Chapter 5
JENN McCOOL
“I’m not sure if I’m excited or the motion of this thing is making me want to puke,” I admitted from my comfortable spot on the bed.
“The thought of how many times Stamp and Bernadette have screwed on this bed is making me a bit nauseated,” Frankie said from beside me. Like me, she was on her stomach with a pillow under her chest so she could prop herself up and watch our progress as we flew down the highway.
“What are you hags bitching about now?” Bernadette called out from the driver's seat below us. “Do you think I never change our sheets or what?”
“If we were to shine a black light around this thing, it would probably look like the solar system,” Paula muttered from my other side as she flipped over to look at the ceiling.
Bernadette’s RV, which was really more of a tricked-out armored vehicle, was our mode of transportation on this trip.
We’d taken road trips with the guys before, but I’d never thought to lie up here in bed during the drive.
Now I knew why. Motion sickness had never really been a problem for me before, but I’d also never tried to lie flat while a vehicle barreled down the road at eight hundred miles an hour.
“I need a picture of this,” Frankie said as she wriggled around to grab her phone. She held it up and took a few pictures of the guys in front of us, riding side by side, leading us to Rojo, where we would be attending the wedding of Stamp’s son.
This wasn’t the first trip we’d taken together for a wedding, although I hoped it would be much calmer than Frankie and Santa’s that we traveled all the way to New York for.
Not long ago, we’d gone back for the wedding of Stamp’s other son and had a hell of a lot of fun, just like I was sure we’d have on this trip.
“I’m excited to see Garvey and check out the progress his girlfriend has made with the compound she started,” Brea said from where she was tucked in between Paula and the wall.
“Chef’s excited to see him too. I guess since Rooster and Dice were invited, they’ve called some guys who live nearby to come hang out, so there’s going to be a get-together. ”
“Yeah, Boss made arrangements with a guy he knows from a local MC to host a party with some of the Nomads,” I explained. “Just a few of them are coming, but you’re right. It will be good to see Tiny, Rooster, and Dice again.”
“I wonder who else will be there,” Blue added, which was surprising because she usually fell asleep before we’d even been on the road for half an hour.
“I’m not sure,” I answered.
“Either way, it’s going to be a busy week. Matteo’s fiancee has a lot of pre-wedding festivities planned, and she’s invited us to join in a lot of them.”
“Are we almost there?” Blue asked before she yawned loudly.
“We’ve got a few hours left,” I explained. “Plenty of time for you to get some beauty sleep.”
“We’re not gonna be on the road long enough for it to help her at all,” Brea teased.
“Why are we all up here in this bed?” Blue asked. “It worries me.”
“None of us are going to get any wild ideas if that’s what you’re worried about,” Frankie assured her.
“Eww. I wasn’t.”
“Then what are you bitching about?” Paula asked.
“We’re all up here, and Bernadette is alone right below us. The weight distribution is off. If we drive through a crosswind, we’re all going to die.”
“She’s been with Preacher so long, she’s starting to sound like him,” I muttered as I looked around and realized she was right.
“I think she’s just calling us fat,” Frankie complained.
“Or she wants to be alone so she can starfish in Stamp and Bernadette’s love cave,” Paula surmised.
“And now I’m freaking out,” Brea said as she scooted down, jostling all of us as she made her way to the ladder that would take her down to the main part of the RV.
“I hate it when she does this,” Paula said as she waited for Brea to get down so she could follow her.
“Well, shit,” Frankie whispered as she went too.
When it was just me and Blue left on the bed, she rolled over and flung her arm out before she whispered, “Finally. I thought those bitches would never leave.”
“You weren’t worried at all, were you?” I asked.
“Fuck no. Did you see how the guys had to play Tetris to get all the luggage into the back of this thing? Frankie packed enough for a three-month vacation, and Paula brought so many gifts for her grandkids that I’m not sure there’s anything left in a store within fifty miles of home.
If we worry about anything, it should be that the back end of this beast could start dragging at any time. ”
“You’re just wrong on so many levels, Blue.”
“No, I’m right. I knew they’d get their asses out of here so I had more room to sleep. I’m not a cuddler.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.”
◆◆◆
ROCKY FORRESTER
“The rooms are ready, the bar is stocked, and the fridge is full. I think we’re ready,” Loyal announced as he walked around the bar. As he filled a glass with ice, he asked, “Do you remember us hosting anyone like this before?”
“Once or twice, but never a group this big.”
“Did they just call Uncle Bird out of the blue and ask to use our shit as a hotel?” Harley, Loyal’s twin, asked as he walked into the room.
“If they did, what of it?” Phoenix, who was sitting a few stools down from me, asked with a bored look. “You gonna fight it?”
“No,” Harley muttered before he sighed and sat down between us. “When are you guys gonna quit being so fucking pissed at me?”
“When you get your head out of your ass and start acting like an adult.” When Harley glared at me, I asked, “What? Am I wrong?”
“I fucked up. I get it. I’m never gonna do it again.”
“Well, if you do, then I’ll just fucking kill you, so you’ll never have to worry about anyone getting on your ass about it again,” I told my cousin with a sneer.
“Get in line,” Phoenix growled.
“You could have died!” Loyal yelled as he slammed his glass down on the bar in front of his twin. “If you drink too much, you call someone or lay your ass down wherever you are and sleep it off. You don’t get on your goddamn motorcycle and take a fucking joyride!”
“Is that shiner from your wreck?”
“No. The only thing that got fucked up in the accident was my bike,” Harley answered.
“Lucky little shit,” Phoenix muttered.
“By the time Loyal, Mom, Dad, Gamma, and . . . well, everyone got through with me, I had more bumps and bruises than a wreck would have caused in the first place.”
“Obviously not enough if you’re saying shit like that,” I snapped. I looked over at Loyal and asked, “Did you give him that black eye?” When Loyal nodded, I said, “Why don’t you give him a matching one to help him get rid of that attitude?”
“I hope whatever piece of ass you were going for was worth all the shit you’re dealing with now,” Phoenix said as he shook his head.
“She’s not a piece of ass!”
“Well, she’s clearly not more than that because I sure as hell don’t see her here chewing your ass for riding hammered or tending the wounds you got from the ass-kicking you know you deserved,” I pointed out.
Harley and I hadn’t heard anyone walking up behind us because we both jumped when Uncle Clem said, “You fucked up, and you know it, but we’ve all done some stupid shit that we regret and seen some things we’ll never forget. That’s why we’re on your ass.”
“That and the fact that we want to beat you like a dirty rug,” Daughtry, Loyal and Harley’s dad, said as he sat down on my other side.
Loyal pulled a bottle of water out of the beer trough and shook the ice off of it before he slid it across the bar to his father.
As Daughtry opened it, he said, “Bird’s got news for you. ”
Harley slowly spun his stool around to look at my dad and Clem, who were flanking Bird behind us. I watched over my shoulder as they frowned at my cousin.
“Your drunk ass fucked up your bike and our relationship with some of the fine officers of this town. That’s something we’ve been tending very carefully for fucking years!
” Bird took a deep breath and slowly blew it out before he said, “And that’s not even the biggest problem, Harley.
This isn’t the first time you’ve done some shit like this; this is just the worst thing that’s happened so far.
You’re suspended from Kings’ activities for the next six months, subject to random testing, and expected to attend meetings during that time to help you get your shit straight and your mind right. ”
“I don’t need fucking rehab!” Harley shouted.
“He didn’t say a fucking thing about rehab, boy, but you keep yelling like that, and you’ll need physical therapy along with everything else,” Dad growled as he pulled Harley off his stool by the front of his shirt.
I gulped when I looked down and saw that my cousin’s feet weren’t touching the ground.
It goes to show just how upset my uncles were when none of them stepped in to stop Dad from losing his temper.
“Tucker is waiting out front in his truck. He’s going to take you to the first of many meetings you’re going to attend.
If those don’t work, we’ll move onto the next step. Got me, boy?”
To his credit, Harley didn’t even try to fight the hold my dad had on him. As Dad put him on his feet, he responded with, “Yes, sir.”
“Good,” Dad barked. His shoulders sagged before he frowned at my cousin and said, “You’re scaring the shit out of us, and you made your mama cry, Harley. Don’t make me have to talk to you about this shit again.”
“I won’t.”
“Tucker’s waiting,” Bird announced. “Get going.”
Harley walked dejectedly toward the door but stopped in his tracks when Clem said, “I’m gonna need your cut, son.”
Harley didn’t turn around. He just slipped off the vest we all wore so proudly and carefully hooked it over the back of the chair next to him. Without a word, he walked out, letting in a bright beam of sun before the door slammed behind him.
“Fuck,” Dad hissed before he took Harley’s seat. “‘Have kids,’ they said. They’re sunshine and fucking rainbows and will bring you joy and shit.” He looked from Phoenix to Loyal and then over to me before he said, “Don’t do it. It’s a trap.”
Uncle Daughtry laughed as Phoenix reminded Dad, “I’ve already got a kid, Uncle Kale.”
“So you already know,” Dad said with a slow nod. He looked at me and Loyal before he said, “Nix gets it. You guys learn from him.”
Since there wasn’t any music playing, we all heard the sound of pipes getting closer until they were right outside the door. The engines shut off one by one until it was quiet again, and by then, Dad and my uncles had all gotten to the door with me and my cousins right behind them.
I watched Bird walk up to a man with salt and pepper hair who looked to be about the same age as my dad and his brothers and wasn’t surprised when they shook hands and then embraced and slapped each other on the back.
Dad approached a couple of the other guys and greeted them the same way while Daughtry and Clem talked to two others.
A truck pulled into the parking lot followed by another one I recognized, and there were at least six more motorcycles and another vehicle behind them.
Once everyone was parked, I walked toward Tiny, a nomad of the MC we were hosting, and shook his hand before I greeted Rooster, a man I’d met a while back when his girlfriend brought his younger sister to meet me and the rest of the band.
“Are you and Rosie staying here at the clubhouse?” I asked Rooster.
“Nah. We’re hanging out at the in-laws’,” Rooster answered.
Dice, my friend Squid’s old man, shook my hand before he said, “We’re staying at Grady’s.”
“Rocky, let me introduce you to some of the other Nomads who will be staying here,” Tiny said as he motioned for some of the other men to come over. “They’ve all been riding most of the day, so they’re gonna need a place to relax and wash off the road dirt.”
“We’re ready for whoever needs a place,” I assured him.
I met several men. Luckily, each of them were wearing cuts with patches that helped me keep their names straight.
I noticed the fancy vehicle parked at the edge of the lot, so I asked, “Who’s in that RV?”
“The Tenillo crew’s women rode over in style,” Rooster said as we watched as some of the men went to greet the women who were trickling out of the big vehicle. “I’m sure you’ll meet them.”
Dub, a Nomad I’d met when he married my friend Elizabeth, shook my hand and said, “We’re staying at the hotel, but we’ll be by to hang out while we’re here.”
“Where’s Elizabeth?” I asked.
“She’s cruising around town with the kids, showing them the sights and reconnecting with friends she hasn’t seen in a while,” Dub answered.
Another motorcycle pulled up, and while I didn’t recognize the man riding it, my dad apparently did. He and Uncle Clem were waiting next to it when the rider got off, and I smiled when I realized it was an old friend of Dad’s I’d met before.
“Ajax rode all this way?” I asked Dub.
Dub laughed before he explained, “Hell no. Sandi’s just as particular about riding long distances as Elizabeth, so we both trailered our bikes and brought them along.”
“Dice is going to use one of mine while he’s here since he and Cydney flew in with the baby,” Tiny explained.
“What’s that guy’s name?” Phoenix asked, motioning toward a rider who was helping his old lady off the back of his bike. “I recognize him from somewhere.”
“That’s Dante. He and his wife rode in from Marlboro,” Dice said as he walked toward the man. “I haven’t seen him in ages.”
I looked around at the men mingling and suggested, “Herd them all into the clubhouse, and we’ll get them something to drink and let them choose their rooms.”
I guess Dad had the same idea because he whistled loudly and then announced, “Let’s go in and get this party started!”
“Oh, this is gonna be fun,” Nix said with a grin.
“I can’t wait!”