Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jackson
Roxy and I didn’t talk for a while afterwards. When my shuddering and her trembling had subsided, I wrapped her in my arms and pulled the covers around us. I was suddenly more tired than I’d remembered feeling in years.
I held her, kissed her, and we slept for a bit. When we woke up, it was dark, and I took her again, more slowly that time. Afterwards, I was lying with my head resting against her belly when I heard her stomach rumble.
“Sounds like you’re hungry,” I murmured, chuckling.
“I guess I never had dinner,” she admitted. “I kind of forgot. Someone distracted me.” She quirked her lips up and smirked at me, and it was so fucking cute it twisted my stomach up to see her do it.
I told Roxy to stay in bed, and went to the kitchen to find us something to eat.
There wasn’t much, but there were at least the fixings for ham and cheese sandwiches.
I made up three of them and cut them all into halves, then poured some potato chips into a bowl.
I brought everything into the bedroom so we could eat there.
Roxy had fallen asleep while I was gone, buried in the covers. I took a moment in the doorway and looked at her sleeping like that. She looked like an angel. I snorted at myself for having such a cheesy thought, and the sound roused her.
“Hey,” she said, smiling sleepily at me. She reached over to turn on the bedside lamp. “Looks good.”
“It’s all there was,” I admitted.
“I’m starving!” she laughed as I brought the plate over and got into bed beside her. “You’re gonna have to fight me for the crumbs.”
I let her eat for a while, taking a few bites of my sandwich here and there. When she finally slowed down a bit, I polished off the rest of the sandwiches while I watched her attack the chips. Eventually, Roxy leaned back and closed her eyes.
“That’s so much better,” she said, sighing happily. “You made me work up an appetite.”
“You’re telling me,” I replied, and pulled her closer again. I kissed her forehead briefly, and she snuggled into the crook of my arm.
“Nice bedroom you’ve got here,” she said in a teasing tone as she looked around. I hadn’t bothered to take down any of the posters I’d put up when I was in high school. Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones stared back at us from across the room, the poster paper yellowed and curling now.
I laughed. “Thanks. Just be happy my folks got me a double bed in high school, or we’d be fighting for space on a single mattress.”
“You ever —” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively — “do this in your childhood bedroom before?”
I snorted. “Hardly. This is the most action this bed’s ever seen. Other than the time I brought Debby Monroe in here freshman year and felt her up before my mom came home and made me keep my bedroom door open.”
“I feel privileged,” Roxy said, and then stifled a yawn. “Shoot, I suppose I should get back home soon,” she murmured. “I don’t know what time it is, but Les will wonder where I am. It’s not like I spend a lot of nights away from the house.”
My stomach sank a little bit in disappointment, which was a weird sensation.
I hadn’t really thought as far as whether she’d stay the night.
Hell, I hadn’t been thinking at all, really, when I put her on the back of my bike and drove her here.
The only thing that had been in my mind at that point was pushing myself deep inside her and fucking her senseless.
But now, as I lay there with her, I found myself realizing I didn’t want her to leave.
I wanted her to stay there with me. I wanted her to be here tomorrow morning when I woke up.
“Yeah,” I nodded, my voice thick. “I’ll run you home in a few minutes. But not just yet.”
I lay back and pulled her closer to me, closing my eyes.
And tried not to think about waking up alone tomorrow.
* * *
“Hey,” I said later, as we were reaching for our clothes. “Did you hear about what happened to Edna Boyle last night at the convenience store?”
“Yeah,” Roxy nodded. Her radiant face transformed into a mask of sadness. “The poor thing. I can’t imagine what she must be going through right now.”
“Pretty dangerous, I guess. A woman being alone like that late at night. Kind of a sitting duck.” I turned to Roxy. “You ever in the pharmacy by yourself like that?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes. The pharmacy counter closes an hour before the store closes for the day. But it’s not that late. The downtown shops don’t stay open late like the convenience store does.”
“I suppose,” I frowned, and fell silent.
But even so, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it one bit.
I drove Roxy home about twenty minutes later.
As we moved through the night, I tried not to think about how good it felt to have her holding onto my waist, snuggled into me against the slight chill of the night air.
Her breasts pressed into my back, the heat of our bodies melding.
And even though we’d fucked twice already that night, I found my dick getting hard all over again.
We didn’t say anything more about what had happened between us, or what it meant, or whether it would happen again.
I wasn’t sure I could trust myself to say what I was thinking, anyway.
I was afraid that if I opened my mouth, all sorts of hearts and flowers shit would come out.
And I didn’t want to make any promises to Roxy that I couldn’t keep.
She was too special for that. I wouldn’t lie to her.
Instead of pulling up in front of her house, I stopped a few doors down and cut the engine.
“Looks like Les isn’t home yet,” Roxy murmured into my ear as she got off the bike.
“He always parks his motorcycle out front.” She leaned in and kissed me briefly on the cheek. “Good night, Jackson,” she whispered.
“Good night, Roxy,” I said. There was a lump in my throat that stopped me from saying any more. I watched her in silence as she walked toward her house, then turned back toward me and gave a little wave. I nodded at her, then stayed there until I saw her disappear inside.
Belatedly, I wished I’d told her to make sure and lock her doors, and I almost went up to tell her so. In the end I thought better of it, and rode back home, feeling the absence of her like a weight.
The next day, I was working at the shop when Les stopped by to see me. For a second when I saw him walking up with a grim look on his face, I though he’d found out about me and Roxy and came to chew me out. But that wasn’t why he was there.
“Greg and Mikey got robbed,” he said without preamble. “They got Mikey coming out of the bar last night after closing, with the money from the till. Beat him up pretty bad, and fucking stabbed him in the stomach when he fought back.”
“Jesus Christ,” I swore softly. “He gonna be okay?”
Les frowned, fury evident in his eyes. “They think so. They did surgery on him last night. Linda’s at the hospital with him now. I guess he’s awake.”
“Goddamn it. What the fuck is going on around here?” I fumed.
Les shook his head. “I don’t know. But the cops are already proving they’re as worthless as tits on a boar on this. I talked to Greg this morning, he says they’ll do what they can, but the guys who got Mikey were wearing masks and it was dark, so Linda says Mikey couldn’t describe them.”
“Let’s meet up at the Angus after work tonight,” I told him. “Get Rich and Jeff there, too. This shit’s got to stop.”
Part of me didn’t want to get involved. After all, my goal had always been to get out of Lupine as soon as my dad’s affairs were in order. But when Les mentioned Mikey’s wife, Linda I couldn’t help but think of Roxanne.
Les nodded. “Got it. I’ll tell Rich to get Monster and Mack to come, too.”
* * *
When we got to the Blue Angus late that afternoon, happy hour had already started, but there wasn’t a damn thing happy about it, at least at our table.
“I talked to Joe Williams at the PD,” Mack was saying in disgust. “He says they probably don’t have enough manpower to track these guys down.
He says the best case scenario is, they’ll be in the right place at the right time and happen to catch them in the act.
But beyond that, he said not to expect any miracles. ”
Rich shook his head. “I don’t so much blame them, I know their budget ain’t much, but shit.” He exhaled noisily. “I think we gotta deal with this ourselves. The cops are AWOL on this thing.”
I nodded. “Meantime, people are getting hurt. Not to mention, the cops are bound by the law. The police can arrest these fuckers, but they can’t put them away unless they catch them with enough evidence. ” My mouth twisted into a hard grin. “We don’t have that problem, though.”
Jeff looked at me. “You thinkin’ we take these guys down ourselves?”
“I’m thinking we find them and teach them that Lupine isn’t the place to set up whatever bullshit operations they’ve got in mind,” I said, an edge in my voice I was sure they could all hear.
“And if the way to teach them that lesson isn’t strictly speaking legal, well, I’m not too fussed about that. ”
I looked around the table, and in the eyes of the men surrounding me I saw nothing but agreement.
There came a time for most Vietnam vets, where the things they’d been asked to do by their government in the name of their country taught them that what was legal and what was right were two different things entirely.
Monster nodded. “We gotta take out our own trash,” he said simply. The other men murmured their assent.
“So, now what?” Les asked. He was the only one of us who hadn’t served, but I had known him like I knew the back of my own hand back in the day, and he hadn’t changed much. I knew he was on board for whatever I had in mind.
I took a deep breath. “When I lived down in East Texas for a bit, something similar was going on in the town I was staying in. Only it was a turf war. In their case, there were two outlaw motorcycle clubs fighting for the same turf.” I looked at the five of them.
“One was a small chapter of a larger club out of Dallas, bringing all sorts of bullshit into their town. The other one was local brothers, starting up their own club. It got ugly. But ultimately, the local boys drove the other club out.”
“Were you part of that club?” Mack asked.
“Not quite,” I told them. “I was riding with them, but I didn’t want to get too attached. I left after we pushed the other club out.”
“Sounds like something we could use in Lupine,” Monster remarked. “Hell, we got the makings of an MC right here at this table.”
“We might not be experts in law and order,” Rich sneered. “But we know a fair amount about meting out justice. Even vigilante justice.”
“You tell us what to do, Stone,” Jeff murmured soberly. “We’ll get it done.”