Chapter Sixteen
Jack
Standing there as Charlie cried in my arms, I looked over at Sammy. Total devastation showed on her face. She could no longer deny that something was going on with Carrie. I handed Charlie to her mother.
“Take her inside. She probably needs a nap.”
“Jack, I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what to say.”
“Hey, you didn’t know, now you do. We’ll figure this out,” I assured her. “At least Ryder didn’t hear any of that.”
“Where is that fucking bitch!”
Sighing, I hung my head as a yell came from the direction of the clubhouse. Chrissy had said she needed the bathroom, right after they blew out the candles. Ryder had gone inside before anything went down between Beck and Carrie.
I looked past Sammy as Ryder stormed across the yard. Blade reached him first.
“She left,” Blade stated, stepping in front of him.
“Do you know what she said to my baby?”
“Charlie just told us,” he replied, nodding.
“Ryder,” Sammy said hesitantly, “I’m so sorry. I had no idea she would say anything like that. She has always been so great with Charlie.”
“While you were around, maybe. But what about when you weren’t?” Ryder asked.
I had to admit, I thought the same. But Charlie denied it when we asked her. I had to believe that if Carrie was being mean to her, she would have told her mother.
“Where are your girls now?” I asked.
“Inside with my mom. They’re getting tired,” he explained .
“Why don’t you let them go up to Charlie’s room with Sammy, and they can all take a nap?” I offered.
“I should just take them home.”
“Hey, man, stay. Let the girls take a nap upstairs. You can have an hour or so to relax, and the girls will be safe.”
Looking back at the clubhouse, I could see the indecision warring in his eyes. Finally, he relented.
“Yea, ok.”
I followed Sammy inside. Mrs. Thomas helped Sammy get the girls settled upstairs. Meanwhile, the club officers and Beck, along with the sheriff, stepped into church.
“What the hell happened out there?” I asked with a big grin on my face.
I couldn’t lie. Seeing Beck clock Carrie made my day.
It was something I would have loved to do myself, but I didn’t hit women.
“She pissed me off,” Beck simply said.
“What did she say?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she replied.
“Sweetheart, I need to know what she said that pissed you off so much you took a swing at her,” King explained.
“I said, I don’t want to talk about it,” Beck reiterated and sat back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Baby girl, not good enough.”
Beck glared at the sheriff. Her lips pressed tightly together. She had decided she wasn’t saying more, and I didn’t think any of us had any hope of changing her mind.
I sat there listening to everyone try to convince Beck to share what Carrie said. I looked over at Blade. He was the only one who hadn’t said a word.
“Hey!” I shouted to get everyone’s attention.
Once they all quieted down, I focused on Blade.
“You haven’t said a word. Why not?” I asked him.
“Because I know my old lady. Carrie either said something about the girls”—he looked at Beck and I followed his gaze—“or me. ”
Beck stiffened and closed her eyes.
So she said something about Blade.
“Becca, look at me,” Blade commanded. “What did she say?”
“I don’t want to tell you,” she said, shaking her head.
“Baby, tell me.”
Beck sat forward in her chair and placed her hand on Blade’s arm.
“She alluded to your relationship with the girls being unhealthy.” Beck took a deep breath. “In a criminal way.”
Blade pulled her onto his lap and held her.
“Fuck,” Ghost whispered.
“Shit, no wonder Beck decked her,” added Jingles.
“There is something fucking wrong with this woman,” I muttered.
“Beck said she was from Arkansas.” Declan stood from the table and paced the room. I’d seen him do that a lot.
Apparently, he couldn’t think from a chair.
“We assume, yes. Samantha was from Arkansas, and she met Carrie at work. Carrie has been moving around with her since Samantha left her husband,” King informed him.
“Where was Samantha working?” Dec asked.
“I don’t know.”
“What is Carrie’s last name?” Dec asked.
“I don’t know,” I repeated.
“What do you fucking know?” Dec hollered.
I didn’t answer. Just hung my head. Every time I came in this fucking room lately, I was reminded that I didn’t know fuck about anything. I guess the name Jackass was pretty accurate after all.
Declan sighed heavily. “I know this woman.”
My head snapped up. Everyone in the room sat forward, waiting for more information.
“Don’t get excited. I don’t know her name, and I can’t place where I know her from. But I do know her name isn’t Carrie.”
“Fuck,” King cursed.
I agreed with his sentiment .
“Ok, so how do we figure out who she is?” Jingles asked.
“Could Samantha talk to her?” Colt suggested.
“Fuck no. I don’t want her anywhere near that bitch.”
“Jack, she will want to talk with her. She will have questions about why her friend spoke to a child that way.”
I turned to Beck. I knew she was right. I knew Sammy wouldn’t let that shit go. There was no way she would step back and let us deal with it.
I looked over at my brother.
“Jingles, I want you following Sammy. Everywhere she goes, I want you with her. Even if she’s with me, I want her watched every time she leaves the clubhouse,” I told him.
Jingles was the best man for the job. He was the quietest. The stealthiest. She would never know he was there.
“Hey, Jackass, you want my president patch?”
I looked over at King, confused.
“Fuck no. You couldn’t pay me enough to wrangle this group of assholes.”
“Then why the fuck are you telling one of my men what to do?” King questioned.
He didn’t look mad. In fact, he looked relaxed. He sat leaned back in his chair, as he twirled the gavel in his hand.
If you looked into his eyes, though, you could see the fire building. A fire that needed to be doused, quickly.
I sat back in my chair. “Sorry, Prez.”
King leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. “Jingles, keep an eye on Samantha.”
“You got it, Prez.”
“Charlie doesn’t leave the clubhouse unless you’re with her, Jack. We aren’t taking any chances. Get her whatever she needs to make sure she’s happy. Talk to Ryder about bringing the girls over a few times a week, so she has friends.”
“Why isn’t Ryder in the club?” the sheriff asked.
“Fuck no,” Cash objected.
“No, Dec’s right, why has no one approached Ryder about joining the club?” Gunner asked .
I turned my grin toward Blade.
Any chance I had to remind him of his major fuck up, I took.
“Yeah, Blade, why has no one approached Ryder about joining the club?”
“Fuck you, Jack.”
“Wait, what’s going on?” Beck asked, looking between Blade and me.
“Go ahead, tell her,” I urged.
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” Blade grumbled.
“No, I’m a jackass. Get it right.” I laughed.
“Would somebody answer the fucking question?” Gunner barked.
“King brought it up to me about a year after we set up the club. I didn’t want Ryder getting too close, so I shot it down. If he had joined the club, he would have had access to who I really was. Turned out, he knew it was me from the beginning,” Blade answered.
“Asshole,” Beck and her father said at the same time.
“Love you too, baby.” Blade held her tight and kissed her temple.
“Maybe it’s time you approached him?” King said.
“No,” Cash objected again.
“Fuck off, Cash. He doesn’t want your girl. Besides, if he was a part of the club, you could enforce the ‘don’t touch my old lady’ rule,” Blade informed him.
“Fuck, that’s right.” Cash smirked. I guess he was more amiable now. “Should we be discussing all this with Beck here?” Cash pointed out.
“Like Blade won’t tell her about approaching Ryder to prospect, anyway.” I scoffed.
“Alright, enough. Jingles, you’re on Samantha. No one outside this room knows about it. I want a brother with her any time she leaves, like we decided before. The brother with her will not be told about Jingles either,” King said.
“Why not? You don’t trust the brothers?” Colt asked.
“Women are sneaky. ”
“Hey,” Beck whined.
“Stuff it, sweetheart. You know it’s true.” King grinned at his niece, who huffed and crossed her arms. She reminded me of Charlie when she didn’t get her way.
“If Samantha ditches her protection, which I am counting on, she won’t know about Jingles,” King explained.
I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of him not trusting my woman. He was right, though. Carrie was manipulative. I was fully expecting her to convince Samantha to ditch her protection detail and meet her somewhere.
“Jack, make sure you let Jingles know any time she leaves the clubhouse,” King instructed.
I nodded my head, letting him know I heard him.
“Dec, try to figure out who the fuck this woman is,” King said, then slammed the gavel on the table, and we all walked out of the room.
When evening fell, the party was still going strong. Most people had left, and just the brothers, the club girls, and a few of the women remained.
Ryder’s parents had taken the girls home for the night, so he could stay and continue to party with Blade. They had grown up together, and despite the years Blade was gone and his deception when he came back, they were still close.
Amber had offered to take Charlie up to her room and sit with her so Sammy could stay with me. I was thankful for that.
Over the last two years, I had only convinced Sammy to come to the club a handful of times. Now I understood why.
Multiple firepits sat scattered throughout the yard, surrounded by wooden Adirondack chairs. You could only fit so many chairs around each one and still be able to feel the heat.
There were ten of us sitting around this one. Sammy and I sat snuggled together in a chair, mirroring Blade and Beck, who sat across from us. Big Ben, Ace, Rachel, Gunner, Ghost, and Ryder all sat scattered around with us. Cash was across the yard, in deep conversation with King about something.
“Hey, Ryder, Blade has something he wants to ask you about,” I said.
Ryder paused, the beer in his hand halfway to his mouth. He looked a bit like a deer caught in headlights.
“I didn’t do it,” he said, laughing, then took a drink from the bottle.
Blade glared at me over the fire. “Jackass.”
“You know it!” I said, tipping my beer in his direction.
“What’s up, man?” Ryder asked, looking over at Blade and Beck.
Blade grumbled something I couldn’t hear before saying, “I was going to ask you in private. I didn’t want to put you on the spot.” Blade flashed me an annoyed look, and I just smiled back at him.
“What is it?” Ryder asked, hesitantly.
“The officers were talking earlier about approaching you to prospect,” Blade said.
Ryder immediately sat up in his chair. Looking back and forth between Blade and me, then at Gunner.
“Really?” he asked, surprised. “I always assumed, since you hadn’t asked, I wouldn’t be a good fit.”
He certainly sounded interested. When he found out why no one had asked him, Blade would be up shit creek. And Ryder wouldn’t be giving him a paddle.
I sat there, grinning.
“What are you grinning at, Jack?” Sammy whispered.
“Watch,” I told her.
I loved Blade. He was my best friend. My brother beyond the cut that we shared. But he had this coming.
“Blade wouldn’t let us,” Gunner added. “He didn’t want you getting too close and discovering who he was.”
“What the fuck, man?” Ryder bellowed, sitting forward and glaring at Blade .
“Ryder, I’m sorry. I made a mistake.”
“Fuck your mistakes.” He stood from his chair and walked toward the parking lot.
Shit. That didn’t go quite how I planned it.
“Thanks a lot, asshole.” Blade stood up, sliding Beck off his lap, and followed Ryder.
“Fuck, I didn’t think he would get upset. I figured we would all give Blade some shit.” I watched as Blade jogged across the yard.
“Ryder hasn’t quite gotten over everything yet,” Beck said, settling back into her chair.
“I thought they were good,” I asked. “Blade hasn’t said anything.”
“No, Ryder is still pissed at him for wasting the last five years. He told me he wanted to join the club when it first set up here, but Tammi wouldn’t let him. Then, when he realized Micah was here and hadn’t told him who he was, or made any effort to see him, well, Ryder felt like he’d lost his best friend again.”
“Fuck, and I made it worse.”
Yes, folks, there is a reason they call me Jackass.