Chapter Eighteen
Jack
“What’s up with you and Mimic?” I asked. It was obvious something was up; the tension between the two of them was palpable.
“What do you mean?” Sammy replied, never lifting her eyes from the menu Julie, the other waitress, had dropped off.
“Sammy?” I implored, taking the menu from her hand. I knew she had the menu memorized, therefore was only trying to avoid the question.
“What do you want me to say? He doesn’t trust me,” she muttered. “He isn’t the only one, either. I know Blade doesn’t trust me. I understand why. I do. But I’m trying.”
“Hey.” I took her hands in mine, tipping my head closer to the table so she would look at me. “It doesn’t matter if they trust you or not, I do.”
“It matters if they vote against you,” she stated.
“I told you, it doesn’t matter if you ever get voted in as my old lady. You will be my wife.”
“Jack, you know as well as I do that if I am not your old lady, I don’t get a cut. Which means it won’t be safe for me to be at the clubhouse when other MCs are there. And it won’t keep the club girls from hitting on you.”
“So you don’t trust me?” I asked, letting go of her hands and sitting back.
“Jack, that’s not what I meant. You not taking them up on their offer, won’t stop them from trying. It won’t stop them from putting their hands on you.”
“No, but I will. Besides, the girls all love you. They wouldn’t do that to you. ”
“No, they wouldn’t,” she conceded. “But they aren’t the only girls that are at the clubhouse. New girls come and go all the time. I just don’t know how to get them to trust me.”
“Give them time, Sammy.”
Julie came to the table and took our order.
I looked over at Charlie sitting with Mimic. They were laughing and coloring. I was thankful my brothers accepted Charlie immediately. Now, if they would just accept the woman I loved.
“Tell me about the phone call,” I asked Sammy. “Why did she call here and not your cell phone?”
“She thinks you bugged my phone. She’s convinced you are worse than Derek. That you are trying to control me and isolate me like he did.”
Carrie might be smarter than we realized. Nav did bug Sammy’s phone. Though I wouldn’t tell her that. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her. I did trust Sammy. It was Carrie I didn’t trust. I didn’t trust that bitch not to manipulate Sammy into believing the worst about me and the club.
“What did she say?”
“She wants me and Charlie to meet her at a coffee shop alone.”
“Not happening.”
“I know, Jack, but she doesn’t need to know we aren’t alone. You can have someone there watching us. It just has to be someone that can blend in well.”
“No, I mean, you aren’t taking Charlie with you.”
Her demeanor changed in an instant.
“Why not” she asked.
“I don’t want her anywhere near my daughter,” I replied.
“She’s my daughter too, Jack,” Sammy countered.
“I know she is, but have you forgotten the way she spoke to Tabby? In front of your daughter? Is that the influence you want around Charlie?”
Sammy sat back in the booth. “I don’t know why she did that, Jack. That is one question I will ask her when I meet with her.”
“I don’t like this. I don’t trust Carrie. I really don’t want her around you or Charlie,” I told her.
“Jack, I am entitled to have friends. You can’t keep me hidden away from people.”
“Fuck, Sammy. That isn’t what I meant. I am not keeping you from having friends. You have Beck, Rach, Grace—”
“Those are all women in the club, Jack,” she interrupted.
“Then make friends outside the club,” I reasoned. “Hey, Julie. You wanna go shopping with Sammy?”
“Jack, what are you doing?” she whispered.
“Um, sure, Jack. I like shopping. When do you want to go, Sam?” Julie answered, clearly unsure of what was going on.
Sammy folded her arms on the table, dropping her head on them and groaning. She lifted her head and snarled at me before responding to Julie.
“Julie, I would love to go shopping with you. Jack is just being an asshole at the moment.”
Julie laughed. Walking over to our table, she sat on the seat next to Sammy.
“Let me guess. Jack is trying to prove you can have friends outside the club?”
Sammy snapped her gaze at Julie. “How did you know that?”
“Before I moved to Diamond Creek, I dated a biker. I almost became an old lady, but the possessive crap was just too much. It’s great reading about it in a book, but in real life, nah.”
“Thanks, Julie. I think.” I studied the woman a little closer. “Where did you live before?”
“Nope, not a chance, Jack. I am not telling you what club I was involved in. Don’t worry, the breakup was amicable. No disgruntled bikers will show up here.” She chuckled.
“Sam, Jack isn’t an asshole. He’s one of the good ones,” she said, patting Sammy on the shoulder. “I’ll go check on your order.” I watched her walk away, making a mental note to have Nav check her out.
“Jack, stop.”
“What?” I asked innocently.
“You will not have Nav dig into that woman’s background. ”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I grinned. “Let’s get back to Carrie and this meetup. Where does she want to meet?”
Something passed over Sammy’s expression before she answered, “Friday, after work. At a coffee shop in Scottsbluff.”
I hated I was doubting her. This was the reason Jingles would watch her without anyone else knowing. I knew some brothers would hold it against her if they discovered she was lying to me. King said he expected it, so hopefully he wouldn’t be one of them.
“Ok, we’ll make a plan to have someone there before either of you get there.”
She nodded. It was obvious she felt rejected by some members of the club. Time would prove them wrong, though. They would see they could trust her and that she would make a great old lady.
Julie brought our food, and we ate dinner with no more talk about Carrie or being an old lady. We mostly talked about Charlie and what we wanted to look for in a house.
As we finished up, Charlie skipped to our table, with Mimic right behind her.
“Prez called. I have to get back,” he said. “I’ll see you later.”
He strolled through the door without another word.
Mimic was one of the newer brothers that joined the club after we set up in Diamond Creek. During his time as a prospect, many of us were doubtful he would make it. But he did.
Barely.
Mimic had secrets. We knew a few. He thought he kept them hidden from us. We knew he was only nineteen. He was sixteen when he prospected, though he provided proof he was eighteen. His paperwork was good, but not good enough to deceive Nav.
King let him prospect anyway. He said he saw something in the kid that would be useful one day. None of the rest of us saw what King did.
We had the sheriff run his prints, but nothing came back. All that proved was he didn’t have a record. We patched him in two years ago. Despite having a rough time prospecting, which we attributed to his age, he had been stellar in his representation of the club and the cut he wore.
King let him have his secrets for now, as long as it didn’t cause an issue for the club. If or when it did, we’d deal with it.
“Well, ladies, should we head home?” I stood, holding my hand out to Sammy. She took my hand and smiled.
I noticed right away it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Charlie, you want to ride with me or Mommy?” I asked my daughter. She looked between Sammy and I, unsure which one she should pick. So I made another suggestion. “How about if Mommy leaves her car here and we all ride together?”
“Yes, Daddy,” Charlie said, her curls bouncing as she nodded.
“Jack, I need my car to get to work in the morning.”
“Charlie and I can drop you off. Your car will be here for you to drive home tomorrow,” I informed her.
Sammy was hesitant, but she conceded.
I didn’t want to question her motives. I wanted to trust her completely. She just wasn’t making it easy.
The next few days were much the same. Sammy went to work. Brothers slipped in and out of The Diner, keeping an eye out for Carrie and for Derek. Neither of them had made an appearance anywhere around town.
Every evening, the officers met in church for a quick rundown from Jingles. So far, nothing had been amiss. Sammy drove right to work in the morning, and then straight home in the evening.
I wanted to be happy. Something felt off, though. Something wasn’t adding up. Nav had filed the divorce papers, and there was no response from Derek. We could only assume he either hadn’t gotten them yet because he was here and not in Arkansas, or he was on his way here.
King had assigned two prospects to watch Carrie’s house. They would each do a twelve-hour shift and wouldn’t leave until the other got there. We didn’t want to miss her coming or going during the shift change. She never went back there after the party over the weekend.
After the fourth day, Billy was told to break in and look around. He took pictures of everything. The house didn’t look any different from when I had been there. A faded couch, a table with chairs. Charlie’s bed was still there. But it was empty, the same as when Charlie and Sammy lived there.
I understood living minimally when you had to move a lot. Growing up in foster care, I had a duffle bag. Everything I owned fit in that duffle bag. If it didn’t fit, it got left behind.
A shrink would say that was why, when I took Sammy and Charlie away from that house, I went and bought them a ton of shit they didn’t need. Maybe they would be right.
All I knew was, I didn’t want my daughter growing up with nothing, like I did. Sammy deserved everything for the sacrifices she made to keep Charlie safe.
When we got to the pictures of Carrie’s room, I exploded. That bitch’s room looked like something out of a magazine. She had everything, while Sammy and Charlie had nothing.
“I don’t understand. Did she get rid of everything Sam and Charlie had when they moved out?” Gunner asked.
“No, they had nothing. Sammy had one bag of clothes. Charlie had a small tote with clothes and one fucking doll. That was it. What you see in those pictures is exactly how the place looked when I was there,” I told them.
“Sam didn’t care that Carrie had all this stuff?” Colt asked.
“I don’t think Sammy knew. Sammy slept on the couch. She was probably never in Carrie’s room.” I snarled.
“How the hell did she get all this stuff in there without Samantha noticing?” King asked.
“Sammy worked a lot of hours. She was supporting not only herself and Charlie, but Carrie, too. Sammy believed, since Carrie gave up everything to help hide them and was watching Charlie while Sammy worked, it was the least she could do. ”
“Sounds like Samantha would make an amazing old lady, don’t you, Blade?” King pointed out.
“Loyalty, selflessness, family, determination…” Ghost ticked off on his fingers, the traits we all wanted in our women.
I looked over at Blade.
“Brother, I can’t say it enough. I’m sorry. I misjudged Sam, and when her divorce is final, I will be the first to vote for her.”
“I appreciate that, brother.”
Before I could say more, my phone rang. Jingles’ name flashed on my screen, and my heart sank. I looked around the table at my brothers. Taking a deep breath, I answered my phone.
“What’s happened?”