Chapter 7
JOKER
I pull myself together and bellow, “You guys got nothing better to do? Get the fuck back to work.” Then I nail Gus with a death stare. “And check out that damn lift.”
“Right, Boss.”
I storm into the office feeling like a first-class shit. I never pull rank on Gus or any of the guys. They’re the best crew I could ask for, but I also had to save face.
Accidents are nothing new in a garage, but not my garage.
I take pride and great pains to assure my workers have the best equipment and tools.
I only hire top-rated mechanics, including Gus, which bugs me on another level.
‘Cause if Gus said he put fluid in the lift, then he did, so what the fuck just happened?
For the next half hour, I occupy myself with going over the orders for the upcoming week. Not necessary since Daisy handles all the orders for parts and other essentials, but it is mind-numbing and keeps me from thinking about being squashed by a Mazda.
The door to the garage opens, and Gus ventures into the office. He stands in front of my desk just staring at me, but I keep my eyes trained on the computer screen.
“You got something up your ass?” The man is short on words, but when he speaks, I tend to listen.
“Sorry I popped off at you,” I say to the monitor.
“Not what I’m talking about.”
I pull my eyes away from the screen as he drops his ass into the wooden chair alongside the desk.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re the VP of one of the toughest outlaw clubs in Southern Nevada, which tells me you don’t get rattled easy, yet a near miss out there has you shaking and sweating like a heroin addict.”
Guess I’m not as good an actor as I thought.
“For a minute I thought you were gonna puke on my boots.”
“Yeah, well, almost getting flattened by a two-ton car will do that to a guy.”
“Bullshit!”
Typical Gus, with one word, he explained it all. Back in the day, he rode with the Renegades in San Diego, and he has the scars, stories and even a bullet hole to prove it. The man knows the life, so him calling me out speaks volumes.
“I didn’t feel so good yesterday. I think I’m still fighting off that stomach bug.”
“A stomach bug doesn’t make you lose your nerve. I saw a look pass over your face I’ve never seen before.” Gus shakes his head. “When Daisy was kidnapped and pregnant with Deana, you kept it together the whole time, but a near miss in the garage winds you up. “He shakes his head. “I don’t buy it.”
“I just got a lot going on.” Like a dead Shoshone Indian who put a curse on me and my family.
“I don’t wanna get into your business, kid, but you and I know each other too well.
” He runs his hand over his thinning hair.
“Like last year when you called me out for hitting the booze again. You made sure I got back to meetings and dogged me until I was straight. Maybe I just wanna repay the favor.”
The old man is gruff and brutally honest, but he’s true and real.
I suck in a deep breath. “You’re gonna think I’m nuts.”
“Won’t be the first time.”
I weigh the odds. Gus has probably heard it all in his fifty-plus years, and one thing I know for certain, he would call me out and tell it to me straight, or call me out and tell me I’m fuckin’ crazy.
“We had some business with the Nomads from up by Lake Tahoe.”
“Big club with a lot of pull. The Shoshones have charters all the way up to Oregon.”
“Yeah, well, they’ve been having trouble with two of their members who were dipping their fingers into Serpents’ shit.
They stripped them of their patches, but it didn’t stop them from hijacking our shipments coming up from Mexico.
We had a sit-down with the Nomads, then got their permission to take care of the problem. ”
“So, what’s the big deal?”
“When we had them duct-taped to a chair, one of them—ahhh, fuck—one of them put a curse on me and my family.”
“Hmmmm.”
“Go ahead and laugh your ass off, old man. I know you want to, and I know it sounds crazy, but?—”
“Doesn’t sound crazy to me. The Shoshones have mystical beliefs and spiritual traditions dating back thousands of years. They also have healing powers that have been proven today.”
“So, you think this curse thing might be real?”
“Hard to say.”
“C’mon, you gotta do better than that. ”
“What makes you think it’s real?”
“For the last two days since the meet, strange shit has been happening to me. Bad plugs on my bike after they’d been changed, a feeling of dread in my gut like something really fucked up is gonna happen, and then this.” I wave my hand toward the garage. “Fuckin’ spooky.”
“But all easily explained. Plugs were bad, fluid leak in the lift, and a stomach bug can hit anybody.” Gus shrugs. “All normal shit.”
“Except you don’t believe that either.”
We stare at each other, and I can tell the old man is holding back, but I don’t question him because I really didn’t wanna know what’s spinning around in his brain.
“Hate to say it, but the Shoshones have a sixth sense that exceeds anything in this world.”
“I was afraid you were gonna say something like that.”
“Hey, what the fuck do I know, right?” Gus pushes out of the chair. “You probably got nothing to worry about.”
He strides back into the garage and the word “probably” sticks in my brain like a thorn.
Before I leave the garage, I find Derek. He straightens from the Honda he’s working on and stares at me. “You all right?”
“Not a word of what happened today to Mom, understand?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“It’s not like I’m keeping shit from her, but she doesn’t need anything else to worry about with the baby coming and all.”
“I get it.” Derek nods, but I sense even he knows I’m a little edgy.
Fuck, a little edgy, I’m so far gone, I’m over the edge.
I leave the garage with a pounding headache and an ache in my stomach like someone is having a barbecue in my gut. It doesn’t help when I enter the condo and Daisy is frying chicken. It’s usually my favorite, but the smell of the oil turns my already tender stomach.
“Hey,” she moves from the stove, “I’m making your favorite.”
I nod and, of course, she picks up on my lack of enthusiasm.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” Except almost getting creamed by a lift today because some ancient shaman put a curse on me.
She kisses me and returns to the stove. “The party for the kids today was a huge success. Deana had so much fun. They all got to paint and carve pumpkins and eat tons of junk. Win-win. Which brings me to Derek. He wanted to state his case to me one more time for coming to the club party tonight.”
The kid is smart. He knows Daisy is more lenient than me, but this time it isn’t gonna work. “I already told him no more than once.”
“I know, but he is nineteen.” She gets a devilish gleam in her eyes. “Just think what we were up to at that age?”
“I’d rather not.”
“I was running cons in South Beach for the cartel. You were a father and the VP of one of the most notorious clubs on the East Coast.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Memories come flooding back of my first wife Desiree and us being teen parents.
It wasn’t easy, but somehow we made it work until an old grudge resurfaced with a rival club, resulting in Desiree’s kidnapping and rape.
When I finally got her back, she was damaged beyond repair, and three weeks later, she took her own life.
Her death tore me apart, and from then on, I became father and mother to Derek, swearing at Desiree’s gravesite that the kid would have the best life possible.
“Of course, I told him you had the final decision, but we don’t want to shield him too much either.”
“Maybe next year,” I placate because, although Daisy and Derek don’t share blood, they are both relentless when they get something in their brain.
“Come into the bedroom; I want to show you something.” Daisy grabs my hand, and I go willingly.
“I like the way that sounds.” I throw her a smirky grin. “Just what I need after a fucked-up day.”
I maneuver us to the bed and stop because it’s piled with clothes. Vintage clothes, and my stomach twists.
“I want to show you what we’re going to wear tonight.” She sorts through the jumble of clothing strewn across the bed.
Every year, the club opens the party to the public, and half the proceeds, along with the raffle money, go to the Forgotten Children charity, helping the families of sick kids with their medical bills.
It’s huge, especially since the winner receives a free weekend at the Bellagio, including a spa treatment.
“What do you think?”
She laid out an old-time men’s suit, complete with two-tone shoes and a fedora.
“I can’t wait to see you in the hat. You’re going to look so great. I think you will really be channeling Bugsy Seigel.”
Like she had to mention Bugsy. In the last three days, I must’ve heard the guy mentioned a hundred times.
She heads for the closet and reappears wearing a short sequined dress in hot pink circa 1920s. “And for some added incentive, I’ll be wearing this. The loose cut fits over my bump. Together we’re going to make the perfect gangster and his woman.”
Daisy was waiting for a response, but all I could feel was the pain in my gut driving deeper and the same shaky, clammy sweat surrounding my neck.
“So, what do you think?” She does a little spin. “We are definitely winning the costume prize tonight.”
“Yeah, nice.”
“I kind of expected more reaction than that. Sheena and I went to one of those big costume stores on The Strip.” She motions to her dress and his suit on the bed. “I’ll have you know the salesmen said this was the authentic look of the ‘20s and ‘30s and definitely something Bugsy would’ve worn.”
“I just bet the salesmen had his eyes glued to your tits the whole time he was selling you this shit.”
“I’m seven months pregnant, so I doubt?—”
“Yeah, seven months pregnant and hotter than fuck.”
Earlier I contemplated begging out of the party using the stomach bug as an excuse, but Daisy in this short dress with her tits front and center has my dick at full attention.
Yeah, I’m a dog, but when it comes to my woman, I can’t hold back.
I close the distance between us and wrap my arms around her waist. “I also love that we made another baby and our little family is getting bigger.”
“I love that too.” She wraps her arms around my neck. “In less than two months, we’ll know if it’s a girl or boy.”
Although I’m excited to find out the sex of our baby, right now, I just want Daisy to have a stress-free pregnancy and delivery.
I pull her closer, burying my face in her hair. Drinking in her scent. The one and only thing that always calms me, except tonight. I just can’t shake this eerie feeling something is about to go drastically wrong, and there won’t be anything I can do about it.