Chapter 20 Jackal
JACKAL
“Whose idea was it to get together so fucking early this morning?” Wraith asks as he stumbles in. His hair is pulled up in a wild man bun. “I got pregnancy responsibilities to live up to.”
Grudge leans back in the chair. “And please, tell me exactly what those responsibilities are? Because from where I’m sitting, you don’t look all that pregnant.”
Wraith unwraps a packet of cigarettes and tosses the wrapper at Grudge, who bats it away. “Might be news to some of you without kids, but pregnancy can sometimes make an old lady wildly horny, and that’s where I step in.”
Atom grimaces. “Please amend that sentence to you only stepping in for your old lady, not pregnant women in general, because I don’t want your cock anywhere near Em.”
“Sooner you sit,” I say, “the sooner you can go back to whatever remedial activities you were undertaking.”
A wide grin dominates Wraith’s face as he takes a seat. “Nah. Already done my bit. Left Raven sleeping it off.”
Atom chuckles. “It’s the opposite in my place. I’m the one who can’t keep my hands off Ember’s bump. Love everything about it. Jizzed on it so many times, Ember told me I need to go find Jesus. I swear she’s started hiding from me. Gonna be sad when it’s temporarily gone.”
I look at my sergeant at arms. “Temporarily?”
“I intend to keep her knocked up for at least the next decade,” he says as if I should have known.
“Didn’t realize we’re that short on ranchers in this country,” I say. “You don’t need to self-populate your own workforce.”
Wraith shrugs. “Adds a whole new meaning to keeping it in the family.”
Even though I’m feeling tense, I laugh at that.
I’m worried that I may have said too much to Isla.
Garrett specifically told me we needed to go slow, and he’s usually right when it comes down to reading people.
Instead, I couldn’t hold back from touching her, trusting that I was reading things right.
Something in my gut was desperate to know if the three of us truly was a possibility.
Right now, I’m not sure of anything. Your kiss confused me, Kai. And I don’t know what to do with that.
I told Garrett what I’d done, and he rolled his eyes. Reminded me how I chased him down when he wasn’t ready and how he grew into his feelings about me.
I just couldn’t wait.
But what if my eagerness causes her to say no?
“Jackal,” Grudge says, tipping his head in my direction. “You asked for this. What’s going on and how’s Shade?”
“He managed to get some sleep, but he’s a grumpy bastard this morning. Isla came over and made some food while I got him settled.” Isla coming over is a lie seeing she spent the night. But I don’t feel the need to explain who is sleeping in my bed or share her business.
“You speak to her at all since she left the club?” Grudge asks.
Did I speak to her?
“Neighborly shit,” I lie again. “Helped her dig out some fence posts. She’s working at the vet’s. But her being there kinda started the problem.”
Wraith shakes his head. “No shit. Isla’s the problem. Always is.”
“Hey. Come on,” I say, without properly thinking through what I’m starting. “You were happy enough to fuck her. All the girls out there are just doing the best they can.”
“Who I fucked is none of your business,” Wraith replies.
“You’re right, it’s not. But you should keep your mean-girl assumptions about Isla to yourself.”
Wraith raises his hands. “Not sure who shit in your cornflakes this morning.”
Grudge rubs his hand over his jaw. “I got some guilt over Isla. Think she left after I had a conversation with her about whether she was truly consenting anymore. Doesn’t sit well.”
People seem to think, that, when you’re polyamorous, jealousy doesn’t exist. But the practical reality is, it does.
You just learn how to communicate and be honest. But it’s a weird feeling sitting at a table with at least two—and probably three—men who have all slept with Isla and all have their own relationship with her.
I want to wrap her up and keep her away from this.
Waves of anger strike me that they could dismiss her the way they did.
Maybe, when I’m surer about what the three of us are becoming, when we decide it’s time to share with the world what we’ve made from the wreckage of our lives, I’ll talk to our president and vice, first, like the fucking grown-ups we are.
Set some boundaries about what makes for appropriate conversation when it comes to her. And tell them that Isla is as welcome in this clubhouse as any of the old ladies.
Fuck. Would it be different if we moved to another chapter? One that doesn’t know this club as well. One that hasn’t visited and none of them ever slept with Isla.
“She tried to get between me and Raven,” Wraith says. “I feel zero guilt over setting her straight.”
I stare Wraith down. “She’s also a human being who just wanted to find a way into this world and found nothing but eager cocks willing to dump into her.”
“Easy,” Grudge says. “Club girls and their use is as old as time No one dresses it up as anything but what it’s supposed to be. Anyway, Isla left the club, so why are we here talking about her?”
“Because I think the reason Shade was run off the road was because of her.”
Atom leans forward. “What makes you so sure?”
So, I tell them. About the day Isla got the keys and the run-in we had with Kevin. About the graffiti sprayed on the window. I’m not specific, just that it was red paint. I tell them about why I believe the smashed window and truck and being run off the road was an escalation.
“So, Wren found the truck for me. It was stolen from the airport, but the lease holder of the truck is Kevin’s cousin.
I don’t know what the deal is between the two of them, whether Kevin had permission to use the truck or not, and the theft is just a bullshit alibi to hide what Kevin did, but I want to go have a word with him. Wren sent me the address.”
“You think Kevin’s responsible?” Grudge asks.
“I do. This is personal to me and Shade. Could have been me he ran off the road. We went and faced off against him when he was taking shots at Isla. It’s our beef.
But with Shade tied up in bed for the foreseeable future, I wanna go warn Kevin off.
I’ll do it alone if I have to but wondered if you guys would come along for the ride.
A show of force. Backup in case he decides to start shooting at me. ”
“Define ‘warn him off,’” Atom says. “Like, will he still be breathing at the end of this?”
I nod. “For now, yes.”
“I’m in,” Wraith says. We may have just had words, but it’s reassuring to know he still has my back.
“I’ll come with you,” Grudge says. “Fuckers shouldn’t mess around with brothers.”
“Yeah, I’m good to ride,” Atom says.
It takes us about fifteen minutes to ride out to Kevin’s, and it suddenly makes sense why he wanted Isla’s nanna’s place so badly. The squat old building has warped sidings, non-existent gutters, and is surrounded by a collection of rusted vehicles in a partially dismantled state.
Grass and weeds grow between the vehicles, and cobwebs cover every corner of the porch. It’s like the place was put to sleep thirty years ago and nobody has touched it since.
“I’ll go around the back,” Atom says. “Just to make sure we don’t get a runner.”
“I’ll go with him,” Wraith says.
But before they move, the door opens.
“Heard your fucking bikes from the kitchen.” From Kevin’s stained flannel, hastily thrown on and unfastened, and the stained boxer shorts, it’s clear he wasn’t expecting anyone.
But his face curdles when he realizes who I am.
“What the fuck are you doing on my property?” he asks.
“We need a word,” I say, but I shove him hard against the house. I’m not sure whether the cracking sound I just heard was his back or the doorframe.
Grudge steps forward and drags him by his collar into the house.
“Hey. What the fuck…?” Kevin yells.
I put my hand on the hilt of my weapon, uncertain as to how many people might actually be inside.
Grudge slams him down into a plastic chair. “Sit still, and I might not blow your fucking brains out.”
“Where’s Isla’s cousin?” I ask.
Kevin sneers, but Grudge pulls his favorite Glock out of his pocket and puts it up against Kevin’s temple. “This is an unregistered firearm. I could shoot you with it, and nobody would ever know. So, talk, motherfucker.”
“Work. Work! He left to see a friend about a job in Cleveland three days ago.”
Fuck! So, even if one of them was in the truck that hit us, the other couldn’t be the one who smashed the window. “You’ve got five seconds to explain to me why you keep harassing us.”
He shakes his head. “I’m not harassing anybody,” he says.
I pull my hand back and punch him so hard, a tooth flies out as his head spins.
“Motherfucker,” he yells as bloodied spit dribbles down his chin.
I flex my fingers. “You want to keep pretending? Because I can do this all fucking day. Why do you keep harassing us?”
“Fine, so I painted your window, then smashed it,” he admits.
“Why?” Grudge asks.
Kevin shrugs. “Figured if you two assholes moved out, would be easier to convince Isla to give me her place. You know, without your protection and all.”
“Ballsy move,” Atom mutters.
“Who helped you?” I ask.
Kevin shakes his head. “No one. Did it on my own.”
Grudge steps forward. “Can’t be in two places at once. So, answer the man’s question before I break your teeth.”
His eyes widen, surprisingly, not with guilt but confusion. “What else do you think I did?” he asks.
“Running Shade off the road in that truck of your cousin Jared’s.”
I see nothing but confusion. “Wait. Jared told you I borrowed his truck? Haven’t seen that son of a bitch since he…”
“Since he what?” Atom asks.
“Him and my wife. Well, ex. The two of them were hooking up here whenever I was away. Used to drive long distance but lost my license after a crash last year.”
It seems too detailed an excuse, one that is easily verifiable, for him to have come up with it on the spot as a lie.
“And why are you harassing Isla?”
He has the audacity to look a little ashamed.
“My mom promised me that house. Knew I was trying to get away from this one with all its memories. Can’t even afford to replace the bed my ex and Jared slept in.
I crashed because I was drunk. Killed a kid.
Mom disowned me. Next thing I know, at the will reading, I’m no longer getting the fucking house.
Isla knows well and good that it’s mine. ”
Grudge looks at me, eyebrow raised, silently asking me what I want to do next.
“You stay away from us. You see an Outlaw coming your way, you turn around and go back where you came from. And you stay away from Isla.”
He huffs at that. “I don’t give a shit what that girl does anymore. She made her bed and plenty of other men’s beds too.” He chuckles at his own joke. “Fucking slut she is.”
And that’s it.
I swing so fucking hard, my fist cracks his jaw and sends him sprawling off the chair into a heap of filthy laundry. When he groans, I’m on him again.
One punch.
Another.
When I speak, I punctuate every word with another punch. “You…keep…away…from…us.”
His hands raise, but they aren’t effective in the slightest.
“Jesus, Jackal,” Atom mutters, but he doesn’t stop me.
Grudge doesn’t either.
Wraith shifts to avoid blood spatter.
Because they know we don’t lay hands without a cause. And at this point, they have to be reading between the lines. Because this is no longer about safety.
It’s about him calling Isla a fucking slut.
Kevin’s face and my knuckles are a bloodied mess when I finally throw him back into the laundry. I step back, breathing heavy, and push my hair off my face. I feel the drips of blood on my forehead.
And there’s a spear of ice in my chest.
“You ever go near her, you ever go near him, you ever come at me, and there will be no end to my vengeance,” I say.
Kevin groans something that sounds a lot like understanding.
Grudge grabs me by the shoulder and steers me to the door. Wraith opens it wide, holding it while we all pass through it. Atom offers me a bandana and tells me to wipe the blood from my face before we mount our bikes.
The road ahead is quiet, but my pulse roars like thunder.
Because something is very wrong. I felt it in Kevin’s gaze. Being run off the road, that wasn’t him.
So, who the hell was it?