Chapter Nine
Maeve was once again home alone, as Razor and Eden were rather secretive about where they were going. Doc had duties to attend to at the club, and she was making herself a rare coffee with her sister being out of the house, when someone rang her doorbell.
She was not expecting any visitors. Charlotte had texted her and asked if she could come over for some advice in a few days.
She agreed. She liked Charlotte a lot. Maeve couldn’t help but wonder if Charlotte was going to like her when she found out she was dating, or at least having sex with her dad.
That was going to be a little confusing.
She didn’t look through the peephole, and when she opened the door, she was stunned to see Nancy there.
“Nancy,” Maeve said, holding the door in a death grip. She’d been avoiding this woman’s calls, trying to not make any kind of contact. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“You did? What could you possibly want to talk to me about?”
Maeve didn’t want to air any kind of dirty laundry outside, so she stepped away from the door, giving her plenty of room to step right inside. It didn’t feel good to let Doc’s ex-wife into her home. This was the last thing she should be doing.
“I thought you and I should chat seeing as you’re fucking Doc, and you won’t return any of my calls.”
Maeve wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole. “I’m so sorry.”
Nancy was inside her home, and she quickly moved to close the door. This was not good. Was Nancy carrying a knife? A bat?
“I thought if I got that out of the way, you and I could actually talk, and things won’t be so awkward between us.”
Maeve winced. “I handled this badly, didn’t I?”
“To be honest, I think you probably handled it the best way you knew how.”
“Not well?”
“You don’t completely know my and Doc’s history, unless he told you our ... troubles?”
“No, he said it didn’t work between the two of you, and he didn’t elaborate.”
Nancy smiled. “That’s Doc for you. He is always looking out for everyone, and he rarely looks out for himself.”
“You speak about him quite fondly.”
“I know. I do care for Doc.”
Maeve didn’t like the feeling spiraling in her gut. This was not the conversation she wanted to have with his ex. “Do you want some coffee?” Maeve asked. “I’m having to limit my consumption of it, seeing as it sets Eden off.”
“Ah, the early stages of pregnancy, even the middle stages. They can suck big time. Wait until she’s nothing but horny.”
“Horny?”
“Oh, yes, there comes a point when all you want to do is have sex.” She let out a little wince. “Trust me, that is not pretty when that happens, especially if you’re arguing with your husband.”
“Do you want me to stop seeing Doc?” Maeve asked. She didn’t know if that was going to be possible. Her feelings for Doc were developing fast. They were past just having sex. This felt deeper. She’d never felt anything like this in her life.
Nancy waved her hand in front of her face with a frown. “Hell, no, absolutely not. Believe it or not, I am here to encourage you and Doc. He needs a good woman. I guess I’m being a bit of a hypocrite myself. I wanted to warn you and tell you that you don’t step out on Doc.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s a good man, so don’t do what I did.”
This made Maeve frown. “I’m not sure I’m following you.”
“I was a horrible, first-class bitch to Doc, and he didn’t let anyone know.
” Nancy sighed. “Doc and I were caught with Charlotte, and I liked him a lot. He was a lot of fun, but I was also a party girl. I had no plans to be a mother or settle down. However, Doc was the only man I was fucking at the time, and I got pregnant. He did the right thing and married me. Regardless of the shit he has to do for the club, he is a good man to the core. He married me once a paternity test had been taken, no other questions asked.” Nancy sighed.
“He didn’t deserve everything I did to him. ”
“What do you mean?” Maeve asked.
“I didn’t ... I was never faithful to Doc.
Once Charlotte was born, he just wasn’t giving me what I wanted, and I pushed him away.
I went to any man that would have me, and even a few that weren’t interested, but I was interested in them.
” She shrugged. “I wasn’t a nice person.
” She let out a laugh. “I was a horrible person.”
Maeve knew it had been hard. Doc had told her it had been.
“You know, he never says this to anyone, but there was a chance that Jake wasn’t his,” Nancy said. “I was sure he was going to toss me out on my ass, but the moment Jake was born, and Doc held him in his arms, he just smiled at him, and as far as he was concerned, that was his boy. His son.”
Maeve felt tears come to her eyes. She was shocked to hear that revelation. After Jake’s death, I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before it ended.
“Why are you telling me this?” Maeve asked.
“I think you have a right to know. You’re keeping your relationship a secret and I respect that for you two. You’re both entitled to do what you want to do. I also happen to like you, Maeve, and I don’t want you pulling away. I might be leaving town, I might not be.”
Maeve frowned. “What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know. My head and my mind are all over the place,” Nancy said. “I don’t know which way is up and down. I hate arguing with Charlotte. I keep thinking she is like me, but she’s not. She’s settled and stable. She’s more like her father.”
“Charlotte’s a good kid.”
Nancy smiled. “And that is another reason I like you.”
“What?”
“You adore my daughter. You’re a good person, Maeve, a better one than me, and I know Doc is going to fall in love with you, faster than you even realize.”
****
“When are you going to come clean to Eden?” Razor asked as they made their way out toward the trailer park.
“What?” Doc asked.
“You and Maeve sneaking around, don’t you think that is a little childish?”
Doc laughed. “We’re not talking about this.” They had word that some of the drugs were being distributed in this very trailer. Several kids were running around through the sandbox several feet away from them.
There was only one person who’d been named, and that was Hilary.
She used to be at the club every day, looking for some biker cock.
Doc didn’t know the full story, but Hilary used to be friends with Eden, then Hilary slept with Mac, or something like that.
It was all very soap opera, and he didn’t keep up-to-date in his men’s love lives, because he knew he would have nightmares based on some of the shit those guys did.
Some of his men liked to share women, others liked to form trains on willing women. The dirtier the kink, the better.
They went to the trailer, which looked like it had seen better days. The outside was filled with a thick layer of dirt. There were strings of Christmas lights still aglow, yet they were pulled down as if someone had been throwing a fit and tried to pull them off the trailer.
Doc knocked on the door, and there was no answer. There was no sound coming from inside the trailer either.
“It’s not easy, you know. Eden’s asking me if we should set Maeve up with someone and I keep your little secret, because I’m a good guy like that. You’re not exactly playing fair right now.”
Doc grabbed the handle on the trailer and was about to turn it, when a soft, childish voice came around the back.
“She’s not home,” the little girl said. She had two pigtails and held a ball in her hands. Unlike the other kids, there was not a speck of dirt on her clothes.
“Do you know where she is?”
“She left early, around nine, and she hasn’t come back. She can leave days at a time,” the little girl said.
“Okay, thanks,” Doc said.
“Is she in trouble?” the little girl said.
“Why do you ask?”
“I’m new here. My mommy said I’m not allowed to talk to Hilary, because she’s a horrible woman that sleeps with men’s husbands, and that I don’t want to get that kind of nasty on me.”
The little girl pointed across to another trailer that was as far away as the other trailers, and Doc saw a woman cleaning the outside. This is what made her different. All the other trailers were covered in a thick layer of dirt.
Doc made his way across the yard, and Razor followed behind him. When the woman caught sight of him, and clearly her daughter, she stopped cleaning and turned toward him. He spotted the wedding band on her finger, and her little girl stepped right in front of her.
“Can I help you?” the woman asked.
“The name’s Doc. I was wondering if you knew where Hilary went?” he asked.
“I don’t know where she went, but she’s had a couple of guys calling on her. They’re in flashy black cars. The windows are tinted and all that. I don’t know what she is into, but I want my little girl to stay out of it.”
He looked at the little girl. “What’s your name?”
“June,” she said.
He smiled at her. “Hey, June.”
“We’re not in trouble, are we?” the woman asked.
He looked at her ring. “Where’s your husband?” Doc asked.
She glanced down at her ring and sighed.
“He’s moved his tramp into our home.” She let out a little laugh.
“I worked three jobs to finish putting him through college, for him to become a lawyer, and what does he do? Move the young paralegal and kicks me out of the house. He told me I have no leg to stand on, even though I know I paid for most of our house.” She stopped and quickly pressed a hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
Doc could easily fill in the blanks. “Do you want to tell me your husband’s name?” he asked.
“Wilson Carmichael.”
He was aware of the name.
“You be good, June,” Doc said. “What’s your name?” He turned toward the mother.
“It’s Jamie, Jamie Carmichael.”
Doc nodded at the two, then he headed back to the bikes. Razor followed with him.
“Do you want to tell me what that was all about?” Razor asked.
“Don’t you hate it when men give us a bad name?” He straddled his bike and turned to look at Razor.
“There are a lot of men out there that give us a bad name.”
“She has no right to lose her house just because he decided to move someone else into it. There is a level of respect that needs to be given to a woman that bears you a child.”
“You seem pissed.”
“I am. I want you to find me every little detail on Wilson Carmichael.” His first instinct was to drive over and find Wilson, to have a little chat. He never did things in half measures.
Based on Jamie’s description, he was now aware of the person who was helping bring the drugs into Rivermont Ridge. He should have known Hilary would have been the easy target. She got her rocks off coming to the club, and that had been taken from her.
Either Hilary reached out to the Bratva, or the Bratva had been watching to find a weak spot. They clearly didn’t know who they were dealing with. There was no fucking way he was going to let them come onto his turf and get away with this shit.
He turned over his ignition, and his cell phone started to ring. Pulling it out of his pocket, expecting to see Maeve’s number flash up on screen, he was disappointed to see it was Sheriff Hayes attempting to call him again. He was not interested in talking to that bastard.
Turning off his phone, he turned over the ignition of his bike, felt his baby purr, and made his way out of the trailer park.