Chapter Twenty-Six
Jack
I looked at Sammy. I would find out who called her selfish. She wasn’t selfish. I knew that. Everything she did was for Charlie.
“I’m sorry I left you at the hospital,” I said.
“I’m sorry for asking you to leave. I never should have done that.”
“I understand why you did. God, Sammy, I was so scared when Grace called. I didn’t know what had happened. When Jingles called to tell me you had met with Carrie he didn’t tell me anything else. Just said we would talk about it when he got back. Then the last time I spoke to Jingles you were sitting at the bar, pissed at me. A few minutes later, I got a call from Grace telling me he was taking you to the hospital.”
Scrubbing my hand over my face, I turned and stared out over the small town we lived in. Charlie and Sammy lived there now. They would never go back to the house Carrie had. Their place was with me from now on.
“I don’t do well with emotions, Sammy. I’ve never had someone in my life that meant as much as you do. Everything I feel for you just kind of piled on, and I didn’t know how to process it. So I yelled, and I fought. That was what I learned.”
She was quiet. She just watched me, waiting for me to continue. At that moment, I had to decide how much to tell her. It was only fair I gave her everything, since that was what I was asking of her. I slipped my hands into the back pockets of my jeans and took a deep breath.
“Growing up, I bounced from foster home to foster home. Until I hit twelve. Foster homes didn’t want older kids, so they put me in a group home. The first home had a dozen boys between the ages of twelve and fifteen. No one ever taught us to deal with our emotions. We were just angry boys who fought to be seen and heard. The next house was worse, fifteen- to seventeen-year-old boys. Yea, you learned to fight dirty real quick.” I scoffed.
“Jack,” she whispered.
“Don’t feel sorry for me, Sammy. I can’t handle pity.”
“I don’t pity you, Jack. I feel for the little boy who grew up believing he was unwanted. The mom in me hurts for that little boy. I couldn’t bear Charlie growing up feeling that way. But your childhood made you the man you are today. It made you the man I fell in love with. The man I chose to have a child with because I wanted her to be like you.”
She put her arms around my waist and rested her forehead against my chest.
“I have a confession, Jack.”
I steeled myself for her words. Would what she was about to tell me change our lives? I didn’t urge her to continue. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. So I waited, silently.
“After that night with you, when I left the hotel, I cried. I didn’t want to leave you. I didn’t want to be married.”
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.
“I wanted you, Jack. I wished so much I had met you first. The day I saw you in The Diner the first time, you called me Sammy, I was so afraid he had found me.”
“I remember that day. You looked terrified until you realized it was me. Your shoulders dropped immediately. I didn’t know what had spooked you so much.”
“Derek called me Sammy. So, when I heard it, I thought it was him,” she said, lowering her head to look at the ground.
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I can stop using it.”
And I could.
I didn’t want to cause her hurt every time I said her name.
“No, Jack,” she said, placing her hand on my chest. “I love that you call me something no one else does. Everyone in the club calls me Sam or Samantha. Sammy is for you now. You made it special. Don’t change it.”
“Ok.”
I kissed her softly. I wanted to strip her down right then and there, but we had been gone long enough. We needed to get back to Charlie.
“Come on, we need to get back.”
I sent a text to King, asking him to call church. I needed to set some things straight. We climbed on the bike and rode back to the clubhouse.
Having Sammy on the back of my bike felt right. Her arms wrapped around me tight, gave me a settled feeling. I had never had a woman behind me before. There would never be another woman in that seat besides Sammy.
When we got back to the clubhouse, I walked Sammy inside, kissed her and Charlie, and headed straight for church. Brothers piled in around the table.
“Ok, everyone, settle down.” King slammed the gavel on the table, getting everyone’s attention. “We need to fill everyone in on what we’ve learned.”
Nav put Carrie’s picture on the screen at the front of the room, and King told the men everything we knew.
“We don’t know her current whereabouts. So, until we find her, I want eyes on Samantha and Charlie at all times. Samantha does not leave this compound without at least one brother with her.”
“What about her husband?” Tank asked.
“As far as we know, he is still in Arkansas. He hasn’t missed a day of work. We also know he received the divorce papers. He hasn’t signed them or tried to make contact, but he does have her address now. We are expecting some kind of response. Whether he just signs the papers and sends them back, or he comes here looking for her, we’ll be ready for him,” Nav answered.
“Any questions?” King asked. When no one said anything, he continued, “Jack, the floor is yours.”
I stood from my seat and looked at the men sitting round me. Men, I had made an oath to serve and protect. I had their back, always. Now, I needed them to have mine.
“Sammy and I talked about everything we’ve learned. She is feeling guilty about being manipulated by Carrie.”
“That wasn’t her fault. People like that woman are masters at keeping people in the dark,” Romeo said.
“Yea, try telling that to a mom. Everything she’s done since she found out she was pregnant was to protect Charlie. To protect my daughter. That wasn’t good enough for someone here. Someone felt they needed to tell her how selfish she was—”
“Shoulda known she’d rat me out,” Mimic mumbled.
“The fuck did you say?” I growled, slamming my hands on the table and glaring in his direction.
“She fucking lied. I called her out on it,” he said. “She lied about the call, then lied to me again when I asked her if she lied. She was only thinking about herself. And her telling you what I said proves she doesn’t know how to be an old lady.”
“What the fuck do you know about it? You’re a fucking kid.”
Mimic jumped from his seat. “Only a selfish mother puts herself at risk. A good mom doesn’t take a chance with her life, leaving her kid to grow up alone.”
“MIMIC!” King bellowed. “Sit your ass down, boy.”
Mimic immediately dropped back into his chair.
I looked at my president. His nostrils flared and the muscle in his jaw ticked. Something was going on.
Turning back to Mimic, I could see he was angry. More than he should be.
“Mimic,” I called, waiting for him to look up and acknowledge me. He knew when an officer addressed you, your only action was to listen. He slowly brought his eyes up to mine.
“Sammy didn’t tell me you said it. In fact, she wasn’t planning on telling me at all. She was muttering to herself, feeling guilty about what I told her about Carrie. When I asked her to repeat herself, she refused. When I asked her who said it, she refused to tell me. And do you know why?”
I stood there for a moment and looked around the room. One day, chances were good that many of these men would find an old lady. Someone that meant everything to them.
“She told me that she wanted to earn the respect of my brothers. She said she knew that tattling wouldn’t earn her that respect. So, she refused to tell me. Wouldn’t tell me who was too chickenshit to talk to me, and instead, attacked my woman.”
“Jack,” Shotgun warned.
“Shut the fuck up. I’m not finished,” I hissed.
“She knew what she did was wrong. I fucking forgave her!” I shouted. “What she did, gave me a daughter. I will never hold that against her. Everything she did after that was to protect MY FUCKING DAUGHTER!” I yelled, hitting my chest with the palm of my hand.
“That alone should earn her respect.” I took a breath before continuing, “The morning after I found out about Charlie, Tank handed me my ass. Told me Sammy was my daughter’s mother and deserved my fucking respect. He was right.”
I looked over at Tank sitting quietly at the table. I looked him in the eye. “Thank you, brother.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, nodding.
I scrubbed my hand over my face.
“This shit ends, now. Sammy will be my old lady. I’m not asking for a fucking vote. I damn sure ain’t asking for your permission. I will buy her a fucking cut myself if I have to, because I will not have the woman I love not be safe in my clubhouse. And I damn sure won’t leave her at home. I forgave her. It’s time you all did too!”
I slammed myself into my seat.
“Jack is right,” King said. “I know a lot of us felt we had the right to be angry on Jack’s behalf, but given everything we’ve learned—” he paused and speared everyone around the table with a stare “—her only crime was using Jack to get pregnant. ”
My head snapped up.
King held his hand up to me so he could continue.
“Jack has forgiven her for that, so everyone else needs to as well. And he’s right. Had she not done it, we wouldn’t have Charlie. Anyone willing to give up that little girl?” King asked.
When no one said a word, King closed the meeting with the slam of his gavel and some parting words.
“I want Samantha to feel welcome here. I hear about any of you blaming her for this shit again, you’ll meet me in the ring, after Jack gets done with you.”
We all stood to leave, as King demanded, “Mimic, stay.”
I walked into the common room and found Sammy and Charlie sitting at a table with Beck and Rachel.
“Hello, ladies,” I said, dipping down to kiss Charlie on the head. Then moving to Sammy and doing the same.
“Hey, Jack.”
“Hi, Daddy. Guess what?”
“What, Shortcake?”
“I get to play with my new friends soon,” Charlie said excitedly.
“Oh yeah? Are Chrissy and Tabby coming over?” I asked her.
“No, Daddy. I’m going to see them. Did you know Chrissy’s daddy has a store that is filled with books? He said I can pick out three books to bring home,” she said, holding up three little fingers.
I looked over at Sammy. “I thought we agreed Charlie should stay here until everything was done?”
“That was my fault, Jack. Ryder asked about it, and I happened to mention it in front of Charlie. I’m sorry,” Beck explained.
“She’s so excited, Jack,” Rachel added.
Sammy looked at me. “If you think she should stay here, we can reschedule.”
I looked at my daughter.
“Please, Daddy?”
I gave in, of course I did .
“Ok, I’ll talk to a few of the guys and see when they’re available.”
“Thank you, Daddy,” Charlie said, throwing herself into my arms and giving me a hug.
“Excuse me, Sam. Can I talk to you for a minute?”
I looked up and saw Mimic at the table. I glared at him, and he ignored me.
“Of course, Mimic,” Sammy replied with a soft smile.
“Um, in private?” he asked, tipping his head toward the corner.
“No,” I barked.
“Jack, stop,” Sammy scolded as she stood up.
“Sammy,” I growled.
“We won’t leave the room, Jack,” she said, trying to appease me.
Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.
I watched the two of them walk over to the corner of the room.
“What’s going on there?” Rachel asked.
“He better be fucking apologizing,” I grumbled.
I continued to watch Sammy talking with our youngest patched member. I didn’t know what they were saying, but I would find out.
When they finished talking, Sammy pulled Mimic into a hug. The kid wrapped his arms around her waist, and it looked like he was holding on for his life.
He was a tall kid, so he had to lean down to hug Sammy. When he finally let go, she went up on her toes and kissed his cheek. Then walked back to the table and sat down.
When she said nothing, I asked, “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“What did he say?” I asked, getting frustrated.
“I can’t tell you, Jack.” Sammy turned back to Beck and Rachel.
“Hey. What do you mean you can’t tell me?”
“Jack, we have talked about this already. Mimic apologized, and that is all I am going to say. Let. It. Be. ”
I looked around the room and saw King at the bar. He nodded in my direction. He had made Mimic apologize. Sammy seemed at ease with it. So, I guess my only option was to let it be.
For now.