15. Juice
CHAPTER 15
JUICE
She was gone. I searched the clubhouse, not wanting to believe she’d left me. Finally, when I stood in front of the empty space where her car had been parked, it sank in.
“Did she say anything?” I faced Thunder.
“She knew you were ambushed on the ride to the courthouse, but I didn’t hear her say anything about it. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“You going to let her go?” he pressed.
“Do I have a choice?” I clasped my hands together behind my neck. “Shit’s falling apart around here. I promised her I’d be able to keep her and Oliver safe. Look what happened today.”
We were lucky we got away without losing someone. The Savage Bones did some serious damage to Motor Mouth’s bike, and Shooter got clipped on the shoulder, but it could have been much worse .
“We’re going to get a handle on this. Atlas won’t let them take over Mustang Mountain.”
“I just wish I knew what the hell they were after,” I said. “A turf war is one thing, but what’s so special about Mustang Mountain? There are a hundred towns just like it all over western Montana. It doesn’t make sense.”
Thunder pushed his shades back up on his nose. “There’s got to be more to it, and we need to gather some backup we can count on. Atlas is sending a few guys to Sturgis to rally some support.”
“Who?” I’d been the past couple of years and knew that behind all the parties there was some serious club business going down.
“Arrow, for one.” One side of Thunder’s lips curved up in a grin.
“Why’s that so funny?” I didn’t know Arrow very well, but he was one of the most loyal guys I’d met so far.
“You know how the guys have been giving you shit about your nickname?”
“Yeah.” I’d tried telling them I got the nickname Juice because I liked to juice up the engine on my bike and push it to the limit. Last month, the truth came out that I got my nickname back in my stripper days from letting women do body shots of sweet fruity drinks from my abs.
“You didn’t hear it from me, but the reason everybody calls him Arrow is because he’s on the straight and narrow. Guy’s still a virgin.” Thunder arched a brow. “An almost forty-year-old virgin. Can you imagine him in Sturgis?”
People thought Vegas was a party… that’s only be cause most of them hadn’t seen the shit that went down at Sturgis.
“If he’s looking to lose his v-card, that’s the place to go. I hope he has a good time,” I said.
“What about you?” Thunder lifted his chin. “You going after your girl?”
I couldn’t imagine being without Sammy. When I kissed her last night, I felt like I’d come back to life. “Yeah, I am. Think you and some of the other guys could do me a favor?”
“We’re family. All you need to do is ask.”
My heart revved in my chest as I turned onto Sammy’s street. I knew she was still at the house thanks to one of my MC brother’s cousins who lived in the area and had been keeping an eye on her place for me. Sirius whined as he caught sight of the car in the driveway, and Hades joined in. For some reason, the wolf had been standing outside the gate as we left the clubhouse and jumped into the backseat when I stopped to make sure he was okay.
“Hang on, guys. We’re almost there.” I stopped at the curb, my nerves so rattled that I almost dropped the skull ring Sammy had left on my dash.
I rolled down the windows and signaled for Hades and Sirius to stay in the truck. The two of them grumbled, but obeyed. There was a pretty good chance I was going to fuck this up on my own. I didn’t need both of them bearing witness.
The doorbell didn’t work, so I knocked on the front door. Oliver peeked out through the front window.. He smiled when he saw me. I was going to take that as a good sign. A few seconds later, the door opened. Sammy stood there in a pair of jeans and an emerald-green t-shirt that matched her eyes.
“Juice. What are you doing here? Are you okay? I heard you ran into some trouble on your ride today.” She pressed her palms to my chest like she wanted to make sure I was all in one piece.
“I’m fine, baby. I had to come after you, though. You forgot something.” I held out the skull ring she’d left behind.
She tilted her head back, breaking eye contact and letting her hands fall to her sides. “I don’t think this is going to work. Oliver and I are going to spend some time at my Aunt Agatha’s house and check up on my mom.”
“In Billings, right?” She used to talk about visiting her Aunt Agatha in the summers when she was little and how the whole place reeked of mothballs.
“That’s right.”
“Sammy,”—I reached for her hands—“please don’t leave. We lost touch once, and I can’t let it happen again. Not now.” Not when I’d finally found out we shared a child together.
“Maybe when things settle down, we can come back.” She lifted a shoulder, trying to downplay the weight of her decision. “I’ve got people I trust who can look after the cafe. I just need to know that we’re in a safe place.”
“There’s no safer place for the two of you than next to me.” I set my hand on Oliver’s head and ruffled his hair. “Don’t go, Sammy.”
“That’s where my family is.”
“No, your family is here.” The roar of motorcycles prevented me from saying anything else. A dozen of my MC brothers rolled up in front of her house.
Sammy waited until they cut their engines before she stepped out onto the stoop. “What’s this? Shouldn’t they be back at the clubhouse?”
“They’re my family… our family if you’ll make good on that ‘yes’ you gave me last night.” I waited for her to say something. “Please, Sammy? Marry me. Let me take care of you and Oliver.”
“You want to be my dad?” Oliver asked.
I looked at Sammy. She had to be the one to decide when to tell him the truth. I wouldn’t take that decision away from her.
She crouched down and tried to smooth down one of Oliver’s cowlicks. “Remember when I told you your dad was my best friend from a long time ago?”
“Yeah. You said he moved away, and you couldn’t find him,” Oliver said.
“I couldn’t find him, but it turns out he found me.” Sammy put her hand on Oliver’s shoulder and turned him so they both faced me.
My heart jumped straight into my throat.
“Juice is your dad, Oliver. I was waiting for the right time to tell you.” Her eyes met mine, and the gravity of the moment hung in the air around us.
Oliver wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face in my abs. “I’m glad you’re my dad. Just like Hades is Sirius’s dad, right?”
“That’s right, kiddo.” A deep love—the kind I’d never felt before—bloomed in my chest. I held him close with one hand and pulled Sammy to her feet and into my side with the other. The three of us stood there, wrapped up in each other, until the guys started revving their engines and honking their horns.
Hades and Sirius jumped through the window and joined us on the stoop. Oliver bent down and wrapped one arm around each of them. The three of them were going to be thick as thieves if I didn’t keep an eye on them.
Sammy took the ring from me for the second time. I’d added some tape to the band so it might fit her finger better. “I suppose we can put off a visit to Aunt Agatha’s for a while. Are you sure about this, Juice?”
“This has got to be a record. I never thought I’d propose, and here I am asking you to marry me for the third time in twenty-four hours.” I got down on one knee in front of my woman and our son. “Oliver and Sammy, I want us to be a family. You two mean everything to me, and I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy. Will you marry me?”
Oliver laughed and looked up at his mom. “Say yes, Mom.”
“Yes.” Sammy nodded. She lit up from the inside and had never looked more gorgeous. “Okay, we say yes.”
I picked her up and twirled her around as I captured her lips with mine. Then I scooped Oliver up and spun them both around until all three of us were too dizzy to stand up straight.
“She said yes!” I called out to the guys who’d followed me all the way to Silver Creek. Thunder and Lightning raised their fists. Motor Mouth clapped while Priest and Arrow whistled.
I didn’t know what the next few months in Mustang Mountain would bring, but we’d be ready for it. I’d go through hell and back if that’s what it took to protect the people I loved.
Especially the family I’d made.