Chapter 11
Jules
F or the fourth time in as many hours I wake up breathless. My chest feels tight and if I had a tingling arm I’d believe I was having a heart attack. Except I’m young. Ish. I workout every day, eat well, minimize stress and am healthy as an ox. I share genes with Pops, and he’s fit as a fiddle. I take stock of my body, and take a deep breath, pulling it deep into my lungs before blowing it out. I’m in charge of my body. I do this three more times and the tight feeling starts to dissipate. My arms feel looser and my jaw unclenches. My mind tries to drift back to Violet and I refuse to let it happen. What happened between us was a mistake. She just got out of a relationship. I was horny. It was a rebound fuck. Nothing more. Except for the throat tightening feeling that it felt like a hell of a lot more. I have to shut that shit down. That’s not me, and I need to remember that. We’ll just go back to having a professional relationship and I’ll join Fox and Nitro when they play next. Easy.
Rolling over I check my watch, it’s only two hours before I need to leave so I may as well get up and get my day started. I’m running on less sleep than usual but fuck, it is what it is. If I’m lucky all will go to plan. Roman, DRMC and Moss will play their part, along with Tombs Security and we’ll have all the information we need to bring down Happy Values and that bitch Candice Rogers.
By the time I’ve finished with an extra long workout, showered, had breakfast and gotten myself ready, any tension I was carrying is gone. In its place, the focus I need to run my end of today smoothly. I think about crossing the yard to say a quick hello to Juno, but then have second thoughts. I’ll get caught at Pops and Debs’ and I don’t want to be there when Vi turns up for work. She may have a reputation for having a temper, but so far I haven’t seen it. I thought it would come out last night, but instead I got indifference? Disappointment? Either way, I need a clear mind, not be bogged down with shit that I’m not built for.
Grabbing my keys I head out, not bothering to lock anything as Vi and Juno will most likely be over after breakfast. Starting the engine I drive down the long drive, only slowing when Vi’s piece of crap Honda drives past me. I side eye her, not wanting to stare her down, especially after last night, but it doesn’t really matter. She clocks my game and returns my gaze with her middle finger held high and proud as her eyes never leave the road.
I huff out a laugh. Good morning to me.
* * *
“Everyone clear?” I call through the intercom in Dayz’s big blue van. Well, it was blue, but is now black and fitted out with a surveillance system the CIA and FBI would be jealous of.
Our plan today is pure surveillance on our part, but that doesn’t mean that a truckload of kids are going to be collateral damage. Roman is looking for the route this guy came in on and his pick up point contact. Moss is on hand for traffic control and keeping our sightlines clear once the truck driver is in the diner. The MC will have eyes inside. Dayz will take care of him once the kids have made it to the drop off point where Gus’s contact Dansen will be waiting with orders to take down Happy Values and Candice Rogers. From there the plan is to work with the Landrys and their network to get these kids home safe. There’s a lot of moving parts but we should be able to pull it off as long as we stick to the plan and keep open lines of communication.
“I saw Violet leaving your house,” Dayz’s voice in the silent van startles me.
“Hmmph?”
“I saw Vi leave your house. Late at night. After I heard moaning. I like her. Do you like her?” She turns to glance at me, at the same time Tav and Gus all lean closer to hear.
“Yeah, she’s cool. Juno really likes her,” I answer vaguely.
Tav snorts and I turn on him, “What the fuck are you snorting at? And why the hell is your big ass crammed in here with us?”
His lips twitch and he gives me an asshole-y look. “Because, big brother, I work here. Maybe you left your brain somewhere else. Like in Vi’s pants?”
I shoot up out of my seat and almost decapitate myself as my head flies backwards thanks to my headset cord.
“Sit the fuck down and don’t break anything!” Gus growls, looking between me and Tav. “Fuck’s sake, we’re working,” he grumbles.
Dayz carries on, unperturbed. “That’s not what I asked. I want to know if you like her in the same way I like Rhodie.”
“I wouldn’t know. I don’t like people in that way,” I answer. I don’t want to talk about this.
“Why not?”
“I’m not built that way.” I don’t have to turn around to feel the eyerolls Gus and Tav shoot my way.
Dayz scoffs, “Yes you are. You aren’t me.” She pauses then continues, “OK, you’re a little like me. But not really. I try. You don’t. I’m funny, you’re not. You’re afraid of relationships. I’m not. ”
“She’s not wrong, brother,” Gus says under his breath.
I open my mouth to answer her, and nothing comes out.
“One day, you’ll be old. Everyone would have moved on and found their people, including Fox and Nitro. No one will want you at their orgies because you’re old and sad. Juno will grow up and move out and you’ll be alone in your cabin.” I turn toward her and find her wide eyes staring directly at me. “You act like you’re a loner but you’re not. From the day you were born you’ve had people. Mom, Dad, Gus, then me and Tav and Pops. You attached yourself to Mama Debs quicker than the rest of us. You have the MC.” She shrugs and looks back at her screen.
Tav’s hand lands on my shoulder and squeezes. Hard. “She’s right, Jules. You’re surrounded and don’t see it. You’re not an island, brother.” I shrug his hand off and focus my gaze on the screens in front of me.
“You think you’re broken and don’t need people, but you need them more than anyone else I know. So stop trying to push them all away. That’s a dick move,” Dayz finishes.
I stare at her, swallowing the lump in my throat at my sister giving me some hard truths with very little tact. “When did you become so smart, Dayz?”
Her face scrunches a moment, “It was watching everyone fall in love. Everyone was all messed up in their own way. But they found people that understand them. That could be Violet for you. Or someone else. Or even two someones.”
“We don’t have enough space at Pops’ dinner table for two someones with the amount of kids coming out of the woodwork, so maybe just stick to one someone,” Gus says dryly.
Could I handle one someone? Vi’s beautiful face and goofy, tinkling laugh drift through my mind and my chest starts to tighten. Shaking my head I push away thoughts of her as I take a deep breath and unclench my thigh muscles, muscles I didn’t even know I was tensing.
“DRMC are on site,” Tav says.
I flick my eyes to the tiny screen in front of me, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Except the four big bikers walking into the diner. I zoom in a little closer, the cameras good enough to see straight through the large window and into the front seating area. DRMC takes up a large booth, the brothers all sliding in. Except Judge, who looks frozen in place, staring at something further back.
To the left of me Dayz squints and leans in closer, seeing the same thing. “What is he doing? Is he talking to the owner lady?”
Before I can zoom any closer Judge turns and storms out of the diner, his brothers all looking confused, but none going after him. I can hear Rhodie over comms assuring Dayz that they can still go ahead without Judge. If backup is needed they have us and various MC brothers dotted around. Hell if worst came to worst I’m sure Moss would jump in for a good cause.
Our shared comms alert lights up and I flick it on, making it so everyone with an ear piece can hear what’s being said. I’ve run enough of these ops to know that it’s better for everyone to be on the same page, than have one single person coordinating. This way everyone can adjust expectations and plans in real time. “Target is pulling out of port now. A driver and his buddy. If you’re thinking of tagging the truck it could be difficult if one is on watch,” Fox’s voice says.
“I’ll get Flack to run interference,” I answer.
“Roger that,” Flack’s voice sounds out, on board with the plan.
“Heat detection gun showed at least seven small human sized heat signatures in the back.”
My fists clench at Nitro’s information. Dayz and I share a look and I know for a fucking fact that this guy and his buddy will be going straight to the Rev Room once we get hands on them.
Checking the time, we have about 20 minutes before our target arrives. The Diner may be on Rose Grove’s main street, however there’s a huge lot behind it perfect for trucks to pull in for a quick bite. There is no rear diner entrance, only an exit, however the DRMC has men in the kitchen, with easy access to the back exit if needed.
I watch my screens and religiously check comms for the moment the truck we are waiting on pulls in. Flicking my gaze between all my screens I concentrate on the traffic before flicking my eyes to the diner entrance.
“What the fuck?” Moss’s voice rings out at the same time I yell “What the fuck is she doing there? ”
There, on screen, is the woman I fucked and then sent away. Walking right into my fucking operation.
“I’m going to redden that ass,” I growl to myself.
“You fucking what?” Moss yells into the intercom, deafening me and everyone else with an ear piece.
I throw down my headset and squeeze my big ass through the two front seats, throwing open the passenger side door and climbing out.
“Wanna fucking tell me what that comment was for?” Moss grumbles, stopping, toe to toe with me on the sidewalk.
“No time. We gotta get your sister outta there before that asshole arrives.” I ignore his huffing and puffing. I got shit to do.
“This isn’t over Tombs. That’s my sister.”
I want to argue with Moss but there’s no time . My feet carry me toward the diner and the woman that’s messing with my mind.
Violet
“Shit,” I exclaim to my sisters, fumbling through the 1 million bags I’m carrying to find my phone. I forgot to send Jules a message letting him know where Juno and I are, and the last thing I need is for him to act like even more of a dick.
I mean I get it, he has stuff going on, and all that, but still. The least you can do after banging me like a screen door in high wind is shake my hand and say you had a lovely time. Not avoid eye contact and remind me you’re an asshole.
I didn’t say a word about what happened last night when I saw Pops and Mama Debs this morning, there was no way I wanted to get into that. They must have known something was up anyway, Pops’ eyebrow waggling was off the charts, and so was Mama Debs’ backhands to his gut.
“You know, I’m sure you can probably get those four bags down to two. I saw a nanny at the park, she had the car seat thing, and two bags. The baby one and one small one she kept her phone and lip gloss in,” Lily says, pulling open the door to the diner.
I roll my eyes because I’m sure there are lots of great nannies at the park. Ones that don’t over pack the bags or sleep with their bosses.
“Oh, no, we’re not going to the back,” Jazz whispers, corralling me and Lil to a table in the front window.
“Why not? The booth is so comfy. Besides if there was a shootout we’d be the first to die, sitting here. What if an out of control car comes speeding down the street and through this window?” I whine.
“What if Rodney was sitting at the booth right next to the only free one in here?” Jazz hisses.
My eyes shoot to the back of the diner and right there, flipping me the bird is that ginger Rodney kid. My shoulders slump and I sit my ass down into the hard wooden chair by the window.
“Fine. You win.”
Lily grins and smiles up at the server who places three coffee cups down and starts pouring.
“Hiya, we already know what we’re having, can we please get three all day waffles with bacon and banana and a side of fries? Oh, and a banana milkshake for me.” I ask.
“Chocolate for me,” Jazz says at the same time Lil asks for strawberry.
The server giggles, writes down our order and winks. “Gimme 10.”
I watch her walk back toward the kitchen to drop off our order and by the time I draw my eyes back to the table I have my sisters staring at me. “Spill.”
“Spill what?” I ask, busying myself with straightening Juno’s blanket over her legs. She gives me a judgey look then frowns at my sisters.
“You’re acting weird. First off, you never call us sounding all needy wanting to randomly have lunch. You’re a planner to your core,” Jazz says, giving me a harsh big sister look.
“And you’ve been radio silent about Josh. Two nights ago he insulted mom then ran away. That type of behaviour would cause you to be angry calling us all to bitch about him. Mom thinks you’re having some type of quarter life breakdown or something.”
I stare a Lil for a moment. “Why? Because I haven’t been blowing up people’s phones?”
“And Moss hasn’t had to arrest you. Remember when Tony Di Santos cheated on you in high school with that Maddy girl and you keyed his car and then let a popsicle melt on the hood essentially ruining the paint?” Jazz makes it sound like I was crazed. Pissed, yes. Crazed no. I planned that shit.
“That’s different. He broke my delicate teenage heart!”
“OK, what about that Gavin guy?” Jazz persists.
Lily’s eyes get huge. “Ohhh Gross Gavin,”
I glare at her, “He wasn’t that gross!”
“He had back hair so long it stuck out the top of his shirt neck hole. You went out with that loser and then when he dumped you publicly you stuck Nair in his shampoo bottle before you moved out.”
A gasp and the scraping of chair legs on the checkered floor has me turning to see Mira, Nat, and Ana at the table next to us.
“Hi! We’re from the DRMC. We’re friends with Vi.” Mira says cheerily to my sisters. “We’re gonna come sit with you and get all the amazing sounding gossip. Good material and all that,” Mira waves a hand in the air and then drags their table closer to ours, almost squishing Lil in the moving process. “You don’t mind, do you?” she asks us, as she takes a seat in the newly formed six seater table.
“No way! The more the merrier. We’re just here trying to figure out why we’ve been invited to lunch and why Vi hasn’t retaliated against her douchey ex-boyfriend. I’m Jazz, this is Lil.” Jazz says then smiles at the server who places our milkshakes in front of us.
Nat and Ana stare at me, while Mira claps excitedly. “Oh, pick me! I bet I know!”
“She probably does,” Ana says. “It’ll be some well known book trope that you’re going through. Trust me. If she wasnt so, Mira , I’d think she was psychic.” She shrugs, smiling up at the same server woman who drops fries off to the end of their table. She promptly takes a fry and dips it in ketchup before popping it in her mouth and letting out a long, low moan.
“Great, now we know what you sound like when Gus taps that,” Nat teases. “Mira, hit Vi and her sisters with your prediction.”
“Well, I heard about your little boring problem. Josh, was it?” I nod. “I think the reason you haven’t retaliated is because you’re not hurt by it.”
My brows pinch and I use my gentle voice because I don’t want to hurt Mira’s feelings when I tell her that I think she’s wrong.
“No, you’re hurt by his insult, but not the fact that you aren’t together anymore,” she argues.
“Let me ask you this, what did you like about Josh?” Nat prompts, stealing one of Ana’s fries.
“Well, before he insulted my family, he was nice. I knew he would never cheat on me. He had a good job. He had a good future planned out. We’d be able to afford kids and live in a nice neighborhood,” I answer truthfully.
“Riiiight. And how did you feel around him? Did you want to tear his clothes off or get frisky in an alley or even make a mold of his penis and use it on him?”
“Wait, what?” I ask, bewildered.
“Oh, I mean hypothetically, of course,” Mira continues, then waves her hand in the air to get me talking.
“Well, not so much all the extra spicy stuff. He was nice, and we had a very fulfilling bedroom life,” I answer.
Jazz stares at me, then shares a look with Lil, then back to me. “What are you? Elderly? Did you also sleep in separate single beds and wear flannel pyjamas?”
“He just wasn’t a tear my clothes off kind of guy!” I hiss at her, in my defence.
“Ohhh. He sounds like a ‘make lover’,” Nat whispers.
“A what?” Lil asks, looking intrigued.
Nat takes a long sip from her Pepsi and gets comfortable. “There are two types of men in this world and a rare unicorn. The first type are the ‘make lovers’. They make love, all soft, gentle, fairly vanilla but they mean well. Then there are the ‘ fuckers’. The ones that tear your clothes off, bend you over the nearest surface and thrust away until you’re a mumbling mess.”
“They are also more likely to spit on you,” Ana nods.
My mind flashes back to Jules, a string of saliva going from his lush lips to my clit as he thrust in and out of me. My body temperature rises and my core clenches in remembrance.
“Wait, what’s the third? The rare unicorn?” I ask, trying to shake images of Jules from my mind.
“The unicorn is a man that can do both. Make love, and fuck.”
Mira stares at me and her lips turn up, “And to wrap up that little lesson, ladies and ladies, the reason that Vi isn’t cut up about Josh the Make Love man, is because she’s recently been in the vicinity of a Fucker.” She leans back in her chair, looking very pleased with herself. “You got over one man by getting under another. The question is, who could it be?”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Jules’ voice growls through the diner.
Mira’s grin grows even wider. In fact, everyone at the table is grinning at Jules, including his daughter.
“What does it look like I’m doing, Jules?” I answer, holding his blazing eye contact. I would look away, but fuck him. I’m not submitting to this guy again.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Why not?” I tip my head to the side, and notice my brother hovering close behind him.
Jules steps closer to the table, his body wedged between my two sisters opposite me. He places his fists on the table and leans over, almost nose to nose with me. “Because there is shit going down in here,” he growls quietly .
I glance around the busy diner. Nothing looked amiss when we walked in, but now that I’m looking closer, most of the people in here seem to be connected to the MC in some way. A booth in the middle of the diner has Rhodie, Tank and Sniper sitting around it. Looking through the kitchen hatch I can see the two newly patched guys, Chef and TumTum dressed like greasy spoon cooks. There’s some women I recognise from some of the businesses I know the MC own.
I look at the three DRMC women with my brow raised in question. “We’re people watching,” Nat says with a shrug. Turning back to Jules I hit him with the pants shittingly feral look Flora Davies uses when we’ve gone too far. “If it’s safe enough for the Ol Ladies to be here, it’s safe enough for us to be here.” I gesture to myself and my sisters.
“Not with Juno it’s not. You need to leave.” Jules’ jaw ticks and I’m pretty sure he has a pulsating vein in his head. Any other day I’d back down. But not today. Today I feel raw in more ways than one. I open my mouth to challenge him when the bell above the diner door rings.
The air in here feels like it’s been sucked out, as two dirty looking trucker types walk in. Mira’s eyes are huge as she watches them walk past, but then true to form she spins back to the table.
“I’ve never written a romance about a trucker. I mean, obviously my one would be hot, not like those guys. But do we think it could work?”
My sisters stare at her before turning their gazes on me. I let out a sigh, “Jazz and Lil, meet Mira slash Melody Baldwin.”
“No. WAY!? I love your stuff! Holy crap, could I get your autograph?” Lil gushes.
Jules clearly has had enough of me ignoring him because instead of walking away, he makes his way to my side of the table, sits in the empty chair next to me, grips my chair leg and drags me until our thighs are pressed together.
“If you’re not gonna move, then neither am I.”