Chapter 16
*~* Fury *~*
Sitting in the club kitchen having breakfast, I hear my cell ring and slipping it from my pocket I see it’s Jamie. Ignoring any potential repercussions, I answer it immediately, excitement flooding through me.
“Someone is shooting at me. I need you to come and get me, quick.”
“Jamie, first of all, stay in the truck. You hear me? Whatever happens, do not get out of that truck. Where are you? I’m on my way.”
“I’m on the road where I got hit by the van. Hurry, please.”
“EVERYONE ON ME! JAMIE IS UNDER THREAT!” Rushing out of the clubhouse, I ignore the SUV I’ve been using so much lately and straddle my girl. She’ll burn through any traffic faster than the hulking SUV, and I know exactly how to push her to get there faster.
Ignoring any red lights, though thankfully there aren’t many between me and Jamie’s position, I have my hog roaring down the center of the road.
A glance in my mirror and I see my brothers behind me, none of them sparing the horses.
I see a van keeping station at the back of the pack and breathe a sigh of relief that someone had the presence of mind to jump in that beast. It looks beat up, but it holds a variety of weapons, and the back has been strengthened to provide a base to fire from or to retreat to, if required.
In the distance I can see the Ford parked at an angle in the road, but facing the opposite direction that I’d expect.
As I get closer I can see someone on the ground by the rear wheel, and another squatting by them.
I can’t get any more speed out of my girl but start to honk the horn to draw their attention.
If that is someone squatting over Jamie, I want them to know that their time is up.
Skidding to a halt, I see that the person squatting is Jamie, and she’s working on someone with her medical bag open beside her.
Rushing over to her, I grab her off the ground and after checking for any obvious wounds, I hold her to my chest. Feeling her tense up, I don’t care one bit.
Glancing down, I see the person she was working on was Bandit, of all people.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where’s the shooter?” I hold her against me and I hear a little sob escape her lips.
“I’m fine, I’m not hurt, and whoever it was has gone. Now, let me go. I need to tend to Bandit.”
“I don’t care if he dies, as long as you’re safe. That’s all that matters.” A stinging blow to my cheek takes me by surprise and has me blinking.
“Well, I care! He just saved my life. If you thought anything about me, you’d be thanking him, not wishing him dead!” Dropping to her knees, she gets back to patching him up.
As everyone else arrives, Bandit points to the area the shooter was in, tells them he’s gone, but some of the brothers head off in that direction to check for clues.
“The shooter was at the treeline and was waiting for Jamie. He probably followed her from town and waited for her to return. He must know the area, Fury, because he was in the best position to both take the shot and be defensive. He’s no veteran, but he probably has hunting experience.
Also, it was the same guy from the truck incident, unless we have two gray-haired, gray-bearded killers running loose around town.
” Bandit winces as Jamie wraps his left arm with a dressing.
“Why don’t you think he’s a vet, if you think he was in such a good position?” I ask.
“If he’d been a vet, he wouldn’t have wasted so many shots at the Ford. A vet would recognize a bulletproof windshield after the first shot didn’t go through.” Bandit thanks Jamie, but when he attempts to stand up, she restrains him with a hand on his shoulder.
“Not just yet, soldier. You got a second hit in the leg.”
Looking down, Bandit grins. “Well, what do you know? I never felt that one.”
Hovering around, not knowing what to do now that I know she’s safe, I see her watching me. “Go and do something useful. Check his bike over or something. Just go.”
Hell, I don’t know where I am with this woman.
I was the first one she called when she needed help, and now I’m getting under her feet.
Maybe I wasn’t the first she called. How come Bandit was here so fast?
She could have called him first and then me as backup?
Or he told her to ring someone else, and I was just the first she reacted to?
Whack walks over to where I’m studying Bandit's bike. “I see you’re overthinking things again, Fury.”
“What? No, the bike looks fine. He’s going to need a new paint job, though. Looks like he laid her down as he slid to a halt.”
“How on earth you expect to get a woman to take you on is beyond me? Maybe there’s one in an asylum somewhere that could be persuaded, but a normal, sane, good woman is going to run a mile at the merest hint that you could be her one.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Pres?”
“She was in trouble, and her first thought was you. She knew you were the one to turn to. You get here and the first thing you do is something to make her slap you. You really are a piece of work, you know that? For fuck’s sake, man.
I think you need a therapist or a counselor or someone to make you see sense.
Maybe another couple of rounds with Molly would knock some sense into that thick skull of yours.
” He walks away towards his hog, shaking his head, and I kick Bandit's bike, several times until I hear him shout at me to leave his girl the fuck alone.
Checking with the brothers who had been to the treeline to see if they found anything useful, which they hadn’t, I then look toward Jamie one last time. She sees me looking at her, but gives away nothing that she may be thinking or feeling.
Straddling my hog, I head back to the clubhouse. I need a good stiff drink to drown my sorrows. I give a little wobble when someone suddenly appears by my side, taking me by surprise. Seeing Breaker shaking his head at me, I know I’m in for another brotherly love conversation.
As soon as I’m in the compound and my feet hit the ground, he starts shouting. I am so wound up, frustrated, and confused that I don’t listen to a word he has to say. I just wade in, fists flying.
I get a couple of good hits in, but then he swamps me with the volume of punches that land.
I feel like I’m up against a world champion MMA octopus.
So many hits are landing that I can’t begin to deflect, I end up standing there like a punching bag.
As soon as I stop defending, the hits stop.
I look at Breaker and he looks angrier than I think I’ve ever seen anyone, ever.
“I’m done with you, Fury. You’re like a two-year-old having a tantrum because you broke your favorite toy.
Every chance you get to put things right with Jamie, you fuck it up even further.
She cries for help, you turn up, insult the one person who was there for her, and then ride off into the sunset leaving her in tears. ”
“I didn’t see any tears. She looked right through me. That’s why I left.”
“God, give me strength. If there were two of you, I doubt I could knock your heads together and make one brain cell from the big bang it produced. Women are hard for men to understand, but you abuse even that excuse.” He storms into the clubhouse and I’m left standing there as the rest of the brothers return.
They all walk by me without a word, and I think I’ll forego the stiff drink and just stay out here alone.
Just as I think it can’t get any worse I hear a vehicle screech to a halt at the gates. Looking up, I see Molly staring daggers at me from her SUV. The gate opens, she roars through them, stops just short of driving over me, and slams the door after she explodes from the driver's seat.
“Well? You might as well have your pound of flesh,” I say.
The look she gives me hurts more than I can say. “I have no words, Fury. For once in my life, I am at a complete loss for anything to say.” Walking into the clubhouse, she leaves me alone once again.
Five minutes later, and Cannon appears. “Pres wants you in his office now. Don’t keep him waiting. He’s on a very short fuse.”
Great. Just what I need. Another talking-to, dressing-down, ripping a new one, whatever other term comes to mind for being told something I already know. I fucked up, again!
Walking into the office, I’m surprised to see Jamie and Molly sitting there opposite Whack’s desk. Stopping in my tracks, I blurt out, “I can’t do this right now…” Jamie is on her feet as soon as I walk through the door and starts to say something to Whack.
His short fuse is shorter than any that Cannon could have explained, and he roars at the room in general. “Breaker… Griller… In here… NOW!”
They both crash through the door, almost taking it off its hinges. Breaker only has eyes for Molly, but her eyes are the size of dinner plates as she looks at Whack.
“Get these two into the shed. NOW!” We all look at the two women, wondering what brought this on, until Pres sees where we’re looking.
“Not both women, you idiots. I mean Fury and the Doc. Get Fury and Jamie into the shed.”
We are both marched to the shed, and the door slammed shut. We look at each other but don’t speak. The door bangs open and Whack stands before us, red in the face.
“I am done pussyfooting around with the pair of you. You!” Jabbing his finger towards Jamie.
”You know that someone is out to get you, but go wandering off to do home visits like it’s a Sunday go-to-church outing.
Not only putting yourself at significant risk, but getting one of my brothers shot, TWICE, because you didn’t have the right level of security.
If it hadn’t been for the armor-plated truck that this moron bought for you, you’d be dead and more likely, Bandit would be too.
” Shaking because he’s so angry, he turns his attention to me.
“As for you, you asshole. I’m done watching a lovesick teenager wander around in a man's body. Get a grip, man. You have one hour, and when I come back, we’re gonna play Fuck, Marry, Kill.
I’m sure you’ve played it before, but this time, you’ve already done fuck.
You're going to decide whether you marry her so she is gonna be your old lady, wife or whatever, or you're killing this relationship once and for all. I am done with this, and so is the rest of the damn club!”
Leaving us both stunned with the fierceness of his rant, we just stand against opposite walls and look everywhere but at each other. After what must be ten minutes, I look at Jamie. She takes another couple of minutes before she looks back at me.
“In the last couple of weeks, I’ve driven more people into a fury like that than I would ever have thought possible. It’s not how I got my name, but it seems appropriate, now more than ever.”
“They wouldn’t get so angry at you if they didn’t care. I suppose that’s a positive.” She shrugs and looks away again.
“I haven’t made you so angry though. That’s a negative.” I say it to lighten the mood, but am stunned, yet again, at the reaction I generate.
“What? You did not just say that to me?” Pushing herself away from the wall, she storms over to me and I quickly brace myself for yet another slap or punchbag moment.
“You have made me so angry so many times, you jerk. I could have given you a lethal injection and made it look like a natural death so many times I can’t count them.
I thought we had something special going on.
I thought you were the one. I thought, I thought, I thought…
” all the while poking me in the chest, and not gently, “and all the time you were just screwing around, and not just with me. That skank that’s been around the block more times than a garbage truck, for heaven’s sake. How could you?”
As she stops to draw breath, I say quietly, “I didn’t think I was good enough for you. You are so much better than me. A better person, a better job, just everything so much better.”
“What do you mean, better?”
“Better. You deserve so much more than I am or can give you.” She stops jabbing me, but her finger is still pushed deep into my chest, and she has sharp nails, I notice.
“You stupid, freakin’ asshole. That’s for me to decide, not you.
If I’m happy with whatever the hell you are, that’s my choice.
I thought you were everything I wanted, needed, or desired.
You had no right to take that away from me.
” Seeing the tears run down her cheeks, I risk putting my arms around her, bracing myself in case I’ve made another wrong assumption.
“We go no further until you’ve had a full medical and have a clean bill of health, do you hear me?” Her voice is muffled by my chest, but I get the meaning loud and clear.
The door opens and Whack stands there, with Molly and Breaker close behind. “Well, Molly,” says Whack, “I have to hand it to you. You were right on the money. If I ever have a relationship issue, if I ever have a relationship, of course, I’ll be sure to sign up for your classes.”