beck, if Blade is at the clubhouse, who’s here watching Charlie?” I asked, looking around the room.
“Big Ben is here. He just stepped out to walk the perimeter,” she informed me.
Nodding, I walked over and sat on the couch next to Sammy. Kissing her cheek, I said, “You wanna tell me why I woke up alone this morning?”
“You came to bed so late. I wanted to let you sleep. I came straight here to get Charlie. Carrie called while I was here, and Beck said to invite her over, so I did.”
I looked over at Beck. She winked at me over the coffee cup she held to her lips. Yeah, I knew what she was doing, and I would thank her for it later.
“Um, why does Charlie need a man with her? The three of us are here,” the bitch questioned.
“Protection.” That was all I was giving her.
“Sam and I have been doing a damn good job of protecting her for the last four years. We don’t need someone following us around, and there definitely will not be a man living with us at home,” she said haughtily, keeping her stare firmly fixed on me.
I tried to hold my temper. Anger was such a new emotion for me, and I was having trouble keeping it contained.
“I appreciate everything you have done for my girls, but now they have me. They won’t be living with you anymore. And my daughter will have a brother with her every minute of the day when I can’t be with her.”
“Why?” she sneered.
“Because I fucking said so. You don’t get to question me, bitch.”
“Jack!” Sammy whispered, nodding at Charlie.
I looked down at my daughter who was watching me with wide eyes.
“I’m sorry, Shortcake.” I kissed the top of Charlie’s head.
“It’s ok, Daddy. Uncle King says a lot of grown-up words. He told me I couldn’t say them, but it was ok if I heard them.”
Beck laughed.
Sammy groaned.
Carrie sneered again. Seems that was the only look she had. It was a shame because she would actually be pretty if she wasn’t such a bitch. I would have considered hooking her up with a brother so Sammy could keep her friend. Instead, I was working on a way to get her out of our lives.
“You can’t raise Charlie at the clubhouse. That is no place for a little girl.”
I opened my mouth to tell her to shut her fucking mouth, when Sammy laid a hand on my thigh.
“We still have a few things to work out. For now, we will stay at the clubhouse while Charlie spends time with her dad,” Sammy informed the bitch.
I smirked at Carrie.
That’s right, bitch, I win this one.